ƒ 004 [voice/action] open } { i can’t promise to obey you, i can’t swear i won’t betray you

[deathlessness]

[The ambient sounds of Lux Deux is prominent in the background as the feed starts up again, and for a long time it is the only sound aside from the clink of the glass being moved against the bar while Freya tries to get her words in order. She’s ascertained from her siblings at this point that she’s been gone far longer than would be considered “normal” for Wonderland – if there ever was such a thing.

She could simply announce that she’s returned and leave it at that, let those who wish to seek her out come find her, but that has never been her way, and while she doesn’t wish to talk about herself, she’s curious about something else.]

A question for you, Wonderland, though it is a rather specific one.

[Her words are slow and deliberate, likely indicating the amount she’s had to drink at this point – enough to dull the events of the last few months spent home, but not enough to make her sloppy – and the sound of her placing the glass back down on the bar can be heard before she continues.]

At this point, I’m sure we’re all aware of the … complications, involving those of us arriving from different points in the same timeline. For those of us who have come here and then learned of our future before actually going home to live through it, what do you think was worse? The speculation of what was to come, or the events themselves?

[There’s a small scrape as the glass is lifted again.]

Would you prefer to have remained ignorant, or do you feel at peace having lived the truth for yourself?

[And she’ll have the device with her to answer replies, though if you would prefer to visit her in person, she would not say no to company either. She’s probably going to be at the bar for a while.]

Comments

[walkingheroin]

Quite.

[He knocks back another shot and starts refilling their glasses without prompting.]

It seemed he thought I had you locked up in my dungeon and just having my way with you.

[deathlessness]

[She laughs.]

Oh, I think my brother underestimated you prior to your little scuffle. I think he simply thought I was ignoring him in favor of you.

[And how sad that wasn't actually the truth.]

[walkingheroin]

Well, I wouldn't be surprised if you did, honestly. I enjoy your company far more than that of my own brothers. Especially when they attempt to inform me of where they believe I should be at all times.

[He gives her a cheeky smile.]

[deathlessness]

[She laughs.]

Funny. Klaus and I seem to have a similar problem. I tend to keep have to keep him appraised of my location at all times.

[walkingheroin]

Yes, well, hopefully this taught him a bit of a lesson. I highly doubt that is the case, but it would be nice, wouldn't it?

You've always struck me as a woman fully capable of taking care of herself.

[deathlessness]

Oh, I am.

[There isn't a levity to her tone with that statement, because on most days, she is.]

Though I am a bit more fragile than I used to be. Not quite as ... durable as my siblings.

[walkingheroin]

Ah, so you don't heal up shattered limbs in under 60 seconds. A shame.

[deathlessness]

[She laughs.]

I used to. But that kind of immortality came with a price I was never willing to pay in the first place.

[walkingheroin]

You've certainly got my attention.

[This is something he hadn't expected her to say.]

How does one go about that, exactly? You're telling me there are several different types of immortal, are you?

[deathlessness]

At least where I'm from.

[She picks up her drink and swirls it.]

The first born of each generation of my family line are gifted with incredible power. My aunt was her generation, and I was mine. When my mother failed to have children with my father, she made a deal with my aunt for her help - she had neglected her craft and was not strong enough to do it herself. So my aunt made a deal with her - she would get the first born of each generation in return.

[She shrugs.]

My mother went home, had myself and my brother Finn and was pregnant with my brother Elijah when my magic emerged, and Dahlia came for me. She took me, my mother lied to my father about my death, and they fled to another land. When Dahlia had me, she linked our magic, so that one fed the other. When my mother created vampires, Dahlia was not one to be out done, so she tried to make us immortal without the consequences of needing to feed on blood and losing our magic. So she cast a spell. We would sleep for a hundred years, and then spend a year as part of the world.

[walkingheroin]

Unless she prevented your ability to age, I'm not sure that counts as immortal.

It's not much of a way to live either.

[deathlessness]

Well, no. The immortality came in when I discovered that I couldn't be killed. Any attempt would simply result in me waking up a few hours later, healthy and completely unharmed.

[It's clear from the way that she reaches for a refill that that particular revelation was an incredibly unpleasant memory. She also doesn't bother to contradict that it wasn't much of a way to live. She hated every minute of it.]

Dahlia was looking for a way to prevent us from doing our regular century sleep, but that would have involved enslaving my niece to her whims, and I wouldn't allow that to happen. She was only a baby - she didn't deserve that life.

[walkingheroin]

A somewhat convenient but I imagine unpleasant side effect.

[Being immortal certainly has its perks, as he knows very well.]

No, I imagine she did not. Inflicting slavery on another tends to be one of those things that got many souls a one way ticket to spend eternity with me.

[deathlessness]

Oh, I'm sure Hell is exactly where she's rotting.

[And Freya clearly doesn't feel all that bad about it either.]

The other ... supernatural afterlives we had available in our world don't really suit her.

[Besides the fact that the Other Side is gone and Dahlia wasn't consecrated to the ancestors of New Orleans the way that Esther was.]

[walkingheroin]

It sounds as if you have more than just the two.

[deathlessness]

Well, there are the traditional ones - Heaven or ... a place of peace at least, and Hell. But two thousand years ago, an incredibly powerful witch created a metaphysical pocket to catch the souls of the supernatural - witches, werewolves, doppelgangers. We called it the Other Side.

[walkingheroin]

So like a strange purgatory for those outside the general realm of humanity? Interesting.

[deathlessness]

It was. But it was destroyed several years ago.

[a beat.]

And then there's the witches who practice ancestral magic. Their spirits form a ... communal magical pot that feeds down into their descendants.

[walkingheroin]

And all their great-great-grandchildren get to take a magical hit off it? Interesting.

[His brows are furrowed as he tries to make sense of that.]

The universe is a bit complicated where you're from, I take it.

[deathlessness]

[She nods because there is nothing about it that isn't complicated.]

My mother is the witch that created vampires, a thousand years ago. But even she wasn't the first magical revolution, so to speak. Never mind the fact that magic functions a bit like religion - in the end, it all comes from the same place, people simply prefer to practice in different ways.

[She's been around long enough to see the rise of some of the major religions of the world, and it's never escaped her how ... similar they all can be.]

[walkingheroin]

So it's simply a matter of how the energy is harnessed and wielded as opposed to its composition?

[He seems to roll that over a bit in his mind.]

Before I came here, I thought I had seen most of what there was to see outside of the realm of humanity's complexities. Wonderland continues to prove to me how wrong I am about that.

[deathlessness]

[She smirks a bit at that before nodding.]

Apparently the multiverse is an ever changing, ever growing place.

[walkingheroin]

I preferred it when I only had to deal with enough to count on one hand.

[After all, Heaven and Hell could be considered different dimensions on their own. Wrapping his mind around others isn't too terribly difficult, but more annoying than anything else.]

[deathlessness]

[She smirks a bit.]

I think most would. But the world always strives to be a more complicated place.

[walkingheroin]

I still have to wonder if my Father knows about all this.