firstreturned | NPC Inbox: Rage

Ugh, no, this is more disgust than anger. But Caedra can tell there's no point pressing.

"Fine, I'll just continue casually insulting all of you by coming up with alternatives. Then - I'm curious. Why am I here?" Caedra's frown softens a little, betraying her genuine curiosity slightly. "I shouldn't be wanted here. I imagine you know what I am, and what my people represent. Why even allow me to exist in this sickening little world of humans and other mortals - and why keep me here?"

There are follow-up questions to this she is intent on asking, but she needs to know Rage's answer to this first, even if the answer seems simple and obvious.

You do you, Caedra.

"All I know about you is what little I've gleaned since you got here. I know you're not human, and I know you have an interestinf set of powers. But the details, what you represent, aren't really something I'm concerned with."

A host is a host, after all.

"As for why you're here -- the Door brought you. If you want any details, ask Sorrow. The Door is what brough you here, and only Sorrow knows how to make it send you all back. People come and go as things are now, but no one has a choice in that. You're here because of the Door, and you stay here because of it."

Oh, no, that's quite interesting, but she hides her surprise. That's less than she had expected, for creatures who have demonstrated themselves to be reasonably powerful. She had suspected, of course, that the Door brought all sorts of people in beyond their own control, and had heard rumors since that they didn't really know how to control much else about it either, but this seems to confirm those rumors.

That is, if Rage isn't lying to her. Caedra has always been much better at telling her own tall tales than verifying those of others. But she sounds sincere.

"Then the Door - does its means of transporting us and imprisoning us extend beyond the range of your own powers? I've heard those lessen outside the boundaries of this city."

Rage doesn't have reason to lie. None of the gods do. Their new, squishy hosts are free to think what they will, however, and so far, it seems like a divisive topic amongst them.

"If it's the Door you want to know about, you really should go talk to Sorrow. I don't know more about it than what I've told you."

"I don't care about the Door in particular," she grumbles. "I meant - no, fine," she says, stopping herself. If the Door is keeping her here, it probably doesn't matter how far out she goes. It's not the powers of these assholes that's keeping her here after all. Good to know. It's probably this Door that has everyone's souls locked to this plane, too, out of her reach.

"Fine, new question. If Sorrow is the only one who knows anything about that Door, how much do you actually trust him?"

"Completely."

That seems like the obvious answer here, to Rage. She doesn't frown, though. Overall, her expression remains unchanged.

"Why?"

"It's strange that he is allowed to have some control, some knowledge over something so important without telling you about it. You keep telling me to ask him about it, but what makes you think anything he says is honest if he keeps the rest of you in the dark?"

This probably will go nowhere, Caedra realizes. But she wants to know. And it ties in nicely to her proposal, anyway.

Rage arches an eyebrow.

"Sounds like you're making some pretty big assumptions. Does every person in your world know everything about everything, or do they specialize in one thing or another? Is there ill intent behind not sharing every detail of a specialization to others, or is it just a matter of everyone being busy and trusting each other to share what's really pertinent? What makes you think anything anyone says is honest?"

Pausing a moment, Rage sighs and crosses her arms. She looks calm, though, and looked so through what she just said.

"Do you have further questions before we get to your proposal?"

There's a lot she could say to that - no of course not everyone knows everything, but there are so few of these creatures, wouldn't they try to share their knowledge about something as crucial as this Door? As for honestly, well. She certainly doesn't trust anyone, always has to watch her back. That's normal. She doesn't expect honesty, just knows most other creatures in the multiverse do.

But, fine, Rage seems ready to move on and Caedra suspects pressing the issue wouldn't get her any farther.

"Fine. No, I don't. But you've done a fair job of convincing me that you are utterly useless, so congratulations there. I had come to you suspecting you might at least understand where I'm coming from. If you thrive on pure rage, then there are probably none here who can serve you better than myself and my people, but perhaps I'll have to go elsewhere. I can generate quite a lot of sorrow or fear as well. They can take credit for saving your race rather than you."

Either she'll get curious, or Caedra has begun to burn what might have been a bridge, but if Rage continues to act the way she is then she doesn't deserve the deal she can offer her. They go through so much effort to run from the Null when planehopping is child's play to her and her companions in the Abyss, after all.

This is kind of cute and quite amusing. If the intent is to provoke some kind of response, well... maybe it works. Or maybe Rage just wants to hear what it is Caedra has in mind.

Or maybe she just feels chatty today, who knows.

"It sounds like your proposal ends up giving you more credit than any one of us." Just saying. "What is it, by the way?"

"I don't care about credit," she snorts. "I want to get home. Or, more specifically, I want to be free of the influence of the Door and then I can get myself home just fine."

Fully truth, for once. She does not give a shit about saving these people - to the contrary, she'd rather see them all dead. Which is a possible outcome of this proposal, but one she has no individual control over. Caedra considers her options for a moment, then proceeds. If Rage is speaking the truth, then there won't be anything she can even do about it anyway but at least she'll know.

"You and your kind seem to be going through an awful lot of trouble to escape the Null. This Door, all of the people you've stolen from their homes, all of it is completely unnecessary. I'll tell you my proposal, but in order to do that: do you know the basic structure of the multiverse?"

Edited 2018-05-13 20:06 (UTC)

Ah yes. So Caedra is like a lot of the people here.

"More or less, yes." It isn't an area of much interest to Rage, but she does know the basics. The assertion that it's unnecessary to bring in people to draw energy from is pretty wrong but okay. She's curious now. "You seem to be familiar with it."

"I am." All information she was granted in order to improve her skills in summoning and planeshifting, both crucial to the tasks Amamot has always asked of her. She's talented at both now after decades of practice.

"Then you'll know that this world is located on a material plane - one of hundreds, probably. It's trivial for someone like me to move between planes, if I know my destination well, and I can bring up to eight others with me. It's instant, and untraceable."

Okay. Rage will play along, arching her eyebrows a little.

"So why haven't you done it yet? You made quite the mess with your summoning trick -- and made a lot of people angry."

It had been fun to watch.

"Not enough of a mess, unfortunately. Not as much as I would have liked." But she chuckles, evidently proud of the whole thing despite the views of others. Making a lot of people angry is a lot of fun, and she takes it as a compliment that Rage noticed.

"But leaving is the very first thing I tried, and yet I remain here. You said it yourself just a moment ago that the Door is what keeps us here. And this is perhaps why I ought to go to Sorrow instead, if that's truly the case, but whatever it is that's keeping me here, disabling it would mean I could bring you, and seven others of your choosing, far from this place. Those people could escape the Null entirely."

That's the spirit! You can't spell slaughter without laughter amirite?

"Hmm." She... pretends to give it some thought, but only actually gives if half a second of thought. "That's something you'd have to discuss with Sorrow, yes. He'll give you better answers, that's for certain. Still, if it's the Door that somehow dampened your ability, that's not unheard of, and it's not something we can do anything about."

Sucks to be you, pretty much.

"Do you do nothing on your own? Do you have no ambition?" Caedra asks, feeling anger rush forth once again. This idiot creature - she could stop trying entirely, just walk away. Probably should. But foolishly she had hoped this one at least would understand her, or would be useful, or - or something. Anything. How can Rage be satisfied that Sorrow alone is the only one to know anything about the Door? Why let him hold all that power to himself?

The influence of this creature and its temple is getting to her, and she's one second away from leaving or attacking the red-haired waste of a soul before her. She just has to decide which she prefers to do.

It's nice to see Caedra so angry. That wasn't Rage's intent -- not like she has to try to make people mad anyway, and besides, being honest with the people the Door brings in is the way she and the others do things -- but it's nice all the same.

"Looks like nothing I have to say will appease you." She looks as unbothered as she sounds. "In any case, it's a little hard to be ambitious when your focus is on surviving. Ask me about my goals when we're not being hunted for simply existing."

What an absurd creature. She cries about survival, when Caedra has just given her an option that, in her mind, should seem far superior to anything these assholes can do on their own. It would of course end terribly for them but they don't need to know that - and yes, she realizes Sorrow and the Door seems to be the limiting factor but this idiot seems to have zero creativity when it comes to working around such problems.

"Fine. Keep trying to evade the Null your way. At least your deaths should provide some entertainment," Caedra grumbles, and takes a step back as if to leave. Which she will do momentarily, but she's too wary to turn her back on this one, even if it's just an avatar. Those too can wield weapons.

NPC Inbox: Rage

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