Fifth Princess (Video)

[whitequeens]

Hello, everyone!

[Euphie certainly seems more sunny and back to her old self, but someone who knows her well can tell that her cheeriness is slightly forced. Not completely forced, but she's not quite as upbeat as she used to be.]

I hope everyone is doing well today. I'm coming to you all because I'm still looking for someone to whom I can entrust something very valuable to me.

[She links a picture of a gold and white robot, about 14 or 15 feet tall, standing in a dimly lit garage. She's clearly taken the picture herself.] This is the Lancelot, an experimental Knightmare Frame developed by the Camelot Special Research Division in my home nation, Britannia. It belongs to a dear friend of mine, but since he's not here, it seems to have been entrusted to me.

I'm not very qualified to operate it, however. I'd like to find someone honorable and trustworthy to whom I can give it. [She offers the camera a slightly sheepish smile.] It feels like a waste to leave Lancelot gathering dust, don't you think so?

Thank you, everyone. Please let me know if you can think of anyone who might be interested! Cheers!

001 | video

[doubleblind]

[The video starts with, oddly enough, no person in view, though there’s a stack of books and a pile of papers spread out on the floor. Cosima leans into the frame, grin wide and open, as she settles in front of the computer, lying down on her stomach and propping herself up on her elbows. She adjusts her glasses with one hand and waves with the other.]

Hey, everyone. I’m Cosima. And before you ask, I'm not Alison or Sarah, don't let the nearly identical faces confuse you! We're identical quintuplets, and believe me I know how crazy it sounds, the odds are so incredibly slim, it's completely improbably, but not impossible. We're living proof of that.

Anyways, I've been here a couple weeks now and I'm pretty much settled in and left with a few important questions!

[Well, in all honesty, it's more than a few. Cosima's barely stopping herself from conducting an impromptu survey. She figures, it can wait though. People might be more receptive to her more detailed surveys in the future if she starts out with something much more simple. If she can get a few people excited about intel gathering with this post that’s really all she needs. She smiles again, hands moving in small circles, displaying her practically uncontainable enthusiasm.]

So I've got three questions for everyone! [She holds up three fingers for emphasis, and begins counting them off with each question she asks.]

Number one, I'm wondering if any scientists or science inclined, would want to start a journal club of sorts? Nothing too formal. Just something fun to exchange ideas and knowledge about where science is in our different worlds and the state of science here. I'm totally willing to organize the whole thing, but I wouldn't say no to some help.

Number two! Let's talk about powers. Did you have any back home? Are super powers even a thing where you're from? Do you like your powers? I'm just curious. If you don't wanna say what they are, that's cool. We can keep things as vague or specific as you want.

And number three, what do people around here do for fun? I'm open to any and all suggestions to cure boredom.

[She ends the video the same open smile she started it with, as she unearths a pen from her scattered papers and taps it against the screen.]

012 ♍✷ VIDEO

[glowsferatu]

[ The camera opens with Rose setting up a camera in front of a couch, disappearing as soon as she’s satisfied with the position. Kanaya seems pensive, her lips drawn tight, looking at something to her left, where some low chatter can be heard. Some sort of skittering noises, and an occasional squeak. Kanaya takes a deep breath and turns her attention to the camera, as she begins. ]

Around a year ago, some of you may remember I spent time in prison for, well, costumed supervillainy. I came to the Network to confess the crimes I committed as Hobgoblin, in...what one might call an ill-advised endeavor for harsher punishment. Suffice to say, I wasn't at my best at the time, or in any way my most logical. But...I wasn't at my most truthful, either. There was much that went into that situation that I left out, mostly by deliberate obfuscation or exaggeration.

[ There's another chirp from offscreen, and Kanaya breaks her thought for a moment to look to her left and gently tap a finger against her lips. She takes another deep breath, collecting her thoughts more coherently. Stop pausing so much, Kanaya. ]

The most important facet being that the Hobgoblin was primarily the result of mental manipulation, even brainwashing, conducted on me by Norman Osborn. The elder. [ Because that will always be an important distinction.

It's at this point that Rose becomes a solidly visible figure, casting an incomprehensible look towards Kanaya, utterly oblivious to just how in frame it is. Relief is, perhaps, the best way to describe it; it's been a year that she's waited for Kanaya to cast the blame on the correct person. For as long as it lasts, at least, as Kanaya unfortunately isn't done. ]

Not that it makes me entirely innocent. He told me what to do, yes, and I was compelled to follow his directives, but it isn't as though he micromanaged the whole thing. Carrying it out was still me, still my mind determining how to arrive at the destination he dictated. [There’s a frustrated sigh, off screen, quite obviously from Rose. ]

The costume, as an example, was my design. I only created it to the parameters he desired, which isn't very different from most design jobs I take. Only, this one was in preparation to becoming the client's costumed thug. Which is really all I was. More a henchwoman than a supervillain.

And even his part in it doesn't erase the lies I told in my previous confession, of course, that's still a thing that I did. I could try to paint the reasons behind that decision, the guilt and the rationalizations. I would rather have suffered someone thinking me worse than I am than allow anyone else to make themselves a target for all of this. To keep them from experiencing what had already happened to me, or what he did to Rose through me. It was a bad plan, among many bad plans.

[ This time, Rose is very conscious of her visibility. And, a very soft interjection: ] The point is that, ultimately, Norman Osborn was the grand orchestrator in this. [ Kanaya glances at her with some surprise. She was carrying on a bit, wasn't she? ] Right. Yes, that.

What it all comes down to is that Norman Osborn was a very dangerous man. Kanaya experienced violation to a degree which is unfathomable. I allowed my ego to blindside me and I ultimately allowed myself to be manipulated and played like a well tuned instrument. We could stand here all day and count the ways in which we blame ourselves and the ways in which things could have been done differently, but none of that erases what has been done.

This was a year ago, now. In the months that followed, several imPorts aided us in an extensive investigation and in the end, Norman’s recent arrest. Notably, Norman Osborn junior was a significant help. We owe everyone involved a debt of gratitude for seeing this to its end. Unfortunately, the end being that we have also subsequently seen the senior be ported out. [ Sourly said, though it ought to be cause for some relief, later. ] If we're lucky, this world will never see his like again.

(no subject)

[inmyothertights]

[Here is Billy Kaplan. Look at how cranky and displeased he looks.]

So, Pan.

Sabriel and I met up and he was arrested today.

Just.

It's fine, okay?

He's arrested, it's fine.

It's fine.

Right.

Thanks.