Happily ever after with a little flavor

[missrecalled_mods]

Sponsors for the ship? So... Sponsor'ship?

Rare had an hour seemed so long on the Isle, or carried so much hope. The King and Queen spoke to all who wished to speak with them, and to Yen Sid. At one point they even opened the barrier enough to go back to the ship where they conferred inside a silence spell with Sylvando. And once more for the King and Queen to return a few minutes later. Then back on the Isle they pulled a few individuals aside once more. Oddly, not those from the Isle this time. Aqua first. Then Lea. Then Æn'kae.

Finally the hour came to an end and the King and Queen called for everyone's attention. Mal stepped forward to address everyone.

"Alright, so here is how this is going to work," she told them without preamble, once she had their attention. The wind pulled at her purple hair, pulling it like a banner behind her. "Here are the terms by which we will take the people we will name to Auradon. Each person will be assigned a sponsor. If you want to change sponsors you may let us know once we are back in Auradon. Your Sponsor will be watching out for you. You need to check in with him, her, or them, regularly. How often that will be will be between you and your sponsor, but the sponsors will report to King Ben and myself. Behave and you'll get to stay in Auradon, and we will let you know when your probation is over and you no longer need to check in with your sponsor. Break the rules of Auradon, hurt anyone, steal.... depending on how bad the act and how many were harmed, we may, with your sponsor decide to give you a warning... or you may wind up back here. This is a chance to prove that the sorting magic was wrong, that you are good people. Or can become good people given the chance." Mal looked and sounded like she was clearly waiting to make her own judgments.

"As I list each name, please go to your sponsor if he, she, or they is here. If not, come stand with the king and I."

She took a deep breath. "Xion, your sponsor is Lea." she pointed to him, suspecting that she didn't actually have to, but it was good to set a pattern.

"Utau, you are with Sylvando, who is on the ship so come join us." Then a bit of a wicked grin. "He's also keeping an eye on Nadeshiko and Nagihiko, why not let him keep an eye on all three of you," she said, knowing she was throwing fuel on an explosion waiting to happen. But she trusted Sylvando to sort out which of the kids actually belonged on the Isle.

"River you are with Æn'ki. Hope you like animals," she said with a grin that wasn't all that softer than her last as she gestured to him.

"Morgana and Emporio, you are with Aqua," she added nodding to the woman with the blue hair. "Of course we understand if any of you want to stay..."

She turned to the Headmaster. Doctor F.... We're aware of you, and your efforts, I assure you. We'll be speaking with those heading to Auradon. But for now, stay where we can see you while the rest of you, those coming with us? You have ten minutes to get your stuff if you have any and say goodbyes to anyone if you want to. Goodbyes with the headmaster will be supervised so we can make sure he is being as good as he claims these days. Alright. Ten minutes, starting now!"


**************************************************

The gathering of belongings and saying of goodbyes was accomplished in the allotted ten minutes without much trouble. Getting everyone onto the boat, then equipped with lifejackets- thankfully the boat's owner was a bit over prepared so there were enough for everyone, if only just-, and reasonably settled for the trip back took a bit longer, however. The boat was a large catamaran, painted mostly in blue and purple pastels. The life jackets however, were the standard safety orange, and so stood out as sharply as they were meant to. The water was still rough so once everyone was equipped, Sylvando advised those unused to boat travel to settle down somewhere until they were in calmer waters.

Getting back to the mainland took time as well, though not quite as much as getting there had, as the tide was in their favor for the return trip. Still, there would be plenty of time for conversation, awkward silences, or angry glaring during the trip. And Sylvando himself wouldn't be adverse to conversation, provided it didn't interfere with the steering of the vessel. Those without their sea legs would also want to be careful walking around, as the boat-while large for a catamaran- wasn't large enough to prevent it from rocking.

Once they'd reached the harbor and the Bibbity Bobber had been secured in her berth, her passengers and crew disembarked and began the trek back up to the school. There seemed to be an inordinate amount of junk that had once been clearly blocking the road before the path to and from the harbor had been cleared. All of it was the sort of things one might expect to find in a modern city- cars, sign boards, fallen trees and lamp posts, etc- but there seemed to be too much of it for the simple vanishing of the populace to account for it all. Very odd.

Once they arrived at the school, they were led past the pretentious sign and statue of King Beast and directed into the lobby. There, they were issued phones and information sheets. On account of everyone being exhausted, no formal welcoming ceremony was planned for that evening, and those staying were directed to the dorms to get showered and settled in. Since that was sure to be a process in itself, Ben, Mal, Sylvando, the other sponsors, and anyone who still had the energy would likely be around for all that as well until everyone got settled. Thankfully the exhaustion had been anticipated, and it was announced that there was soup in the kitchen's refrigerator that had been premade and portioned out and needed only to be reheated for supper at each person's leisure.

The next morning however, proved that Auradon was still Auradon and couldn't really go without some kind of official welcome, as those who came down to the lobby would find a simple but tasty breakfast of muffins, fruit - provided by Malia-, tea, and coffee waiting for them along with the eternally chipper Sylvando, ready to answer any further questions they might have.


****************


Professor Yen Sid and the Headmaster stood and watched the ship through the barrier until they could no longer see it. Then the headmaster, looking bitter, turned on his heel, stalked back to the school, muttering under his breath about needing to speak with someone. He did not say who, but it did not seem like it was likely to be a pleasant conversation.

Yen Sid, on the other hand, turned to those who chose to remain. “Shall we get these supplies in before the humidity destroys them?” he asked, gathering his things into his bag before grabbing it and one of the boxes.

Comments

[misery_called_npcs]

"A very broad question. Are you asking, perhaps if the king and queen are being honest?"

[elvendryad]

"That is part of it, yes."

[misery_called_npcs]

"Then let me reply to that part to begin with. I do not think it is within Ben to lie except possibly to save a life. Perhaps not even then. Mal, for all she grew up in an environment that encouraged her to be as vile and evil s possible, has a good heart. She may deny it, depending on her mood, but she does generally mean well. And in this, they are doing their best in a trying situation."

[elvendryad]

That? If true, then that raised all sorts of other questions. One could be being entirely honest, yet say things that weren't actually true.

He frowned more, but took the last items out of that box, setting them onto the shelf with the others, and then carefully set that box, too, aside to dry out again. And the tape came away from the next box easily enough....

Still crouched as he gathered things up from this one, he didn't seem to need to think about it as he fanned his shield out from his forearm, to use its inside to help him hold more items at once. No sense in not trying to be efficient about this, after all. The few remaining packages were on the floor, and he wasn't certain he trusted their stability enough to lift them again while still laden with their cargo, whatever it was.

"And the... 'trying situation' in question... includes what, precisely?" He had guesses as to what was meant, but he wanted to hear it from this person. What did he consider significant enough to qualify as part of the current mess, versus the status quo, here and now?

[misery_called_npcs]

"The vast majority of the population of both Auradon and the Isle being missing, while many people such as yourself have been brought here against your will. You do not consider that trying?"

[elvendryad]

"Not necessarily, no." He looked back to him again as he returned to unloading things onto the shelves. "I, for one, am used to a solitary life. So... it depends. Trying for whom? ...Has magic similarly been sealed on their side?" A small gesture to the last of the boxes, meaning those on the Auradon side. Just because he'd already figured out the answer, didn't mean he wasn't making a point still....

[misery_called_npcs]

"Trying for those who feel responsible both for the people who have vanished and those who have just arrived," he said, calmly. "Certainly they have more magic than we do here, but clearly not enough to have solved the problem. And while the difficulties they labor under are different from the ones we endure here, it does not mean that there are none. If I am not mistaken, you had the opportunity to see that for yourself and chose to not to avail you of it. Do you now regret that choice?"

[elvendryad]

He'd picked another bag of something up off of the inside of his shield and had raised it to the shelf to set it with the other things... but paused at that, frowning a bit as he turned halfway to look at the man a little more easily, rather than simply peeking back to him over his shoulder while he focused on being efficient at unloading things.

"No," he said simply. A beat passed as he eyed him. "What they have to say is not necessarily what you may have to say. And here and now, I am asking you. I would like to hear your understanding of the entirety of the situation, what has already and is now happening..." He eyed the man, sighing quietly, dissatisfied. "...And you are being vague and trying to appeal to me for pity and commiseration on behalf of others instead, and asking me about my regrets over trivial things. ...You will find very little of any of those right now, and I request that you speak plainly. I have no interest in playing games or mincing words, and mere discussion of feeling sorry for others who seem to be better off tells me nothing about practical things such as the state of living accommodations or healing supplies for those who may need them."

On the upside, he only seemed a little annoyed. He hadn't raised his voice or anything, and was still plenty relaxed as he resumed setting things down on that shelf after speaking.

[misery_called_npcs]

"I presumed you would rely upon your own observations, had you gone actually. As to speaking more plainly, I have been a teacher of both science and magic for quite some time. I find it rarely to the benefit of my students for the answers to be given plainly, and thus I am little accustomed to speaking that way. As your questions are not of a scientific or inherently magical in nature, I am attempting to be more straight forward, however you are best off trusting in your own observations or speaking to your friend when she visits next, for you know her biases more than my own. As to appealing to pity, I was doing no such thing. You asked, I answered. That is all."

[elvendryad]

"The wine fairy would not know everything; her perspective is only one perspective, regardless of how well our interpretations may possibly align. Asking her would not give me a complete understanding of it all, only add to it. And so, I am asking you now. And I will ask others yet. Everyone knows, sees, hears, something another would not. I am certain I will see much of what is, here and now, for myself. But I have no way of seeing what was and has been."

[misery_called_npcs]

"Very well. There is much wisdom after all in the gaining of other perspectives. You just must be certain not to allow that to cloud your own or to act as though you do not have to observe as well. So what you wish right now is a history lesson?"

[elvendryad]

Well, when he phrases it like that....

"I... suppose I am? As it relates to what is going on now, at any rate." He probably didn't need to hear about everything from who first made paper here, to who when certain animals were domesticated, but his earlier statement had been a bit on the broad side, hadn't it?

[misery_called_npcs]

"Alright then," he said. "Some time back there was what many who were born more recently saw as a time of chaos. The kingdoms were largely separate, and thus vulnerable to the predations of those who had more power or cunning than scruples. This ranged from kidnapping of individuals to attempts to overthrow a ruler or invade a kingdom. Many great heroes rose during this time to meet the challenge, but many people suffered before the villains could be vanquished.

"A little over twenty years ago, one ruler, once he was saved from his own ill enchantment decided that if all the kingdoms were united, then together they could stand against the foes. They not only united, they went further. Together they rounded up the villains. Everyone from abusive step parents to kidnappers to warlords to their minions and warriors. All of these people that the United Kingdoms of Auradon deemed evil were put onto this Isle, those who had perished upon being vanquished were revived, to keep anyone who was missed from reviving them for nefarious purposes. Then all of these people - villains, and sidekicks, even animal companions - were locked on the Isle behind the barrier, which both inhibited escape as well as cutting the inhabitants off from magic and most technological signals.

"Over the next twenty years, the people on Auradon tried to be the epitome of good," tried being the operative word, "while the Isle had waves of attempts to work together that often fell apart soon after. I can tell you more of the Isle than of Auradon in the twenty year period, however... as you are more likely to meet those of the Isle if you remain here, than those of Auradon, I would be circumspect, as they are entitled to some measure of privacy.

"More recently, Ben decided his first decree as new monarch would be to give the children of those on the Isle a chance. That they should not be punished based on who their parents were. He started with four children as an experiment. Mal who is the daughter of Maleficent, Evie who is the daughter of the Evil Queen, Jay who is the son of Jafar of Agrabah, and Carlos, son of Cruella. Those four proved to Aurdon that good is both a choice and effort, it is not how you are born, but being willing to put in the effort to do what is right. After them, a few more wound up in Auradon, some were invited and some were not. But for the most part, the children of the Isle ultimately chose good when given the chance. Uma, Gil, Harry Hook - not the Harry currently in Auradon, Dizzy, Freddie, among others. And some took more time to come to good, but ultimately got there.

"But in the midst of all of this a new villain arose, a girl who had once been among those thought to be most good in Auradon. She was pushed too hard in too many ways and it left her vulnerable. I do not know all of the details of what turned her to evil, only what she did with that power. But in the end they were able to bring her back to her former self. From this, King Ben and Lady Mal came to the decision that it was time for things to change. They welcomed all the children of the Isle to Auradon under a form of probation. No longer trying to pick and choose who might be able to adapt, but giving them all a chance.

"For the adults they were offered a chance to, while staying on the Isle, prove themselves if they wanted to return to Auradon. They had to prove they were reformed and would use their powers for good or not at all. However, before any adult could have the time to prove themselves, even if they wanted to, a disaster struck.

"Someone gained access to genie magic and made a wish. We do not know the exact wording, though we have been able to figure out much. Whatever the exact wording, all people from Auradon and the Isle both save the Genie who inadvertently granted the wish. She used her power to bring a few of us back, but while we were discussing the best way to bring everyone home safely she grew impatient, certain she could do it herself. Another wizard had the same thought and both tried at the same time. Their spells clashed. From that clash came the Missrecalled and the, as the Headmaster calls you, the Misery-called. The rest you know, I suspect. They have been trying to both care for the Missrecalled who arrived in Auradon as well as trying to get here to rescue those who arrived here, and learn our situation."

[elvendryad]

"....Hence the mistrust and presumption that those here have done some great wrong, or at least enough to brand them as criminals." He sighed audibly, and turned to frown at the next box as he crouched and opened it, stacking more items into his shield, cradling them against his chest. "And what, pray tell, sort of judgment is presumed to be at play, for children to end up here? ...For that ent, a creature that cannot even comprehend that what others commonly accept as matters of right and wrong as such, to be here as well? Even if I were to agree that simply forcing people to languish in such poor conditions were somehow, in some way, anything even remotely approaching just, in general -- which I do not, cannot, and will not -- there would be no sense in this."

He hadn't raised his voice once, but he didn't need to. He stood again to resume unloading things onto the shelf. He didn't slam anything around, wasn't rough with any of the packages of crackers as he set them down. He didn't even seem particularly tense. But it was clear, all the same, that he was not in as good of a mood any more. ...Which was probably about as much of an understatement as his current outward display of disapproval....

[misery_called_npcs]

"When the Isle was first populated over twenty years ago, no children were banished by most definitions. Of course to one of my age it could be argued that Anastasia and Drizella were but children following in their mother's wake. However their acts were cruel and they were of age to know better, even with their upbringing. By the law, they were adults, and had been treated as such. So I suppose it could be argued based upon how one defines children that some few were banished in the first. However, aside from those few debatable cases, imprisoning children had never been the intent. The children who were here after the barrier rose were those who began here. Foreseeing that such children would be born in due time I volunteered to come here myself to teach. I will admit I did underestimate just how many children there would be, and that those trapped here would create multiple schools and zealously keep them and their students apart."

Leaving him unable to help many of those children directly until recently.

"As for the more recent sorting, we are working only on theory that there is some sorting going on that follows the lines of the original intent. But it is thus far only a theory. Part of what I am to do here, especially as so few of you are of age or inclination to be students, is to gauge people as they arrive to find arguments both for and against that theory and should it fail, formulate one that can stand against scrutiny, against the evidence that I collect, and the evidence collected by those in Auradon."

He stroked his beard a moment. "What concerns me in all of this is that it seems thus far both sides have largely had innocent people arriving very nearly exclusively. I find myself distrusting this on principle. Any random assortment of people as large as the combined Missrecalled and Misery-called have become is statistically likely to have at least one person that is not in fact largely innocent. This suggests a number of possibilities, few of them pleasant. The most concerning is that there is in fact a mix, and we are simply failing to see what is there in some who have arrived - and will continue to fail to see it until it is far too late. Another is that there is some choosing and that your arrivals are not in fact random. But if that second is to be proven to be the case, then we must examine once more the possibility that the sorting between Auradon and Isle is intentional. In which case one must question why. I have yet to find an easy answer to such a question, even in theory."

[elvendryad]

Chell was quiet another moment, just thinking that over... but only a moment. "Have you considered that it could be mere chance? ...Or relative? Few people are purely good or evil. Perhaps, rather than bringing only those monsters with naught but hatred in their hearts here to this place, the line is instead being drawn somewhere in the middle, after weighing those being brought? That if the worst that any of those has done is say something unkind to their mother as a child, that it would be them to appear here?"

He glanced back to him, raising an eyebrow. "How many of those brought here have you spoken with at length, to know better them and their lives and deeds? Because this is the first time I believe we have had significant conversation...." Given that Chell had spent his days thus far outside, babysitting the ent... had they more than seen each other in passing, prior to the ship's arrival? ...Had they even seen each other in passing prior to it?

[misery_called_npcs]

"We have considered exactly that as a possibility. It is why we are in fact talking to each person as much as we can. However many people who have arrived have made it quite clear that they did not, in fact, wish to communicate. That is why those who have left have sponsors. The Sponsors will be speaking with them to learn more about their circumstances before they arrived upon the Isle. This is what we are trying to learn, we are examining the situation as best that we can. But no one is forced to speak with me, nor will they be."

[elvendryad]

Another little nod, quiet as he returned to the box to pick up the last of the items from it... well, for a moment, anyway.

"And... speaking of talking to those here...." He shifted how he was crouched, slowing but not stopping in adding things to the armful in his shield, watching Yen Sid's expression carefully. "....What, exactly, are you? Are you a human...?"

Unless he meant that as his getting to know each other lead-in, it probably wasn't at all clear what that might have to do with anything.

[misery_called_npcs]

He stroked his beard. "That comes down to a matter of definition. There are those who would claim that because I can do magic I must not be human at all. Then there are those who consider Wizard to be a descriptor that does not signify species and can be placed upon anyone. But this world, Aurdon and the Isle alike has so many species I do not know that we do ourselves any favors defining ourselves so narrowly."

[elvendryad]

"...I see." Still eyeing him, not elaborating on what he thought of that answer. "Then how do you speak my language?"

[misery_called_npcs]

"A fascinating question, and one I have spent much of the last twenty years considering. For there are many cultures in this world, and a number of them think they have their own languages and yet have always been able to converse. For a long time it was simply believed to be an aspect of magic. And that in some cases the magic was strong enough to transcend other barriers, and in other cases not. Take for example how easily Cinderella can communicate with her mice friends, where as Lady Tremaine, as far as I know, has never been able to have a meaningful to way dialogue with her cat Lucifer. Or how one young lady, by name of Tiana said that she could understand the speech of a dog when she became a frog, but had not been able to prior to that point."

"However," he said, waving a hand, "here we are, cut off from magic and yet we remain able to communicate to a certain degree. It implies something core to the world itself, but what that something is, I have not yet been able to ascertain. It is a fascinating topic for study, especially now that I have both time to pursue it and access to people from worlds where perhaps it works differently. As I suspect it does on yours, from this line of questioning. "

[elvendryad]

"Quite."

Only a slight pause this time, before he turned to finish what he was doing with the stuff he was moving to the shelf. Well, if languages were somehow, in some way, managing to be a non-issue... and this human did not, in fact, speak his language as he'd thought he was... then a good many of his previous assumptions no longer applied at all.

On the other hand, the human had done nothing to earn a poor opinion of himself so far. He'd been rather forthcoming, even when the answers hadn't been ones Chell had been particularly pleased with, and he wasn't going to hold said answers' content against him. More the opposite, really. But if he was a human, and he was plotting something.... But it seemed unlikely, and... hmm. Well, this was a puzzle. But....

This would have been so much simpler if he could use those other abilities of his. Alas.

Chell was quiet another fair moment, simply thinking things over, setting stuff neatly out on the shelf. Finally, "I presume you have questions of me?" Another little glance back.

[misery_called_npcs]

"You now have a greater understanding of the kinds of information I seek about the Misery-called then any others who have arrived as you have, what is it that you think I would most care to be informed about?"

[elvendryad]

(( cw: talk of violence and death. and also cut because long tag is long, oops? ))

Another little pause, considering it. "I hardly remember much from when I was far younger, but my life has primarily been spent as guardian to my forest. I would defend it from humans' more unwelcome intentions... not that they were always. Most often, their hunters were simply hungry, and would eagerly trade the life of their small quarry for an encumbrance of willingly given food, for which none had to die. But then there were some who were true monsters, who relished in sowing fear and causing pain and in ending lives. There was no understanding within them of murder being wrong. They felt themselves to be above others. They did not hunt out of need... they hunted innocent people that they refused to believe were people.

"And there could be no mistaken hope that they may not have been so twisted; I could feel that within them, just as surely as I can see this place around me now.

"Those, I would teach better. The fear they refused to hear in their victims' screams, I made them understand. Those animals they'd slain, which the ents and I could not save...." He'd gotten a little quieter, but took a breath and continued on anyway. "...Those, I felt also, and returned the experience to the ones responsible, that they would understand that which their actions had wrought, and then I sent them away again."

Another little pause. "I. Killed. None."

...That he was aware of, at least....

"I would disarm them, as well. They were fond of showy excess, even in their weaponry... of gold and silver and jewels. Those, I gave to the people who clearly needed such more, that they might better their poor situations." There, a confirmation that he understood something about at least basic economics, despite apparently being a hermit out in the wilderness....

Though he hadn't raised his voice once so far, he was a just a little quieter yet. "I may have also... returned a few arrows to their owners, while upset. If they so thought that limbs were acceptable places to put those, then they should have had no qualms using their own." He didn't sound sheepish or even halfway guilty about it, though. He very much wasn't. Those humans had earned their injuries, as far as he was concerned. It was the Golden Rule in action.

Finished with unloading another armful onto the shelf, he paused in working on that to turn more to Yen Sid, serious. The guy wanted to hear, he'd said... so he'd tell him. "I cannot say that I have no regrets. The battle in which I fell... I allowed the deaths of an entire family of innocents. Kin. Parents... children. They ran into my forest seeking safety, and I failed them. I did not reach them in time.

"I was not thinking clearly. I was too blinded by their pains. I hurried. I bid the ents lead the two parties apart, separate them, block the hunters' way and heal the family... and it was a failed gamble. By the time I reached them, they could not be saved. They were too weakened, too hurt... they'd exhausted too much of themselves, in attempting to heal their injuries, even with the ents' attempts to help... and I was never gifted in holding spirits to begin with, let alone ones so young and fragile still.

"I don't... quite remember exactly what happened after that. I think I remember those hateful ones breaking past the ents to reach us... and I most certainly remember being near blinded by grief and anger. I remember attempting to turn it on them, as I had other monsters like them, so many times before...." He shook his head, pausing briefly again to... well, it looked an awful lot like he was having to make an effort to maintain that calm, closing his eyes and apparently swallowing, but he continued on. "And then I remember yet more pain, but this time, it was my own."

He brought a hand up, indicating something across some of his chest's armor. It wasn't too terribly obvious; Yen Sid would have to look carefully to see it very well. If one didn't know any better, they might even think it was a few mere surface scratches from a pin or something, marks that may have been no more than superficial, maybe even scuffs in the polish of his plating that had happened simply by venturing too close to the thorns outside and being less than careful. And the thin, mostly straight little ridges, scars, really, in his armor, weren't only in that one spot. They were, if one were to look, rather scattered all over him, including one that suggested that the hunters had tried beheading him.

Or that they'd managed?

"I fell. And the ents did what they needed, to end the battle, that there might be something left of me. ...I remember that they'd had to gather my pieces... and they held onto me, that I might heal from it, and I let them. I was too exhausted to do more for myself... and I slept. I know not exactly how long it has been since then... others came to the forest, and it did as I would have done, giving food and protection and defending itself from attempts to harm it... and I think perhaps more than a few centuries passed, and I... could not seem to wake still, even when..." A slight pause, trying to figure out how to phrase it, "...When that tired kindred spirit came to find solace in my forest's company. Or after, when the brother who was so brilliantly joyful came, and led the forest elsewhere. Not until those dreams, which led me to meet brother Skisan, who helped me finally wake, and then here."

He eyed Yen Sid again, taking another slow breath to make sure he was still at least seeming calm outwardly. Despite how much time had apparently passed -- though to be fair, he'd just claimed he hadn't been properly, or even mostly, conscious during it -- he was still quite bothered, and pushing it aside. If he was going to let himself be upset about it, it wasn't going to be here and now. "If my ending up here was because I made the wrong choice when it mattered, rather than because I am needed here, or because it was indeed mere chance... if my failure so long ago is the deciding factor in all of this...? I would have even more questions about how just any of this could possibly be."

It didn't sound like he was intentionally leaving anything out, at least. If there were more to be recounted, either he wasn't aware of it, or didn't consider it important enough to mention. The fate of the hunters that'd hacked him to bits was probably a case of the latter, considering how he'd phrased that, but if he were being accurate about it, he hadn't even been the one to do anything to them directly. He'd mentioned what was probably him having control over the odd trees, even remotely... so him having been in literal pieces on the ground at the time might not have ruled out the possibility that he'd actually been behind it anyway.

But how often was anyone a truly objective, reliable narrator, when it came to their own stories? Everyone had a bias, though some were far better than others about recognizing it. Just because he'd said he was certain he'd sent all other the human hunters away alive didn't mean they stayed that way, did it? How many had had things go wrong for them after the injuries he'd inflicted in areas that wouldn't have otherwise been life-threatening to have an arrow or sword shoved into? ...How many had he utterly traumatized over the centuries, ruining their lives despite never once drawing blood in dealing with them? It really wasn't clear at all. Nor was it, what established laws in the area he or the hunters had broken, exactly, or whether his forest was even subject to any in the first place.

"The funny part about all of this, however... if indeed there is any humor to be found in it so far...." He turned to step aside again, beginning to gather another armful from the box. It was easy to tell that he was making an effort to stay calm despite the subject... and it was also easy to tell that whatever he was going to say wasn't actually funny to him in the slightest. "...Is that I have ended more lives since coming here... than I have in all my centuries prior to this, combined." ...So he meant the fish he'd been catching for everyone. He was counting those.

[misery_called_npcs]

He would address the rest in a moment, for now... "Ended lives since coming here? I am afraid that I require some... clarification..."