eachdraidh | 001 | video | open to both courts

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001 | video | open to both courts

[ 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.

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Come to the walls, and I will show you.

The walls?

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

Alright.

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

And he waits. ]

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

Maybe. ]

[ 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.

[ 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. ]

In this, it is your choice.

[ Which is more than most people get. ]

Fair enough, but I am not deterred.

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

[ Pale fingers and shadows reach out for her hand, gently sliding across the skin. He does not leave his Mark, but Alice will feel something like an itch at the back of her hand anyway. ]

The gift I give to you, Alice, enables you to strike at your enemies harder, with a strength that surpasses even the most fit of men. It lasts only a short while once you have called upon its power, and then you must rely on your own strength for a time before it can be used again.

[ What he does not mention is that her attacks will seem to be all the more brutal, merciless, bloody. What he does not know is that for her, an Unseelie like himself, his gift will only last seven days. ]

[ She has no qualms with that.

Although once her hand is left with an itch, Alice is quick to inspect it, expecting an insect or something crawling on it. What can one expect from a whale god? She wants to know if there will be any visible trace.

When there is none, Alice turns to look up at him, this being. She cringes merely for the fact she doesn't liked to be touched. Alice heeds the words carefully, considering. ]

My own strength? I suppose that's reasonable enough.

[ He does not touch often -- never, if he can help it. But his power is weaker here, and he finds it easier to gift the magic with a physical connection, being in the physical world. ]

I look forward to seeing what you do with it.

[ She could go cut down trees, for all he knows. ]

[ Likely the worst thing Alice could come across in this world, Alice isn't going to really waste time not seeing what happens with it. The vorpal blade is already a blade that never dulls and to have something potentially boosting the effect of it?

It's perfect. She's always been so small, so insistent in defending herself and the battle has left her feeling defeated that she couldn't have done more. But what is the price to pay for her mind? No, it was another fight to preserve her mind.

Ever so calmly, Alice does take out the vorpal blade, before a tree, just to see the effects. The blade does not feel heavier as she uses the same slash movements before, that the vorpal blade significantly cuts through the tree that Alice doesn't have to second guess her strength or the ferocity of it. And after that, Alice runs her fingers over the vorpal blade to ensure the edge is still sharp as it was.

It still is and it always will be.]

Good, [ he murmurs from behind her, watching -- he will find it unsettling, later, that he cannot keep watching her as she goes out into the world. Now, he speaks to her again. ]

In my world, you would be able to cleave the head from a man's body with one blow. Here, it seems the magic has lessened, far away from the Void as it is.

[ Unsettling or not, it may not be wise to take up such a power or bestow it to her to begin with. Not that Alice cares, anyway. A slip of a girl, malnourished and constantly struggling with her own mind. Alice's face doesn't begin to express the dark joy that there's a possibility that she can do more damage than normal. ]

Well, it's a good thing that the vorpal blade is incapable of dulling.

[ Perhaps not wise. But the Outsider does not pick who he gives his gifts to based on wisdom. ]

Other blades can be sharpened. [ Admittedly, however, he is a bit curious about hers. ] Was it another gift?

In a way.

[ The development of the vorpal blade is a strange one, it shouldn't be real to begin with. Nor should Alice's ability to turn into a swarm of butterflies. The fact it can still take off a few layers of the skin of her fingertips is a good sign.

Perhaps it was sickening to her that she had become so lustful to inflict pain. Perhaps it wasn't. It was what happened when Alice was cornered. She could mourn her actions and mourn Celegorm's departure, but she would continue to move on and be sure to help her fellow members of the court. ]

It's dear to me, this blade.

Keep it close.

[ She is Void-touched, now; perhaps would have been before, were she from his world. The Overseers certainly would have had an eye on her. ]

Should it carve out any bones, or should you yourself find some, bring them to me. Such things are used to create charms, where I am from.

[ She's sure the stipulation is something she'll regret later on, not now. Alice keeps wanting to know more and more. She doesn't know, she's curious. ]

... Bones? And what on earth do you do with those bones?

They are carved. A thousand years before the city that I have watched the most, in the days before my arrival here, it was a common practice. Some remain, and new ones are carved -- formed together into shapes, marked and molded.

[ It must be a strange thing she does not think twice about it. ]

And what sort of bones were they?

Whales, usually. The animal most associated with me. But any will do.

[ It's a weird request, she'll give him that. There's no harm in it, is there? Surely he could find a use of them in his own way, much like Alice had done with teeth and then some in Wonderland. ]

I suppose I can.

[ She doesn't even bat an eye at it, although- ]

But if you're associated with whales, wouldn't whale bones be a terrible thing to have?

[ So is her innocent assumption that he must like whales greatly. ]

[ He does rather like whales, but. ]

All things die. As it is, better that they die in the old way than what is done to them now -- or so the whales think.

But I wonder if there are whales here.

[ She muses mostly to herself, wondering if there is really an ocean. Well, either way, she makes good on her words. Alice gives one more affirming nod. ]

Alright, I'll do it, I don't like going back on my word, mister-

[ "Mister" would just sound strange. ]

Sir.

We will see.

[ He will, at least. And then he'll probably let everyone know with a childlike glee. ]

It is, as always, your choice, Alice. [ Pause. ] But I would... appreciate it.

[ Such a human expression. ]

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digophelia - 2014-08-10 05:04 (UTC) - Expand

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