( video | un: revanche )

[nilhilistic]

[ rafal turns on the feed, looking deeply irritated. so really, no different from his usual expression. ]

It appears I have been sentenced for destroying a person's door. Which, in my defense, was entirely deserved due to their appalling lack of manners and generousity.

[ and they denied him his candy. rude. ]

And as such I have been tasked with . . . bonds. Specifically the strengthening of them, physically, or creating new bonds.

What does this entail? I require clarification. I wish to get this over with.

Comments

[incorrigibles]

Yeah, well. I make all my decisions like this. Has worked out pretty great for me so far.

[ yes, he knows he's impulsive — but it really has worked out for him well, aside from the time it got him killed. but otherwise! ]

[nilhilistic]

[ come to think of it . . . this man said he was a ghost. could rafal's powers affect him? ]

I suppose it is only human to do so. Time is short.

[incorrigibles]

Not for me, though, is it? Ghosts exist forever.

[ he was like this in life and is also like this in death, while fully knowing he has technically an indefinite number of years in front of him. ]

[nilhilistic]

Do they?

[ news to him. perhaps true? he's never talked to ghosts long departed. he shakes his head slowly. rafal is getting distracted. ]

How long have you been . . . deceased?

[incorrigibles]

Well, barring a few disasters that could end our existence, yeah.

[ "a few" — there's quite many, in fact, especially in his line of work... but that's not really the point here. ]

Thirty-five years, give or take.

[nilhilistic]

Not long then.

The grief must still linger.

[incorrigibles]

[ it takes him a moment or two to answer — the only sign that the observation has shaken him. his expression still remains open, jovial even, when he responds, ]

Not much use to it, is there? As long as I've got — [ my best mate and a case to solve, he should say, a well-worn phrase, tumbling from his lips with years and years of practice, and yet.

and yet. ] It's not a bad existence.

[nilhilistic]

[ rafal surveys him for a long time before sighing. ]

It may not be. And yet, you cannot force yourself to accept it so fully.

I am a dragon of the underworld. I speak to the dead. I raise them up. And what I do know is that they never stop being haunted by the life they once had.

[incorrigibles]

[ there is a long pause, once more — and then a huff of laughter, a chuckle under his breath, lacking his usual brightness. ]

... Yeah. Well, you're the one who said it.

[ and then, because he refuses to talk about his real feelings over his death with someone he's only just met, ] Be haunted by the life they had, hah, that's a good one. You know, cause ghosts, yeah?

[nilhilistic]

[ dryly. ]

Riveting.

It is merely what I noticed when I revive the dead, that's all.

[incorrigibles]

Yeah, yeah, I get it.

[ — on second thought, actually, ]

Wait, walk me through that again. You revive the dead? How?

[nilhilistic]

The process is complex.

[ hmm. how to explain. ]

I am a Fell Dragon. My power is linked to the underworld. And thus, I can pull people from there to do my bidding.

[incorrigibles]

... huh. And what does that mean?

[ do his bidding — the wording doesn't sit well with him, the idea that dead souls might be pulled to the living world by someone, without a say in any of it... but things are different, in different worlds. ]

[nilhilistic]

It means what I said.

[ rafal isn't one to lie or beat around the bush. ]

They become my servants. Some retain their consciousness and memories. Others do not.

[incorrigibles]

Right.

[ right. so about what he expected, then. but he reminds himself this is a different world — there's demons, here, too, completely from different from the hell he knows. so for rafal... yeah. he shouldn't judge him based on the metric of his own world. ]

Can you do that here, too?

[nilhilistic]

I have yet to try.

[ though he plans to. not because he wants that kind of power but . . . it might help unravel the mysteries of this place. ]

It's been some time since I've used it.

[incorrigibles]

Well, you ever need... moral support or something, when you do try it, let me know, yeah?

[ or just another one who is familiar with the dead there to help. ]

[nilhilistic]

[ rafal shoots him a perplexed look. ]

It's not exactly a power that involves a lot of morality. As you may have surmised already.

[incorrigibles]

No, that's not —

[ oh, rafal. charles has the inexplicable urge to reach through the tablet screen and pat his head. ]

I meant, like... someone else there, so you don't have to do it alone. Not moral as in morals, but as, uh, mental support? Another person there? You know?

[ does he, in fact, know... ]

[nilhilistic]

[ he does not. and it shows very clearly in his expression. ]

I do not know. What fool would tie themselves to such a pitiless task? Surely they have better things to do.

[incorrigibles]

Well, that's kind of the thing, with friendship. They want to be there. For you.

[ a pause. fuck this, he's already committed enough, time to make another impulsive decision, ]

I'd do that. Be there for you, I mean. I told you you're my friend, yeah? So that's what it means, to me.

[nilhilistic]

[ rafal frowns. he has . . . friends here. at the very least, people he is willing to acknowledge as such. but he cannot fully grasp this. this desire to be there. no one has ever wanted to be with rafal. not his parents, not his poor forgotten twin who died too young. not nil and . . . not nel. until now.

and . . . that's fine. they shouldn't. he deserves to exist, he deserves to live. rafal didn't have to hide it all. he knows that now. but he still committed atrocities. he is still — worthless. ]

I do not recommend it. Surely you can have . . . better friends.

[incorrigibles]

What's that got to do with anything?

[ he smiles, then, earnest as he ever does. ]

Sure, maybe. But I want to be your friend. And that's what matters, innit?

[ not whether there's others out there who could, maybe, by some metric, be better. but he's committed, now, and rafal's nice enough, charles likes talking to him... and he feels like he needs a friend. someone who's going to stand by him, and well. he's pretty aces at that. ]

[nilhilistic]

[ rafal slowly shakes his head. ]

You do not know what you want. And it is not worth the regret that will surely follow.

[incorrigibles]

Let me worry about that, yeah?

[ not that he will; but it's the principle of the thing. he refuses to not do something just because it might go wrong later. ]

And you can't tell me what I think is worth it or not. Maybe it's not worth it to you. Doesn't mean that's the same for me.

[ a pause, and then, said quietly but earnestly, ] Don't be so quick to write yourself off as not worth whatever trouble there might be.