Consoling a Friend [Private/Lagi]

It was a dark night in Reim. The sky was black, the stars weren't out yet, and even the moon wasn't at its finest. The atmosphere within the drinking establishment was quite the opposite. Most, if not everyone, was drinking and singing about something that Zadi couldn't understand. The music was loud, the singing louder, and the alcohol everywhere. Zadi was one of the few not celebrating. In fact, Zadi made sure that he wouldn't stand out in the slightest while drinking at the bar nearest the tender. He wore his usual pink kimono and whatnot, but with an added dark purple cloak with the hood covering his head. With Zadi's investigations into the source of the black rukh, he wanted to keep a low profile. Joa did the same. His usual clothing covered by a dark purple cloak and hood. The two of them were in the bar in order to discuss plans concerning their next location, the Kou Empire. More specifically, the monk temple from which Joa was booted from.

Zadi took a sip from his non-alcoholic beverage, "Ah! Milk tastes great at night!"

"SHHH! You need to be quieter!" said Joa in a hushed tone."

"Whatever. All we have to do is get to the temple and interrogate a few of the monks. No biggie."

"Yes 'biggie'! The temple has many fine warrior monks. It won't be so easy to just waltz in and interrogate more than one."

Zadi sighed and took another sip of his fine beverage. He couldn't stand wearing such a drab cloak. It was rather unstylish! However, it was Zadi that suggested it, but he obviously regrets it.

Lagi walked into the establishment, Leaving El drago outside for the natives to gawk and look at. “Are you sure that it is wise to be going out at such a night? It is crucial for your country to get over what’s happened. “Lagi said nothing but gave a deep sigh. “It’s not as easy as you think, its lie having that dragon egg shattered in front of a mother. Or basically, a beast getting killed in front of their partner or vice versa. “ Lagi opened the door and looked back at El drago and his 10 meter frame. “I won’t be long, I just need a drink is all. “

Lagi was pretty much upset as he sat down and the waiters immediately took notice that the king was in their presence and already tipsy. “Dragonfruit wine….” Lagi was asking for the hardest stuff, there were already some woman and even men in the bar that were eyeing the king. Who knows for what reason, it’s mostly gossip of some kind. T"here’s a dragon outside? I think the king arrived here on it…” There were some talk about Lagi’s new partner, but El drago could handle himself. Lagi sat at the table alone; he had an indifferent aura to him. Even if someone could see rukh, they would notice that the black rukh was completely gone, which is unnatural to most who thought of Lagi as a monster

The bar suddenly got rather quiet with the presents of a single person! Zadi couldn't imagine what kind of person would be able hush such loud celebration, so either the celebration was total nonsense or everyone passed out from drinking too much. However, Zadi was wrong about both as he swiveled on his bar-stool to see the one and only Lagi El Nagi! So there does seem to be a person capable of silencing celebration with his sheer presents...the King of Reim!

"Joa!"

"SHHH!"

"Right. Look look! Tis the King!" said Zadi in a hushed tone.

"Does he have something to do with the black rukh or our plan for that matter?"

"Not anymore it seems. His black rukh are totally gone! He looks sad though. I'll see if I can't comfort him."

"What!? No! Don't go over there! You'll draw attention to yourself!"

"Ha! Whatever."

Zadi grasped his wand within his left kimono sleeve and used Zadi's Theatre in order to fake a rush of people coming into the bar. The 10 or so fake people coming into the bar ranged in height between 1 to 3 meters, some of which looked like very short people. Not necessarily child-like, but pretty close. Anyway, the flood of illusions came into the drinking establishment looking like they were talking to each other, bumping into real people and eventually surrounding Lagi's table inconspicuously. Zadi moved a select few illusionary people out of his way in order to get to Lagi's table and sat down across from Lagi.

Zadi took his hood off, took a sip of his milk, and spoke, "Hey Lagi! What's wrong? You seem down. Anything I can help with?"

Joa looked in amazement at the luck that procured all around the bar. It was as if fate created these people and told them to just show up at the exact moment that Zadi wanted to talk to Lagi! Obviously that wasn't the case, but Joa didn't know that Zadi was using magic.

Social Tech(s):

Lagi’s pitcher was brought to the table and he paid in advance. As lagi began to pour some of the wine in the cup, he noticd a familiar voice. That familiar voice then turned out into a familiar face, it was none other than Zadi. “ How long has it been? Months?” Lagi would say with a weak smile. He was happy to see Zadi again, but the last time he saw Zadi was when he came to Lagis coronation and he ended up bumping heads with Yakuroro. He wasn’t too sure how Zadi felt about that, even though it ended in Yakuroro’s victory.

You look well, was you always this attractive? Maybe it’s the genes, probably royalty or something, I never did ask about your background as much as I should have.” Regardless of how flattering Lagi came off towards Zadi, he had the voice of a broken man. Lag would take a sip from the wine cup and make a sharp shiver. “ Well, Zadi…. How can you help a man who is no longer a king candidate hmmm? There is nothing you could do, there is nothing I could do about it either. In the face of a stronger power than I could ever imagine, the only thing I could do was yield.” Lagi would then start to pour himself another cup. “Tell me my friend, what will you do if the man came to claim the life of Vassago. Would you die and allow him to kill the Djinn after wards? OR would you yield and save yourself from death, but watch your djinn die right before your eyes?”

Zadi could tell that Lagi was rather tipsy, to say the least. The beverage he was drinking closer to 50% alcohol than any other drink that Zadi had heard of. To be honest, that wasn't saying much. Zadi knew of one other alcoholic beverage; alcohol mixed with water. In all seriousness, Lagi did look too good nor did he sound too good. He said "was" instead of "were" while his voice in and of itself was slurred to a near comical degree. However, this was no laughing matter...sort of. It was pretty funny to see a friend be drunk.

"Hahaha! I didn't even know you were a King Candidate! Well, maybe laughing isn't all that great of an idea at the moment. How about this. Erhm, sorry to hear that, Lagi. However, and excuse my bluntness, but whatever you had that you think made you a King Candidate must have been a fake replica of a legitimate metal vessel. At the ball when Yakuroro unnecessarily freaked out, apologies for leaving by the way, I noticed that you had black rukh instead of white rukh. However, now you have white rukh. I'm 100% certain that whatever you possessed caused your rukh to turn black and now that it is gone, you have white rukh again. I for one am happy that you aren't a quote on quote "King Candidate" anymore. Now you have a chance to become a TRUE King Candidate like myself. However, again to be blunt, I don't feel like much of a candidate to be the King of anything, hahaha!"

Comforting obviously wasn't Zadi's strong suit but telling the truth, or at least what he thought be the truth, was second nature and only second behind breathing. Zadi reached for the bottle in hopes of getting the alcohol away from Lagi so as to help Lagi's body recover from whatever mental shock he experienced because being drunk makes feelings that much stronger. Proof being Lagi's questions towards Zadi. While reaching for the bottle, Zadi would answer Lagi's question;

"To answer your second curiosity, I would fight back and die. If someone were somehow strong enough to kill a Djinn, then I too would surely die defending Vassago. However, the reason for me defending Vassago isn't as pure as whatever reason you would have such as self-sacrifice or whatever. Vassago is my source of importance in this world. Without her and her power, I wouldn't be very important to fate like most other normal people such as yourself. Fate made YOU a King while killing me. Thankfully we all have more than one life, hahaha! How many I'll never know! Erhm, anyway. Even without that power, you still have importance to fate. Take your importance and obtain another Djinn of equal or, preferably, greater power."

Zadi's words weren't anything special. Zadi predicted that they wouldn't scratch the surface of Lagi's sadness. Meanwhile, Joa looked through the fake crowd of people mixed with some angry and drunk real people, making sure that Zadi wasn't in any trouble. At this point, Joa could tell that Zadi was the one behind the crowd as the fake people didn't make any sound while they were speaking to each other. The number of short people was also peculiar and unnatural. All the same, Joa was amazed at Zadi's quick thinking and resourcefulness, but to be honest, Joa thought that Zadi wouldn't be much of a, for lack of a better word, "hero" without his magic. He relied too much on it sometimes.

Social Tech(s):

If you didn’t know, met a real magi. I didn’t go through the same conditions of going through a dungeon in order to get my power, a Magi was the one that gave it to me. That magi was an individual that seemingly made a deal with the contractor, have you heard of him? Well no matter, but a true king candidate? Don’t be so full of yourself, I’ll be honest…. Sitting with you seems a bit hypocritical at times. “ Lagi would say as he looks away. “I was jealous of you Zadi, don’t you get it? Back then, I felt that my entire life wouldn’t amount to anything, that I would have continued to remain as a failure of a creation from my parents. And to stand there and look upon you, being chosen by a god. Of course, I would off wanted that to! Even if it was false power, it was still power… i….” Lagi put his head down, there was no point in getting emotional and bent up in shape about it.

Lagi would then look back up after ZAdi took away the pitcher and said his peace about the choice he made. He also said something weird about dying. “Don’t be in such a rush to throw your life away. The Djinn is not the only thing that makes you important. There are other ways; there are other powers, your magic, my dragon, my tools, your tools. It would be for now, but such a surrender should only be treated as temporary, as long as you know that you’ll be able to bounce back even twice as hard. “ Lagi looked Zadi in the eye and softly touched his face, then his chin. “ You don’t look dead, or feel like your skin has been replaced with rotten flesh. I’m not too sure what you are talking about Zadi, you are just as alive as I am, unless you meant an emotional death. If that’s the case, I’ll be willing to listen to you as well. There might be something that Zadi knew that Lagi didnt, but he didn’t let it bother him. “What are you doing her anyway? You are at a seedy tavern and you aren’t even drunk, what’s with the getup Zadi? Still with Typhoon?

Zadi was right to think that his own little pep-talk wouldn't amount to much against Lagi's dilemma...or had it!? Sure Lagi made his argument about "true king candidacy" rather valid and all, but he also ended up giving himself the answer he may have been looking for. What was the power that a "true king candidate" possessed that others didn't? There was nothing that Zadi could think of other than this "magi" thing that Lagi talked about. Even then, there was no power significant difference between one person or another that couldn't be overcome with some hard work.

"That's right Lagi. There is no such thing as a "true king candidate" much less a "king candidate" for that matter, hahaha! Importance is also of irrelevance. Power and influence are what you make of them. All is up to YOU. Don't let fate bind you. Rather, go WITH it. There are, after all, many different paths that fate lets you chose from which someone like yourself has seemingly taken full advantage of. You can be the King among Kings if you want to be! Don't let the loss of power down your spirit because power is a point of view. I for one think that being a legitimate King is better than being a "king candidate"."

This time Zadi thought that his words might mean something to Drunk Lagi, but again, this was all up to fate and the path that Lagi would wish to take. Having power taken is hard and takes a long time to get used to. Just a little pep-talk won't change Sober Lagi's mind so quickly, but at least it could start him on his recovery.

"By the way, what is a magi and who is the contractor? I assume that the magi gave you the power and the contractor made you do something in order to keep it. What DID you have to do, if you don't mind my asking."

Rather abrupt change of conversation, but since Lagi had white rukh before getting the power and after losing it, Zadi assumed that the between phase has something to do with Lagi's rukh turning black, specifically when meeting the magi and the contractor. If Lagi was truthful and descriptive, it could help solve Zadi's questions concerning the black rukh's source. Hopefully Drunk Lagi was drunk enough to say SOMETHING regarding Zadi's curiosity.

Zadi's Theatre Sustained

“I don’t know what a Magi is really, power people that acknowledge the potential of people to be king candidates. The contractor is the one who had some kind of contract with Kou of some sort. He was there during the last fight. He’s a guy that seems to be pulling strings, insanely powerful. It would take all of the king candidates we know to even attempt to do anything to him.” Lagi would then close his eyes and puts his head down as he tries to remember what that contractor said.

“This is the price of being a black king candidate I guess. I was not supposed to take this vessel and do good with it. I was supposed to reject my Fate and then make others reject theirs. That vessel was not given to me to lead people down a path of peace and happiness; it was given to me to spread Depravity across this globe.” Lagi would then raise his head and drink the remainder of his dragonfruit wine before reaching for the pitcher from Zadi. “I have a habit of that… taking power under one term and then twisting it to my own purpose. I wasn’t going to be at the mercy of some contract that governs my life to be anything other than what I wanted it to be.

Rejecting fate? Spread depravity? Rather specific words if Zadi did so say himself. However, Zadi needed to confirm if "rejecting fate" or "depravity" had anything to do with black rukh. If so, then there wasn't much that Zadi could do when it came to the destruction of the source of the black rukh other than find some sort of portal from which the idea of simple depravity tainting one's rukh black and, well, destroy that instead. All very convoluted, but only if Zadi could get Lagi to admit that he cursed his fate and "fell into depravity";

"Pulling the strings, uh? Again, I'm sorry to here that this contractor did what he did to you. Personally, I would have done the same, hahaha! Screw contracts! However, I must admit. Breaking a contract could be compared to falling out of grace with fate. All very silly, really. But hey! Life is life."

Zadi would now try to ease into asking Lagi about whether or not he cursed his fate and fell into depravity and then somehow got back onto the path of fate. If all that were true, then his rukh turned black from cursing his fate and back to white when he accepted the fate he created for himself. Aside from the mystery that it posed to Zadi, fate seemed to have a funny way of wriggling its way back into someone's life. Impressive really. Anyway, Zadi kept the dragonfruit wine away from Lagi in hopes of keeping him just drunk enough to truthfully answer, again, Zadi's question;

"Speaking of fate, before you obtained that power, did you curse your fate? Or did the power come before you cursed your fate?"

Zadi's Theatre Sustained

“What’s the problem? Is that all you care about? Whether people thought their lives were bad before or after a life changing experience? I didn’t really have a home to go back to when I met you, those were dark times sure. But I’m pretty sure that I thought that it wasn’t the end of the world before I got the dark metal vessel, does that answer your question?” Lagi would then proceed to give Zadi a piece of his mind. These talks of fate shouldn’t really dictate a man’s individuality, I disliked fate because I disliked the fact of seeing myself as an actor, playing a prewritten role that was made out for me from the moment I was born to the day I die.”

Lagi taps the table twice after saying that. “If that's what fate is, and we can’t do anything but to follow it, what’s the point of living anymore if we aren’t in control of anything? Are all of our actions truly ours? Does free will even exit? I didn’t care if I was the one to suffer for the rest of my days with that dark meta vessel, but I wasn’t going bring people down with me. My suffering would be my own sin to bear, not a plague upon others. Well, it doesn’t matter now. You didn’t answer my question before Zadi, avoiding the question is the same as being dishonest. What are you really doing here, what’s with the hidden cloak getup? You didn’t really come here to see me for a pep talk, did you?

Zadi thought he would be able to skip over why he was in the drinking establishment to begin with, but Lagi kept the questions coming! To make matters more complex for Zadi, Lagi also seemed to be sobering up quite quickly. Well, quicker than Zadi had hoped for. Lagi was either not drunk enough or just sober enough to speak his mind rather than open up about what happened to him in the time that his rukh were white and then turned black and then almost altogether vanished. Sure Zadi THOUGHT he saw white rukh, but it wasn't the case. Unfortunately for Zadi, he still had some "happy-go-lucky" thoughts left that prevented him from seeing the truth. There weren't as many black rukh, but they were still present. As some people say,; where there's one cockroach, there's millions more in the shadows.

"Hehe, fate isn't all that easy to explain using my point of view. Fate, as I like to put it personally, is another way to say parenting. You may feel like an actor, but without fate having gotten you this far, you wouldn't be feeling like an actor. Know what I mean? Well, I myself don't quite understand it. I was told this by an old man who showed me magic tricks when I was tiny. He was most likely trying to wrap his head around it when he told me. All the same, you shouldn't feel contained by fate, but rather by yourself."

Zadi really didn't understand what the old man meant nor could he ever possibly understand what fate REALLY is, but it was nice to think of fate as a parenting force. As for Lagi's seemingly endless curiosity over Zadi's appearance;

"As for why I'm here. I didn't come to this bar to console you. I came to this table to console you. As for the cloak~"

Zadi left the dragonfruit wine on the table during his sudden fall backwards in his chair. It looked rather purposeful, but Zadi could feel the thud as him and the chair slammed onto the cold, wooden ground. It hurt, but it was necessary for what was the come next. The many constructs rushed at maximum speed towards Zadi's position during his decent backwards, eventually forming a dog-pile on top of the fallen Zadi. That too was no accident. Using the cover to his advantage, Zadi used his Personamorphism ability to change his appearance and subsequent clothing and items to match that of a merchant while doing the same, but with different shapes and sizes, to the dog-pile of constructs.

Zadi then had him and his illusions shuffle around and then get up from the ground. All of the illusions then casually walked out of the drinking establishment with Zadi within the crowd, hidden somewhere! The only loose hitch was Joa who didn't know what was going on in the slightest. However, he could tell that Zadi wasn't at the table with Lagi anymore, so he started to look worried, but he quickly got his composure back, paid for whatever drinks were drank, and left the drinking establishment only a couple minutes after the illusions and Zadi left.

Zadi REALLY didn't want to tell Lagi why he was really "here" nor did he want to lie to Lagi. The best course of action for Zadi was to just vanish, again, but with a little more vanishing rather than outright ditching like what happened with Yakuroro. Zadi felt awful for just leaving, again, but he couldn't comprehend how depressed Lagi must have been feeling, or IS still feeling for that matter. Though...there was one matter that escaped Zadi's curiosity. It must have had something to do with the dragon outside.

Zadi's Theatre
Personamorphism (Social)

[exit]