What Do We Do With a Drunken Whaler

“Mmh. Still less trouble than you.” It was whispered in good nature, but Corvo couldn’t help the look of honest remorse. The whole fiasco had made the newly appointed Spymaster, and Lord Protector to the new empress, look like a royal idiot. He knew it was really no one’s fault but his own, and he had made the Outsider suffer through it with him.

“Sorry. For the rough morning. Real mess.” It’d be nice if he could say more. Perhaps to dissuade his constant commentary. As it were he was already pushing it. Instead, he opted to scratch idly at his jaw, eyes sweeping the empty courtyard a moment before continuing.

“Forgive me? Join me inside. Try to make it up to you.” The least he could do was find him a decent pair of clothes. Attend to the basic needs Corvo had overlooked. Show the Outsider the hospitality he deserved as his honoured guest.

The young man tilted his head slightly. He’d been honestly expecting to be told to shut up. Or something equivalent. To be told to stop talking. To stop acting as though he still contained eons and cosmos in his head. Yet, as usual, Corvo surprised him. 

He jumped off the wall, not realizing until he hit the ground how much his feet hurt. He’d run from the prison here in bare feet. Perhaps he’d forgotten how delicate human feet were. His feet had not concerned him before in his existence. What an odd sensation. He didn’t prefer it.

“You are hurting yourself trying to communicate with him. This won’t work for a year. My dear Corvo, you will have to think of another plan.” Perhaps the man wasn’t hurting. The Outsider would admit he couldn't’t tell. There was no blood and without blood it was very difficult to tell with human senses.

He looked up toward the Tower. He’d been inside a million times. But never in a proper form. Never physically. Would it be different now? Coldridge had been different in some ways. 

“Stay. I’ve got’im.” He rasped as loudly as he could before he was too far away to be heard. It seemed they weighed their options wisely and didn’t intend to follow past a few concerned steps, watching the Lord Protector disappear into the alleyways after the mysterious young prisoner.

Though his initial sprint had been rather fervorous to put up a convincing show, he began to slow down once they were out of sight. Or at least until he realised the Outsider had not slowed down. That he couldn’t even see him. He had to be up ahead somewhere, there weren’t many other options. Corvo felt a tug of panic, but didn’t bother moving faster than a light jog as he searched for him. It wasn’t like he could go anywhere else, after all.

Unable to shout, though he did attempt hissing “Outsider” as loud as he could a few times, he tried letting out a few low whistles like the one he used to get the guards attention. It was a tiresome thing to be stuck doing when they were so close to home, almost able to end the far-too-long night. Where could he have even gone to?

Corvo ended up in the middle of the lower courtyard, alone and glaring over the area he could see.

In the prison it had been impossible to tell the time. Out here, in the alleyways of Dunwall, even the short distance to the Tower, he could see it. And smell it. Early morning. The sky grey and just starting to think of becoming light. The stars still shining brightly against between the clouds. Dew on the ground. Not a light on in any window. The hush of the sea a distant call that could be heard only because the city slept. Dawn. A twilight hour. Fitting for the ritual though not a requirement.

The Outsider, smirked down toward Corvo. He could have kept running. Only choosing to stop because he’d found this low wall. Because the sky spoke of magic. Because Corvo had gone through all of the trouble to bring him here and losing the man now just because he couldn’t keep up would be a shame.

“Hello Corvo. So good of you to finally arrive.”

The young man sat on the stone. Rags hanging off of him and making his already thin frame appear ever more frail. The coat so unceremoniously thrown on him still hanging open, and like the rags, it showed the difference in the height and the width between the two men. Bare feet pointed down slightly. As if remembering floating more than sitting or standing.

Torn from his desperate reeling over trying to come up with a better excuse he tried to ignore the other’s attempts, thinking The Outsider merely wanted to be let go. So he could antagonise the guards again? Not a chance. Though Corvo ended up letting go of his arm anyway, first to push away the offending elbow, then to pat his own pockets as if he were looking for the forms.

“Must’a forgotten. Send’um down tomorrow. Leave it for now.” For how pathetically he was scraping at improvisation, Corvo did a rather commendable job of keeping his features calm, and unaffected. Not a trace of guilt on them.

Though it was probably helping their case it didn’t seem to impress Geoff, the man remaining firmly in his place before the pair.

The Outsider, to his own personal credit, did wait for Corvo to prove that he was competent. The young man stood still. Let the man holding his mouth shut try to diffuse the situation. When it seemed like nothing had happened, The Outsider took matters into his own hands. 

Ducking from under the arm of the preoccupied Lord Protector the dark eyed boy did what he’d been so good at in his first life. He ran. The clothes he wore were too big but it didn’t matter. All that mattered was getting past the Wall of Light. Running until he couldn’t do so any longer. He would just keep going.

“Shit!” The guard at the controls cursed. The Wall of Light turning on just as the prisoner passed the barrier. “Outsider’s EYES. Sorry Lord Attano. Couldn't catch him. Bastard's fast...”

So Corvo did what he could. Not necessarily what he wanted to do, but what else could he have done? A hand shot up to cover The Outsider’s mouth, the entire lower half of his face actually, as Corvo yanked him back to hold him in place. The other hand grabbed his elbow through the coat, marching him forward again. Though the original pull was a bit rough, he held him rather gently. Though his grasp would instantly tense if he began to resist.

Corvo let out a sharp whistle, successfully cutting off whatever tirade was about to leave the bristling man’s mouth. He gave him his most stern Lord Protector Face and jabbed a finger towards the Wall Of Light. Which he had to release The Outsider’s arm for just a moment to do so, he signed <Off.> then quickly grabbed him again.

Not that Corvo thought he could understand the gesture. But it seemed he wasn’t quite as lacking as he was being accused of as he understood enough to call to the man sitting next to the panel. A turn of the lever and the electrical currents broke and disappeared.

“Lord Attano.” The only two polite words he spoke, the rest spat in poorly restrained spite, “You’re taking that trash the wrong way. Would’a left him in there, talking shit like that.”

“Transfer.” Any soft syllables and vowels were completely lost by this point, having spoken so much to The Outsider his voice struggled to keep up, “Needs medical. T’s personal.” He would have looked a little embarrassed if he wasn’t so busy looking intimidating.

“What a waste.” He snorted and held out an open palm, not bothering to question further, “Apologies, sir, I’ll just look at the release papers and you can be on your way.”

Shit. Corvo stared blankly at the hand.

The Outsider’s lips, which had become a definite line of displeasure, turned upwards once more. Dark eyes, trying to look up at Corvo. What now, Lord Protector? Did you perhaps not think this through? As you had thought through so little?

It would be entertaining to watch, certainly. But then, from his peripheral, he saw the man at the controls stand. Noticed the sword on his hip. And recalled the most important piece of information regarding where he currently was: he was human. Mortal. Vulnerable. If this became a fight, out of all the men here, he would certainly be the one to loose. Yes, he could return to The Void when he wished. Shed this form. And not be able to come back until the ritual was performed again.

The smirk faded away. Eyes glancing at the Wall of Light. The currently shut off Wall of Light. The Corvo if you wouldn’t hold his arm he could escape and you’d have an excuse to run after him Wall of Light.

The young man used his free elbow to jab the Lord Protector. Trying to go unnoticed. Trying to signal him. 

The guard’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Sir? The papers?”

The other guard, up by the controls, huffed. “Geoff. If Lord Attano says it’s a transfer just let him through.”

When the world settled, much darker than where they had been previously standing, Corvo was quick to release the younger man, duck out of his hold, and guide him to begin walking forward with a hand on his back. The were just through the main doors– the guard stationed there staring blankly in the other direction having not heard them appear.

The Outsider didn’t give him enough credit. Corvo had put some semblance of thought into their plan. Prime example; making sure to enter the prison just before the shift change for the bridge. It wouldn’t mean the Lord Protector walking out of the prison with a particularly scruffy looking young man wouldn’t raise suspicion, but at least it wasn’t the same person who had seen him enter alone.

The Wall of Light blocking the archway was their final obstacle. It crackled threateningly as they approached, and the guard beside it gave a glare to match while he eyed the stranger beside the Lord Protector.

The Outsider had things to say. Cryptic and sarcastic things. It was as if the world had gone upside down. Rather than him making minds reel, him being the one to cut short responses and reactions, it was Corvo Attano. The Outsider barely having his footing again before he was being guided forward, arms falling dumbly to his side.

He did not like it. This was not the way of the world. Once, when he was brought to human life once more it was to be worshiped. It was in a dim chamber with a single priest who gave him what he needed to adjust to the disorientation of no longer being one with the Void. 

Corvo was making this up as he went it seemed. A whirlwind of words and choices and actions that left the deity's head spinning.

And then. There. What Corvo ought to have feared. A guard was staring at The Outsider. Glaring more like. Suspicious of the young man whom the Lord Protector was guiding out of the prison. The young man in the Lord Protector’s coat never the less.