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[They way they met was much more violent, but that was many years ago. Now, Corvo remains royal protector, but he does much more than that. He coordinates many things pertaining to security around Dunwall Tower. After what happened all those years ago and then again when Delilah attacked, it became difficult to trust such work to anyone else. Not to mention many lives were lost during the assault, so everyone was pulling a little extra weight these days.]
Not exactly.
[Corvo dips his pen into the ink and adds his signature to a document.]
But I don't think you have the strength to leave. You won't get very far, anyway. You're still recovering, Daud.
[ He can't argue with that. Even remaining upright in this chair takes undue effort, and making it back to his room - if he can find it again - is liable to be a struggle. That's a concern for later, though. He can only manage one thing at a time (because he's ill, he tells himself; he hopes).
(Something that's been nagging at him since he awoke, since he first began exploring the halls: his connection with the Void feels... off. It'd been ragged since he first came into contact with the artifact, but now it's gone hollow. Quiet, maybe. He doesn't know what to make of that. It's another worry he doesn't have the energy to handle. Later, maybe. Later.)
He watches Corvo for a moment, considering his options, considering the familiarity of Corvo's speech, the truth of it. Consider the fact that he's here, alive at all. ]
I don't—
[ '—have any memory of coming here,' but he isn't going to say that. ]
What did you do to me.
[ It's the closest he can come to asking what happened. ]
[ That sour look twists just a little further before Daud glances away, sniffs. He can't deny the likelihood of what Corvo's said, given the staggering change in how he feels, given the fact that he was able to walk to this room, at all. (Given the fact that he's still breathing. Given the fact that he hadn't died on Billie's ship.)
What he can't work out is why. Or what he now owes this man (owes the Empress, maybe, for so much as permitting him to be here). He doesn't care for all of the uncertainties. He doesn't like what this means for his plans (are they still his plans? they must be, though at the moment they feel almost distant). He wishes Billie were here.
Folding his arms, Daud sinks back against the chair. It's half an attempt convey irritation, half a way of finding a position that takes less effort to maintain. ]
I'm sure you had your reasons.
[ Look, Corvo, he'll thank you when he feels a little less discombobulated and a lot less suspicious. Well. Maybe he'll thank you. Possibly. ]
What were my reasons for sparing your life all those years ago?
[Corvo can't really say for sure what his reasons were except that he wasn't willing to shed Daud's blood, even if he had plenty of reasons why he should do it.
Not everyone is after something. Some people just do things because they're the right thing to do. Corvo tries to be a good example, though his daughter is grown up now and makes up her own mind about things.]
[ Corvo gets a pointed glance at that before Daud looks away again, not caring for the question, not caring for the way it leaves him feeling almost vulnerable. Because it's true, this is twice he has Corvo Attano to credit for his survival. And he can't say he understands or wants to understand the reason behind either instance. ]
I'm in no mood for riddles, Corvo.
[ To be fair, he's never in the mood for riddles. (And speaking of riddles, speaking of cryptic fucking bullshit, it occurs to Daud that a certain smirking bastard might be watching this, now. Is probably watching this, musing superior. 'Laugh while you can, you bastard,' but the thought's half-hearted, lacking fire. )]
It's a riddle I'm not sure I ever knew the answer to, Daud.
[In that moment, Corvo simply saw fit to spare Daud's life. Maybe after all of the missions he'd been on and seeing other ways of handling things, his thirst for revenge had been tempered. It's difficult to say why a man does what he does in an instant of such gravity as that moment was for the two of them.]
You may be right about that.
[And so here Daud was, in Corvo's company, still breathing, even though Daud was never supposed to come back.]
[ He'll accept the response without question. Much as he's wondered over Corvo's reasons, there's no point in digging that day up all over again. No point in searching for answers that can offer no real gain. ]
I haven't decided.
[ It's better than the 'None of your business' that almost reached voicing. It's easier to say than the closer truth, which is that he doesn't know, can't begin to know. He still has his mission - does he? - but his memory of what's been done and what remains is cluttered, unable to be sorted. Not that he's about to say as much to Corvo. (And what would he do, beyond that mission? If he had the time, now that he might have the time and opportunity? Go back to his efforts at escape, maybe. Do his best to fade away while still alive. It's nothing he wants to think about.) ]
I believe I have work left undone.
[ Spoken with more certainty than he feels. And there's a thought: if his health continues to improve, he may just be able to go after the Outsider himself. Leave Billie out of this... Only, no, he can't touched that damned blade. Can go with Billie, maybe, but still can't do this on his own.
It's aggravating. It isn't anything he wants (isn't, and it is). (Isn't anything Billie should be made to face.) Only it's necessary. Doesn't he believe that? He had believed it. Thinks he maybe still does. ]
[ It's a noteworthy question - one that might suggest something about Corvo - but Daud only stares at Corvo, deadpan. ]
I'm not looking for death.
[ He'd been trying to make a life for himself when the nightmares began, when he first realized what had to be done. That the Outsider had to be killed and he would be the one to do it, or to make it somehow happen. Ever since that realization, his life's been only a narrow-focused search for the blade that'll end the bastard. The blade he and Billie were so close to finding. (The blade that some, inexplicably, had nearly killed him.)
(There's a question: If it's true that they've healed something in him, that he's no longer making a fast approach to death, is there some chance of living beyond his mission? And if so, what will he do with the time? What would he possibly do?) ]
And I've had more than my share of fighting.
[ Recently, too. How many times had he entered that ring? He'd never known, never been able to keep track of anything in the baths, much as their contraption ached his mind, much as it tore him apart at every moment, pulling himself away from himself. ]
[ He shakes his head; that isn't the point, Corvo. You're missing the point. ]
I'm not looking for death, but if death finds me, so be it.
[ He's ready. Almost died once as it is, so what's one more deathly encounter? (True, he'd rather live. But at a certain point living's no longer an option. And he'd forfeited his right to live when he killed all those people, all those years ago. ]
He has to be killed, Corvo. Whatever you think, whatever your Empress believes, the bastard needs to be killed.
[ A moment's irritation transforms slowly into a ghosting smirk. All right, Corvo. All right.
It isn't the worst thing in the world to hear. ]
Huh.
You do as you see fit.
[ Inside, he's still half-coiled, waiting for Corvo to protest against his mission, waiting for some argument or some scheme to keep Daud marooned inside the tower. Only it's beginning to look as if - is it possible? - that won't happen. As if Daud really will be free to go (and return?) as he pleases.
Maybe Corvo realizes there's no stopping what's coming. Maybe he knows it needs to be done.
Or maybe this is all a fever dream, and Daud's still sunk within delirium. ]
If you don't intend to stop me, I'll offer no further complaints.
[ Okay so that might be unlikely. But, uh. It's a nice thought? ]
[Corvo knows that there's no stopping Daud if he's set on something. Sure, Corvo could try, but it would be a lot of time and energy wasted on both their parts. Besides, as a man who was once driven by revenge, he knows nothing would have come between him and that revenge. The same could be said for Daud.]
Good. I've enough complaints on my desk already.
[Corvo sweeps a hand over the papers to highlight the nature of his agenda today. Daud may, indeed, come and go as he pleases, but Corvo will certainly be watching him.]
[ Daud can't say what he thinks of Corvo's position. Can't say what it'd be to stand at the beck and call of so much business, and has never known how to measure Corvo's accomplishments against his own. (Accomplishments? No, his life had been mostly built one mistake upon another. He's going to change that, though. When he ends the black-eyed bastard, he'll change it.) ]
My daughter is empress, and she trusts me above all others. Especially after some of our own turned against us and helped put Delilah on the throne.
[Emily's trust will not be given away easily again, and until she finds those she feels she can keep confidence with, Corvo is going to suffer the weight of many responsibilities that keep the country running.]
It's hard to find honest people. Those who climb the ranks are too ambitious, but they wouldn't be moving up if they weren't.
[ All right, maybe that didn't need to be said, but the words out out of his mouth, short and almost snapped, before he thinks twice about them.
And Delilah. There's that name again, the one Corvo had mentioned on the Wale (he remembers the conversation clearly, sick as he'd been, half-convinced as he'd been that Corvo was no more than a spirit). The one that rings all too familiar, only it can't have been, can it? ]
This Delilah. How did she...?
[ He trails off because the question he wants to ask is something more like 'Who was she' or 'Was she a witch' or 'Tell me this isn't what I think it is.' ]
[Corvo isn't phased by Daud's bristly attitude. It's practically expected of him.]
She received help from the Duck of Serkonos. I lack every detail. Delilah cast a spell that trapped me in stone. It was as though moments had passed for me while Emily took back our kingdom.
[If Daud wants all the details, he can attempt to ask Emily herself.]
[ Daud will gnaw off his own foot before he asks Emily anything. It’s bad enough to share a space with her, to risk running into the clearest remaining reminder of what he’d done. (To inflict himself on the one he’d most wronged and saved, both.) He has no right to ask her any such casual questions.
And he isn’t going to drop the subject just yet. ]
You're sure Delilah's dead.
[ Because if she’d returned, it’s hard to believe she’s been silenced for good. Perhaps he should have killed her in the first place; sending her into that painting apparently hadn't been enough. ]
[ He tenses discernibly, eyes narrowing in clear displeasure. ]
That won't be enough.
[ It hadn't been last time, had it? Assuming this is the Delilah he'd known. Assuming she'd somehow found her way back into the world. What's to stop her from tearing free again? The woman's willful, clever, and capable beyond speaking; if she'd freed herself once, she could do it again. ]
She isn't—
If she's who I think she is, that woman's not one to be kept down.
[ It's an understatement, but he's not especially interested in cracking open the subject of Delilah or his life in Dunwall. It all risks exposing too much, leading back to conflicts he's not certain he wants to discuss with this man.
Still. Still, if Corvo's going to understand the danger Delilah poses, it might be necessary to share something more. Maybe in this case it's worth the risk of breaking open fraught recollections.
He doesn't like it. He scans the room, weighing his options. And finally, after several moments of silence— ]
[It's clear Daud knows a lot more than he's actually giving to him. Why Daud is not being forthcoming, Corvo isn't sure about. It's mildly suspicious, but Daud is also a man of many secrets.]
Half a story does me no good, Daud.
[Maybe Daud will feel inclined to tell Corvo more about his previous experience with such a dangerous woman.]
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Not exactly.
[Corvo dips his pen into the ink and adds his signature to a document.]
But I don't think you have the strength to leave. You won't get very far, anyway. You're still recovering, Daud.
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(Something that's been nagging at him since he awoke, since he first began exploring the halls: his connection with the Void feels... off. It'd been ragged since he first came into contact with the artifact, but now it's gone hollow. Quiet, maybe. He doesn't know what to make of that. It's another worry he doesn't have the energy to handle. Later, maybe. Later.)
He watches Corvo for a moment, considering his options, considering the familiarity of Corvo's speech, the truth of it. Consider the fact that he's here, alive at all. ]
I don't—
[ '—have any memory of coming here,' but he isn't going to say that. ]
What did you do to me.
[ It's the closest he can come to asking what happened. ]
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I saved your life.
[What did he do? More than Corvo had to do. Probably more than Daud deserves after the things he's done.]
I brought you here. Saw that you had the best doctors. Cared for you. All so you can sit there and give me that sour look on your face.
[So much for appreciation. You're welcome, Daud.]
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What he can't work out is why. Or what he now owes this man (owes the Empress, maybe, for so much as permitting him to be here). He doesn't care for all of the uncertainties. He doesn't like what this means for his plans (are they still his plans? they must be, though at the moment they feel almost distant). He wishes Billie were here.
Folding his arms, Daud sinks back against the chair. It's half an attempt convey irritation, half a way of finding a position that takes less effort to maintain. ]
I'm sure you had your reasons.
[ Look, Corvo, he'll thank you when he feels a little less discombobulated and a lot less suspicious. Well. Maybe he'll thank you. Possibly. ]
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[Corvo can't really say for sure what his reasons were except that he wasn't willing to shed Daud's blood, even if he had plenty of reasons why he should do it.
Not everyone is after something. Some people just do things because they're the right thing to do. Corvo tries to be a good example, though his daughter is grown up now and makes up her own mind about things.]
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I'm in no mood for riddles, Corvo.
[ To be fair, he's never in the mood for riddles. (And speaking of riddles, speaking of cryptic fucking bullshit, it occurs to Daud that a certain smirking bastard might be watching this, now. Is probably watching this, musing superior. 'Laugh while you can, you bastard,' but the thought's half-hearted, lacking fire. )]
I expect you had enough blood on your hands.
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[In that moment, Corvo simply saw fit to spare Daud's life. Maybe after all of the missions he'd been on and seeing other ways of handling things, his thirst for revenge had been tempered. It's difficult to say why a man does what he does in an instant of such gravity as that moment was for the two of them.]
You may be right about that.
[And so here Daud was, in Corvo's company, still breathing, even though Daud was never supposed to come back.]
What will you do now?
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I haven't decided.
[ It's better than the 'None of your business' that almost reached voicing. It's easier to say than the closer truth, which is that he doesn't know, can't begin to know. He still has his mission - does he? - but his memory of what's been done and what remains is cluttered, unable to be sorted. Not that he's about to say as much to Corvo. (And what would he do, beyond that mission? If he had the time, now that he might have the time and opportunity? Go back to his efforts at escape, maybe. Do his best to fade away while still alive. It's nothing he wants to think about.) ]
I believe I have work left undone.
[ Spoken with more certainty than he feels. And there's a thought: if his health continues to improve, he may just be able to go after the Outsider himself. Leave Billie out of this... Only, no, he can't touched that damned blade. Can go with Billie, maybe, but still can't do this on his own.
It's aggravating. It isn't anything he wants (isn't, and it is). (Isn't anything Billie should be made to face.) Only it's necessary. Doesn't he believe that? He had believed it. Thinks he maybe still does. ]
Unless you intend to prevent me.
sorry this took so long :/
[And Corvo is sure Daud will be stubborn as hell until the moment he does leave the Tower.]
Your work will probably kill you. I have a feeling that's what you want. Better to go out fighting, hm?
[Corvo can understand that feeling. He doesn't like the idea of wasting away as an old man, but that may be his fate due to the luxury he lives in.]
<3 <3
I'm not looking for death.
[ He'd been trying to make a life for himself when the nightmares began, when he first realized what had to be done. That the Outsider had to be killed and he would be the one to do it, or to make it somehow happen. Ever since that realization, his life's been only a narrow-focused search for the blade that'll end the bastard. The blade he and Billie were so close to finding. (The blade that some, inexplicably, had nearly killed him.)
(There's a question: If it's true that they've healed something in him, that he's no longer making a fast approach to death, is there some chance of living beyond his mission? And if so, what will he do with the time? What would he possibly do?) ]
And I've had more than my share of fighting.
[ Recently, too. How many times had he entered that ring? He'd never known, never been able to keep track of anything in the baths, much as their contraption ached his mind, much as it tore him apart at every moment, pulling himself away from himself. ]
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[Corvo knows Daud is stubborn and will continue to reject that idea, no matter how often Corvo suggests it.
He dips his quill into the ink and signs another form on his desk.]
But if you must, return here when it's done. Better to live your days in comfort here where I can keep an eye on you.
[Corvo's not going to pretend it's all charity. Daud would see right through that.]
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I'm not looking for death, but if death finds me, so be it.
[ He's ready. Almost died once as it is, so what's one more deathly encounter? (True, he'd rather live. But at a certain point living's no longer an option. And he'd forfeited his right to live when he killed all those people, all those years ago. ]
He has to be killed, Corvo. Whatever you think, whatever your Empress believes, the bastard needs to be killed.
[ After a moment and an incredulous glance: ]
You don't need to keep an eye on me.
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At the last part, Corvo looks up and smiles a bit.]
I don't care how old or weak you look. You're not fooling me with that. I'd have a knife on me if I was standing at your deathbed.
[Because no matter how old Daud gets, Corvo is never going to underestimate him.]
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It isn't the worst thing in the world to hear. ]
Huh.
You do as you see fit.
[ Inside, he's still half-coiled, waiting for Corvo to protest against his mission, waiting for some argument or some scheme to keep Daud marooned inside the tower. Only it's beginning to look as if - is it possible? - that won't happen. As if Daud really will be free to go (and return?) as he pleases.
Maybe Corvo realizes there's no stopping what's coming. Maybe he knows it needs to be done.
Or maybe this is all a fever dream, and Daud's still sunk within delirium. ]
If you don't intend to stop me, I'll offer no further complaints.
[ Okay so that might be unlikely. But, uh. It's a nice thought? ]
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Good. I've enough complaints on my desk already.
[Corvo sweeps a hand over the papers to highlight the nature of his agenda today. Daud may, indeed, come and go as he pleases, but Corvo will certainly be watching him.]
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You're kept busy.
[ Daud can't say what he thinks of Corvo's position. Can't say what it'd be to stand at the beck and call of so much business, and has never known how to measure Corvo's accomplishments against his own. (Accomplishments? No, his life had been mostly built one mistake upon another. He's going to change that, though. When he ends the black-eyed bastard, he'll change it.) ]
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[Emily's trust will not be given away easily again, and until she finds those she feels she can keep confidence with, Corvo is going to suffer the weight of many responsibilities that keep the country running.]
It's hard to find honest people. Those who climb the ranks are too ambitious, but they wouldn't be moving up if they weren't.
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[ All right, maybe that didn't need to be said, but the words out out of his mouth, short and almost snapped, before he thinks twice about them.
And Delilah. There's that name again, the one Corvo had mentioned on the Wale (he remembers the conversation clearly, sick as he'd been, half-convinced as he'd been that Corvo was no more than a spirit). The one that rings all too familiar, only it can't have been, can it? ]
This Delilah. How did she...?
[ He trails off because the question he wants to ask is something more like 'Who was she' or 'Was she a witch' or 'Tell me this isn't what I think it is.' ]
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She received help from the Duck of Serkonos. I lack every detail. Delilah cast a spell that trapped me in stone. It was as though moments had passed for me while Emily took back our kingdom.
[If Daud wants all the details, he can attempt to ask Emily herself.]
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And he isn’t going to drop the subject just yet. ]
You're sure Delilah's dead.
[ Because if she’d returned, it’s hard to believe she’s been silenced for good. Perhaps he should have killed her in the first place; sending her into that painting apparently hadn't been enough. ]
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[And his daughter's word is good enough for Corvo.]
She's been trapped within a spell. A fantasy. From what I understand of it, Delilah should be content to waste away there.
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That won't be enough.
[ It hadn't been last time, had it? Assuming this is the Delilah he'd known. Assuming she'd somehow found her way back into the world. What's to stop her from tearing free again? The woman's willful, clever, and capable beyond speaking; if she'd freed herself once, she could do it again. ]
She isn't—
If she's who I think she is, that woman's not one to be kept down.
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You sound like you know her well.
[Maybe Daud would like to explain.]
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[ It's an understatement, but he's not especially interested in cracking open the subject of Delilah or his life in Dunwall. It all risks exposing too much, leading back to conflicts he's not certain he wants to discuss with this man.
Still. Still, if Corvo's going to understand the danger Delilah poses, it might be necessary to share something more. Maybe in this case it's worth the risk of breaking open fraught recollections.
He doesn't like it. He scans the room, weighing his options. And finally, after several moments of silence— ]
When I was living in Dunwall.
She and her coven—
I know what she's capable of.
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Half a story does me no good, Daud.
[Maybe Daud will feel inclined to tell Corvo more about his previous experience with such a dangerous woman.]
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