Flashes Of Light

Present Day

"So, there was a time you actually went through trauma and forgot about Sveta's existence after Lix' death," the presenter says when they're done with the story.

Logar rolls his eyes. "I'm sorry to always be Debbie Downer, but it doesn't work like that, does it? There was something else at play, there. Maybe we'll share our doubts, maybe we won't. It's a free country, isn't it? I always keep forgetting."

In the meantime, Sveta's face is completely red.

Logar has always been prone to blushing, his pale face becoming slightly red-tinted, and it is what he's doing now.

"So," the presenter says. He looks a little flushed too. "Is that the first time you met Jonath Cincinnati?"

"Correct," Logar finally finds the courage to speak. 

"The monks," Sveta says. "I found out later what went down, but I always thought they were too ruthless. This was why I went to court -- at least now you know."

"They were bat-shit crazy," Logar replies. "But not too different from anyone else we've met. I understood back then, and I understand now, that our world needed and still needs changes. But some people take causes a bit too far. When we started bringing the Vision, it brought out the best and the worst in many people. Those who torched down my father's workplace, the bodyguard who killed Lix, the monks and the things they threw at me... We were scared. But everyone else was scared too."

The presenter coughs. "Why did you keep Jonath around? Was it because he was a positive influence on Logar's cynical behaviour?"

"You must have read it in Lix' book," Logar tries to guess. "Jonath said her book was weird."

"Why? No, that's not weird," Sveta says.

"Ah, so you agree with whomever has written this? Gee, thanks."

"No, well, I mean..." Sveta shrugs. "You are kind of cynical. And Jonath was a positive influence."

"And at first, I didn't really get Jonath," Percie muses. "He made it more difficult to be a Diplomat, and he wasn't even part of the group yet."

"So, not always a positive influence then, eh?" Sveta asks affectionately. "But surely one on Logar. You just called yourself Debbie Downer, Gary. And don't try to say you're a realist, because I can't stand pessimists who says they're realists."

"Well," Logar drawls. "Reality is pretty bleak, that's why I am."

"When you put it this way," Sveta concedes. "It might just be true. However, you are also cynical."

The presenter coughs. "Are you really fighting about that?" he asks sheepishly, as if he could have possibly misunderstood what is going on.

The truth is that the presenter is not the sharpest tool in the shed, but all the men, women and other kind of people who do what he does for a living have always lived in terror of interviewing the Power of Sight ever since their first interview.

What if Percie would call Logar a midget and Logar started hitting him with his umbrella? What if Sveta and Logar tried to kill each other?

What if Jonath Cincinatti arrives and says one of the disgusting things he was famous for saying, or worse, what if he takes off his shirt and the audience panicks?

Thankfully, there's no audience. Everyone who is watching the program is at home.

Which means something equally terrifying. That the man is alone in a room with a illustrious group of terrorists.

"Okay," the presenter coughs. "So, shall we talk about what happens now?"

"This better be when we meet Ane Dioretsa, the little traitor," Logar says cheekily.

"Don't you dare," Percie warns him.

"No, don't you dare lay a finger on me, Captain America. I still have my umbrella."

The presenter sighs. It's going to be a very long couple of days.