the marquis de Carabas (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
mattersverymuch) wrote2013-10-27 09:17 pm
mattersverymuch) wrote2013-10-27 09:17 pm
15 ɂ spam & private
spam } deck
[The Evil Queen as a trope has become somewhat . . . overused, the marquis de Carabas believes. Admittedly he's biased. He much prefers stories with neither villains nor heroes, just incredibly stupid people being taken advantage of.]
[There is also the small matter of his other bias, but it need hardly be mentioned. The talon marks up and down his arms and cheeks should speak for themselves.]
[He still doesn't consider himself a hero. Certainly not brave. But there is something in him not previously as extinguished as he'd hoped that has been shored up by his time on this vessel. He isn't stronger, he's weaker. It's just that his weak is very different from other people's.]
[He protects those whom he has come to care for, in particular those too stupid to have sense or too slow and weak to be able to fight back. He has some of his magic, but not much, enough for parlor tricks and distractions, for small traps. He uses it sparingly. His warden will take it away if it becomes a nuisance to her.]
[And his warden has instructed him to persuade others toward the door, so that she might stab them in the back and take it. This bores him, frankly. There are things he'd rather be doing, such as literally anything else, and it just proves her cowardice. But he knows how to pick his battles.]
[So he waits by the door, either inspecting it or merely spending time in its presence, for much of the day. This serves her purposes, but it serves his own, too. He knows that this isn't what everyone claims it to be. He is, after all, owed a favor by a young woman who could get here if she really wanted to.]
private } separately to anyone who has exposed themselves as not of this barge
[His voice comes through rich and clear, if tired. Like the beginnings of a story, truncated only because there's really no time for it.]
Lady Mary wanted to see her lover's house, and over the portal of the door it was written, "Be bold, be bold, but not too bold!"
You should be - much more careful than you're currently being. Essentially everyone is Mister Fox. Even the people who would like to help, like myself.
Why are you here?
( ooc; mirrorquis is from a post-canon pull point, after rejoining door in her efforts to find her sister and unite the underside. feel free to assume your character is/has been on his informational network, or is/has been protected by the marquis and his depressing winchester sidekick. ALSO SORRY IF YOUR CHARACTER IS UNAFFECTED AND I FORGOT i still luv u this is open to them to. )
[The Evil Queen as a trope has become somewhat . . . overused, the marquis de Carabas believes. Admittedly he's biased. He much prefers stories with neither villains nor heroes, just incredibly stupid people being taken advantage of.]
[There is also the small matter of his other bias, but it need hardly be mentioned. The talon marks up and down his arms and cheeks should speak for themselves.]
[He still doesn't consider himself a hero. Certainly not brave. But there is something in him not previously as extinguished as he'd hoped that has been shored up by his time on this vessel. He isn't stronger, he's weaker. It's just that his weak is very different from other people's.]
[He protects those whom he has come to care for, in particular those too stupid to have sense or too slow and weak to be able to fight back. He has some of his magic, but not much, enough for parlor tricks and distractions, for small traps. He uses it sparingly. His warden will take it away if it becomes a nuisance to her.]
[And his warden has instructed him to persuade others toward the door, so that she might stab them in the back and take it. This bores him, frankly. There are things he'd rather be doing, such as literally anything else, and it just proves her cowardice. But he knows how to pick his battles.]
[So he waits by the door, either inspecting it or merely spending time in its presence, for much of the day. This serves her purposes, but it serves his own, too. He knows that this isn't what everyone claims it to be. He is, after all, owed a favor by a young woman who could get here if she really wanted to.]
private } separately to anyone who has exposed themselves as not of this barge
possibly: megamind, nathan, aeryn, slevin, elena, polly - others?
[His voice comes through rich and clear, if tired. Like the beginnings of a story, truncated only because there's really no time for it.]
Lady Mary wanted to see her lover's house, and over the portal of the door it was written, "Be bold, be bold, but not too bold!"
You should be - much more careful than you're currently being. Essentially everyone is Mister Fox. Even the people who would like to help, like myself.
Why are you here?
( ooc; mirrorquis is from a post-canon pull point, after rejoining door in her efforts to find her sister and unite the underside. feel free to assume your character is/has been on his informational network, or is/has been protected by the marquis and his depressing winchester sidekick. ALSO SORRY IF YOUR CHARACTER IS UNAFFECTED AND I FORGOT i still luv u this is open to them to. )
[private]
[ This is not actually flip, just ...Nathany. ]
[private]
[Deep, exaggerated breaths.]
In which minute of which day did you arrive here, by what methods did you do so, what precisely do you remember about your journey here, and do you expect to return?
Are those questions a touch more comprehensible to you, sir, or would you prefer me to ramp down the existentialism a touch more?
[Perhaps using fingerpuppets, he does not say.]
[private]
You're advisin' caution to strangers in the middle of the Twilight Zone. Should probably expect some deflection, even if they're just takin' your advice.
[ ...he's very tired. That said, he lists off items with his eye tilted upward the way people do when they're not prone to physically ticking off said items on their fingers. ]
Saturday. Dunno when it was, just early. And I didn't pick the method, it felt the same way it does when there's a flood. Minus the announcement.
[ Does he expect to return? What a good question. ]
Yeah, I do. Conveniently appearing doors make me nervous, though.
[ Tiny canon joke. You have no idea, Nathan. ]
[private]
[He goes still and serious when the actual information starts to come through. Minus the announcement. So either their 'dying' Admiral is dying on Nathan's ship, too, just more quickly, or it's the same Admiral spreading himself thin over two ships, or this place is just a reflection of that one, or vice versa.]
[This is not a complete list of options, but they're the most likely, in his opinion.]
[He does not say thank you, but he also doesn't insult Nathan's intelligence again. It's basically the same thing. He does smile in a way that is nearly almost genuine at the joke that Nathan is completely ignorant of.]
Conveniently appearing doors are very dangerous. Yes.
Does this place seem more real than the one you're familiar with, or vice versa, or neither?
[private]
...why would anyone want that.
Meanwhile Nathan considers this, affect conflicted. There's a simple answer, and then there's probably a more useful one. The problem is that it requires figurative language to pin down, and that is not his forte. ]
Less. But that's just perception. It doesn't match what--what feels real to me. Everything that's supposed to be is solid.
[ Physical objects make sense. Their placement and state of repair might not be the same, but those still have the firm surety of realness. It's the populace who seem like dream versions of themselves, someone you're meant to recognize even with a completely different countenance. ]
[private]
[A mirthless smile:] Someone ought to have covered their mirrors.
[He wonders, fleetingly and for the first time, what he was like in this other place that he's starting to get a sharp image of. He can imagine. Not terribly different, but at the same time entirely.]
The Barge itself is mutable and always has been. That's rather the point. But the solidity of the soul of those you know isn't meant to shift.
Here it has.
Do I understand correctly?
[private]
There is a quick, terse nod. ]
Yeah. Except the boat's shifted to match 'em.
[ 'Reflect' would be the more accurate word. ]
[private]
[Eventually:]
There are individuals who need to be contained, or at least distracted. You've probably noticed.
[private]
For instance. So yes, Nathan sure has noticed; his eyebrows indicate the Marquis should go on, please. ]
[private]
[But that is not technically a requirement.]
[private]
He pulls a hand down over the lower half of his face, clearly having a spasm of one of those annoying things like 'conventional morality.' ]
You met Archer?
[ Archer's mirror is a warden, but otherwise ...basically Archer; it seems unlikely the Marquis has escaped exposure. ]
[private]
[His expression is literally all you need to know about his thoughts on the matter of Sterling Archer.]
[private]
[ Well, marginally less a maliciously mischievous horror, as Nathan knows him ]
I'll talk to him.
[ What he means is, Archer will do this, Nathan will feel guilty about it, and exactly one of those will interest the Marquis. ]
[private]
[It's odd. Aeryn was right. He seems like the sort to be a good Admiral, if such a thing were to exist.]
[Fortunate that the marquis has no interest whatsoever in Admirals anymore.]
Keep him in line.
[private]
'll do my best.
[ He has about as much interest in being Admiral as the Marquis does that same prospect. ]
You think of anything else--
[ Well. The same goes for that; his best hasn't felt like much lately, but it's what he has. ]
's a pretty small boat.
[ So the Marquis will know where Nathan is, i.e. hiding for his life, basically, except where he's risking it every waking second. ]
[private]
And you . . . try not to die.
[Which is essentially equivalent to 'good luck', to 'take care', to 'thank you'.]
[He cuts the feed.]