dear_mun | but angst is fun ok

You might be interested to know that humans struggle with dilemmas like this too. Not on the same level as your problem, I'd imagine, but they still suffer from injuries and ailments they don't want the world to know about too.

I think this will be a good thing for you in the long run. Really.

[ Do not compare him to mankind. His pride suffers enough as it is. ]

Do you.

[ He's not fazed by your scorn, Malekith, you and him have been talking too long for that by now. ]

I do. I think this is a step towards learning how to allow you and your people to adapt to this planet's environment.

[ Stubbornly, he can't help but add:]

Isn't it better to adapt and survive than be condemned to extinction?

[ There is this internal debate between combating this ridiculous theory and not saying anything because saying something would only reveal more. Then, considering what this man has already seen... troublesome. ]

There is no known species in the universe whose technology and science is more advanced than ours, Asgardian included. How do you suppose boasting an illness due to the very nature of this atmosphere to be a step in the right direction toward adapting.

We have already adapted. Or did you think what we wear is a fashion choice. [ BITTER. ]

[ He has to suppress a smile at that. Would the Asgardians claim the same if he asked them? Probably. The Kryptonians certainly would, except that they're mostly extinct. But fighting scorn with scorn isn't going to solve anything, and in any case, the elven king has a right to be proud of his people's accomplishments. So he holds his tongue. ]

I'm not saying the illness itself is a step in the right direction. I'm saying that letting others know of it is. Humans have come a very long way in a very short time and you'd be surprised how many of them would be willing to do their part to help your people.

And I meant a biological adaptation. [ Easy for him to say, he knows. ] I can't imagine your kind being able to propagate and reestablish themselves if you all have to wear that armor 24/7.

[ If man thought that dealing with a generational gap of forty or fifty years was difficult imagine some billion or so. IF he ever chose to attempt some vague trust in mankind it was going to take a very long time for him to do so. The good thing was that he didn't have any particular ire toward the race in whole. His major strife was with the Asgardian race.

The armor was one thing. That could be removed. Tha black suits and - for most of them - the masks were not in question. It kept them alive. A few could breathe without the mask, himself included. Algrim and a rare few others. It was difficult, though. The rest was not questionable. ]

We. [ Collective average at any rate ] Can't. Breathe. Your. Air.

Would you like a demonstration?

[ That's a bit harsher than he's used to hearing from Malekith, who usually is content to keep a regal, if imperious, demeanor, but he can understand the elven king's anxiety. He and his people have been stranded on Earth for months now, and it would appear as if their attempt to repair their ship didn't quite work out for them. For better or worse, the dark elves have to call Earth their home now.

He tries to imagine what it would be like to have to dress as they do just to survive, to be permanently constricted by artificial constructs. Awful. Horrible. But, as ever, Malekith thinks the plight of his people is one they suffer alone. It's really too bad, Davis muses, that he could never open the doors necessary to facilitate a meeting with Stephen Hawking. Perhaps seeing that man and talking with him might show Malekith that he is not alone in his suffering.]

No. Please. I understand what you're saying, you don't have to harm yourself to show it to me. I just don't believe that condition has to be permanent.

Did you know that originally, life on this planet wasn't compatible with this atmosphere either? What humans call carbon dioxide, it was a poison to early life. I guess it still is a poison. But life here adapted to it, in time. Is there any reason to believe it's impossible for your people to adapt too, given enough time?

[ He has a threshold. It's usually very distant but every now and then someone or something can just push him right up against it. Thanks to the mun over here who seems eager to cause drama and angst while he would be happy staying off the radar until something was discovered. Some other plan or someone with similar views he could take advantage of. Something less degrading, at least. He had nothing left. He couldn't sacrifice anything more, he had nothing more to give away for the sake of self preservation. Almost less than a hundred now, no second in command, no ship. A king who was a king of nothing wore a hollowed crown. As history provides, Malekith was willing to make some really destructive and heavy decisions but those had a limit, too.

Also, really, would you want them to survive? Would you really want them to survive, Davis? When they were at their best they were strong, intelligent, and fearless. And then have a lot of pent up anger.

Now the question is: is he willing to take that chance. Because again, with so few left...]

Mankind is not welcoming to differences, historically. In their own cultures let alone inter-dimensional.

[ He's not sure he ever wants to see what Malekith would be like if he were ever truly pressed to his limit. The last time that happened, a good chunk of London was lost to either a massive spaceship or a giant vortex as the elven king and Thor made the city their battleground. Thor hadn't been able to finish Malekith off, but he had beaten him -- at a heavy cost. Could Malekith be beaten again? Probably. But the cost in life would be great, not least among those lives being Malekith's own.

Davis has to admit to himself he's partly being a hypocrite here. He's wanted to die before, more than once, and his circumstances weren't nearly as dire as Malekith's, even if they felt that way at the time. Strange how much difference a little perspective can make.]

No, they haven't been. You're right. That doesn't mean they can't be, though. You've talked to Tess Mercer. She's living proof that not all humans are hostile to outsiders.

[ That was elation. Some really deep part of him truly thought the convergence was a long shot. With how long they'd been asleep, how far the world had passed them by, how strong and plenty in numbers both man and Asgardian had become and no previous contact with other realms? He's not an idiot. If he wanted to plan a war, he would have. His people would follow him anywhere. He'd say, if pushed to unfold this truth, that he did it for his people as they would be better honored by death in battle than death through withering to time. That wasn't entirely true. There was a hole inside of him that was plain hungry for destruction. He'd make both causes work.

Anyway, there was a specific reason why he was still alive. Both a curse and a gift. He would be the last one to live of them all and if he never saw the aether again he would live on for an undefinable amount of time. ]

Do you trust her?

No one can force you to do what you don't wish to do. They shouldn't.

And yet.

[ He has to think on that one. Trust doesn't come easily to him, not the way it seemingly did for Clark -- their lives were just too different for that. And, without a doubt, the way he met Tess didn't foster feelings of trust going forward. But he'd like to think they've both made progress since she dug him up from the life of quiet, homeless obscurity he'd carved out for himself and, for better or worse, pumped him up with Kryptonian blood and restored what the black kryptonite had taken away. She doesn't trust him enough to not help Frank become a threat to Clark, but she does trust him enough to defend the Earth from a threat Clark can't beat. He doesn't trust her enough not to play him against Clark if it meant realizing the nebulous 'prophecy' she follows (followed?) so closely, but he does trust her enough to keep him from becoming the destroyer he was made to be. ]

I trust her to look out for this planet's best interests. And helping you would be in this planet's best interests. Because as long as she doesn't, you remain a potential threat. I also trust her to want to solve a problem, and whatever's in your biology that makes our atmosphere so toxic to your kind is definitely a problem. She gave the Kandorian refugees shelter and aid when they were stranded here on Earth. I don't see any reason why she wouldn't do the same for your people.

[ He is caught somewhere between taking up this offer and eating his pride just to watch David come to shock when he discovers that helping the elves is most likely not in the Earth's best interest but he thinks that Tess would consider this anyway. It's not to say that he has a grudge against mankind but if they were back to their normal range of function the threat would be very present. ]

why do you hold so much concern?

[It's not the first time he's been asked that, and even now he still can't come up with an answer good enough to satisfy either of them. Why does he care what happens to them? If the Dark Elves wiped out humanity, that'd just fulfill his biological directive. And if humanity wiped out the Dark Elves, then he could sleep easier knowing that they have one less threat to worry about. He isn't so arrogant as to think they no longer pose any threat, even in their diminished state, but he's perhaps arrogant enough to think he could stop it. Maybe that's why he cares. Because he doesn't want to have to.]

You've never had to see my other side. I'd like to keep it that way.

I hear it's destructive. Why does that encourage your feeling of empathy toward me and mine?

[ He's not letting this go. If you want to have his trust on something like his and his people's lives, you better have reason. ]

Yes. It is.

[ Understatement? It's like saying water is wet.

He's silent a good bit longer this time, though, because what he's being asked to do is something he doesn't do often -- examine why he feels a certain way. It's not a habit of his. He's spent a good chunk of his life trusting his gut, be it in matters of morality or matters of day to day life. When he's felt something is right or wrong, it's rare for him to stop and ask why that is. Right is right and wrong is wrong is enough for him most of the time. When he finally does speak, it's with a tone of deep focus.]

... There aren't very many humans who understand what it's like to be responsible for the loss of a life. This society of ours -- theirs, it lets most of them live out their lives without ever having to kill. And even when they have to, people like soldiers, it's made easy for them to just pretend the lives they take don't matter. Dehumanizing, they call it.

[He sighs.]

Back when this thing inside me first started coming out, I did the same thing. It wanted to kill, and I found that if I took human life with my own hands, that would be enough to satisfy it. So I did. I told myself it would be just one person, but one turned into two, and two into four, and before I knew it, I'd killed fifty-three people. And all of them, every single one, I tried to tell myself they deserved it. And I guess in some ways they did. But it still wasn't my place. And it took that fifty-fourth kill for me to realize that.

[He'd been looking at his hands up to now, as if seeing all the times they'd been bloody or closed around someone's neck, but now he raises his head to lock eyes with the elven king.]

That fifty-fourth person I killed, he was someone I knew. His name was Jimmy Olsen. And what I did to him, it taught me me that even if I didn't like someone, or didn't trust them, that doesn't give me the right to kill them. I don't have the right to kill you just because I don't trust you. And as long as your people aren't a threat to mankind, there's no human being that has a right to take your lives either. You've been here months without causing harm. You've earned the right to live in peace here.

[It's quite a speech for him, and he seems visibly worn out by the time he's finished.]

[ It's uncomfortable, isn't it? Examining how you feel. He'd say it is a lot more difficult for creatures of longevity. Countless years of reconciliation to manage. He listens to the speach with vague interest but he hears something very specific hidden in the message of it all.

Davis yearned to, from his perspective, right the wrongs his conscience tells him he's made. An interesting thing, actually. If Davis was created to destroy then what was it that caused him to reconsider this nature?

Malekith folds his hands in front of his body and continues to observe the man well after he's finished speaking. It almost seems desperate. How much Davis wants to escape himself. ]

Who tells you what is and what is not your place. Your nature, your conscience, or something else. Fire burns because it is its nature to do so not because it is evil.

You have a profound amount of guilt hanging over you but as a tool to destroy it intrigues me why you feel this way.

[ He's right, of course. Davis has always respected that about the elven king, how he doesn't let sentiment cloud his vision, but instead sees things just as they are and calls them as such. Being as emotional as he is, there is a kind of greener-grass quality to imagining that way of thinking.

He's glad Malekith phrases his question, such as it were, in the way that he does though. It reminds him why he doesn't look at the world that way himself, and why he's grateful not to. With the exception of a few hard prejudices and some grandoise sense of entitlement, this might have come from the lips of Zod as easily as Malekith. ]

Because I'm not a tool. Not if I don't choose to be. [There's a defiant glint in his eye now, jaw set, as if steeling himself for a contradiction.] Just because I was made to be something doesn't mean I have to be that thing. That's what makes us different from the elements. We can think. Feel. We can choose our own destinies. The only choice a fire has is to burn until it goes out.

[ He wants to believe that so very much. That his destiny isn't something set in stone, that if he just makes the right choices he can be something other than what he was made to be. Or, if he can't go against his basic nature, that he can at least turn it against the enemies of his adopted people. The Apocalypse. The Asgardians. Zod's Kryptonians, if they ever find a way out of the Phantom Zone. Those are enemies he doesn't mind letting himself be pointed at. ]

[ He is a lot more emotional than he would ever admit. Pride, the curse that it were, was often the cause of his stern and studious air. It was a trait you learned, though. His decision to sacrifice half of his people to preserve the other half was often remarked upon as a proving factor in his maliciousness. No one would ever understand that kind of desperation until they were boxed in and near defeat. Then you ask yourself: What must I do to not lose everything. Perhaps it was the better place to be for a leader or a king but it was by far and large not an easy place to be. ]

'Us'? [ he cocks his head a touch ] Fate is an idealist term that can be translated in to two categories: biology and psychology.

[ He pinches his fingers together and raises his hand slightly to emphasize ] Creation, destruction, creation. There is a very specific cycle to all living things sentient and not. The universe expects your birth and your death. What you do in between is circumstantial but your destination waits for you.

Many people attempt to escape who they are. They do not succeed.

[ From the start, he's tried to respect the elven king's beliefs and those of his people. Peace could never come when you dismissed the other side as ignorant or backwards or xenophobic. Even in cases where they were, all you could do was hope they would change. And, to his relief, the dark elves have turned out, so far at least, to be a fairly progressive people. They don't make war on each other the way humans do. They don't hold other races in contempt the way certain groups of humans do. They don't force their beliefs on others.

Up to now, it's been easy to respect their culture. But what their king is saying now doesn't sit well with him, and he doesn't exactly try to hide it.]

You're wrong. [He says it simply, not challengingly or defiantly, but he says it just the same. Spreading his hands, he indicates himself. ] Look at me. I can't die. Whatever kills me I just come back from. As far as I know, I'll live forever. So who says the universe expects death in all things?

Who we are isn't determined by our genes or our parents or our pasts. Those things play a part, but at the end we alone are responsible for who we are.

[ Here is the thing, Davis... Malekith does not care whether or not you respect him and his people. If you were an elf them maybe and while he recognizes in you some worthy traits you've neither been on his radar long enough or done enough to warrant such care. If anything, the determination to see the world different than he is somewhat entertaining.

His eyes narrow in amusement even more as Davis boasts a presumed immortality. He wont even comment on that but he will offer one last bite: ]

I wonder if it is hope or fear that drives you so intently toward this conclusion.

[He wants to believe that the elven king is capable of change and growth, that his people are capable of change and growth. The only way they'll be able to survive on this world is by adapting to it. If they can't, they'll be killed, either by him directly or by any of the those many others who call themselves defenders of Earth. Malekith wouldn't be so foolish as to attempt a war on two fronts, would he? Davis doesn't think so. He might be goading him now, but he's still kept his people under the radar over these past few months. He wants to believe grief has not made the dark elves suicidal.

He keeps his expression even and neutral, refusing to give Malekith the satisfaction of seeing how close to home he's hitting.]

Who says it has to be only one or the other? There's room enough in me for both.

[Just as there's room enough for him to want to see this world's people safe and the dark elves too.]

[ It is rare that he intentionally causes harm. His intentions are, more often then not, with the thought of his people in mind. Survival or something similar but he has this way about him that has in recent years made his actions more catastrophic than beneficial. Did he want to cause a war? Well, somewhat. Was it his intention to do so now? Definitely not. ]

Fair enough. [ A satisfying answer for now. ]

but angst is fun ok

Guess who's (sort of) back?

Welcome! I really shouldn't be rping atm but lmfao i rebel against standards

I lost Internet about a month ago so I'm only just now getting back into the swing of things

I heard, glad you got it sorted out!

Still sorting, but I've got a free weekend so. :)

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