ic: continues because juan is being a Bro.

[maleborgia]

*okay guys do your brotherly love shit.

This Cesare is just in Canada dealing with this complicated.*

Comments

[foundjuanting]

But you scold me like a common dog, while you will butcher brothers and our dear sister's husbands on your whims, and you will pass these off for the good of the family.

[maleborgia]

I've never killed you. Do not confuse what happened to you with what I will accomplish.

[foundjuanting]

But you will murder your brother. I wonder if power or revenge will guide your sword.

[maleborgia]

I will not murder Juan. Do you not think I can learn from the mistakes you two made?

[foundjuanting]

No, that is also a Borgia trait, we always give into our vices.

[maleborgia]

Then you should pray for me.

[foundjuanting]

Pray for my murderer? I think you have mistaken me for a cardinal.

[maleborgia]

*fine, if you are going to act like a bratty younger brother I am going to straight up kick you underneath the table*

You were the one to call this place Purgatory. Surely you want to quicken the journey.

[foundjuanting]

No, I have a far different goal in mind. I will leave the salvation of one's soul to you.

[maleborgia]

What is your goal?

[foundjuanting]

To wander, to seek retribution against those who wronged me in life, to stand at my brother's side whenever he spills blood and remind him of what he'll never be able to wipe away, to trouble his sleep when he is done entangling himself with our dear sis. After all my brother has taken up the sword now, exorcisms will be beyond his reach. I may just enjoy being dead.

[maleborgia]

Dear God, no, don't do that. That is the most idiotic thing I have heard out of your mouth since you arrived the first time, including when you admitted to killing your brother.

[foundjuanting]

And why is that?

[maleborgia]

Why do you think? I doubt you will manage to accomplish it, for one, and for another it surely cannot do your soul any good.

1/3

[foundjuanting]

...

What is my soul, Cesare?

2/3

[foundjuanting]

For you dear brother, you've treated the art of war like a simple hobby, a game that if you play long enough that one day your father will hand you the sword of the papal states. Oh yes, you keep yourself trained under those priestly skirts, but you weren't raised in the art. You have never had more forces at your hand than a small cadre of guards, have you? You've never had to know the forces of arms and watched them march over the land like a sea of red and gold and metal. An ocean of comrades who rely on your very word and breath to lead them through to the next battle and home. You will see them die, Cesare, torn apart by canon, priced by arrows, felled by swords. They will litter the ground as a reminder of your mistakes and no matter how many you save, the widows will always blame you for their loss. To become a general you become responsible for the death of thousands, and it is only the holy mother church that protects you from damnation.

3/3

[foundjuanting]

But my soul is not covered by the word of the pope of Rome. I have been responsible for the loss of armies, but my acts, done to protect my family's honor will blacken my name in the heavenly books. I have tried to send a man to hell as a suicide for breeding with my sister like a common pig. I have tortured the Sforza bitch's worthless son to win a war. I have helped bribe members of our holy mother church to win father's position as the voice of god. I have murdered a prince who called me his brother twice over, and as for the sins of the flesh... Oh that is a list bordering on endless. There is no penance that would clear my name, but unlike my sulking brother I choose to accept it.

[maleborgia]

*although he is still seated calmly through that speech, he leans forward in a controlled motion once it is done and his words are sharper than they were before.*

We might not be able to control our destinies, but we can take them with honor and dignity. You are feeding me excuses, like a child who is stung by some petty injustice. I hear that you have had to shoulder much, and I appreciate that you have tried to protect our name, but do not think that your loss puts you at such a privileged disadvantage. You are a man, Juan, and man is gifted with choice. I do not much care at this point what mistakes you have made, although truthfully some of them sicken me. What concerns me are the actions you will choose to take next. If you do return as a shade, you will play by even more limited rules than you did in life. Is that what you want? Greater impositions and a heavier cross of your own making to bear? I had not thought you so short-sighted.

[foundjuanting]

And that is why you will be a failure as a gonfaloniere, you think that honor and dignity have any place on the battlefield.

[maleborgia]

You are hardly one to lecture me on their place.

[foundjuanting]

I think I am more qualified than you.

[maleborgia]

*pause, staring incredulously

oh my god laughing

laughing right in your face*

Do you?

[foundjuanting]

[Actually remaining calm for once]

By miles and miles.

[maleborgia]

Please explain.

[foundjuanting]

I already have.