cantilevers | Inbox (Etraya)

[Vander has an inkling what this is about, but he's trying to figure out what Silco's play has been as well.]

Sounds like you underestimating me is your problem, not mine. I never denied enjoying attention. Is there a point to you being here stating the obvious or do you just miss me already?

[ Let's be real: none of them probably know as much as they think they do. ]

Why, that's meant to be a compliment. I should have known you would be ungrateful.

But no, I am not one of the foolish hangers-on you seem to desire so. This is a reminder: don't try that again. I won't be so kind as to simply eliminate your patsy as I leave.

You don't offer compliments, least of all to me. "Foolish hangers-on"? You mean, friends? That must be a foreign concept these days, though I do need to know why you decided to eliminate the gunwoman on your own. I expected you gave up the man-of-action schtick years ago. Isn't that why you have goons?

[He doesn't want to ask if Silco was trying to impress him. He doesn't want to be asked why he did what he did, but this was all rather confounding.]

Hm, I wonder why the idea of having someone I trust implicitly would be something I don't allow for these days?

[ The easy knife. Always the easy knife. ]

I'm afraid that having "goons", as you so eloquently put it isn't in the cards right now.

Lucky for me, I have never been one to let things slide if I must. After all, you clearly wanted to use it to your advantage to look good for the cameras, if you didn't hire her yourself, expecting that you would eventually run into me. You must think I'm a fool.

[ Paranoia certainly makes him one. ]

Are you saying that you don't trust Jinx and Sevika implicitly?

[Well, this kind of banter was very normal. Maybe he was reading into things too much? Probably, he could overthink on some subjects.]

Perhaps you'll be able to wrangle some in when you bring in your drug. I've already had one person ask me about it unprompted. Yeah, right, you do never let anything go. Are you accusing me of bribing someone to shoot at us to raise my rankings? You're the one that could have walked away and chose to draw me out. [Wait a second...] Did you hire that gun? Trying to prove that I still have it in me to be your monster?

Edited 2025-04-06 17:30 (UTC)

They are not friends.

[ Well. True. Kind of. We all know Jinx is the closest thing silco has to a friend but he won't admit it. ]

Hm. Asking about Shimmer, are they? Curious.

[ He won't ask who. he knows he won't share. But it's the most honest and natural Silco has ever sounded around him. AUTOMATIC SCHEMING MODE INITIATED. ]

I did nothing of the sort. My plan was more elaborate than that. Hence why I commended you for planning around me. You should feel pleased, too few people do it these days.

[ IGNORING THAT PART Where he says he didn't do it. ]

No, I suppose they are as close to family as you have.

[He aimed as precisely as he could verbally, expecting to provoke a response. It was less confusing than whatever else was written to him here.]

I assume you're still working on it, otherwise it may be more than just word of mouth. Use caution when you do.

[It was the only warning that he would provide. Vander might not be close with anyone from his own world right now, but they were still from his world and he was obligated to protect those of Zaun.]

Oh was it? What pray tell was the plan, hmm?

[He was confused again. Vander hadn't planned anything; he had been looking for a reprieve from the cameras and audiences in that place. Did he say something? Did he stay quiet? He hated earning respect he didn't actually deserve.]

[ This how he knows it hit: Silco doesn't acknowledge it at all. ]

You have no need to warn me. I know you're just soothing your guilt, if something goes poorly. Don't bother.

[ Sevika has already warned him as well. As if he wouldn't be cautious on his own. ]

I'm not telling you my plan, Vander. I might use it later. Nice try. I can assure you it did not involve a gunman. That's hardly artful.

You're a Zaunite; I would protect any one of you from those not of our city. We stick together, even when we don't want to.

[That had always been his stance, and it remained so. Zaunites stuck together even when they absolutely hated each other, which seemed the truth of the matter between them. It might earn him a stab in the back again, but he wouldn't regret it.]

Oh you're going to recycle the plan? It must have been good if you plan on repurposing to use against me later.

[Okay, he couldn't any longer.]

I didn't hire or have anything to do with that gunwoman. I didn't even know she was there until the bullets started coming at us. I went out in the alley to buy you time to slip away, but that you decided to take her out on your own rather than flee is interesting.

[He meant confusing, but he also wasn't about to admit it. That was handing too much power to Silco in this conversation.]

Edited 2025-04-06 18:06 (UTC)

[ Predictably: ] And with how good you are at that?

[ Silco doesn't believe him, but, well. Silco has good reason for that, doesn't he? ]

And allow you to take the accolades for your clearly pantomimed orchestration? Absolutely not. No, I did that because otherwise you would have gotten the heroic moment you so clearly desire. So I ruined that for you.

[ 😑 ]

Apparently better than you're willing to admit if you're foisting all this credit on me.

[Now his irritation is rising, but what else could either of them expect? They have no reason to believe each other on anything regardless of actual honesty.]

Ohhhhhhhhh, my hero. Thank you for saving my life from a rogue gunwoman. I hope your rankings increased from this daring shuffle of heroics that you performed for the cameras. The Eye of Zaun shows his true qualities to his admirers far and wide.

[ Vander and Silco had always been able to rile each other up best, after all. Even through text, the tone is the same. ]

If I wanted your "thanks", I would have stuck around. I'm quite certain that they would come with violence. After I likely ruined your big moment, and all.

How sad for you.

[ His rankings had only increased slightly. Not enough to account for much. Silco had kept his head down during the majority of it, after all. ]

Ah, you've forgotten that I have no issue spreading the accolades around, have you? Must be how you're getting on with age. The old mind isn't what it used to be, is it? I assume you're here trying for a dust up with an intended purpose.

Yes, I am. To remind you that such games aren't going to work on me. I know you're going to want to play it off, maybe barter good will with Jinx.

Just know: it won't work.

[ ISN't THIS EXHAUSTING, VANDER... ]

They clearly did if you're here shouting over text at me. Speaking of games, did you sell or just donate my body to the doctor? Did he let you watch when you were having a bad day?

From what I've read, that requires all capital letters.

[ See? He's hip with the kids! ]

What are you talking about? When I came back it was gone. Some onlookers likely felt you deserved some sort of sendoff.

[ And then, purposefully, because he knows it will hurt: ]

Once you were dead, what did I care what happened?

You've never needed capitals or punctuation for me to know when you're furious.

[It was good to know two could play this game. Nothing ever changed.]

True. Profits with 'medical' drugs and saving Jinx was all that you ever cared about. Glad he never paraded me out when you were still alive then. After all once you were dead, what would I care what happened?

I always use punctuation. That's hardly different.

[ All he ever ——

Of all the —— ]

Is that what you like to tell yourself, Vander? To justify all of it? That there was nothing I ever truly cared about?

How convenient for you. A tidy little story to justify every little crime you committed. After all, why would it matter if you killed me, it wasn't like there was anything I was working toward. It wasn't as if the sons and daughters of Zaun had someone willing to fight relentlessly for them.

Did it make you feel better, to be the only one mourning in the end? After all, I hardly had the opportunity, did I?

Of course, it's easy when it was clear I was always lying about what happened in the past. It's easy to hear what happened after and think that it was all simply greed. After all, nothing else could have forced our hands. The violence turned on us was nothing compared to what we could do to ourselves, is that it? That making something that can set us free, breathing even a gasp of that fresh air isn't worth it, because clearly the people working tirelessly do not care?

Do you want me to tell you that you're right? That I don't? Not about anything? It took you to teach me that sort of folly, didn't it? I don't, because that's hardly what Zaun needed. What Zaun needed was the sort of hand that could reign her in, and teach her to move forward. To let the past die, and become what she was always meant to be. Zaun didn't need someone to care. They had that already, and "Care" made her suffer. Do you want me to simply admit that all I've done is what is necessary? After all, I don't have the capability anymore, do I? I already know what it will lead to, after all.

That lesson was very thoroughly enshrined. You should be proud of yourself, Vander. You couldn't do it yourself, but you could make the monster necessary, instead.

I did spend a long time justifying my actions back then, saying it was for the greater good, that you deserved what I did, but there was blood on both of our hands. Back then, we lost sight of what we had because we were so focused on what we wanted. You won't believe me, but I regret what I did to you. I still regret what I did to you; more than the scar on your face, I took something from you that you've never been able to have again and that's... unforgivable. You made it clear that your goal was monsters to scare Piltover with. That's what you've wanted for a long time: to make other people afraid. One thing you forget: they were always afraid of us. Our better opportunity was to make them less afraid of us, but that could never be your tactic, so you sacrifice who we were, twisted us up, and yeah made us strong but at what cost? Zaun needed someone to fight, but not someone to rip out her parts at the same time.

You got your monster, Silco. That's the lesson at the cannery you wanted to teach me, and now I see how you pounded that lesson into whatever was left for years to come. Your doctor did exactly what you asked of him. I'm sure you even came up with a little name for me: Wrath of Zaun or something you could lean into your monster wishes. Ask our daughter about how I became everything you ever wanted if you don't know or don't remember. Piltover would have been terrified, just as you dreamed.

It's easy to blame me, isn't it? After all, aren't I that little inconvenient thing that you wanted to pretend was bad enough to be erased from existence? Even I didn't have the audacity to do that.

[ Well, isn't that something — ]

Whatever he did, it wasn't under my orders. I told you before, I didn't know what happened to your body. Your inability to believe me doesn't change the fact.

But go ahead. Spin your little tale. I'm sure it's a comfort to know I was just as terrible as you wanted me to be. It feels deserved then, doesn't it?

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