[Voice]

[malnosso]

[The message starts out with the voice of a man with a sing-song sort of voice, flamboyant and malicious. So begins his cruel spiel.]

Hello~

It's been such a long time since we've talked, little mice. You're all just brimming with little secrets now, aren't you? You must all feel so terribly clever. How quaint.

But my, so many new faces. Has it really been so long? Ah well~ I'm simply happy to be back with you all. I do hope you won't mind having a little fun. For old time's sake. Try to pay no mind to idle gossip. You can never be sure what to believe. Even when you hear it from us. The fun starts at midnight. Here's hoping you can, a hah, handle it. It's not as though you have a choice.

I'm back, little subjects. And this time I'm staying. ♥

[ooc: for those of you wondering, this is a blast from the past.]

Comments

[malnosso]

Perhaps~ But what's the point?

[vor]

No explanation was called for, not from me. That was your idea. Is there something you'd like to get off your chest?

[malnosso]

Not at all. It's enough you know I'm not one of these so-called rogues.

[vor]

"Enough" implies a deficiency that was corrected. You didn't have to answer my question at all.

[malnosso]

Yet I did. That's all there is to it. ♥

[vor]

You care what I think. What we think. You're playing a game.

[malnosso]

It's certainly a game. But only for our amusement, not yours~

[vor]

[The camera captures the image of Gregor's finger's brushing away redundant information.]

I meant long-term. You give us information to make us feel we are doing well, build our confidence, then plant doubt. It's easier to die from a fall once you've risen to a significant height.

[malnosso]

I'm much kinder than the others. They like to plant you with false hope. I'd never do that to you. ♥

[vor]

If you've come up with a mind game I'm unfamiliar with, I'll be sincerely impressed. Not that that is your goal, nor should it be.

[malnosso]

Of course not~

[vor]

So aside from the routine of good cop, bad cop, I suppose you're giving us this warning either to gloat or out of disguised compassion. If it's gloating, that's not very professional.

[malnosso]

I prefer to run things by my old policy. Nothing more.

[vor]

It's still gloating.

[Gregor is on cold medicine. It not being the super-futuristic expensive stuff given to emperors so their judgment isn't clouded, he's suddenly surprised he's still having this conversation.]

[malnosso]

It's a guilty pleasure.

[vor]

That, I can understand.

[He is going to stop discouraging his enemy from making a mistake. That is against Aral Vorkosigan's rule of...of not interrupting your enemy when he is making a mistake.]

So what can we expect?