Yes, and...

I really enjoyed the day. Of the day, this is all I shall say.

I want(ed) to go further with this, but I suppose I can do so for myself tomorrow and this weekend, just to further explore in the preparatory sense. Otherwise, I suppose this is what I have, for Ms. Hagen's questions.

1. I am Richard, the Duke of Gloucester, a man with a disfigured soul. I am a cunning creature, trusting only of myself and loyal only to myself. I have little power for empathy in me, if any at all, and very much enjoy bending those around me, manipulating, stretching that which everyone believes “ought to be”. Perhaps I did once know how to love others. In the least I am grateful for having been born by my mother, else I would not be able to do as I do. But as I say, “I love myself,” and this comes first; indeed, this is the only truth.

2. I am in England, a land with a history of violence, struggle and convoluted politics (three truths I truly love to embrace). I do, for the most part, reside at the court of the king, in the literal and abstract sense.

3. It is in a local time of peace, and even though everyone understand that this is only a transient thing, I cannot stand it in the least, and, understanding that the rest of the world is struggling, would not have my own country being selfish in its peacetime. Thus, it is time for a bit of discord.

4. I am surrounded by toys. I know their uses, few as they are, and I play with them to my heart’s content before the well of use runs dry and I dispose of them. I am surrounded by the noise of these toys, some of whom play on and on incessantly. The vast majority I barely hear. I am surrounded by my thoughts, my plans, ideas and the constant need to toy with toys. I see everything through this bubble of need, close to me as it is.

5. I have recently fought at the battle of Tewksbury and killed several relations to my toys. My brother has been crowned king, my position has been elevated and I have more interesting toys to play with. I have decided that it would be in my best interests to turn the wheel and set my brothers against one another. Having established myself as a man my King can trust, I have cemented a central position for myself, so that the wheel shall spin around me, standing, for now, beside my brother, the king.

6. My hand is disfigured. Having a naturally gnarled hand which I grew to hate, I eventually put it in a fire. I have come to feel a perverse pride in my cramped, charred hand, symbolic in its own way. It has become a refuge. My eldest brother is a king I hold in my hand, my other brother dismissed by my plots, my mother a woman I have long disregarded; my family life is quite bleak, though I like it well enough. I detest the queen’s faction; they are stupid toys. I like the throne; it is the toy that belongs to others, the one I can occasionally see and touch, but cannot have. I do not particularly like not having this for my own. I have not always wanted the throne, but now that my brother sits upon it I can’t quite help myself, and so it has all the irresistible qualities possible.

7. I want to dominate, I want to have my way; I want to put myself in the best position in every way so that I may have the opportunity to manipulate. I want the throne, because from that seat I can do as I please, I can rule, and this has quite been what I have done all along, only the throne is the manifestation of that effort, and so I must have it—the last blank patch on a canvas, that must be painted over by this gloved hand of mine.

8. Considering that I consider anyone who considers themselves exempt from my game to be an idiot, most everyone is in my way. It does not anger me, this is simply the fact of the matter. Everyone is against me, and this is why I enjoy it. By being against me, they are for me, so really I think I can say that nothing is in my way except my own plan, which I must keep as simple as possible lest I trap myself.

9. I am going to pull the carpet out from under my toys. I will toss them sideways and wrench them from one another, set them about in the fashion I judge best. The quickest way to clear a path is to have the rest destroy themselves in one way or another. I will play to the interests of some, against those of others, always in mine own though it may not look it. I will control both sides of the board.