catch-all: date.

[greatvalue]

Comments

[greatvalue]

[...]

You need to go home. To her.

[said like he fully intends to punch out the devil if necessary to make sure this kid he's never met gets her stepdad back.]

[psynchronise]

Yeah. I'm aware.

[ he's kinda!! antsy about it. it's not just her either but let's not stress hunter out more than he already looks. ]

[greatvalue]

[he has no idea about the other stuff so he's, of course, assuming he's just extra stressed because of The Child.]

... Hey. We'll figure it out, okay?

[psynchronise]

[ the child..... m'yoda. ]

Same goes for everyone. I'm not the only person with something they want to get back to.

[greatvalue]

I know that, but...

[There's more he wants to say, but he trails off when the screen flickers to life again.]

[psynchronise]

[ SWEET BABY BOOOOOY. ]

... Who was that?

[greatvalue]

[baby buttkin looking kind of smad after revisiting that.]

You mean Belos? Or Kikimora?

[psynchronise]

[ little smad buttkin. ]

The one who nearly stabbed you in the face.

[greatvalue]

[... He sighs.]

That's Belos. He is— [...] Was the Emperor of the Boiling Isles.

[psynchronise]

[ oh no he feels so bad learning this person lost their job. or died.

looks at nails ]

Was.

[greatvalue]

[haha he wishes it was because he was dead, but.]

Not much of an empire left. Society collapsed after he tried to kill every last witch and demon on the isles.

[psynchronise]

[ time to do something about that pulls knife. ]

… Sounds like someone got a bit too murderous for his own good.

[greatvalue]

... It was always his plan.

[sorry but he's getting more agitated the longer he rants here--]

He lied and manipulated everyone into trusting him. Made everyone think everything he did was for the greater good. But it was never about that. He just hated us. And I fell for it— like an idiot!

[psynchronise]

[ hmmm. ]

... That's usually the thing though, isn't it? People who can manipulate groups on that kind of level are good at it.

[greatvalue]

[... He huffs, kicking the ground with the toe of his shoe.]

Mmhm. I guess... he's had a couple hundred years to perfect his act.

[psynchronise]

… Yeah, that’d do it. I can think of some slimy bastards who’ve perfected it in like 60. Imagine what they could do with hundreds of years to keep getting slimier.

[ok NOW in the right place: ]

What was he so mad about?

[greatvalue]

He sent me out on a mission to retrieve more palismen. Said he needed them to manage his... "curse." [Said with an eye roll.] Obviously, I failed and he wasn't too happy about that.

[psynchronise]

[ mentally throwing his hands in the air. ]

If he was gonna throw a fit about it he could do his own curse managing expedition.

[greatvalue]

He was the Emperor. He didn't do expeditions. That's what he kept me around for.

[He huffs.]

... It doesn't matter, anyway. I got to leave the castle during missions, so it wasn't always so bad.

[psynchronise]

... Getting to leave was worth putting up with all of his bullshit?

[greatvalue]

Wasn't authorized to leave outside of missions. And if I wasn't on a mission, then I was studying, or training, or standing guard next to him.

[psynchronise]

So.

Pretty deep in that cult then, were you? [ it's not an accusation. just an observation. ]

[greatvalue]

[Oh. Hm. He pauses and squints at the void like he had not considered it could be described as a cult. Wild.]

... Well, yeah. I was in the coven for as long as I can remember. It was basically all I knew until I met my friends.

[psynchronise]

[ it's a cult, sweetie. ]

And you weren't allowed to go out and explore and figure stuff out on your own until then.

[greatvalue]

[Wowie. He slowly nods.]

But I did figure things out. Eventually. So it all worked out in the end.