Void Rift (rp) - Intermission

"Yes and no. Yes, if we can make them run low on Inhibitor fuel, then they have to talk or make a desperate gambit on our territory. We've been setting up snares, traps, and the like for years. We'd be ready, and they have no idea." She says.

 

"I wasn't exactly thinking about taking the fear route first, but it's your world, not mine."

 

"I'm open to your suggestions. You're the worm; realistically you hold all the cards."

 

"And I want to play my four aces, but one blames one, likes another, and is attacking the third. Card analogy aside, I'm really hoping that you lot can eventually get along, because running a royal breeding farm seems a bit disturbing."
I point out.

 

"If you need us to cooperate with the talon-bearers, then make sure they agree. Tensions run high, yes, but that's neither of our faults as far as I'm concerned. When survival is your primary focus, I can understand why you would be willing to turn on your neighbor." She says.

 

"Yes, of course. I just worry about getting along with the humans."

 

She hesitates.
"You're kidding, right? You can't expect me to forgive them for the hell they've put us through, for what they've done to our home in a desperate attempt to push us to extinction?"
She's starting to get riled up. You don't sense danger, but considering you're talking to a matriarch with moody guards all around you, treading lightly might not be a terrible idea.

 

"I'm just thinking about viable options, but once again, it's your world, not mine, so I only know what I've gathered. You've clearly been through a lot more than me."

 

"You may have heard of the bomb used to kill the wyrms off... but the ruin was meant to kill us, too. It was meant to twist us as terribly as it has done the flora..." The Matriarch sighs. "There are raptors and mantis... there used to be so much more."

 

"I heard the raptor population tripled after the gas was instated."

 

"With all the corpses laying around, they feasted and multiplied. Now, they're struggling to keep themselves alive."

 

"I see."
Pause.
"If you do eradicate the humans, do you intend to keep the inhibitor?"

 

"Until I figure out a more permanent solution to the Ruin, I would. Until it burns out; move it to where we used to have plenty of resources. Hope we can take the scraps of normality and nurture them back to the way things were."

 

"But, once it runs out..."

 

"Then we hope we have found another way to stave it off by then. Or, the worse alternative is, we have lived in the ruin so long that we cannot live out of it."

 

"Indeed..."
Pause.
"So what's your next plan of action?"

 

"Well... Someone overheard your little spiel with Orchid..."
Pause that seems to be for dramatic effect but really is for the Matriarch to think about something.
"...I decided that if you run whatever plan you come up with by me, even if it means I replace my guard with raptors, I will hear you out, and if you can compromise, I will lend you the support of my people."

 

I don't seem surprised.
"Alright. I'll be thinking. Have a good day."
I say, turning to leave.

 

"Oh, and if you would be so kind... since you clearly aren't from here, do you by chance have any paints you could spare where you come from?" She asks.

You turn just in time to see a mantis walk in holding a grey and teal pigment with a refilled bowl of water.

 

"Maybe. I never really wondered. I can check, while I'm thinking, if you'd like."
I offer.