The Stereotypical Drafts

by JinxTJL

1/17/22 - Chapter 41 - A Stupid Answer

He turned to eye the waiting Goddess, who seemed to be proving his descriptor quite readily with nearly genuine interest glimmering behind the regular general contempt and antipathy. Still all those different types of intimidating and terrifying, though; that wasn't going to change anytime soon.

"The reason you've brought me here..." He spoke slowly with a tilt to his head, as he eased his tentative guess into the air as non-confrontationally as he could manage. "..is because... you need me, right?"

////////// Bridge //////////

He pursed his lips in the descending silence as he squinted at Nightmare Moon's unfazed face. She... sure wasn't making much of a reaction. Just kind of staring blankly in a generally regal way.

Uncomfortable.

The complete, deadening silence continued to stretch and stretch, and his head continued to tilt as his lip slowly curled back in a waiting seethe. What was She waiting for, an invitation?

Was... was he wrong? How could he be wrong? His guess was as broad as possible on very specific purpose so that there would be no possible way to be wrong.

Had he missed something? What other reason could Nightmare Moon possibly have for grooming him from childhood, and then going through so much trouble to have him here? She needed him; what else was there?

After what was probably a minute of uncomfortable shifting that really felt more like an hour, various forms of fear were delightfully confirmed true in one, delicate motion.

One raised eyebrow, nearly disappearing behind cool, blue metal. Uh oh, that didn't bode especially well.

"Is that it?" She spoke out into the once-silent air that grew heavy under the pulling weight of Her impatience. In just three words, Her voice somehow managed to sound at nearly a murmur, yet so loud that his chest ached at the volume; painfully patient, and insufferably intolerant.

How did She do that? It was really quite impressive; so much so that it was a little hard to keep his legs steady under him. "Um... well... y-yeah?" It was difficult to keep the catch out of his voice through the ever-present awe that did so much to always remind him of who he was talking to.

Amazingly, his words had some effect on the nigh-unflappable Goddess. Her other eyebrow rose in a mocking pantomime of it counterpart to make for an excellently meaningful stare that brought a pained cringe to his own face.

That meaning, of course, being: 'idiot.' How funny, She reminded him so much of that voice in his head.

Actually no, that wasn't funny, that was the other thing. Concerning; yeah, that.

"Really," She started with a disbelieving bob of Her head; though it came out as less of a question and more of an insult, as everything She said seemed to.

The sheer tired disgust rising on Her face was making him feel more than a bit self conscious, so it was with markedly less confidence that he stepped back with a defensive tilt to his head. "Well, yeah! I'm- I'm right, aren't I? How could I not be?"

His - Sudden cliffhanger, and where this got cut.

Author's Note:

Here's something small that got cut from chapter 41: an delightfully circuitous interaction between NMM and Light.

There's not too much to say about this one. It's not too dull or uninteresting, but it just provided too much of a wall to continue. This is a situation where, if I had continued down this avenue, we would've been on the subject of Light's mishap for too long.

It would've dragged out beyond what was needed, and slowed the chapter down. In the end, it got replaced by a faster pace, and forgotten. One of the many instances of such, though it didn't always get cut.