Go to Hell? I'm Already Here (Wrio x )

[CRYBABY]

Time moves differently in Meropide. Without the chiming of the loud speaker to indicate a new day, prisoners and staff alike would be none the wiser when the sun rises and sets. One could easily be caught in a time hole, claiming an hour as three– or worse, a day as a week. The only indicator of life above being when the lift drops off a new prisoner, or Neuvillette sends an envoy to bring Wriostheley documents that need signatures– the occasional note slipped in asking how Sigewinne was doing. She was his favorite, the Chief Justice was like a father to all Melusines, so the Duke was never surprised to see an inquiry. He kept the reply short and sweet, making sure Neuvillette remained none the wiser to what Wrioethesley and Sigewinne enjoyed during their free time.

Sigewinne started working as the nurse in Meropide shortly after Wriothesley took over as administrator, it had been her dream but Neuvillette was very much against sending down such a cute, innocent (yeah, right), kind hearted little Melusine to live such a solitary life. With the Duke down there, the Chief Justice knew that if Sige got lonely, she could find comfort in the raven. Little did Nuevillette know that would be taken way out of context. The first time Wriostheley and Sige slept together it hadn’t been his idea, hell the man really didn’t think having sex with a Melusine was even possible (he doesn’t know what parts they got !! it’s not his business!), so when she came on to him after complaining of insomnia Wriothesley was caught off guard. At first he tried to turn her down but those large pouty eyes won him over in no time.

Honestly though the Duke felt kinda bad knowing that Neuvillette had entrusted him with the care of his precious Sigewinne– having only agreed to let her work in Meropide because he trusted Wriothesley so. But not bad enough to stop. Not only did Meropide warp every concept of time, it also had a real bad habit of inducing loneliness. It ran so well independently that it felt like an entirely separate city… no, more like its own country on a distant continent. At first this didn’t bother Wriothesley, when he accepted the job as Administrator of the Fortress, he was so focused on work, on making Meropide a place that fostered true rehabilitation and not just a place for punishment where criminals were expected to rot and die, that his personal life was so far from him it wasn’t even in the back of his mind. Now, with Meropide working in such harmony he found himself doing a lot of maintenance work which meant he actually had time to himself.

He picked up a lot of new hobbies, he got really good at TCG that even the General Mahamatra himself–if Wriothesley even knew who that was–would be impressed but no matter how many games he won or how much time he spent wrecking Sige nothing seemed to fill the hole in his chest. He wanted something more meaningful, something he could easily control with no threat of consequence, someone who’s life purpose would be serving him in more ways than one.

Presently, Wriothesley laid in bed with his cock erect in his hand, stroking it lazily to the mental image of fucking some desperate bitch so deep he’d be getting a call in 3 months telling him he was gonna be a father, when his personal alarm blared from his night stand. He groaned in frustration, knowing he’d have to finish quickly in the shower to not be late for work, before throwing the covers off and heading to his private bathroom. Once clean, dressed, and shaven, the Duke set out to begin his never ending shift.

Another day, another dollar. Err– another day, another Credit Coupon.

[DirtyDeku]

> Deploy Ferret.

What is it with House of the Hearth and raising a bunch of little freaks? Sure, being orphans kind of gives them some room to be not normal, but it really seemed like the majority of them came out of it more damaged than if they were all on their own. Or maybe it was what came before being taken in by The Knave? When he was taken from his mother's homeland of Inazuma, he'd been being 'raised' by a group of older men, though of course that was anything but a loving familial bond. He was more of a spectacle to them, a toy to play with and discard when they grew bored of him. He'd been starved down to a dangerous weight, 'bathed'-- had a bucket of water poured over his nude body for all to see outside-- once a week if he were lucky, had fleas and ticks crawling all over him. Most frustrating, his disability had gone completely ignored, and he knew only a handful of signs that he'd learned from his mother before she died.

In Snezhnaya, his fleas and ticks froze right off and he quickly became aware of the dangers of staying still for too long. He trained rigorously and practiced signs until he thought his body would fall apart, was fed small portions until he no longer risked eating himself to death, eventually gained The Tsaritsa's favor and was gifted a Cryo Vision. He specialized in missions where stealth was more important, being seen and not heard. His lethality was evident from the start, and he gained quite a bit of attention from Father for his obedient nature. He gained rank among her children quickly, being sent further and further from Snezhnaya to take care of business.

Which is what led him to Fontaine, and of course, the Fortress of Meropide. He was sent in behind Lyney and his siblings to investigate Tartaglia's disappearance as well, blending in far easier than the triplets and communicating via sign making it quite easy to say things that others wouldn't pick up on so easily. Reading lips was a further benefit, though of course it meant he had to be within a certain distance to be able to make out anything. But being deaf meant that he could simply stare as if he didn't get what somebody was trying to tell him when he was lurking too close. He did just kind of... look like his head was empty, even if it was far from it.

Upon being woken up by the specialized alarm clock that buzzed instead of made noise, he went about his morning routine and then headed to the Production Zone. His small hands were pretty useful for the jobs that needed more accurate attention, so he was almost always given work putting together smaller devices. Feel bad now, Iphone users? Your luxury cellphone is being made by ferrets! Not being distracted by his fellow inmates speaking was also a benefit, since he could just get his work done and then fuck off to slink around looking for anything Lyney and the other two might have missed.

[CRYBABY]

Ferret deployed successfully.

Wriothesley was aware of the harbinger Tartaglia's disappearance, how could he not be considering his position as warden, but to be honest he felt like this was a bit above his pay grade. As just one man, with two eyes that didn't work so well, and two ears, how was he expected to know everything that was going on in the fortress? Some regard him as an all-knowing presence, but really he was just some guy (affectionate). With that being said, he wasn't really aware of the Knave's deployment of her children to investigate the disappearance of her colleague. The magic twins and their scuba baby brother stuck out like a sore thumb down here, not only were they theatrical but their outfits were a dead giveaway that they just did not belong. As administrator it wasn't Wriothesley's place to stereotype especially when the short background search into the siblings concluded that they had legitimate sentences to serve. When Nicholas was sent down he blended in better than anyone could've imagined. Maybe Arlecchino should've sent him in first.

The Duke’s day was uneventful, he ran through paperwork with a breeze, had lunch with Sigewinne at the cafe, spent time inspecting complaints from inmates, and lastly followed up with a few of the guys who would do anything for some some credit coupons–including snitching on their fellow prisoners. Normally this wasn’t a tactic that Wriothesley would stoop to, he was a socialist by nature, but with the disappearance of Tartaglia weighing heavily on Fontaine’s reputation he figured it wouldn’t hurt to try to get some answers.

Most of what the inmates had to say was useless– a few guards caught sneaking off together, a bit of TCG gambling, Sigewinne’s questionable nursing practices– all stuff he already knew about. The Duke was just about to give up and return to his comfortable suite for the evening when a shadowy figure caught his eye. Had Wriothesley blinked he would have missed it, hell the likelihood he would’ve missed it anyway just from his poor eyesight was high, but by the grace of Focalors herself (vomit) he had seen it. Not only had he seen it but he decided not to chalk the phantom up to being just another hallucination caused by his vision loss. The man quietly approached the area where he saw the shadow slink off to, when he rounded the corner he was met with a surprise.

[DirtyDeku]

Nicolas being alone didn't necessarily mean he was up to something, except that in this case it definitely did. Wriothesley didn't have to know that though. As far as he was concerned, Nic was just an introverted little ferret who did as he was told and was only here because he didn't know calling a Melusine an it was a crime. Seriously, though? The Melusine hadn't even seemed to really care that much. Oh, well. He could be serving time for how many men and women he's murdered over the years under The Knave's command. Though, only one or two of those crimes have been committed on Fontainian soil. Did that even matter? He should've studied up on his LeapFrog before entering Meropide.

He could've been at the Pankration Ring, sure, but he didn't really enjoy the bitching that came with it when somebody as small as him could put a grown man on his ass before he even knew what hit him. Plus, it was hard to stop himself before it turned into a murder rather than a regular sparring. The Knave would probably turn him inside out and use him like a sock puppet if he added murder onto his sentence-- he was a useful child. She couldn't risk losing power over him at a time like this.

So, being alone was really the only option for him when he wasn't working. It gave him time to think about what he's found out without having to worry about deciphering what his fellow Fatui were saying, especially if they were all three speaking at once. Not to mention they sucked at taking hints from body language alone, so he noticed exchanges of Coupons or other substances or objects much easier. He just had to piece them together with who and where, and possibly for what reason if the persons involved were people he'd been keeping an eye on from a distance.

He was perched ontop of a pile of boxes when the Duke rounded the corner and spotted him, causing him to look up from the floor and blink owlishly. What's His Grace doing in this empty corner of the Fortress all of a sudden? He doubts anybody mentioned he was there, considering-- well, nobody else was there to see him. Probably just there at what happened to be the wrong time, caught via an unlucky "might as well check..." moment. Damn. He continues to look with that brainless gaze of his, lifting a hand in a wordless greeting.

[CRYBABY]

Wriothesley's vision hadn't always been this bad. When he was growing up he was simply colorblind, but the older he got and the more time he spent in Meropide the weaker his eyesight became. At first he wasn't too concerned considering he could still see blurred detail, being able to make out a figure or a person with ease, but with the passage of time and the addition of hallucinations to the list of issues he had, he was growing impatient with his condition. The hallucinations didn't come until about a year ago when he noticed his vision deteriorating further, the Duke could now only make out shadows and movement; having to learn to rely on his other senses was a topic for another day. When he asked Sigewinne about this--after a particularly frightening encounter with a shadowy figure that wasn't even there--she put on her medical cap and explained that it was his brain's adjustment to significant vision loss. The good hearted Melusine tried her hardest to get Wriothesley to agree to testing, to find any experimental way to fix his vision loss but the Duke found it pointless. Blindess is not curable, he'd told her.

These were the times he wished he knew where he came from, that he wasn't a discarded orphan left to scrounge the streets just to survive. He just wanted one family member he could look to for answers: Was this inherited or was he just broken?

Upon rounding the corner Wriothesley was met with the figure that had caught his eye moments ago, proving to him that this figure was real. It was clear to the raven that he wasn't familiar with this person, there was nothing about his posture or his scent that told Wriothesley that they were acquainted. Perhaps this was a new inmate or rather someone who rarely got into any trouble down here-- the less you see of the Duke in Meropide the better. At the acknowledged greeting from the other, Wriothesley put his hands on his waist and nodded his own greeting. "Hello there, what might you be up to this fine evening?"