tushanshu_logs | open audience; the alderwood emperor

Characters: The Alderwood Emperor and anyone who seek to speak with him
Date: January 8th
Location: The Palace of Landed Sky
Situation: The expected holding of an audience for any that care to speak with the newly appointed Alderwood Emperor.
Warnings/Rating: N/A; to be updated if necessary

The hall is stark and black, lit with softly glowing lanterns that are strung up high beyond reach. Outside, the sun is at its zenith, and it filters down through the cloudy glass roof to warm the dark room.

The floor is marble, inlaid with mother-of-pearl and ruby quartz. It catches the light, and casts strange patterns on the walls.

There is beauty to it, but the room has been repurposed to function moreso than form. Weapons racks line the walls and there are officers stationed at regular intervals to ensure the safety of their assets and, of course, the Emperor himself. It is but one sign of heightened security, another being that all attendees must be escorted in with the attendance of a pair of armed guards. The rein of Alderwood begins in caution and will not be made victim of as Ironwood's did in its end.

The Emperor himself is seated at a broad table and working his way through cleaning a variety of firearms that range from elegant handguns to heavy muskets. He works with swift precision, dismantling each in turn before proceeding with cleaning and reassembling, then he moves to the next. Like the weapons upon the racks, these vary in age from rudimentary to advanced technology reminiscent of the spectre weapons. He knows each of them as spoils of war gathered over the centuries and now he seeks to repurpose them. To use them against the enemy that had him fight in the first place.

He is dressed in his familiar military cut, having no mind or pleasure in anything of ornamentation or to further denote his rank, and greets each attendee with the curt statement: "Speak to your purpose."

[Actionspam or prose are both acceptable!

Characters will only be admitted into the hall one by one, so there won't be anyone present for anyone else's conversations, and there won't be any 'mingling' in the chamber itself.

By popular demand, we will continue to allow mingling for those waiting for an audience in an antechamber. There is a thread header below to allow for that!]

Audience | Canon Updates | Antechamber

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Bart enters the room with a chip the size of Alabama on his shoulder and with only the slightest nodding in the head in lieu of a bow. He doesn't like Evandau all that much, and he thinks the feeling is mutual. Offering sympathy for Eshai's death probably didn't do that much because, hi, the guy is obviously upset over her death and cranky.

He expects to get thrown out on his ear quickly and hates the way he gets slammed down into first gear whenever Evandau's around, so there's no point in beating around the bush.]

Why can't foreigners join the cops here?

[Evandau eyes this Foreigner with a mild expression, one summoned up to control his sense of irritation at that constant question. It is from Eshai's guidance that he takes his answer, falling back on her dry wit, as it were.]

Because they are too young.

[A pointed statement about age? A pointed statement about age. Are you even old enough to pilot a warship, Bart????]

[Bart puts his fists on his hips and raises an eyebrow at this comment. It's unfair to compare a human lifespan to the apparent kedan longevity.]

Not if you do it as a ratio, we're not. I bet you can't even tell what old looks like on a human.

[Please. He has piloted Batplanes and spaceships. A warship is a cakewalk.]

Your lifespans are too short to measure in the scale I know.

[It's a frank admission. Evandau is no kedan, for they too are young to him, but he has allowed them due to their simplicity. And their permanence.]

Why do so many of you cry and clamour for this when all you are asked is to live and enjoy that life until such time as you are needed?

Because humans aren't ants!

[Bart can't believe that he has to explain this, but, apparently, they're working with definitions of 'live'. He will do his best with the intangibles, but he thinks he's going to lose this argument.]

Nobody's gonna be happy with just living. I mean. No human. We don't want to breathe and eat and work and sleep. Humans have been trying to put meaning in life for millenia. We make up gods, we tell stories, we play games, we painted on cave walls for thousand of years while we worked out how to make canvas and oil paints and then we painted on that because we want to make 'life' more beautiful. We want to make it better. We aren't down with just living. We want to live well, and that means a hundred different things to a hundred different people. To learn more or skateboard or have the best score at Pac-Man or cure cancer or. I dunno. More. Being human is wanting more and doing more. Making it better isn't just about the arts. It's about lower crime rates and peace and everyone being decent to each other.

[Bart huffs after this speech.] That's why I'm asking anyway. I can only answer for me, but. Nobody wants to sit on the sidelines.

Purpose.

[Evandau says that word with a clear, crisp tone in the aftermath of Bart's verbal onslaught.]

You need only explain it as that you crave purpose, Foreigner.

[He really hates wasted words.]

Before I can consider this, you must understand that the fate you are likely to meet in this war is not merely death. It is corruption and destruction that continues in Death as it did in Life. [A pause as he thinks to the fallen of the past.] I cannot ask more of you Foreigners than that, when the time comes. To ask or allow anything else would be to exploit, rather than simply doom you in the odds that face us.

Purpose, yeah. Like I said. You can bottle all that up in one word if you want, but it never fits all the weight.

[Tough, your Lordship. Bart could fit all of those words into the time it takes to say purpose. That he's not only opting for more words but saying them to suit someone else's speed is a measure of how important it is.]

And you have to understand that I don't care what happens to me. I like being alive, and I'd prefer keeping it that way, but it's so far down the priority list that it's not even funny. You're not asking, I am. And as to allowing - I'm gonna do it anyway. Or something like it, so it might as well be it 'cause that way you get to keep an eye on me.

You would be wise not to state your intentions to break my laws so boldly.

[It is a cool pause for consideration. Costigan already will serve in such a role - to be police for the Foreigner. He spoke with the man of needing more than one to serve in this role, but he will have to be careful about who he chooses.]

I will consider your request, but you must give me time. I am no fool, to snap my fingers and have it done.

Why does it have to be law-breaking, if what you're trying to do is help things stay within the Venn diagram overlap of right and legal? I never did get that one.

[Bart shakes his head. Some officials are so uptight about that. It shouldn't matter who the aid is coming from, so long as it's there, but Evandau's obviously going to make him sweat this one out. Patience. Bah.]

Fine. I'll wait. Metaphorically, I'm not standing here until you make up your mind. But I'm gonna be back for the next audience if I don't hear from you. Do I have to wait to be dismissed?

The fact you ask that question is the answer in itself.

[Feeling cryptic? Nah. Evandau just. Look, he's offered you consideration, be happy!]

You know where the door is.

That whole charming and polite uppercrust thing never really caught on here, huh?

[There are some days when he's glad he never really got the hang of shutting up.]

Stay frosty, Big E.

open audience; the alderwood emperor

Bart Allen

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