Kushiel groaned dramatically, like a kid denied a lollypop, or like a grown man denied his way. Both scenarios elicited the same amount of ire and rage. Life was hard, he didn’t know why it had to be this way. But still, he needed to take a moment and think about this rationally. Did he really want to light the captain on fire? Was that really in the spirit of diplomacy? This was a question he asked himself very, very rarely. While he was, technically, a diplomat, the last act of diplomacy he had done was burn the Gate’s tree to the ground.
It hadn’t take an awful lot of tact to accomplish that.
This situation may warrant a more finessing hand. Kushiel groaned again, and extinguished a bit of the flame. He took a deep, shaky breath.
“Good, because I’m not afraid for you either.” He gave the mare a glower, just for good measure, just to show her that while he was extinguishing the flames, he wasn’t giving up. He was just trying a new approach, a diplomatic one. He narrowed his eyes a little, and when he thought she was listening to him he continued.
“Look, Shaytan, I think we got off on the wrong foot.” He tried to plaster a friendly smile on his face. He probably only accomplished a look akin to chewing glass. He did, however, nobly press on. He had an idea, a master plan even, he was going to try to relate to crazy on its own level.
“You see, I’m not hurting the tree. I’m helping the tree. It likes the fire, I give it more, and it makes me happy. This is called a symbiotic relationship.” Kushiel nodded eagerly, feeling like he was on to something. Perhaps, he was just about to get his head bashed in by this crazy bull of a mare, but there was still the possibility that she would be won over by his logic, charm and good looks.
“If you want, we could have a symbiotic relationship. We could both stand near the tree, and you could agree not to charge me, and I could agree not to light you on fire. I bet Straia would like that, if she could see her subjects getting along so well.” Invoking Straia’s name may have been playing dirty, but he also wasn’t wrong. Surely, there had to be some award for playing nice. It was, after all, really, really difficult to do in this den of monsters. Kushiel waited, not exactly on baited breath, but with a good deal of anticipation for Shaytan’s response. They would have to work this out eventually, after all, or else they were doomed to constantly butt heads (very literally) over the tree.
It hadn’t take an awful lot of tact to accomplish that.
This situation may warrant a more finessing hand. Kushiel groaned again, and extinguished a bit of the flame. He took a deep, shaky breath.
“Good, because I’m not afraid for you either.” He gave the mare a glower, just for good measure, just to show her that while he was extinguishing the flames, he wasn’t giving up. He was just trying a new approach, a diplomatic one. He narrowed his eyes a little, and when he thought she was listening to him he continued.
“Look, Shaytan, I think we got off on the wrong foot.” He tried to plaster a friendly smile on his face. He probably only accomplished a look akin to chewing glass. He did, however, nobly press on. He had an idea, a master plan even, he was going to try to relate to crazy on its own level.
“You see, I’m not hurting the tree. I’m helping the tree. It likes the fire, I give it more, and it makes me happy. This is called a symbiotic relationship.” Kushiel nodded eagerly, feeling like he was on to something. Perhaps, he was just about to get his head bashed in by this crazy bull of a mare, but there was still the possibility that she would be won over by his logic, charm and good looks.
“If you want, we could have a symbiotic relationship. We could both stand near the tree, and you could agree not to charge me, and I could agree not to light you on fire. I bet Straia would like that, if she could see her subjects getting along so well.” Invoking Straia’s name may have been playing dirty, but he also wasn’t wrong. Surely, there had to be some award for playing nice. It was, after all, really, really difficult to do in this den of monsters. Kushiel waited, not exactly on baited breath, but with a good deal of anticipation for Shaytan’s response. They would have to work this out eventually, after all, or else they were doomed to constantly butt heads (very literally) over the tree.