*please send Sin to horny jail immediately
*HBO's Rome S2 reference
*JoJo's reference
~POV Sinbad~
The previous day started with news of his future death, and only ended after Sinbad found a solution. Well... his day outside of his bedroom ended that way. The wave of relief made other pleasures much more enjoyable. He also slept better than normal as a result.
So it was a shame that Ja'far came to wake him at the normal time. Sinbad had Ja'far leave. The woman that took care of him last night would still be waiting in the other room in case he wanted her again. She was taller than the person Sinbad was craving, but that was never a problem for him. And as a King, he shouldn't have to deal with the pitched tent he woke up with alone.
((HBO's Rome S2 reference "I am not leaving this bed until I've fucked someone", the vision with the caption text is on my tumbr))
After cleaning up, getting dressed and saying 'good bye' to the lovely lady, Sinbad finally had the emotional energy to deal with Ja'far's morning rant while he ate breakfast.
"Bla Bla Bla ...meeting with the delegates from Sassan... Bla Bla Bla ...new shipment of spices has been confirmed and is on its way... Bla Bla Bla ..."
---
~POV Mori~
When the maids came with breakfast, I was still asleep. I only had the vaguest of memories of one of them coming in to deliver food and leaving quietly. They were probably still used to when I was sick so couldn't always get to the door on my own and slept all the time.
I pulled myself out of bed. I was half asleep and just as dressed. That must be why I felt the sun on my back so strongly. This country is far too hot for me to manage to sleep clothed consistently. The more conscious I became, the more aware I was of a familiar pain in my gut. It was a good thing I had bought period supplies the previous day. Since I had apparently started already, I finished getting changed before eating my breakfast.
I ended up in the same outfit as the previous evening, but with a tweak. I took two of the clasps from each side of the cover to use to keep the sides of the pants relatively closed. This outfit was definitely comfortable and breathed well, and now it didn't feel as exposing. I could tell that if Sinbad hadn't shown up when he did then I probably would have ended up in this back then. His timing had to have been the Great Flow catering to his desires.
As I ate, the sight of the new scroll kept calling to me. The waves might not be as high as the previous night, but they were still high, and I was not in a position to find out why. I needed the distraction of finishing that scroll so I wouldn't ruminate on things outside of my control. Yesterday, I was swept up in everyone else's waves and had to deal with way too much. But today? Today was for me. It's not like anyone gave me a schedule yet, so it should be fine, right?
Besides, I hadn't hyperfixated on Sinbad or Magi canon in days -the irony of which was not lost on me. I hadn't written or drawn anything in days either. I needed this outlet and after the taste I had the previous night, I wanted more.
---
~POV Sinbad~
The delegates from Sassan had requested this meeting with the Alliance; there had been a cave-in in one of their mines. There were a few deaths, and even more injured, so this was a request for aide, and understanding that they were going to have to drastically cut back on the amount of precious metals they could produce as a result. What was needed from Sindria, and the Seven Sea's Alliance should have been obvious and straight forward, yet an hour later they were still talking in circles.
What aide they could and couldn't give seemed arbitrary to Sinbad, but the Alliance required understanding and acceptance to survive and strengthen. Sometimes negotiating with Sassan was the easiest, and sometimes it was the hardest of all of the countries in the Seven Seas Alliance. All of their religious doctrines meant that there was that much more Sinbad had to keep in mind when suggesting anything. At the same time, those same views said that all Dungeon Capturers were specially chosen by God, and Sinbad had captured 7; they obviously held him in high regard.
If he didn't know better, Sinbad would have thought that the waves were actively encouraging them to drag this out. No, they were intentionally wearing him down; the only question was what were they after? What request did they have that they thought Sinbad would have to be mentally drained to agree to?
---
~POV Mori~
Thinking about making a new Fate scroll reminded me that I thought I saw a hint to the taboo knowledge in the First Fate scroll. Rereading it, I found I had mentioned how Yunan could remember all 9 of his lives, how the Magi were driven to choose Kings by the roll given to their Rukh, and how all of the Kings he chose had tragic ends. None of it directly gave away anything about the Alma Taron stuff, but if Sinbad read about Rukh being given rolls, he'd never believe what I said about free will. I took my ink knife and carefully scraped off that section, before rewriting it in a way that covered up the mistake area and avoided mentioning the Rukh. You could tell that something else had been there once, but the creases from the original text were not deep or consistent enough for someone to read past the new text written on top.
I'd have to be more careful going forward.
I continued the 2nd Fate scroll while I was thinking about it. I had managed to write down everything up until Sinbad leaves Riem to go to Sassan the last time I worked on this. It became a bit scribbly towards the end from how fast I was writing, but I thought it was legible enough. I had only drawn one picture -Harun and Sinbad talking in the pub. I'd illustrate the next parts more.
---
~POV Sinbad~
The stand still in the meeting broke when one of the delegates brought up something unexpected. "We heard that you found a Prophet in Balbadd."
This was why they were being difficult -they wanted access to the Prophet. Sinbad had already been planning how to use Mori's knowledge as bargaining chips with other nations. She clearly knew when to hold her tongue, but he still needed time to talk to her about how much she could say to help other countries. She was *his* Prophet after all.
It seemed like the King's Generals hadn't shared the contents of Mori's visions with the delegates from their home countries -they were proving their loyalty to him yet again. If the various delegations had learned about the 2 Calamities there would be no way they wouldn't have confronted him about it directly. Instead, the people from Sassan were using news of a personal tragedy to confirm Mori's existence.
"It's true." There was no reason for Sinbad to deny it. It was only a week until her official announcement anyway. "And I can vouch for the legitimacy of her visions."
They talked amongst themselves, and then one asked, "Would we be able to speak to the Prophet? If she has truly been blessed by God then we would like to learn what she has seen in her visions. I'm sure that sharing this blessing with us would negate any other issues."
There it was.
Sinbad gave his answer with a smile. "I plan on formally introducing her to everyone soon. I can make sure you'll be the first to be able to speak to her."
With that positive answer they were far more amicable during the rest of the negotiations.
---
~POV Mori~
This was definitely some kind of self indulgent fanfiction because how else had I gotten an entire scroll written and drawn by the time I finished lunch? I had finished all of the Sassan and Artemyra arcs. This was the true definition of wish fulfillment.
I grabbed the practice scroll; I had to be sure. I drew something quickly then dipped the pen back into the ink. I intentionally didn't let the excess drip off. Instead, I flicked it towards the drawing and sure enough: I had made a mess; I was in fact not an art god like Rohan Kishibe even in fanfiction. I had just wasted precious ink, but at least I used my scrap paper to do it. With that experiment of pure stupidity behind me, and my curiosity satisfied I decided it was time for a break.
((JoJo's reference, manga panels redraw))
My back was killing me after sitting in the same position for so long. I had been doing leg swings to help counter it, but I hadn't managed to do them every 30 minutes like is recommended. I stretched until my joints stopped crackling and my muscles stopped straining.
I looked back at the table with my supplies. This wouldn't be much of a distraction if I was writing one of the arcs I was trying not to think about, and I was coming up to the Slave arc. When Sinbad had asked me directly if the painful events of his past could have been avoided, I answered him on a technicality. With his over confidence and hubris he'd never make a different choice unless something major had changed. Sinbad doesn't listen to anything that tries to humble him unless he's already experiencing self doubt. Ja'far and the other Generals were blind to a lot what Sinbad was doing, but even when they did recognize what was going on and tried to talk to him, the conversations always ended with Sinbad being supported regardless of his decision. It didn't make sense that I would be able to make him see reason when no one had been able to in the original. I'm just one person. And yet, the waves had changed while and after I talked with King Sinbad. I was clearly doing something right. Was there anything more self indulgent than causing a paradigm shift in a problematic fave?
But was this change really for the better? The waves were still on the high side. Just like last night, I couldn't think of anything I did that could have led to this shift. I closed my eyes and took a slow deep breath. What was the direction these waves were headed? Did this mean he wouldn't reach the same heights, or that he would go even farther?
---
~POV Sinbad~
King Sinbad went over some documents at his desk while he let the back of his mind ruminate about Sassan's request. He knew they would request this eventually which is why he had already made plans for when and where to introduce the Prophet of Sindria to the Seven Seas Alliance. The medical knowledge she shared with them was going to be worth a lot to Heliohapt which prided itself in having the best medicine in the world. Sinbad doubted he could appease Sassan with some science Mori might know. They wanted to hear the "word of God" so nothing short of her knowledge of Fate would satisfy them.
Mori was bound to have knowledge of the past and future that would fulfill their request, but it didn't sit right with Sinbad. He had come to recognize her pattern of hinting about things to lead others to whatever conclusion she wanted. If Mori doesn't give him more information than she gives Sassan, then guessing what she's planning would be more difficult.
The waves caught Sinbad's attention and drew his gaze to the wall of windows right of his desk. Maybe he had been working too long. After pushing his seat away from the stacks of papers, the King walked to the windows to look out at the rest of his Palace. The sky came into view and then the green domes of the Palace followed the white stone holding them up. From his office windows, Sinbad could see a few of the other Towers including the Green Sagittarius Tower.
---
~POV Mori~
The waves washed over me as I stared out the window. This was really nice actually. But this was fanfiction. This peace was either being juxtaposed to someone else experiencing the opposite, or it was the calm before the storm. Or both.
*KNOCK KNOCK*
"'Speak of the devil."' I turned towards the source.
Ja'far's voice called for me through my door. "Lady Prophet." He waited for my answer. The waves started to move in his direction.
I did a quick scan of my space to make sure it wasn't too messy outside of the table, and out my cover back on before opening the door. "Hello. Does this mean his Majesty wants to continue the conversation from yesterday?" Given how things had ended this was the only reason I could think of.
Ja'far had a friendly tone and expression. "Actually, he-" The General blinked down at me. His eyes scanned my clothes and focused on the lilac cover. "Where did you buy purple clothes?"
uh oh. I did not like the implications of that. "Pisti picked them out at most of the stores we went to. She said it was okay..." I had made a terrible mistake.
"'Most?'"
I felt like I was caught red handed and needed to defend my actions even knowing I did nothing wrong. "At most of the stores Pisti would find something purple and even sent some items to get dyed and it's my favorite color so..." Saying it out loud made me realize just how much she had set me up. There were no purple options until she pulled them out.
Ja'far's polite customer service expression fell completely and I felt like humanity existing at all in any universe was a mistake. "You were wearing this yesterday, weren't you?" He sounded so tired. I guess we weren't around each other last night for long enough for the color to sink in. His focus was mostly on SInbad anyway.
"Yes." I wanted to cry. "I need to cancel everything that Pisti sent to get dyed, don't I?" I was only going to be allowed to wear purple in my room. This was my fanfiction! Stupid Sinbad hogging my favorite color all to himself. "I should've listened to my intuition. 'Thought it seemed weird." I couldn't hide my disappointment if I tried.
Ja'far softened. "It's not your fault. Pisti is a known trouble maker." He looked to the side with a grimace. "I will deal with this later."
"Do I need to change?"
He thought about it. "Do you have any outfits that aren't purple?"
Fuck. "Not really, no."
The General let out a very exasperated sigh.
I ran behind my changing wall, pulled my uniform jacket out of my chefferobe, and put it over what I was wearing. "Is this better?"
After another scan of my person, answered, "I suppose."
