Bad Dog, Good Dog

[CrisisCore]

The meeting with the Lord Primus had gone well. He had been given his marching orders and was ready to head out. His first stop was to meet up with the leader of Havoc. His instructions were to just meet up with . . . What was her name? Sidhethigh? No, that didn't sound right. Sidartha? No, that wasn't right either. He pondered it as he began to enter deeper into the forests, rolling the various pronunciations around in his head. He would remember how Lord Primus said it eventually. Maybe he would remember it then. Or butcher it and insult her by accident. Great, that would be just what he needed. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, pausing for a moment. There was an ache in his chest from the metal implants that helped keep his arm attached. It had been dull and easy to ignore before, but as they had started to advance further into their journey, it had started to grow in intensity. So much so that he had to lean against a tree and cry out in a small huff.

"Where is it this time?" He hadn't been aware that he'd closed his eyes. He opened them and turned just enough to stare at the source of the voice. Garl was really a nice man. Pleasing to the eye. Didn't talk back. Was quiet. Cooked, cleaned, maintained their supplies. This man was basically his everything right now. He just placed his hand on his chest where it hurt, leaving it there for a moment before removing it. The slave shifted a bit and walked over to where his master stood, taking the pack off his back. It was placed next to the tree and he shifted just a little bit, leaning down to press his face against the place where bare skin and metal met. He let his cheek rest there for a moment, making the whole scene a bit more intimate than it should have been. Oh well, this was something the Harbinger had gotten used to. He didn't mind it.

He hissed the moment the tongue pressed against his chest, tensing against the bark of the tree. When he felt it start to move, he started to relax, the numbing effects showing its face almost immediately. The slave licked the area for about thirty seconds before pulling back, stepping a few paces behind him. "Is there anywhere else that hurts?" Crisis shook his head, shifting down to sit for the time being. He had taken the bag into his lap and started to dig through it. He knew there was jerky in here from a couple days ago. He was hungry and he wanted some before they started to move again.

"Where do you think Sidlingthii is?"

"Do you mean Sidhi'thii?" The Harbinger stared at him and realized that that was how the name was pronounced. 

"Yes, her. Where do you think Sidhi'thii is? Lord Primus wants us to set up a meet and greet with her. We've been here for at least four days. Shouldn't we have found her by now?" The slave shrugged and the Harbinger sighed. He did find the jerky and shoved it into this mouth, standing up and shoving the bag back at the slave. "Come on, lets see if we can find her. Keep looking; the faster we find her the sooner they can meet and the sooner we can eat real food again."

[[NPC] Sidhi'thii]

Sidhi’thii had been… well stalking the visitors. That wasn’t quite the right word for these mutts, but it’d work. Mutt. Yes, that was this one’s name. She felt what could only be described as a heavy sigh from the back of her mind. Don’t you ever grow tired of those antics? Sidhi’thii couldn’t help but give a smirk. As long as she kept knocking her bird off balance, even if it was through exasperation, she was happy.




She watched the display between the two men, debating making a comment about how sweet they were but decided against it. It would be unwise for the Grandmaster to upset an Emissary of Pandemonium even if the Mutt deserved it at this point. That was the issues about carrying multiple experiences in one’s head; Sidhi’thii could never tell what started as her thoughts and what ended as her predecessor's, or was it the other way around? Meh, she’d get over it eventually. Besides, it was working out for the most part.




Sidhi’thii shook her head regaining her senses and signaled those those who accompanied her down to the forest floor. “Sooner than you expect.” The air got warm with her words as she stood as tall as she could and turned to look at the wolf messenger with fire in her eyes, a literal fire seemed to dance in her irises as she slowly, carefully stepped towards the wolf. The Phoenix in her mind seemed to back away a bit, watching with a wary eye. “So Mutt, what brings the messenger of the Primus here? It’s a shame he couldn’t come himself. It’s almost like an insult, but I assume he has a good enough reason.”


Sidhi’thii took in the two men with a long stare. Crisis was definitely the one to worry about, something didn’t feel natural about that one besides the obvious. The other one, well something was off about that one as well, but this was more of the mind. Sidhi’thii decided to take no chances, even the smallest stone could cause an avalanche. Her eyes focused back on the Mutt, this one was here for her and she was going to see why before making any major decisions.

[CrisisCore]

Crisis had the strip of jerky hanging out of his mouth, chewing on it idly as he scanned the area around them. How was this bloody fucking robot eye supposed to work again? He banged on the side of his head a couple times as if expecting that to do something. He heard the slave next to him tell him to ve careful. Slave. Isn't that what Bezyle had called him? The Harbinger didn't necassiarly see the man like that. He wouldn't call him a friend, but he wouldn't call him a slave. Caregiver? Nurse maid? Something. He shrugged at his own thoughts trailing them off to think about the orders that he'd been given. Did he remember them all?

Though, that would have to be something that he thought about later. A voice rang out into the air and he froze for a few seconds. Garl yelped softly, clutching the bag close to his chest. One had a look of fear, the other merely narrowed his eyes at her. He could feel the robotic eye doing . . . Something. She was coming into sharper focus, the fine details being picked up by the one eye while the other struggled to compensate. What had that Joseph guy said? His name had been Joseph, hadn't it? Fuck he couldn't remember. One would have thought that he would given the tortures he had to endure for these things. "That precisely what I'm here for, to deliver a message from Lord Primus." The reason why he wasn't here himself though, he wasn't specifically told. He just shifted a little bit and turned towards the companion. He tugged something out of the bag; it wasn't a weapon as he was already armed if he really wanted to harm her. No, he tugged a scroll out of the bag and started to read it, mumbling things to himself before glancing up at her. He then looked back down and began to read it aloud.

"Lord Primus wishes to meet with you, and two of your guards should you think you need them, on neutral ground. This is not a fight. He does not intend to battle you. If you bring any more than two guards, Lord Primus will not show himself and will assume that Havoc doesn't wish to meet to discuss terms." He paused here, glancing up at her to gauge her reaction before continuing.

"We are both warrior clans, but we've been enemies for as long as Lord Primus can remember. Do you hate us for our savagery? Are we undisciplined monsters to you? Though, the same could be said about our feelings towards you. We see your discipline and honor as a weakness that holds you back. We are aware this disagreement has been a major driving force that parts us. We are willing to put this aside. We of Pandemonium believe in freedom. True freedom." He couldn't help but glance over in Garl's direction to see how he, too, was taking this. "We wish for freedom from all oppressors and rules that would hold people down and enslave them. Too long as Meticulous, Discord, and Draconian oppressed the people. Enslaved them. Brainwashed them. Murdered them. We do not wish to allow death to reign.Far from it. If everyone dies, who will there be left to live?" He shifted a bit, licking his lips to be able to finish. Fuck this was a lot to read.

"Right now, Lord Primus' goal is to disrupt and destroy the slavery system and any who would allow it to continue." He rolled the scroll back up and put it in the back again. Garl synched it back up and made sure to sling it back over his shoulder again. "Lord Primus simply wants to meet up with you and have a discussion, nothing more. Are these terms acceptable? And if they are, he wishes to meet up with you at the first shrine at the base of Gress Mountain." And now all he had to do was sit back and wait for an answer.

[[NPC] Sidhi'thii]

It was almost, in Sidhi’thii’s eyes, as foolish to send someone you trusted into “enemy” territory as it was to walk in yourself. The fact this Mutt decided to narrow his eyes didn’t unnerve her or upset her. The Mutt was foolish yes, but she really couldn’t blame him given who was supposed to teach him such things. The kid was strong enough to earn Fenrir’s respect, but she wasn’t sure if it was naivety or overconfidence that had him treat her as such. She watched as the meek one pulled something out of a bag, the only motion she made to calm the warriors. The Grandmaster was going to see this through at the least.


Sidhi’thii’s stare never faltered or changed in any inflection as the Mutt decided to read from this paper. So the Primus wanted to discuss things. Well that wasn’t cryptic was it? Even better, why now after vanishing for so long and while two of the houses he mentioned were licking their wounds? Hmm, something else to ponder later since the Mutt was moving on.


The Pup wanted to discuss philosophy? That almost made her break her stare a bit, almost. No, it wasn’t because she saw them as monsters or barbarians, it’s more that a majority of them seemed to throw life aside for personal gain. If anything, she saw limitless potential in them if nothing else. Maybe she’d remember to tell that to the wolf. If the previous part almost made her smile, this one made her increase her stare. Freedom to what? Die at the hands of someone who deemed you unworthy? To fight focusing on a bit you may never get stronger at? To waste your time aiming to be the best in someone else’s ideals opposed to your own? Hm, that wasn’t much different than the slavery he was fighting. But again, the philosophy talk would have to wait until they met face to face.

Sidhi’thii stared at the Mutt long after he finished, long enough to finish processing her thoughts and then some. Then she laughed a full throated laugh that felt genuine to most around her. “Tell the Pup I’m willing to meet if only because he’s acting with diplomacy opposed to previous methods.” She focused on her warriors around them, “Find Bone Daddy and Dreamweaver, tell them we have a meeting to make.”

[CrisisCore]

Crisis had no real way of knowing what to expect after he had finished dilvering his speech of sorts. Could it even really be called a speech though? Garl had written down everything, if not most of it, that Lord Primus had said to him. He would have written it himself, but he found difficulty in holding small objects. These new parts were odd and despite the copious amount of conditioning he had gone through, certain tasks were still tedious and he needed Garl to do them for him. Perhaps he would have to rethink a previous thought about this one not being his friend. The slave attendant was definitely his friend, not his slave. 

He hadn't noticed right away that the Grandmaster had suddenly been surrounded by a vast number of warriors. The intimidated slave noticed, seeming to have shrunk himself in closer to the Harbinger and clinging to his arm. Perhaps that was what made him look around. His robot eye was whirling around and going crazy. There was just so much for it to take in now. It was getting to be rather annoying and he had to shut that eye to get it to stop. So this gave his normal eye a chance to focus and catch up with everything. He was silent as he heard her speak, listened very carefully to what she was saying. He would have liked Garl to write everything down, but this he was sure he could remember.

"I will let Lord Primus know that you have agreed to meet with him." He made to bow, but with Garl hanging off his arm, it was difficult. He wouldn't push the other off or away from him. Sure, he would admit that it was only really slightly concerning all these people had shown up without his notice, but then again, maybe he had noticed. His enhanced eye had probably been aware of them the whole time, but his brain had been taking a little longer than necessary to translate all the information. Or perhaps he'd just been so focused on reading he hadn't noticed. Oh well, he had done his job, he had to report back to Fenrir now.

"Garl and I will make our leave now, Grandmaster. Until next time." He might have tried to bow again, but the slave seemed very eager to leave now. So he started walking with him back in the general direction in which they had entered the forests so they could go back to Lord Primus.

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