Rezo the Red Priest (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
redprayer) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
voidtreckerexpress2022-04-10 03:28 am
redprayer) wrote in voidtreckerexpress2022-04-10 03:28 am
Entry tags:
"getting angry doesn't solve anything."
Who: Rezo Greywords, Zelgadis Greywords, anyone who wants to call Rezo out on being weird.
Where: Upper floor of Sleeper Three.
When: Quicksand 21, in the evening.
What: Rezo wants to talk to Zelgadis, but they’re not exactly on speaking terms, and it’s hard for a blind man to keep an eye out for someone. So he resorts to being a creeper.
Warnings: Psychological and familial abuse and the aftereffects thereof; stalking; possibly violence depending on how badly Rezo fucks this up.
This isn’t the worst idea that Rezo has ever had in his life, far from it, but it does have the rare distinction of being an action he regrets even before he does it.
But a certain matter has been nagging at him for a while, and after the recent call from Minister Nine made him think a bit more on the situation with his home, well. Certain facts have lodged into the forefront of his mind where they keep itching at him, and the need to address the matter has overridden his concerns about not upsetting the delicate truce(?) he has with Zelgadis.
The facts are these: 1) The Zelgadis on board the train is human again, or at least Rezo is something like 98% sure he is, even if Zelgadis refused to confirm it for whatever reason; 2) archived in the library on the train are the facts gained from a Q&A session with the train itself that took place some time before Rezo arrived; 3) and those facts include "it is almost impossible to take two people from the same world, so people who think they're from the same world are actually from similar worlds or alternates" which; 4) means that the Zelgadis from Rezo’s version of their world is still a chimera, if he’s still alive.
But there was a way to cure that. But Rezo doesn’t know that way. The Zelgadis aboard the train is his best lead to find that out.
Unfortunately… Actually talking to Zelgadis is a problem all on its own.
Rezo had spent much of yesterday and this morning dithering, occasionally asking people (without any luck) if they’d seen Zelgadis around, or hovering over the ICP in his cabin, unable to push the button to call Zelgadis’s cabin.
So. In the end he has resorted to grabbing a random book from the library, finding his way to the upper floor of sleeper car three, and standing near the door to cabin C, where he is pretending to read. Casually. In the hallway of a carriage he has no apparent reason to be in. As one does. Because surely Zelgadis has to return to his cabin eventually.
This is a bad idea. He knows it’s a bad, terrible idea.
But Rezo is, for all his reputation as a genius, a stubborn man before he’s a smart one.
Where: Upper floor of Sleeper Three.
When: Quicksand 21, in the evening.
What: Rezo wants to talk to Zelgadis, but they’re not exactly on speaking terms, and it’s hard for a blind man to keep an eye out for someone. So he resorts to being a creeper.
Warnings: Psychological and familial abuse and the aftereffects thereof; stalking; possibly violence depending on how badly Rezo fucks this up.
This isn’t the worst idea that Rezo has ever had in his life, far from it, but it does have the rare distinction of being an action he regrets even before he does it.
But a certain matter has been nagging at him for a while, and after the recent call from Minister Nine made him think a bit more on the situation with his home, well. Certain facts have lodged into the forefront of his mind where they keep itching at him, and the need to address the matter has overridden his concerns about not upsetting the delicate truce(?) he has with Zelgadis.
The facts are these: 1) The Zelgadis on board the train is human again, or at least Rezo is something like 98% sure he is, even if Zelgadis refused to confirm it for whatever reason; 2) archived in the library on the train are the facts gained from a Q&A session with the train itself that took place some time before Rezo arrived; 3) and those facts include "it is almost impossible to take two people from the same world, so people who think they're from the same world are actually from similar worlds or alternates" which; 4) means that the Zelgadis from Rezo’s version of their world is still a chimera, if he’s still alive.
But there was a way to cure that. But Rezo doesn’t know that way. The Zelgadis aboard the train is his best lead to find that out.
Unfortunately… Actually talking to Zelgadis is a problem all on its own.
Rezo had spent much of yesterday and this morning dithering, occasionally asking people (without any luck) if they’d seen Zelgadis around, or hovering over the ICP in his cabin, unable to push the button to call Zelgadis’s cabin.
So. In the end he has resorted to grabbing a random book from the library, finding his way to the upper floor of sleeper car three, and standing near the door to cabin C, where he is pretending to read. Casually. In the hallway of a carriage he has no apparent reason to be in. As one does. Because surely Zelgadis has to return to his cabin eventually.
This is a bad idea. He knows it’s a bad, terrible idea.
But Rezo is, for all his reputation as a genius, a stubborn man before he’s a smart one.
no subject
So he did usually come back to his cabin before the end of the day to actually try to be at least ready for bed. Of course, he had come up the stairs and only then noticed Rezo, standing in such a way that it was impossible for Zelgadis to get to his cabin and slam the door (and hope a roommate didn't just let him in). He debated just turning around and waiting for lights-out, but it was obvious that Rezo had done this deliberately, and short of checking himself into the medical ward (which... Rezo probably spent some time there, since he actually was a competent healer), this wasn't going to solve the problem.
So, he was just going to storm up to Rezo. "What the hell are you doing here? Your cabin isn't even on an upper floor, so don't tell me you miscounted." Yes, he checked.
no subject
As ever, Zelgadis is straight to the point. Rezo shuts his book- he’s not even sure what book it is or what it’s about, he’d just picked a random thick one in case Zelgadis made him wait all night- and turns to Zelgadis, being very careful that his face is still, his expression under control.
“I wasn’t sure how else to get in touch with you,” Rezo states. “There’s something I need to talk to you about. When and where would be a good place?”
no subject
Because he was quite fine with having the discussion in the hall, if it meant it would be short. But if it's more about Shabranigdu, he would concede they probably needed one of the quiet rooms or his cabin (if it was unoccupied) to avoid panicking the other train residents. But, frankly, that was probably the only situation where Zelgadis would get into a space alone with Rezo that couldn't be interrupted by other people. He just didn't (or couldn't) trust Rezo.
no subject
So he leads in with “You are aware that the train apparently cannot take individuals from the exact same world? Thus, we are most likely from slightly divergent timelines?”
With the divergence probably being the train’s interference, actually.
no subject
no subject
"At any rate," he says, and here his voice gets quieter, "That would mean that the Zelgadis in my world is still a chimera, assuming he's still alive."
no subject
no subject
“It’s just something that occurred to me after Minister Nine contacted the train,” Rezo says. “Since that concerns an… unwelcome passenger, I am not sure this would be the best place to discuss it. Suffice to say I think it’s only a minor possibility; I’m sure Lina could have handled things even if the train interference made anything go wrong.”
Really, the situation doesn’t seem definite one way or another, which is absolutely marvelous. At any rate, Rezo presses on.
“Another thing that came up is the possibility of the Void Ministry tracking down our worlds and opening a line of communications with them. If that works out, I think it’s safe to say that the other Zelgadis would appreciate any information you could pass along about your cure, but… If you’re no longer on the train by that point, someone else would have to do so.”
Do you understand, Zelgadis?
no subject
Hopefully, no one in the neighboring cabins was trying to sleep. Zelgadis isn't keeping his voice down very well. He's also trying to sound angry, but there is an actual pain in his voice as well.
He knows that, in this hypothetical other Zelgadis's position, he'd be desperate enough to trust Rezo. Hell, he'd asked Rezo before, in a circumstance where he'd felt like the other man would tell him the truth. Which meant Zelgadis had an obligation to his alternate self. What sort, he didn't know. Maybe to be the one who could see past the desperation to consider actual consequences.
no subject
In a tense, near-whisper, he continues. “Why wouldn’t I do that? I hardly have any reason to want you to stay a... stay like that.”
He doesn’t try to contradict the second half of what Zelgadis says. It’s true, after all.
no subject
Something about Rezo brings out the teenager Zelgadis was not that long ago, without the hero worship that Zelgadis actually felt back then. But he was going to be that particularly self-centered view of someone who has totally forgotten he is in the hallway of a sleeper car because of how much he needs to exorcise these feelings.
Knock Knock. Who's there? Interrupting Nia. Interrupting Nia wh-
If the two of you are going to argue all night, take it somewhere else! Some of us like to get to sleep before the train makes us pass out!
"NYA!" - nia, presumably
Alas, or perhaps it’s for the better, that is when the interrupting Nia butts in. Not that Rezo particularly recognizes the voice, but the pounding and the yelling still gets through and Rezo falls silent. Inhales. Exhales.
"A friend of yours, Zelgadis?"
Re: "NYA!" - nia, presumably
It had taken the wind out of his sails, though. "Do you want to continue this conversation somewhere where people are not trying to sleep?" Because, dammit, he now did have to decide what he was going to do with this.
no subject
“It’s… fine. I’ll try not to take up much more of your time.”
Rezo takes another few breaths, trying to straighten his thoughts.
He needs to… try to think of things from Zelgadis’s perspective, doesn’t he? Otherwise, he’s liable to set his great-grandson off again.
To Zelgadis, Rezo isn’t the Red Priest who would go out of his way to heal anyone he came across; he knows full well that Rezo is ruthless, obsessive, unstable, and attached in some way or another to the Dark Lord.
Oh yes, and also gloomy, and a collector of dolls.
Zelgadis’s assumptions are really quite reasonable, much as Rezo wishes they weren’t. But if he won’t trust Rezo with this, then…
The answer occurs to him then. It even seems quite obvious.
“If you can’t trust me to do this, then don’t,” Rezo says. “I’ll give you my system number, and you can pass everything you know along to people you can trust.”
no subject
Zelgadis considers sharing the number -- not Caleb and Essek's names or what he can remember about what part of their world they are from. But it would be an exercise in frustration without that information. On the other hand, it also probably could solve the Shabranigdu problem, though from prior experience, Zelgadis knows that no one wants other people's demon lords to show up and become thier problem. And Rezo probably would make it their problem. So better not to tempt him. He owed Caleb far more than that.
no subject
Well. He can’t pry, not when they’ve already attracted attention. Zelgadis will get a small nod.
“I’ll call your cabin later,” Rezo says. You know, like a ~normal person~ would. “...I’m sure you can figure out the other details on your own.”
no subject
no subject
And coincidentally, Rezo doesn’t know how to end this conversation either! Insomuch as he’d let himself think that far, he’d assumed it would probably end with Zelgadis slamming a door in his face or maybe storming off, but a certain nosy neighbor had defused things before that could happen.
…Zelgadis can't exactly slam a door with Rezo standing in front of it, so Rezo clears his throat and steps aside.
“That is all I wished to speak with you about.”
no subject
Hopefully he would actually get some sleep, other than what the train enforces for passenger health and safety.
no subject
Not that Rezo is able to end the exchange without making it weird, because he chooses to abruptly turn around and head towards the stairs. It probably looks very dramatic because it's Rezo but really, he just doesn't know what the hell else he's supposed to do in this situation.
Rezo will call Zelgadis's cabin as soon he gets back to his own and asks the train for his system number. The sooner they get this over with, the sooner they can go back to comfortably ignoring each other.