Chateau Grief 15

Telepathy(Xander): Really, Rhelan. Get over it. I have more important problems to worry about. I don't have time to make you feel any better about being in my presence. You know that you don't want me messing with your head, any more than I can help.

Thought(Grant): Vespasian Eugene Xander, you'll never understand how you dehumanize everyone you come in contact with.

Grant: Let the sheep issue go. You're running a gulag here. I know that wasn't your intention. They all know that you can alter any genetic mutations caused by inbreeding.

Xander: If the people don't work to feed themselves, they're going to starve.

Grant: It would cost the same amount of money to ship MRE's over for a year. Logistics are against the idea of a self-sufficient island.

Xander: Then what would the people do? How would they keep occupied.

Grant: Well, send them back to the mainland. What are they doing here except giving you a headache? We've got 10,000 souls and none of them ever seem to leave.

Xander: What about you? Do you miss the mainland?

Grant: You know I do. Why ask a stupid question like that? I'm so tired of these endless winter rains. If these new telepaths work out, I'd be perfectly glad to resign my commission and retire to a nice golf course in Bakersfield.

Telepathy(Xander): Not much chance of that, is there?

Grant: Yeah, they'd kill me because I know too much about you and you wouldn't even have the decency to save my life. Unless I forced you to...at gunpoint.

Grant: Besides, you're getting the ball and chain, we're supposed to be celebrating. Who knows, maybe she's got a serious fetish for grandfatherly men.

Grant: If that's your kind of thing. I'll dance the Charleston on your grave yet, Eugene.

Xander: I would have hoped an Evil Overlord merited the Can-Can. But it'll do.

Author Notes:

so uh, how do you like that sweet sweet library?

Episode Recap:

Grant’s just gotten electrocuted by Xander’s magic, though not quite electrocuted, while it doesn’t hurt him it makes him deeply uncomfortable. Xander apparently can control how much he creeps people out by managing his magic somehow. He does a cool discharge thing up to the nearest lightning rod and looks a bit more tired after that, but I don’t know if that was for much other than show. Grant is not grateful at all, and he doesn’t want to even look at this display of power. Xander runs over people like a train, Grant thinks, and that’s not respectful. But Grant is a big boy, so he lets his anger go and starts arguing about the island’s management. Xander threatens to starve people to death. Grant threatens to feed everything with MREs, which stands for ‘meals ready to eat’ and is an infamous invention of the United States Army. After arguing more, Grant suggests just closing up shop and going home to mainland California, Xander catches a wistful tone in his voice and asks him what he wants to do if he had the choice. Grant, it turns out, wants to retire to Bakersfield. Bakersfield? Anyways, Grant is weird. But neither of them have a choice, and Grant knows it. The military will not let either of them retire even though they’re way overdue for it and super old. This happens though, look up Grace Hopper. They’re both getting old and Grant points out that Xander is way too old for Kore. This will not be the last time he points this out. Xander is too blissfully happy to care.