#Me resisting the urge to kill them: …no | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

tarnishedxknight · 18 hours ago

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The moment Vossler heard Mantis inside his head, he knew he'd made the wrong decision. Perhaps she did remove the incredibly frustrating, infuriating, and humiliating tendency to wail like a baby each and every time he said something unkind, but now he almost preferred that, because he had a new urge, a new compulsion. To tell the truth. To tell everything. To completely reveal all his political cards and in no uncertain terms begin giving names and stating plans.

"No! No!" Vossler said, fighting the compulsion as best he could. "She has done it again!"

"Done what?" Soryn asked, having not heard what had just transpired within the confines of Vossler's own mind.

"She is trying to force me to tell the truth!' Vossler said, gritting his teeth as if to lock his jaw in place as he broke out into a sweat.

"And why should that terrify you so?" Soryn asked. "If you have nothing to hide, then speaking the truth ought to hold no danger for you."

"Then you let her do it to your own self and see how well you fare!" Vossler spat back.

Soryn glanced at Mantis and then back at Vossler, without an ounce of fear or apprehension. "I have nothing to fear from the truth. But we are not here to listen to me speak. We are here... for you. So speak. What have you been up to of late, Vossler? What more are you not telling us? Why would you go so far as to attempt to assasinate a guest of the Crown who only just arrived this day?"

Vossler covered his face with both hands and practically growled as he tried in vain to resist the compulsive to bear his soul and all the information it held to the world. "I have been working with the Archadian Empire to ensure Dalmasca's swift and relatively peaceful transition to an imperial protectorate!" he finally blurted out, ramming his fist against the stone wall of his cell in frustration.

Soryn's eyes went wide. "You... you've what?" he asked in utter shock.

"Why attack Mantis? What threat was she to you?" Munoh stepped in, wanting to know that most of all."

"Because she has the power to alter minds. She did so to me to make me utter ridiculous sounds whene'er I might speak unkindly to anyone. If she could do that, I thought, she might have the ability to do as she is right now... and force me to reveal my plans! And now that she's done that, said plans will fall through. She has doomed Dalmasca!" Vossler said, pointing to Mantis. "Without this peaceful transition of power, Dalmasca will fall, just as Nabradia shall."

This... was a lot to take in. Soryn blinked and gathered his questions in his mind. "How is this peaceful when you are plotting the assassination of a guest? And what do you mean... as Nabradia shall? What is to happen to Nabradia?"

"We intend to assassinate King Raminas and Prince Caelen," Vossler said, more beads of sweat forming on his brow as he uttered those damning words. "Without them, Dalmasca is powerless, for the princess has no ability to take the throne. The prince is easy enough to kill, for he has no stomach for battle. The King, will be more difficult, but we've already set in motion a plan to carry out the deed. And Nabradia... will fall within the week. Once Prince Rasler and Princess Eswynn are separated from their family to attend the wedding in Dalmasca, Archadian forces will attack the capital of Nabudis. They intend to use nethicite to decimate the city, a punishment for aligning the kingdom with Rozarria instead of Archadia."

Soryn stepped closer to the bars, hanging on every word. "How does the Empire intend to assassinate the king?" he asked.

"I have provided them with maps of the city and palace so that they might infiltrate it with ease. Judge Magister Gabranth will do the deed, simply walking into the palace, gaining access to the king, and ending him," Vossler explained.

"He would ne'er be permitted to simply walk up to His Majesty..." Soryn said.

"He would... if he were perceived to be Basch," Vossler said, his previously angry and frustrated energy in his tone having boiled down to a resigned sort of surrender. "Gabranth... is Basch's identical twin. He has been growing his hair and beard to mimic Basch, and I've provided him with identical armor to don."

"Why? Why would you do this, Vossler? You would hand your homeland over to the Empire, for what?" Soryn asked, looking positively crestfallen.

"To save her," Vossler said. "The sovereignty of the kingdoms of Nabradia and Dalmasca mean nothing to Archadia. If we do not bend the knee to them and acquiesce to their demands, they will destroy us. Nabradia not only refuses to bow, but they have aligned with Archadia's sworn enemy. For that, they will be obliterated. I did not want the same to happen to Dalmasca, and so I tried to convince His Majesty to surrender preemptively. His Majesty foolishly refused, and so I had to circumvent his authorty to ensure that Dalmasca would not become a graveyard."

Soryn swallowed hard. Vossler's words actually had some merit to them, at least in pure theory and strategy. But on a moral level, they were disgraceful. Perhaps Vossler had been trying to do right by Dalmasca, but to murder her king and allow her enemies to make themselves at home simply because he feared reprisal was going too far too fast. And then there was the matter of their captain. "Ser Ronseburg is your friend, and yet... you would frame him for regicide against your own king?"

"Basch is a foreigner. There is not a drop of Dalmascan blood in him. My family has a distinguished history of knighthood back for centuries. I am the elder by three years compared to Basch. I have more experience! I have more noble blood and bearing! And yet Raminas promoted him to captain over me! It is an insult I shall not forgive either man for."

Soryn shook his head slowly, ashamed of his comrade. "Distinguished... no longer," was all he said. Feeling a sense of urgency to protect the king, he had one final question. "How might we tell them apart? Gabranth and Ronsenburg? No identical twins are perfectly identical," Soryn insisted.

"According to Judge Magister Gabranth, they are extremely identical. Enough to be undetectable to all but those who know them exceedingly well. As for myself, the major differences I have noticed are that Gabranth's voice is harsher than Basch's. Colder. And his eyes are amber in color, due to Mist accumulation in the irises from nethicite poisoning. Basch's, as you know, are deep blue. They have been ever since the princess healed him of his own poisoning, years ago."

Soryn nodded, done with Vossler for now. He turned to Munoh, wondering if he could dare ask anything of an Occurian.

"What do you wish to do?" Munoh said, already willing to assist.

"The king and prince must be protected, all knights and guardsmen must be made aware of this attempt at infiltration so that they know what to watch for, and Ser Ronsenberg must be informed. Also... Nabradia must also be warned," Soryn said.

"Deal with your royal family. I will inform your captain," Munoh said.

Soryn nodded, and before he left the dungeon, he looked to Mantis. "Thank you. What you have done for us this day... I fear there is no way we can repay you, and to have done so after we have given you anything but a hospitable welcome is truly admirable. Dalmasca is in your debt, and I will make certain the king understands that." With that, he was gone, needing to act upon the information he'd just heard.

"This traitor can be watched over by guardsmen, should you not wish to remain," Munoh then said to Mantis and Gamora.

Vossler... had slumped to the floor, his head in his hands as the gravity of everything fully struck him.

- - - - -

Reks had awkwardly left the ship so Quill and Rocket could speak in private, and after a change in shift, he was free for a few hours to do as he pleased. He had a mind to go home and see what his little brother Vaan was up to, but as he made his way through the palace, he saw one of the other Guardians wandering about. Two, he later corrected himself, for there was a tiny little one sitting on his shoulder.

"Hello!" Reks said as cheerfully as he could manage. Despite being off duty, he felt compelled to try to continue to make the Guardian's stay as good as it could be... considering all that had happened. "Are you enjoying the palace so far? U-under the circumstances?" he asked awkwardly. "If there is anything I could do for you or anywhere I could direct you, I'd be happy to help, he offered.

A lizard fell from the ceiling, unable to keep its grip and landing right on Reks' head. The young man smiled and reached up to grab it, bringing it down to hold it in his gauntleted hands. The lizard seemed fairly unconcerned by this, and hung out calmly, draped over Reks' fingers.

- - - - -

Munoh did not bother to knock. At a time like this, they did not think they had to. Simply passing through the wall and entering Ashelia's room, they were immediately met with a startled Basch, who rose and reached for his sword before realizing he did not need it.

"At ease, captain," Munoh said. "At least in this matter. In others, you are needed."

"Vossler...?" he asked.

"The traitor has divulged much you need know," Munoh said.

Basch nodded and bid goodbye to Ashelia for now.

She rose and followed him to her door. "But... what's happening? Are we in danger?"

"I know not yet. If there is anything you need know, I will return to tell it to you," Basch said.

Ashelia had to let that be enough for her, and she nodded back, looking worried indeed.

Out in the hallway, Munoh wasted no time. "Soryn makes his way to your king and prince. An assassination plot is afoot, to strike the two of them from this tale forever. A plot... involving your identical twin brother."

Basch looked to Munoh in shock.

"Gather your thoughts, knight. Many questions will be posed to you, surely. But that is not the most pressing of your troubles," Munoh said.

"What else...?" Basch asked, breathing hard but not from the walking.

"Archadia seeks to destroy Nabudis with nethicite as soon as the prince and princess arrive here for the wedding," Munoh said, seeing no point in sugarcoating anything.

"Then they must be warned, a counter-defense mounted. This is not information that should be relayed over airwaves that may be monitored by the Empire's spies," Basch said.

"Of that, I also thought. A messenger, then. Am I about to be recruited?" Munoh asked. They ought not to get involved to this degree, but they were already invested and wanted to see this through.

"That is for His Majesty to decide. Or at least, to request of you, or not. If not, I will offer to go to Nabradia myself.," Basch said firmly as they arrived at the throne room...

Another Time, Another Place (A Hollow Universe In Space) || closed with tarnishedxknight

@tarnishedxknight continued from here

The Guardians stood there, letting Captain Basch formally introduce them to King Raminas. They all then bowed respectfully except for Rocket, who only did so because Gamora pushed his head down. They trusted Basch for the most part, as he assured them no one would hurt them after telling them to leave their weapons at the ship. Quill and Gamora were the first ones to leave theirs; Drax didn't want to leave his knives, but did so after Mantis looked at him, while Rocket pulled a comical amount of retractable weapons from his pockets.

As they followed Basch, Mantis had stayed behind for a moment to approach Vossler. She felt much better after Munoh sent her some calm energy, and she smirked at the man. Suddenly, her hand was on his cheek, her antennae aglow. "Whenever you open your mouth to say something unkind, you will wail like a baby. Honestly, it might be more coherent than anything else you have said," she whispered. She patted his cheek twice as if to seal her whimsical behest, and hurried to follow the Guardians as Basch guided them through the palace of Rabanastre.

Quill straightened and cleared his throat to speak to the King. Mantis took his hand; Quill was a little confused, but he allowed it since he knew she wasn't feeling great.

"Your Majesty," he said, once again lowering his voice in an attempt to mirror Basch's formal tone and presence, hoping it would make the King like him more. "We come in peace. We thank you for your time, and we apologize for occupying one of your docks. I think I have–" He stopped talking rather suddenly, and swallowed. "Uh... I think... I have..."

What was happening was that Mantis was frantically reading his thoughts as he spoke, using her powers to interrupt him because he was going to say he had the perfect stuff to make up for it, wanting to show the King some Terran music with the Zune. While Terran music was excellent, Mantis knew not everyone would like it, nor find it an acceptable form of apology.

"I have no excuse," Quill said instead. "And I have to... shut up... now."

#celestialmantdonna #oc muse: soryn #oc muse: munoh #main muse: basch #side muse: ashelia #guest muse: vossler #guest muse: reks #{ the darker corners of ivalice } ᵐᵃⁱⁿ ᵛᵉʳˢᵉ ⁻ ᵈᵃʳᵏ ᵉᵈⁱᵗⁱᵒⁿ

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