caughtinanetwork

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Attention citizens.

You havve made the stupendous mistake of kidnappin one Commander Orphaner Dualscar, destroyer a wworlds an' scourge a the stars.

In light a your obvvious ignorance, and the admittedly pleasant surroundins, I'll be generous. You havve half an hour to explain wwhere I am, howw I got here, and wwhy, and to showw me the exit. It's the ocean, I can make my owwn wway from there.

I'm wwaiting. Don't fuckin disappoint me.

One last wwarnin: I'm not a vvery patient troll.

[OOC: I'm happy to do action tags/prose in the comments, too. Anyone who wants to run into him in person can find him wandering the main thoroughfare around the Lamufao, using his starfish phone thingy to monitor the network]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Wwho the fuck are you darin to talk to me wwith that eyebleedin colour?
Don't try to tell me that's the colour a your blood.

[That's right, get his attention away from the children and Psii...]

YOU CAN CALL ME SIGNLESS.
YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW ME... BUT I REMEMBER YOU.

AND YES, THIS IS MY BLOOD COLOR.

The mutant filth.
A course I knoww of you. No wwonder this place is filled wwith blasphemers an rude, disobedience filth.
Only you already swwung from the Gibbet swweeps ago.
Howw can you be here?
Or are you just one a his fools, lookin for a culling?
Wwhat wwill you really bleed wwhen I find you?

[Even though the action secretly terrifies him, Signless switches to video and pulls his cloak off his head, showing his face.]

I would probably bleed the same color I did last time.

This place, Vatheon, pulls us from all different points in time. That's how we can both exist in the same world again.

[Signless offers a small smile to Dualscar.]

That's how we can be given another chance.

[He has no problem showing his scarred face to you. His expression is inscrutable as he glares into the screen, examining the face that he has seen before. He was, after all, involved in the hunt, and in part of the punishment granted to the Sufferer's followers.

The smile sort of confuses him, though. He doesn't return it.]

And wwhat are you doin' wwith your second chance?

[Signless didn't think Dualscar would smile back at him, but the mere fact that he hasn't flown into a frothing rage is something he interprets as a good sign. When he answers, his voice is calm and measured, though cautiously friendly.]

Spending time with those dear to me, making new friends, learning about worlds beyond our own. This world doesn't have to be a battlefield; it can be an opportunity to rest, to rejuvenate, to strengthen old alliances and forge new ones.

You don't have to be alone here.

Howw swweet.

But it flies in the face a things I'vve already discovvered. There are creatures out there wwho attack the city. Not so restful. And wwho says I'm alone? This place is burstin' wwith people wwho wwant to help me, or so it seems.

[He sneers] Like your former pissblood followwer. Or didn't you knoww.

[Oh snap. Signless tries to keep the smile on his face, but it's slipping.]

When creatures attack, we work together to defeat them. It's inconvenient, no doubt, but nothing that can't be dealt with without some planning and forethought.

[Okay yeah, that smile is gone now.]

I meant that you could actually have friends here, people who truly care about you and your well-being, if you so chose.

[All that Signless just said is dismissed with a roll of purple eyes and a derisive snort]

Wwho is the troll wwho types in grey? Do you count him as your leader, too, mutant?

I count him as my close friend and compatriot, someone to whom I'd trust my very life. Is there anyone in your life for whom you can do the same?

[Getting snarky here, but lay off Karkat, Dualscar!]

No, because I'm not a fool.

[Snort]

Unusual, you countin' any troll as your better. Or do you lead 'some' a the trolls wwhile he leads the 'majority'?

Who wears the mantle of leadership is unimportant. And you are wrong about me, Dualscar... I don't count any troll as my better, or my lesser. We are all equal in my eyes.

So you say, but you think yourself better evven than me.

I think myself happier than you, yes, but I don't know that that would be considered better. And I think you could find happiness too, if you were willing to look for it.

Wwho says I'm not happy?

[He's getting uncomfortable, and so his teeth are bared a little and his voice is getting deeper, almost a growl, his fins flaring a bit to show the markings between the spines. But he's holding his poise, mostly.

No, he's not happy. His kismesis dumped him, probably, for a slave. He just was murdered, horribly, by the Grand Highblood Subjugglator. And now he's stuck in this weird place all alone with only a few possible allies he can't trust.

But hell if he's going to admit that to this freak.]

Are you?

I'm just fine. [The words are snarled] An evven if I wweren't, it'd be no business a the likes a you. Don't think I'm gonna fall at your feet an wworship you like these ignorant, desperate fools, mutant. I don't need wwhat you're sellin'.

I never asked for anyone to worship me, you know. All I ever did was tell some stories and share some ideas.

[Shrug]

I had no idea they'd survive as they did.

[Tentative smile]

But that's neither here nor there, is it? I'm glad you're feeling well, Dualscar, and hope you're settling in well here in Vatheon. While we certainly don't have to be friends, I hope that we can at least be civil, and not actively oppose each other.

[He means it, too. No being friends, nope. Just ask Darkleer about how that worked out for him!]

[He'd think you were making fun of him, if you weren't so weirdly...sincere about it. And Dualscar honestly has no idea what to do with you, Signless. Other than cull you, and he's not going to bother with that, right now. Certainly not until he has a better grasp on what's going on, and how to make the culling permanent.

So his expression creases a bit, and then shifts into a scowl]

Wwe can be civvil. It wwasn't I wwho started things off wwith threats, it wwas your compatriot, Vvantas.

I'm not an unreasonable person. If you don't oppose me, I probably wwon't bother wwith you, despite your crimes. But if you try to deny me the things I'm only due by right, you wwill wwant to crawwl back inside the vvile egg that hatched you an nevver come out. Understood?

[Sigh]

Then that is where we're going to have problems, I'm afraid. You see, I don't believe it is your right to subjugate other trolls, based solely on their blood color. That is something I can't stand by and idly watch. I would rather not fight, but I'm not going to back down from what I know to be right, either.

You understand how it is.

Then we havve a problem based on a fundamental philosophical difference. You believve you're right, an I havve the same feelin'.

So wwhat are you going to do about it, mutant?

I suppose I'll leave you to live your life and only interfere when you do something I can't let stand. I'd rather it not come to that--I'd much prefer we find a middle ground--but if that's how it has to be, that's how it has to be.

[He sighs]

Much as it wwould givve me pleasure nevver to see your face again, you knoww that wwon't wwork.

DON'T WORRY, LITTLE ONE.
I HAVE NO INTENTION OF DYING, TODAY OR ANY OTHER.

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