bolderfell | Prismatica Inbox

Answer me, or I'll tell you a terribly unsatisfying story.

Come on, saying one way or the other isn't nearly as good storytelling. Isn't it better when both are equally true?

No, and you know very well it isn't, and I'll remember this, you insufferable brat.

But don't worry, I'll have my little revenge sooner or later.

I'm shaking in my boots. What do you have for me, then?

I do like to see you tremble.

But regardless, I think I'll tell you a story about an object, myself. A treasure of sorts, that held the power to grant its user's heart's desire, when bathed in the light of the full moon.

Ah, magical and dangerous. Bet it's pretty, too.

Think it's clear by now I'll never say no to a story about treasure. What's this one called?

The Forlorn Hope. It's a mirror, about the size of a person's hand. It's also one of a set of three treasures known as the Artifacts of Darkness, said to exist in the world for the sake of balance. For good to exist, there must also be evil in equal measure. In this case, someone saw fit to concentrate that evil into this particular trio of artifacts.

But before I tell you any more about it, I want an answer from you. What would you do with such a treasure, if you were to possess it? What desire would using it grant you?

[From the length of time he takes to answer, he's giving it the careful thought a question like that deserves, even if what he finally ends up saying is just:]

I don't know. Don't know that I would have a use for something like that. Even if I didn't know it was somehow full of evil -- and don't get me wrong. If I knew, I wouldn't use it because I'm a mistrustful cynic, not because I'm some kind of saint -- I just can't think of anything I'd ever want that badly.

Probably I'd keep it around in case some need arose. But maybe not. Just not the kind of thing I typically go in for.

Cordelia is stricken with poison and will die before an antidote can be found. You're watching her perish, slowly and in pain, before your eyes.

She's hiding it from you, badly but dutifully, because she fears it would be bothersome to you to allow you see her suffering.

Yes. I'd use it.

A demon who used it once felt similarly.

It's a little-known bit of apocrypha in the long tale of the Forlorn Hope. A demon risked life and limb to spirit away the treasure from the vault where it was kept, not to conquer the world or to imbue itself with infinite power, but because a wish on the Forlorn Hope might preserve the life of a human woman.

It's rare for a demon to develop that sort of sentiment. Most demons that sympathize with humans are seen as traitors to their own kind. But I always thought it a little admirable of that one, to set out to do something so selfless.

Of course, it's not called the Forlorn Hope without reason. There are conditions attached to the granting of one's heart's desire. And in this case, the price of the Forlorn Hope is the user's life.

Poetic, isn't it? It grants its user's greatest desire, and they will never live to see it come to fruition. They die with forlorn hope.

The only poetry I'm familiar with comes out of the drunks in bad taverns. Never could figure out why 'poetic' usually means 'sad.'

Knowing that, I'd still use it.

Yes, well. The story intrigued me, so on a lark, I stole the Forlorn Hope.

Clumsy me, as I was carrying it back to my hoard, I dropped it and shattered it on a stone. How fleetingly the evil was defeated by a little blunt force trauma; a pitiful end to an otherwise compelling tale, don't you think?

Too bad. Here I thought I'd be treated to a love story. How your parents met or something. Well, all's well that ends well, or ends in a hundred broken shards on the ground, anyway.

You really want to hear that badly if I knew the lock was undone?

[Hmmm. Hmm hmm hmm.]

You didn't ask for a love story. You asked for a story, with no guarantees of whether or not it was true.

[Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.]

And I wanted to test you.

With the question about the mirror, you mean?

Is that really how you think the story ended? I took the mirror and dropped it?

Setting aside everything else, have you ever known me to be clumsy?

Of course not. Thought you believed me more clever than that.

But I do know you didn't promise me a true story, and if you wanted to end it there, I'd have let it. Fair's fair. But if you don't want to end it there and you're just being 'bratty' because I wouldn't tell you that one little thing...

It's not that. I wanted —

...

It wasn't just being difficult for the sake of being difficult.

Is it a difficult story to tell?

Yes.

I wanted to see if you'd see through me, when I obfuscate. And if you would be daring enough to say as much to my face.

I didn't know the bangle was unlocked because I never tried to take it off. Not once. It wouldn't have mattered if it was. I'm not so green a thief I can't pick a cuff if I put my mind to it. The Fool's Bangle isn't magic like your Forlorn Hope.

You didn't ask whether I could just get it off myself. Or if I couldn't just walk away and let them deal with their own problem, find a way to continue my career despite the difficulty. What Heathcote did for me, refusing Cordelia's request, made it so I didn't have to ask those questions of myself -- not unless I was already asking. Not unless I tried to remove the band. Maybe he knew I wasn't ready for my own answer.

All that is to say, I don't know what obfuscate means, but if you do it, I'll believe it's for a reason. I'm not entitled to your life story, Kurama. I'll be content with whatever you're willing, and ready, to tell me, even if it's a mask for something else. That's why I don't push.

I had wondered about that, truthfully, but I assumed that a device crafted to shame a thief couldn't possibly be so easily removed by a thief's signature tricks. What would the use be, if anyone could slip out of it so easily?

Give me a second chance, and I'll tell the story again. A do-over. A mulligan.

It is a love story, actually. In more ways than one.

I also don't know what a mulligan is.

You're clever enough to work it out from context.

Most of the story I already told you was true. The part I left out is that the demon in question was me.

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