video

[somakemelaugh]

Who: Undertaker and ERRYONE
Broadcast: All
Action: Goldstone
When: After calibrations/shuffle


[Welcome to the parlor. Or at least, it would be the parlor if it was back in his home. Either of the ones before. For now, it's just Undertaker's modest little abode on the good ship Goldstone, not too unlike many of yours who stand witness to it now. Maybe he'll add to it over time. He has heard audiences like to get to know people, and what better way to do so than to personalize?]

[Alas. Without much means to add such customizations (yet) you get only to see his smiling face, complete with the scar crossing right over it. How's that for unique?]

We're a lively bunch here, aren't we? Starting things off with a bang, visiting people in their past lives with or without them knowing. Just like the good old days, back in the academy. [There's a giggle, one which might or might not put a shudder down spines. He's an... unusual git and he knows it, complete with the mortician's facade and, some might recognize, the overly cockney accent.]

Ah, we're going to get along just fine, I think. Too bad they've not made use of the smarts I was given, [He flicks a hand.] lab support or something other, bandages I suppose. Wouldn't be much use to me anyway, but you'll find me on the Goldstone, should you have need of my assistance. Look for Undertaker.

[And, with a tip of his hat, the video feed ends.]

Comments

[sweetlies]

[He just suddenly feels drained.]

I sold my soul though... you would have been right to hate me until we got to Riverview. Until I brought up removing my eye. And for lying. I was awful. To you and everyone else that came close. I wouldn’t have blamed you.

[somakemelaugh]

[If Ciel needs to lean against him a little longer, he'll hold him as long as is needed. He could just settle him in for a nap. This is a rough conversation.]

It's almost as if you want the world to hate you. Would that be about accurate?

[sweetlies]

[Oh, how red his cheeks turn. Partially in embarrassment but mostly in shame. He even sucks his head down a bit.]

M-maybe..? Would it be so wrong? With everything I did? I’d deserve it. Why was it me..? Why did I live instead..?

[somakemelaugh]

[Oh, that hiding. He keeps rubbing at the back of that head through the hair and settles for stroking those soft locks all the way down to his back and up again.]

People rarely get what they deserve, my lord. You don't deserve what you think. I'm sure that's the guilt talking. Survivor's guilt, they call it. What makes you so special, eh? When everything you know and love was taken in the spell of a night? A month? That's what it is. If you had been the one to be killed and it'd been your brother who took the demon instead, he would have felt the same way. It'd be him on this bed with me right now, saying those same words. There's no reason for it to have happened as it did. It just did. There's no divine intervention, no will or judgement from the world or anyone. This is just what came to pass. The only sure thing is that someone targeted your family, but there's a mystery for another time.

[sweetlies]

[He relaxes a little more. It's hard, impossible almost, to stop the feelings of guilt, but he does feel a bit better with Undertaker soothing him.]

Little over a month... Didn't know until Madam Red had said it. [He mumbles it and just lets out a shaky breath, curling a little further. There had been no indication of time passing for them.]

Would he really, do you think? I'm sure he'd have handled Sebastian and everything else much better than I have. He probably wouldn't have done what I did when I left the... the church.

[somakemelaugh]

[His soothing continues, letting the boy stay just as he is until Ciel is ready to move away.]

I do. He may have handled things differently, but I can't imagine it turning out anything but the same. He loves you, you know. He loves his parents. He would have wanted revenge, same as you do.

[sweetlies]

[He won’t stop him anytime soon. This is cozy.]

Does he..? It’s hard to imagine he’d be anything but cross with all I’ve done. I let Lizzie get caught up in the Music Halls mess. Agni is dead. Soma, I’m sure, thinks I’ve done it. I made a mess of nearly everything.

[somakemelaugh]

[Good. He isn't stopping. The poor boy needs this.]

He would only ever talk about you at first. Even after he woke up and became lucid, you were his focus. You were always his focus. Can you blame him? That month you were gone, all you had was each other and he wanted so desperately to protect you. Why would he care about those others? His fiancee is another matter, but you never hurt her.

[sweetlies]

I wouldn't ever let anything happen to Lizzie.

[It's oddly endearing to hear that his brother has thought about him so much since he'd woken. Even if it was still strange, and a little frustrating, to know that his brother had been brought back to life after seeing the dolls on the Campania and at Weston.

Could his twin end up like that? What, if anything, could trigger that kind of change.]

He did everything he could to protect me then.

[somakemelaugh]

As an Earl would. [And a light squeeze for it.]

So he did. You know him better than anyone. Wouldn't he continue to want to protect you then? Could you believe him?

[sweetlies]

[That squeeze is calming and he takes a breath. It's a little shaky wen he lets it out but he feels better for it and for Undertaker.]

I... suppose I could. He would though. It's all he ever thought about, looking after me. Even when I was sick and he could have been out playing.

[somakemelaugh]

[Oh, that shaky. He most certainly heard that.]

It's no different now than it was then. All that has changed are your circumstances, but I know it must be hard to accept. I wish he were here now, to prove it to you.

[sweetlies]

I'm kind of glad he isn't. I don't think he'd care much for all of this. Especially the augments.

[He's had time, being on another world with Undertaker, to grow up a bit more. His brother would probably be too sharply reminded of how the slavers had tagged them.

[somakemelaugh]

[That was always a possibility. While not visible and it did offer benefits, none of them yet knew the risks, except that they were there and they had not been given a choice in the matter.]

No, you're right about that. He wouldn't want anything to do with those. Can't say as I'm fond of them myself, but I plan on looking into it. [He leans back enough to look at the boy.] You, though. What of you?

[sweetlies]

[He'd already known a bit about cooking thanks to Undertaker. He'd made learning how to cook enjoyable, the augment had just expanded on that.]

I'm not sure how to feel about all this. I don't like being someone else's entertainment. Or how they forced us here. At least Riverview offered us an escape if we really wanted. [If Undertaker is looking into them-

There's a little smile.] If you're looking into it all, I'm sure we'll be fine.

[somakemelaugh]

[He keeps those fingers working through that short, dark hair.]

Such confidence. I do appreciate it, milord, and I know good and well that you do. Might not be I find us a way home, but the last I heard of it, you were happy with that we may not return either way. If this world doesn't work out, we can find another. Isn't that how it's gone so far?

[sweetlies]

Can you blame me? [The teen chuckles softly, eyes closing and relaxing again.] You resurrected my brother, I don’t think anyone else could have. You saw through Sebastian’s disguise as a butler... I’m not sure when. Was it when I first came by your shop with him? Knew I needed someone in Riverview, although I suppose I was a bit obvious. Hard not to be confident in you.

[And he’s still smiling, opening his eyes back up to look up at the reaper.] My confidence is well placed, I think. And if we find a way to another world, I’ll be happy as long as we can stick together. It wouldn’t be the same otherwise.

[somakemelaugh]

Maybe, just a little. [He's teasing though.] Oh, him? I knew right away. You left the cultists' establishment in such a mess, there was no doubt in my mind what had happened. It might have taken me a while to figure it out if I hadn't known about the kidnapping. Your father always did like to keep an ace up his sleeve, and he never confided everything to any one person.

[Not without good reason. He couldn't blame Vincent for that either.] But there now, you see? You know what you know. You've been with me for so long now, how can I let anything happen to you?

[sweetlies]

Mm... I guess we did leave a bit of a mess. Sebastian wasted no time when I first said I wanted them all to die. And then... I just wanted everything that happened there to be destroyed. I was so angry and hurt.

[But he feels so much better now. At peace. Like a new person.]

You're good to me. I'm so glad you're here and still with me.

[somakemelaugh]

[He chuckles and rubs that hair the wrong way, just to do so.]

Never mattered. The mess wasn't mine to clean up, though I did take part in it a little. No one blames you for that. I certainly didn't and neither did he.

[sweetlies]

[And, like always, it gets a soft laugh out of him.]

Mm, I wouldn't have asked you to either. Wouldn't have been right. And I thought the fire would clear it all out, erase them from memory.

[somakemelaugh]

[There, he pauses, brushes the hair back the right way.]

Would you truly have been happier if I hadn't made it in time, your twin's body was destroyed like your parents? I knew you wouldn't run to each other's arms when he stepped back into the light, but I had hoped this would set things right in time.

[sweetlies]

[He slowly shakes his head and closes his eyes]

No, I’m glad you found him. I just... didn’t know what else to do. I still don’t entirely know what to do with everything but at least you’re here to help me. And with no fear of Sebastian doing anything.

[somakemelaugh]

[He shakes his head, continues to rub that hair.]

I think you have an idea of what you want to do, regardless of the circumstances. All that remains to be seen now is what happens with that.

[sweetlies]

[His eyes are still closed and stay that way. He's too lazy to fight the comfort.]

Not back then. Now? [And he pauses, thinking. What does he want to do now?] Now, I want to find somewhere we can settle properly and be happy. Even if we go back to our world somehow, maybe... Hm, France sounds nice. London would be too dangerous, with Sebastian around and the reapers chasing after you.

I liked our cottage in Riverview, we could find somewhere like that.