The Best Mistakes

[Nayt]

"He's right, you know," Presmodia called back to Christoph.

Danyr had one hell of a point. Daniel was altogether too confounded to form a solid opinion at all, but were he not, he'd have probably agreed. When Presmodia agreed with the boy, truthfully--wholeheartedly, even, then a distinguishably good point had been made.

"What's interesting, though, is that he's convinced that Usurii is going to help him out if we brought him to her," Presmodia pointed out, "Usurii and Isac might be a bit put off by me at the door, but I know Usurii a bit. Or, well, I know of her. I've read "Master's" little report on her. Heh, heh, heh . . ."

"What? Report?" Griez was somewhat shocked. "Th-those are confidential, you shouldn't have access to them. No one should. Only a few do, and they're all-- oh . . . shit."

"Well, that's one memory that has to go."

Griez, in-between clenched teeth, shouted, "'tch! Bite me! You're just talking out of your ass!"

Presmodia lifted one finger, "Not so. See, I know how you are, and I know Sturm's observations on Usurii. She's a smart woman. Vengeful and vindictive, but smart. She's got some respect, too. Here I am, technically an enemy, bringing you along with a bunch of humans. What you aren't considering is that you're more despicable to her than I am."

"What? What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"You're an opportunist, Griez," Presmodia continued, pacing back and forth a bit as if he were lecturing. "You only support Sturm because there are more people there than with Bricriu. You think Bricriu doesn't stand a chance because we don't have people like Zeto and Sanguine. You don't actually feel any loyality or anything. I, on the other hand, am completely loyal to Bricriu! Think about it, Griez. Who is Usurii more likely to pass harm? Hmmm?"

It started to dawn on Griez exactly what Presmodia was talking about. His expression fell from enraged and sure of himself to loose and surprised--intimidated, even. If the man's face could turn white, it would've.

"Now, you're going to answer four questions. First, Christoph's back there. Then Danyr's, then Daniel's, then mine. Then, we'll decide what we're going to do with you. How does that sound, dove?"

With great reluctance, Griez spat out one word: ". . . ask."

[Zach Kaiser]

Christoph just shook his head and smiled and Danyr's response. Such a righteous way of thinking, and so very ignorant. He was already judging Greiz based on so little contact; for all they knew, Presmodia was a dangerous criminal and he was perfectly justified in trying to kill him and anybody he was associated with.

Not that he really cared what happened to Greiz, but he found that way of thinking humorous; if they went through with it, they would be giving someone a new start, but it would no longer be Greiz.

It does not matter; no matter what I say, I doubt he would see how twisted that sounds.

He also kept to himself that Presmodia seemed far more opportunistic to him than Greiz. He wondered if he was really as loyal as he claimed. And he hoped that Usurii was not as vindictive as they thought, or if his hunch was right he might be in trouble.

There's no avoiding it, though. They have Mimik, so I need to find them.

Initially he wanted to ask Greiz about the general situation of the two factions, such as why there was even a division, but he figured he could get that information from either Presmodia, or even Usurii or Hazker if he wouldn't talk. Besides, he was going to avoid getting caught up in the trouble amongst the Ersatzshad, which he figured wouldn't be difficult as no one seemed to want much to do with humans anyway.

Instead he decided to ask something that Greiz specifically would more likely know. "Your two sides are at odds, and yet it doesn't seem like there's much outright fighting. So tell me...what is it about Presmodia that warranted you attacking him on sight?"

Finding out more about this leech that was now attached to them...that was information he had little doubt would be valuable.

[Nayt]

"I'd like to say that he's jealous of my good looks," Presmodia remarked with a smile.

Daniel could only sigh at that, and Greiz opted to completely ignore Presmodia's comment. Truly, the haughty Ersatzshad could be a little much--but it wasn't that he couldn't be dealt with. Daniel had been around cockier people, some of which he sort of missed after they weren't traveling around with him anymore, or anything along those lines. If Presmodia were around for some time, he'd be able to get the hang of him and sort of accept the Ersatzshad's presence, and miss him if he were gone. It just so happened that they were up to their knees in some crazy "puzzle" shit, though, and any intelligent person, regardless of personal hysteria, would understand the need to attend to that.

"There doesn't seem like there's much outright fighting?" Greiz repeatedly skeptically, "Of course there's outright fighting! This city is an outright war zone!"

"Well, he's right about that," added Presmodia. "One of Sturm's guys walk through the turf of one of our guys, and you can expect something from hazing to kidnapping to beatings on sight. Greiz here just so happens to be the type of man who sits in wait with a posse and the want to kiss ass by beating and capturing us rebellious folk and taking us back to our oh so benevolent Master. Isn't that right, Greiz?"

Greiz didn't give a yes or no--or even a word at all, but a grunt of acknowledgment. It was the truth, and it took someone as dense as Daniel to not realize it.

[Ramlock]

Presmodia was likely just as bad as Greiz, but Danyr knew they needed the only ally they had here. Even bad people could accomplish good things, if they had the right guidance. Danyr wasn't sure if Presmodia was ever going to do good things, but in any case, he was contributing to good things by helping them. Then, he could go about whatever it was he did, until such time as he inevitably died...

"Okay, Greiz. Who else is waiting around here to kill us on the way to Usurii's? We don't really have the time to deal with a lot more fights like that..."

Danyr was eager to get out, certainly. If his sister was okay, then perhaps he could afford to come back and at least investigate. Otherwise, he needed to go save her. Once again, his brother was running off when there was truly important work to be done, and the real jobs fell to Danyr to handle... There wasn't much he could do at the moment, though. Fortunately, Danyr's patience was basically inexhaustible...

[Nayt]

"It depends . . . on who's on watch duty for this area," Greiz coughed, "If it's Sanguine, expect hordes. If it's Zeto, expect commanders. If it's Vincent or Pruzo or Wim or any of the others . . . I have no clue. Sanguine is the jumpiest of us, and Zeto is the most thorough . . ."

A lot of variables. Too many for Daniel to gather and comprehend all that well. They were either in for tough but short battles or easy but lengthy battles? He supposed they'd just have to tell who was "on watch duty" just by the amount of enemies that happened to stalk them, but even still . . .

"But I expect you to be dead within just a few streets, regardless . . ."

Presmodia completely ignored that comment. Intrigued, he lifted his right index finger, and in Greiz's place, explained: "Well, that's good to hear. What our unlucky friend is leaving out is what "watch duty" entails. I'll show you in a minute, but there are these eyes scattered about the city, and some of Sturm's "commanders," like Greiz, who are just powerful and extremely observant, unlike Greiz, have access to rooms where they can see through each and every eye, and have contacts throughout the city. Since we started raising our voices, and fists, our oh-so-benevolent "Master" had his eyes in the city manned at all times. You're in luck, though!" Presmodia spun around to face Danyr and the others, his hands behind his back and a smile upon his lips, "Because I'm well versed in how blind spots work!"

[Zach Kaiser]

If Greiz thought this was a war zone, Christoph was doubtful that the man ever witnessed an actual battle. Or even read about one, for that matter. He and his men seemed more like members of a street gang than members of anyone's army. However, after Danyr's question was answered, he realized that chances were that Greiz was not anywhere near the top of the chain of command. It was also possible that the lack of attention they'd attracted thus was due to Presmodia leading them through "blind spots."

Christoph wondered what they meant by "eyes" in the city, though. Normally he would take that to mean "spies," but the way they talked about it made it sound like something else. In Artegan there was technology the likes of which he never saw before, and one of those things displayed moving images that were somehow recorded...but how they worked and what their limits were, he was unsure. Could technology really allow a single person to watch an entire city at once? It seemed rather absurd to him, but as he was ignorant of the subject he couldn't count it out.

However, if they are capable of watching the entire city at once, that would certainly be the best way to search for someone. He would hopefully not need that, but if for some reason the current trail was a dead end it was an option to keep in mind.

And if Presmodia is of any value, handing him over would certainly help with introductions.

[Ramlock]

Presmodia's information was much more intriguing than Greiz'. However they could see around the entire city... Knowing a bit more about their foes was good, and Danyr was certainly going to keep it in mind if they ever encountered these people, but they were watching an entire city... Danyr didn't understand how, but he'd traveled to another world. He just needed to know how to avoid their sight, blind spots or no...

"Good... Here's my question, though. What are you doing here? Why are you all even bothering to fight, when everyone in the whole damn city is on one side or the other?"

None of it made any sense. There were no crowds, no people to distract, or anything worth fighting for, from the looks of things. He had to have a better idea of what they were fighting for before he could know how they were going to stay out of the fight...

[Nayt]

"They're holed up," replied Greiz, growling under his breath, "They're crowded all into one part of the city and the lot of us have no idea where . . ."

Greiz shot a glare to Presmodia, who simply grinned and shrugged his shoulders. Obviously, Presmodia wasn't telling. If anything, that was at least a decent sign of loyalty.

"Which is why getting our hands on that miserable little bastard is important!" Greiz shouted.

This, however, was not a direct answer to Danyr's question. It did, however, provide a bit of insight: they weren't simply scattered about, at least most of them weren't. There weren't nearly enough Ersatzshad to fill a city this large, so they gathered and crowded, with many of them living in the vicinity of the other. It was to be expected that a select few would not stick to a group, such as Hazker, who didn't seem to have any (living) neighbors. Usurii was perhaps the same, if she was as reclusive as Presmodia suggested.

Fortunately, Presmodia had a bit of information to provide on his own. "What do you get when you mix idealism, hypocrisy, and territorialism? Sturm and all of his followers. See, we can't necessarily survive outside of this city for any real length of time. We can leave, sure--but we have to come back; it's like our lives depend on it, even if we can just take a six month vacation from it all--we still have to come back at the end of those six months. Think of it this way: this is our home, and every time we leave, we don't want to be welcomed home by a slew of greasy bastards like Greiz here. We need our benevolent "Master" to live, and what we want is to sever that need, live our own lives. All~ I want to do is sit on the southern beaches of Greoul for the rest of my life, but that's not going to happen--and do you know why?"

Daniel, who had been staring blankly at Presmodia, wholly unable to understand, shook his head. "No, why?"

"Because we're his personal army, and he wants to control his personal army," Presmodia scoffed at the notion, "And it just so happens that none of us ever asked for that."

There was a long pause, during which Presmodia paced a bit.

"Now, let's get to my question," he went from angry back to upbeat and haughty once again.

"Take your question and shove it," spat Greiz.

"Where's Fretznac?"

"What?"

"I said: where. is. Fretznac?" Presmodia lifted his arm--he didn't do anything with it, but Greiz at least knew that Presmodia could still end him with a few thoughts.

Greiz almost laughed. "You restrict yourself to one question, and that's all you have to ask? That's too good. Yeah, Fretznac lives on the north side, just two blocks north from the spire."

"Good," Presmodia waved his hands in relief and turned his back to Greiz, "Looks like it's on the way. Do whatever you want to him, boys, it doesn't matter to me either way."

[Zach Kaiser]

"Hmmm..." Christoph mused thoughtfully. For once something Presmodia said caused his opinion of him to rise; he figured that the fighting was a power struggle with the man named Bricriu wanting to be in charge instead of Sturm. Presmodia, at least, wanted to simply live a peaceful life it seemed, though he was force to resist the urge to point out that even if he cut ties with this place living such a carefree life wasn't going to be so easy. Greoul's beaches were popular, and staying on them required money.

But something that Presmodia said bothered him as well. The way he talked about needing return after six months made it sound like there was some biological reason for it. It's like our lives depend on it. It could have just been hyperbole, and what he was referring to was something akin to being hunted down and killed if he stayed longer, but he seemed like the kind of person who was confident enough in his own abilities to risk it for freedom. But if was a biological need of some kind, how come Mimi never exhibited it? They'd been traveling together for over a year now.

There was something more immediately on his mind though. "Who is Fretznac?" he asked, an especially important question as it sounded like Presmodia intended to go there before going to Usurii's. The caution in his voice also implied another question: Will he be happy to see us?

[Ramlock]

Danyr didn't believe Presmodia's story in the least. Sure, he just wanted to leave. That's what they all said. Wanted to get out of that business, retire somewhere nice, and just be free to be a good person. Then, all of a sudden, when they're in a position to grab power... Presmodia would be the next ruler of the city. Until someone else decided they wanted to leave, and had to deal with him first. Then they would take over, and the cycle would continue indefinitely...

"And even if he's on the way, you're taking us to see Usurii first. We've already been here to protect you once."

Reaching into one of his pockets, Danyr would draw a small bag, filled with three pills. Popping one out, he would hand it to Greiz, not willing to try to force it down the man's throat... Yet. It wasn't a lethal pill, barring extreme circumstances. In fact, it was commonly taken for enjoyment. Danyr just liked to keep the distilled form of marijuana around for circumstances such as this.

"Take that. It's not going to hurt you. In fact, you'll probably enjoy the next 12 hours a lot, though you won't really know much about what you're doing."

[Nayt]

Greiz stared at what Danyr had to offer, growing from uninterested to angry. This wasn't what he wanted! He wanted to beat Presmodia to a pulp, have these humans either executed or booted out of the city (Greiz preferred the former idea, of course), and drag Presmodia back to where he called "headquarters" to extract information from the rebellious bastard! He didn't want to go down and out for twelve hours, no matter how good it was going to feel. It went without saying that he was personally going to rebel against the idea, and not be all that great at convincing Danyr and the others that he was in the right, not Presmodia.

Because, truth be told, none of them cared if Greiz or Presmodia were justified--not right now.

"Screw off!" Greiz spat at Danyr.

Daniel sighed. This wasn't going to be easy. Taking Greiz out of the picture for awhile, in a humane way, had "impossible" written all over it. Hell, they didn't even have to make him into a different person if they brought him to Usurii--just erase a few choice recent memories . . .

Presmodia, a bit put off by Danyr's first comment (stated and interrupting Presmodia before he could respond to Christoph), grumbled, "You can't tell me you didn't expect that."

[Ramlock]

"Daniel, could you hold his arms, please?"

Danyr wasn't opposed to forcefully putting the pill down Greiz' throat. As inhumane as the drugging may have been, it was the best way to ensure there was no interruption from their erstwhile enemy, without the need to kill or seriously harm him. Even after he gained some lucidity, he wasn't going to be in any shape to pursue or hinder them for a while, short of warnings and information. There weren't going to be terrible permanent consequences, though.

"I swear, this would just be easier if you took it. I'm trying to not hurt you, and this will be easier on everyone. You're just going to lose track of everything for a while, be really hungry, and then go to sleep..."

There were a few other side effects, but none that wouldn't be fixed when the drug wore off. If Greiz was somehow convinced, he would place the pill in the man's mouth, or alternatively, if Daniel was to grab him, he would hold the man's head back and open his mouth to drop the pill down the man's throat...

[Nayt]

Greiz was unconvinced. "Dirty humans, you have no idea what you're--!!"

He was stopped from talking quickly as Daniel approached hastily and grabbed his arms. Greiz struggled, but Daniel--though he didn't look it too well--was a great deal stronger than the Ersatzshad. Presmodia, with his arms folded over his chest, watched with idea amusement.

"Put me out for nearly a day. Don't worry, your gonna love it, and not have a care in the world . . ." Daniel remarked reassuringly, passively regarding a previous accident of his, when he ingested one of Danyr's little "pills," thinking it to be some type of food, and had to be barred within a rented out inn room, else there was a sincere risk of him fighting his way to the nearest food source in a lethargic, yet dangerous--even if completely simple, absent minded, and innocent--manner. When Daniel was under a mind altering drug, he was under it hard.

At first Greiz tried to cough it back up, secondly, he tried to choke on it, and thirdly, when those failed (as he had swallowed it rather quickly), he resigned to his defeat. It didn't take very long for the effects to kick in, and when Daniel finally let go of his arms, Greiz simply fell onto his side. This really had been the most humane way possible to deal with the guy. It was a good thing they hadn't used it on Presmodia earlier, though, or else they'd be short one guide through the city, even if that guide obviously had ulterior motives.

"Well, now that he's out . . ." Presmodia dropped his arms to his sides, "It seems that Greiz didn't know who Fretznac is--or, at least, doesn't know his importance at all. Fretznac is the reclusive supervisor of all the eyes in this city--and I don't know about you, but if we're going to the near opposite side of the city, it would be much easier on me if the people that could get in our way are . . . blind, if you're getting the metaphor."

[Zach Kaiser]

Christoph looked a bit annoyed when Danyr interrupted Presmodia's reply to his question, but he remained silent as events unfolded, simply watching with amusement. Yes, Greiz was much better off put under, and drugging him he supposed was a bit more humane than simply cold-clocking him, not to mention it at least still left him slightly mobile.

Judging by the effects Danyr described he had a pretty good idea about what was in the pill, and though the merchant part of him rebelled against being associated with anything that could be considered a black-market good, he stuffed the feeling down.

Greiz was certainly an idiot--if he'd been using his head, he'd realize the best option would have been to feign cooperation until he found the first chance to escape or stab them in the back. It was for this reason that he distrusted Presmodia so much...he was acting much like Christoph himself would if their situations were reversed.

While Presmodia's plan seemed solid, there was one thing that bothered him. "I can understand there being blind spots in a city this large, but can we really get to this Fretznac without him becoming aware of us?" It seemed unlikely that someone in charge with surveillance would overlook anywhere near his own place.

[Ramlock]

Danyr was certainly glad when Greiz took the pill and collapsed, though the thought hadn't ever occurred to him to use the pills on Presmodia. That would have completely ruined him. They did many things, but allow for clear thought... No, certainly not. Even Daniel had somehow become less naive and straightforward when he took the things. At least, this way, he wouldn't be pursuing them, and he'd probably enjoy them. Everyone else did...

"Okay, sure. We'll go... 'Take care' of Fretznac. And then, Sanguine. And Zeto. And Vincent, and Pruzo, and Wim. All of them. Then, when all your rivals are taken care of, we can go see Usurii. Or you can have us killed. Whatever is most convenient..."

Danyr listed off the people Greiz had named, assuming they would be the next targets. Maybe Presmodia was right. Maybe the trip would be easier this way. However, Danyr's sarcasm and frustration wasn't exactly misplaced. If nothing else, for every rival of Presmodia they defeated, the more powerful Presmodia became. And the more powerful Presmodia was, the less occupied he would be with the war, and the more he would be prepared to kill them...

"But we'll go to deal with him first. Again, non-lethally. And then, we're going straight there. No stops. No more interruptions. And if you lead us into an ambush, we leave you to deal with it yourself."

Presmodia was lucky. Danyr was too curious to not go see this Fretznac. If he had seen the whole city, he had to have files... No one could keep track of that much information without recording it. And Danyr could have it, too...