[He gives her a small smile; without the influence of exhaustion and for once in so long outside the confines of the first world war, it's a genuine sort of expression, pure in its own way.] I am happy I helped in this small way, then.
[He'd felt similarly of their small group, though a lot of the time he had spent in there he had spent walled off not physically but mentally, numbed by the sinking personal assurance that there was nothing else he could do for himself by this point: that the Regency had discovered who he was and could at any point pull him from history by the root, just as they had done to Xici.
Even if Kebechet had denied that was the case at all, for him or for her. That was something he was still thinking about, but... surely there was no reason they should trust anyone from the Regency, right?
He hates dealing with duplicity. He prefers taking everyone at face value.
Apparently that's evident enough in him that Mordred picked up on it too. His expression becomes pained, though it's something done more in jest than anything else.] I have been told I am not much use in spying and subterfuge, yes. [Really the only thing he had going for him in a non-combat arena was that people did tend to like his honesty, as Mordred said she did. In some diplomatic situations, it appealed to some sense of goodwill. But in others, where more subtlety was necessary, he quickly lost his usefulness.] I would have been fooled as well, I think, but this would be only because I feel as though you have been straightforward with me too, in the past.
[She kept things to herself, lies by omission, but even Ashitaka isn't free of that fault.
He's quiet a moment as he considers something else, another piece to what she had said. One that he hasn't really broached as a topic to too many others.]
The Regency... [His tone is slightly hushed.] If they had wanted us dead, it would have been very easy for them to do so. Even still, I think it is in their power, given what they have done in the past. [If it was true that they had been behind what happened to Xici.] They seemed far more interested in swaying us, which is why your ploy worked so well. Why do you think this is?
[Didn't they have armies enough? Wouldn't removing soldiers from COST regardless of the method be more useful to them?]
no subject
[He'd felt similarly of their small group, though a lot of the time he had spent in there he had spent walled off not physically but mentally, numbed by the sinking personal assurance that there was nothing else he could do for himself by this point: that the Regency had discovered who he was and could at any point pull him from history by the root, just as they had done to Xici.
Even if Kebechet had denied that was the case at all, for him or for her. That was something he was still thinking about, but... surely there was no reason they should trust anyone from the Regency, right?
He hates dealing with duplicity. He prefers taking everyone at face value.
Apparently that's evident enough in him that Mordred picked up on it too. His expression becomes pained, though it's something done more in jest than anything else.] I have been told I am not much use in spying and subterfuge, yes. [Really the only thing he had going for him in a non-combat arena was that people did tend to like his honesty, as Mordred said she did. In some diplomatic situations, it appealed to some sense of goodwill. But in others, where more subtlety was necessary, he quickly lost his usefulness.] I would have been fooled as well, I think, but this would be only because I feel as though you have been straightforward with me too, in the past.
[She kept things to herself, lies by omission, but even Ashitaka isn't free of that fault.
He's quiet a moment as he considers something else, another piece to what she had said. One that he hasn't really broached as a topic to too many others.]
The Regency... [His tone is slightly hushed.] If they had wanted us dead, it would have been very easy for them to do so. Even still, I think it is in their power, given what they have done in the past. [If it was true that they had been behind what happened to Xici.] They seemed far more interested in swaying us, which is why your ploy worked so well. Why do you think this is?
[Didn't they have armies enough? Wouldn't removing soldiers from COST regardless of the method be more useful to them?]