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[mightymorbid]

So raise your hand if you were smart enough not to post anything while that flood was going on?

[Private to Snape - Posted Early, Pre-Training Session]

I want to talk to you. No training this morning.

Comments

Private

[emptyyourself]

Very well. Where?

Private

[mightymorbid]

I don't care where. Here.

[Spam]

[emptyyourself]

[Not even five minutes passed before he knocked. This was definitely a new situation: he had never been summoned before.]

[Spam]

[mightymorbid]

[The door opened, though Mozenrath remained seated at his desk, looking dissatisfied and petulant as ever. The room didn't smell as strongly of potions as it once had -- a clear sign that he hadn't worked in a while, but short of that the room was immaculate, suffering no apparent changes.]

[Spam]

[emptyyourself]

[He took a look around the room, making note of the lack of apparent potion-making (which struck him as odd, considering Mozenrath's zeal for it not two months prior), shut the door behind him, then turned his attention to his inmate.

It struck him that Mozenrath might want to discuss the odd behaviour of the wardens lately - but he had never shown concern for such things before.]

I'm listening.

[Spam]

[mightymorbid]

[He wastes no time getting to the point.]

What am I working toward?

[Spam]

[emptyyourself]

[Interesting.]

I assume, in asking that question, that a response of "rehabilitation" isn't acceptable.

[He weighed his options before continuing.]

The daily training is to limit your dependency on your gauntlet. You are working towards self-sufficiency. Or is your question more philosophical in nature?

[Spam]

[mightymorbid]

[Mozenrath closed his journal, staring sullenly down at his desk.]

What's going to happen to me if I graduate?

[Spam]

[emptyyourself]

[He was silent for a moment. This question had occurred to him as an inmate, as well - as it had to most of the inmates. Ana Lewis came to mind.]

You have options. You could return home, or remain here until you find a suitable alternative.

[Spam]

[mightymorbid]

If I go back then things will just go back to the way they were. [He glances at him.] You know this, right?

[Spam]

[emptyyourself]

[Choosing his words carefully, he replied.] I believe things will go back to the way they were only if you think they will.

[A pause.]

What do you want?

[Spam]

[mightymorbid]

[His face fell.]

I don't know.

[Spam]

[emptyyourself]

This isn't a decision I can make for you.

[If he could have offered a better reply, he would have.]

[Spam]

[mightymorbid]

I don't know what I should decide. I don't...want to be dead. The things I can do here -- what I'm learning to do. It's only because I am not home that I can manage them. There are no gods to draw power from. No rituals that are demanded. No Mamluks to command.

[Spam]

[emptyyourself]

You think if you return home, you'll relapse. Have you considered it may well be that you aren't truly rehabilitated until you're tested - and are able to prevail without succumbing?

[Spam]

[mightymorbid]

Magic -- for your kind -- may be as simple as harnessing the power if you show the potential. Where I come from, the simplest must avail themselves to higher discipline and toil, while those that hope to amount to any greatness must know how to exploit the laws and take greater risks. [He swallowed, telling himself that be very much believed what he was about to say] I want that power.