voice; forward dated to past midnight (action open to anyone around?)

[velveteened]

( there's a slight sound of rustling after the feed clicks on, as oz makes himself more comfortable on a seat in the observatory. why he's there late at night — night by circadian rhythms, anyway, simulated nights on the moon — is anyone's guess, or maybe it's obvious enough. in any case, when he speaks up a moment later, he sounds to be in a good enough mood. )

What's your favorite story? Scary ones are probably best for late at night, but what I really want to hear about are everyone's favorites. For instance, something about a princess and a dragon, or maybe a mystery with a twist ending, or something out of history....ah, if you make it up or adapt it from a book, that's fine too! Or even if it's a real one that's happened to someone you know, ( and a light laugh ) — don't worry, I don't tell anyone!

But it's rude to ask without giving my own preference, right? I can start with mine, if anyone wants.

( he'll tell people about holy knight. all about it!!!! don't ask him about it. )

Comments

[velveteened]

( he is absolutely enchanted and doesn't make any attempt to hide it; kang truly has a captive audience. )

That's terrible! What happened then?

[governorkang]

At first, I didn't know what to do. He had us all standing at attention that night as he gave a rambling speech that shifted into his own tongue, which only a handful of us understood any of. My second suggested we just get rid of him in his tent that night, but it'd be too suspicious. The Division Commander would figure it out. We couldn't claim that he deserted, either; he clearly enjoyed battle too much.

[Yes, he is nonchalantly talking about planning on killing someone. Draconians.]

Something he said got me thinking, though. He wanted to be "in the heart of the battle." I thought that maybe I should grant him that wish. So, I set my second to pull a few men to build something while I worked on getting this minotaur as drunk as I could. I had to lie and tell him that hard cider got its name because it was hard to come by.

[velveteened]

( he laughs at the bit about the cider, breaking in for a moment — )

So because it was supposed to be something rare, he couldn't resist wanting to drink as much as possible?

[governorkang]

He just didn't want to drink anything alcoholic the night before battle. Luckily, you can't taste it in hard cider, so he bought the lie.

By morning, this damn minotaur still hadn't passed out yet, and he'd drunk enough to knock me out cold for months. I was starting to get desperate. My second had finished his project, and I didn't have my half of the plan done. We tried knocking him over the head with a wooden beam, to no avail. Finally, when we thought we were doomed and the enemy trumpet sounded, he just passed out right there. We hauled him into the bowl of the catapult my second had built during the night.

[velveteened]

A catapult?

( not quite what he'd expected. )

[governorkang]

You heard right.

[He grins.]

The enemy also had a copper dragon on their side. The minotaur woke up just as I gave the order to fire, too late to get out in time. And, I don't know how he did it, but my second managed to hit the dragon square in the chest with the minotaur's horns, right through the scales and killing it instantly.