[There is a moment of silence as Douman considers his answer. Then he leans in and signals for Fandaniel to do the same. If the other does, the mighty youkai Nurarihyon will whisper only three words to him.]
I. Killed. Seimei.
[It's a big gamble telling Fandaniel something like that. If Douman has pegged him right, then the other is a monster of the worst kind through and through, somebody who enjoys twisting their victim's thumbscrews each time they think that they can finally catch a breath. A monstrous murder-clown who laughs and laughs and laughs while everything around them's reduced to a bloody mush. The worst kind of scoundrel, a rascal who cares for nothing except to see the world burn, consequences be damned.
Any cautious man would never share any of their secrets with somebody like that. Abe no Seimei absolutely wouldn't. You don't even need to be wise to find plenty of other options to answer a question like that. Just play mysterious and stay silent. Or laugh, as if it were all a mere joke. Simply changing the topic or lying would have been an option too, of course.
Everything would have been a good answer, all except the truth.
But Douman isn't Seimei or just anybody. He's the person who is even one millennium after his supposed death still known as Japan's worst evil mage, and has changed youkai culture so far from what it used to be before he set his sight on it that it's practically become something entirely else. All that only because he hadn't felt satisfied with the end of his and Seimei's last game. Because just being covered in his blood hadn't been enough.
Or simpler said: he's quite the bastard himself, and he loves dangerous gambles. No risk no fun, as they say, and all that jazz. So yes, he could have lied. But then Fandaniel would've just kept buzzing around his face like an annoying fly, going Douman this and Douman that no matter how often he'd be shooed away or swatted. So why not pick the absurd risky option and give him exactly what he wants? Watching him deal with the truth without being able to fully understand it because he's lacking the cultural context is going to be a sight to behold. Douman likes dealing with monsters. They make the best minions just by being themselves when you play them right.]
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I. Killed. Seimei.
[It's a big gamble telling Fandaniel something like that. If Douman has pegged him right, then the other is a monster of the worst kind through and through, somebody who enjoys twisting their victim's thumbscrews each time they think that they can finally catch a breath. A monstrous murder-clown who laughs and laughs and laughs while everything around them's reduced to a bloody mush. The worst kind of scoundrel, a rascal who cares for nothing except to see the world burn, consequences be damned.
Any cautious man would never share any of their secrets with somebody like that. Abe no Seimei absolutely wouldn't. You don't even need to be wise to find plenty of other options to answer a question like that. Just play mysterious and stay silent. Or laugh, as if it were all a mere joke. Simply changing the topic or lying would have been an option too, of course.
Everything would have been a good answer, all except the truth.
But Douman isn't Seimei or just anybody. He's the person who is even one millennium after his supposed death still known as Japan's worst evil mage, and has changed youkai culture so far from what it used to be before he set his sight on it that it's practically become something entirely else. All that only because he hadn't felt satisfied with the end of his and Seimei's last game. Because just being covered in his blood hadn't been enough.
Or simpler said: he's quite the bastard himself, and he loves dangerous gambles. No risk no fun, as they say, and all that jazz. So yes, he could have lied. But then Fandaniel would've just kept buzzing around his face like an annoying fly, going Douman this and Douman that no matter how often he'd be shooed away or swatted. So why not pick the absurd risky option and give him exactly what he wants? Watching him deal with the truth without being able to fully understand it because he's lacking the cultural context is going to be a sight to behold.
Douman likes dealing with monsters. They make the best minions just by being themselves when you play them right.]