fourth; video (trouble seldom sees what she leaves behind, there's a typhoon blowin')

[bekommen]

[Oddly enough, this broadcast doesn't seem to have anything wrong with it - just a video feed of Nick sitting slouched at Delight's bar with a half-empty glass in front of her, and it's clear from the slur of her words that it wasn't her first.]

Hey! Hadriel. All'a you. Listen, I got somethin' to say, if y'all can take five seconds to quit your shitposting and listen to someone else for a change.

[She pauses to take a sip of her drink and grins sharply into the camera.]

Shitposting - that's what you kids these days are callin' it, right? [She laughs.] See, Chris? Even Grandma here can pick up on the new hip lingo sometimes!

[There's something dark and unfriendly in her words, despite the too-tight smile stretched across her face. Nick waves her hand, a silent whatever. That isn't what she really wants to say.]

The point, dear Hadriel, is this: I hate you. All'a you. Yeah, Emily, that's right - you ain't anythin' special! 'Cause I hate everyone here. Y'all are the single worst thing that's ever happened to me, and believe me, that a fuckin' accomplishment and a half.

[Nick pauses again to take another drink, expression sharpening as the grin fades from her face.]

See, I thought the worst thing that ever happened to me was my dad dyin' when I was a kid. Shit, did that ever suck beyond the tellin' of it. And then, y'know, I thought havin' to live with my shitball mother for the next ten years, that was at least as bad, if not worse. But hey, I survived that. I had one friend in that shithole town I grew up in, an' we both survived it, together, an' we left that shithole town, together, and then after a buncha years of stickin' together in the city, you know what that fucker did?

[She laughs, a high-pitched, hysterical sound that's anything but funny.]

He fuckin' friend-broke up with me! Can you believe that shit? Man. Surely that was the worst thing to ever happen to me, right? But no - wait, it gets better.

[She leans in to the camera and drops her voice, conspiratorial, like she's divulging a secret - which she is.]

So I went on one of those great American roadtrips, right? And I ended up in fucking Canada. And hey, fuck Canada - right Chris? Because in fuckin' Canada, that's where I Became a Nightbane.

[Nick pulls both hands up for the camera in a silent, sarcastic ta-da gesture.]

That's right! Uh, what's your name - Dean, wasn't it? Yeah. Y'ain't gotta go crawlin' through the caves to find a monster, 'cause guess what? [She points at herself.] I'm sittin' right the fuck here.

[The grin reappears on her face, looking more like an angry baring of her teeth than a proper smile.]

So congratu-fuckin'-lations, Hadriel - that is what all you beat out for the honor of bein' the absolute fuckin' worst thing that's ever happened to me. Give yourselves a big fuckin' pat on the back. Cheers.

[Nick raises her glass in a mock-toast and throws back the rest of her drink, then reaches over to kill the feed. She'll definitely regret this in the morning, if not sooner.]

Comments

[bekommen]

I'm not expectin' nothin', pal, so you can keep it to yourself.

[ushahin]

Clearly you wanted a reaction from someone. Otherwise, you would not have gone on a drunken tirade, acting like a petulant child.

[These people are all so young. This one seems to have such very small problems.]

i'm sorry about her x__x

[bekommen]

Hey, y'know what? Fuck you. I didn't ask for your goddamn color commentary.

Psh, I'm not!

[ushahin]

Next time, mayhaps you should not choose a public forum to speak of what ails your mind if you don't wish to hear the opinions of others.

[bekommen]

Yeah, 'cause that always stops everyone else from verbally shitting all over the place on this thing.

[ushahin]

So you knew exactly what this device is used for and yet still get upset when judgement is passed upon you. I can only assume you enjoy that misplaced anger you seem to be holding onto with both hands.

[bekommen]

OK, sure, Gandhi, whatever you say. You got me all figured out. Give yourself a fuckin' gold star, if you can find one in this shithole.

[ushahin]

People are not complicated, no matter what they like to think. They react in patterns, over and over again. I have seen ones such as yourself before.

[bekommen]

Right, got it. I am not a special snowflake.

[And she gives him a little mocking salute.]

[ushahin]

Now you've got it.

[He grins, a crooked expression that shows more teeth than is close for comfort.]

Feel better yet?

[bekommen]

No. I never do.

[If she weren't so incredibly drunk, she might recognize the danger in that expression for what it is.]

What d'you fuckin' care, anyway?

[ushahin]

You claimed to be a monster. That interests me.

[He's been called such many a time in his own world. Even here, there are those that fear and hate what he can do. Just ask his next-door neighbors.]

Take it from one monster to another. Your problems are small.

[bekommen]

[OK, now she's interested in what this guy has to say.]

You're a monster too, huh. What kind?

[ushahin]

The kind that is created by Men and their cruelties. And you know what they say about monsters. It is in their nature to destroy their creators.

[Something dark and unhinged flickers behind those blue eyes for a moment.]

I am half man and half Ellyl.

[bekommen]

[OK, well. He's a little overly dramatic on the delivery, but he isn't wrong.]

I dunno what an Ellyl is. I don't think we got 'em where I'm from.

[ushahin]

I am beginning to think that Urulat is the only place that possesses them, which is fortunate for every other world.

[bekommen]

How's that? They some kinda big bad? Scary monsters and super creeps? Worse than what we got here, anyway.

[ushahin]

They are the kind that look beautiful on the outside and that are rotten on the inside. Their god created them to be a perfect creation, but he got a few things wrong.

[Is he eternally bitter and angry? Oh yes.]

Fortunately for me, they are all going to die out sooner rather than later.

[bekommen]

But didn't you say you're one of 'em? Partly.

[ushahin]

Yes. But if I am a monster, it is their fault for helping to create one. They rejected me for being less than perfect. So did the race of Men. It is hard to have choices when all doors are closed to you.

[bekommen]

Yeah, no shit.

[She understands that idea of being created a monster better than she has the capacity to put into words in her current state of inebriation. If her mother had been less awful, if her father hadn't died, if someone would have given more of a damn about her than what she typically saw, maybe she would have turned out to be less of a grotesquerie herself.]

But you said they're all gonna die. Wouldn't you be included in that?

[ushahin]

No. They will die because they are unable to do two things. One is adapt to a changing world, something I have always been able to do.

[Even though his personality has not changed much over the course of a thousand years, he's learned how to survive no matter what life has thrown at him.]

The other is reproduce quick enough to replace their dwindling ranks. Their god denied them that gift.

[bekommen]

Huh. Sounds like a contender for worst god ever. Y'think he'll show up here someday? He'd prob'ly fit right in with the rest of these assholes.

[ushahin]

If he does show up here, I'll kill him. He ruined my life.

[There is rage in his voice now, twisting it from its usual soft tone to something darker and harder.]

[bekommen]

Seems like that's all gods are good for, really.