by Glenn » Thu Feb 16, 2012 2:54 am
Kerrak did die. In fire and failure and tragedy. And now he was back. And Glenn had given him an official position. At this, he'd just shrug a little. "It's rarely the ones we want to come back to life." Then a little pause. "Usually it's just Bromn, actually." That might have been a joke. It was somehow hard to tell today.
"To me." Burnie parroted the notion if not the exact words. "Even to Myrken. Oh, I could make use of you, Cinnabar. A dozen ways." That hand rose again, fingers splayed. With each possibility, he flicked one down. "High Constable once more. Hunting down Jirai and Suede. Stopping Karolinger. Recovering the horn. Being the fourth member of the Defense Committee, which, might I add, would mean I would have to become the tie-breaker vote," a little grin at that, though it seemed a private joke. Fingers went back up as he continued. "Dealing with the dragoness, either of them. Acting as an Adviser like Bromn wished to be. The thrice-damned ambassador to Razasan. Rooting out Thessaline's spies. Overseeing the construction of the new Gaol." Ten, and at that, his hand went down completely. "Helping Catch find his humanity, and showing him why he should even look for it in the first place." A little nod at his last comment, as if the young Governor had decided which he preferred. Then he actually frowned just a bit. "Hm. Only eleven. Sorry, Cinnabar. It's not a comment on your worth. I suppose the dozen would be you carrying all these boxes to the meetinghouse. Seems a bit of a waste though."
If there was any large weight of emotion bearing down upon Glenn Burnie, there was no sign of it at all. Hollow? Perhaps, but with a flourish. Artful. Even passionate, yet still somehow empty? It was a paradox, but then he had always liked those. "I rather like the last one, you know, not the box moving bit.. but that's hardly the point." The hand would rise back up once more, as if to halt Calomel from responding, from asking questions. It was the once-mapmaker's most annoying mannerism now that he's stopped tapping a walking stick incessantly upon the ground.
"The point, Cinnabar, is this." His eyes would shift from the man before him to the box he brought. He would offer a little nod towards it. It meant everything. "Right now you're free. If you leave me that box, get up, turn around, and walk out that door, you are free. You made your apology. I heard it. I did not contest it. You have no further obligation to me. You can walk out that door. You can go back to your wife. You can go back to your FOUR assuredly strange and wonderful children." His voice softened for just a moment as he continued. "Perhaps spawn two or three more since you're obviously on pace for that." Then it rose back to a normal volume. "If you just do that, you can have what no one in our beloved hellhole of Myrken ever gets to have. You can have a happy ending. And I will have one more reason to fight for what I believe in, for MY family, for MY home, because I know in doing so, you get to keep that happy ending."
Those crystal clear eyes bore down upon Cinnabar Calomel. "You've seen it. You know better than anyone what Myrken can do to someone. You come back and focus on even one of those tasks I just mentioned, and you invite ruin into your life. There was a cost to you leaving when you did, Cinn. It was already paid by those who remained. You try to pay it back now and you risk all that has already been purchased." The governor's posture shifted into a more relaxed position, leaning back in the chair. Not quite leaning the chair back in the air, but it was a close thing. "Could I use you? Of course, absolutely. Would that be the best way to make amends? Compared to the alternative? I don't know. you tell me."