deercountry | Live and die, and then... [open]

Who: D, his Left Hand, anyone
What: Open and closed prompts for general June catch all
When: early june and onward
Where: Various places

Content Warnings:: mention of blood drinking, apathy towards violence, casual disregard for the safety of others, violence, additional warnings to be added to closed prompts in comments

1. A stiff drink; any time in June, especially after the wilderness expedition returns; open

The end of the previous month had brought an end to D's excessive bloodthirst. Which meant that he could once again drink alcohol without experiencing an almost painful and intensely bitter disappointment at every drop that passed his lips and wasn't blood.

He was still not a very social person, but could be found in various drinking establishments around the city, slowly making his way through the wide variety of unfamiliar alcohol. His usual habit was to order the strongest drinks on offer and work his way down from there.

2. A bloodless cut; two weeks before the end of June; open

D wasn't one to get involved in the affairs of others. Drunken brawls simply weren't his concern, and even when one escalated immediately to a lethal level and had people fleeing, D only glanced over briefly to see why everyone was screaming and running.

This was more than just a drunken argument getting out of hand, but apparently a case of corruption. The corrupted man was apparently not satisfied yet either, as he was lunging at the next nearest person with a jagged piece of wood from a broken chair.

Though he was half way across the room, D was suddenly next to the man in the blink of an eye. Before the sound of his sword being drawn could completely fade from the air his first slash had cut through the weapon, turning it from sharp enough to stab to a blunt end. The second slash, even faster and seeming no more than an arc of silvery light passed through the man's torso before he could stab the newly blunt end of his improvised weapon into his target.

Despite the arc of the slash that should've cut the man in half, he didn't even stumble. The man jabbed his newly blunted weapon against his target, only to realize it was no longer suitable for stabbing. D is the next target of his ire, the remaining stub of chair leg swung at him like a club was caught in D's left hand.

It was a waiting game now, to see how long it would take a corrupted person to drop from the very unusual slash he'd made that hadn't broken the skin or spilled a single drop of blood.

3. Wildcard

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"True." There were some planets that she knew that it likely would happen like that. Not Naboo, mind, but it had a habit of voting in younger queens. Whether that worked in the planets favour or not was debatable. Padmé knew that some thought it meant that the queen would be malleable and easily cowed. Those would learn that was not the case.

"I've been blessed that that isn't the case on my planet. We... can still strive to be better, but we have made strides." Padmé hoped that they would continue to do so, not returning to an isolationism approach once more. Naboo had enough to share.

"That's very fortunate. I don't have much experience with the politics between planets. The one other spacefaring species that found us went to war against us." And the signs of that war still littered Earth, with ancient weapons waiting to be woken up to do battle again.

Humans were lucky it had happened during Vampire rule with Vampires doing most of the fighting. Even then the way it ended couldn't be called a true victory.

"There's been a galaxy-wide war going on where I've been. Smaller conflicts over the years, but this is far grander." And doomed to fail, Padmé knew. The Republic would fall, and she'd be hearing it's last heartbeats soon, based on what she had learned from others. "Not that war is always bad, as sometimes where are reasons, but I would still always prefer negotiations. People always suffer when the fighting breaks out."

"That's a very large war." War has covered the entirety of Earth more than once, but a war spanning not just a solar system but an entire galaxy must be something else.

"Just because it's necessary doesn't make it any less bad. The two aren't mutually exclusive." The idea of a war being 'good' is much more difficult than something that's bad but necessary. A good war is hard for D to imagine at all, what would such a thing even look like.

"One that arguably could have been avoided." Or rather it had been orchestrated according to what Padmé had learned here. Palpatine, a Sith lord? Why, she would have placed him with Binks on the likelihood of being a Sith.

"No. No it doesn't. Sometimes you have to fight for what you believe in, but I will always prefer to try the diplomatic approach first. Words can go a long way."

"Any war can be avoided if you're willing to give up enough. Words are important, and adhering to them even more so." D had always been a man of his word and it was very rare for him to go back on it even in his long lifetime.

"There's certainly room for diplomacy among the different factions here before it turns into an outright conflict." Things have been calm if tense between the Hunters and the Sanctuary, but D feels it's only a matter of time before that turns into an open conflict.

"I haven't really heard much about different factions here." That curious look on her face, interest, although she wouldn't push if it's not something that he actually wants to talk about. So far it has just been the things that this place throws at them, like the catacombs. Padmé would be fine never to return to that underground nightmare.

"Hunters and Blood Ministers have a tense relationship built on mistrust but mutual need, it's mainly tensions between the Sanctuary and the Hunters that have been rising. I don't approve of capturing beasts for use in blood sport, but saving them isn't always an option either."

D had no interest in declaring war on the Hunters here and plunging this place into chaos. He was prone to doing as he felt best and leaving communities to deal with the consequences of having their ill cruelty or apathy ripped away, but that wasn't an option here.

Blood sport. It reminded Padmé of the Zillo Beast. Not exactly the same, but the creature had just trying to live. It had been destroyed. "Nor do I. Not that I have much experience with beasts. I'd rather not, as well, given what they can mean."

She might be able to handle a blaster but that didn't mean that Padmé wanted to use it all the time.

"Beast blood brings more beasts. Avoiding them if you can't stop them or can't stop them without killing them is wise. But it's still an issue causing tension. Both sides are warriors and not diplomats." There are more non-fighters on the Sanctuary side of things, but that hasn't worked out and D expects it to get worse before it gets better.

"There's also the issues between night walkers and those who disapprove of their methods in fighting corruption." Living on the outskirts of cellar door has made that obvious to D.

Her lips might twitch a little at the diplomat comment. It something that is easier said than done, and does take a lot of patience. Negative emotion cannot play into such things, but that is something that people do find hard to do. "I will certainly try to my best to just avoid them. Killing is always a very last option for me."

She makes a soft noise as she takes another sip of her drink, finishing it off. "There seems to be many issues... Have they sat down and tried to talk about it- or the whole not diplomats problem keeps them from finding a reasonable resolution."

"Talks between the Sanctuary and the Hunters made things worse rather than better, and I don't know if there's enough organization for talking to really work on that level between the night walkers and people who don't approve of them." D doesn't know and he hasn't investigated. Night walkers are important for dealing with corruption, but D isn't invested enough in that side of it to investigate.

"A pity, but that does happen sometimes. Both parties need to be willing to talk to each other, and to listen to each other, in order for them to get something out of it." Tempers. Prejudices. An unwillingness to bend.

"Choosing a path of compromise is difficult, particularly for those whose tools are weapons instead of words." D doesn't do much of it himself, but even he has allowed himself to bend when the situation required it of him.

"Most important decisions in life are." Thinking back on the invasion of Naboo. "Sometimes it is simply understanding and putting your pride aside. It isn't easy, but at times it is necessary."

Live and die, and then... [open]

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