#elsewhere

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Jordan swallows.

"Well, that's the call" He looks over at Tiara, "Time to talk to the asshole"

"You sure you want to do this alone? I mean, I shall be i the next room but..." The knight says "I worry about you"

"Tiara, " Jordan looks at her, "I worry about me too, but the more I think about it- who would miss me? I mean, sure for a bit, but over all.... " A shrugg "I don' think even I would miss me. Only a centaur can do this. Might as well be me. I'm finally qualified"

Tiara crosses her arms "Sometimes I understand the urge folks get to smack you.. and it's not for the reasons YOU think. Fine. May Da'an be with you"

And he enters in past the guards. He is offered a ward stone to let him slip by the wards. He takes a breath, and enters in.

The sluagh isn't looking at him , facing away "Is it you aggain 'chieftain' , having trouble are you? If you wish to negotiate..." He whispers.

"She doesn't" Jordan shrugs "New Kidnapping attempts? Failed. Murder? Failed. You actually... don

't have quality do you?" Jordan walks closer.

Leech turns, his eyes wide

"Stay back! A doom awaits you if you approach me" HISSS

"I know, but there's also doom for you" Jordan smiles "Check it out" he shows a screen "You lost a half of a fortune. the other half has been frozen... drug rules are HARSH... and you were shot at by the feds"

"What? you, tarnish my mortal reputation? My conacts?" Leech twist his neck "This isn't how trolls fight"

"Yeah? Well sucks for you, you have contacts, lackeys, hirelings and 'alliances', turns out the trolls have Friends. Guess which one wins? That's right, they blew your millions, scattered a lot of it to the winds... because it's not about money, it's about stopping you. Seeds of discord sewn between your allies, and because THEY werenn't friends... it worked." Jordan moves closer, only to see the sluah backpeddling "I think get it. Why villains monologue. "

"You think this is a simple matter of villains and heroes?" the sluah snorts softly, a wheeze despite his fear

"No, I'm actually too jaded for that, but I DO get why the villains monologue. See? If I was the hero... I'd just want to save others FROM you. But... the villain WANTS someone to suffer. And yeah, I kind of love telling you how nothing you built is going to last, how you lived for so long and in the end it was dust. Guess I'm the villain, because I'm loving it. You hurt a kid who is so damn nice I honestly figure she'll have to become an axe murdererr in her middle age to balance things out. You went after folks who took care of me when I nearly spat in their faces... AND.. I suspect you had a part in the death of my stupid parents who walked through the world with blinders on. How' that movie go ? Offer me money?"

"Money I have..." the slauggh starts to say

"No you dont" Jordan says "We took that. And you don't have power. So the whole scene is ruined, andn you can't give me ANYTHING I want... and you know? I STILL want my father AND mom back you son of a bitch." his eyes narrow "All I have to do is hold out my hand, get close. That's how this works" not a question

"Wait... i have knowledge! If.. if you do this, you.. you become like me, slow to age.... you don't like being a centaur? You'll be one for well over a century!"

This would be a shout, if it wasn't limited to a whisper

Jordan stops

"Yes, you see? I WANT to exist, boy. I don't.. trust the wheel anymore. You, you want to be normal... I can help.. just do what I ask, help me escape, and I'll never trouble you again. You'll be normal, I'll make sure of that," Leech wheedles

Jorden bites his bottom lip, "You know, honor doesn't mean much to me, and the trolls are living proof that duty leads to stress and glowers. Guess Olgar is right. I'm unseelie. And I'm good with that. but you know? Much as I want to be normal some days? I want you to win even less. So.. fuck it, and fuck you too. Since when did want and deserve ever matter in my life? Any life? Life's not fair, but people like you use that as an excuse to be a douche nozzle. How's this for fair... by the time you're reborn, my kith is going to be found in every prairie, every plain, every damn hillside.... maybe changelins willl all die collecttively, but centaurs will be there to be part of that too. And if you come back as a half confused kid not sure what this whole fae thing is about? And you see a really old or for that matter not so old centaur who looks like me LAUGH at you hysterically? I hope you remember enough to know it's me. And I hope your new self can feel shame. Here and now? I Hope this hurts!" He holds out his hand "GIVE !"

Leech screams without sound, as the fae eternity rips from him, and years return in with it, decades for ever year lived spreads across his features! Power flows and goes about Jordan, causing him to glow with a terrible black fire that goes gray, then off white. The Sluagh's mein dissolves first... he goes beyond hagggard to ash... and soon even mortal bones splnter and crack until at last.. there's a pile of dust.

Jorden looks down at his hands, the flames sinking into him as he gains the gift he took by Da'an's decree "Yeah, acne for decades. Stupid ass immortality" And he goes back to knock on the door "Guards? It's me. We're done here. Please.. let me go home"

(end scene)