weekend mingle featuring 5 pm brunch because time is meaningless now

[pr159]

[ There probably isn't a single person among them who isn't exhausted after that trial, so it's no surprise that, like last week, there's no party when it's over. Maybe some stay out and mill about the city, while others finally take the chance to get some well-deserved sleep.

Personally, Rideaux is absolutely going to bed now, because it's fucking 10 am or something, and that was a lot.

But when he wakes up again in what is nominally the afternoon, once he's taken a shower and no longer looks like a haggard mess, he's actually going to hole up in the kitchen at the clergy housing and make some pancakes. Just pancakes and nothing else, because this mix is "just add water!" and that's the extent of his cooking skills the most effort he's going to put into anything. Some of them may be slightly burned and oddly shaped, but they're free, so shut it.

There's also some coffee and some (cheap, not his good stuff) whiskey, so if you want to make a half-assed Irish coffee, he's not stopping you.

Is this supposed to be a distraction? Is this actually all just to celebrate the fact that Cumore briefly thought he was going to die and that was delicious to watch? Maybe, but no one has to know that. ]

Comments

[psychophant]

[He wasn't expecting to find Rideaux at the piano, but after a moment he approaches. He's not going to get too close, but that's more out of habit than any actual fear of Rideaux stabbing him right now.]

I don't make a habit of stopping by. [Well, he used to, but he's not going to mention that to Rideaux.] I was looking for you.

[He hesitates for a moment, like he's not entirely sure what to do now that he's actually here, but well. Whatever, here we go.

Iago presses a hand to his chest and ducks his head a bit - it's a bow, though not exactly a proper one by any stretch of the imagination.]

You have my apologies for what I said during the fourth trial and my attempts to pin the blame on you.

[It's straightforward, and maybe not entirely sincere, but the fact that he's bothering at all probably says something.

He straightens up after that and settles a bit.]

I owe you that much for your assistance in this last trial. The information you provided was necessary. [As always.] And... I wanted to thank you for what you didn't say as well.

[This trial was an absolute fucking disaster in every single possible way and yet somehow Rideaux didn't make it worse?? He easily could have and they've made no secret of how much they hate each other, and then Cumore was being accused and Rideaux could have seized on that too, but he didn't. Now that he's really had time to process all of that, Iago's sort of stunned that Rideaux didn't attempt to make any of that worse. So you know what, he's willing to take the hit to his ego to at least express his gratitude for that much.]

[pr159]

[ Rideaux raises his eyebrows when he receives that bow, proper or not, and at least for the moment that Iago's head is down, the corners of his lips quirk into a bit of a smirk. It's about fucking time, honestly.

But by the time Iago straightens up, Rideaux is back to a neutral expression again. ]

Well, I appreciate your [ finally ] saying so.

[ Though to be fair, he kind of had gone after Cumore once it seemed feasible to do so, he'd just done it carefully to make it look like he was doing so objectively and based on legitimate reasoning rather than out of spite. And he'd definitely still voted for him, even though he'd been fairly certain it was actually Ango by the last minute. While getting justice for Dist would have been nice, getting Cumore executed after all of his bullshit in the last trial and since would have been much more satisfying.

But if Iago doesn't know any of that, he certainly doesn't need to. ]

I didn't hate Dist, you know. I always would have preferred he live to the end of this.

[ Which is true, though he's making it sound like he was reining himself in out of respect for him, which is... less true, if not entirely so. But he doesn't see that it really matters. Anyway, he'd gotten to witness plenty of Iago's suffering without having to lift a finger, so he didn't miss out on too much by staying quiet. ]

[psychophant]

[look he was a little out of commission through most of the accusations against cumore, he cannot remember who said what at this point, but he doesn't remember rideaux being obnoxious about it and that's clearly all we can ask for.]

I understand. Even if it was solely because he was useful, he would have appreciated it.

[He doesn't want to think about just how many times he reassured Dist that of course he was useful.]

[pr159]

That was a factor, certainly. Even if his skills hadn't been of particular use to this situation, though, I appreciated his intellect and ingenuity for what they were. I'm involved in some technological development in my own world, actually, though we obviously specialize in different areas, so when we weren't grating on each other's nerves, it was nice to trade ideas with someone who was on a similar wavelength.

[ His main problem with him was the company he held, and everything that went along with that. ]

[psychophant]

I imagine robots aren't quite your area of expertise, then.

[dist's child will never be finished, rip........]

I can certainly see why you two got along, then. I learned what I could from him, though I'm coming from a world so far behind that I may never catch up.

[Not like that's going to stop him, but that's not particularly useful here and now.]

[pr159]

I might be able to manage a minor repair to a broken one or something, but no.

[ ..."Got along" is kind of an exaggeration, but that's not a thing to nitpick here. ]

And no, you probably won't catch up, but you'll at least be much closer than you were before. As much as I dislike you, I'll give you credit for being open to new ideas and eager to learn about things.

[ At least he's straightforward about that much... ]

I know I mentioned this before, but my world was divided in two up until a year ago. My side of it was advanced in technology and the other side relied on spirit artes. There are people who spent their whole lives in Rieze Maxia who moved to Elympios after the schism was dispersed, and... while I wish they'd go back where they came from, I'll admit they've assimilated surprisingly well in a short time.

[ This is as close to support as your ass will ever get from him. Cherish it. ]

[psychophant]

[Holy shit a compliment from Rideaux...]

I see. It certainly is frustrating to be coming form somewhere so removed from what we're dealing with regularly here, but I enjoy the challenge of learning.

[At least Seteth feels him on being so far behind...]

I look forward to seeing what more I can learn here. I don't plan on being useless now.

[No one can take over for Dist, but we've got a bunch of very angry people so maybe spite will be enough to fuel some sort of discovery so we don't all die horribly!!]

[pr159]

I certainly hope not.

[ It's gotten them this far, so why not. ]

[psychophant]

Of course.

[Anyway.]

That's all; I simply wanted to get that out there before whatever this next week brings. Thank you for your time.

[And he'll take his leave here!]

[pr159]

[ He'll give a nod in response.

...and whenever he eventually leaves the bar himself, he's going to take this piece of sheet music with him. ]