CW; TORTURE, VIOLENCE

[menaceunleashed]

Type: Voice/Video
Sender ID: menaceunleashed | Ganondorf
To: Public
Subject: Regarding Treachery
Warnings: CW; TORTURE, VIOLENCE

I am not one to suffer fools. When I find that not only has one of my crew taken it upon themselves to act beyond stupidly, and more so believed they could use me to their advantage...

A lesson must be taught. An example must be made. Behold, Escordvi- the price of treachery.

[The camera flickers on at this point.

A body hangs dangling, small, bloodied, and ...familiar? The skintone. The hair. That generally scrawny build. They all match a certain riftfarer who has been absent for some time now: off on a mission, then completely unresponsive to even text messages, despite one of their closest friends having recently experienced a harrowing ordeal... at the hands of Ganondorf.

No one knew who'd given Turo that ring of returning.

But Chris does love to visit Daily Kneads.

And yet, something is distinctly wrong here. Beneath the blood and bruises are scars too old and too healed to have been inflicted by Ganondorf. Dozens upon dozens of them. Some could be surgeries, others battle wounds, but most of them...

This isn't the first time they've been tortured.

Even more striking, however, are the markings. Orange, impossibly bright and intricate, a butterfly of spirals and circuitry spreading its wings across their chest and becoming lines that spread across them, entangling their limbs like vines. Not tattoos--to bright, none of the fuzziness that comes with healing--but something that looks like it's a natural part of their skin, except the bar code in the center is anything but. Marked, not like a person, but a product.

Looks like they really did have a reason for covering up after all.

They try to say something, but it's impossible to make out.

Ganondorf reaches forwards, then, forcing the figure's face to look at the camera. For all the damage inflicted, the face is unmistakable. Making it clear beyond any doubt just who this is as they try and speak again- this time, the words are, however barely, audible]

Should have betrayed you months ago.

[And then they spit right in Ganondorf's face. There's blood in their spit and blood on their lips.

There isn't even a jostle in the camera. Just the sound of a long-suffering sigh, the hand pulling back - presumably to wipe away the spit, as Ganondorf's face is out of frame - before that hand returns to cup Chris's face almost tenderly.]

The more fool you, but you will make a sufficient deterrent towards others.

[Where his hand touches skin, black starts to spread, spreading out in a pattern somewhere between veiny and weblike. As if Chris's own veins are somehow being poisoned through his magic.

And they scream like some dying animal, body writhing and thrashing as they try to pull away from Ganon's hand, gray eyes wide open but seeing nothing as their world is consumed with pain.]

Comments

accidental video; un: BlossomingTide

[withermarked]

[The view is of the sky, like the phone was dropped or set down. Someone is breathing raggedly and ranting and muttering and pacing in the background. Only bits of it are audible enough to make out. ]

Prayer-marks. Those look like prayer-marks. What manner of Saint— [...] —the hell are you, Chris? [...] Only they can't be, why lie about that? The rest yes, that's no business of ours although—

[...]

—the tides and Angels still obeyed me this man would learn exactly who he's crossed—

[ There's some more not quite comprehensible talking and… scratching sounds?]

Hear that, you two-faced bastard? [...] —want any dominion in a world without the Legislatures you'll damn well show those faces now—

[The vaguely unhinged rambling continues, further away. Until, suddenly, the image is obscured by the nose of a very large dog sniffing at the phone.

And then it's snatched up by a visibly wretched looking Faulkner. He's a panicked mess. It's possible he was crying at a point.]

Bait an’ flesh, was this thing on?

[Click.]

Action

[telepathicignorance]

(The Rat-King has been here for some time, alternating between walking and a sort of eerie half bounce half hover... when it's not standing entirely still, seemingly doing nothing at all.

This is one of the latter times: the components minds are out exploring, touching the perspectives of the many, varied creatures of the-

!!!

The suit bursts into sudden motion, grabbing at Faulkner and his shellphone! Familiar! Show! Show!)

[withermarked]

[ The empty suit hanging around has been... deeply disconcerting at best, even if it's not one of the weirdest things Faulkner has encountered here.

Maybe he would have put more effort into figuring out if it wanted something without everything else that's been going on. And maybe he would have noticed it approaching sooner, now, if he wasn't caught up worrying about Chris.

As it is, he's distracted enough that it will be able to grab his shellphone. ]

Hey! You give that back—!

[ Whatever else he's starting to say is drowned out because now there's also a cerberus barking at the suit. ]

[telepathicignorance]

(The minds get frantic, and Faulkner might feel the urgency as they broadcast a sense of no no please not attack and a sense of needing the shellphone to both boy and dog as it plays the video and makes a bunch of excited gestures at it.

There's a sense of building distress.)

[withermarked]

[ The mental impressions are unsettling in their own way, but enough to make him stop trying to grab the shellphone back.

Angel, meanwhile, mostly stops barking but does start aggressively sniffing. Sniff sniff sniff. Familiar? ]

I don't want to watch that again—

[ And then it at least starts to click. ]

That's Chris. Do you... know Chris?

[telepathicignorance]

(The scent is stale, but the suit reeks of Chris all over. Angel can probably recognize it.

Yes! Yes! More excited gestures and jabbing at the image of Chris on the screen with those claws.

It might damage the shellphone at this rate.)

[withermarked]

[ This calms Angel down more, although now they're... going to try to lick the suit because it smells like friend. That's a lot of dog slobber. ]

Hey!

[ Faulkner finally snatches the shellphone back, because he's worried the suit is going to crack it. But it's certainly gotten his attention at this point. ]

Are you—are you looking for Chris? Do you want to help them?

[telepathicignorance]

(The suit does not seem bothered. It's also not nearly as nice to lick as an actual person.

More frantic gestures. Yes! Yes! Help!)

[withermarked]

[ It's not, but for the moment it's going to keep getting pestered. It's very confusing. It's not a person but it moves like a person and it smells like friend—

Faulkner takes a deep breath. Now they're getting somewhere, at least. ]

...I'd like to help if I could. But I don't know where they are. Or what I could do.

[ Which makes him feel awfully powerless. Although he supposes knowing how to find them would be a start, and maybe others would help with the rest. ]

What can you do? I still don't know what the hell you are.

[ His tone isn't aggressive so much as just deeply confused and frustrated. ]

[telepathicignorance]

(The rat-king reaches out mentally to Angel, who might get a sense of small scurrying things and belonging. Do the rats belong to Chris or does Chris belong to the rats? There is a sense of the same bond he shares with Faulkner there.

The Rat-King stands, head cocking to the side. Its ability to communicate is, in many ways, limited. It does better with minds already attuned to its way of seeing the world; why it was so relieved to be in the hands of a telepath.

Does it know where Chris is? Yes, but it has no way of indicating this.

As for what can it do... it leaps, blasting its jump jets to target the ceiling, where it sinks its claws into the wood with ease and assumes a gravity defying crouching position that Chris probably could not have maintained while in the suit themself. It is strong, fast, and has limited flight. It is growing increasingly comfortable with independent functioning. With being embodied.)

[VIDEO]

[forgeabettertomorrow]

[Oh Darin knows that voice. He knows that voice and if it's rumbling out over the network, it can't possibly be a good sign.]

[So, when he looks, his stomach completely bottoms out.]

[He hates being right.]

...Chris...?

[Wait...'One of my crew?' 'Should have betrayed you months ago?' Was Chris...were they...?]

[...The whole time...?]

[But then Ganondorf goes about his work and...none of that matters. None of the betrayal matters, all that matters is that Darin's friend is being tortured. Infected by Gloom and gods does he remember that pain. Instinctively, his hand snaps up to his chest to the left of his heart where his own scar seems to throb in synchronous pain.]

Ganondorf!!

GANONDORF!!

STOP!! LEAVE THEM ALONE!!!

[voice]

[menaceunleashed]

Ah.

So they're a friend of yours, as well.

[voice]

[forgeabettertomorrow]

They don't have to be a friend of mine for me to stand up for them to the likes of you! You want someone to fight, why not take on someone who can actually give you a challenge?!

Let them go!!

voice; [emet-sulk] (PRIVATE)

[emet_sulk]

[ He watches the video impassively. Not because he doesn't care but because he's seen things like this so often that he's completely numb to it now.

Something prompts him to tap the call button. Maybe to halt the torture, however briefly. Maybe out of some small hope that he can actually dissuade this man from continuing. ]

I understand the need to set an example to one's own men, but is there really a need to broadcast this to everyone else?

voice; (PRIVATE)

[menaceunleashed]

A lesson is to be learned here.

[emet_sulk]

And what lesson are you trying to impart to the largely uninvolved masses? That you will flay them alive if they join you? That is an expedient method of driving them away, I'll give you that.

If you are the sort of man I think you are, you ought to be winning them over with generosity first then tightening your grip on them.

[menaceunleashed]

Generosity is for the weak.

[emet_sulk]

[ There's a small sigh. He expected that answer, frankly. ]

Even the gods know better than to rule solely through fear. You would dare call a god 'weak'? Such hubris from a mere man.

[menaceunleashed]

Let the gods themselves prove me wrong, then.

[emet_sulk]

Hmph. Continue this way and I may just have to do so in their place. For harming one of my crew if nothing else.

[menaceunleashed]

[Huh.]

You claim divinity?

[HE SOUNDS SO DUBIOUS...]

[emet_sulk]

Hardly. What did I just say about hubris? But the eyes of mortal men find it difficult to distinguish between divinity and power.

[not here]

[seasaltkeys]

[This is. Roxas can't say he likes this. He doesn't like it at all. It's a lot to take in. He's not really sure what to do.]

video; un: multidisciplinary

[multidisciplinary]

[ Screaming, crying, and hysterics are exactly the reactions Ganondorf wants right now, so Zelda makes the effort to be as calm and controlled as possible when she responds. Because of course she's going to respond; she may not know Chris as much more than a friend of Darin's, but she knows Ganondorf.

And it's hard to fight against feeling responsible for Ganondorf's actions. He is of her world; it is her responsibility to stop him from hurting the people of this one, native and riftfarer alike. ]

Stop this, Ganondorf. This isn't about "teaching a lesson"-- it's recompense for your injured pride at finding out that you were the fool all this time.

[voice]

[menaceunleashed]

[That- stings, oddly enough. For the briefest of moments, Ganondorf does, in fact, have a moment of acknowledging his pride has been stung-

But this is more than that.]

I will not suffer anyone to make the same mistake.