Seeker of Thrones 5-36
“And Prince Kassardis was given three vessels of wine, and three wives, and three rings to gird his ring-fingers. But Kassardis’ heart was heavy at his wedding ceremony, and no amount of wine could float it up from the depths it had sank to. For this ceremony held with it deadly promise, for it was custom in that part that the prince, within a week of his wedding, should choose a favorite wife. This was a marker, a battle drum of sorts, between the three wives of the great house of Ium-Am. The battle only ended when one wife stood, scarred and bloody, and the remainder were dead or exiled.
Kassardis was sick of this slaughter, and the hollow wreck of a man he called his father. His three wives were very pretty, but they were cruel as hawks. Even as he stood there besides the marriage pool, he could see the bloodlust glow behind their veiled eyes. It was for that reason he took his naming dagger and traveling cloak and fled his tower one summer night.”
– Tales of the Silver Prince
No kidding about changing faces there Cio, Allison is completely unrecognizable.
I’m pretty sure it was Princess, but you are right.
Definitely Princess, with that “peh!” I adore how in her adjustment period, she acts like a bitter old man in a bitter young woman’s body.
But devils, ever vaporous, will always change to fill their containers, and so as time goes on the old man continues to fade away!
WHITE CHAIN x NYAVE OTP
I’ll never understand this rudeness=romance thing.
This is how battered spouse syndrome starts.
I was kinda joking but I didn’t say it because White Chain was mean to her; I said it because, between this & the scene where Nyave approached White Chain on the ship, it seems those two are going to be interacting a lot more.
As you can see from my other comments, I don’t like people being mean to Nyave, either, even if it is White Chain AKA my favorite character.
Buttered spouse syndrome sounds hot.
Nice joke, you could say you’re *sunglasses* on a roll. YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH
Do you often butter your bread, before defiling it?
Asking a god for payment is very foolish until you know what that god considers currency. Know that the entrance fee to heaven is death.
It depends On the road.
Consider: this fellow works in retail. Throw at him all you will, he has witnessed worse.
I’ve heard of being emboldened by power trips, Allison – but you’re *way* too comfortable in this particular hub of reality for an extra-dimensional foreigner who’s barely spent a day in the city.
This place is bananas. And bananas is good.
I find myself agreeing with you!
Good source of potassium, at least.
Allison, get the banana
potassium
It makes sense, when you remember she’s a sorority sister! To her, this is how power acts.
A cunning ploy by the Rising King to get the unwary shopkeeper to put expensive wares back within collateral damage range. But a ploy, and nothing more.
The wise merchant catches the eyes of his competitors at such times, watching for who is new enough to have not realized the danger.
What would you do if she showed up at your stall, venerable merchant?
Depends: do I know I address the Rising King, or do I simply know I’m facing someone who said “from now on, you listen to ME” in earshot.
In the first case, I am getting out of riot-pulping range rather quickly. In the second case, I’m checking if she’s in the market for smokes and secondhand jewelry, perhaps inquiring after which of the Masters she is here representing.
Asking if the sword is for sale is my start-a-fight-to-cover-my-escape option.
That said, I hope everyone eventually starts being nicer to Nyave. She’s so cute and sweet.
Oh dear, she’s talking in Jojo Quotes.
First we view the high
then we view the fall.
And once she has fallen her second ascent will be all the more glorious.
Are you sure? Looks like after the high comes munchies.
Then a slow decline into insolvency, petty crime and compound brain damage, if my observations hold true.
$20 say’s she’s perpetually high.
A bet, I’ll claim,
For like a plane:
What goes up must come down again.
Ah yes, Preem Chain, the Old Law may prevent it. But are you not now working for Mettatron? And since when have the Thorn Knights followed rules?
Preem Hansa beat the Law into the Cold White Flame with a hammer, the day he forged their souls.
That isn’t a thing you shrug off in a day.
How much do you wanna bet this is the first Old Law Delicious broke when they decided they were tired of all the angel bullshit?
Quite certain it was Koss.
Or as some say, Kossom…
You are correct.
My point stands.
White Chain is trying really hard, but being a rule follower is literally stamped into her at the factory, and then reinforced over centuries of habit.
These things take time…
and draw unwelcome attention. Remember what Thorns do to Petals?
One wonders, then, whence this most un-commercial angel — unseared with trade, unsmeared with toil (though sharing, in appearance, mortals’ smudge & smell); who getting & spending hath not laid waste their powers — did obtain coffee to offer Allis-UN when they first met.
Uh…
I wonder what would happen if theyade it to Crazy’s Stall. After all, no offers are refused!
Methinks this particular intoxicant is taking its toll on our poor inheritor quite quickly.
She is quite intoxicated. She can’t even walk a straight line!
We’re Riding the Bus to Flavortown!
Allison Ruth, for the record, power IS intoxication. And, as anyone can attest, after the drunken revelry comes a bitter hangover, and a craving for that revelry analogous to addiction. Judging from her current high, it isn’t terribly difficult to tell what happened to Incubus’ subjects.
On a side note, I have a sinking suspicion that what Incubus’ “blessing” did is suppress Allison Ruth’s self-loathing and doubt (also unlock her access to the Key, but that’s the less damaging “blessing” in the long term). She isn’t fighting through it, the weight is gone altogether. If my guess is accurate, the ensuing crash will be character-defining. Either she withstands that self-loathing and doubt returning, and ascends to the power she is fated, or she won’t, and Incubus will collect his pawn.
I read Nyave’s line as “take you shipping”. Dangerous words indeed.
Holy moly Stromboli, this is money!
I’m pretty sure you’re also forbidden to tear off your face or something. There’s a bylaw.
Maybe there isn’t…
Maybe tearing off ones face for an angel is like dramatically getting a haircut for a human.
It is not forbidden, but it is frowned upon among angels.
Oh dear, is there a more dreadful fate then to feed a hungry student? The appeal of having an apprentice is a great one, but the fees involved in keeping creatures as voracious as young adults fed is far too unappealing for my tastes.
500X more interesting than a Family Circus strip.
I hope those are natural growths on that merchant’s face, otherwise he looks like he has a bad case of the old Cordyceps growing there.
He had better get that checked out lest he wants to start the zombie apocalypse.
You’re assuming the vertebrate, and not the fungus, is the owner of this stall.
You’d think after the whole “refused to die and be reborn” White Chain wouldn’t care as much about lesser violations of whatever ethos he goes by.
The simplst of rules can have the greatest of reasons behind them. Commerce, like politics, is a fact of life. Nevertheless, both have spilled oceans of blood.
Smart prince, that one.
Pretty sure being mean to Nyave should be a crime punishable by death, banishment and being unmade.
This person gets me.
THE FEVER-HEAT OF DIVINITY’S UNQUENCHABLE FLAME.
UNRESTRAINED. UNTRAMMELED.
FREE TO CHALLENGE THE MULTIVERSE, OR TO CONSUME IT.