(Untitled)

[victormakesart]

The video stream opens up on Victor, a slightly younger Victor with longer hair, so long that she could probably reach back and braid it, if she wanted to.

"If you're seeing this video, I died. A week ago. I have a system... if my biological functions go offline, a week later this video goes online. That's to prevent a mistake, if the system

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[umbra_ab_luce]

"Explain," he says via handheld video feed, "right now."

He doesn't sound angry, just very, very terse. And concerned.

[victormakesart]

She goes through the motions of checking that she's on a secure line, turning a dial that clicks, and then turning another dial that doesn't do anything but hum a little, and then whir. "There was a guy on patrol. He's taken care of now. Uh. Not in the mafia way."

[umbra_ab_luce]

"Would you like him taken care of in the Mafia way?" Granted he might do that anyway, but...

[victormakesart]

You see, that is exactly why she doesn't invite some of her more dangerous buddies to her world. Not because she's scared for her own safety. It's everyone else she's worried about. "Nahhh, no thanks. I already bandaged him up once. I'd feel foolish if I did it again."

[umbra_ab_luce]

He laughs, hoping she knows he's not completely serious. "I can make it so there's no need for bandages."

[victormakesart]

A little half-laugh, and she ducks her head, and her hair falls forward, curtaining her face. She fixes it with one trembling hand. "Oh, no, no. But thanks."

[umbra_ab_luce]

"Are you absolutely sure you're alright now?" he asks with a grave tone, then adds in his typical voice, "because I will go asking every fuckin' god of death I can find about it."

[victormakesart]

She nods, then shakes her head, then nods again. "I'll be okay, but, but... it was a long, and painful death, and I had to say goodbye to the babies, and I was a coward. I'm not okay right now. Exactly... not okay."

[umbra_ab_luce]

"What exactly happened? Because, while I care about and will... usually listen when you tell me not to tear someone limb from limb, if you were tortured to death, I will end this person, painfully."

[victormakesart]

"It... depends on your definition of torture," she says, reluctantly. "Can you define the term for me?"

[umbra_ab_luce]

"Was your death long and painful and was that pain directly inflicted by, or indirectly caused by another person?"

He actually comes back with that definition rather quickly, as though he had needed it in the past.

[victormakesart]

Her face flushes. "You're not gonna kill anyone," she says, firmly, eyes prickling abruptly, and her fingers twitch, and she tries to disguise that by tapping on the desk in front of her.

[umbra_ab_luce]

"No one hurts you and gets away with it," he says. He's already endured upsetting her in the past for going against her wishes and killing someone.

[victormakesart]

"He's not getting away with it. He's being punished. It's taken care of, all of it is, and it's... it's my decision this time."

[umbra_ab_luce]

"Does the punishment fit the crime?"

Goddesses knew, he's had more than his fair share of second chances, but he still was loath to give most anyone else one. He would still try to get to her world, though he suspected it would not be as easy as going to her homeworld was.

An idea crossed his mind. Maybe, he thought, maybe he didn't need to actually go there. If someone could be paid off...

[victormakesart]

"Sure it does." She swallows, and a change comes over her, a hardness she looks more certain. She looks assertive, and confident, and that's not a look that Victor gets often. She's too mellow and laid-back for confidence. "I'm not doing what I do to kill people. If I did, I'd carry a gun. If I wanted him dead, he'd be dead. Now... if he dies, that undermines everything I go out there to do. I might as well hang up my mask right now, you know? 'Cause there wouldn't be a point anymore."