>>6338463You march into the Lord Inquisitor’s office in the wee hours of the morning with your usual radiant elegance, only broken by your slight stumble. Last night's sleep, or lack thereof, was not exactly what most would call restful. You’re sure that your face does not bear the grace that one of your station should naturally produce, but who can blame you? After all, nightmares were the least of your concerns when you were confronted with the deep confines of your psyche. You feel as if you had gazed upon an endless abyss, and it had not only gazed back, it smiled. This world, an illusion- no, a mimic more like. Every fiber of your being wishes to reject this reality and substitute it with one imagined from your mind, one that makes more sense. But that horrid grin slicing through the fat cheeks of the Lord Inquisitor all but proves this reality is all too real.
“You saw,” he says. Your face twitches.
“Explain. Everything.” You demand.
He makes a wide gesture with his stubby limbs, “What is there to explain?!” He laughs, “When all I can do is confirm what you already know. Or perhaps you expect me to give out <span class="mu-i">all</span> the secrets I've carefully collected and curated over my existence? There are quite a few I can assure you, and at this point, all they’d serve to do is distract.”
“And what could that possibly mean?”
“I assure you, Your most sophisticated of Highnesses, You have matters much more pressing than pondering the meaning of existence, don't you? Besides, that's a pointless endeavor anyway,” He flips his hand wishy-washily, “The answer you'll find is quite absurd.”
You sigh and change topic to stop the burgeoning migraine, “So then you will train me for the tournament? I need not finish your dull paperwork?”
“Indeed, I shall. Though I would recommend finishing it,” he says with a not-so-sly wink, “You may find some valuable information there.”
“I doubt it. And would not knowing more about this world, about how our enemies enter it, be vital information for me to know? Perhaps I should ask Dorothy-” A bang comes from under his table, he did not hit it, not with his hands at least, but it's clear you uttering such an obscene taunt has caused him to jerk his knee up, the one he currently holds in pain. You raise an eyebrow.
“You know as well as I that would be a dangerous and fruitless endeavor.”
“Do I? For you know far more than I in that catalog of secrets of yours.”
“Argh, them Perhaps it would do you good to know more.” He admits that through the all-too-dramatic pain. Oh, come on, it couldn't have hurt that much. “But I cannot see how it would do you much good for the mission you're assigned. This is truly nothing special. Grand Tournaments have happened many times before and will many times again. The only difference between working on one of these and taking on other Strangers is scale.”
“You mean for me to believe the Metal Castle was not of a similar scale?”
