"Then you look for someone who's picking up lost souls." Symon replied, his chin tipping up. His eyes narrowed, "Unless you were thinking of striking out on your own? If, perse, my unit unraveled at the seams?" His gaze sharpened.
Zexion's face was an unchanging mask, nothing shifted under the honed scrutiny of Symon's pointed words, nor his watch.
"You seem to have engendered enough loyalty in your men that I really can't see that happening, sir." He replied smoothly, despite those few spooked-stiff soldiers that had been crying wolf on and off since shortly before midnight, at all of nothing that a thorough search could turned up on the perimeters.
"(This soul's been lost for a very long time." The Noboy added, quieter. This time the corner of his mouth dimpled, in spite of himself. "You, nor any master of this world is likely to recover it.)"
Symon batted away the flattery. "So not even your captain had it then?" He asked softly. "Do you keep it safe, just for yourself, untouched by anyone else?"
A small laugh nearly exploded through his nostrils, a bitter sound he couldn't surpress quickly enough. "No no," He shook his head, grinning tensely. "Safe? aHeh. If only. But out of reach, perhaps."
The Captain had precious little of him, all things considered? His body, some command over where he went, but all in all? It was an outward game. Even his loyalty, part and parcel of playing the unassuming pawn.
"Out of reach." Symon mused. He supposed it was close enough to safe that a cell would get. He was tired enough that his eyes ached, trying to figure out deal with the illusions and the low-level chaos it had been sowing through his normally painfully regimented unit. But he didn't slump, didn't rub at his tired eyes, instead, kept his focus on the man before him. It was a gut feeling, and assumption he was making, but he just felt that his unassuming man before him either knew about the mage, or was the mage. He seriously doubted that any of the rough soldiers they had captured could even read, let alone perform powerful magics.
"Is that why you've been making our life hellish?" He asked, bluntly. "Out of reach is almost like being safe?"
"Your lives hellish?" The illusionist replied lightly, his expression cool and impassive and patient as his fingers twitched behind his back in their bonds.
"I... I hardly presume to be safe now, sir." He said at last, more carefully, shifting the mail cuff along his wrist against the ties. "They can still take control of my body at any time. I only meant that... here in Sheatris, is not the first time I've found myself displaced. It's a bit... tiresome, to be shunted around this way."
At that, Symon smiled, the words gently murmured, "Ahhh, but we are Zakiem troops. Are you worried that somehow we will be worse than your current situation?" And he shrugged a little, before continuing on, unsympathetic, "War has a way of doing that."
The young mage raised his eyes, but not his chin, and seemed to consider the velvety change in the Captain's tone with weary curiousity. War was nothing so glorious as certain guards in his former coterie had often spoken of it, but then, he'd always supposed that Xigbar and Xaldin's bravado, along with all the epic stories put to paper, never had much part for him to play in things.
"Will you give me reasonable hope to think otherwise?" He asked plainly.
"I can certainly hope to try." Symon replied, blunt and frank. He always kept a sharp eye out for potential recruits, and unlike other members of the Empress' army, did not turn his nose up at Wulgrimm soldiers or cells.
There's a dwindling pause, a weighty quiet, and the mage tries to get away with simply making a low, non-commital noise at first.
But soon enough the silence and Graves' eyes seem to be bearing down on him, and he sighs through his nose, shoulders hunching.
"Any loyalty of mine does not really belong to this world." He declares painstakingly, a quiet resolution.
"But Lord Euramar's summoners keep me shackled to it, on a thread of life, and the Captain keeps me out of a cage, and that is..." He swallows, eyes raising again with some grudging difficulty in meeting the officer's gaze for long. "An arrangement that is only half-relevant for the moment, or so it appears."
"Perhaps not." Symon replied, his voice quiet. "But it will not be overlooked, nor undervalued. From me at least." When asked what he wanted, Symon laughed, softly, going back to the original matter at hand. "Stop driving us mad with your magics, as a starter." He replied, "But," He paused, taking in a deep breath, "Perhaps there could be something more between us. Something more than just the demands of a captor to a captive." Symon leaned in closer, his eyes bright and intense on the younger man, "You want to be freed of your captain, and I want to win this war. Surely we can find common ground in that."
"Well it got me out from between Gren and Burke, didn't it?" The boy replied cheekily, a tiny tucked smirk of satisfaction flashing briefly at the corner of his mouth. "I'll have to thank your man for cramming a boot up in his mouth, finally." Zexion rolled his eyes.
"I want to be freed of more than my Captain." He frowned patiently, looking 'round at his control band, twisting his sheathed wrist against the bindinga. "Bert's made this whole ordeal tidy as can be by Wulgrimm's standards, for my cooperation."
His brows lifted in cooled consideration, drinking in Symon's leer. "Now that Lafidia's won, how much longer does Zakiem anticipate this war will drag on for?"
"Merrick will appreciate it." Symon replied, a smile hovering at his lips.
At the question though, he sighed a little, rubbing at his temple. "It's hard to say." He didn't want to spill all the information to this unknown element. "But that's why we need every edge we can get." His head tipped a little, "So, more than just your captain, just all of Wulgrimm? I appreciate a man who thinks big."
Merrick. That was the name of the one who'd practically frogmarched him here, then. Zexion committed it to memory with a nod.
"If not for his claim on me, I was bound for the Cells." The illusionist explained, which seemed awfully wasteful of Wulgrimm's evaluators, unless they somehow hadn't realized they had an illusionist on their hands?
"I don't have a soldier's constitution." The mage insisted too lightly, with all the coy arrogance of a lapcat. Of course not, and it was easy to see why he'd look too scrawny to hold his own among the ranks of this particular band of brutes, especially. Nearly all of them in the frontlines of Bertram's company were twice as broad and thickset with the sort of overswollen muscle mass that came with certain techniques of channeling a glut of mana into superhuman growth, something that really wasn't heavily advised by the Empress's faction.
But that didn't mean the Captain had set him to strictly recreational work, either. Clever, to keep secret weapon on the sly and pretend it was only a fucktoy. Stupid, to leave it lying in your cot unattended while your camp was attacked.
"Soldiers can come in many different flavors." Symon replied, quietly. "Not all wars, or even battles are won by brawn. You skills could turn a battle. But then again even your captain saw that, didn't he?"
"I don't want to fight." Zexion insisted with a slow wag of his head, plainly as he had before his inquisitors after summoning. "I don't mind being useful, but I certainly don't want to go head to head with seasoned warriors."
"My master saw in me an amusing set of parlour tricks... maybe he had something greater in mind, for me? But who's to say? I still haven't been here terribly long."
"I have the feeling more than a bag of tricks." Symon replied, shaking his head, "Your illusions could reshape battlefields, trap troops, just...change everything." There's a light in Graves' eyes, almost like lust as he thinks what he could do with an illusionist.
"And," He smiles a little, "You wouldn't have to be in the midst of the battle to do, now would you?"
"Illusionary magic on that scale demands a great deal of focus, (not to mention power)." Zexion cautions severely, meeting Symon's hungry gaze with eyes wide and blue and a little like a contrite child's. He had certainly managed it in the Winter Ring of Lafidia, and without much prompting? He'd been saturated with mana from the eve before, then.
"That... depends." He murmurs carefully. He could script all sorts of mirages into his Lexicon and unleash them, but explaining their limitations to a military tactician could prove dicey. "Typically, keeping my targets within a line of sight is preferable?"
Symon took a deep breath, and reigned his excitement back in. It wouldn't do to get ahead of himself after all. So for now, he focused back on the practicalities. Fantasies were on his own time.
"I could spare a few men to guard you." Symon offered. "And certainly wouldn't keep you up in the middle of the battlefield."
Silence spooled out again, uncomfortable. Beyond the tent, the camp had gone quiet again, no calling out from on-edge patrols.
Was he waiting on a yes?
Zexion was hesitant to give him a yes. He didn't really like swearing himself to anyone. At least as a slave, he could say it was a fate that had been forced on him.
But a rear guard. And Zakiem food... and after the state of things back in Wulgrimm, after the failure at Lafidia...
The illusionist shuddered a little, shaking his head. Although he had few bargaining tools, unless they managed to cut the band off him, he still was the Captain's mislaid property.
"I told them I didn't want to be a soldier." He finally spoke, gathering up an uneasy sullenness in his voice. When I refused, they made me a plaything instead.
"What makes you think your conscription is any different?"
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no subject
Date: 2017-03-15 02:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-03-15 02:40 am (UTC)"You seem to have engendered enough loyalty in your men that I really can't see that happening, sir." He replied smoothly, despite those few spooked-stiff soldiers that had been crying wolf on and off since shortly before midnight, at all of nothing that a thorough search could turned up on the perimeters.
"(This soul's been lost for a very long time." The Noboy added, quieter. This time the corner of his mouth dimpled, in spite of himself. "You, nor any master of this world is likely to recover it.)"
no subject
Date: 2017-03-15 03:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-03-15 03:57 am (UTC)The Captain had precious little of him, all things considered? His body, some command over where he went, but all in all? It was an outward game. Even his loyalty, part and parcel of playing the unassuming pawn.
no subject
Date: 2017-03-15 02:14 pm (UTC)"Is that why you've been making our life hellish?" He asked, bluntly. "Out of reach is almost like being safe?"
no subject
Date: 2017-03-15 02:28 pm (UTC)"I... I hardly presume to be safe now, sir." He said at last, more carefully, shifting the mail cuff along his wrist against the ties. "They can still take control of my body at any time. I only meant that... here in Sheatris, is not the first time I've found myself displaced. It's a bit... tiresome, to be shunted around this way."
no subject
Date: 2017-03-15 02:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-03-16 01:58 am (UTC)"Will you give me reasonable hope to think otherwise?" He asked plainly.
no subject
Date: 2017-03-22 08:46 pm (UTC)Even a beaten dog could be retrained, after all.
no subject
Date: 2017-03-22 09:43 pm (UTC)But soon enough the silence and Graves' eyes seem to be bearing down on him, and he sighs through his nose, shoulders hunching.
"Any loyalty of mine does not really belong to this world." He declares painstakingly, a quiet resolution.
"But Lord Euramar's summoners keep me shackled to it, on a thread of life, and the Captain keeps me out of a cage, and that is..." He swallows, eyes raising again with some grudging difficulty in meeting the officer's gaze for long. "An arrangement that is only half-relevant for the moment, or so it appears."
"So what is it you want from me?"
no subject
Date: 2017-03-22 09:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-03-22 10:17 pm (UTC)"I want to be freed of more than my Captain." He frowned patiently, looking 'round at his control band, twisting his sheathed wrist against the bindinga. "Bert's made this whole ordeal tidy as can be by Wulgrimm's standards, for my cooperation."
His brows lifted in cooled consideration, drinking in Symon's leer. "Now that Lafidia's won, how much longer does Zakiem anticipate this war will drag on for?"
no subject
Date: 2017-03-22 11:15 pm (UTC)At the question though, he sighed a little, rubbing at his temple. "It's hard to say." He didn't want to spill all the information to this unknown element. "But that's why we need every edge we can get." His head tipped a little, "So, more than just your captain, just all of Wulgrimm? I appreciate a man who thinks big."
no subject
Date: 2017-03-22 11:29 pm (UTC)"If not for his claim on me, I was bound for the Cells." The illusionist explained, which seemed awfully wasteful of Wulgrimm's evaluators, unless they somehow hadn't realized they had an illusionist on their hands?
"I don't have a soldier's constitution." The mage insisted too lightly, with all the coy arrogance of a lapcat. Of course not, and it was easy to see why he'd look too scrawny to hold his own among the ranks of this particular band of brutes, especially. Nearly all of them in the frontlines of Bertram's company were twice as broad and thickset with the sort of overswollen muscle mass that came with certain techniques of channeling a glut of mana into superhuman growth, something that really wasn't heavily advised by the Empress's faction.
But that didn't mean the Captain had set him to strictly recreational work, either. Clever, to keep secret weapon on the sly and pretend it was only a fucktoy. Stupid, to leave it lying in your cot unattended while your camp was attacked.
no subject
Date: 2017-03-25 05:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-03-26 05:40 am (UTC)"My master saw in me an amusing set of parlour tricks... maybe he had something greater in mind, for me? But who's to say? I still haven't been here terribly long."
no subject
Date: 2017-03-28 02:18 am (UTC)"And," He smiles a little, "You wouldn't have to be in the midst of the battle to do, now would you?"
no subject
Date: 2017-03-28 02:53 am (UTC)"That... depends." He murmurs carefully. He could script all sorts of mirages into his Lexicon and unleash them, but explaining their limitations to a military tactician could prove dicey. "Typically, keeping my targets within a line of sight is preferable?"
no subject
Date: 2017-03-31 01:36 am (UTC)"I could spare a few men to guard you." Symon offered. "And certainly wouldn't keep you up in the middle of the battlefield."
no subject
Date: 2017-03-31 02:14 am (UTC)Was he waiting on a yes?
Zexion was hesitant to give him a yes. He didn't really like swearing himself to anyone. At least as a slave, he could say it was a fate that had been forced on him.
But a rear guard. And Zakiem food... and after the state of things back in Wulgrimm, after the failure at Lafidia...
The illusionist shuddered a little, shaking his head. Although he had few bargaining tools, unless they managed to cut the band off him, he still was the Captain's mislaid property.
"I told them I didn't want to be a soldier." He finally spoke, gathering up an uneasy sullenness in his voice. When I refused, they made me a plaything instead.
"What makes you think your conscription is any different?"