Day 64, Public Channel

[whattaprick]

[ After the Ringmaster's finished kicking everyone out and the tent arrangements are more or less settled... ]

So, I'm up. [ Short and to the point. ] Heard people were yelling at my nightrunners. You wanna yell about it some more, you can come yell at me.

[ That's it, that's the post. ]

Comments

[whattaprick]

Well, I don't get hurt easy.

[ Only very specifically. ]

That's why I'm good to yell at.

[soft_focus]

[....She's not really sure how to respond to that. She doesn't want to be mean about it, but here's Lambert, all but saying it didn't matter that he did the 'braincontrol' thing or whatever it is, and that strikes quite a chord.

A very personal one.]

...Then.... ....then... [She's taking a very deep breath, but she's still not yelling.]

...

Have you made people 'just listen' like that, before? [she asks, deflating into a wavering croak of a voice instead.] Did... ...Did you do it to lots of people?

[whattaprick]

Yes.

[ He's straightforward about that. He could provide more detail: sometimes for fun, sometimes for survival, sometimes to get a better deal on a goddamn sword or inn room. Mostly to people he doesn't care about, sometimes to people he does. ]

I've done it to Strange before.

[soft_focus]

....

....You're just like the soldiers then, [She quietly determines.]

...them, and 'mom'. [She doesn't doubt he's going to do that to someone else, again, another day now after all.]

[whattaprick]

Guess I am, if you say so.

[ Not that he exactly knows what those soldiers or mom were like, but he also gets that it's probably supposed to be a bad thing. He also isn't particularly invested in changing Reira's mind about it. ]

[soft_focus]

[She probably should have expected it to come back that flatly. Now, at least, there's more emotion in her words- more volume. Maybe they really will get the shouting.]

...Why?

...Why do you have to make someone 'just listen'..?!

[whattaprick]

Sometimes, someone won't listen. Sometimes, there's no other way to get out of a fight. Sometimes someone asks you to do it so they can learn how to protect themselves. [ Not that it happened to Strange. ]

Mostly? It's easier.

[soft_focus]

[Reira's mouth is opening, and closing, a few times on the other end. She sounds almost accusatory when she does speak.] Th...Why wouldn't there be a way out..! And what about...

...What about into fights? Or... ...Doing things without learning them, or thinking them, or...or... [...It occurs to her that she doesn't actually know how mind control was used, here.]

...what did you make him do then, when you made him listen?

[whattaprick]

[ To be fair, the sort of mind control that Lambert uses normally is a bit different than what was used here. ]

You mean Ignatius?

[ Rita and Syr had left that out of their explanation, huh? Well, it's not like Lambert was going to keep it a big secret or anything. ]

We made him talk about the Summer Court. How they were following us, why the Summer Queen's pissed ... he didn't know anything that would keep them off our backs. He knew the Summer Maiden before, but he said he didn't believe her when she told him why she was leaving the Court.

[soft_focus]

....I didn't know his name, but it sounds like that's what it is, [she answers, sounding rather oddly distant.]

...The Ringmaster didn't seem happy though.

...if you could make him fight, would you do it? [She asks after another quiet pause.]

[whattaprick]

He made Strange fight us.

[ His tone is flat. ]

If I could, if the Summer Court came for him? Yeah, I'd make him fight them too.

[soft_focus]

...exactly like mom then, [Is all she says, before leaving the radio at the side. She's apparently done here.]