milliways_bar | (no subject)

"Prince Random danOberon."

He cocks his head.

"And you're right. I'm not like you."

A prince. So he's not a God then...thats interesting.

'No, you seem to think you're better than me. But its all just a matter of perspective Random.' He frowns. 'DanOberon? Almost like the Fairy King.' He smirks and says dryly, 'How apt.'

"Unless perhaps it is the fairy king?"

He gives Ramon a look that tells him he's being an idiot.

"What? The strange little man with pointed ears and magic tricks a relative of Oberon? With the Celtic word for 'son' (being 'dan') tacked onto the front of his name? Good Lord. What a coincidence."

Not quite a God.

'I'm not Celtic Random, in case you hadn't noticed,' is the dry response. He's intruiged though, because he's only heard of Oberon through the Shakespeare play, and didn't know he had any sons.

'Son of the Fairy King then. Well, I suppose it explains the cards and the age.' He wonders whether fairies are immortal or not. Simply not dying is not the same as being immune to death. And wasn't there something about iron...?

'Is your father here too?'

"Would I tell you if he was?"

He mutters something along the lines of 'Is cuirfidh siad ruaig ar Ghallaibh. A bhuÃ le RÃ na bhFeart go bhfeiceann.'

And smirks.

"And it explains more than that, if you look closer than the fairytale of 'This weak and idle theme, no more yeilding than a dream.'"

Not if you're going to get him to protect your little friends...

'Well, I'm afraid it's been about forty years since I came across the fairytale Random, and I certainly didn't care to look any further into it. So why don't you just enlighten me?'

He simply ignores the Gaelic. As far as he's aware, not even Celtic people speak it much anymore, so he doesn't feel bad for not understanding.

"I think that'd be making things a little too easy."

He folds his arms across his chest, and raises an eyebrow.

"Go enlighten yourself."

It's amazing how dirty he manages to make that sound.

He sighs and is more tired than he's ever been in his life. 'I wish I could say I don't understand why you just said that, but unfortunately, I do.' With what he's feeling, he can see why people wouldn't want to help him out. 'Still, I'll find out anyway, so you could just spare us all some trouble.'

He drinks again, his stomach screaming in protest at the abuse. 'I think I'm being enlightened quite enough at present, wouldn't you say?'

"You shouldn't bother with the drink. It won't help."

That's as close to an apology as he's ever going to get.

"And the simple truth of it is there's not much of a story to tell."

He lowers the bottle at looks at Random. 'Drinking's usually good for quietening the mind.' But he puts it down for a while, because he might have a point. He drops his face into his hands for a moment, then takes a deep breath and raises his head again. When he speaks, his tone is as close to friendly as it'll probably ever be, since Random found out who he was anyway. They'd been getting on fine before that.

'I'd still like to hear it.'

"Oberon rules Amber, which is my home. It is a city outside of time, and space."

He shrugs.

"He has nine sons. All of us raised for the possibility of taking the seat of power, and thus holding the seat of 'Guardian of the Pattern.'"

He grins, rather wickedly.

"We fight for it."

'And you're all different? Different magic?' He thinks for a moment, because a lot of things dont seem to make sense. 'I would have thought that Oberon was immortal. And what's the Pattern?'

He looks at Random's grin, and is surprised. 'You never really struck me as the kind of being that craved power.'

He's genuinely interested, and finds that he likes talking to Random. Doesn't like him much but that doesn't mean the conversation isn't entertaining. And distracting, which is what he welcomes most at this point.

"Well, I'm not a serious player, at the moment. I'm supporting an older sibling who's a tad more aggressive."

He shrugs.

"'S reason enough to get me into trouble, though. And yes, Oberon is immortal. He's just bored."

An abbreviated version of the reasons for his absence from the throne. But accurate enough, none the less.

'Supporting a brother makes you a target for the others? That's...well...' He breaks off. He was going to say it was stupid - for a start, why not be the one who wants the power? Or if you can't get it, why support anyone? But he hasn't got the energy to start another argument.

'If he does it just because he's bored, why do you play at all? Just walk away.'

"No. He's bored of ruling. He's been on the throne for a very long time, and has had his fill of it."

He wonders if Ramon can understand someone voluntarily giving up such power.

"As for me, I do not want the constraints such a title carries. My magic would be severly limited, my freedom non existant, and my life would belong to others."

He leans forward, smiling again.

"And the game is in my blood."

'What will he do instead though?' He frowns. No, he doesn't understand.

He also doesnt understand the concept of wanting to be that free. 'But you would rule. Isn't that worth it?'

He gets the whats in the blood though - the lust for power is in his.

"No. It wouldn't be. Trading the ability to fly for the ability to sit in a golden cage and pull a string that sets off a Rube Goldberg machine of political paper-pushers is not something I plan to do."

He shrugs.

"What's the point of having a power like that when there's nothing you can do with it?"

'But you would have respect. There's nothing better than that. And if you ruled, you could change things so that you could have whatever you want.'

He rules, in his own way. And does exactly what he pleases, so he doesn't see the problem.

"I have respect. More then the brother sitting on the throne, that's for certain."

He sips his drink.

"And the Pattern is set. There is no force great enough to change the laws of the universe. Even the Emperor."

[ooc: I am now wisdom-tooth-less. Sorry 'bout the gap, but I was unconscious.]

He frowns, a little confused about the contradiction. 'So one of you has already won and is on the throne? I thought you were fighting for it?' But he can see the thing about the universe. That would be pretty hard to change.

Strangely, he can also see how Random would be an easy person to respect, for regular people. He's respected enemies in the past but Random isn't enough of one to think like that, not yet at least. but he's interesting all the same.

"Oh, he's sitting on the throne. But he's yet to be crowned. He can't receive full power until he has enough support to keep it."

A smirk.

"Which he doesn't. Thanks to me, and a few others. It's a good thing, too. If he was in charge, things would go to hell in a handbasket."

He responds to the smirk in kind. 'Why, is he a bad person? Or just stupid.'

He reaches for the bottle again, its become something of a habit for him. 'So I take it time stops for you outside of here just like everyone else then? I mean, this struggle isn't going on while you're away, right?'

[OOC: NP about the gap BTW, was busy myself. And I'm wincing in sympathy over the teeth, that sounds horrible! Hope you're OK. :)[

"It is, but I'm lying low. Last time we brushed against eachother, a few weeks ago, I got a broken leg and all the bones in my arm shattered, for my troubles."

He salutes, merrily.

"Don't you just love family?"

'Oh.' He's surprised by that too, that anyone could just walk away from a situation like that. He'd be out there plotting to break two legs and shatter both arms in revenge. 'You must heal fast then. Are you going to get him back?'

His face darkens at the mention of family. You treat him like shit every day, and he's your brother... He tries to turn his mind off but it's just not possible. He settles on a neutral reply. 'Family is inevitable. Not much you can do about it.'

"Ah, yes. Good genetics. Mind you, pain's never slowed me down. I broke the bars out of the tower wall and scaled down the castle on my way out."

He smirks.

"And we have spoken. The general consensus reached was I'd been caught, and escaped, fair and square, and that next time he's going to break both arms."

Ramon's darkening face is easy to recognize.

"You sound, by your tone, like you're in much the same situation."