"Righty-o!"

gentlemansalamander​:

Admittedly, that ‘bomb’ did sure sound both appealing to learn about and equally horrifying, not unlike the actual reason for No Man’s land state. “Actually…it was due to Canopy’s former Queen’s rampage once she became the Skullgirl when she tried to wish for World Peace.” His tone is a seemingly somber and…relatively earnest. “A pity too, she left her two daughters behind and the King has been a shut in every since he had to put his poor wife down.” 

“Of course, almost everyone now a days is aware of the Queen’s rampage…with it wiping entire countries into non-existence in the span of two weeks.” His tone while still seemingly somber, has a edge of…something. Suspicion, perhaps? His tone shifts back to that polite inquisitive tone. “I assume this is all news to you?” It was a seemingly mundane question…but this wasn’t a mundane situation, was it?

She couldn’t help but be taken aback at the the fact that this was all caused by a person. Though a person uplifted by some mysterious status, still ONE PERSON.

“It’s so very tragic, that such good intentions should lead to such chaos. A pity she couldn’t be helped.”

Plague’s feathers twitched under her robes. She’d heard something in his tone that made her worried he was onto her.

“I do believe I have heard rumors, but I suspected them to be mythologies–not truths. Heh, seems I was the one in denial… To think that one person… did all that. It’s ghastly.”

“This ‘SkullGirl’ business… Is there anyway to stop them from forming? Or are these tragedies simply doomed to repeat until we become extinct?”

“You don’t know the story? Legend has it, any poor dame can wish on the Skullheart, however if she is found impure of heart, both her body and wish will be corrupted into a Mockery of its intentions, with the Lady damned to become a Skullgirl. The previous Queen wished for World Peace, the Skullheart granted it by turning her into a Skullgirl so powerful that the nations at war had to stop their war effort to stop her. The one before her was a Matron of a beloved Opera family who witnessed her family killed in front of her. In her despair, she wished for them back, but the Skullheart did so by turning them into her undead minions.” He neglects to mention his employers role in that last one. “As far as history has known, no woman has been able to escape the Skullheart’s curse.” And neglecting to mention his employers role in the creation of the current Skullgirl as well....

Technically Yes and No. Ottomo and Tom are aware that the shit they do is several kinds of wrong given the crimes they commit. However, they don't either care, actively don't mind it or, because of personal headcanons for how they ended up working for the Medicis, Tom feels like he owes Lorenzo too much for "saving his ass" and admittedly, considering his influences, Tom himself is a horrible person and effectively acknowledges this. He's apparently friends with Dahlia somehow, and I do play him as quite cruel at times.

“Heh, we mortals really do have a way of finding innovative and unique ways of destroying ourselves, don’t we?” Plague chuckled with grim amusement.

“Was it ‘The Bomb’ that I have sometimes heard of in my travels? An explosive formed from the destruction of some of the smallest units of matter in the universe where even that is so powerful that it poisons the earth it lands upon?”

Admittedly, that ‘bomb’ did sure sound both appealing to learn about and equally horrifying, not unlike the actual reason for No Man’s land state. “Actually...it was due to Canopy’s former Queen’s rampage once the she became the Skullgirl when she tried to wish for World Peace.” His tone is a seemingly somber and...relatively earnest. “A pity too, she left her two daughters behind and the King has been a shut in every since he had to put his poor wife down.” 

“Heh, alright… Sometimes people have a tendency to ask questions in a way where you know it is certainly some manner of judgement. Perhaps I’ve been conditioned to hear questions that way. Sarcasm often sounds sincere when you don’t know the person speaking.”

“That does make a lot of sense… I’m glad that there are places that operate on some semblance of logic.”

Plague Knight turned back to him.

“So… what are people fleeing? Some sort of war?”

Well, that certainly gave the other away. The pilot and Machine  share a glance internally, figuring it wouldn’t hurt to inform the other of the...circumstances of this place the stranger finds themselves in. “Ah, I’m afraid worse than that. The last war left quite a....imprint, specifically of the continent ruining type, and as a result there’s been a alarmingly high amount of refugees coming here. Can’t really blame them considering the circumstances” Of course, the robot and pilot withheld how the Medici were taking advantage of the chaos of the refugee crisis, but this stranger didn’t need to know *that*

“...Ottomo...where the FUCK are we now?!”

The machine and his pilot was running a errand, a quick check up on their little “foreign” smuggling rings. On their way back, it seems whatever force was behind the strange.. 'gaps' that divided the different locations, decided to force them into a detour.

And by detour, the machine and pilot find themselves in some sort of... gaudily colored factory. They think it's a factory. The walkways they found themselves on were old and admittedly more rickety sounding then the machine would have liked. The walls, what they could see at least, seem to have some sort of scratched and peeling mural.

Plague looked away from Ottomo. “Several no-name places in the middle of nowhere in no-name kingdoms that no one cares to remember. You get some semblance of freedom and privacy if nothing else.” She didn’t mention that it was in a different world because she doubted that he’d believe her.

She wasn’t so much angry with him as she was with the places she’d lived.

“You can spare me the country bumpkin jokes, but I suppose that they could provide some societal insight into this place.”

The machine raises his hands up in a defensive gesture. “Ah, apologize for our prying behavior. We didn’t intend to offend you in any capacity. It really was just a innocent curiousity.”  Ironically, the Machine and Pilot internally make notes, keeping quiet, but the AI and pilot exchange knowingly glances inside the cockpit. The use of no-name places and nowhere likely signified that they likely had no fond memories of where they were from. And while they clarified they weren’t from the Chess kingdom, their sense of fashion did stick out from the norm here. And while it is possible that the other could be lying, the other option was some burned out husk of a country in No Man’s land. And most people who just left said No man’s land most likely wouldn’t called their country or kingdom homelands No-name. That just left....