amenable_lunatic | IC Inbox

It is, yes.

[he walks in, holding it nervously in both hands]

...I should start by saying thank you for...looking after my younger self. He was impressionable and naive and didn't fully understand what was going on. I'm sorry if he caused you discomfort.

No, I get it.

[ Insofar as he was able to gather you were a weird kid from a weird place that didn't kid correctly, even if he only sort of understands what kids are typically like. ]

You were a decent assistant even at that age.

[ It has likely become clear that when the Grandmaster says 'assistant' he generally means 'person who hangs out with him and gives him somebody to banter with' ]

[He nods a little, exasperated at his younger version]

I'm afraid I wasn't, and aren't. Currently.

[But! That provides him with a perfect jumping-off point]

Your file specifies that you need to have someone to play games with and I wasn't...aware of that until I read it.

As you can probably guess from this last flood, I don't really..understand a lot about games. And I'd like for you to teach me, if that will help you graduate.

Oh, I don't have to play them! I can, but a Grandmaster generally presides over them rather than participate.

[ ...A little, light shrug. ]

It's better if I'm the one that set it up, of course. There's degrees. But yeah. And sure, I can teach you! You liked those games we watched in the common room; it's not like you don't have it in you.

[He gives a bit of a weak smile]

You say that as if there's more than one.

All right - I'd like that. It might actually be more beneficial to the both of us. You need interesting stimulation, I need to...apparently be more sociably likable.

[Hang on, he's balancing the file in one crooked elbow while trying to work/type on his datapad]

This could work but we may need more people. Who's the closest person you're friends with on this ship?

Well...I like everybody I've met. But probably you. You do have my file. You even know my birth name now!

[He smiles, but it's a worried smile. Hux has only a few friends himself; how is he going to teach the Grandmaster something he barely knows?]

'En Dwi Gast' - am I pronouncing that right?

[ It's okay, Hux; he's going to teach you how to party. Not like a normal person. Like an interesting person. ]

That's right. I prefer the Grandmaster.

[ The only person who really calls him that anymore is his brother, and usually just to annoy him. ]

[A nod; he makes a note of that, even though he could probably have guessed that already]

I'll be sure to remember that.

So that leaves...well, pretty much the rest of your file. I can show you it now or I can speak about a plan or we could talk about what you may have in mind for your future. Whichever you prefer.

Well, I know what's probably in it if it's all about me, but I'd like to look at it eventually. Now's not necessary.

[ In fact that just sounds kind of boring when he normally keeps an assistant to summarize this stuff anyway. ]

So you have a plan?

[Hux nods, and here he actually brightens into a genuine smile because this is what he's best at. Not games, not making friends; planning for every eventuality]

Several, actually. Broken out in one-and-three-month intervals.

Oh, so you're looking to get rid of me quick.

[ He sounds almost amused. ]

[He gives a bark of laughter, sounding more genuine than he had when he first walked in]

I'm looking to get you your freedom back.

What freedom did I lose?

[ He pops an infinity-maltball in his mouth and offers the bag to him. No, he hasn't lost this yet. ]

[He glances at the bag, and when he can't identify the food, he shakes his head to politely decline. Hux trusts the Grandmaster enough where he doesn't think he'd poison him but at the same time, he's working right now and he doesn't do very good with distractions or unfamiliar foods that he might be allergic to]

Freedom of travel. You're imprisoned here until the Admiral permits you to leave.

.....You understand that, right?

This is the most traveling I've done in, like, a million years, and that's just because my bedroom is in a place that perceivably moves beyond the complex gravitational pull of a single extra-dimensional planet.

[ He shrugs. ]

I'm enjoying myself.

[ Sometimes. Most of the time. He's actually pretty un-enriched. ]

....Really?

Because you were the ruler of your own planet. Now you're regulated to a bedroom.

A very nice bedroom, but a bedroom nonetheless.

Yeeeeah, but like -- half the people on my planet just disappeared. So that's even fewer people to play.

Also I learned fairly quick that when I go back I'll be picking up where I left off. Why not take a vacation? See how people entertain themselves in multiple universes? Hell, I bet there aren't even Elders in some of these universes we stop into. How crazy is that?

[He looks. Confused]

Half the people on your planet disappeared? That's..horrifying. What happened to them?

If I had to guess? One certain Mad Titan who was on the hunt for a bunch of ancient powerful artifacts almost as ancient and powerful as I am finally got them all and used them to cull half the living beings in the universe.

[ Glancing up at nothing as though reminded of something. ]

...Come to think of it, I think my brother, the Collector, had to have had at least one of them. That's concerning.

Anyway.

[ This is probably the most honest he's been about his situation since he got here. ]

I assume that's actually why I wound up here. It's easily the only way he could have killed me and if you're alive you've got a 50/50 chance of getting caught in it.

[He stares back at him, a little haunted and disturbed]

I'm sorry, I'm still struggling to understand. You. Potentially your brother. And half the people in the universe?

I murdered trillions, but it's still difficult to grasp. I think you may be underreacting.

General.

[ He reaches over and pats his hand, all without really looking at him, because yeah, that's probably the first time he's admitted out loud that he may have died. ]

When you're from the beginning of your universe, you don't really sweat the fact that people die. Unless it's me. Because that's supposed to be virtually impossible.

[ There's a reason other than arrogance that he wasn't too worried that he was on the losing side of an uprising on Sakkar. Games end. There are usually losers. That's how they work. ]

But yeah. Half the universe. Gone in a snap.

[ He's being hyperbolic; he doesn't actually know that's literally how it happened. ]

[An exhale.]

I suppose, when put in that kind of perspective it makes sense. I was going to ask why, but any creature with 'Mad' as an adjective in their name must not have all their senses properly aligned. And it doesn't really line up with our original discussion.

Yeah, they don't exactly call him The Perfectly Reasonable Titan Who Comes Up With the Best Plans for a reason. My understanding is he'd been practicing his policy of halving populations on multiple planets across many systems for...quite some time now. My brother could tell you more; Sakkar doesn't really get pulled into those things normally. ...It's usually the opposite, in fact.

And that's by design, is it?

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