I find it hard to tell you, I find it hard to take.

[unfavorableinstigation]

Who: Nita and YOU. Preferably close CR, but anyone can stop by.
Where: Quiet Car, second floor, a room near the front of the carriage.
When: Middle half of Grasshopper; post-platform, pre-event.
What: A(n ex-) wizard retreats. Some may come to reprimand, some to console, some just to find out WTF happened.
Warnings: ... Discussion of what's basically psychic assault in this log, folks. Mind your headspace!


After the platform, Nita retreated into herself. That was the best way to describe it; she could not be 'booked' in one of these rooms the same way she could have been in the Medical Car, but she spent as much time as she could in just the one room, not speaking unless spoken to, not leaving except to go to the restroom or fetch another journal.

No matter when one arrived to check on her, she would be either resting - staring off into space more than actually sleeping - or writing.

Some of the words were crossed out, as if she had had a tough time finding the right ones, but the writing looked to be formal in nature. A report. And, most notably, it was in English, not the alien curves of the Speech.

If she had to live with her actions, Nita figured, the least she could do was explain them - and explain why they were wrong.

Mostly, though, what encompassed her mind was the emptiness of it all. She couldn't even be angry now.

Fitting.

Comments

[badassfreakingoverlord]

Quiet car his tomely ass!

Zetta all but smashed through the door, which was to say the minion carrying him used him as a wedge to shove the door open.

"Uh."

His dignity utterly compromised by that, Zetta looked awkwardly at Nita for a moment, before he and his minion slowly retreated back out, shutting the door behind them.

A pause.

In a fury, the door banged open to reveal the furious Overlord. Second try!

"I hear you've been doing dumb stuff!"

This is the best tag I could possibly have received; thank you. ;a;

[unfavorableinstigation]

Nita jolted out of her seat, just barely managing to balance instead of hitting the floor.

Leaning on the wall awkwardly, she got to her feet, staring.

"... Yeah. 'Dumb' works," she replied, not quite letting herself look away from Zetta (or his minion) just yet.

"Anything else you wanted to say?"

There wasn't even any bite to the words.

[badassfreakingoverlord]

"Yeah," Zetta said, as his minion shut the door behind them. "What exactly HAPPENED?"

He'd only heard smatterings of generalities, secondhand, after all.

[unfavorableinstigation]

Nita breathed out, breathed in.

"I broke a promise. An Oath, even. And I didn't even learn anything about the train for it."

Not that she could call that the focus now.

[badassfreakingoverlord]

Zetta rolled his eyes. How he did that with no ocular structures made the gesture all the more impressive. "Oh come ON, you know my next question is gonna be for you to explain that."

[unfavorableinstigation]

Zetta had to wait... about sixty seconds. And then, quietly, Nita said, in as close to one breath as possible:

"I assaulted the train with a spell designed to extract information. It kicked me out, and now I don't have enacture anymore. I'm not a wizard anymore."

[badassfreakingoverlord]

"...That's stupid."

The whole damn thing. It's stupid.

"Seriously? I expect better from you than that."

[unfavorableinstigation]

Where there might have been a snappy retort, there was nothing but quiet acceptance.

Nita nodded, glum as could be.

"I- I was angry. Lost one too many people. And I was sick of waiting for answers."

[badassfreakingoverlord]

"Huh? I don't mean doing it!" Because if anyone knew about anger and retaliation, it was Zetta. "I mean the major mopefest afterwards. What's up with that?"

[unfavorableinstigation]

"... When I lost wizardry, I lost connection with its- soul, I guess?"

Nita had never gotten the question as to what exactly the peridexis was answered.

"That soul was- probably the friend I've had the longest, when it comes to being outside of home. He was there where there weren't even any other wizards. Losing power's one thing, but I miss them more, and I have no one to blame but myself."

Her voice broke on the last part.

[badassfreakingoverlord]

"Yeah, yeah." Zetta, master of sympathy. But he regarded Nita with a glare that was less cruel mockery and more... disappointment, maybe? "Guy who lost literally everything including his own freaking body here, remember? You didn't lose who YOU are any more than I lost who I am. You miss magic? Get up and get to work on getting it back. Because if you try, you will. I sure as hell know THAT much about you."

[unfavorableinstigation]

The disappointment was arguably better, in terms of her coping with it.

"... Okay. That all you've got for now, then?"

But she would be thinking about what he said, no matter what.

Strange to think that even an evil overlord believed she could do anything, if she tried.

She took a breath.

"Because, if that's it, then I have a report to write, and I need to get started."

[badassfreakingoverlord]

"...What, you think I'm just leaving?"

How did this happen?!

[unfavorableinstigation]

"Not sure if you've noticed, but this isn't exactly your normal space," Nita replied, turning away.

"It's a lot smaller than the Garden Car, for one. And I'd, uh, hate to keep you here."

A little bit of her usual nature resurfacing? Perhaps.

[badassfreakingoverlord]

"Yeah, you know how I was saying they didn't make you less Nita? That includes being stupid if someone leaves you alone, so I'm sticking around till you snap out of it. Otherwise you'll just sit here thinking circular depressing thoughts." The book, huffing, took up a spot right in midair.

[unfavorableinstigation]

Nita opened her mouth to protest that she wasn't alone, not really-

But then, that was exactly the problem, wasn't it?

"Might be more than just a day or two," Nita pointed out, but most of the bite was still gone from her words.

But she sat down at the desk, flipping to a blank page in her journal, and began to write.

[badassfreakingoverlord]

"I have faith you'll get your ass together before then. But it's not like this freaking train is laugh-a-minute." Annoying Nita mercilessly was an excellent defense against boredom, actually.

[unfavorableinstigation]

It would be some minutes before Nita spoke again; the only other sound was the noise of gently-scratching pen on paper.

"I'm not getting wizardry back unless the train deems it's okay."

She'd had to be told that bit, but it wasn't that hard to reason out; the wronged party deciding the punishment's length.

Perhaps the peridexis hadn't wanted to make the ultimate decision there.

[badassfreakingoverlord]

Zetta huffed. "There are like a million different 'wizardries' out there. I've told you enough that you should've figured that out by now. It's all the same basic idea in the end."

[unfavorableinstigation]

"Check my status."

If he did, he'd find, instead of 'wizard' among her stats, the word 'indeterminate'

"I'm not going to cheat to get wizardry back. It's not about the power."

[badassfreakingoverlord]

Titles change, man. They were really important, but they changed. "How the hell is taking a different path 'cheating'? That's like saying if the highway's closed, you're just gonna sit and wait for it to reopen instead of taking the back roads!"

[unfavorableinstigation]

This time Nita stopped writing, turning around to look the book dead in the eye.

"Because if I want to see my friend again, I have to be someone who can be a wizard of the Powers' Oath in Life's Name."

[badassfreakingoverlord]

"Oh look, only the highway goes to that exit..." Zetta scoffed, not in the least intimidated by her direct glare. "What's the point of having power if you can't make happen what you want to happen?"

[unfavorableinstigation]

"And what's the point in having friends if you aren't willing to change your behavior for them, if you're the one who hurt them in the first place?"

Not that she thought Zetta would understand that point.

[badassfreakingoverlord]

"Hold up. Isn't the TRAIN what screwed around with your magic?" He was starting to get confused, here.