Sylvanas Windrunner (
forsaken_queen) wrote in
lastvoyageslogs2013-02-20 12:47 am
Entry tags:
(no subject)
Who: Sylvanas and anyone who'd like to join
Where: Beginning on level 3, the rest depends on how far she gets
When: Evening
What: Arrival
Warnings: Violence more than likely.
She awoke to darkness.
This wouldn't be terribly unexpected if it weren't for the lack of wails and pain. She had died. Truly died, and the afterlife was not a kind place. Not for her anyway. Her sudden removal from that place should have pleased her, but there were only a finite amount of reasons for a soul to be pulled out of Hell. To say she was disconcerted would be an understatement.
She sat up, taking stock of herself. She was whole, unwounded. A brief exploration told her she wore her own leather armor, but her weapons were not on her person. Nor were they laid near by. Strange circumstances.
She disliked being without her bow. But that was no matter, she wasn't lost without weapons. Whoever had summoned back her soul from the pit would not be kept safe just because she was bare handed. And she did not believe for a moment that she'd been returned to her body for benevolent reasons. She was still undead, only necromancy could do this. And no necromancer with such skill should be trusted.
Gaining her feet, she crossed the room and found the door. She waited and listened. When she heard nothing, the door was cautiously opened to a hall. Strange circumstances indeed. Where was she? Silently she slipped out, the door closing softly behind her, and she made her way down the hall with silent steps. The doors she found uninteresting for the moment. She was looking for a way out.
Where: Beginning on level 3, the rest depends on how far she gets
When: Evening
What: Arrival
Warnings: Violence more than likely.
She awoke to darkness.
This wouldn't be terribly unexpected if it weren't for the lack of wails and pain. She had died. Truly died, and the afterlife was not a kind place. Not for her anyway. Her sudden removal from that place should have pleased her, but there were only a finite amount of reasons for a soul to be pulled out of Hell. To say she was disconcerted would be an understatement.
She sat up, taking stock of herself. She was whole, unwounded. A brief exploration told her she wore her own leather armor, but her weapons were not on her person. Nor were they laid near by. Strange circumstances.
She disliked being without her bow. But that was no matter, she wasn't lost without weapons. Whoever had summoned back her soul from the pit would not be kept safe just because she was bare handed. And she did not believe for a moment that she'd been returned to her body for benevolent reasons. She was still undead, only necromancy could do this. And no necromancer with such skill should be trusted.
Gaining her feet, she crossed the room and found the door. She waited and listened. When she heard nothing, the door was cautiously opened to a hall. Strange circumstances indeed. Where was she? Silently she slipped out, the door closing softly behind her, and she made her way down the hall with silent steps. The doors she found uninteresting for the moment. She was looking for a way out.

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From within it stepped a fairly nondescript man; curling brown hair, brown eyes. Not very tall, though he was broad of shouldered and weathered. He paused, realizing he was not alone in the hallway, and glanced in Sylvanas' direction.
"Ah, hello." He offered a polite smile and a nod.
He can't say he recognizes her-- but Bruce kept to himself. He didn't know a lot of people on the barge.
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She rushed him, intent on shoving him back against the wall. She wanted him immobilized, just in case he had a weapon on him she hadn't yet seen.
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"New inmate, huh?" he said, voice still deceptively mild. "Let me be the first to tell you that you really don't want to attack me. It would be very bad for everyone on the boat, yourself especially."
He was, despite his small stature and human appearance, remarkably light on his feet. You get that way when avoiding conflict becomes a central part of your life.
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"Come up to the deck," he said, and then smiles slightly. "I'll race you there."
And then he turned and bolted for the stairs. If she could get on deck and see where they were, maybe he could talk her down from the crazy...
... and, if not, worse comes to worse, have a relatively safe place to let the big guy out without punching in random doors.
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["Anoseph" = "Coward"]
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Maybe seeing the rippling void beyond the ship might distract her from what was small fry in comparison. Bruce was quick to get on board and years of being on the run, when being fleet of food would make him difficult to get to...
Meaning he might be able to make it to the warden areas without getting caught. Hopefully she'd be stunned enough now that he could talk her down... safely.
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Speaking of.
Not wanting to let this game play too long, and possibly allow him escape, she closed the gap she’d allowed him. Her gauntlet clad hand reached out to snare him by the shoulder.
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"I'd really suggest you stop trying to attack me," he said. "It would be bad for both of us -- you more than me -- if you succeed. You really don't want to meet the other guy."
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And he'd keep moving if he had to. Thanks to the Hulk, he could do this dance all day. "I suggest you find the device you were given on your person and familiarize yourself with how it works, and where you are. This is the barge; you have died at home, and you have been pulled here to find a way to save your own life and return to your world."
(have some wtf? :))
He walked along, swathed in his black calf-length coat but with a simple shirt and trousers underneath. He sniffed occasionally, his booted feet also making no sound.
He caught sight of a semi-familiar form up ahead, and blinked, then sped up slightly. It had been a very long time, and he had only known her briefly, but...they had seemed to have a lot in common. He raised his voice, calling out to her.
"Queen Sylvanas?"
Why yes please
She was tense, ready to attack. "Who are you?" Her words are more of a demand than a question.
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Uhoh. Barge Amnesia again?
He bowed, a gesture as formal as that military-cut coat and polished boots. "My apologies. If you have just arrived then you must be quite disoriented, and I imagine that I have added to that, however unintentionally. Count Vladislaus Dracula, at your service."
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"And just where have I arrived to, Count?" Her tone was both suspicious and accusatory, the hint of hostility underneath it all.
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"This is the Barge. A Purgatory of sorts, for those such as we as well as mortals, offworlders, and assorted others. People arrive her after dying, sometimes well after, sometimes before they know they are dead. I did myself. I'm aware of how...unpleasant...it can be.
"I will show you around if you wish."
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He sighed, looking at her. "I would gladly let you hold me at knifepoint, if it would ease your mind to have one in your hand. But that would endanger others. I would rather face the brunt of your rage and confusion for being delivered unto this strange place. I can take it, and am willing to."
It was a matter of sympathy, which he had for almost all new Inmates, and the fact that he was supposed to help new Undead Inmates acclimate. "Spectacular and ferocious Undead Elf" didn't hurt either, but now was not the time for that.
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"I don't have a knife," she said stalking toward him. "But I would not need one were I of the mind to take you hostage." She came to a stop well within arms reach of him. A test perhaps, or a show of confidence. "Or do anything else I like to you, Count. Keep that in mind as you 'show me around'. If I sense even the slightest hint of a lie or betrayal, I will have no qualms in taking you apart with only my hands."
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"Mmmm. Well. I suppose that I should take care not to anger you, then." He had no intention of lying to her anyway, but if she wished to believe that that honesty came from threat of force, so be it. But he couldn't keep a faint tone of delight out of his voice.
"I will lead you around and answer any questions that you come up with to the best of my ability. Come, let us begin."
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"Then we can start with a question. You know my name, yet you were surprised by my appearance. Why?"
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"This Barge moves in the space between worlds, making stopovers all over the multiverse. Sometimes people arrive here from their worlds for a time, then disappear. When they return they have no memory of their time here. There are theories as to why; either a person was taken earlier in their specific timeline than last time, for example, or leaving the Barge suddenly causes amnesia. Most here subscribe to the second theory."
He paused to bring up the Barge map and notes the Chromie put together and show her on his communicator screen. "You were, from my temporal point of view, here before, and we got along fairly well, though I know little about you aside from what is immediately obvious. So you aren't at that much of a disadvantage, and may ask me personal questions if you wish, to even the field."
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"So you say I'm here for redemption." She sounds utterly skeptical. "What if I have no interest in being redeemed? Am I to be thrown back like refuse?"
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He shrugged as they headed for the stairway. "It depends on the person. Some people simply disappear, it is true. But others resist the Admiral's idea of what is good for them for years and yet remain." Like Arthas. But he knows just enough to avoid mentioning him.
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"So what brought you to heel?" Her tone is mild, but it's quite an antagonistic way to phrase the question.
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"Oh you think I'm tamed, do you? Oh no, great Queen, no indeed. I have agreed to certain...compromises...in my lifestyle which make me more compatible with the living, but cooperation is not submission."
He continued on. "Circumstances here can temporarily rob one of one's dignity, but ultimately only the odd insane Inmate is looking to enslave anyone."
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"Inmate." She latched onto that word with interest. "So this is a prison, and you have joined the ranks of the jailers." And he thought he hadn't submitted. Or perhaps he was just that much of an opportunist.
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He pushed open the door to the stairwell from old habit, then realized that she likely wouldn't want to turn her back on him and stepped in before her.
"He develops a set of requirements for "graduation" for each specific Inmate. It is our tasks to help Inmates satisfy his requirements so that he will release you and restore you to life. He is godlike in power and cannot be forced. But he can be persuaded. On average an Inmate's stay is around a year."
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"The average is a year? That says so little for the stamina of your Inmates. How long did you last?"
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"I also act as sometime advocate and orientation assistant for many of the Undead and supernatural beings who arrive here."
Another little pause. He remembered when his ego was brittle enough for her little digs to have caused him to erupt. But he just laughed it off inwardly, the corners of his mouth tugging up.
"A year and a half. I've always had better than average stamina." His eyebrows bounced and then he continued on breezily. "Though in all honesty there was no "breaking" of me involved."
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"Orientation assistant to the Undead? Well, aren't I so fortunate that you stumbled upon me when you did." Was she a little suspicious of that coincidence? Most certainly. And though he had seemed genuinely surprised to see her, she'd dealt with many accomplished liars. She took nothing for granted.
His bouncing brows, coupled with the declaration of his stamina, had her narrowing her eyes ever so slightly. Was he...? No, certainly not. Ignoring her errant train of thought, she continued with the conversation. "You keep insisting on that, which tells me one of two things about you, Count. You either didn't recognize being broken, or you're an opportunist. Neither of which is very flattering, for differing reasons."
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He berated himself a bit inwardly. She just got here, and it will take a month or more to even prove you're trustworthy. Stop flirting and do your job, idiot.
He was quiet a moment as he considered her opinion. "In any other environment and situation I would tend to agree with you. Being forced to accept a course of moral reform is not pleasant, and to this day I am not entirely comfortable with seeing it imposed on people. And yet the opportunities it has provided along the way have more than made up for that. And it certainly beats the Hell I was bound for.
Was I broken? No. Nor brainwashed. In fact if I spoke my true opinions on certain subjects I would doubtless outrage many of the Wardens. But neither was my redemption false." He had submitted to his God's judgment in the process, though it had temporarily killed him.
"In short form, I decided to change after being presented with sufficient evidence of both the benefits of change and the severe drawbacks of my former practices. Including the whole matter of getting myself killed." An ironic little chuckle.
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Leaving the topic go-as debating him at this point would be both fruitless and uninteresting- she moved on to other concerns. "For being a prison ship, security seems incredibly lax. Or do all your prisoners get such autonomy?" Indeed if he hadn't happened upon her, she could have been anywhere at the moment, and none the wiser of her appearance.
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"Despite this, however, the Barge is inescapable, even through death or jumping overboard. The Admiral does not release anyone until he considers them redeemed, and tends to wander where he pleases through the multiverse in the meantime."
He reached the top of the stairwell and pushed the door open, holding it for her out of centuries of habit.
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"So why are you still here, Count, if you could have had your freedom?" His answer was rather important, because she was still quite convinced that if he wasn't just blowing smoke at her about his entire experience, then he was certainly under this Admiral's control in some fashion. Why else would he still be here?
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"There are people here whom I wish to help to leave, is part of it. Another part is that the Admiral pays his Wardens in wishes. I have a curse to undo and no other means of handling the problem.
"Many of us are in the same situation; we work here, not necessarily because we trust the Admiral, but because there are horrors in our lives that we seek to undo."
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"Nothing that has been done can be undone," she said with finality.
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"This place doesn't offer any perfect solutions. In fact sometimes it can be very trying to live here. But I have seen it help a great number of people from every possible background."
He sighed and then pointed around. "Greenhouse is there; it's generally locked. Those are the pub windows. Knock on them and generally someone will let you in. There are some other locked areas over there, but you'll need to have a Warden let you in."