♞ 003 | dictated

[fearbringer]

Hello again, everyone.

I've had a couple weeks to settle in, and have had the chance to both speak with and observe a large part of the castle's population. Now, as some already know, I want something very simple from you all: your belief. I've introduced myself--

[Here he draws an arrow back to this entry.]

-- And I've encountered plenty of you in person; now I want to call out all you skeptics who think I'm lying or playing tricks. That's right-- all of you. I'm sure we can work out something that will be convincing enough proof.

So what do you say? This will work out well for all of us, really; I'll get what I want, and you won't have to foolishly regard a fellow resident as imaginary and invisible.

[There's a lengthy pause before he adds on one more thing:]

I'm also interested in how common it is for people to show up with two losses.

I really would like my horse back, you see.

[And the nightmare sand that horse was made from, and his ability to effortlessly figure out people's worst fears. But at this point, he's staying silent about that stuff; he doesn't particularly want anybody to know that he was depowered in any way.]

Comments

[i_rule_me]

Think comin' in with more'n one thing missin' means you've got more'n the average ta lose. When I turned up, I didn' notice it at first, but I figured out that the castle took a fair handful o' my powers away from me. Not all o' 'em, jus' the ones that'd do any real damage ta this place.

[fearbringer]

Nothing that was taken would have done damage.

[i_rule_me]

Hmm, so that's out. Near as I've been able ta figure, the Castle takes from us the things we'll miss most. Don' seem ta matter if it's physical or otherwise, if it's somethin' o' value ta us, the Castle wants it, for whatever reason a bloody building wants anything.

[gottaknockhard]

[Spike missed this guy's introduction, what with all the antisocial behavior he's been trying hard to stick to, but everyone runs out of things to read and goes back to the journals eventually. The boogeyman, now.]

...So you're invisible?

[fearbringer]

Yes, but I thought it was only supposed to take one thing.

[fearbringer]

Hopefully not for much longer.

[gottaknockhard]

[He doesn't get it. Unless he has a magic ring or... something... Could be a ghost for all he knows. (Some people have been around long enough that they shouldn't be skeptics, and yet.)]

I haven't heard of a loss like that.

[i_rule_me]

You must've had a lot ta lose then, if the Castle saw fit ta take so much from ya. I've heard that people can have somethin' else taken from 'em after they've been here a while, but that's different than what you an' I are dealin' with.

[fearbringer]

No, no. That isn't a loss. In fact, it's actually far better here than it is back home.

[fearbringer]

There is absolutely no reason for it to have taken Onyx.

[Or any of that other stuff that he's not talking about.]

It's preposterous.

[molotov]

[Molotov laughs. Oh, she can read between these lines. And she can connect the dots back to her precious Bunny. Maybe no one else remembers his warnings and stories, but she does, and while Molotov normally cottons to Paradisa's darker side, she's firmly with the "heroes" on this one.

Her loyalty can often be swayed, but not when it comes to her Bunny.]

You might not be imaginary, but you will stay invisible. Most of the children are gone, and the ones that remain know they are protected by the Guardians.

[gottaknockhard]

Getting people to believe that you're the boogeyman, you mean?

[fearbringer]

[OH MY GOD NO

NO!!!!]

I'm not only talking to children here, and I've come across several that I'm perfectly visible to.

The Guardians aren't here, and if you think you can continue their reign of sanitation and eradication, you are sorely mistaken.

[fearbringer]

Exactly. I have many believers here already.

[i_rule_me]

Aye, well, it didn' need ta take The Origamist or Protozoan Porter away from me either, but it did. This whole bloody place refuses ta make sense, but we're stuck here. We'll jus' hafta get used ta not havin' what we've lost, an' try ta do what we can despite it.

[David can't help but sound like his father when he gets like this. He knows how it feels to go without, to feel so powerless that you can't do anything, and he refuses to let that weaken him again, break his resolve to keep going.]

[fearbringer]

I am, but I also refuse to be happy about it.

[molotov]

I don't have to do that. All I have to do is not be afraid. It is all any of us have to do. And I am not afraid, not of you or anything else.

[fearbringer]

Everybody is afraid of something.

[gottaknockhard]

[Why does he make that sound like a cult. Weird.]

To be fair, you could tell most of them anything and you'd get some who took your word for it.

[fearbringer]

[Pitch wishes it was tbh.]

It doesn't matter why they believe in me. It only matters that they do.

[molotov]

I have seen Hell. I fear nothing. Especially someone that can't... even... be... seen.

[i_rule_me]

Never said ya had ta be, mate. I'd say it's good ta stay good an' pissed about what this place does t'us. Use it ta pry at the seams, see what makes this place tick, see if we can't take back what this place's taken from us, aye?

My name's David, by the way. Pitch Black, right?

[fearbringer]

Ah, but you can see me. I would bet on it. You know who I am, you believe in me, and you can see me.

[fearbringer]

That's right.

[molotov]

I can see ants too, but that does not mean I never step on them.