012 .. only helpful at someone else's expense

[amagicalmystery]

[OOC: Backdated to after his conversation with Beatty.]

[Private to Cissie]
Evening. You Beatty's warden?

I'm thinkin' you should see this.

Comments

Private - I know there's nothing for Iroh to see here but I'm too lazy to make a one-line post :c

[grand_lotus]

Facilier. I believe we need to talk.

Private -np <3

[amagicalmystery]

[oh this WOULD take all of a day or two to get out, wouldn't it -_-]

'Bout what?

Private

[grand_lotus]

[Sorry Facilier, Iago's a total nark.]

A number of things. In person, I think would be best. May I visit you?

Private

[amagicalmystery]

Sure, why not? You know where I'm at.

[Spam]

[grand_lotus]

[He does. Knock knock, open the door Facilier.]

[Spam]

[amagicalmystery]

[Facilier opens up and is doing his best to look calm as can be, like the little shit he is.]

'Scuse the door, Beatty thought the latest port was an excuse to do some decorating.

[Spam]

[grand_lotus]

Iroh lifts his brows a little as he steps inside. "We do have a maintenance staff. Perhaps you should speak with them.

"For now, though - how are you? Anything unusual of late? I know that this place can start to feel -- monotonous, especially for men who have led interesting lives."

[Spam]

[amagicalmystery]

"Just found it a day or two ago. He seemed proud of it. Man's got a screw loose, if you ask me." Facilier offered Iroh a seat, though it was far more casual, far less the gracious host, than the last time they sat and talked like this. Back when he killed Booth, it was an act of defiance. Now he was wondering just how much his Warden knew.

"Since we last chatted I've been a frog and a kid, I've fought the undead, lost my memory... none of it's pleasant, but it's never boring. Though thanks for your concern."

[Spam]

[grand_lotus]

"Since we last chatted here," Iroh said mildly, taking the seat offered. "Nothing over the last few days? No meetings with friends?" The capitalisation of 'friends' was clear enough from his otherwise amiable tone.

[Spam]

[amagicalmystery]

And he caught it, and the insinuation was enough to make him flinch and then bristle slightly. Power was tempting, it was important. But there was one way he could never get it ever again, and that was the reason he couldn't just go home as he pleased, if he managed to find an escape.

"As much as I've got friends here, I'm sociable enough," he said, feigning ignorance. "Bells, obviously, and that new girl Snoop seems interesting. Crane's even pretty decent, once he got the stick out and learned some manners."

[Spam]

[grand_lotus]

"It seems your social life is a good deal busier than mine," Iroh chuckled, "but I suppose nobody wants to slow down to an old man's pace."

So Facilier had had more opportunities than he deserved to own up, and wasted them. It came as no surprise. Iroh made an expansive gesture across the table.

"But I digress. Since I returned your cards, I was wondering if you might...give a reading, is that the term?"

[Spam]

[amagicalmystery]

He had a feeling he was being played. He felt, with a stubborn sense of pride, that it wasn't the old man's business anyway - that if he wanted to know something, he should ask it.

And until that came to the surface, he'd be more than happy to learn what he could about his Warden through the deck that would sooner or later get taken away again.

"That it is." He feigned that showman's glimmer in his eyes as he drew the enchanted deck out from his jacket where he kept it. "I'd be happy to. Any particular question you've got in mind?"

[Spam]

[grand_lotus]

Iroh opened his hands in a brief half-shrug. "You may have to advise me, Doctor. What sort of questions might I ask?"

[Spam]

[amagicalmystery]

Facilier gave his warden a sidelong, curious look, unsure at the moment where he was going with this. He'd half expected him to ask...well, if he wanted to ask that, then he would.

"All manner of things. Your future, a problem in your present, some light shed on the past. Workin' tourists like I did, I got love questions, mostly. Or I'd...suss out what they wanted most, so I could hand it to them," he added, frank about at least that much.

"It ain't like books and the pictures seem to tell it. Answers aren't concrete. They're big ideas, or events that happen in most lives, and the trick is seein' how they fit."

[Spam] - sorry this took forever :c

[grand_lotus]

He nodded, thoughtful. His world boasted fortune-tellers of various stripes, people who claimed they could cross into the Spirit World as if it was easy as hopping across a crack in the road. But the work of these cards was new to him.

"I think I understand."

If Facilier wanted to treat this as an informational fishing expedition then Iroh was prepared to let him; the last thing he wanted was to appear enigmatic to a man who treated secrets as currency. Maybe it was Sexby's generosity with the darkness in his past, that had left him feeling less vulnerable than he otherwise might have done.

"So. Perhaps you could tell me what it is I want most."

[Spam] no problem, notifs are being ridiculous too

[amagicalmystery]

He hadn't expected that, and he actually looked noticeably surprised for a moment. He looked at Iroh thoughtfully and considered a question that he'd put aside in earlier days, but that was still at the back of his mind.

"What you want most. Well, I'd assume that's what you asked the Admiral for, ain't it? Why ask a question you already know the answer to?" He knew it wasn't as simple as that, but he baited him carefully, looking for what Iroh actually wanted out of this conversation.