middaeg | [Open] Catch All for January (Some closed prompts)

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[Open] Catch All for January (Some closed prompts)

Who: Edelgard von Hresvelg and You!
When: Pre-Snatched Plot, some Post potentially
Where: Dorchacht and Aefenglom
What: A Catchall
Warnings: Possibly discussions of torture, war, and 3 Houses Spoiler Warnings.

Tarnished Reality

[Unsure of what to expect when she stepped through the teleporter, Edelgard had gone fully prepared for the worst, insisting on wearing her scarlet battle armor, with her axe strapped in a leather thong across her back. When she found the city nothing like what she had been told, she'd initially been puzzled, but as it became more apparent that she was not going to be troubled she found herself relaxing fractionally.

Her changes were making it more difficult to function during the day, so she'd come at dusk, well rested and ready to explore the city. Moving among the people, her outlander dress marking her as a Mirrorbound as surely as the unusual battleaxe she carried, the Emperor was quiet through most of her wanderings. The sounds of a scuffle up ahead of her current path drew her up short, though and she stopped and looked around a corner.]

It seems all is not well. [Mumbled, but audible enough for any nearby to hear.] Do you think we should aid the guard?

Bond Lessons

[It's strange seeing other Mirrorbound being pulled up onto the stage, but so far she has avoided being ensnared herself. Watching the goings on is interesting enough, though, but she's still a little uncomfortable with it. So, she slides through the fringes of the crowd towards another unmolested Mirrorbound.]

Eager, are they not?

Home

[Edelgard has made it a point to attempt to win over support from the aristocracy early on, including personally investigating the Mist that had settled in there. The few supporters she'd managed to charm haven't quite turned on her, but when she makes her way out of the district she can feel something building. Tensions are rising, a thing she is extremely familiar with, and that's going to potentially be a problem.

It's not until she leaves the district and makes her way towards the Haven, the cool and crisp night air making her more alert than she might otherwise be, that she senses something amiss.

Eyes narrowed, she pokes her head around the mouth of an alley to see two graffiti artists hard at work. With an exasparated sigh she turns to wave a passing Mirrorbound over.]

Look at this nonsense...

Wildcard

[If you want to plot something out, in Dorch, out of it, a quest, anything else? HMU at

intercession and let's figure it out!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Absolutely.

[Stopping injustice? Yes. Yes, she is going to do that. Stopping innocents being terrorized? Yes. Yes, she is going to do that, too.

It's fortunate that she's not got Aymr with her, but she has started carrying a sword thanks to all the tensions. A sword her hand now rests upon the pommel of.]

Would you like to join me?

[Emerald reaches behind her back and pulls out her guns, then flips them around in her hands so she's gripping them by the barrels. the blades jut out, clean and quick, and she's effectively holding two thick-gripped knives at her sides now, not raising them as an active threat but simply letting the image get the job done for now.]

Like nothing else. [her weight shifts; her back straightens.] I'll follow your lead. And I can stop them if they try to run.

A wonderful suggestion.

[Edelgard looks back down the alley, focusing on the two vandals, her hand quite ready to draw the blade.]

I want to frighten them mostly. Scare them into a different course of action. But if they attack, please don't hesitate to defend yourself.

[More quietly, she adds:]

Please don't kill them though. That would worsen an already bad situation with the city.

I'm not interested in killing them.

[at least she can stay calm and keep quiet about that. there's a lot burning inside her right now, but it would take a lot more than that to make her want to kill.]

I just want them to know that people like us are protected. I've already dealt with enough of this. [is this what faunus feel like? now that she's turning into one? or... is that the only transformation happening here?] They don't have to bleed to be scared.

Good to know you understand that. Not enough people do.

[Edelgard knows the kind of figure she cuts. Short, yes, but her crown and her demeanor are nothing short of frightful. And that's important because she looks like someone capable of murder, and that's what she wants these people to believe.]

Are you prepared, Emerald? Because it is time.

[Because Edelgard is stepping into the mouth of the alley, her red cloak streaming behind her, hand on the hilt of her blade, eyes alight with obvious and unfeigned fury.]

You there! What do you think you are doing?

[they make quite the mismatched pair, Emerald finds herself thinking. a dignified army commander and a street rat. Edelgard's cutting something much more imposing, but she hopes as she walks forward in silence that the silhouette of extended blades on her own body will also work to intimidate them.]

[one of the punks looks up, and Em can see his eyes widen in surprise even from this distance. "hey, we gotta—" she hears him say, tugging at his companion's sleeve. and that one stands up, easily six three of lean muscle and lanky joints, and in the darkness Emerald can't see his face, but she can tell he's got a bandana over his mouth when he talks, defiant and fearless.]

The fuck you want? You some kinda bleeding heart for these fuckin' vermin?

[Edelgard's sword flashes out of it's scabbard, pointed directly at the man's chest. Her lip curls in a sneer and her feet carry her forward with an unyielding stride.

The steel does draw him up short, but he stands his ground for the moment. The other starts pulling back, putting up a placating hand.]

Vermin? A strong term coming from a cowardly cockroach skulking in an alley. What do you hope to gain by intimidating homeless women and children?

[Emerald just kind of. grins. for a second. it's a menacing grin, or at least as menacing as she feels like she can muster right now; the threats are working. and that's good enough for her, but she might be able to make things worse. really do some hardcore convincing. the other one, the shorter guy, he seems like he has his head on straight. all Em and Edelgard have to do is win over the tall one.]

Don't you think they've been through enough? [Emerald lifts up her knives, crossing the blades in front of her.] Without someone like you here making them feel like they don't belong?

[and the big guy, bless his heart, he's gonna try to use words, isn't he?]

They don't! We didn't ask for them to—[he stops. the shorter one has a hand on his arm, and Em can't make out his eyes from here but he's probably about an inch or two away from outright begging his buddy to stop.]

And you didn't ask for us Mirrorbound either. Yet, you're all too happy to beg us to fight your battles for you, to send us into the Cwyld infested wastes to do jobs alongside your Wilders. But...you aren't one of those, are you?

[Edelgard advances another pace, step by menacing step, eyes as cold as chips of pure amethyst. The big man does step back now, to keep away from the stare as much as the blade.]

They're simply people, just like you. Take a good long look in the mirror before you start throwing around insults, because the only vermin I see is a big man who can't bring himself to face someone telling him the simple truth.

If you want them gone, then do something useful to make that change happen. Join the Wilders, or volunteer to help with the rebuilding. Don't degrade your home.

Come on, dude, look at her, do you think she's fucking around?

[it's not begging, but Emerald's happy with it all the same. there's this... quiet admiration towards Edelgard, though she won't let it show on her face while she's trying to be intimidating. there's not going to be bloodshed here tonight, she realizes, looking at the face of the tall guy as his eyes dart back and forth between his companion and the two of them. when he talks again, the nerves are there in his voice, but his stance relaxes like he's trying to find a cool way to back out of it.]

You two are lucky I'm feeling nice. Come on, let's get out of here.

[his companion is already almost gone. the big guy spits at Edelgard's feet as he starts to walk away past them, and Emerald's eyes narrow as he does. it's fine. let him go.]

[Edelgard idly contemplates the merits of throwing a punch. Just to see him squirm, but doesn't. It's not the first, nor the last, time someone will spit at her feet.

Once the two buffoons are gone, Edelgard turns back to Emerald, sheathing her sword with a rasp of steel.]

Stupid oafs...

Yeah.

[Emerald's eyes are fixed on the two figures walking away from them before she decides to break that look and turn her head towards Edelgard.]

I'm glad we didn't have to get bloody. But if you're the emperor of an army, I guess you don't have that option very often, do you? [a pause.] ...So why have an army if you don't like it?

Because an army is necessary to defend one's kingdom and people.

[She raises an eyebrow at that statement.]

And I am not the emperor of an army. I am the emperor of a nation. A nation that is mostly made up of people who do not fight.

[yeah, that's... that's an important distinction. but in Emerald's experience, she's. she thinks she's making sense. there's a moment's hesitance as she corrects herself.]

Right. [she tries not to make the pause too awkward, but it's difficult. it takes her a long time to debate apologizing, and she elects not to, but. it's there. and instead, she explains.] The people who... the people I know who call themselves things like that don't have a nation. They have personal armies and they don't care what happens to the people in them. Or the people fighting against them.

Ah.

[Well, that certainly explains things. A little, at least.]

Well, those people are not truly emperors, queens, kings, or anything of the sort. One cannot be a ruler without a nation, just as one can scarcely be considered a leader if one does not care for the people that follow them.

Not to sound trite, but anyone claiming to be a ruler has an obligation to the people who accept them as such. Without that obligation and understanding, they are nothing of the sort.

Guess it doesn't matter much when they settle for fear because they know they can't be loved.

[that's maybe the most bitter thing she's said in a while. and it's about Salem, but it's not only about Salem and she's not happy about that. but that's for someone else to help her unpack.]

The only person she cares about is herself. Everyone else is dispensable. I don't even know what she wants to be the queen of or what's going to be left when she's done.

Then she sounds like a thing to be put down, and not someone to be followed.

[Those were the kinds of leader she could not accept. Sounds a lot like a certain scaly gal too.]

[yeah, well. Emerald looked Edelgard in the eye and spoke as seriously as she could in the face of what she was probably facing.]

If you want that problem solved, you'd have to teach me how to kill a god.

With determination, grit, and force of will. Or perhaps poison.

[That's her only real answer.]

If this god of yours has some sort of supernatural defense, you'll have to research that first too, obviously. Nothing is invulnerable.

I don't know enough about her to know any of that.

[she pauses. this isn't something for Edelgard to know, not all of the... specifics. behind her existing plan. but.]

As long as I'm here, I can't do anything against her anyway. I have to take care of everything we're dealing with here first. And maybe somebody else will get the bright idea to take her down while I'm gone.

Wise. Don't fight a war on two fronts, or worry about something you can't change.

[And if this godling shows up here, perhaps she'll wind up on the wrong side of the Bright Wall after dark.]

[easier said than done. but she's trying. she has help. she has more help than she ever thought she would.]

There's people fighting her back home. We're... enemies, I guess, me and them, but what's the line? The enemy of my enemy is my friend? [she laughs, but it's a dry sound. humorless.] I guess I'll take it.

The enemy of your enemy is your friend. But...there is an addendum, and that is to never turn your back on the enemy of your enemy, as well.

[An important lesson for the Dubstep Crew.]

Everybody in that group is too... heroic to do anything about it. They'd probably let me go if they thought I wasn't going to cause any more problems for them.

[she sighs like she's exasperated with herself. that's not how it works. she has low opinions of team RWBY, but she's not stupid.]

But maybe by the time I get back there, I won't want to cause any more problems for them. Who knows. Maybe that's part of the war I don't need to worry about right now.

Is that so wrong? To be...heroic?

[This is a thing that she feels needs to be explored. Emerald may disagree, but it's clear that this is weighing heavily on her, if she's bringing it up like this.]

[Open] Catch All for January (Some closed prompts)

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