( 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

[miscreant]

Ah, cruel, that is an adjective I have not heard in a while.

[She sounds like she likes it. What.]

Well I find the fact that you are so flippant about this in text yet refuse to provide motivation in any medium to be rather suspicious.

[oversleeps]

I don't concern myself with unimportant details. Is it just as suspicious that I couldn't tell you his name, either?

[miscreant]

If you consider murder a footnote, then that is all you need to say.

[oversleeps]

Then consider it said.

[miscreant]

Must I feed you all of your responses?

sev u r the epitome of stranger danger can u give him a break pls

[oversleeps]

No one's forcing you to, are they? I don't see any knives pressed against your throat, for all the good that would do. [ he shifts; the tablet has been set down, and he is even further away from it. ] You have no one to blame but your own curiosity.

you love it

[miscreant]

Not if you were trying to discourage me, no, certainly not a bit of good.

[She's not leaning in after him anymore. At this point, she is just counting the minutes until he turns off this feed.]

My curiousity? Oh but sir, you do such a lovely job of stroking it.

[oversleeps]

[ she'll have to keep counting for a while yet. he refuses to give into this... this...

what the fuck is even going on here? is that an innuendo ] That's-- unfortunate. Are you really that easily amused?

[miscreant]

[Probably.]

Death teaches you to appreciate the simple pleasures.

[oversleeps]

[ he snorts. ]

In my experience, it's done rather the opposite.

[miscreant]

Then you have not lived your unlife long enough.

[She leans in again to try and get a better look at him. YOU DON'T LOOK DEAD TO HER MISTER...]

[oversleeps]

[ iT'S COMPLICATED!!! ]

Ten years was plenty long. I doubt ten more would change anything.

[miscreant]

We can test, if you'd like.

[oversleeps]

[ this is probably, definitely, the right place to end things. he does actually shut the feed off here for a breather, mostly to bury his face in his hands and suppress the urge to scream. loudly.

a minute passes, then five, then...

he turns the video back on. ]

And what-- exactly-- would that entail.

[miscreant]

[Cutting the feed just makes her cackle in victory. When he turns it back on five minutes later, she looks genuinely surprised.]

Oh, you're still here? Aren't we the masochist.

[oversleeps]

[ it is such a blatant struggle not to just scream no in her face. ]

I'm not allowed to have curiosities of my own? [ the last few words are barely intelligible under his snarl. ]

[miscreant]

[Her eyelids lower, and she looks just a bit sad.]

I don't know -- you were not very cooperative, after all.

[oversleeps]

[ what does she have to be sad about? his eyes narrow further. he trusts nothing of this. ]

The conversation is still continuing, isn't it?

[ and ... ]

It's time that you answered my question.

[miscreant]

[The smile returns, but the serene stare doesn't change.]

It may be within my abilities to return the dead to life in undeath.

[oversleeps]

[ OK NOPE HE IS NOT DOING THIS ANYMORE BYE SEV ]

[oversleeps]

[ haha jk

but he's back to text, and the message is delayed by a good thirty minutes. ]

How nice for you
Assuming that's not just bullshit.

[miscreant]

[She only sighs this time, no laughter. She hadnt even done anything exciting! But then he comes back, and so she tilts her head again.]

Oh dear, did I frighten you?

[She doesn't look all that sorry about it. When he questions her on necromancy, she simply raises an eyebrow and turns the camera just a bit to the floor behind her. He might see the flick of her hand with black and purple tendrils of magic dancing around them before a rune circle appears on the ground.

A few short seconds later, a hand bursts from the ice and stone, followed by a hulking ghoul who looks like he would hit very hard. She turns the camera back to her, eyebrow still raised in expectation. YOUR MOVE SIR.]

[oversleeps]

[ he's aware that switching back to video now makes him look even more ridiculous, but that's the sort of thing even he can't justify responding to in text. when the feed clicks back on, his teeth are bared defensively; he's obviously caught somewhere between distraught and furious. ]

Don't fucking come near me. [ this, like everything else, is the probably wrong thing to be saying to her. oh well. ]

[miscreant]

[Sun above, why isn't she doing this in person? A pit in her stomach hungers to feel his fear. Watching it from this screen is absolute torture.

And for that reason alone, her smile doesn't quite reach her eyes.]

Can't make any promises, darling.

[oversleeps]

[ he stares hard at the camera, grinding his teeth. the worst part is easily the pet names, but-- ]

Th'laarik. Perhaps you should learn how.