[Walkabout] The Zeddening

[willyousee]

Zed, what have you done?!

[Alcuin's not bothering to address him directly. Let the whole Network hear this idiocy.]

Blessed-Be is practically falling apart she is so frightened! A great evil tearing her husband into damnation? She thinks you may be after the children! What in the name of everything truly holy did you do to her?!

Mr. Sparkles! It is your sworn duty to harass him until he is "vanquished", is that understood?

[Alcuin doesn't do angry very often but he sure is now.]

Comments

[whydoyoushine]

It's not like it'd be the first time I've died with a lot of light involved.

[willyousee]

Oh, I'll not kill you. That would do far more harm than good. The poor woman wishes her husband back. And she cannot have that if the body you inhabit is killed. Besides - Travelers do not kill other Travelers. I've not forgotten that, even if the rest of you have gone mad.

But I can and will entrap you for exorcisms to be performed if you do not escape, and it would not surprise me if many of those did not involve more Holy Sticks of Demon-Driving or whathaveyou, and ritual fasts and the like. Perhaps we shall read through each and every page of these religious texts, hm?

[whydoyoushine]

I've been exorcised before too.

That kind of sucked.

[dalectable]

You fully deserve it this time. I'm recommending being bathed in icy 'holy' water as well.

[whydoyoushine]

They normally take cold baths here, I'm just saying.

Been there, done that.

[willyousee]

You say that as though that makes any difference. We have to do something to show that we are taking care of this evil, Zed! And how else will we explain our vanishing - and you with us? You have left us no choice!

[whydoyoushine]

Well, consider that you were all going to have to vanish anyway when the Jaunt was over. It was inevitable!

And now I've just given you an excuse. You're welcome!

[willyousee]

[Frigid.]

That would have taken care of itself had you not done this, Zed. There would not have been an explanation needed.

[whydoyoushine]

They probably would have wondered why you showed up without doing all that much. Such a big deal, and not a whole lot of payoff.

[willyousee]

Given some of the changes others wished to enact, I sincerely doubt that. Take responsibility for your actions for five minutes, Zed!

[whydoyoushine]

What, so I scared a few people. I was helping the first kid! And I thought I had to keep my story consistent!

[willyousee]

You have turned her entire religion and support system into a sham and a source of confusion and fear instead of the comfort it was!

You have removed the solid ground beneath her feet and set her the impossible task of walking upon the waves without magic! She is terrified for her husband, her children, her home, her town-- There is nothing she is not afraid of, including her neighbors, for Elua's sake!

[whydoyoushine]

But I'm not actually going to hurt anyone!

And enough of this religion's generating darkness that I can see it, everyone's always worried about this or that or the other thing!

I do not have an angry enough icon for this

[willyousee]

How in the One God's Name are they supposed to know that?!

I'm sorry for his everything

[whydoyoushine]

I dunno, because I hadn't actually hurt anyone?

[What is this trying to get him to take responsibility for his own actions?]

[Action]

[willyousee]

[The door slams against the wall hard enough to make the widows rattle as Alcuin sweeps in practically ablaze with righteous fury. In seconds he is seizing Zed by the collar and slamming him easily against the wall with his feet a good six inches off the floor.]

How dare you belittle these people. How dare you play with them and call their fears worthless? How dare you treat this as some elaborate joke!

[Action]

[whydoyoushine]

[Zed can't say he was expecting that level of aggression here, and from Alcuin, of all people. It surprises him enough that he does not immediately demand to be released.]

A lot of it was generating darkness! I was trying to put a stop to that!

[In basically the worst way possible and then not really because he's kind of bad at not generating darkness.]

And if you don't back off right now, you're gonna regret it.

Re: [Action]

[willyousee]

[Alcuin's voice is dangerously even and a bright glow is beginning to shimmer through his hair, his clothes, his skin.]

I'll regret it. That is what you wish to say to me right now? You are quite sure about that, Emperor of Darkness.

[Action forever]

[whydoyoushine]

[Zed is torn between wanting to stare at the light show--pretty--and wanting to push back hard with some darkness of his own, because he is the Emperor of Darkness and no one can push him around.]

Yeah, pretty sure. And I've already died because of it once.

[...that darkness is going to ooze out around him whether or not he consciously intends for it to, isn't it?]

Re: [Action forever]

[willyousee]

Remind me why, precisely, I should care for your wellbeing when you have single-handedly destroyed that of an entire village.

[His hands' glow intensifies, beginning to turn yellow-white, heat leeching through Zed's robes. An intangible breeze ruffles his hair.]

[whydoyoushine]

They'll come back from that! Yeah, they'll be shaken up, but now they can maybe pick a better path.

You can't tell me nothing needed to change; you didn't see the cloud of darkness hanging over that place. That much needless worry about what is and isn't a sin just breeds that sort of thing.

[His darkness shifts a bit, becoming less overtly threatening and trying to move into more of a defensive position, shielding himself from whatever the hell Alcuin's trying to do here.]

[itsananimalthing]

C'mon, you two, break it up.

[Guess who decided coming here to intercept sounded like a good idea, after Alcuin's comments to him on the network. He's just coming into the house they're in, now.]

Or I break it up, for you.

[willyousee]

[Alcuin stares hard at Zed for five more solid seconds before he drops him unceremoniously. Brushing off his hands as if he's dipped them in something filthy, he turns sharply on his heel and walks out of the house without another word. He's all yours, Riddick. The light level dims visibly as the door closes behind him.]

[whydoyoushine]

[The area around Zed grows lighter as his darkness retracts now that the immediate threat has passed.]

What, you want to come lecture, too?

[Just going to act like nothing at all happened there...or anywhere on this Jaunt.]

[itsananimalthing]

No, I'm here to get you away from the people you fucked with until the end of the Jaunt, so they don't decide to come at you with pitchforks and torches.

[Riddick pauses thoughtfully, then adds,]

And so Alcuin doesn't throttle you.