deernet | Video | UN: aweful

Video | UN: aweful

[She’s been here for over a week now. Time to get the lay of the land. The video opens up to a particularly tall blonde woman with a golden skeletal arm and a smirk. She's here to cause problems on purpose.]

Greetings, hello, salutations. My name is Ianthe Naberius. I’m new in town, twenty two, a princess of Ida, unfortunately single and dreadfully bored!

Now, I come to you today, not only to introduce myself, but to ask something of all of you.

Who do you hate most in Trench and why? I’m trying to meet people, network, but it’s so hard and overwhelmingly positive! So consider this an open invitation. Warn me about that dangerous scoundrel who kicked your puppy, seethe about how much you despise me for whatever reason, tell me about your parasocial hateful fixation on one of the local divinity. It can be a minor slight you want to complain about, a friend of yours who owes you two perfectly intact human skulls, or it can be an actual danger to this lovely little community of ours.

Now, before you try to say “this is childish and stupid!” You’re absolutely right, but it is a necessary part of self care to allow oneself to be an absolute cunt once in a while. [Or all the time, if your name is Ianthe.] So let’s not make any grand claims to being above something like this, mm?

Feel free to use the anonymity feature. Or the privacy feature, I guess, if you’re shy or worried about being fileted like a fish.

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That I know her at all should be enough proof that I know what you're talking about.
Don't worry. I don't want to ruin your employment.
Being a princess sounds cushy. It would be a shame to take that from you.

I just want to talk with him. First House native to First House native.

Not really. I saw her on the beach when I arrived the first time. You're not special. You vastly overestimate the sway you have over me.

And for fuck's sake, call it Earth you pretentious baby.

I didn't know he let you know her real name.
Earth, then.
Is that a privilege of sainthood, or did you get lucky when you met with her?

It's not her name anymore but the fact that you sit there alluding to "The First House" as if you have the first clue what it means is about five times as obnoxious as you using a word from ten thousand years ago.
And you could at least buy me a drink if you're going to try to mansplain my job to me.

God, why is everyone around here so obsessed with fucking that piece of freezer meat. No wonder Kiriona hates her so much.

Then please, enlighten me.
What am I missing about Earth? Where's my disconnect happening?
If I plan to have a nice long talk with John, I should at least have my shit in order.

You should work on your attitude problem first. If I were him, I probably would have flayed you alive by now. But he's kind of a little bitch about torturing people, so he'd probably just make you explode or something tacky like that.

What do you think the situation is, Clover? Since so far all you've been doing is making grand statements with very little substance. What did John Gaius do to the Earth that you want retribution for?

[As far as she's aware, nobody actually knows. But the question is - what did Alecto tell her.]

He put the soul of something very big inside something very small.
That "piece of freezer meat" is my home given a form that it was never made to hold.
If I wanted to be less than charitable about it, I could say that John Gaius killed Earth.
And each of the other planets, before they were Houses.
Is that about the shape of it?

That's what the enemy says in their propaganda, yes.

He's the only one alive who actually remembers and isn't a ghost driven insane by being locked in a freezer for ten thousand years. His sluts believed the enemy, but even they don't know the truth.

Personally, my theory is who gives a shit, but because you think the world revolves around you, let me humor you.

Why would he do that?

[the enemy? interesting. this isn't the right time to push on that but she makes a fun little mental note.]

I'm still working on the why.
But if I know John the way I think I know him... well, there's a few ways this could have gone.
Earth was already dying. I think everyone knew that, but nobody really wanted to do anything about it.
We had all known for decades that Earth was on a shorter and shorter timer, but everyone was so fixated on finding another planet to colonize instead of fixing things at home.
I believe that John did actually love Earth. I believe he was one of the people trying to save it. I don't know how -- I never knew him before the Resurrection, but I was still there on Earth in his time, on the other side of the world.

But John is also a madman.
I believe that he took the soul of a planet that was already on life support and put it into a body of his own making.
I think that this was his way of trying to save what he loved. But he had to kill everyone there first.
When you're the god of the dead, you can't do much with a living planet.

He did this because he's selfish and shortsighted. He's probably angry at the people who left Earth in this state.
I am, too. But I never thought of nuking the whole planet and starting over. I don't think I have the kind of disregard for life that that solution would take.

Interesting theory. Again, not far off from the enemy's propaganda. Very "we might have run away but HE DESTROYED THE WORLD OUT OF SPITE because we wouldn't kiss his EVIL WIZARD DICK 😭." They're very fond of the evil wizard thing.

I have other thoughts to share but here's the thing: We're not doing this over the network for anything more than what I've given you. You want information, we're doing this face to face.

[she sits with that demand for a moment and considers how much she really wants to learn about john gaius. about whoever this enemy is, too. it's clear that ianthe is more forthcoming with information than most, but she doesn't know if she's walking into danger here.]

[she sends an address after a few more minutes of deliberation.]

There is a bar in Cellar Door.
I'll be in the corner booth, near the stage.
Do you drink?

Yes. Though, only the blood of orphans. I do have an evil wizard rep to maintain, you understand.
See you there, stranger. :)

[It's about half an hour when Ianthe shows up, all pale faced and split ends and a perpetual smile that doesn't match the hawk eyed ferocity in her eyes. She looks around, eyes sharp to find the identity of the one she was talking to, zeroing in on the corner and strutting over.]

[christ, thinks anna. she looks even more sickly in person.]

[a woman in a fur-collared winter coat lifts her head and raises a black-gloved hand from across the bar. it's a practiced gesture; she's met people here many times before, probably. there's a cold beer in front of her and a red drink in a tall glass, garnished with celery, at the empty side of the booth across from her. as ianthe approaches, anna gives her what has to pass for a pleasant smile, but it's not like she doesn't look tired herself. it's just the way she is.]

Princess Ianthe. [and she gestures to the drink.] You can pretend it's from someone named Mary if you want.

Edited 2023-01-09 16:23 (UTC)

It's actually prince nowadays. I've ranked up.

[She takes a seat opposite this strange woman, her eyes evaluating her every micro expression. Ianthe tends to act like she's perpetually unflappable, but maybe the reason why she looks so sick all the time is just that her brain can't turn off, and even now it's working overtime.]

I'll just pretend it's from someone named Clover.

[She doesn't drink it just yet. She remembers her lessons about poison and the ways to resist it. It wouldn't do anything unless this woman is particularly ingenious with her assassination attempts.]

Do I get an introduction?

Prince. [she corrects herself. if she were a better understander of these things, she might say that it's very gender of her. unfortunately, anna is not.]

If you want. But Clover Geteilt's blood makes your nails grow forever and turns you into a raging hypocritical bitch. [this, she knows, is something only she will get. she leans forward a little, arms crossed and flat on the table. (from this distance, it's clear that she was never wearing gloves.) her tone matches her stance, casual but far from effortless about it.] The jury's still out on what my blood would do to someone. Call me Anna. Sorry about lying online.

Luckily I'm already a raging hypocritical bitch. [She tentatively lifts the glass and drinks it. No poison? No poison.]

Anna. It's a pleasure.

I'll get to answering your questions in a minute but, first off, explain to me why exactly you think you're from our world.

Well.

[that's a loaded question. she looks at her own beer carefully, trying to think of the right way to say this without saying too much. there's a tiny indent on the side of her face where she's chewing on the inside of her cheek. she's been burned by saints before, and ianthe somehow seems nastier than most; she should really be better about what she reveals.]

How do I put this without sounding like a pretentious dick. [like that's the only problem she's dealing with.] He makes references and I know the right response to those references, and he looks at me like I punched him every time I say them. We've had conversations about visiting places together on Earth—from before the Resurrection. If we ever find a way back to it, you know? [this feels stupid. she's talking about this and there's a groundswell of sympathy for this broken fool of a god in her black box heart. she hates him and she hates herself.]

I have more reasons than those, but if you're anything like him, you might be able to feel one of the big ones already. [this, she's not saying. not aloud.] If it's not from your Earth, your universe, then it's from one that's close enough that it stops mattering. Maybe it's all coincidences, but after a while they start racking up faster than I can justify.

[She rolls her eyes, completely exasperated. Her expectations weren't high but come on. And the annoying little comment about going to travel around the world with him? Christ. And she says she's not one of the idiots thinking they can fix him.]

So in other words you have nothing except the fact you lived on the same rock. You're not alone in that, plenty of people have made references to that same rock. Dare I say it even, I think the human race generally spawned on that rock. That doesn't make it your rock, though.

[Though... the comment about being anything like him is... interesting. She gets a feeling that Anna isn't talking about moral similarities. Anna's body is interesting and...

Oh. Interesting. The look in her eyes is sharpened a little by hunger and interest now and she takes another sip of her bloody mary. Mary tastes a lot like tomato.]

Hmm. [It doesn't change much, though, in the end. There are others with bizarre souls. Not to mention the relationship a Sleeper has to their squid soul. She decides not to comment further on it than blatantly noticing it.]

If it helps, you don't sound like a pretentious dick, so much as a sentimental blubbery idiot. Anything else?

[she knows, all right? she doesn't have to be called out like this, for being a stupid sympathetic idiot who thinks that maybe one day john will just get better. it makes her grateful that she recognizes that sharpening of the prince's expression; she knows what's going on, then. without letting much of it show on her face, anna continues.]

What you're feeling comes from someone who lived on a world ten thousand years in my future. One of hundreds that were suddenly destroyed for no apparent reason. It could be a coincidence, just like everything else might have been. But we never did find out who was destroying those worlds.

[this is the plainest she's ever laid it out, and she still can't bear to bring a firm accusation. she leans back from the table but still sits upright; it's more relaxed, but her guard still isn't down.]

Like I said, the odds might not really be with me on this one. But I've lived through my share of really weird shit, and I don't jump to coincidences as easy anymore. Only one person is really gonna know the truth.

Edited 2023-01-13 15:07 (UTC)

[Hm. Ianthe considers that more so, but her expression doesn't give away just what the Empire's been having her do.]

Ten thousand years, hm. Were they from your precious Earth as well? Or another planet?

[That's the real question.]

I wouldn't say it's a coincidence so much as a great cosmic joke. You have to remember we're only here at the whims of monsters, right?

Some were from my Earth. Some were from other worlds, ones I'd never heard of. [she rattles off a list of a few that she remembers.] Krypton, Terca Lumieris, Midgard. I don't know of they were separate worlds or just new names for the same planet.

Either way, it would be a pretty funny joke. [she doesn't smile.] It would be my luck. I get plucked out of my world to come here and meet somebody who's destroyed Earth, and it turns out to be someone entirely unrelated to the reason my Earth gets destroyed. Hilarious.

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