1 - Have I made you desperate?

[lacksconviction]

[He takes his time before introducing himself, establishing the purpose of this place, the fact that his magic definitely was depleted and not coming back by any means known to him, and weighing up the odds of his escaping by the usual means, before deigning to make his first journal entry. He has taken off his ridiculous supervillain hat, for effect:]

My my, is this not an ambitious effort? Certainly, a more elaborate one than the last chamber in which I was imprisoned. To whose hospitality do I owe my gratitude, may I ask? Which one-eyed wolf has clamped these strange jaws around my throat?

[He smiles, but it's unconvincing. His eyes look strangely pained.]

Or perhaps I expect too much in assuming this a prison, rather than an arsenal of purloined weapons, or a vault to hold the spoils of war?

[A slight pause, before he decides he's giving away far too much, and clicks the communicator off.]

Comments

[mightymorbid]

I'm going to say all of the above. You'll make up your own mind about it soon enough either way.

[lacksconviction]

And what of it has your mind made? I've been told many conflicting tales, and am curious to hear more?

[mightymorbid]

Despite whatever contradictions you sense, you would probably be best served assuming that no one is directly lying to you -- unless it is through their own ignorance.

If you don't know how you got here, then your best bet is that you're an Inmate. Most that are Inmates died before coming here, or were close to it. Normally your soul would go wherever souls go in your reality. This is something of an alternative. Complete your time here and you can go back, no questions asked, and perhaps even with a few extra perks in tow.

[lacksconviction]

I was more thinking that the answers revealed more about the respondent than the place itself.

I need not ask if you are a warden.

[mightymorbid]

Unless you're very bored, at least.

I've been both in my time here.

[lacksconviction]

Hence your total confidence in the eventual success of the system. How interesting.

So what were your crimes?

[mightymorbid]

[Pointed vagueness] Excessive vision and the means to exact it.

Confidence? Not necessarily. I've seen it work, but that depends upon the Warden.

I've seen it fail on numerous occasions, too.

[lacksconviction]

'Complete my time here and then I can go back, no questions asked, and perhaps even with a few perks in tow.'

For a man bereft of confidence, you certainly make it sound easy...

Maybe with the perfect vision hindsight affords, it was easy for you?

[mightymorbid]

Took a year or two, but that's nothing to sneeze at.

And let's be specific here: Confidence in other people? Not always so much.

As for me? I've got no complaints. [shrug]

[lacksconviction]

Mm, barely a drop of rain in a vast ocean.

[Asgardians live a damn long time! He can totally hack a couple of years to get a second shot at ruining earth.]

None at all? [a slight snort] Well, I can see this place has cured you of ambition.

[mightymorbid]

Your people are long-lived, I take it?

[He shakes his head.]

Hardly. It has just granted me better focus. [Part of what he says is true, and a part is a calculated effort not to give too much away.]