User:Fire InThe Hole/Tales of Delinius Rupert Langton

Sing to me dear, of this Langton's long past, And tell me what is it that he shall do? Will he be scorned? Will he be hailed? Shall he prevail where the others have failed? Bring his life forth, o Muse of the lands, Tell us his story and give us a dance.

One - The Sibylla
" Perhaps many would not expect that a priestess were to know much about a man who has seen, done and fought many things in the centuries that he exists. After all, Dwin is no deity of war, and neither is Chronos. " The Sibylla smiled her strange smile, one that never told you anything about her actual thoughts.

" Those that discredit my words are proven wrong, however: I know the man's very heart like few another can. Only his loved might know things I don't, but I am his sister, I know the child best. Poorly understood by most, indeed, but truly kind behind all of his oddities. My brother wishes to make this world more balanced, and does so by tending to its disputes where he can. I seek such a thing too, but my adventuring days were never a success. "

Again, she smiled that almost eerie smile with her eyes half hidden behind their lids.

" Rather than any such, I will give anyone that may ask an answer to their questions, just as I have told you now all there is to be told about my brother. "

Her eyes suddenly opened wider, as if she saw something that startled her.

" A library may hold you in its dear arms, then murder what's in your dreams. Tread carefully if seeking a brother mine. "

Two - The Hunter
" Ah, yes. Delinius Rupert Langton. A man who, no matter how many people hated his guts, would continue to search a way to stop the hunters. Magic was not evil, he said, and they only believed the opposite more. Was I guilty of his misery too? Oh yes. The fools that believed themselves to be pleasing Gaia are much, much more guilty, especially considering how many deaths they have to their name. I was after his head for the price on it. They were after it in some blind and falsely religious fashion. Besides, they didn't understand the man. He could manipulate them as he saw fit. Made a few of them fall to their deaths, actually. He could not manipulate me, but I couldn't manipulate him in any way either. He and I found an equal in battle and in tactics. "

" He lives on, and I am old, much older than I should have been, but irony dictates that I took up the religion that Delinius still keeps to this day. My time will be soon enough, but I have my peace. He forgives me like I would forgive myself in his shoes. "

Three - The Reporter
" It was a massive sensation. You know, like celebrity scandals. The difference was, nobody had solid facts about him, nothing to pin to him other than the stories - and those were pinned to him pretty soon. What still surprises me to this day is that his name has become something of a definition or even a threat. His strength lied in both his incredible defiance towards all the news agencies and his uncanny ability to be unrelated to accidents and fires that killed off the nosiest of my colleagues back in the day. Can't say I liked many of them, but a murder is a murder. Never heard of any sustained lawsuits against him that didn't end in something horrible for the accusing party. "

" But hey, you have to hand it to him: it did put a lot of the low-quality folks in our line of business out of commission for centuries. And that's actually good for two reasons. First of all, that's commerce for everyone else. The biggest benefit is that it improved the quality across the board - he hates slandering papers, I heard. Guess he's right in hating 'em, it's a just a bit excessive to literally put them down, I feel. "

Four - The Official
" I'm not at liberty to say what exactly has happened between Mr. Langton and the Ludusian government throughout time, and a lot of it was lost or destroyed during periods of instability. What I can say is that he is instrumental in a number of ways and is excused of certain... well, for certain offences in his past. I will not comment otherwise. "

The recording stopped. He sighed.

" Now, off the record, it's not exactly like we can actually lay a finger on the man without infuriating most of the Dwinian populace, as well as a surprisingly large portion of Faeric and some isolated groups spread as far as between western Gredile and Mavus, just to give you an idea. The man is not just a living legend, he continues to work to be significant. Even though some people call for bringing him down, especially higher up, everyone just knows that he is someone who could be a great harm to all of Ludus, if he wasn't as patient and benevolent as he is. Of course, he isn't a saint. Nobody is, and he's done things that are questionable at best throughout his life. The majority of that consists of acts that would fall under 'excessive force' in self-defence. Believe me, if we had to compile that into a lawsuit, you'd have to spread the hearing of the accusation across multiple days. Permanent crippling, vandalism... and a few charges of murder that somehow haven't gone stale yet. Some citizens still try to get him pinned for an ancient murder on an ancestor of theirs. Let's say their luck is tied to the man's immense patience, or they would have been gone from our records entirely. Data security doesn't work against a descendant of a sun god for some reason. They say it somehow ties in with information. "

" Fortunately, he's retiring a bit. I personally believe it's a plan of his, but nobody's going to believe that. When I die, probably the last man dies that had any idea of Mr. Langton's frightfully effective tactics. I don't fear for that time, I just hope it'll have enough people with brains in their head to stay on his good side. "

Five - The Layman
" There's plenty of shit about the guy, but the scariest part is that a lot of it has truth. Not all of it, of course, but maybe half of it? Unless you're one of those book folks, you can't really know. Never appears in the news since decades if my mama doesn't lie, and hell she doesn't. Probably he's just sitting back and stuff. Sounds like something everyone would do if they're centuries old. He's seen it all. The invasion shit with those plant hybrids, witch hunts. Wonder what it's like for him. Grew up with something we'd call primitive caveman stuff nowadays but here's the future, boy! "

" I really wouldn't mind knowing what it's like to be him, for a day. Wouldn't want to actually be him, though. Even if only half or less of the pile of blab is true, he's seen shit. Like, bad shit. "

Six - The Musician
" He was always there carry my stuff, set it up and keep an eye on things. It was his way to pay me back for lugging him around to keep him hidden from those so-called witch hunters. Vouched for him a few times to save his butt, even. Same time, if someone ever got me drunk, he got me out of the pub with my stuff and put me to bed. "

She giggled.

" Even beat the loving crap out of someone with a bar stool one night. The guy had fed me drunk and was trying to take me along for, well, you know what some of them like to do. So, neither of us was really looking for someone to love. We just stuck together because it was a tough time for both of us. "

" Yeah, we shared a bed sometimes. No, that wasn't real love, and we both knew that it couldn't be. We needed something to keep us going, and it definitely beat drinking or smoking. After a few years, the joke was out that he was who he was, and I never saw him again. But hey, I was 21 when we started our little partnership, he was already past 30 back then. Like he told me, he'll be living by the time my grandchildren have their own grandchildren. All the way until he stops caring. I'm old as all heck. My days'll be all done soon enough. I got married and had kids, though. One of them's named after his second name, just as a keepsake. I made sure then that they'd know what he's really like. They know the true story about him, all four. "

Lucy took a sip of her coffee.

" Boy, am I tired. "

When she looked up, she nearly dropped her coffee.

" You could've told me you was the one getting over here to have a chat with me! "

" It would have ruined the surprise on your face, dear Lucy. You were my muse, and I your keeper. Your songs kept me safe from harm and gave me the ability to sleep safely for several years in a time where it seemed impossible to me. I couldn't possibly forget you, could I now? "

She got up and gave him a firm hug.

" I once met that son of yours, Rupert. What a lovely boy indeed. I suppose you must be quite proud of where they've gotten, your children. Given his looks, you could almost have thought he was yours and mine, don't you think? "

Lucy only smiled. She didn't say anything about it. Even if he was able to know almost anything in the world, she'd never tell him about this.