sixfeetofdirt | TLV: IC Contact

There's a lot of things people are that aren't their fault.

[The rustle of movement on her side, her chair creaking, breathing out.]

It's hard to know, isn't it? Where the line is. How much to say, how much matters.

Well, I apologise if you felt misinformed.

In my defence, I barely contributed to the cause. Gale and Karlach were much more enthusiastic.

That's more than you had to do. Unless I still don't understand.

Don't apologize. I was just messing with you.

Edited 2024-05-27 14:03 (UTC)

I know, darling, don't worry.

I could theoretically have wandered off on my own whenever I pleased, but not long into our venture we crossed paths with a monster hunter searching for me - me, specifically, not just 'some vampire killing the local wildlife'. He knew my name. Working on Cazador's orders, I believe.

After that, safety in numbers seemed the wiser option, so I earned my keep.

...did they know?

Gale and Karlach. And whoever else.

Yes. Not at first, but...over time, we all became very familiar with each other's tragic backstories.

How long were you with them?

...Do you know, I wasn't really counting the days? At least a month. There was a lot of excitingly hectic bloodshed and magic nonsense, interspersed with long bouts of trudging through the countryside.

A month.

[It relaxes something in her voice, something subtle but definitive, like a finger on a trigger.]

You like having them here?

I...I don't mind it.

Karlach's deal is idiotic and that's extremely annoying, but she's got time to rethink it.

She's the one you were asking about before.

She is indeed! I'm not going to push her on the subject because she could break me in half without effort, but...ugh.

Well.

At least you're invested.

Invested? I'm offended. I did at least put some blood, sweat and tears into this world-saving exercise and now she's going to just going to have the Admiral snap his fingers.

Yeah.

[She considers a few things to say, to ask. Rejects them all, staring at her hands in the dark of her cabin instead.]

Did I tell you I tried to save the world, once?

...No, you didn't.

What did you do?

Got played for a fool, mostly.

There was this guy who said he could cure the virus that was killing everyone. Said we just had to get him to his team in DC.

We spent about a year and a half, almost two escorting him across the country. Keeping him safe from walkers, feeding him, making sure he had water and cover. Keeping him alive. People died instead of him, thinking they were protecting the future.

We were maybe a week out when he told us he lied so we'd do all that.

[Almost two years. Astarion lives his life on a longer-than-human scale, but that's a long fucking time to be crossing a world festering with the undead. He feels a brief spike of empathetic rage.]

What did you do with him?

[A bleak laugh.]

Nothing.

Well. Abraham punched him out, initially. But I stopped him from killing him, and after that?

Nothing. He fooled us because he knew a lot of things we didn't. We still needed that.

Edited 2024-05-27 15:10 (UTC)

I can barely imagine the frustration of not killing him, after he put you through that...that hope.

That's what the world is now. The dead outnumber the living... a thousand to one. Ten thousand, a hundred thousand to one.

We don't get to choose who survived with us. We lost a lot of knowledge and skills when the world fell. Eugene doesn't have a cure, but he knows things that can save lives, so I saved his.

I mean, that blew up in my face too, but. At least I tried, right?

[She does not sound the least bit comforted by this. She sounds like she feels fucking pathetic.]

No good deed goes unpunished, as they say. Blew up how?

Doesn't matter now.

My point was mostly that I'm glad you have some people you tried something big with still with you. I'm glad there's an out for your world, apparently.

And I hope whoever your mysterious benefactor is, they weren't lying, too.

He's turned out to be...somewhat economical with the truth, in some rather important ways. But, ultimately, he still wants what we want, and I'm sure the others can kill him if he tries anything funny at the last minute.

Yeah.

[Eugene wanted what they all wanted, too. He just wasn't capable of delivering.]

Still, I hope it works out. Delicate things, worlds.

Re: Private

sixfeetofdirt - 2024-05-27 16:29 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Private

handleyourshit - 2024-05-27 16:30 (UTC) - Expand