27 ◦ [VIDEO - TEXT]

[akingmuststand]

[The screen is dark for a moment, before the shroud - a hand - moves, flops aside. A white-clad shoulder shifts, a soft, sleepy mutter barely audible over the feed. The view is one from inside a croft, the sleeper just visible at the edge of the camera. He rolls onto his back, showing a mop of pale blond hair, but the angle is too awkward to see

Comments

[audio]

[chauvinisms]

[you're waiting for a train]

Hoh? Has His Majesty also come down with a bad case of age displacement?

How typical of royalty, ekeke! You will find, of course, that the door to your croft is not locked and that you are free to leave!

[audio]

[inbrilliancy]

[brrrrrm...

His Majesty. Though part of his mind is quick to point out that that's his father's title, not his, he knows what it means. It means that she knows who he is. The mention of his age goes over his head for the time being.]

It may well be unlocked, but that hardly means I'm free to leave. [The place as a whole, that is. He's still imprisoned.]

Are you responsible for this?

[audio]

[chauvinisms]

Join the rest of us, then.

Ha! As much as I would like to claim credit, I'm sure those goody-two-shoes in the Watch would not appreciate it. So no, I am not. Once, not too long ago, we discussed business transactions. You will not recall this. However, I am willing to make one with you now, should you be interested in information about your current whereabouts.

[audio]

[inbrilliancy]

...Business transactions.

[Of course, he doesn't recall it. He is still for a moment, before he smiles, a small, wry expression.]

And what payment would I be expected to make in exchange?

[audio]

[chauvinisms]

Well, an eye for an eye, yes? There is nothing you could provide me with now in your current state, so I will leave that up to your discretion in the future. You're an honorable man, are you not? Surely I can trust you to be fair in what information you might choose to provide me with...?

[She grins widely.]

Or perhaps this is too much a gambit for you, eh?

[We are not above using chess terminology.]

[audio]

[inbrilliancy]

[In his current state. Curious indeed, but what good will arguing that do? Much as he wants to do just that, he lets it slide, instead smiling at her - bright and cordial and just a little too nonchalant to be innocent.]

Others seem willing to part with such for free.

[audio]

[chauvinisms]

[Aveil is very aware of this, of course; she regularly spies on public broadcasts, and has seen that his sister has been contacting him. However, her interests have been piqued in this man, and Aveil's loyalties are always to herself first and foremost.]

I would caution you, prince. I will not proceed with this transaction until I have your word one day you will repay me as you see fit, but I will warn you, not everything is as it seems here, yes? Our common enemy is not above assuming the bodies and memories of our friends and loved ones [not that she'd know anything about either of those] to trick us. You would do well to be wary when interacting with these "others."

Again, as we have previously discussed, everything has a price. There is no such thing as a free cost.

[audio]

[inbrilliancy]

[Though he knows better than to blindly put faith in anyone her, he listens to her words intently.]

You're well informed. At least, you might be. [After all, he has no basis of comparison. He smiles, thin and brief and cold.]

And indeed, there isn't. [He deliberates. Her words - they may well be true, but that doesn't make her an ally.] For such uncertain terms, I'm afraid I must decline.

[audio]

[chauvinisms]

[As she suspected he might.]

Ekekeke, how boring you are, prince! I do hope you remember this conversation when you come back into yourself...it will be good for you to realize I do not so easily give up.

Until then.

[She cuts the feed.]