[Gepard’s hand tightens, wrinkling the menu briefly before he relaxes it. It takes effort, ignoring Sampo’s little irritations, but he does an admirable job of it! As stalwart as ever, his Gepard.]
[Well. His only because a man gets a certain sentimentality about someone he used to see day in and day out for years. A constant presence in his life. It sometimes felt like Gepard was his personal captain, whose sole purpose was to pursue him.]
I’ll take the coffee either way. But if you need a little guidance, that’s fine… get me something light! A guy’s got to watch his figure, you know?
[Can’t go gaining weight, not with how his outfits still have those hip cutouts. He has to keep his svelte figure so that he looks good with all that skin showing.]
[It's immensely tempting to order Sampo a reuben out of spite, but- but Gepard nods, gets the woman's attention.]
Excuse me.
[She heads over to them, ready to take their order with a bright smile for Gepard, and a slightly less bright smile for Sampo: it's less bright and more curious. Gepard tells himself he saw nothing, he understands nothing, nothing is going on, there's nothing for her to be curious about.]
Two coffees. My friend will have the croque crystal lizard. [Welcome back to Belobog, Koski.] And I'll have the reuben.
[Sampo props his elbows on the table and his chin in his hands and lets Gepard do all the talking, ordering lunch for the both of them. How very manly of you, Gepard, taking the lead and doing everything. Sampo's just here to be the pretty entertainment for the next hour or so!]
[Surely the waitress won't be curious about anything.]
Crystal lizard! I haven't had that in a few years. [Really, the fact that people ate lizard around here isn't the worst part of Belobogian cuisine.] Have you tried any of the new imports? I hear people are getting really excited about citrus.
[It's one part of the importing business that Sampo wants to get into-- getting more of what the galaxy has to offer into Belobog. Not just food and luxury goods, though there's certainly a demand for that, but also the practical things. There's safety equipment that would make geomarrow mining less risky and more efficient, new building materials with better insulation, medicines that could treat what was previously untreatable. Sure, a lot of this could be procured through IPC channels, but Belobog has a few very good reasons to not want the IPC to have a foothold on their planet. And that's where smaller merchants like good ol' Sampo Koski come in.]
It must be exciting! There are so many new things coming in every day.
[There's nothing to be curious about. No tension, winding as tight as a violin string, threatening to snap. Nothing. Just two men, one of them ever so slightly relaxing as Sampo sounds like he approves of crystal lizard...? They can trade sandwich halves.
It is exciting, but also makes him feel like a relic of the past, sometimes, standing still as the universe moves on without him. Sampo doesn't need to know that. What he needs to know is...]
I don't know how I lived life without lemons. Easily purchasable lemons, no less. It likely seems silly to you. [Someone who walked the stars and is coming back just for a quick visit to Belobog before he saunters off again.] But it made it seem like our efforts were worthwhile just seeing something as simple as that become so common to so many people.
[It's a cute answer, really. Of all the marvelous bounty of the universe, Gepard comments on the accessibility of lemons. Sure, Sampo had brought up citrus to begin with, but there are a lot of new things coming into Belobog these days. Gepard didn't have to comment on yellow fruit, but here they are.]
I don't think it's silly. There hasn't been a lemon on this planet for over seven hundred years, it's exciting to have them back.
[Now that the Stellaron is gone and the planet can recover from its effects, Belobog will be able to flourish. Maybe neither he nor Gepard will be alive long enough to see a real spring return, but they'll know that their actions were the start of it. Planting seeds in a garden that they'll never see in bloom.]
It was all worth it, wasn't it? Even my little role! [Because he'd never told anyone that the whole thing had been according to his plans-- that old Sampo Koski had set everything into motion and made sure that everyone was in the right place at the right time. He was the stage manager for that production, just there to swap the sets and hand out the right costumes and make sure everyone remembered their lines.] Things are better for everyone, now. And hopefully only going to keep getting better!
[That was...very kind of Sampo, very generous, very surprising, and Gepard's saved from the need to blush by them being given two glasses of water and a pot of coffee. He doesn't know if he's thankful for the distraction, or a little bit perturbed by the look he's given by the waitress. Something...
If he had to describe it, knowing. He'd describe it as knowing, but Gepard reminds himself that he's far away from being a Silvermane Guard and wouldn't know how to read people anymore.
But she leaves, and he's left alone again with Sampo, whose presence seems to fill the space more and more. He's like acid, eating away at enamel, revealing...what? Nothing that's worth revealing.]
That's very optimistic of you. [Kind. But he's not going to say that.] And you had more of a role in things than I did. You actually did something. You were...down there. [Even if his role was a small one, it was larger than his own: Sampo was actually where change was happening. It had been a bitter pill to swallow when Gepard first realized that, but- well. Fatherhood has a way of making men accept things.] I just kept the worst from happening. So you really shouldn't sell yourself short.
[Coffee and waters are brought to their table by their curious waitress-- yet another gossipy person in Belobog, no doubt-- and Sampo takes the pot and pours the coffee into both of their mugs. It's steaming hot and smells good and strong, just the pick-me-up that Sampo needs.]
What can I say, I believe in the people of Belobog!
[Not a lie-- he does, he wouldn't have spent so much time and energy working towards their happy ending if he didn't have a great fondness for this city and the people in it.]
Praise, from you! Is it Sampo's birthday? [He laughs and brings the steaming mug of coffee to his lips, taking a sip.] I didn't do it for the praise, but it is nice to hear. I was just a minor player, but I hope that I made a difference!
[There's some amusement to be had in knowing the truth, and there's also part of him that almost wants to tell the whole of it to Gepard. Not for recognition, but because even though Sampo had seemed calm and casual during the crisis, it hadn't been all sunshine and roses-- it was hard, and there were moments of real, gut-wrenching fear that he had played his hand wrong, or steered people in the wrong direction. Those moments where he watched the Nameless head off towards their fight with Cocolia, unsure of whether they were really ready to face her and if they weren't, if he'd be able to intervene in time to save them. He'd had to juggle a hundred moving parts all at once, and if he let any of them fall, everything could've ended in ruin.]
[He thinks Gepard might get that. The way that feels, and how those moments can eat a hole in your stomach like acid.]
[But he smiles, instead, and deflects from his true role in all of it. Because even if he has the temptation to spill his guts, Gepard only barely tolerates him. He'll have to rank up higher on the friendship track for Sampo Koski before he gets those kinds of stories!]
Speaking of my bit parts, I think I had more to tell you about the Luofu, didn't I?
[He rolls his eyes, he makes a face, he's a proper audience to Sampo's exaggerations and half-truths and blatant lies. For one thing, he absolutely did not praise him in any way that matters. It was just a pleasantry.
Gepard takes a sip of the coffee. Warm. Black. Bracing.]
You were telling me about the Luofu. [His voice sounds a bit more eager than he likes. Which doesn't say much, because any degree of enthusiasm is more eager than Gepard would like.] You left your story unfinished.
Right, I was! I was at the part where the Nameless were going after the Lord Ravager, wasn't I? Phantylia! She's a real menace, you know, she used a lot of underhanded tactics. That's her style, she likes to infiltrate and cause chaos and confusion, and then sit back and wait as her enemies tear themselves apart. Effective, I guess!
[You know, if he were the kind of person to have opinions about how to destroy one's enemies from the inside. That's not really his thing, though, he's more of a planet-saving type than a planet-destroying one.]
She's the reason that a Stellaron was even on the Luofu in the first place, because she cut a deal with those Sanctus Medicus cultists to get it sneaked onboard. Oh, and you remember that Foxian girl I told you about? Tingyun, who was showing the Nameless around? Phantylia was possessing her.
[He glosses over a little of the gorier details there-- talking about neck-snapping Foxian girls is really a little much for lunch conversation-- and goes into the lead up to confronting Phantylia, sprinkling in a little background information about heliobi and such so that Gepard has a little context. He's about to get into the meat of the battle when their sandwiches arrive, interrupting him.]
So then the General says-- oh! Don't those look good?
[Against his will, Gepard loses himself in the story. Again. He doesn't mean to. He tries not to, in fact. He tells himself that Sampo isn't someone he should trust, like, let his guard down around. That sooner or later Sampo will get whatever it is he wants and leave again. That he's a father and owes it to his daughter to be careful.
But, Sampo's a good storyteller, and bit by bit Gepard relaxes into- not only the story, but the fantasy that this could be a regular thing he could look forward to. But all things end.]
That's not what the General said. [He just fucking didn't expect that it would end via two sandwiches. A blink, and then Gepard remembers himself, and the sandwiches do look good so it's not like he can blame Sampo. Two plates, a smile from the waitress, and before Gepard can stop himself-]
Do you want to trade sandwich halves? [Wait, why did he say that. It's not like he can un-say it.] I should let you try yours before you decide whether or not you want to try mine.
[Swap sandwiches? It's a cute suggestion, definitely more something that you would do on a date than necessarily just with an acquaintance that you're catching up with, and Sampo is immediately endeared by it. Maybe that was Gepard's nefarious plan all along-- order two of his favorite sandwiches so that he could get half of each. Or he's just being nice.]
I know it's been a while, but I have had crystal lizard before! And reubens. I know that I like both. [He's already taking half of his sandwich-- thankfully it had already been nicely divided into two parts-- and swapping it over to Gepard's plate. There you go, now give him half of yours so that it's fair.]
And, no, that wasn't what the General said! He wasn't getting sandwiches at the time, but I bet he would've liked that more than dealing with Phantylia. [Wouldn't anyone?] What he actually said was: [And Sampo does his best Jing Yuan impression] Reinforcements? I am the reinforcements.
[Sampo laughs.] The General is a very powerful man! When he shows up to fight, it definitely counts as reinforcements.
[No, wait, stop, it was an accidental suggestion, and then Sampo hits him with the vicious one-two of first, plopping half a crystal lizard sandwich on his plate, and then, second, that Jing Yuan impression. It startles a laugh out of Gepard. Is it a large or loud laugh, no, but a laugh is still a laugh, no matter how tiny it is.]
I don't know if I hope your impression is good for your sake, or bad for his. [He takes a reuben half and puts it on Sampo's plate, reasoning that he earned it for that good/bad Jing Yuan impression.] What was the fight like?
[Success-- Sampo has half of Gepard's sandwich, and he got a cute little laugh out of him. Everything's coming up Sampo today.]
Don't you think I'm good at impressions, Gepard? Tough crowd! [Is he good? Is he being intentionally bad? Who knows.] But the fight, well. I wasn't right in the thick of it, the Nameless didn't need my help for this one! I was just keeping an eye on things, in case they needed more reinforcements.
[It would've been pretty early in the game to reveal everything about himself-- his true strength and whatnot-- but he also couldn't have just stood around and let everything fall apart so early.]
Thankfully, they didn't need me! [He picks up the half of his crystal lizard sandwich and takes a bite; the taste has a certain nostalgic familiarity. A little gamier than chicken, with a little bit of an aftertaste that's kind of... mineral? Ah, for as much as he would complain about Belobogian cuisine being fully of dairy and rye, he did miss it a little.] That's tasty. Have you had this before?
Ah, I'm getting sidetracked. The fight! [Yeah, Sampo, the thing you're supposed to be talking about.] Phantylia was really a handful, especially with that body she got from the Ambrosial Arbor. Her goal wasn't really to kill the Nameless or Jing Yuan, though I imagine that she would've if push came to shove. She wanted to destroy the Xianzhou, and what better way to do that than by corrupting one of their beloved Generals?
[He lays it out for Gepard-- Phantylia capturing Jing Yuan, trying to corrupt him into becoming a powerful pawn in the army of the Antimatter Legion through a mental link similar to how she'd possessed Tingyun. How a strike from Dan Heng's lance had grievously injured the General, but also severed the connection that she had with him and disrupted her control over the Ambrosial Arbor body, leaving her as a disembodied, insubstantial heliobus.]
She ran off, after that! Back to the Legion, to start making her next plans. She's not the type to give up easily, you know?
[It's a good story, even if he's convinced that Sampo is making up more than half of it. Why would he be here, on Belobog, talking to him, if he could trawl the stars with the careless abandon that his story implies? But it's a good story. He can lose himself in it. Follow along. Make appreciative noises between bites of his half of the crystal lizard sandwich.
And at the end, the question...
He did know. Or he used to know what that was like- not trying to end the world, but a certain stoic stubbornness in which he persisted despite everything telling him otherwise. For Phantylia, the Nameless; for him, the passage of time and the realization that he can't just die. Now it just feels like he gives up all the time.
And Gepard smiles at Sampo, or, tries to, but there's something...perhaps bittersweet to it that he can't quite smother. Maybe it's just sad. Maybe it's just the crystal lizard.]
She sounds persistent. Corrupting generals, stealing bodies, who knows what else she's done before that. I don't know how you managed to keep all of this straight in your head, Sampo.
Who knows what, indeed! The Lord Ravagers have been doing the Destruction’s work for centuries.
[Even on Jarilo-VI. The Antimatter Legion arrived there seven hundred years ago, quite probably under the direction of one of the Emanators of Nanook. Gepard has read the first hand accounts of the battles against the Destruction’s forces from the time of Alisa Rand.]
[When Gepard smiles, it doesn’t reach his eyes. Sampo didn’t often see the good Captain smile back when he was a captain— Gepard didn’t really smile at men he tried to arrest— but he knows fake when he sees it.]
Being all mixed up in it certainly helps me keep it straight. [You don’t forget a Lord Ravager after you’ve seen one.] But it does all get to be a lot sometimes! That’s why it’s nice to come back to a stable place.
[And what place could be more stable than Belobog? Qlipoth’s most enduring fortress, a bastion in the snow. His Winterland!]
Well, Belobog- [No.] Jarilo-VI has certainly been louder since you've come back here. I'm a little surprised I haven't heard complaints from my friends who are still with the Silvermane Guards.
[Not really. After all, he's retired. But, Gepard takes a drink of his coffee, mulling over his words, rolling it in his head- what's the most polite, delicate way of saying this, what's a good way of saying this, how should he ask this.]
But, if you're not causing trouble here, then your trouble is no doubt the problem of wherever you head to next, Koski. [Okay, it's not that polite.] Tell them I'm sorry I couldn't arrest you when I had the chance.
Has it? I haven't been back for very long! I didn't think that news of my return would make such a splash.
[Gepard's particular brand of politeness-- that is to say, absolutely none at all, being very direct and straightforward-- brings a sort of familiar fondness. Circumstances may have changed, but Gepard Landau is still Gepard Landau at heart.]
[And it seems that Gepard Landau didn't believe Sampo when he said that he was retiring from all his adventuring. Another person might have taken that statement as indication that a man planned on settling down, but not Gepard! Apparently the man thinks that Sampo is just going to gallivant off soon to some distant planet to trouble the locals, instead of staying here and troubling these locals instead.]
Well... if that's the case, I'll have to give your apologies to the new captain! I don't think he's fond of me, and he doesn't fill out the Silvermane uniform nearly as well as you did.
[Because the only people that he plans on being a menace to are the ones in Belobog. And even then, he isn't planning on being much of a menace, just a minor annoyance at best! A minor annoyance, and perhaps a major businessman.]
[Gepard is perfectly still as Sampo implies that he's back for the long haul. He's lying, probably, but he implies it and it's like being doused with a bucket of cold water, and he wants to say something, and he nearly says something-
And instead, inhales, sharp, as Sampo Koski finishes off by saying the new captain doesn't fill out the uniform as well as he did. He hadn't been prepared. He hadn't expected that Sampo Koski would go there. There's no need to flirt as a misdirection. He'd already agreed to pay. It's not like Sampo needed to dine and dash.
But he had, and he did, and Gepard hadn't been prepared, and he feels a slight heat on the back of his neck as the implications go places where they shouldn't, and he ignores that. He's good at denial.]
Please don't involve my successor in whatever game you're playing. He's a good man. [...probably.]
[No need to flirt? There's always a need to flirt with Gepard! Besides, Sampo had done it for years back when he and Gepard still played their games of cat-and-mouse, why break the habit now that he's returned? The poor man seems to have been dreadfully un-flirted with for so long, and he's clearly out of practice.]
You're such a worrier, Gepard! I'm not going out of my way to get chased around by your successor, it wouldn't be nearly as fun as our games were.
[Ah, the sweet nostalgia of the good old days, when Gepard was young and strapping and filled out a starched uniform to perfection, and Sampo got a front-row seat to him getting all hot and bothered in it. Not that Gepard isn't still a fine specimen of a man, he would still fill out a uniform excellently, but he probably wouldn't put one on again even if Sampo asked nicely. Maybe he'd be able to convince him someday, and they could play a whole different kind of cat-and-mouse game...]
If you must know, once we're done here, I actually have an appointment at Qlipoth Fort to file paperwork! There's all sorts of documents that I have to get approved before I can start an official business, especially if I plan to bring in off-world goods. Ah, bureaucracy!
[Sampo, filing official paperwork? That he hasn't forged? Brace yourself for the surprise of your life, Gepard.]
[Gepard breaths it out, in both wonder and horror and maybe something else, leaning in with fascination and confusion. None of this makes sense. It's the strangest, weirdest, most non-nonsensical thing that Sampo could say. It's like Sampo just revealed he's Qlipoth. It makes no sense. He can't even be mad. It just- it's just the most absurd thing.]
[There’s something very satisfying about seeing the surprise writ large on Gepard’s pretty face. Sampo’s still got it— he can still throw a few curveballs.]
Practicality, mostly.
[He props his chin on one hand and takes another sip of strong coffee.]
Let me tell you a little trade secret! Since we’re such good friends and all.
I had to forge all of my paperwork back when I was setting up a bunch of shell companies under different names, so that they couldn’t be traced back to me. More than one fraud charge you threw at me got tossed out because of how complicated all the shells got! But this is going under my name, and I plan on running it legitimately, so it’s worth the effort to get it started within the letter of the law. I didn’t care if one of the shells got found out and shut down, but it would be a hit if this one got taken down because of something as silly as paperwork.
[Part of making money is knowing where to put effort in and to what end. Right now, the benefits of doing this legally outweigh the detriments, so Sampo’s going to do it the way that benefits him the most.]
So I’ll sit in somebody’s stuffy office for a few hours and pay the fees to get a proper business license. A little trouble now to save myself a lot of trouble later.
[Gepard listens, and he forces himself to be patient, and he forces himself to listen, and he does his best - he really, really tries, even taking a sip of coffee to keep from speaking up - until he can't. He can't keep himself quiet.]
I understand that, Sampo. [And since when has Koski become Sampo? Things to consider later, after he disentangled this mystery and got Sampo out of his hair and went back to his quiet bookstore.]
I understand the shell companies, and the forgeries, and the deceit, for Qlipoth's sake, you really don't need to explain everything you did to desperately evade being arrested while begging for our attention. My attention? It doesn't matter. I just don't understand- why?
I wouldn't call it desperately. I don't think I was desperate at all!
[Deliberately, maybe. Completely intentionally evading the law, with the intent on also getting the attention of a certain handsome guard captain along the way. One has to have one's hobbies, right? Sampo's just so happened to be getting Gepard to chase him across Belobog and back, to see if he'd ever really be fast enough to catch him. Maybe a little bit to admire how pretty he was when he got hot and bothered in a starched uniform. If nothing else, it was good cardio.]
[What he doesn't quite get is Gepard's why. He gave him the why-- because it could be costly to start up his business illegally when he plans to run it legally. What else is there to explain? It seems straightforward to him.]
But I don't think I understand the question. Why what? I already told you why.
[Why is this happening. There's some grave misunderstanding going on here and he has no idea where it is or why, and it's taking a lot to keep his voice quiet enough that the people in the cafe doesn't pay as much attention as they could. (They do.)]
You've seen things I will never see, accomplished things that I can never dream of doing. And- I love Belobog. I'm not ashamed of where I've come from or the things my city has accomplished. But what I don't understand is- is. [He should stop talking.]
Why someone who has gone so far would come back, for, of all things, to run a legitimate business when everything in his life has pointed to him wanting anything but that. That's what I don't get, Sampo. [...] Koski. [Nailed it.]
My, you seem to know a lot about what I want, Gepard!
[For a man who never tried to know Sampo Koski beyond his rap sheet and modus operandi, that's a lot of assumptions to make. Well, Sampo can't really be mad at him about it-- he had a role to play, he played it well, and Gepard has made his assumptions based on what he was allowed to see. Making beds, laying in it, all that jazz.]
I have seen a lot of the universe. Not all of it, of course, there's too much for even ol' Sampo Koski to get around to. But a lot!
[A lot of it tried to kill him, too. So, y'know, there's that. It was exciting, but even excitement can get boring.]
I'll tell you another secret, Geppie, just because you're my favorite. [He leans in a little, like he really is telling a secret. Conspiratorial. You're his partner in crime for this little secret, Gepard.] I went across the universe, and you know what was always on my mind? Belobog.
[He leans back, and takes another bracing sip of coffee.] I don't think anybody could ever doubt that you love Belobog. So why is it so hard for you to get that I might love it, too? Ah, I lived here for so many years, maybe it's a little of the Preservation rubbing off on me. Maybe you can't live in one of Qlipoth's enduring fortresses without getting a little bit steady. And years have a way of changing people, don't you think?
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[Well. His only because a man gets a certain sentimentality about someone he used to see day in and day out for years. A constant presence in his life. It sometimes felt like Gepard was his personal captain, whose sole purpose was to pursue him.]
I’ll take the coffee either way. But if you need a little guidance, that’s fine… get me something light! A guy’s got to watch his figure, you know?
[Can’t go gaining weight, not with how his outfits still have those hip cutouts. He has to keep his svelte figure so that he looks good with all that skin showing.]
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Excuse me.
[She heads over to them, ready to take their order with a bright smile for Gepard, and a slightly less bright smile for Sampo: it's less bright and more curious. Gepard tells himself he saw nothing, he understands nothing, nothing is going on, there's nothing for her to be curious about.]
Two coffees. My friend will have the croque crystal lizard. [Welcome back to Belobog, Koski.] And I'll have the reuben.
[There, everything's settled.]
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[Surely the waitress won't be curious about anything.]
Crystal lizard! I haven't had that in a few years. [Really, the fact that people ate lizard around here isn't the worst part of Belobogian cuisine.] Have you tried any of the new imports? I hear people are getting really excited about citrus.
[It's one part of the importing business that Sampo wants to get into-- getting more of what the galaxy has to offer into Belobog. Not just food and luxury goods, though there's certainly a demand for that, but also the practical things. There's safety equipment that would make geomarrow mining less risky and more efficient, new building materials with better insulation, medicines that could treat what was previously untreatable. Sure, a lot of this could be procured through IPC channels, but Belobog has a few very good reasons to not want the IPC to have a foothold on their planet. And that's where smaller merchants like good ol' Sampo Koski come in.]
It must be exciting! There are so many new things coming in every day.
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It is exciting, but also makes him feel like a relic of the past, sometimes, standing still as the universe moves on without him. Sampo doesn't need to know that. What he needs to know is...]
I don't know how I lived life without lemons. Easily purchasable lemons, no less. It likely seems silly to you. [Someone who walked the stars and is coming back just for a quick visit to Belobog before he saunters off again.] But it made it seem like our efforts were worthwhile just seeing something as simple as that become so common to so many people.
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I don't think it's silly. There hasn't been a lemon on this planet for over seven hundred years, it's exciting to have them back.
[Now that the Stellaron is gone and the planet can recover from its effects, Belobog will be able to flourish. Maybe neither he nor Gepard will be alive long enough to see a real spring return, but they'll know that their actions were the start of it. Planting seeds in a garden that they'll never see in bloom.]
It was all worth it, wasn't it? Even my little role! [Because he'd never told anyone that the whole thing had been according to his plans-- that old Sampo Koski had set everything into motion and made sure that everyone was in the right place at the right time. He was the stage manager for that production, just there to swap the sets and hand out the right costumes and make sure everyone remembered their lines.] Things are better for everyone, now. And hopefully only going to keep getting better!
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If he had to describe it, knowing. He'd describe it as knowing, but Gepard reminds himself that he's far away from being a Silvermane Guard and wouldn't know how to read people anymore.
But she leaves, and he's left alone again with Sampo, whose presence seems to fill the space more and more. He's like acid, eating away at enamel, revealing...what? Nothing that's worth revealing.]
That's very optimistic of you. [Kind. But he's not going to say that.] And you had more of a role in things than I did. You actually did something. You were...down there. [Even if his role was a small one, it was larger than his own: Sampo was actually where change was happening. It had been a bitter pill to swallow when Gepard first realized that, but- well. Fatherhood has a way of making men accept things.] I just kept the worst from happening. So you really shouldn't sell yourself short.
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What can I say, I believe in the people of Belobog!
[Not a lie-- he does, he wouldn't have spent so much time and energy working towards their happy ending if he didn't have a great fondness for this city and the people in it.]
Praise, from you! Is it Sampo's birthday? [He laughs and brings the steaming mug of coffee to his lips, taking a sip.] I didn't do it for the praise, but it is nice to hear. I was just a minor player, but I hope that I made a difference!
[There's some amusement to be had in knowing the truth, and there's also part of him that almost wants to tell the whole of it to Gepard. Not for recognition, but because even though Sampo had seemed calm and casual during the crisis, it hadn't been all sunshine and roses-- it was hard, and there were moments of real, gut-wrenching fear that he had played his hand wrong, or steered people in the wrong direction. Those moments where he watched the Nameless head off towards their fight with Cocolia, unsure of whether they were really ready to face her and if they weren't, if he'd be able to intervene in time to save them. He'd had to juggle a hundred moving parts all at once, and if he let any of them fall, everything could've ended in ruin.]
[He thinks Gepard might get that. The way that feels, and how those moments can eat a hole in your stomach like acid.]
[But he smiles, instead, and deflects from his true role in all of it. Because even if he has the temptation to spill his guts, Gepard only barely tolerates him. He'll have to rank up higher on the friendship track for Sampo Koski before he gets those kinds of stories!]
Speaking of my bit parts, I think I had more to tell you about the Luofu, didn't I?
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Gepard takes a sip of the coffee. Warm. Black. Bracing.]
You were telling me about the Luofu. [His voice sounds a bit more eager than he likes. Which doesn't say much, because any degree of enthusiasm is more eager than Gepard would like.] You left your story unfinished.
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[You know, if he were the kind of person to have opinions about how to destroy one's enemies from the inside. That's not really his thing, though, he's more of a planet-saving type than a planet-destroying one.]
She's the reason that a Stellaron was even on the Luofu in the first place, because she cut a deal with those Sanctus Medicus cultists to get it sneaked onboard. Oh, and you remember that Foxian girl I told you about? Tingyun, who was showing the Nameless around? Phantylia was possessing her.
[He glosses over a little of the gorier details there-- talking about neck-snapping Foxian girls is really a little much for lunch conversation-- and goes into the lead up to confronting Phantylia, sprinkling in a little background information about heliobi and such so that Gepard has a little context. He's about to get into the meat of the battle when their sandwiches arrive, interrupting him.]
So then the General says-- oh! Don't those look good?
[That is not, in fact, what the General said.]
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But, Sampo's a good storyteller, and bit by bit Gepard relaxes into- not only the story, but the fantasy that this could be a regular thing he could look forward to. But all things end.]
That's not what the General said. [He just fucking didn't expect that it would end via two sandwiches. A blink, and then Gepard remembers himself, and the sandwiches do look good so it's not like he can blame Sampo. Two plates, a smile from the waitress, and before Gepard can stop himself-]
Do you want to trade sandwich halves? [Wait, why did he say that. It's not like he can un-say it.] I should let you try yours before you decide whether or not you want to try mine.
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I know it's been a while, but I have had crystal lizard before! And reubens. I know that I like both. [He's already taking half of his sandwich-- thankfully it had already been nicely divided into two parts-- and swapping it over to Gepard's plate. There you go, now give him half of yours so that it's fair.]
And, no, that wasn't what the General said! He wasn't getting sandwiches at the time, but I bet he would've liked that more than dealing with Phantylia. [Wouldn't anyone?] What he actually said was: [And Sampo does his best Jing Yuan impression] Reinforcements? I am the reinforcements.
[Sampo laughs.] The General is a very powerful man! When he shows up to fight, it definitely counts as reinforcements.
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I don't know if I hope your impression is good for your sake, or bad for his. [He takes a reuben half and puts it on Sampo's plate, reasoning that he earned it for that good/bad Jing Yuan impression.] What was the fight like?
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Don't you think I'm good at impressions, Gepard? Tough crowd! [Is he good? Is he being intentionally bad? Who knows.] But the fight, well. I wasn't right in the thick of it, the Nameless didn't need my help for this one! I was just keeping an eye on things, in case they needed more reinforcements.
[It would've been pretty early in the game to reveal everything about himself-- his true strength and whatnot-- but he also couldn't have just stood around and let everything fall apart so early.]
Thankfully, they didn't need me! [He picks up the half of his crystal lizard sandwich and takes a bite; the taste has a certain nostalgic familiarity. A little gamier than chicken, with a little bit of an aftertaste that's kind of... mineral? Ah, for as much as he would complain about Belobogian cuisine being fully of dairy and rye, he did miss it a little.] That's tasty. Have you had this before?
Ah, I'm getting sidetracked. The fight! [Yeah, Sampo, the thing you're supposed to be talking about.] Phantylia was really a handful, especially with that body she got from the Ambrosial Arbor. Her goal wasn't really to kill the Nameless or Jing Yuan, though I imagine that she would've if push came to shove. She wanted to destroy the Xianzhou, and what better way to do that than by corrupting one of their beloved Generals?
[He lays it out for Gepard-- Phantylia capturing Jing Yuan, trying to corrupt him into becoming a powerful pawn in the army of the Antimatter Legion through a mental link similar to how she'd possessed Tingyun. How a strike from Dan Heng's lance had grievously injured the General, but also severed the connection that she had with him and disrupted her control over the Ambrosial Arbor body, leaving her as a disembodied, insubstantial heliobus.]
She ran off, after that! Back to the Legion, to start making her next plans. She's not the type to give up easily, you know?
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And at the end, the question...
He did know. Or he used to know what that was like- not trying to end the world, but a certain stoic stubbornness in which he persisted despite everything telling him otherwise. For Phantylia, the Nameless; for him, the passage of time and the realization that he can't just die. Now it just feels like he gives up all the time.
And Gepard smiles at Sampo, or, tries to, but there's something...perhaps bittersweet to it that he can't quite smother. Maybe it's just sad. Maybe it's just the crystal lizard.]
She sounds persistent. Corrupting generals, stealing bodies, who knows what else she's done before that. I don't know how you managed to keep all of this straight in your head, Sampo.
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[Even on Jarilo-VI. The Antimatter Legion arrived there seven hundred years ago, quite probably under the direction of one of the Emanators of Nanook. Gepard has read the first hand accounts of the battles against the Destruction’s forces from the time of Alisa Rand.]
[When Gepard smiles, it doesn’t reach his eyes. Sampo didn’t often see the good Captain smile back when he was a captain— Gepard didn’t really smile at men he tried to arrest— but he knows fake when he sees it.]
Being all mixed up in it certainly helps me keep it straight. [You don’t forget a Lord Ravager after you’ve seen one.] But it does all get to be a lot sometimes! That’s why it’s nice to come back to a stable place.
[And what place could be more stable than Belobog? Qlipoth’s most enduring fortress, a bastion in the snow. His Winterland!]
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[Not really. After all, he's retired. But, Gepard takes a drink of his coffee, mulling over his words, rolling it in his head- what's the most polite, delicate way of saying this, what's a good way of saying this, how should he ask this.]
But, if you're not causing trouble here, then your trouble is no doubt the problem of wherever you head to next, Koski. [Okay, it's not that polite.] Tell them I'm sorry I couldn't arrest you when I had the chance.
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[Gepard's particular brand of politeness-- that is to say, absolutely none at all, being very direct and straightforward-- brings a sort of familiar fondness. Circumstances may have changed, but Gepard Landau is still Gepard Landau at heart.]
[And it seems that Gepard Landau didn't believe Sampo when he said that he was retiring from all his adventuring. Another person might have taken that statement as indication that a man planned on settling down, but not Gepard! Apparently the man thinks that Sampo is just going to gallivant off soon to some distant planet to trouble the locals, instead of staying here and troubling these locals instead.]
Well... if that's the case, I'll have to give your apologies to the new captain! I don't think he's fond of me, and he doesn't fill out the Silvermane uniform nearly as well as you did.
[Because the only people that he plans on being a menace to are the ones in Belobog. And even then, he isn't planning on being much of a menace, just a minor annoyance at best! A minor annoyance, and perhaps a major businessman.]
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And instead, inhales, sharp, as Sampo Koski finishes off by saying the new captain doesn't fill out the uniform as well as he did. He hadn't been prepared. He hadn't expected that Sampo Koski would go there. There's no need to flirt as a misdirection. He'd already agreed to pay. It's not like Sampo needed to dine and dash.
But he had, and he did, and Gepard hadn't been prepared, and he feels a slight heat on the back of his neck as the implications go places where they shouldn't, and he ignores that. He's good at denial.]
Please don't involve my successor in whatever game you're playing. He's a good man. [...probably.]
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You're such a worrier, Gepard! I'm not going out of my way to get chased around by your successor, it wouldn't be nearly as fun as our games were.
[Ah, the sweet nostalgia of the good old days, when Gepard was young and strapping and filled out a starched uniform to perfection, and Sampo got a front-row seat to him getting all hot and bothered in it. Not that Gepard isn't still a fine specimen of a man, he would still fill out a uniform excellently, but he probably wouldn't put one on again even if Sampo asked nicely. Maybe he'd be able to convince him someday, and they could play a whole different kind of cat-and-mouse game...]
If you must know, once we're done here, I actually have an appointment at Qlipoth Fort to file paperwork! There's all sorts of documents that I have to get approved before I can start an official business, especially if I plan to bring in off-world goods. Ah, bureaucracy!
[Sampo, filing official paperwork? That he hasn't forged? Brace yourself for the surprise of your life, Gepard.]
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[Gepard breaths it out, in both wonder and horror and maybe something else, leaning in with fascination and confusion. None of this makes sense. It's the strangest, weirdest, most non-nonsensical thing that Sampo could say. It's like Sampo just revealed he's Qlipoth. It makes no sense. He can't even be mad. It just- it's just the most absurd thing.]
Why would you do things that way? It's...you.
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Practicality, mostly.
[He props his chin on one hand and takes another sip of strong coffee.]
Let me tell you a little trade secret! Since we’re such good friends and all.
I had to forge all of my paperwork back when I was setting up a bunch of shell companies under different names, so that they couldn’t be traced back to me. More than one fraud charge you threw at me got tossed out because of how complicated all the shells got! But this is going under my name, and I plan on running it legitimately, so it’s worth the effort to get it started within the letter of the law. I didn’t care if one of the shells got found out and shut down, but it would be a hit if this one got taken down because of something as silly as paperwork.
[Part of making money is knowing where to put effort in and to what end. Right now, the benefits of doing this legally outweigh the detriments, so Sampo’s going to do it the way that benefits him the most.]
So I’ll sit in somebody’s stuffy office for a few hours and pay the fees to get a proper business license. A little trouble now to save myself a lot of trouble later.
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I understand that, Sampo. [And since when has Koski become Sampo? Things to consider later, after he disentangled this mystery and got Sampo out of his hair and went back to his quiet bookstore.]
I understand the shell companies, and the forgeries, and the deceit, for Qlipoth's sake, you really don't need to explain everything you did to desperately evade being arrested while begging for our attention. My attention? It doesn't matter. I just don't understand- why?
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[Deliberately, maybe. Completely intentionally evading the law, with the intent on also getting the attention of a certain handsome guard captain along the way. One has to have one's hobbies, right? Sampo's just so happened to be getting Gepard to chase him across Belobog and back, to see if he'd ever really be fast enough to catch him. Maybe a little bit to admire how pretty he was when he got hot and bothered in a starched uniform. If nothing else, it was good cardio.]
[What he doesn't quite get is Gepard's why. He gave him the why-- because it could be costly to start up his business illegally when he plans to run it legally. What else is there to explain? It seems straightforward to him.]
But I don't think I understand the question. Why what? I already told you why.
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[Why is this happening. There's some grave misunderstanding going on here and he has no idea where it is or why, and it's taking a lot to keep his voice quiet enough that the people in the cafe doesn't pay as much attention as they could. (They do.)]
You've seen things I will never see, accomplished things that I can never dream of doing. And- I love Belobog. I'm not ashamed of where I've come from or the things my city has accomplished. But what I don't understand is- is. [He should stop talking.]
Why someone who has gone so far would come back, for, of all things, to run a legitimate business when everything in his life has pointed to him wanting anything but that. That's what I don't get, Sampo. [...] Koski. [Nailed it.]
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[For a man who never tried to know Sampo Koski beyond his rap sheet and modus operandi, that's a lot of assumptions to make. Well, Sampo can't really be mad at him about it-- he had a role to play, he played it well, and Gepard has made his assumptions based on what he was allowed to see. Making beds, laying in it, all that jazz.]
I have seen a lot of the universe. Not all of it, of course, there's too much for even ol' Sampo Koski to get around to. But a lot!
[A lot of it tried to kill him, too. So, y'know, there's that. It was exciting, but even excitement can get boring.]
I'll tell you another secret, Geppie, just because you're my favorite. [He leans in a little, like he really is telling a secret. Conspiratorial. You're his partner in crime for this little secret, Gepard.] I went across the universe, and you know what was always on my mind? Belobog.
[He leans back, and takes another bracing sip of coffee.] I don't think anybody could ever doubt that you love Belobog. So why is it so hard for you to get that I might love it, too? Ah, I lived here for so many years, maybe it's a little of the Preservation rubbing off on me. Maybe you can't live in one of Qlipoth's enduring fortresses without getting a little bit steady. And years have a way of changing people, don't you think?
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