[ he really just watched ludinus do some fuck shit!! ]
No, not that man. The man with the woman before, the two none of you helped. Lionett and Widogast. Beauregard and Caleb. What happened to them? Do you know?
...I'm not sure what happened to them after that, we were scattered. But they're alive. We've been in contact with Widogast off and on. And we could hardly have helped them. We'd have died.
[a little petulant! they didn't risk their lives for these strangers who showed up and big timed them and then instantly got captured. they were such lower level than those two.]
I know you because I've met you before. Very recently.
[ the lines of his sharp face harden slightly. not at her, but the situation for him is rather dire. (it's kind of dire for her, too, really.) his hand squeezes the mask gently. ]
I have never seen you before in my life.
[ but he knows what this probably means, in the grand scheme of things. he knows, beauregard looking older, caleb looking older. it isn't echoes of the past, but a glimpse into what must be the future.
[he got a haircut but otherwise looks much the same.
oh wait, something occurs to her.]
If you try to sacrifice me, I'll tell Allura. [so ha. unfortunately he probably does not know allura at all.] Or your other friends. [she only has a vague sense of who he is. he's friends with beau and caleb, but she doesn't know them well enough to know if they're against sacrifice.] But if you save us, then it can be our little secret that any of this happened.
[i mean i guess she doesn't know if he cares how they feel. she is from before the episode where he mentioned any of his personal relationships with anyone. she knows he has a friend named "bren" i guess. but i don't know that essek at this canon point knows he has a friend named bren. my guess on canonpoint was around the peace talks but guess i'll find out...]
...Well. Maybe you don't. But I know the same people you know and we're both trying to stop Ludinus. So maybe you won't betray us, that's all. If you aren't planning on it, there's no issue!
[this is very poorly thought out blackmail anyway because if he sacrifices her how would she tell them]
he does not, in fact, know he has a friend named bren. he barely is aware he has friends at all - sort of. sometimes, you simply are going to use what amount to friends, only to get friended in the process. now things are bottom-up.
sometimes, people who become your friend, are not a part of the plan. ]
That depends on what all I find out about you. If Ludinus has the Luxon beacons, then you all are in very grave trouble.
Knowing more about me does not always lead to being trusted more...
[it's actually quite bad in many ways.]
I think I should tell you instead about the others in our group. Because I'm there for Imogen. I don't really care about saving the world, though Ludinus and people working for him have made me very angry so I don't mind hunting them down. But Imogen is the person who is most important to me, and her mother works for him. She set out on this journey just to find answers, but all of the answers led us to this terrible place and these dangerous people. The others, too - Orym was the only one of us who had any real stake in this from the start, Ludinus killed his family - but the rest of us never intended to get involved. We were all just looking for answers about people who hurt us and things that troubled us.
But that one woman with the swords killed three of us without batting an eye a week before this encounter and assassinated our strongest ally. [so their fear, their unwillingness to leave their hiding place to help beau and caleb, was not unfounded.] And not long after, we confronted her again anyway, and we killed her, but we lost one of us permanently in processes. And the gods have never been particularly kind to any of us. But even so, we don't intend to back down or give up.
[ laudna is not the only one who immediately distrusts... but he listens because there is no reason not to listen. a lot is at stake here, he has suddenly realized. it would not have helped anything, but he almost wishes he could go without knowing what he learned.
mostly because the guilt becomes a leaden ball inside of him. he did that. he really did a lot of that. ]
What are your plans now going forward? What are you planning to do about Ludinus and the moon?
[to be fair ludinus clearly found those time travel beacons in aeor so maybe it wouldn't have mattered either way.]
Ludinus is in Aeor, searching for technology that will let him finalize his plans. We are going there to confront him. And by we, I mean all of us and you. That man - Widogast - sent you to help us.
[so he probably doesn't hate essek! but i don't know your canonpoint maybe it's possible he never found out.]
[ WHY IS LUDINUS IN AEOR ESSEK WANTS TO KNOW?????? GET OUT OF THERE!!!!!!! ]
You all and me. [ said in that, like, very stunned, disbelieving parroting. GREAT! great. that's great. he lifts a hand to rub his forehead above one brow. ] Wonderful.
Okay. Let's... go back for a moment. Widogast sent me. Why... exactly? Has he... said anything to you about... [ debating. ] The Dynasty? About the state of... Xhorhas and the Empire?
He didn't say much of anything. Just that he couldn't come himself, and you were someone we could rely on to help us with Aeor. You showed up in disguise at first, pretending to be a human researcher named Seth, and you wound up helping us find and interrogate a Cerberus Assembly woman.
I'm from Tal'Dorei, and lived in Marquet for a long time. I've never been to Wildemount other than quite recently, and briefly. And our communications with Widogast, after the solstice, have been exclusively brief and via sending stone or from the girl who has the Sending spell. My understanding is the state of the Empire is rather bad; the Cerberus Assembly has been pulling a little bit of a coup. But Xhorhas I know little about.
he lets out a quiet sigh. ] This does not inspire a lot of reassurance. [ obviously. ]
As much as time is a specialty of mine, I did not think I would reach the day where someone seemingly from my future would show up to tell me the world at large is doomed by an ambitious madman.
[ the way he can just pick out the matching vibe of one campaign to another. ]
I will say that is the way it should be, but I know your rebuttal will be to just point out I made it clear I should know about you. But that is my job. I serve the Bright Queen's court, and I am her Shadowhand.
The one who deals with investigative matters.
Such as the Mighty Nein, the ones you have stumbled across. Beauregard and Caleb. I assume the one with the Sending spell may be Jester.
Edited (when will i keep forgetting my icon) 2024-06-28 15:39 (UTC)
she didn't get to talk to jester so she doesn't know much about her.]
I didn't realize you were so politically connected! [so why was he pretending to be a human man named seth...] You mentioned your friends before, though. Was that a different crowd? [or are you being a duplicitous bitch right now calling them an "investigative matter."]
he hesitates, but not out of nervousness, more out of consideration of what to say and how to say it. ]
No. Those... are them. The Mighty Nein. We have not known each other for very long, but... I trust them, and we have brokered an understanding of friendship recently. It was something I was trying.
[they didn't make a huge impression, but they seem helpful enough, especially if they care about helping ludinus.]
And Planerider Ryn, if they were your friend, too. We tried really hard to help them, actually. [he has no idea who this person is but they were working with beau and caleb so it's not a crazy assumption.] I met someone else from the Cobalt Soul a little after that, and I really did like her a lot. So that makes me feel quite confident in them!
[ there are so many people he doesn't fucking know, hello. ]
...It's all right.
[ can't even be happy the mighty nein are out of his hair because this is in the FUTURE when clearly there is something going on in the friendship department. ]
Widogast is... an exceptional student so far. So I imagine they are relatively capable.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
2/2
To whom. The man with the feathers? He became an orb, that's about all I know.
[obviously no. she even knows he knows caleb.]
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No, not that man. The man with the woman before, the two none of you helped. Lionett and Widogast. Beauregard and Caleb. What happened to them? Do you know?
How do you know my name?
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[well, that makes sense.]
...I'm not sure what happened to them after that, we were scattered. But they're alive. We've been in contact with Widogast off and on. And we could hardly have helped them. We'd have died.
[a little petulant! they didn't risk their lives for these strangers who showed up and big timed them and then instantly got captured. they were such lower level than those two.]
I know you because I've met you before. Very recently.
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I have never seen you before in my life.
[ but he knows what this probably means, in the grand scheme of things. he knows, beauregard looking older, caleb looking older. it isn't echoes of the past, but a glimpse into what must be the future.
and the future is looking bleak. ]
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[he got a haircut but otherwise looks much the same.
oh wait, something occurs to her.]
If you try to sacrifice me, I'll tell Allura. [so ha. unfortunately he probably does not know allura at all.] Or your other friends. [she only has a vague sense of who he is. he's friends with beau and caleb, but she doesn't know them well enough to know if they're against sacrifice.] But if you save us, then it can be our little secret that any of this happened.
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What makes you think I care how they feel, or what they know?
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...Well. Maybe you don't. But I know the same people you know and we're both trying to stop Ludinus. So maybe you won't betray us, that's all. If you aren't planning on it, there's no issue!
[this is very poorly thought out blackmail anyway because if he sacrifices her how would she tell them]
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he does not, in fact, know he has a friend named bren. he barely is aware he has friends at all - sort of. sometimes, you simply are going to use what amount to friends, only to get friended in the process. now things are bottom-up.
sometimes, people who become your friend, are not a part of the plan. ]
That depends on what all I find out about you. If Ludinus has the Luxon beacons, then you all are in very grave trouble.
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[she doesn't know what the fuck is a luxon beacon though.]
"Find out about you"? What do you want to know?
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[ enough that he is now AFEARED and he was once not so afeared. ]
Everything.
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[it's actually quite bad in many ways.]
I think I should tell you instead about the others in our group. Because I'm there for Imogen. I don't really care about saving the world, though Ludinus and people working for him have made me very angry so I don't mind hunting them down. But Imogen is the person who is most important to me, and her mother works for him. She set out on this journey just to find answers, but all of the answers led us to this terrible place and these dangerous people. The others, too - Orym was the only one of us who had any real stake in this from the start, Ludinus killed his family - but the rest of us never intended to get involved. We were all just looking for answers about people who hurt us and things that troubled us.
But that one woman with the swords killed three of us without batting an eye a week before this encounter and assassinated our strongest ally. [so their fear, their unwillingness to leave their hiding place to help beau and caleb, was not unfounded.] And not long after, we confronted her again anyway, and we killed her, but we lost one of us permanently in processes. And the gods have never been particularly kind to any of us. But even so, we don't intend to back down or give up.
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[ laudna is not the only one who immediately distrusts... but he listens because there is no reason not to listen. a lot is at stake here, he has suddenly realized. it would not have helped anything, but he almost wishes he could go without knowing what he learned.
mostly because the guilt becomes a leaden ball inside of him. he did that. he really did a lot of that. ]
What are your plans now going forward? What are you planning to do about Ludinus and the moon?
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Ludinus is in Aeor, searching for technology that will let him finalize his plans. We are going there to confront him. And by we, I mean all of us and you. That man - Widogast - sent you to help us.
[so he probably doesn't hate essek! but i don't know your canonpoint maybe it's possible he never found out.]
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[ WHY IS LUDINUS IN AEOR ESSEK WANTS TO KNOW?????? GET OUT OF THERE!!!!!!! ]
You all and me. [ said in that, like, very stunned, disbelieving parroting. GREAT! great. that's great. he lifts a hand to rub his forehead above one brow. ] Wonderful.
Okay. Let's... go back for a moment. Widogast sent me. Why... exactly? Has he... said anything to you about... [ debating. ] The Dynasty? About the state of... Xhorhas and the Empire?
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He didn't say much of anything. Just that he couldn't come himself, and you were someone we could rely on to help us with Aeor. You showed up in disguise at first, pretending to be a human researcher named Seth, and you wound up helping us find and interrogate a Cerberus Assembly woman.
I'm from Tal'Dorei, and lived in Marquet for a long time. I've never been to Wildemount other than quite recently, and briefly. And our communications with Widogast, after the solstice, have been exclusively brief and via sending stone or from the girl who has the Sending spell. My understanding is the state of the Empire is rather bad; the Cerberus Assembly has been pulling a little bit of a coup. But Xhorhas I know little about.
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he lets out a quiet sigh. ] This does not inspire a lot of reassurance. [ obviously. ]
As much as time is a specialty of mine, I did not think I would reach the day where someone seemingly from my future would show up to tell me the world at large is doomed by an ambitious madman.
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[she says brightly.]
I admittedly don't know very much about you at all, either, Essek.
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I will say that is the way it should be, but I know your rebuttal will be to just point out I made it clear I should know about you. But that is my job. I serve the Bright Queen's court, and I am her Shadowhand.
The one who deals with investigative matters.
Such as the Mighty Nein, the ones you have stumbled across. Beauregard and Caleb. I assume the one with the Sending spell may be Jester.
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she didn't get to talk to jester so she doesn't know much about her.]
I didn't realize you were so politically connected! [so why was he pretending to be a human man named seth...] You mentioned your friends before, though. Was that a different crowd? [or are you being a duplicitous bitch right now calling them an "investigative matter."]
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[ :')
he hesitates, but not out of nervousness, more out of consideration of what to say and how to say it. ]
No. Those... are them. The Mighty Nein. We have not known each other for very long, but... I trust them, and we have brokered an understanding of friendship recently. It was something I was trying.
[ friendship. ]
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essek: 😦 ]
Mm. Yes. I suppose so.
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[they didn't make a huge impression, but they seem helpful enough, especially if they care about helping ludinus.]
And Planerider Ryn, if they were your friend, too. We tried really hard to help them, actually. [he has no idea who this person is but they were working with beau and caleb so it's not a crazy assumption.] I met someone else from the Cobalt Soul a little after that, and I really did like her a lot. So that makes me feel quite confident in them!
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...It's all right.
[ can't even be happy the mighty nein are out of his hair because this is in the FUTURE when clearly there is something going on in the friendship department. ]
Widogast is... an exceptional student so far. So I imagine they are relatively capable.
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[well she didn't see him personally do anything impressive but she knows he's a very high level wizard from having it explained to them by allura.]
You must be quite powerful! I didn't realize! I wonder why they chose you to just come with us shopping and teleport when we need to go places?
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