✖ IC CONTACT #2

[silverking]

If you have managed to find your way here, then you must have exhausted all other methods of contact by now. My sincerest apologies, but I am a very busy man these days.

You have my attention now, so please speak your mind.

Of course, there are several ways to interpret the words we use day-to-day. I would advise you to choose yours carefully should you opt to leave a message.

Comments

[priscilla]

i do wish to be taken seriously. But I dont have a lot of time to spend clicking around on litle butons. and it is frustrateing. to take so long to say something that i forget what i was trying to say.

[silverking]

Patience rewards, Priscilla. You must remember this.

[Make haste, make waste.]

I could teach you what I've learned, if you want.

[priscilla]

You teach me so much.

One more would be good.

Oh, I have a book to look at. I wonder if you would like it.

[silverking]

What book? You do not intend to throw it, correct?

[priscilla]

i should, since you asked.

that was a joke. Its hard to tell without any faces. or voices. or anything but words.

But no! It is called The Art of War. I dont think its about war, though. Not 'war' as in war. but as in how to deal with conflict. Effectively.

It was a gift. But i have not had the time to read it until now.

[silverking]

You don't need to worry, Priscilla. I can tell when you're joking. You're not so much a mystery to me that I don't know you at all.

It's called the Art of War? It sounds interesting. How long before you finish it?

[priscilla]

how can you tell? I can't always tell.

but yes, it's called the art of war! It shouldn't be too long. It isn't a very long BOOK.

is that how you emphasize things? because it seems a little like shouting.

[silverking]

You could emphasize things in CAPITAL lettering, by making them bold, by using what is called italics, or by strictly underlining them. In text I prefer the latter method. It reads the most clear, and least abrasively.

I would like to read this book when you're finished with it.

[priscilla]

oh! That does look the best.

Underline.

did that work? and you can borrow the book.

and you did not answer my question!

[silverking]

It's a shame that you cannot see how much I am laughing right now. I suppose that is the downside to speaking strictly via text.

To answer your question, it isn't always easy to tell, but you aren't someone who would make light of a dire situation. The same can be said in reverse; you have, to my recollection, never threatened someone when they've done nothing to justify the threat, however trivial the course of punishment. That is how I know.

I trust you'll let me know as soon as you're finished with reading the book, then? I'm looking forward to new material.

[priscilla]

o. that does make sense.

i thought you said i was mysterious and hard to understand.

...that was teaseing.

But yes! i will let you know. arthur gave it to me for my birthday but i read about a detective first. there was a glowing dog!

[silverking]

You can be terribly hard to understand at times, especially when you end sentences that you've begun only in your mind.

But there is more to it than that. You're not simple, Priscilla, and I have always liked that about you.

Arthur gave you a book about a detective and a glowing dog for your birthday?

Oh, that reminds me...there are seven days left.

[priscilla]

my head is always full of sentences. and and sentencey things. But is simple bad?

SEBASTIAN gave me a book about a detective and a glowing dog. i think there was glowing. it was a false ghost!

italics are nice, too.

[silverking]

Your head is always teeming with thoughts, the kind that race nonstop and are often difficult keeping up with. But I've always enjoyed the challenge.

Sebastian is...the butler? We've never spoken at length.

I'm glad you're enjoying the different ways to emphasize simple text.

[priscilla]

he is a butler! Yes. he won that melee battle, too. With spoons? I think.

hes very fond of cats. actually, i think he's spoiling teresa and irene.

the cats, not the warriors!

meanwhile, I don't think he's very fond of the foxes. or the wolf. or the rabbits or the bird or the horse!

[silverking]

Ah, yes. Him. I should make a point to speak with him at some point.

You have a lot of pets nowadays.

[priscilla]

HES INTERESTING.

i mean, if you like butlers.

which i do.

i was going to stop getting pets after the bird, but then arthur was threatening to eat the rabbits so i adopted them.

[silverking]

If you could call butlers interesting, then perhaps he is. Although, I would not doubt it given his accomplishments so far.

All it took for you to adopt them was the threat of being eaten? Then why haven't you taken to adopting people?

[priscilla]

[A small pause, and then...]

i have.

[silverking]

It's not quite the same, is it?

[You can't protect them all the time. In other words, it is only a whim that spares them from Isley's appetite, or Rigaldo's.]

[priscilla]

there isnt enough room in the headquarters.

[Another pause. A long one!]

i have a way of thinking about it. and about you.

[silverking]

What way is that?

[priscilla]

you will do what you do, because it is what you do. even if i tried to stop you, i couldnt. no one could.

and even if they could, they would need to kill you to stop you, really. but then what? you would just come back and be in the same place, except angry, too. and it would not really save anyone. because more people would probably be lost in trying to defeat you than would be saved by stopping you from eating for the few days or weeks that you would be gone.

it is pointless to oppose it. it cannot be opposed.

and then you can ask this: even so, how can i, that is me, be with someone who would do these things, even if they cannot be stopped?

and i would say: with me or without me, it is still who and what you are. would it do anyone any good if i left?

[silverking]

It wouldn't do them any good at all.

[priscilla]

you always said you held back for me.