Just before the end of Lovers car-bed theatre (and weren't they looking forward to when that particular liminal changed), Matthew makes another visit to Death's conversation space. Except this time, it's not Nancy the pigeon he brings along for company; it's Riddick the fellow Traveller.
Death may or may not appreciate this extra guest. But Matthew doesn't particularly care, so here Riddick is.
"I should bloody well hope so," says a voice that comes from behind Riddick, near the beverage cart. Death pours a bourbon into a rocks glass with a sphere of ice, and offers to pour one for Riddick, should he be interested.
"Before you ask, Angels, no, I cannot tell you my victory condition this round nor the victory condition of my opponent; I cannot outright explain to you the factors that accounted for a loss or victory in a particular Jaunt this round; and I cannot tell you whose match it is next or what they might intend for you." Mortimer gives Matthew a world-weary stare, his blasé vocal tone indicating he was expecting this, somehow, but was dreading it now that it had finally come. "Does that preemptively answer all your questions?"
“Actually? No. Not one bit. We have many more things we wish to know than simply what led you to win,” they say. “And ‘winning and losing’ is a bit of a simplistic way to describe what happened with the last jaunt, isn’t it? Usually, winning’s something only one of you does. And yet, here we are; with you and Hermit both still in the game. And, of all things, Lovers too.”
He already knew how Lovers was back, of course. The roulette table in Fortune’s space had made that clear. But he didn’t know why she was back. He didn’t know just what led Death and Hermit to decide to bet on stakes that both of them could win.
And, come to think of it, he also didn’t know whether Death knew about their visit to Fortune’s space. Moon hadn’t told Justice about them visiting Star’s. Did Justice choose to share, or keep quiet?
"Mostly we wanted to know if you or Hermit did it on purpose, really," Riddick says dryly, and nods to the drink. Sure, he'll take Death's booze. And probably give it none of the respect such a potentially expensive beverage deserves. "Besides, Matthew promised I could meet you, so this was as good a time as any."
"Well it's nice to meet you, Mister Riddick, though I wish the circumstances were different." He finishes pouring Riddick's drink, then raises his own glass in a toast of sorts, before taking a large gulp of the chilled bourbon.
Turning his attention to Matthew, Death frowns, but tries to consider how much he can tell within Fortune's constraints. Finally, he meets Matthew's gaze, and says, "Neither SAGE nor I knew what would happen if there were no losses in a Jaunt. Now we do." He seems a little bitter for a moment, before adding, "Fortune never deigned to tell me she had a plan for that when she was still alive."
He's just going to down his bourbon and pour himself another, thanks.
To Riddick's question, Death also ponders, but takes far less time with his answer. "Neither Hermit nor I discussed our win conditions with each other when we proposed them. But we did both agree to them."
"Why, then, did you agree?" he asks. "Even if you didn't know what would happen as a result, you had to know that both of you winning was possible. You risked unknown consequences for...what? What did you hope to get out of it?"
"Information?" Riddick guesses, accepting the drink and having a gulp, though not downing the whole thing like poor Death, over there-- mostly because he wants to continue his thought. "You didn't know what would happen. And now you do. Both you and Hermit seem like the type to appreciate more information."
"Information, yes, among other things." Mortimer frowns, leaving the beverage cart to sit in one of his worn but comfortable armchairs. "You were there in Fortune's space, along with that retinue of others - three of Moon's, one of Priestess', one of Empress', one of Emperor's, two of mine. I am rather proud of you and Malik taking initiative as you did."
The ice ball shifts in his glass as he contemplates his drink, before he adds, "You saw part of our conversation, it seems, just after the outcomes were decided. Surely you have some guesses as to my motives."
Death might be proud; but Matthew doesn't give a damn about whether or not he has Death's approval, so he receives a flat, unimpressed look in return.
"We would much prefer to hear your reasons. Guesses can be dangerous. They make it much easier for someone to simply allow you to believe what you assume is truth, even if it isn't."
"You people sure are touchy," Riddick comments, then finishes off the rest of his drink before settling in for some quality guessing. "But sure. Since you brought up that conversation in particular, I'm gonna guess it's got somethin' to do with what was said there. Nice to know you guys argue like regular people, even if you're supposedly big bundles of ideas who think us mortals are quaint and pathetic. Besides the comforting sight of people yelling at each other, the things that stick out to me are the comment it was more complicated than Emperor's marked handing Hermit the victory, and that it might kill you to choose mutually exclusive win conditions."
Riddick cocks his head at Death, inviting a comment, there.
"Thank you," he answers, giving a long-suffering sigh and places his head in a bony hand for a moment, muttering something to himself. Something about "This round" and "law" and "irritating" and "bloody clever".
"I have never said mortals were quaint or pathetic. You're painting all of us with a rather broad brush, there. But nonetheless - you explored the rest of the space. You must understand how Fortune died, now. So surely you are at least partly aware of how to kill us. So, logically... two mutually exclusive win conditions on two opposing sides would strengthen one and weaken the other, yes?"
"You're implying that a loss would kill you," he says flatly. "More specifically, we imagine, a lack of transitions, a lack of transformations, a lack of...finality. The status quo. Except loss alone isn't enough to kill you, or you lot would be dying like flies. Star died because Moebius weakened her before Belljar. Fortune...well, we don't know exactly what weakened Fortune, but it was evidently something to do with either Yensid or January. Just losing shouldn't be enough for you to kick the bucket, not only it's own. Something else needs to happen first. So what weakened you?"
Semantics. He doesn't consider them equals, or he'd ask their permission before doing things affecting them. Just because he hasn't said the words doesn't mean the very existence of this game implies it. Riddick doesn't even bother inclining his head to allow the point, since he doesn't. "Losing would just take you out of the running to win, at this point, so if you aren't already running on less power than you should be, there shouldn't be anything else we could do after you lost to kill you, anyway-- unless you're worried about something or someone else taking advantage."
Instead of answering Matthew, Death's attention turn to Riddick. "Matthew wasn't here for this, I think, but... do you remember the time Liminal Space broke? Just after Boston?"
"I did tell him about it," Riddick comments, "but yeah, I remember. Some of us heard some of you freakin' out about it. There was a 'rules violation' and somethin' was 'outside parameters' and somebody 'altered the channels of power' and 'showed your hand'." Why yes, Riddick has a very good memory, thank you very much. "Then liminal space wound up a replica of part of the Jaunt city for a while."
Riddick has enough of a good memory, then, that he might be able to recognize some of the voices.
"-rules violation-" A calm, but stern, androgynous voice begins. "-outside parameters-" The Emperor answers, a tinge of concern in his otherwise authoritative tone. "-showing our hand-" A raspy male voice interrupts. "-altering the channels of power now might-" Death argues, his voice almost pleading.
"... I altered the channels of power, as I had set out to do. And it cost me a great deal of personal power to do so. So yes, Angels, Matthew, Riddick - I am weakened. This victory has given some power back, but not all."
"You broke the rules?" Matthew says, his snapping back to Death in surprise. "You pulled the plug on the jaunt?" He looks back at Riddick, looking...still quite a bit lost, honestly. He's still missing too much information; still missing the context that would let all of this make sense. "Why?"
"The consequences of not doing so were worse than the consequences of the break," he answers, coolly. "If I had played strictly according to the rules, the full force of events would have fallen on another."
"Who?" Riddick asks simply. He's sure it's one of the other Arcana, but it'd be interesting to know which one that Jaunt had been related to, and whether Death cares about that one in particular or just didn't want to lose anyone else after Star.
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Death may or may not appreciate this extra guest. But Matthew doesn't particularly care, so here Riddick is.
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"Before you ask, Angels, no, I cannot tell you my victory condition this round nor the victory condition of my opponent; I cannot outright explain to you the factors that accounted for a loss or victory in a particular Jaunt this round; and I cannot tell you whose match it is next or what they might intend for you." Mortimer gives Matthew a world-weary stare, his blasé vocal tone indicating he was expecting this, somehow, but was dreading it now that it had finally come. "Does that preemptively answer all your questions?"
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He already knew how Lovers was back, of course. The roulette table in Fortune’s space had made that clear. But he didn’t know why she was back. He didn’t know just what led Death and Hermit to decide to bet on stakes that both of them could win.
And, come to think of it, he also didn’t know whether Death knew about their visit to Fortune’s space. Moon hadn’t told Justice about them visiting Star’s. Did Justice choose to share, or keep quiet?
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Turning his attention to Matthew, Death frowns, but tries to consider how much he can tell within Fortune's constraints. Finally, he meets Matthew's gaze, and says, "Neither SAGE nor I knew what would happen if there were no losses in a Jaunt. Now we do." He seems a little bitter for a moment, before adding, "Fortune never deigned to tell me she had a plan for that when she was still alive."
He's just going to down his bourbon and pour himself another, thanks.
To Riddick's question, Death also ponders, but takes far less time with his answer. "Neither Hermit nor I discussed our win conditions with each other when we proposed them. But we did both agree to them."
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The ice ball shifts in his glass as he contemplates his drink, before he adds, "You saw part of our conversation, it seems, just after the outcomes were decided. Surely you have some guesses as to my motives."
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"We would much prefer to hear your reasons. Guesses can be dangerous. They make it much easier for someone to simply allow you to believe what you assume is truth, even if it isn't."
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Riddick cocks his head at Death, inviting a comment, there.
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"I have never said mortals were quaint or pathetic. You're painting all of us with a rather broad brush, there. But nonetheless - you explored the rest of the space. You must understand how Fortune died, now. So surely you are at least partly aware of how to kill us. So, logically... two mutually exclusive win conditions on two opposing sides would strengthen one and weaken the other, yes?"
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"-rules violation-" A calm, but stern, androgynous voice begins.
"-outside parameters-" The Emperor answers, a tinge of concern in his otherwise authoritative tone.
"-showing our hand-" A raspy male voice interrupts.
"-altering the channels of power now might-" Death argues, his voice almost pleading.
"... I altered the channels of power, as I had set out to do. And it cost me a great deal of personal power to do so. So yes, Angels, Matthew, Riddick - I am weakened. This victory has given some power back, but not all."
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(replies will come from this journal for now!)
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"Durga."
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"...Strength?" he says finally. "Is she a friend of yours?"
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sorry for the wait! missed this tag
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