abraxaslogs | INTRO LOG #2

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INTRO LOG #2

Intro Log #2

It has been two months now since the initial group of summonings first took place. Castle Thorne, or at least the part above ground, is buzzing with a vibrant air of hope following the 'success' at the Singularity. Eager smiles and excited chattering are to be found in nearly every corner of the castle and surrounding town. The honored guests may find grateful looks turned their way more often than not. A new and brighter day seems to be dawning on the kingdom.

In the dungeons it's a different story entirely. The mood is somber and uneasy. The prisoner taken for trial has yet to return, and no word has come regarding her or her fate. There has been no mention of any further trials as of yet and guards seem to have little patience for unruly behavior or even conversation. Some seem to not even look at or acknowledge the prisoners at all.

[ Feel free to continue threads from the TDM here or start your own! As cell and room assignments will be short-lived due to this month's event, you're free to assume whichever cellmates and roommates you like instead of officially signing up as long as there are ICly no more than four people in a cell or room at once. ]

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TDM Prompts
[For continuing TDM threads or making new threads based on their prompts here There's a prompt for roommates and the dungeons.]

Library

Louie of course decides to learn magic as quickly as possible. He's in a dangerous place with too many unknown threats, and he doesn't have a gun. So learning how to throw fireballs it is.

So there is a one-legged deer sitting back at a desk with a book on simple magic open and a notebook out covered in neat printed notes. He's practicing his fireball spell continuously, frowning at it every time it doesn't come out quite right before looking back at the book.

Unfortunately, someone steps in the space he's firing in, and nearly gets singed.

"You should really avoid stepping into the line of fire," he says dryly instead of apologizing or telling them to look out.

The Town

Learning about the area around this castle can only serve him well, and he refuses to sit around and potentially look like he feels sorry for himself, so he goes outside. It's a bit of a task with the crutch, but he manages to make it look graceful through sheer pride alone.

Outside, the people greet him enthusiastically, and he responds graciously in kind. A woman offers a free sample of her jam tartlets, eager to see what a deer man thinks of them. Of course he says that they're delicious, even if honestly tartlets are too rich for him. A man offers him a silk scarf from his store, saying that the colors were inspired by the woods and he'd like to gift it to an honored guest. Louis wears it, of course, and thanks the man for his generosity.

When Louis sits on a bench in the town square to rest, children run up, eager to ask questions. A little girl shyly says she made a flower crown for him, and may she please put it around his antlers?

"You asked so politely, of course you may," Louis says, bowing his head so her little hands can reach his antlers. "I'd be honored to wear it."

Some of the parents surge forward to pull their children back, sputtering apologies, but Louis waves them off. No, no, he didn't become a Beastar candidate by being bad with kids. Besides, it's teaching him a lot about the area and giving him a lot of easy social capital to be seen being good to the kids.

Of course, the children that sit near him ask curiously about what happened to his leg, and he gives all of them different answers.

"I let a friend borrow it." "I decided I was bored with two legs." "I was too good at skip rope, so my friends said I could only do it with one leg." "I lost it under my bed." "I forgot it in my other jacket."

Every answer is delivered in the same polite deadpan. He smiles fondly at the children as the younger ones completely believe him and the older ones burst into fits of giggles, distracted from their curiosity by the deer man's silly answers.

"You should avoid fire in a library," Belle is quick to point out, though she does cough at the smokey scent she's accidentally stepped into. When she straightens up, her eyes settle on Louis. He's unfamiliar to her, and that instantly makes her look a bit guilty.

All of this is new to him. They've all been through it, she knows firsthand how confusing all of this is. "You must be another new arrival. I don't blame you for jumping right in, I did that myself when I was first getting used to this place." Although she had been more interested in research than magic, especially when she was just getting started.

"I'm Belle."

If he feels confused and vulnerable, he's certainly not showing it. Louis holds a calm, regal expression, the kind that mostly belongs at formal dinner parties and business meetings. But he does lower his hand and bow his head politely.

"My name is Louis."

He turns in his seat, allowing her to see his leg. There's no point in hiding something so obvious, and being forthright about it gives the impression that he's comfortable and confident with it.

"Apologies for not standing to greet you, but as you can see, the high mage owes me a prosthetic leg."

"Do you mind if I join you, Louis?" It's more comfortable to speak to him if they're both at the same level. As much as the thought of them bringing him here without giving him what he needs upsets her, she doesn't let it show, either.

Though, if he doesn't want the company, she can just as easily be on her way. Though fire still isn't advisable in the library, even if she can understand why he'd practice it in here.

No one ever gets anywhere by rejecting potential allies. Louis gestures for her to take a seat across from him. "I don't mind at all," he says with a polite nod. His expression isn't warm--far from it--but it does soften.

Louis perches his chin on his hand, tilting his head to look at Belle closer. The gesture would be small on a human, but it's made more dramatic by the breadth of his antlers. "Where are you from, Belle?"

"No matter how many times I'm asked, I never know how to answer that question." It's a friendly confession - she won't bore him with the details, but she can give him the short version of it. "I come from a kingdom in the Enchanted Forest, but we were all cursed and sent to a different world. The place where we all ended up was a town called Storybrooke."

And she likes it there most of the time. It isn't home but it doesn't have to be. There's plenty of adventure to be found in ending up in a world without magic. "What about you?"

Louis nods in understanding. Yeah, he supposes he's not too sure how to answer the question either, but her response is informative enough.

"I see. So you're familiar with magic." Of some kind, at least. Louis wouldn't say that magic exists in his world. Definitely not the sort that curses people and sends them to different worlds or gives them the ability to sling fireballs.

He folds his hands neatly in front of him. He already has some practice with this question. "I understand that humans seem to be used to unintelligent, uncivilized beasts? In my world, all beasts are like me, living in societies together. I've never seen a human before arriving here." Which doesn't wholly answer her question, but it probably shares the details that would be most important to her.

As for the implication of all beasts being intelligent and living together, including herbivores and carnivores, well...

"I don't think I'd call the beasts in my world unintelligent. They're just different." They may not live in civilized societies, but she doesn't doubt their intelligence. It's as she said - they live differently, most of them in the wild.

She does seem amused by his questions, though. "Speaking isn't too common, though. At least not in any way that I can understand." They have their own language, they must. Some even manage to pick it up, Belle just happens to have an easier time with human languages.

"It must be odd for you. Is there anyone else here from your world?"

"I see." So not everyone has the same kind of beasts, he supposes? Something to keep in mind. Also something to keep in mind is that she displays respect for the beasts, rather than some others he's met.

"It's odd, I'll admit," he says. No use denying it. "I'm the only one from my world I've seen so far. It seems most worlds are majority human."

Which is a weird thought. That his world is the odd one out, when he's never seen a human in his life before this. "Is it common for people to come from the same world? I didn't get that impression."

"At least the ones they've chosen to involve in this." She assumes that if all of this is possible, there might be an infinite number of worlds out there. There must be other worlds that are similar to his, the same way there are other worlds that are similar to hers.

"I suppose it's common enough that there are a decent amount of people here with a friend or two. It's rarely more than that." But that, out of a world of potentially billions of people, they only take one or two? That's telling as well, isn't it?

"I always wonder how they decide on all of this."

"If there are truly millions of worlds, then I doubt any one person decides, or even a committee of people. Were I to guess, they use some kind of magical algorithm encoded in that book the High Mage uses."

Louis doesn't understand magic, but he understands people. There's no way people could efficiently sort through all the names and biographies of billions of potential heroes and then pass those up to the High Mage for evaluation. For that kind of scale, there needs to be some kind of automation... or some kind of magic calling the shots somewhere along the line.

"It would explain why they know so little about us, despite 'tales of our exploits' reaching far and wide."

Restlessness brings Link to the library, though for what purpose, he can't say. Research and scholarly pursuit had been Zelda's passion, not his... that is one of the few memories he has of her. She had taken to the books in a time that she felt powerless, and now that Link is feeling rather powerless himself, perhaps he's thought there's something worthwhile in trying the same.

He didn't expect to be nearly caught on fire. Maybe Thorne's library is a more his speed than he thought?!

He leaps aside with a small yelp, looking for the source of the shooting flames. What he sees is also unexpected.

"A deer?"

Well, at least this human is straightforward about his confusion.

Louis drops his hand in his lap, arching an eyebrow.

"A red deer. Yes." He makes a sarcastic 'ta da' gesture with his hand at his face. "You can tell from the antlers. And everything else I have that humans don't."

Link is nothing if not extremely straightforward. Alas, the sarcasm is lost on him. His head tilts as he nods in agreement. Yes, the antlers and the color of Louis's coat. He can tell, he's hunted plenty of deer in his time. Lean meat, pleasantly gamey, dries and smokes well.

Good in curry.

"You have hands," he points out. Link has met some humans here, and they also have hands, just like Hylians. Red deer don't have hands, so he must be something else. A race of deer people, like how the Rito resemble birds?

Louis has to stare for a moment in quiet disbelief. You have hands. How does he even respond to that?

"...Yes. I have hands," he says slowly, as if he's talking to an idiot. Which he might be. "I understand that this isn't common for red deer in this world?" Not that he really knows what a red deer would look like without hands. Horrifying, probably.

Yes, Louis might be talking to an idiot. In fairness, Link is very accustomed to fellow peoples who don't look like Hylians, but not so much peoples who look exactly like food. That takes an adjustment of perspective.

But this deer has hands, talks, and can do magic. That all checks out.

"You're missing a leg, though. Did you lose it in battle?"

Wow. "You're quite direct, aren't you?" Louis' voice is sharp and reprimanding like a strict teacher talking to a child. Who just asks someone how they lost a leg besides children?

He huffs, his nostrils flaring in irritation, which somehow still manages to look clear on a deer face. "If you must know, it was devoured."

It was devoured. By a wild animal he teased on a safari? By piranhas during a dramatic shipwreck? In a terrible plane crash where everyone drew straws to see who'd be eaten first? He's not going to go into more detail.

He crosses his arms in his lap, frowning at the strange human (?). "Now that we've cleared that up, I suppose it's my turn to ask pointed personal questions. Why are your ears pointed, when other humans have rounded ears?"

Soldiers ask questions like that, Louis. And travelers who regularly encounter large, carnivorous monsters in their paths. And, of course, feral elves who wake up alone in a cave one day and have very little socialization beyond that. Link is all of those things.

"Oh," he says, somehow not at all surprised even after the deer-person doesn't elaborate. Maybe a moblin attack, Link silently guesses. What a shame someone like him hadn't been around to stop it. No wonder Louis seems to be studying offensive magic, he's only got one leg left.

For better or for worse, Link doesn't seem to mind that Louis is growing short with him.

"These?" The long ears flick. Now that it's been brought up, he does suppose that they're different from most of the others, save for Nero. But then, Hylians and Gerudos also differ by only a small handful of features. Link doesn't feel any more out of place here than he did traversing the towns and villages of the Gerudo desert, so he'd never thought to question it.

"I'm a Hylian. Humans are what the round-ear people call themselves, then?"

It's lucky that no one seems to know what devouring really means in Louis' world. If he said it to anyone back home, no one would mistake him for having lost his leg in an accident or attack from a wild creature.

"Hylian. I see. I suppose you and humans are from the same species." They basically look the same beyond the ears. Closer related than most canines, really. It'd be easy to mistake them for each other. "The round-eared people call themselves human, yes. Or so I've been told. I suppose you don't have them where you come from, either?"

"We... might be?" Link shrugs. He isn't quite sure how different but related species could populate entirely separate worlds, but this deer person seems to know a thing or two about it. Who is he to disagree?

So the round-ears, he decides, are like the Gerudo: related to Hylians, but not exactly the same. Makes perfect sense.

"We have other races on Hyrule, but no humans," Link nods agreeably, and begins to list them off on his fingers as if poor Louis possibly cares this much about the details. "The Zora, they live in the water and look quite a bit like fish... the Gorons, they have bodies like stone... the Rito, they have feathers and wings and they're the best archers in Hyrule... the Gerudo, they live in the desert and look a lot like us, but taller and stronger. And Hylians."

He finishes with a gesture to himself.

You're welcome for the educational spiel, Louis.

Louis actually is interested. He cocks his head, listening with a frown. So people that 'look like' fish. People 'with feathers and wings'. Louis would have just called those fish and birds, but this Hylian is making a distinction. Another world that Louis likely wouldn't be able to recognize at all, he supposes.

"Then you're out of place here as well." He gestures with his hand at the inhabitants of the library. "What is the relationship like between Hylians and the other species in your world?"

Does anyone eat anyone else is what he's really asking, but he's learned quickly that that's a pretty off-putting question for people who don't have regular devourings be a part of their life.

Out of place... yes. Link smiles passingly, giving a vague nod. He is out of place wherever he goes. A century removed from all that he knew, and relearning everything even about his own world. It doesn't bother him anymore; he simply woke up like this. Same song, different world.

At least this deer-person isn't asking anything Link can't answer. He isn't used to speaking quite this much, but it is strangely refreshing.

"We were allies," he answers. He has recalled that much. He knows that his father, a knight in the King's service, visited the royal family of the Zora Domain often. "After the war with the Calamity... all of our numbers are fewer than they were 100 years ago. Most keep to their own kingdoms. The older Zora especially still remember their losses, so they aren't fond of Hylians."

Link sighs softly, a tinge of guilt to it. His shoulders and pointed ears have drooped somewhat from his formerly confident stance. "I hope I have changed some minds. Calamity Ganon and his monster hordes grow stronger and more numerous every day."

It all sounds very... political. The sorts of relationships and baggage one would expect between nations. No implication of a barely restrained desire to eat each other.

Louis wonders if his world is just the odd one out.

"I don't recommend troubling yourself with that. Matters of diplomacy and military alliances is decided based on strategy more than anything." Louis leans back in his chair with a self-possessed air, like he's been dealing with diplomacy and negotiation his whole life. "Either you convinced them that the smart move would be to ally with Hylians again, or you were never going to convince them."

Of course, there's the possibility that Link was just shitty at convincing them and didn't make his case well, but there's really no point in worrying about that either. If he did, then it's already done, and it's not like it'll affect either of them for now.

Oh. Link is silent for a moment, impressed with Louis's straightforward advice and the air of confidence that he surrounds himself with. This deer-man speaks with all the authority of a royal advisor. Link's lips part - he wants to clarify that these circumstances may be different; there is very little of anyone's military left to speak of, for one thing, and he's sure there's so much more he could do - but who is he to argue? Louis appears as if he knows what he's talking about.

"You sound like a politician," Link says, his head tilted slightly and his curiosity piqued. Somehow - perhaps through the guileless look on his face alone - he makes this observation sound like an earnest compliment. "Is that what you did back on your world?"

Is that what he did?

"I suppose I did, in a way," he says cryptically. Anyone who jockeys for the position of Beastar is ultimately playing politics starting when they're thirteen. Making connections, solving problems, standing out. The same can be said for the leaders of criminal organizations, playing politics in the criminal underworld.

"Let's just say I'm used to negotiating between groups of people with overlapping and conflicting interests." He gestures with his hand, cocking his head. The movement is slight, but it looks grand with his whole crown of antlers moving with it. "Individual people can choose to do things for sentimental or altruistic reasons, but large groups of them rarely do. Large groups, like nations or organizations, will look after themselves first. If they think it's in their best interest to ally with you, then that is what they will do. If they think that it's wiser to forge an alliance with this 'Calamity Ganon' or stay out of the conflict entirely, then they will do that instead."

Unless, that is, the best interests of the nation's leader conflicts with the best interests of their people. In that case, the nation will almost always do what's in the leader's best interest, by virtue of the fact that the leader is making the decisions. But Louis has a feeling that the finer points of manipulation and negotiation will be lost on this one.

INTRO LOG #2

Louis | Beastars | Death

Library

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