TLV Inbox

[greatoldjohn]

[in a rather deep voice] "This is John Doe. Please leave your message. I'll get back to you as soon as I can. I may respond in text if I'm currently with Arthur. Apologies."

Now Moved To: Inbox: Act II - please tag in there!

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[crab_rangoon]

It's a reminder.

[He walks out to his dining room.]

[greatoldjohn]

[ A pause as he follows him out. ]

...like my mural?

[crab_rangoon]

In a way.

But it's a reminder of what I'm losing. What I gave up. And the shit that I did to get it.

[greatoldjohn]

Then yes, very much like my mural.

[ Quietly. ]

I was a king. Now, I'm... still figuring out what I am.

[crab_rangoon]

[He glances at him, a little startled.]

I have been great many things in my life. I, too, was a King. And then I was a dictator.

And now I'm simply a tired old man.

[greatoldjohn]

Hardly ancient.

[ It's a compliment. ]

A dictator. I'm not sure how you're using the word. Could you explain?

[crab_rangoon]

[He waves a hand, at him, trying to shoo away the melancholy.]

Oh, the usual human rights violations. Beheaded the child king and took over, ruling with quite the iron fist while the rebels waged war underneath me. Killing those who spoke out.

I was quite the asshole.

[greatoldjohn]

Hmm.

I drove men to all manner of depravities and horror for untold millenia as a boundless malevolent entity that lived in the narrow space between inspiration and madness.

So yes.

Also a fucking asshole.

[crab_rangoon]

And look at us now. Guiding people to their salvation.

[He rolls his eyes.]

[greatoldjohn]

It makes you wonder if the doubts many have about the Admiral is merely an expression of the confusion they feel at the task set before them.

A loftier sort of "what the fuck were you thinking?"

[crab_rangoon]

[He chuckles, a bit darkly.]

Well, I apparently earned my freedom here. But that doesn't explain a damn thing.

[greatoldjohn]

[ That makes him perk up. ]

You did?

What was that like?

[crab_rangoon]

Being an inmate?

You're asking for a goddamn dissertation, my friend. I was here for seventeen months.

[greatoldjohn]

I don't know what a dissertation is, but we've got forty-five minutes to go.

[crab_rangoon]

True. Well, I already mentioned what I was like. I had no reason to change, nothing to work for. Until I met my warden and he gave me something to fucking do.

I lost my daughter - she was killed by someone's hand when she was still a baby. He gave me a way to have her back. Naturally, I took it.

[greatoldjohn]

[ He doesn't know right now, what happened to Arthur's daughter. When he finds out-

Well, there's no telling what he'll do. But this is a piece of it. ]

I'm glad she was returned to you.

[ God bless this baby Stanzyc. He can't help but remember how haltingly Arthur had said those words. A question for another day. ]

That was what you needed? Something to want?

[crab_rangoon]

Yes, well, I didn't have much else to live for before then. I was just scraping out a living, doing shit here to stay out of the way and try to live my life in the only way I knew how.

Then I had something else.

[greatoldjohn]

You found a purpose. Meaning to the span of your life.

[ That is not idle curiosity. He talks about that with a great intensity. ]

[crab_rangoon]

Yes.

And she's alive and well, which is all I fucking wanted.

So I came back after I - did my part.

[greatoldjohn]

You're a warden to do your part? Help others as you were helped?

[crab_rangoon]

God no.

I did my part before, at home.

Here? I came back here because I still was searching for purpose.

[greatoldjohn]

Any luck?

[crab_rangoon]

Well, I'm Misty's warden and I found the person who is coming back with me. To make my life less fucking pathetic and lonely.

So I say - yes.

[greatoldjohn]

Good.

I'm glad for you. Truly.

[crab_rangoon]

[He looks up to the ceiling, gathering himself.]

Well, what are you searching for here?