maskormenace | video | a finer world, part 2

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video | a finer world, part 2

[ Does this guy ever broadcast to the network from ground level?? APPARENTLY NOT because here's Apollo with yet another video message from somewhere dizzyingly high, this time sat on top of a brightly lit neon encrusted building in the heart of Jeopardy. Over his shoulder the sun sets over the desert in a picture perfect background landscape of bright pinks and oranges, but Apollo looks pensive despite the dreamy setting. He's been keeping an eye out for the so-called ghosts, you see, and maybe remembering a few ghosts of his own in the process. ]

An old friend once told me that saving the world is no good if we leave it the way we found it. She said 'saving the day shouldn't be the same as preserving the status quo'. Because what's the point in saving the world if you make no effort to change it? To make it better than it was?

That's why I joined her team, back home. I wanted to save the world and change it for the better. None of us could have done it alone but as a group... [ He trails off, turning a little wistful. ] As a group we were formidable.

But I know most of the teams currently operating here - [ you know who you are ] - are all pretty much Registered-only affairs. And that's fine if you're the Registering type...

[ Apollo's expression turns grim. Or as grim as you can look when surrounded by neon pink signage. ]

Personally? I've got no intention of swearing my loyalty to the government just because they want tame superheroes. But I still want to make a difference and if being a so-called vigilante is what it takes, then... I guess we'll see what happens next.

So consider this an open call. Is there anyone else out there who's Unsettled and wants to do their bit to save the world?

[ And yeah, maybe change it a little bit too. He hopes you're happy, Jenny Sparks. ]

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At least I didn't say 'S.O.' - that's considerably worse.

What's the not-so-modern equivalent? 'Paramour'?

[ now it's his turn to laugh. ]

I like that one. He wouldn't object to that too stridently, I think.

After all, there's something inherently funny about the idea of being someone's boyfriend at the age of two hundred.

Is there? Nothing wrong with growing old romantically, Lestat. Whatever keeps you going.

It very well might be what keeps me going. [ a brief conversational flicker, a quiet beat. hard not to be wistful. ] I miss him constantly.

But you probably know a thing or two about what that's like. Tell me about your husband, your dear little family of overachievers.

[ Ugh. Apollo's expression falls at that, just a fraction. ]

Were overachievers. Past tense. [ He tries a pained smile. ] I'm doing the single dad thing at the moment. Wouldn't recommend it.

Oh no, but past tense is the worst tense! That's terrible, what in the world happened?

[ his hand flies to his heart! he's infinitely sympathetic! he forgets that isn't an appropriate question. but true love though. ]

[ The pained smile remains in place. Still pained, less actual smile. ]

Work, I suppose. Midnighter wasn't happy with what the team were doing and... things were difficult.

[ But even Apollo doesn't entirely believe that. He and Midnighter had been through worse, together. But 'work sucked' is an easier reply than 'I don't know'. ]

It's fine. Jenny and I are fine.

Come now. Things like that are never fine.

[ No, they never are. Apollo pauses, then corrects himself: ]

Then let's just say we could be worse.

[ They've got each other. ]

Midnighter knows where we are if he changes his mind. But I've been saying that for three years. I don't think he's going to change his mind.

[ he seems satisfied by the comparative emotional honesty. no more rebuttals, anyway. ]

I waited for over a century. You never know.

Not that I'm encouraging pining or anything.

[ Apollo's expression, still solemn, shifts a little as he lifts his brows. He's impressed by that longevity. ]

How do you manage it? Waiting all that time? My torch-bearing arm's sore after just three years, I can't imagine what a hundred must feel like.

Oh, god, don't take advice from me on that.

[ he laughs a little, shaking his head. ]

I don't know how to manage it. I'm not sure I did manage it, really, so much as survive it. It's only that when you're really in love — and I mean the excruciating, overwhelming, everyone around you thinks you need to get a grip already kind of in love — you just don't get much of a choice.

[ oh god, that's really fucking depressing. ]

Not that you're encouraging pining, or anything, [ He repeats as the pained smile resurfaces. ]

What part of that sounded encouraging?

I don't know, the fact that waiting that long even sounds achievable... [ He tails off, defeated. ] And maybe even worth the pain.

[ he shrugs. ]

Love makes us do stupid, irrational things. Sometimes they even turn out to be worth it.

Sometimes.

[ Apollo doesn't sound all that convinced. Does that even apply when your husband walks out on you, leaving you literally holding the baby? That sounds stupid and irrational, sure, but absolutely not worth it.

Apollo shakes his head. ]

I miss him too. Despite everything.

[ it's a lot easier to say after you've had a happy sort-of-ending, and he knows it. after all, he did spend about a century in the worst misery of his life. so. ]

Despite everything, that's always how it is, isn't it? Worst of all is when you start reminiscing fondly about the things that used to drive you mad, wondering if it was really so terrible...

When we were together, it was... [ GOD, all the words he wants to say are so cheesy that he can't even bring himself to say them. Apollo visibly changes his mind, swallowing whatever it is he was threatening to say and settling for: ]

It just ended badly. And it's despite that, despite everything he didn't say and didn't do - [ and didn't explain ] - I still miss him.

What did yours do to drive you mad? Was it so terrible?

[ god that's sad.

lestat is reflective, actually pausing to think about it. he's inclined to glibly mention the attempt on his life, but decides against it. after all, louis would never have done that on his own. it isn't in his nature. ]

He's inclined toward melancholy. If I have a type, it must be that. And it's hard not to take things personally, when you're vain and you love a depressive. We were both terrible to live with when we were young.

[ Apollo smiles a bit at that, despite the HORRIBLY DEPRESSING subject at hand. ]

Oh, you're vain, are you?

[ Because it's easier to focus on that bit than all the other heartbreak surrounding the entire conversation. ]

I know, I hide it very well. Just one of my many talents.

Well, at least you're self-aware enough to realise it. That's got to count for something, right?

Well, I'd hope that after two autobiographies, I might have developed some fleeting capacity for self-awareness.

Two? Next you're going to tell me they made a movie of your life as well...

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