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If you know who they are, then you know where we're from. What we've been through. What we did.

And yet you still invite me to join you for drinks. Interesting.

[Pagan shrugs.]

Is it? Why would it be so interesting?

To start with, I'm an inmate. They're wardens. I suspect some of the details about the expedition have gotten around already—what happened, if not my role in it.

[Pagan waves a hand.]

Oh fuck all of that. I don't care about that.

I care more about why you think that it's interesting I would still want to meet with you after knowing what I know.

[He pauses.]

And I don't know all the details, before you ask. European history doesn't exactly thrill me.

The expedition ended in cannibalism, murder, and mutiny. [ And then, on a whim, Hickey decides you know what. Let's test this man. Let's see how he answers. ]

I participated in all three.

[Pagan I-killed-a-kid-to-take-the-throne Min is an expert on trying to scare people away.

Stil...Gross.

But he calmly takes a drink.]

I don't suppose you know much about my life if you think that would shock me. And why should you? I've been terribly quiet as of late.

In that case, care to fill a man in?

[He thinks a moment.]

In the early days of my reign, people would come from different groups. Peace groups. Dr. Noore Najjar was in one of those groups, bringing in aid for the people of my country, Kyrat. They had been in war for so long, even before me, they fucked themselves over so hard and, of course, fought me so hard, that they wouldn't allow my plans to go forward smoothly. So I brought in help from other countries, just to ensure they didn't fucking starve.

Once she left, she published a rather unfair letter about me and my many abuses of power. Now, some of them were legitimate, but I was young. I was up and coming. I couldn't let that piece of shit propaganda stand. So I formed a committee. I put together 'Kyrat's 12 point plan' for coming back together.' Bullshit like that. Something so enticing that she would be suckered in. I invited her back, with my personal blessing. She and her family would be given the royal treatment at the Palace while she helped me rebuild.

And like the naïve fucking idiot that she is, she did it. But those steps? Were really steps on how I was going to ruin her life. You see, while she was with me, I had her family kidnapped. And I made her run the arena. She processes the opium and runs my exports. All because she thinks that if she doesn't, I'll kill her family. She did this for over a decade.

Truthfully, I had her family killed not long after. My friend Paul's daughter, Ashley is about the age of Noore's kids. We would send Noore the pictures she draws and pass them off as her kids'.

[He sets down his glass and stands up, going to his vanity to find his cigarettes.]

I'm a dictator, Mr. Hickey. My list of atrocities is extensive.

[ Well then. That's certainly something. It's also certainly interesting.

There's a part of Hickey, the part that still bristles against certain authority, that is immediately like 'oh THIS pompous prick.' But the fact that he was able to talk about that so easily is a good sign.

Hickey lets the silence linger for a moment as he takes a drink. ]

Well then, [ he simply muses. ] That makes my actions seem trifling. Makes you wonder why I'm even here, doesn't it.

[ Hickey, you ate a man.]

[Pagan fixes him with a Look. Dude. Really?]

No, actually, it doesn't make me wonder at all. But I'm not here to play 'which inmate is worse. I've been here far too long. But you cannot shock me, my boy. I've certainly seen or done worse in my life.

[ Someone is still trying to find his place on the pecking order, okay. Though there's something in Pagan's voice that makes Hickey bristle a little. ]

Don't call me that. 'My boy.' It's my name or nothing.

[He waves a hand.]

Fine, fine. Hickey.

Honestly. You are a prickly one, aren't you? Kiryu's good with those types, normally.

Edited (Omg phone tags are the woooorst) 2021-08-11 18:05 (UTC)

[ Unsurprisingly, being accurately diagnosed as prickly means that Pagan's getting a prickly response. ]

The two of you are close, aren't you. You're...what, best friends?

[His smile turns cold. Not because of the information that he's hiding - it's not exactly something he's ashamed of - but the fact that Hickey is digging in this direction is tiring.

He stands up, refilling his glass and holding the bottle towards Hickey with an unspoken question.]

What a strange phrasing. Best friends, as if we sit together at lunch and play tag at recess.

[He waves a hand.]

Not a reference I expect you to understand. But we are friends, yes.

[ And Hickey just looks blankly at Pagan. That's correct, he has absolutely no idea what the heck recess is. ]

I get the feeling Kiryu wouldn't have tried to push me towards anyone. Just someone he knows well.

[Blandly:] I think he believed we'd get along.

Sometimes he gets things right.

[He sits back down, crossing his legs.]

I'm willing to say he got this one right, [ Hickey admits, with a little shrug. ] You're interesting.

Yes, but are you?

[At least they've strayed away from the conversation that had annoyed him at first.]

I'd like to think I am, [ Hickey shrugs. And then, thinking that this man might be the sort who's full of himself, he continues the conversation. ]

Course, a mutiny's nothing compared to an out and out dictatorship. Can't really hold a candle to that.

[Pagan waves a hand.] Power's power.

It doesn't matter the amount. It matters that you sought it out. And how you sought it out.

We had limited options back on Terror. The ship was frozen in the ice for three years, people were hanging on to whatever shred of normalcy they could get. And that meant for the majority of the group, they followed the captain. Even though he was constantly drunk. Even though he routinely made poor choices that seemed counter-intuitive to what we should do. Even though he deliberately kept the severity of our situation from us.

The tinned provisions were bad. There was something in them, a debility that made us weak. The captain learned that information and then kept it to himself for weeks. I was able to convince people to my side, that we should strike out on our own partly because of that fact. After all, if the captain kept that from us, what else would he be keeping?

[Pagan listens patiently, nodding once and gesturing for him to continue. He takes a drink. Mutiny and cannibalism talk means his sobriety goes out the window.]

[ Completely understandable. Hickey gives Pagan a little nod before the conversation continues. ]

Unfortunately, Captain Crozier decided that my actions went too far. Never mind the fact that he kept the secret of the tins from us or that he almost walked out himself, abandoning the mission at the start of things. I was almost hung. Fortunately, my group and I managed to escape. We made it on our own for a bit but eventually it became obvious: we needed meat.

There was one member of our party close to death. When he died, I had the surgeon butcher him. We ate well that night.

[A long drink. Gross. Says the man who bathed in yak's blood.]

Wait, wait, wait.

Why were you almost hung? What were the charges? Even stranded, there had to be some semblance of order. Was it simply the mutiny?

[ What do you MEAN selectively not mentioning certain details won't work? Hickey pauses for a moment before just nonchalantly answering, ]

I mean, I also murdered a man. Thought I staged it well enough that most of the camp thought the natives did the deed.

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