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Hesinca ONE WEEK LATER (give or take)

Things have been cleaned up. All the minions have been sent back to their rightful owners, the equipment has been packed back up and put into storage, and Sarracena's pop-up tower has been collapsed back into travel size and shipped back off to her kingdom.

All that remains is the terrain - the stone courtyard that was quickly put down during setup, since the cost of removing and shipping the stone blocks off outweighs what Hesinca could recoup by retrieving them... and the clearing there the tower itself stood. THe grass is dead where the tower was, but this is Spring - it'll grow back.

People are camped out here. The members of Hesinca's staff (including herself) who aren't prinnies are handling barbeque grills, while the members of Hesinca's staff who are prinnies and/or highly flammable (the venn diagram of which is a single circle) are doing all of the other chores, serving drinks, or trying to set up a game of Prinny Ball.

Everyone who got pulled into this exercise, running a "Pop Up Dungeon", has been invited back to this spot, under promises of a truce.
Blemishine     ONE WEEK AFTER THE CHAOS:

    Bruised ribs are less bruised, dented-in armor has been repaired, and a certain girl has mentally recovered from the chewing out about putting herself in that much trouble. On the plus side, the entire affair has given her an idea for something down the line!

    It's a small plus, but a plus nonetheless. Not that any of that matters today, when she's visiting the site that the pop-up tower formerly resided at. Not as Blemishine, the knight, but just as Maria Nearl, who looks particularly ordinary when she's not clad in armor and taking up the blade.

    She clearly believes in Hesinca's call for a truce, showing up in springwear casual and glancing around the stone courtyard with a different kind of wonder as when they all first showed up at the base of the tower previously. "Wow...it's an entirely different feeling from last time. And all the food smells great!"

    Naturally, she gravitates in the direction of the grill that Hesinca is manning, waving politely at prinnies on her way until she gets close enough to do the same with the evil overlord slash hostess herself.

    "Miss Hesinca! You're not only good at setting up dungeons, but this kind of stuff too, huh?" She chuckles, peering down at what she's cooking up.
Staren     Staren (casual spring edition) is wearing a red T-shirt with a swirly line design in concord Orange, loosefitting blue cargo pants, and white sneakers. In lieu of the hero scarf is a much smaller kerchief tied around her neck more like a gaiter. Her hair is tied back in a ponytail but with locks at the side of her face loose in front to frame her face. With no jacket for once, silvery bands just behind her wrist are visible flush with her skin.

    She, too, gravitates to the barbequeue manned by Hesinca, smiling awkwardly and waving. "Heya. Um..." She looks between the other two, "How's it going? You uh, feeling any better, Hesinca?"
Hesinca "You pick up a few things, handling souls of the damned. A lot of fixations on food that they need to work through, and you learn a few things while you're handling that. You think it'd be mostly just Gluttony, but people are Prideful about their cooking, Envious of their neighbor's recipies, Slothful about not eating right, Greedy about ingredients, Lusty when it comes to chocolates and wine, and if you've ever been bee-ohh-eitch then I don't gotta explain Wrath."

She flips over a giant rack of ribs as she talks.

She glances over at Staren next. "Yeah. I'm feeling better. Okada came by and we talked through some stuff."

"You two alright? I didn't go too overboard with the final boss encounter, did I? Just enough overboard?"

"I had a thing planned for Darren and one for Sarracenia - neither of them made it, though. Shame, a lot of this was to give her the opportunity to find a boyfriend. Guess she's on her own for that at this point."

Hesinca pauses her task for a moment, looking thoughtful. "Unless either of you found love during all of that, maybe?"
Blemishine     Maria shakes her head, with a smile. "I'm perfectly fine. My auntie was mad I came home more beat up than I told her I would, but that's normal, ahaha."

    She idly rubs at her cheek with a finger after that, looking a bit thoughtful. "Well...things got a bit heavy at the end, but I'm probably not the one in a position to say if you went too far or not." She glances to Staren after saying so, with a slightly apologetic smile and a small wave with her free hand.

    She laughs a second time at the end of it though, with a very slight tinge to her cheeks. "No, but I'm also not really hunting for anything like that at the moment anyway! I think I have a lot of things to find before I can go looking for love. Something tells me Miss Sarra will be just fine though. I'm not sure what, but something does."

    Clasping her hands behind her back and kicking a foot, it's her turn to look curious for a brief moment. "A lot of that was for her, but what about you, Miss Hesinca? How much of that was meant for you? Everything you said back then..."
Staren     Staren listens curiously to the explanation of afterlife cooking, and then just sort of headtilts at Hesinca saying Sarracenia didn't find a boyfriend. She blushes slightly at the subject of asking if *she* found love*.

    "...You didn't know? Okada's her boyfriend. That's why... she wanted to be kidnapped and then rescued by him. I don't really understand how I ended up being the kidnappee instead." Staren looks away, her voice growing softer. "I kinda... stole her dream... and it wasn't even mine..." She lowers her gaze to the ground and rubs her upper arm awkwardly. "It was... nice, the whole business with being treated like a big shot... like I'm valuable enough to take for a reason other than stopping me as an enemy... like I'm important enough that random heroes I'm not even friends with would bother to come rescue me... but..."

    She narrows her eyes slightly, and tightens her grip on her arm, fingernails digging into her skin slightly. "...People got hurt because I played Princess. It was... irresponsible, to go along with the whole bit as much as I did. People got hurt..."
Hesinca The rack of ribs gets pushed back to the back of the grill, and burger patties go on, Hesinca sampling a bit of one first to make sure it's seasoned properly.

"... Some of it."

"Seeing if I could, actually, handle the whole Overlord thing. It's... acting like that is like calling yourself a big shot, where I'm from, and puts a bit of a target on you for people who also want to act like that. I've been RMB level my whole life, and that's kinda been my comfort level."

She looks over at Staren. "People get hurt regardless. I'd say that was also one of my points, during my big speech - bad things are gonna happen anyway, might as well be the hand that's pulling the trigger for them."

"... But, okay. You do have a point."

"I dragged you into this, people got hurt for real, that's past your comfort level. What can I do to make it up to you?"
Staren     Staren's ears perk up and she looks up at Hesinca, arms dropping back to her sides. "...I don't know. ...I don't know if you should, anyway. Maybe I needed to learn." She tilts her head to one side. "Although... I guess it kinda goes against the whole 'trust your allies' lesson people have been trying to teach me lately?"

    She tilts her head the other way. "Then again, if we'd just communicated better we wouldn't have pushed ourselves as hard, thinking you were using the device on the land outside too."

    Staren blinks and realization creeps onto her face "And I had Phony's power...!" She hangs her head. "I was really bad at using it... but it was nice, sometimes..."
Blemishine     "So you were going outside of your usual for that..." Maria taps at her chin, briefly closing her eyes. She's going over all that mention of handling the souls of the damned, sin, and all of that other stuff that was so casually dropped while flipping some barbecue.

    "For what it's worth, I think you did an amazing job at it. At the end of everything, I'd say you were definitely giving off some serious 'big bad Overlord' energy!" She nods several times with a wide smile, before her expression drops into something a bit more subdued.

    "I don't think there's anything wrong doing what you like either, though. You saw if you could, but did you actually enjoy doing it?"

    She glances back to Staren as she says so, probably on purpose, with a tiny sigh. "Oh, Staren..."
Hesinca Hesinca tilts her head. "I... don't follow, Staren. But - okay! I'm going to assume we're even."

"... And..."

"... Yeah, I liked doing it."

"Might be a career prospect. Sell the redemption firm, use the cash to equip myself a bit better, find some quiet hamlet to take over and create some backstories in. Sounds like a nice life."
Staren     Even? "I don't know if that's quite right, but I don't want to leave it hanging over your head either... I don't understand wanting to be an evil overlord... What's so much better than being a good overlord?"

    At the 'oh, Staren' she gives Blemishine a somewhat startled, confused look. "What?"
Blemishine     "Then one day, if you really make up your mind on it...maybe you should?"

    Maria nods a few times, going from clasping her hands behind her to lightly folding them under her chest. "Ahaha...that probably sounds seriously weird coming from me though. I definitely don't approve of taking over hamlets. Like Staren said, I'd really prefer if you did your overlording in a way that wouldn't make me have to stop you for real. Doing it as part of the dungeon was fine though!"

    "But...not everyone gets the chance to do what they really want to do. So I guess I'm in a weird spot of condoning and not condoning it!" She gives an awkward sounding chuckle. "And I don't know how much you enjoy your 'redemption firm' business, but I do like the sound of it."

    Back to Staren, "Oh, I was just...things are hard, huh?"
Hesinca "... Because... being a 'good' overlord is..."

Hesinca shrugs. "Well for one thing I'm a *demon*. If you haven't noticed, you know, the horns."

"Isn't it enough to just be a neutral overlord? Or I can go find someone eviler and go overlord at them instead. Would that work?"

She gives Blemishine a considering look. "I could give you a tour sometime. It's - actually stuff that you zealous lots would approve of, right? The whole thing about just rewards and such."

"... I was gonna ask. You know that, um, new frontier thing that Lowell guy is trying to make happen?"
Staren     Staren gives Blemishine an uncomprehending look. "Well yeah, aren't they always?" She looks back to Hesinca. "So? ...Do what you want, regardless of what you are." Staren scratches her head. "Although... I guess I can kind of understand, if evil feels... 'right' to you. If trying to do good is something you have to stretch and strain yourself to do, the way I had to to try and look strong... Then I can't really blame you for being true to yourself... but I can't blame people for trying to *stop* you, either. I don't know what the answer would be there..."

    Staren smiles, "Yes, Secundus! It's an opportunity for everyone, but it seems particularly ripe for, uh, the Concord's style of development! You should establish a kingdom there, to benefit yourself and the Concord... and possibly also help stabilize the structure of the Multiverse, too? I'm not sure how that works."
Blemishine     "Ehehe..." Staren gets another of those clearly awkward chuckles, with the knight lightly tapping herself on the side of the head with her knuckles. "Don't mind me. I guess I'm just thinking out loud!"

    Something about the default response being 'aren't they always?' just seems really rough to her.

    Back to Hesinca, she actually perks up a bit. "I can't say I'm familiar with it, but if that's how it is..." She nods along to Staren's brief segue about Secundus, "It sounds like something really interesting. And while I wouldn't use /zealous/ to describe myself, I wouldn't mind that one bit!"

    "One of the reasons I'm out here is to learn as much as I can, after all. So I'm curious! It'd be one of my first times visiting--any kind of firm at all!"
Hesinca "Yeah - so I'd like to try to, you know, establish a power bloc for that pretty early on? Like, I'm used to the sort of power grab chaos that happens amongst demons when there's suddenly a lot up for grabs..."

She moves the ribs off of the grill. "A lot of expansive growth, then sudden tensions when everyone realizes that they're sharing borders that can't grow without chipping away at other people, then someone takes the first shot and everything's chaotic for a while, and then the power blocs start to form - I wanna skip ahead to step four there and get some like minded people together to start ruling the place day one."

"Neutral Overlording it up. That could be the kingdom name, team name, whatever, maybe. Neutral Overlord."
Staren     Staren continues to not get what Blemishine meant. She looks back to Hesinca and nods, sadly. "That is what every simulation has seen happen. I'm... going to need to rely on my allies' help. I'm just not naturally of the sort of mind to handle the power games and the chaos..."
Blemishine     The knight accepts the cruelly ennobled princess' confusion. One day. One day.

    "Oh, that sure does sound like what I'd expect from a 'new frontier'. Totally untouched, and everyone scrambling to get a peice of it, huh..." She seems contemplative over it, thinking back towards something.

    "Heehee." Until she gives another giggle, and offers to help get plates for the ribs to lessen the load. "That sort of thing definitely isn't for me, though. Politics and all of that. Grandpa was good at it, but me and my sister...mm." She goes silent for a moment, then shakes her head and goes back to grinning.

    "But it does sound like the perfect place for your Overlording, doesn't it? Neutral Overlord even has a nice ring to it! I like it!"
Hesinca "Alright! Neutral Overlord it is - you sure you don't want to come be an Ambiguously Good Night in the Neutral Overlord kingdom?"

"... Queendom? Whatever, maybe it'll just be a country called Neutral Overlord and we'll practice anarchy instead of monarchy."

"By the way, Staren, does the... doomsday device ever stop?"
Staren     Staren looks a bit ashamed at the mention of the doomsday device. "Well... I used the parts you already had... but it was made for use in the open. If it's confined to the Pocket Netherworld, I don't know *what* will happen. Well, one possibility was that it wouldn't do much of anything, and I guess that didn't happen... so, the effect was instead concentrated."

    Staren rubs her chin thoughtfully. "It'll probably just keep going until whatever power source you hooked it up to in there runs out, or it freezes itself and breaks. But I suppose it's also possible that it's created some sort of self-sustaining feedback effect... and even if it runs for a long time and then stops... Going to a place that cold won't be like going to a terrestrial tundra or glacier -- it would be more like going to an alien planet with coldness beyond anything on Earth, or perhaps some sort of elemental plane of cold."

    "...Retaking it is going to be a Project. Even if you can get some sort of runaway heat doomsday machine to try and reverse the process, you'd still have to set it up and keep it warm enough to function at first."
Blemishine     "Haha! Ambiguously Good Knight..." She lets that sit on her tongue for a moment. "It has a nice ring to it too, doesn't it? But I'm afraid my battle is elsewhere." She says that with some very obvious faux dramatics.

    "...But maybe I'll be the one playing the part of the villain one day?" She says that in just the right kind of tone that it's hard to tell if she's being serious or not before laughing again.

    She turns to Staren with a raised eyebrow and a slight turn of her head after that, taking in the explanation. "Wow, you really went the extra mile with that..."

    The knight glances back to Hesinca. "Um...from what I understand, you didn't bring it out with you, right? So in there, what's going to, um...happen?"
Hesinca "The doomsday device is still in the pocket netherworld. I wouldn't go so far as to get Staren to make it and then turn it on actual people..."

"... At least not this time. Hey, Staren, feel up to making another?"

"Anyway." She reaches into her vest and pulls out the Glowing Floor Tile. "I haven't really gone in and checked what it's looking like..."

"... Probably I should. Or - like, send a prinny in there."
Staren     Staren looks up at Blemishine curiously as she says she might play the part of the villain, then looks away in shame at being reminded she made the device too well. I4 has been harping on that a lot so it's a bit of a sore spot.

    When Hesinca asks if she'll make another, she turns away, hanging her head and holding her arm again, and softly mutters, "That's not funny..."

    She does turn back just enough to glance at the base panel, though.
Hesinca "It's not a joke."

Hesinca sets aside her barbequeing for a bit.

"You had a blast building it, didn't you? I didn't have to push you very hard."

"You want to build some more stuff like it. I can tell."
Blemishine     "Um...the prinny probably wouldn't be coming back from that, huh...? Aha..."

    The Glowing Floor Tile(tm) radiates an aura of distinct menace.

    Maria makes sure the plates of ribs are secure for the cooling, as the whole deal with the device gets further delved into. She does a good bit of thought.

    "I think you mentioned you couldn't ever make something that didn't work, didn't you, Staren?"
Staren     Staren sighs after Blemishine speaks. "That's not the issue. I don't want to become known as someone who builds machines that hurt innocent people..." Suddenly her eyes widen and her hands clap over her mouth. "...I mean I don't want to BE someone who... I don't want to hurt people! Except those I absolutely must to stop them from hurting others... and even then, I'd prefer a method other than hurting if it'd work... If I knew how to do it..."
Hesinca "... So a sort of... non-fatal doomsday device, maybe? Traps everyone harmlessly in bubbles while I make my way in and take over their kingdom? Queendom? Whatever?"

Hesinca gives Staren her full attention. One of the staff, recognizing Evil Scheming in the making, smoothly steps in to take over barbeque-tending duty.

"... I can tell that you've been trying to be good, Staren. But being evil is so much easier. So much simpler to show what you can do, without having to worry about the impact."
Blemishine     "I see..." There's a thoughtful noise from the girl, placing a hand to her chin.

    And then, like the angel on the shoulder to Hesinca's devil, she perks back up and folds her other arm under her chest. "But nothing worth doing is easy, isn't it? I'm glad you're so worried about the effects that your work might have. It's a trait I think everyone who creates amazing things should have!"

    Nod nod. "Still...sometimes, fighting for what you think is right isn't a wrong thing. It's fine to not want to hurt anyone, I think. It's even natural! ...But if you want to find a way to do something that amazing, it's going to take a lot of work. Are you up for it?"
Staren     Staren shakes her head. "Doing good is the goal. Technology and other power is just the means to achieve that goal. Anyone who thinks it's the other way around has really misunderstood me."

    She turns her head, but not enough to meet their gaze yet. "...And yet, it's true that I also want to be appreciated. But I don't think I could give up the former for the latter. It would break me. And yet, so does the other way around. I need both."
Hesinca "Get appreciated first. Then worry about doing good."

"The realm of good has concepts like 'humbleness' and 'hubris'. You'll spend your whole life trying to save the world and - even if you succeed, when you go to get appreciation for it, someone will say 'You want to be appreciated? Don't get a big head Staren' or like people will deny that the world ever needed saving or they'll credit the charismatic guy in the party leaving you in the shadows or..."

"Or - all sorts of other problems. Good is fraught, and you'll never get what you want from it. You'll get strung along, like a dollar bill being yanked along by a string, never getting your fulfillment no matter how much effort you put into chasing it."

"Whereas the path of evil is simple, immediate, *and* inclusive. We don't care if you're here for misguided altruism, or for revenge, or nihilism, or if in your case you just want to stop getting neglected. You don't ever have to worry about getting rejected because you're not 'good' enough, or you're not doing the right kind of 'good', or you're doing 'good' for the wrong reasons. Come be evil with me, Staren. Get what you want, and what you deserve."

She extends her hand downwards towards her.
Staren     Staren sighs dismissively at first, then rolls her eyes. But Hesinca keeps talking... Speaking truths about the path of the hero that Staren once thought she accepted gladly and selflessly, but which have strained and broken her bit by bit.

    As Hesinca expounds on the virtues of evil, Staren turns to face her and look up at her, water welling up in her eyes and a tightness in her throat. If it was Persephone and she could take the pain away I don't know if I could say no. A tear starts to run down her cheek and she wipes it off with her hand. I'm only... me. I don't have superhuman resolve or the capability to put math over emotion forever. I'm not Lilian or Septette.

    Staren turns away from the hand, her voice starting to break. "I just told you... I can't betray who I am... I'll hate myself..." She wipes her eyes as distant memories of angry teenage thoughts surface. How it would serve the Union right to lose her to the Confederacy, except she could never really do that. "Why are you doing this to me?"
Hesinca Hesinca softens a bit.

"Because that's what I do, Staren. It's what I am. I'm a demon, the impulse to tempt people comes as easily as the impulse to keep breathing. The horns aren't for show, and I've never once lied when I talk about how much of a horrible person I am."

"If you wanna stick to your guns, tell me no, spit in your face, I'll wish you luck earnestly - and you're welcome to hang out either way - but. I don't tempt with lies. That's coward shit. I'll tell you straight up how I see it, because... that's the truth. That's how I see it. The journey is absolutely difficult and the destination is not guaranteed."

"So I'm here. At square one. If you can't tell me no now, you definitely aren't going to be able to tell the universe no later after you've been dashed against the rocks. And - like I've been saying all this time..."

She glances down at her still-offered hand, then at Staren. "If something is gonna break regardless, I'd much rather be the one to do the breaking myself."
Staren     Staren listens. It does all ring true.

    To tell the universe no... That would be the heroic thing to do, huh? Blaze my own path, and show that I'm stronger than reality...

    ...But that's not what happens. Every time I try that, reality wins. I'm just not someone who can do that, it's turned out...


    She can't help but give a short 'ha' laugh as Hesinca calls back to what she said before about breaking that which will break anyway.

    But she can also almost see a path...

    Staren takes a few breaths and closes her eyes for a moment, trying to compose words in her head, then speaks: "But does it go the other way? What if I'm not *evil* enough, might I get rejected then? If I'm not doing the right kind of 'evil', or for the wrong reasons? Am I not just trading one obligation, which stretches and strains me to fill, for another?"
Blemishine     Maria remains very much silent as Hesinca espouses her benefits of doing evil. Rather than raising her voice in protest, she listens quietly, albeit with some tension in her expression. Not because the Evil Overlord is doing an Evil Overlord speech, it's mostly to herself, and Staren's reaction.

    "...Staren." When she speaks up once more, it's slowly and a bit quietly, but also very level, looking back towards her. "Miss Hesinca isn't entirely wrong. Doing good deeds is something often done without appreciation given, and sometimes even without acknowledgement at all. It's terrible, but there are so many unsung heroes who have done amazing things, and will never get it."

    "There's nothing wrong with wanting to get that, of course. Everyone wants at least a little bit, huh?" She gives the same kind of smile one might make when they're apologetic. "But 'the journey is difficult and the destination is not guaranteed'. If you want to both do good and be appreciated, I bet you could open up some amazing company or something that makes all kinds of life-improving stuff. But you wouldn't be satisfied with just that, would you?"

    Her voice softens up a bit, and she gives a tiny sigh. "Think really hard, okay? About what you really want, and about what you really want to do. If you want to be validated more than you want to do good, or the other way around."

    "But I think...you should do things within your own means and ability. Not try to live up to the standards that other people put you up to...or that you hold yourself to. Easier said than done, right? If being anything but 'yourself' will break you, then you should be yourself, not 'good' or 'evil'. I think that's how you'll shine the brightest. So...think on it?"
Hesinca "I've yet to have anyone get on my case for being not evil enough. Kinda the opposite, really. But..."

"... I agree with her that you should think on it."

The hand is pulled back - conveniently, also when food starts getting served.

"And when you decide, I'll be there. To help you take the first step... or maybe to test you further."
Staren     Having recovered from the tears and the frog in her throat, Staren gives Blemishine her best Evil Smirk. "Are the heroes of good really always so stupid?" She shakes her head... then drops the act. "But seriously, can't you see that's just what I'm doing? The question isn't which to try to be, but which will accept 'me' doing what I'd do anyway... or perhaps you could frame it as, is what I consider 'good' enough for others who measure themselves by that word?"

    Staren shakes her head and adds with a hint of sadness, "The answer is clearly no, by the way." She continues, "And the other side of that coin is, is what I consider 'good' something that those who measure themselves 'evil' would allow in their company?"

    Staren tilts her head towards Hesinca. "She hints yes, but really, the REAL question is what will the Concord accept. Although perhaps if I call myself evil I get to make cool speeches..." Staren strokes her chin dramatically.

    Then sighs. "And the truth is that my trust issues won't solve themselves with such a simple declaration. But perhaps it's something to keep in mind. Now let's enjoy this barbequeue before it can go to waste."
Blemishine     "I would never ever pretend to be smarter than I actually am. There's a lot I don't know!" Maria takes the Evil Smirk clapback in stride, right up to puffing out her chest.

    She goes back to normal pretty much right after though. "I sort of figured you were, but I wanted to get it all out on the table anyway. In the end, you're right that just saying something won't solve anything. It'd be nice if it could though."

    She's already reaching to get some plates ready, looking betweem them rather than at Staren as she does. "I wish I could give you better advice. When you really want people to care, I guess it makes doing good a whole lot more complicated. But things being more complicated than they look is pretty much what life is, I'm finding out. I can't understand everything you're going through just from a chat over some barbecue, unfortunately."

    "But it's as good a start as any! I'm really glad Miss Hesinca invited us all back." She nods a few times, then smiles. "So you're right, let's eat up!"