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

[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.)

[withermarked]

[ And while the thing that feels like rats is... very strange, that at least gets across. They both have humans. It does help that Angel likes Chris: that's who told them they had a human. In a similar way of talking.

There's some tentative tail-wagging, but then startled barking. Faulkner is visibly startled, too. He scrambles back a little. ]

...Damn, alright. That's—that's impressive.

[ Which means it's probably able to help, but that doesn't solve everything. He has a lot of questions, but he supposes he should start with the most immediate. ]

Do you know where they are?

[telepathicignorance]

(Yes! Yes!

The suit begins nodding then drops fown to land in front of Faulkner, still nodding.

...There are holes in the ceiling now.)

[withermarked]

[ Well, at least that's a solid answer.

...He supposes he'll have to tell Turo about the ceiling holes later. But that's not important right now. ]

Alright, that's. That's somewhere to start. Guess you can't tell me?

[telepathicignorance]

(The Rat-King cocks the head of the suit, staring at Faulkner blankly. It can't speak the way people do, even if it's time with its master/friend/human has given it some understanding.)

[withermarked]

[ This gets a sigh, and he starts to pace again. He's not quite sure what to do with all this or where to start, but clearly time is going to matter and so he's very on edge. ]

Could you—could you show someone the way?

[telepathicignorance]

(Yes!

More nodding.)

[withermarked]

Okay—okay, that's good, that's something. But I can't... this isn't something I can do. By myself at the very least.

[ Or at all realistically, from what he knows about how powerful the man who has Chris is. And Turo's hurt and Keigo's hurt and who else could he even find fast? No, this isn't the time to panic again— ]

[telepathicignorance]

(The suit cocks its head, then turns and starts bounding off down the hallway.

Problem: Friend can't help alone.

Solution? More friends!

...This is probably gonna result in it bursting into whatever place Keigo is staying. Hi bird! Have a surprise visit from a villain(?) friend!)

[velocityraptor]

[ Keigo's doing a lot better at least, with the healing he doesn't have to be bandaged anymore, he doesn't have to fuss too much, but his body is still insisting on him needing more sleep than usual. It's a small trade off.

He definitely is surprised, it's a new one for him to encounter this person of dubious morality again and he blinks.

No, he's not imagining it. ]

Hi? [ Hesitantly, born mostly from his confusion, he raises a hand in greeting. ]

[withermarked]

[ It doesn't take long for Faulkner to catch up, slightly out of breath as he scrambles after the weird empty armour thing. He's still not sure.

He gives Keigo a slightly awkward wave. It's possibly still visible that he was crying before. ]

So uh... hell, where do I even start. I don't think this thing can talk but it wants us to help—

[ And then he pauses, because Keigo might not even know about Chris yet. ]

Wait, did you—did you see on the network?

[telepathicignorance]

("Puppetmaster" doesn't say anything but begins gesticulating wildly in a way that is entirely out of character. Usually, they go really hard on being dramatic and mysterious and edgy... and this is just so not that.

They're also not saying anything, though they do make a little staticky buzz noise as they try yo snatch Faulkner's shellphone out of his hands again.)

[velocityraptor]

He...they? Did last time. What's going on? [ Immediately he's clocked the behaviour as different, of course he has. ]

No, I haven't really looked at it, but I can.

[ He's been a bit preoccupied to stay focused on the network after his initial arrival. ]

[withermarked]

[ He sighs, but just lets the suit take his shellphone again. ]

What's goin' on is... Chris is in trouble. Be warned it's not pretty.

[ And there are plenty of other conclusions to draw from the fact the empty suit is looking for Chris, but Keigo should probably just start by seeing the video. Even if it's not a pleasant experience. ]

[telepathicignorance]

(The suit snatches the shellphone and fiddles with it for a moment before shoving it into Hawks' face once it manages to start the video playing.

Rat-King has no concept of content warnings, it just knows this is how it gets help.)

[velocityraptor]

[ Fortunately, Hawks doesn't need any content warnings, he does take the shellphone and pulls it a bit further back from his face as he watches.

Richie is right, it's not pleasant, and yet he doesn't seem at all phased. In fact, he's pretty expressionless. It's a tactic, not entirely one he's doing on purpose, it's just a reaction he's used to. He's likely never seemed so shuttered and cut off from his emotions in front of Richie before. His eyes are a little dull, but at the same time the colour seems sharper.

Like he's dangerous. The way his gaze moves back to Puppetmaster but Hawks doesn't move otherwise. ]

We'd better get moving then. [ He's not asking permission. Keigo remembers to blink after a moment and some of the tension eases as he holds the shellphone out to Richie to give it back to him, and stand in one fluid movement. He might be a little stiffer than he was before, but his muscle memory works fine. ]

[withermarked]

[ None of this goes unnoticed, but... dangerous isn't necessarily a bad thing. Not when Faulkner is bristling with anger himself. Not when he kind of envies Hawks' ability to keep it together.

Although that's easier now than when he initially panicked earlier. Now he's in front of people, and they have somewhere to start if not a solid plan—and then he blinks. ]

We? I mean I don't—I don't want you goin' alone.

[ But he sort of thought he might have to argue that point. ]

[telepathicignorance]

(The suit will, in the absence of an obvious reaction, reach into Hawks' mind as best it can.

The power of the Rat-King is a different sort of presence from Chris: scurrying and innocent, thoroughly animal.

It backs off and waits impatiently for these two to realize they need to follow it.)