08 . family drama

[necrolord]

Who: necrolord, Gideon, Harrow, Paul; Oscar, Ruby, Ozpin, maybe Qrow and Ange; possibly others.
What: Some kids robbed a lich and got their hands melted off. The fallout is messy.
When: April, following the party, network post, and Oscar's log.
Where: Bone House & Clockhouse

Content Warnings: Marked as needed. Note all the usual warnings of this character.

Comments

[slayerskiss]

[If Faith followed God like he was a teacher and like she was a student instead of as a... friend? Daughter? Mercenary? Whatever it is that she is to him. If Faith followed God as a disciple, perhaps she'd be more inclined to judge Gideon for casually giving up his secrets.

But she doesn't know what's happened between them. And Gideon is her friend in a way that feels more honest and sincrere and secure. So, she trusts that Gideon has a reason to be resentful. After-all, Faith spent her entire childhood cursing her father. And her mother. And God.

The only one there for her was Malice, in the back of her mind, who wept at her misfortunes and begged for her to remember. Malice, who had slaughtered entire worlds.]

I guess his name just being kind of boring is as good a reason as any to keep it secret.

[She smiles, a little, still uncertain about what it means. And then Gideon says that, and Faith lets out a huff of amused familiarity. It's always complicated. More complicated than screwed up kids like them messing it all up, but she knows that feeling. It's a moment of empathy amidst the uncertainty.]

Yeah. I mean, I know the feeling. Don't know the full circumstance behind it, but... [She shakes her head.] You can't ruin it any worse than I ruined my home.

[lipochrome]

[ Gideon manages a smile back, hers uncertain as well, but also less bitter. ]

Yeah, you've got his number. I mean, we live in a house made from bones. John probably cramps his style, and he's the first to say that being God is ninety percent keeping up appearances, or whatever.

[ Sounds like an absolutely horrible deal to Gideon, but that's not for her to judge. God made His choices.

And oh, look, more unexpected camaraderie. Gideon Nav, noted parent-killer twice over, wishes for Faith's sake that she didn't get it, but...it's nice to know Gideon isn't alone, too. If she feels guilty about that, well, she'll just deal with that later. ]

I mean, I fucked up my first one pretty bad, too. [ then, because she knows how bad bad can get, she adds: ] If you didn't kill anyone, you're probably doing okay.

[slayerskiss]

[That ammendment almost makes her laugh. It should, because it's hilarious, in the single most bitter way possible. If you didn't kill anyone... well, of course. Killing a human being is crossing a line, it's something you can never come back from, it's something you can never scrub your hands clean of, she will never ever be free of the smell of his body turning from a person into a corpse.

She opens her mouth to reply and the laughter comes after-all, and she shakes her head because it's not funny, so she covers her mouth like the dainty princess she's not.]

I did a bit more than kill someone. [And she'll leave it at that, because she's not pretending to be something she's not anymore.] It's not a happy story. Makes me come across as a real bitch, which I am, but... y'know.

[She shrugs, suddenly worried Gideon is going to turn to her and look at her with horror and judgement in her eyes and she won't be able to take it.]

[lipochrome]

A bit more than kill someone? [ Like what? That's, like, as bad as it gets. ] Come on. People die when they are killed.

[ Gideon's not going to ask what Faith did, of course. Not directly. That's personal business, and if she's learned anything from growing up on the Ninth, it's that talking about personal business sucks and you should never do it. ]

You're, like, a little bit of a bitch, sure. But I've met worse. [ Gideon sends yet another mental fuck off to Ianthe. ] I mean, you bailed me outta that dinner. That was a pretty nice move.

[slayerskiss]

[Faith's silent, for a little while. Fuck it, might as well. She feels bad, like she's taken advantage of Gideon. It's only fair Gideon gets an idea of the kind of person she's dealing with.]

I was an assassin. [A personal attack dog. She puts her hands in her jacket pocket.] I was given power to help people fight the powers of darkness or whatever and I used it to kill a lot of people at the behest of this... guy.

The Mayor. He's... god, I don't even know how old he was. But he sold his soul a long time ago, became something... not quite human, not quite demon. He built this town over a gateway to hell, did business with monsters and demons so they could feast on the people to their heart's content. I... there was an accident, and I killed one of his deputies. Then I killed his right hand on purpose. All my friends started shunning me... [Or that's how she remembers it, anyway.] And when I showed up at his doorstep to kill him too, he was the only one who took me in.

The only one who seemed like he actually gave a fuck about me. The others left me to rot in this shitty unprotected motel, he gave me a full protected apartment, as many weapons as I wanted, and he kept me paid enough to get what I wanted without having to steal to survive.

So I killed and tortured people for him. 'Cuz that's how easy it is to get me to turn evil, I guess.

[Can you guess who The Emperor reminds her of?]