"What's the harm in not telling you?" Gaius's fingers rubbed at his cane. "Ky isn't in any immediate danger, Zander, but you knowing something you ought not to might very well put you in danger. So let it be."
"The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that." -Karis Nemik
“And you would be okay with that?” Zander raised an eyebrow. “You’re telling me that if you caught me lying about a 600-year-old cryptid that may or may not put your niece in danger, then you’d be okay with a ‘trust me’ from me?”
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
"I am not you," Gaius pointed out. "What, you want me to pull him out from under my cloak so you can interrogate him?"
"The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that." -Karis Nemik
“So he does exist,” Zander said. “Well, something exists close enough to have you both convinced it’s him. Is it close by?”
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
"I never said he existed," Gaius said firmly. "And how am I to know that?"
"The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that." -Karis Nemik
“There’s very little else that you could have been lying about in that statement,” Zander insisted. “And the Seer called you on it. If it’s not that, then what is it?”
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
Gaius sighed. "I'm telling you to stop pushing, Zander. For your safety."
"The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that." -Karis Nemik
Pratik didn’t move, but he was uncomfortable as he imagined how this could play out. There were very few scenarios in which it would end well for either of them. He couldn’t just let Gaius slaughter his best friend.
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
"It's a concern," Gaius replied, keeping his voice level and very soft. "Your niece is safe. That's all you need to know, Zander."
"The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that." -Karis Nemik
Like hell it was. Gaius could try to play himself off as a deity all he liked. Zander didn’t trust Gaius, and Gaius didn’t trust Zander. And that wasn’t an issue until this very moment when he was painfully obviously concealing something that Zander absolutely needed to know.
“Are you certain that you are safe?” Zander said, turning his gaze back on Ky. He may or may not drop his interrogation about Marrow Man. But he wasn’t going to stop pushing until Ky said for herself that she felt safe, and wasn’t lying about it.
“Yes,” Ky said, meeting his gaze, thankful that he was finally asking questions that she didn’t have to lie about. “I’m sure.”
“You know without a shadow of a doubt this Marrow Man isn’t going to come snatch you out of your bed in the middle of the night, or whatever the lore is with this particular legend?”
“Of course I’m sure. He would never hurt me.” Fuck. They both heard the confession. Gods, why couldn’t she just shut up? “If he even existed, which he clearly does not, because, uh… because he doesn’t?”
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
Gaius sighed. She'd done it now. No saving the matter. "The legends have elements of truth," he murmured. "But there's falsehood as well. She did him a good turn, she's under his protection now. Is that clear?"
"The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that." -Karis Nemik
Zander looked at him for a long, long moment, considering this revelation. It’s what he’d been expecting when he started this interrogation. And yet it hit different now that he had a confession.
Ky was cringing, heart racing as she kicked herself for, once again, running her mouth. Pratik had glanced at Gaius, but now was watching Ky squirm. She’d actually seen Marrow Man himself? And lived to tell the tale? But, then, if she survived a year with Aleth, she clearly had the hands of the universe personally protecting her and keeping her alive.
“So you’re telling me…” Zander sighed and turned his gaze back on Ky. “That you personally made friends with Marrow Man himself?”
Ky glanced at Gaius, then back at Zander. He’d already told Zander that she’d helped Ruh. She hesitantly nodded.
Zander stared at her for a long moment, trying to make it make sense in his brain. It was a struggle. And yet Ky was telling the truth now. He took another deep breath and sighed again. “You know what? If anyone can befriend a literal monster, it would be you.”
“He’s not a monster,” Ky said defensively. If they could admit Ruh, then she could defend him. “He’s really nice and people are just really terrible to him.”
“… can he talk, then?” Zander asked. It was a long shot. But Ky and Gaius both believed she’d met him, and neither of them were stupid or insane. So she probably had.
She nodded. She hesitated, then, “He said I’m nice and he’s going to personally make sure the mercenaries can’t get me.”
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
Gaius was silent; she knew the Marrow Man better than he did, she could put it into words better.
"The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that." -Karis Nemik
Zander sighed softly, rubbing his face. “This is a lot to take in.”
“That’s why we didn’t want to tell you.”
Zander frowned at her, she deflated.
He hesitated a long moment. “When did you meet him?”
“Like a week ago.” She hesitated. “Well, the first time was the fourth day. Then five days after that. So I guess not a week.”
“You met him when we were traveling—?” His eyebrows shot up. He saw her shrink, and actively chose to hide his shock and borderline outrage. It wasn’t helpful. He took a deep breath and calmed himself, then continued quietly. “So he was in our camp? Twice?”
“Just once,” she murmured. “The first time I was… trying to clear my head and took a walk.”
He looked at her a long moment, trying to untangle the truth from that statement.
“But then he brought me a fur to thank me for helping his feet. He’s got hoof rot. And then I gave him a bracelet and I think he liked it because he said that he was going to make sure I stayed safe the rest of my life because of it.”
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
"A solid promise, I expect," Gaius said mildly. "He can't really die. I heard him say it, too."
"The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that." -Karis Nemik
