( 01 ) video.

[oversleeps]

[ when the feed clicks on, marduk is in what appears to be a ruined building near the edge of town. there's snow on the floor and holes in the walls, but he's not wearing a single scrap of winter clothing. more importantly, he doesn't look especially pleased to be doing this. ]

Recently, one of the locals here went missing. Don't ask me what his name was, I'm not the one who gives a shit. I'm just here to solve the mystery.

He's missing because he's dead, and he's dead because I killed him.

[ he pauses here. it looks like it's for dramatic effect, but really he's just trying to figure out how to end the announcement. ]

Most of you would call that murder, wouldn't you? Can't remember if you all figured out what to do about that, but-- if you want retribution, you can come and get it.

[ good enough. the video ends there. ]

Comments

[hyanaimne]

You never did answer my first question.

[oversleeps]

That would depend entirely
On what your definition of deserving is
It's quite the loaded term.

[hyanaimne]

If he was a criminal himself, if he was threatening your life or another's, if he was a terribly wretched human. All good reasons.

[oversleeps]

None of those.
As far as I'm aware, anyway

And all of those descriptors are
Just as ambiguous as the initial one
One man's wretched is another's savior
Frankly, I don't see the point in bothering with so much classifcation

[hyanaimne]

And yet no one but children are entirely innocent. And even then, some of those aren't.

So you killed him for shits and giggles? I believe that is the modern way to say it.

[oversleeps]

No one is innocent.
At the end of the day
Either everyone is deserving of death
Or no one is.

[ pause. god, is that really how they call it here? ]

My actions weren't without purpose
If that's what you're implying

[hyanaimne]

My. You are the first of your kind I have ever heard speak like that. Or, well, type, anyway. Unless I am mistaking what you are.

Then what was your purpose?

[oversleeps]

[ PAUSE ... the response is definitely, extremely delayed. he almost has no idea how to respond to that. ]

And what do you believe I am, then

[hyanaimne]

Aside from a fool advertising for his own lynch mob?

An elf of some sort.

[oversleeps]

Did you have a particular sort in mind
Or is that just your best guess

[hyanaimne]

[what a strange question]

An elf is an elf, as far as I am concerned.

[oversleeps]

[ here's a test. ]

Even drow?

[hyanaimne]

[it would be her luck, that she'd end up talking to one here. Just her bloody luck.

But he's not from her world, and she can play nice]

Drow are a particular sort of elf, yes.

[oversleeps]

[ aw gurl, don't you worry. he ain't really-- though given her frosty response he can assume she's come to a few conclusions, and he's hardly about to disabuse her of the notion if she has. ]

Such a guarded answer
You must be elven.
Or giant, but
I think if there were any here I would've noticed before now

[hyanaimne]

[don't play games with her heart!!]

Given that my country is at war with Drow can you really blame me for being guarded?

And I am half-elf, not full-blooded.

[oversleeps]

[ :*!!

that seals it, though. too bad; he would've almost liked it, were she someone from home instead of a place with a few more similarities than normal. ]

As though the wars of your people would ever matter here
Are you still holding your grudges?
There is nothing for them to war against in my world
And despite current appearances
I'm not jumping for a chance to cut another throat
At least not over something so trivial as that
There are better reasons.

[hyanaimne]

I said country, not people. As if my people who give their lives so easily for a country that would see them dead sooner than what is attacking them in the first place.

[oops, got a little personal there]

A reason you still have yet to give, you mean.

[oversleeps]

If it's a fight you have so little belief in
Then all the more reason to abandon its cause.

Why are you so concerned with my reasons, exactly
You can't possibly be that worried for yourself

[hyanaimne]

I've my reasons for joining and remaining.

I am not concerned, I am curious. As I said, you are calling a lynch mob upon yourself.

[oversleeps]

Is that how this is going to go, then
Mutual curiosity over reasons
As I don't see what could motivate anyone to hold onto things from home
Here in a place where they've been discarded
And where we could be til the end of days

[ and thank god he's talking to someone who's not capable of calling out the hypocrisy in that line of thinking. ]

The mob is slow coming, sadly.

[hyanaimne]

And what is it that we are speaking of holding onto?

Mutual curiosity is how discussion continues, in any case. And as I said earlier - terrible justice system. At the most you will probably be locked up, if anything.

[oversleeps]

Anything.

[ his turn for things too personal? whatever. there's a long delay before anything else comes through. ]

Imprisonment
Honestly sounds worse than the lynching.
I'd throw myself to the wolves before being so restrained again.

[hyanaimne]

A waste.

[she won't go into details, but it's safe to say there isn't much for her to hold onto back home]

I speak from experience that it drives one a bit mental. I do not recommend it.

[oversleeps]

Would you believe me if I said
I speak from experience as well
Two weeks sounds blessedly short, to be fair
But I'd rather make it none at all

At the end of the day
It was over property
And nothing else.
A petty reason for murder, but
I've seen it done for less.

[hyanaimne]

You should not have said anything, then, if you do not wish to be locked up.

Property? I have seen it down for less as well. Sort of boring, that. No offense.