001 | video | open to both courts

[extramural]

[ The locket is floating.

It’s the only explanation for the view that the item gives – a young man, out on the walls of one of the castles, the moon curved behind him. His arms are crossed in front of him, not touching the device as it records. Black eyes (all black, like the depths of the sea) regard it for a moment and then one hand moves, gestures at the locket. ]

Well, well.

[ His head tilts, and while his lips don’t turn up, one may get the feeling that he’s smirking. ]

I must say, this is an interesting turn of events. One that even I did not see coming.

[ His voice is almost monotonous, but there is something like music in it – like whale song. ]

To be pulled away to the Drabwurld, asked to take part in this war. I wonder if they truly know what they are doing. [ His hand returns, head moving back so that he can look straight at the camera. ]

I hear there was a battle. One should expect such things, in war. I suppose I should ask about it. [ He doesn’t. Instead- ]

Tell me, Shardholders, something... interesting.

Comments

[digophelia]

I'd rather take my chances than be blind and ignorant to what is around me.

[ Apparently this court is notorious for attracting all the madmen. How befitting. ]

It's kept me alive this long, it will continue to do so.

[extramural]

[ Hey now, he's perfectly sane. He's just... not human. ]

All things die.

[ But enough of that. ]

What are you called?

[digophelia]

[ The point still stands. Seriously, after fighting with Lancelot? ]

Alice Liddell is my name.

[ And please, no asking what her name means, just like Feanor did. ]

[extramural]

[ Unlike the elves, the Outsider is a little more versed in human names. ]

And I am called the Outsider.

[digophelia]

[ Thank god. Or in this case, thank the whale god. Alice does a bit of a double take. ]

The Outsider? The outsider of what?

[extramural]

The world. Order. Good and evil.

[ He shrugs. ]

A great many things, I suppose.

[digophelia]

[ It doesn't take much for Alice to light up in that same child-like awe as she tries to visualize what that "outside" may look like. ]

You must be very old. Does that mean you're ageless?

[extramural]

There is no time in the Void. But in the time of the world outside of it... I age thousands of years. But ageless?

Even I can learn, Alice. And even I will end, someday. I would say it is... experience, not years, that make one age. And I have experienced many, many things.

[digophelia]

[ Well, she already knows that, she knows plenty of it. That her weary body is beyond the usual grace of a nineteen year old, despite her innocent questions. It might show in her bruised face and tired eyes. It might show in her mannerisms.

But for her, even that is a little hard to completely understand, a very old being learning. The elves certainly don't, that's a for sure. At least Galadriel thinks so with her cousins. ]

But then what happens after you end? Does the void disappear?

[extramural]

[ She is an interesting girl, this one. The Outsider is quite fond of her already, fond of the way she thirsts for his knowledge but asks him questions, of the experience etched across her being. ]

It is far more likely that the Void will swallow me -- that I will return to it. Whether another will emerge in my place is beyond what I know.

[digophelia]

[ When he explains what happens after his "death", well. She frowns, just a little. ]

It must be dreadfully boring in that void all alone.

[extramural]

[ He laughs a little. ]

And so you see my predicament. I seek out the interesting to watch, to see what choices they may make. Sometimes I offer tools to use in the world.

[digophelia]

[ Really, she never learns. She never learned as a child stepping behind the looking glass after the rabbit hole. ]

What sort of tools?

[ Of course that can't be literal, being that he's a being capable of magic. ]

[extramural]

[ And oh, how he smiles. ]

Would you like to see?

[digophelia]

[ That's a good question, isn't it? Little Alice who fell down the rabbit hole cannot resist that temptation. After all, what could be so bad about that? It's like obtaining the ability of the grasshopper or using the shrinking potion, isn't it? Naturally, she doesn't consider any sort of ramifications if it's useful. ]

I can?

[extramural]

Yes.

[ Tendrils of black rise from his hand, and he gestures toward the locket. ]

In a way, you have already seen one -- but I will show you more... personally. Are you within the castle, Alice?

[digophelia]

Well, I am now.

[ No thanks to Grell and Lancelot, but that's another matter entirely. She has come back to join the others in preparation for travelling. ]

[extramural]

Come to the walls, and I will show you.

[digophelia]

The walls?

[ Well, okay, Alice is going, because why not. She's bored. ]

Alright.

[extramural]

[ The Outsider never exactly says 'goodbye' when he decides to stop speaking, and so the feed simply stops.

And he waits. ]

[digophelia]

[ Don't worry, she's coming, she has nothing to do with her time. She proves that short people are fast.

Maybe. ]

[extramural]

[ When she arrives, she'll notice that the Outsider is not actually standing -- he is floating, feet just above the ground and shrouded in darkness. Despite this, he offers her his hand. ]

I have been told this may be uncomfortable.

[digophelia]

[ Of course he is. It is very much like when she first crossed paths with the cheshire cat and that is exactly why Alice is even vesting interest in this in the first place. She occasionally wondered if the cheshire cat even walked, too, rather than teleport place to place.

And when he offers her hand, Alice glances down at it and back up at him. ]

Uncomfortable? Are you trying to talk me out of it now?

[ Alice is never one without smart ass remarks. ]

[extramural]

In this, it is your choice.

[ Which is more than most people get. ]

[digophelia]

Fair enough, but I am not deterred.

[ For now, because her curiosity is gnawing away at her. ]