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]

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.

[maleborgia]

Not well enough.

[foundjuanting]

Then I'm sorry you are of a slow mind. Hopefully it will gain some speed before you pair with our sister. She has a great deal of cunning, not unlike a snake.

[maleborgia]

Oh, do stop that.

[foundjuanting]

Speak the truth? I'm afraid I can not.

[maleborgia]

Insinuate.

[foundjuanting]

About what? That you hide behind your sister's age to avoid thinking about you have done so many times in other versions of yourself?

[maleborgia]

That should be proof enough that I am my own man and not your dear brother who killed you. Let me make my own mistakes and pay for them in full.

[foundjuanting]

And when you have the dagger twisting inside of your brother, how will you make recompense?

[maleborgia]

That depends on the situation. But trust me, it will not be for lust for our sister.

[foundjuanting]

None? She does have her beauty.

[maleborgia]

None whatsoever.

[foundjuanting]

And her talents are well-known.