[3] video (post Delight's event)

[krangke]

(Newt's sitting cross-legged on the floor and has his phone set up to be set on him in a very steady image. He's got a sheet of paper with what looks like a map drawn on it next to another, slightly more different map. For anyone who bothers to look at the floor anyway. Newt, however, is not looking at the floor but at the camera itself.)

You know, I've been thinkin' bout the monsters here lately. Went explorin' out in the caves the other night and I kinda realized something. I know it's gonna sound bloody insane but hear me out.

I kind of feel for the monsters. I mean, think about it. They're being treated just as unfairly as all of us, aren't they? They were dragged outta their worlds too and thrown into this place. I know they're violent but they don't seem...that bad? Mostly they stick to the caves and yet we go on in there slaughtering them all of the time and not always for food. Maybe I'm wrong but...that doesn't feel right to me somehow. Throwing all these creatures into a small section of this place then just tearing them apart because the gods tell us they'll give us rewards for it.

And trust me, I'm no bloody saint there - I'm guilty of it too but now that I've taken a step back and really thought about it, I have no idea why I ever thought that was okay. They're not robots. They're living creatures. They feel pain too, don't they?

(Newt frowns, twisting at the ends of his sleeves.)

Half the time- no. More than half of the time they don't even do anything to us. So maybe we should stop killing them unless it's for food. I 'unno.

(He sighs, looking off to the side of his room. Maybe he doesn't understand the world enough to understand something like that. But then he looks as if he's remembered something and grabs the two pieces of paper and holds them up to the camera so that everyone can see. The maps are of the tunnels.

Except one is different.)

By the way, the tunnels change. Discovered that. I'm kind of disappointed. That's how our Maze was too so I can't say I'm all that shocked here. Our Maze would change every night and it turned out that if you aligned the patterns, they spelled out words. So if anyone cares about seeing why the tunnels change- there you go. Wish you luck.

(Annnnd that's about it actually. He flips the video off after that casual reveal.)

Comments

[fictionalised]

You feel bad for the monsters. As adorable as that is, they're monsters. Mon. Sters. You kill them, you get a reward, there's really no downside.

[krangke]

Dunno what to tell you, mate. Some of them just don't seem like monsters to me. Some just seem like regular animals. Not all of the rewards are worth taking a life for just to let the carcass rot.

[fictionalised]

Right. Well, let me know when you can hold hands and skip with the monsters! I'll be the first to throw a celebratory tea party. Until then, I like my odds better this way.

So what's all this talk about a maze?

[krangke]

They just don't seem as malicious as some of the monsters I've handled before, that's all I'm saying you know.

It's about the world I came from. I was put into this Maze and it's a very similar situation as to here. Fake ceiling that kinda looked like the sky, grassy places to go, and food and clothes provided. Though ours was much smaller and only had boys there. Anyway, there was a maze built around where we lived and we had to solve it in order to escape. The Maze changed every single night and we had to send in people every day to try and figure out the new patterns it made.

[fictionalised]

And this maze is a... game? Sounds tedious.

[krangke]

(It's the first time anyone has ever called the Maze a game and somehow, that makes Newt laugh. It's short but honestly amused.)

Shuck no, it's not a game. It was a Trial. Kids died in that thing. We were stuck in the middle of it with no real say. It was apart of an elaborate experiment. It definitely was tedious though.

[fictionalised]

Well, that's... [ Actually quite depressing. ] Not fun at all. I'm fairly sure — and don't quote me on this — but I think killing children is frowned upon where I'm from. Is that not the case for you?

Do people there drink tea out of puppy skulls and use kittens as footrests, too? Did the experimenters say muahahaha a lot? They sound like muahahaha fans.

[krangke]

Um. I don't really know, actually. I think it was a similar enough case but the organization in charge of it all had the most money and the best technology in a dying world so...

(What was one to do with a situation like that?

It takes Newt a second to realize that the later bit is a joke and he winds up laughing despite himself.)

I wouldn't actually be that surprised if they did. How awful. I love dogs, too.

[fictionalised]

[ Evil organization, dying world, it all sounds so dismal and bleak that Hawke nearly wants to end the conversation right there before he has to listen to anything else saddening. And then the word 'dog' gets mentioned, and suddenly his interest is piqued again. ]

You like dogs, do you? Me, too — a bad dog's still better than half the rabble you see out on the streets. I've got mine here with me. Smartest dog in the world! [ According to him, anyway. ] Slobberiest, too.

[krangke]

(Yeeeah that's probably for the best, Hawke. His world only really gets worse and better yet, he was the nominated punching bag of Shitty Things in his friend group so dog conversation is a-go.

He too brightens up significantly because hello, dogs.)

I love dogs. Do you? (He was dating a werewolf which he personally felt like counted as having a dog. Not that he's about to mention that but hey. He gets his canine scratches in there during full moons.) What's his name? What does he look like?

(Tell him everything.)

[fictionalised]

[ Dogs. His favorite thing to talk about. Especially his own. He could go on forever. ]

His name's Dane. After the Dane of legend. He's a Mabari war hound. Very scary, very intimidating! Until he rolls over and makes you rub his belly.

[ Hawke is practically beaming, entirely genuine for once instead of spouting bullshit. That's how important dogs are, okay. ]

We properly appreciate dogs in Ferelden, but you wouldn't believe the looks you get talking to your dog in public outside the kingdom, trust me.

[ It's not weird!! ]

[krangke]

(Newt doesn't blame the guy. If he had an actual dog with him he probably would go on forever about it too.

He doesn't follow a lot of what Hawke is saying but that doesn't make the dog sound any less endearing.)

He sounds perfectly endearing.

(Actually Newt doesn't find it too weird at all- talking to a dog. They had a pet fish that Newt spoke to all of the time.)

You said kingdom. Are you from one of those places without much technology?

(Like Arya, he thinks.)

[fictionalised]

We have just the right amount of— well, no, I suppose we don't.

[ There's no use in defending Thedas when they don't have half the cool things Hadriel does — he's talking to someone who isn't even in the same room as him. It's incredibly amusing. ]

But! We have plenty of... dirt. And horses. Lovely place, really.