001 | Video

[surgent]

[ The scene set is that of a living room. It does not appear to have been lived in much, no trinkets on shelves or the table, and no pillows set up on the couch. The video is static for a long moment before the Outsider appears on screen in a wash of black smoke and shining pieces of onyx. He's set himself up in the center of the couch, on the back of it, his feet planted on the cushion. His hands are folded together as he leans forward. There's a twinkle of amusement in his beetle-black eyes. ]

Have you ever heard the tale of Empress Emily Drexal Lela Kaldwin, first of her name? [ No response? No problem. He's going to tell it to you anyway. ] A child born to take the throne, she grew up privileged. She learned about the world from a distance and when people killed her mother and stole her throne, her father took up sword to take it back for her. [ He disappears in a wisp, reappearing further from the camera. The distance has no effect on the loudness of his voice. He gestures widely with his arms. ] Her father returned the throne to her and though she tried to be the Empress her mother once was, she lost sight of what was important: the voices of her people.

Another came for her throne while she was blinded, a woman who had been born in the hole and clawed her way out to the top, and that woman took it with blood. If only Emily had paid attention. If only she spent a little less time on the rooftops of her city or in the arms of her lover. If, if, if. [ Again, he disappears, this time appearing to lean against the left arm of the couch. He shakes his head. ] She took up sword, same as her father. She took on my mark, same as her father.

But do you think she managed to get her crown back? Could she do it as bloodlessly as her father? [ A quiet chuckle in the back of his throat. ] Or would she be as ruthless a killer as her betrayers?

It's a tale that can end in so many different ways.

Comments

action;

[honores]

[ What she wouldn't give for this to have been the feature of some awful dream. But, no - the flickering image and familiar voice are not visitors to her sleeping mind, and are instead very, very real, and public, besides. Emily has made a habit of checking this device - the phone - fairly often, given its usefulness, but never would she have expected to hear something so deeply disturbing as the Outsider sharing her life's story in excruciating detail to a city of strangers.

The phone drops from her hand, and after a strained pause, she jabs at it with the tip of her boot hard enough to send it skittering across the floor. ]

Is this how you celebrate that everyone can see and hear you now? [ The empress demands of the empty air, eyes blazing with anger. ] Show yourself!

action;

[surgent]

[ Oh dear. It sounds like Emily isn't too pleased with his post, which would be upsetting if it didn't somehow end up pleasing him. He knew just what he had to say to get a rise out of her, a pleasant change when considering how little control he has over their new settings.

He appears to her in a flash, arms held out as if to pacify her righteous anger. ]

Did I say something wrong? [ As if he doesn't know. ]

action;

[honores]

[ This is not someone she can needlessly antagonize. Infuriating or not, he may be the only ally she has in this place. So, Emily sets her jaw tight, resisting the urge to do something rash, and stands her ground. ]

Why did you say all that to - everyone? [ She asks quietly, still nearly seething. ] What do you have to gain from telling them about me?

[ It puts her at a disadvantage, as he well knows. He must know. Is this a test? If not, then - what? ]

action;

[surgent]

And who is to guess that the Empress of this story is you? [ Honest question? Not really. A person could guess if Emily went into any detail about her past or who she was. ] To them, it's nothing but a tale told by a being they don't quite understand. Few of them are even interested, like a certain young child who fought hard against her lessons, preferring combat training and tales of courage to the reality she had to face.

[ What? He's had his eye on her since childhood, since Jessamine's death by the hands of Daud. She had dreams of him but not dreams, visits. Every person he has Marked in his long term as representation of the Void has all led to this point.

He is the cause of all of Emily Kaldwin's suffering, if only just by granting his Marks. He can never look away from this family now. ]

action;

[honores]

Because you gave my name. [ She retorts sharply. ] The second I introduce myself, they'll think of the face on their devices that told them all about the spoiled Empress and her troubles.

[ Can you see how much she appreciates the public endorsement?? ]

I was a child. I - [ She cuts off, nearly embarrassed. ] ... I never thought Mother would stop ruling Dunwall.

[ What good were lessons when she'd thought that Jessamine would live forever to watch over the empire? To watch over Emily? ]

action;

[surgent]

Or they will not think of it at all, a story just scrolled by, the spoiled Empress' name a blank in their memory because it never mattered to them. Your story doesn't matter to them. [ If that does not tell her the kind of place she is in, then nothing will. This is not like Dunwall or Karnaca. A hidden face is useless when no one here even knows it.

At her admittance, he appears closer to her, not out of comfort but rather curiosity, as it always seems to be. ]

You must have known that all good things come to an end, even back then. The moment you lost her, you lost most of your childhood, too. You took a throne while clinging to things of the past and lost sight of the future. It is not something to be ashamed of. It is... human.

action;

[honores]

[ Where his words might offend, they're actually almost reassuring to Emily. Your story doesn't matter to them. She already knows her face isn't plastered to the walls of this city, but the reminder that she isn't being hunted by the entirety of the empire is a comfort, however small. ]

I knew, but I didn't want to admit it. [ She doesn't like him saying she'd lost sight of the future, but she doesn't deny it, either. ] What Corvo had to teach me was more interesting than my lessons.

[ It was easy, back then, to pin her excuses on the Royal Protector. It's still easy to do so now. ]

video;

[fadeling]

[The way he moves is like a spirit, but the way he talks is like a demon. It's hard to say anymore. Things are too different in the damp dark of the cave. Things echo.

Still, let it never be said that Cole doesn't try.]

A fear and a feeling, fallen and faded forever. Are you singing songs that don't belong to you?

video;

[surgent]

All songs belong to the Void in the end. [ It's an undeniable truth in his universe. Inescapable. ] Born to disappear.

Re: video;

[fadeling]

But they burn, bright like the blinding. They still were, even if they're gone now.

video;

[surgent]

And yet they still go, nothing but a bright blink in the dark. And then tales will be all that's left of them, that and my memories. [ because he doesn't forget the people he's Marked. He doesn't forget much, honestly. ] But even all those will be swallowed up.

[ And... that's just how it is? There's no changing the way all the threads, in the end, come together to end everything; all the timelines, all divergences, they all end the same way.

Emptied into the Void, swallowed by some great blackness. ]

Re: video;

[fadeling]

Yes. But no one can change that they were. They lived and died and left parts of themselves behind, thread tied together in a tangle in someone else. They aren't here but they are, too.

video;

[surgent]

[ There are few that speak like The Outsider, few that communicate in ways easily misunderstood because the words can truly only be understood by the few who are similar. ]

What is it you are? [ Cole, this stranger, sounds as if he tangles himself in the world and those tangles are hard for him to word. Does he feel things? Is that what it is? Or is he a god, like the Outsider, tied to the world and something far beyond? ]

video;

[daemonized]

[And people call Ardyn a dramatic sort of fellow.

Still, there's much here that draws the man's attention, enough to even garner a reply in the form of a video feed. All is said with a smile.]

A stolen throne, a consequence of a most treacherous-sounding betrayal. How can it be that spite would not guide this Empress' hand? It certainly would mine.

[(Already has, perhaps.)]

video;

[surgent]

You would be merciless, then? [ He's closer to the camera this time, leaning in with hardly a hint of curiosity lining his lips. ]

I think that's what would guide most. In part, it guided the Empress' own but perhaps her journey shall temper her fire and into something sharp, but understanding? Perhaps she shall turn wise through the things she must witness and do to return herself to the throne?

But she could just as well slaughter every man and woman in her way. I've seen many do that. [ An almost bored drawl. ] I've seen few tread the harder route.

video;

[daemonized]

The harder path? [He gives a sound of amusement at that, on the knife-edge of being rather close to a scoff. But Ardyn is not so easily read to allow even that small amount of disdain show. He's all flippancy for now.] I do apologize for being so droll as to choose the route most would tread. Of course, I'd also be inclined to argue that it isn't an easy path, either.

Perhaps I'm biased. [Ah, a shrug of broad shoulders.]

Tell me, which are you hoping for? The way of understanding and mercy? Or vengeance?

video;

[surgent]

[ He disappears in a flash of darkness, wisps so thick and black that they could only come from a place where light is limited, or nonexistent. He's returned himself to the couch, legs crossed, expression as easy as ever. ]

I hope for that which is most interesting. Those who tread the path without shedding blood are the most impressive of mine, but I cannot deny that pure emotional vengeance isn't, at the very least, a fascinating display of their humanity. They get boring the most quickly, however.

[ Sometimes, though rare, they will find a way to catch his eye again, either through change of heart (always a surprise for him) or garnering power beyond what he'd given. ] As long as I have lived, it's those who cause less chaos that I will always return to.

video;

[daemonized]

[The way the darkness appears to swirl around this man is perhaps far more intriguing to him than anything else. Appearing from one place to another is curious, but hardly anything extraordinary in the overall scheme of things. Especially given the oddities that they're surrounded by in Hadriel alone.]

You call them yours? [That does elicit a noise of amusement from him, from the back of his throat.] And who are you to make that claim?

[Despite the words, it hardly has the tone of an accusation. More a lingering curiosity.]

video;

[surgent]

The god of the Void. [ A mock of a bow, darkness trailing his movements like some lost puppy, clinging to him. ] It's where all souls go when they die, to be devoured by the darkness and disappear. And to those I grant my gift... [ He almost seems to smile. All the people he's chosen thus far have given start to a great many things: the rat plague, the death of an Empress, the start of secret plots and schemes, and Delilah. ] ...they become irreversibly tied to me, given abilities to change their fates.

I watch them the most.

[ Yeah, that's not creepy at all, Outsider. No. Not. at. all. ]

[video]

[somuchlove]

[It's an interesting tale and an interesting man telling it. Chara only knows one person with the power to teleport and it's neither that flashy or used as often.

And well....."It's a tale that can end in so many different ways."

That's something Chara has a lot of experience with.]

I suppose it depends on the Empress herself. Dose she feel that for taking her throne by blood, does the other woman deserve to suffer or be given mercy? And, more importantly, if she is ready to face the consequences of her choices across her journey.

[You're never above them, whether you were an Empress or a child. That hasn't changed, back in their own world and in Hadriel.]

[video]

[surgent]

The Empress I knew fought hard to write her wrongs, to make the hard choices instead of the easy ones, and some of them... [ A hum, echoing and thoughtful. ] Blood isn't the only way to exact vengeance on those who've taken from you.

At the start of her journey, she wasn't yet ready to face her consequences, but eventually, weeks of her harrowing journey taught lessons that were unignorable. But perhaps there's a timeline that exists where she chooses the bloodier option. Where she takes back her throne with death.

An ending like that, though, isn't one I care much for.

[video]

[somuchlove]

Perhaps not, but I suppose some would find bloody vengeance a much more satisfying ending, be it merely personality or just the conclusion they've reached.

[Or, in Chara's experience in Hadriel, you're just...so angry at what you've learned. Even if it was not the logical or right choice it didn't matter at the time.

He says 'timelines' in a way that implies it may be like their own.]

You are not fond of the endings that end with a blade and d...blood? What kind of endings do you like?

[video]

[surgent]

Too often, stories end in blood. People are quick to reach for the dagger or pistol, quick to betray the people that put their trust in them, quick to do what's expected. Wouldn't you prefer the unexpected ending than the expected one?

[ When he gives his Mark, all he expects is change. Good change, bad change. Change is change and it all leads them to the future where the world will be devoured. ]

[video]

[somuchlove]

[He has a point. Chara had walked down the path of Genocide, among many others, and that path had been easy. Certainly there were two beings who had grounded things to a screeching halt...but eventually they moved on.

Sparing Monsters were much harder.]

I suppose you are right. But what of those who find the middle ground between blades and words? What then?

[Chara learned of the 'good' ending they could have but had no desire to claim for themselves. It also rendered every other ending they earned as nothing but dust in the wind. Where those endings even worth it?]

[video]

[surgent]

There are few that can find such a balance, but, from what I've witnessed of my world, that brings about the least amount of change. It keeps, very much, the status quo. [ And those are not the people he grants his Mark to. Not because they aren't interesting, or because they haven't fought as hard to get to where they are, but because it doesn't bring about the change he so often seeks. ]