driftfleet | It's all over but the crying

Who: Psycho Mantis and you.

Broadcast: Yes

Action: SS Bishop

When: Today

(Video – Fleetwide)

My god, it’s full of stars.

[He wandered around the ship in a bit of a daze. First came the larger ship, then the small celebration welcoming him to the second, and he is just as confused as he was when he first woke up. It’s been a long couple of days for him and he finds his way to the bridge of the ship. Stars. So many stars, He slumps in one of the many chairs nearest the window looking out onto space. There’s a cup of tea in his hand and his head turns between the feed he managed to open and the view.]

It’s a dream, isn’t it? It has to be. I remember what happened.

[He’s still dressed in his leathers, not quite trusting himself to wear the ship standards just yet. It’s so clinical. So real… He curls up more in the chair, lifting his mask a little out of the way to have a sip.]

This ship is called Bishop. Like the clergymen and the chess piece. If…anyone is out there, where is here?

(Action – Bishop)

[Still on the bridge of the ship, Mantis decides to make use of the music system to play something classical in the hopes of soothing some of his confusion. The tea doesn’t hurt either, and he sighs heavily as he tries to count the stars he can see. His malaise is such that someone could reasonably sneak up on him if they were so inclined. He is making good company with the chair he singled out.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

No one ever wants to be taken prisoner. Whatever good comes along is few and far in between.

Really? There tend to be three main camps regarding that technique: people who enjoy it, people who don't get much out of it, and people like me- [He points to himself.] Who find it doesn't help much at all.

Unless they don't consider it a prison. I don't think I've met anyone like that yet but it's not impossible.

I actually never really had any grievances to write out. I rarely had grievances with anyone growing up.

Any time you're made to do anything against your own will is a kind of imprisonment. Ours is...perhaps more lax than most, but none of us can currently go home like this assuming we're anywhere close to our own.

Rarely? We should all be so lucky. My list could wrap around the Earth a few times.

I suppose you're right.

[He'd still like to find a way home. Even if it kills him, he'd rather find a way to open a portal for everyone to go home, be free.]

I was... different, from other apprentices. So no one ever tried to rile me up.

It's cynical, but at least in assuming the worst, you're pleasantly surprised more often than not.

[A proper long-term goal in this kind of situation! Mantis might be a little more hesitant than most to go for it, though. Some don't have much to return to.]

Ah! The outsider who kept people at a distance through being an outsider? Or perhaps it was what you studied.

You're not wrong, I have a hard time thinking like that. I should probably try while here, maybe even back home with the war.

[He'd happily send people to worlds not their own as well, if that was their preference.]

I was actually made the Guardian Novitiate, successor to the Guardian of Azeroth. So I was more powerful and meant to take on an enormous role.

Practice can help. People usually adopt that kind of thinking over the course of many years.

[Thing is, Mantis does like his planet. Maybe a remote island would suit him best, but it's all wishful thinking right now.]

Hand-picked for greatness. That is a different kind of curse to bestow upon someone. You have to be a bit of a madman to choose that kind of life.

At least I've got plenty of time. I know I'll be around in about thirty years.

[And apparently famous.]

That's part of why I renounced my vow. They train the novitiate at eleven.

Very specific. Are you a fortune teller as well?

[Oh, but that does sound familiar to him.]

Children are easy to manipulate, but also very quick to bite back when they do not like how things change around them. Nice to hear you showed your teeth.

Oh- no. I had a friend here who actually came from Azeroth but thirty years after my current time.

I did. At least a bit. They wanted my abilities at their disposal but no one can force anyone to do what they have a moral objection to.

That must have been an interesting conversation. You get a preview of how things change, but little room to change things. At least, that's how it works in stories.

I would argue that it's easier than most like to think, but at least you had a way out.

Kind of. I believe he called me a liar and that I couldn't possibly be Archmage Khadgar because I'm 'just a boy.'

Yeah... [He's thinking about a demon possessing the former Guardian but even that hadn't been absolute control. Medivh had slipped through.]

That is a damning kind of phrase. You can only be taken so seriously when one is looking down on you due to age.

[He sighs, shaking his head to try and clear his own thoughts. Too many days as a child dragged all over the damn world.]

Then again....you can escape that kind of life, too.

I don't mind so much. [Khadgar shrugs.] I mean, by his time, I'm in my forties, thought lost to the Nether- I'm not even sure why I'd venture anywhere that would risk that. The most I've done is renounced my vows and killed the Guardian.

Any life can be escaped from, I think. Or, at least most can be.

[He doesn't make much of words like Nether or Guardian, but he can guess that this man has seen some strange things.]

I would argue that anything involving killing already implies that one is on their way to more dangerous things.

Some leave you mired. Whether through your own actions, or others is the only thing that changes.

It's all over but the crying

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