video;

[brushoff]

Story time, boys and girls. [ said in a sarcastic tone of voice, as Dorian leans back in a chair. He's filming this from his apartment in Maurtia Falls—the wall behind him is completely blank, no pictures and no mirrors. Physically, he looks fine (doesn't he always?), though his hair's a bit of a mess and there's just something in Dorian's eyes that screams "I am so fucking done with this." ]

Since arriving here over a year ago, I've been attacked, immolated, had my hand bitten off, coerced to jump off a building, beaten up, manipulated into hallucinating people from home, immolated again, and beaten up again—all of this from different people. A few days ago, I was gassed and then someone attempted to blind me by slicing my eyes open with a knife. [ said all too casually, as if he's talking about the weather. ] The funny thing is? All these incidents were caused by different people.

Add in me, who killed someone while hallucinating, and what's our common thread? We're all ticking time bombs, just waiting for somebody to flip the switch and watch us go off. I'm starting to think that the Porter picks people less for who would make a good hero and more of who would make a good weapon. [ He makes a finger gun and points it at the screen. Thankfully, Dorian's a bit too dignified to make a 'pew' noise as he mimics firing said finger gun. ] Just point and click, while the potentially psychotic people with potentially lethal superpowers get rid of your problems.

And before you point out that some people were possessed by the Hornets when they beat me up or made me jump of a roof, I know... [ and there's a pause, while he counts on his hands, ] four people who definitely killed someone back home, myself not included, and at least five people who it really wouldn't surprise me if they did. Probably more—I really need to make some less trigger-happy friends. Considering there's about two hundred of us tops, that's still a worrying amount.

[ He fixes the camera with a lovely little tense smile. ] Food for thought. [ there's a pause, as Dorian thinks things over. Is he missing anything? ] Oh! New people, hullo there, my name's Dorian Gray and yes, the swear-ins are usually this terrible, though this one was particularly nasty. Anybody know who caused it?

Comments

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[superposition]

[HOO BOY does this topic hit a nerve... it's a little on the nose. So instead he's going to focus on the part that pissed him off second most.]

So we're just going to gloss over the part where you killed someone? You could at least pretend to feel bad about it.

[Although he's more angry that he's apparently the first person to mention it.]

permavid!

[brushoff]

I'm Dorian Gray, [ said as if that's expectation enough. ] And besides, I was possessed at the time. I wouldn't have killed her if I was in my right mind.

permatext

[superposition]

[The name's familiar, but Qubit's never been a literature guy, so he doesn't recall anything about the story beyond "guy with magic portrait." Furthermore, namedropping yourself is a douchey move to begin with.]

Yes, I heard your name the first time. If that's supposed to mean something to me, it doesn't.

[brushoff]

[ spoiler alert, Quibt: Dorian's a douche. ]

Oh my God, read a book every once in a while!

[superposition]

[............ yeah okay he kinda hates this kid already. also doesn't really believe he's that Dorian Gray, just someone who named himself after him, which makes him a liberal arts snob on top of everything else.]

Let me rephrase. I know the name, I just don't care. Just about anything can explode under the right conditions. What's despicable is looking at the aftermath and thinking, "oh, I wasn't in my right mind, so I did nothing wrong."

[brushoff]

Would it make you feel better if I said I was sorry? [ he's straight up teasing. just like, 100% teasing. there is no way he will say he's sorry. ]

[superposition]

Only if you actually were.

[brushoff]

Pity for you then. [ cause yeah. he's not. ]