Tagged as Corvo Attano, Daud, Jessamine Kaldwin, Emily Kaldwin, The Whalers
Creator: Hiaen
Description:
AU where Daud's doubts about killing come like 1 hour before in canon so when he goes to kill Jess he realizes it's not a good idea but he's already under the fucking gazebo when he makes the realization
So he panics and just kidnaps both Emily and Jess instead of killing Jess
I have no idea after that just. Daud being there like "ok I got an Empress now what do I do with it. Should I give her to someone else? What does she eats. Not the same thing as Whalers I guess? I don't think Empresses eat raw eels straight from the can-". Meanwhile Jess in the Flooded District slowly convincing Daud to go grab Corvo from Coldridge and work against Hiram. Also Emily has Less Trauma cause she's with her mom :)
Corvo just standing in an empty Gazebo. “you fiend! where did you take the empress and her heir!?!” meanwhile corvo’s been in dunwall for all of ten minutes
I mean the framing doesn't work very well in canon I'm sure Hiram can think of something. Like "you mean the empress and princess got fucking kidnapped and you did nothing?" and since Corvo's famous for being hypercompetent they go "nobody could have pulled that off without leaving a trace unless the Protector was in on it"
I just want Literal Royalty Jess and Em living in the stinkiest place of the city they're ruling with 65 murder noots while Daud is in his office having a crisis of conscience
On the one hand it's a good setup for a hilarious cultural clash.
On the other hand you can take it seriously. You have uber-privileged Jess see the very real impact of the government's failure (the plague of course but also the dam breaking and flooding the district), because for all that she's a good and progressive leader she's still lived a sheltered life. And you have Daud who gets to know Jess, see the person behind the noble who was gonna be Just Another Target; also know Emily and realize that no matter who you kill they're always gonna leave some people behind (because for every previous contract I don't think he stuck around long enough to meet the family, y'know)
mmmm Corvo gets freed from Coldridge as soon as Jess has convinced Daud which. Shouldn't take too long I mean the guy's already halfway through betraying Hiram when he decided to break the contract.
So he'd be in a better state than in DH1 canon but still spent a month or so in Coldridge so probably not 100% ready to trust the assassin who he saw kidnap his wife and kid ya know
What I'm getting at is that Daud is 100% getting punched in the face as soon as they're out of Coldridge. Then they resolve stuff and Jess would have probably given Daud a letter of something but. Corvo just spent a month being tortured thinking he was never gonna see his family again. He can get a little punching Daud in the face. As a treat.
Meanwhile at Whaler HQ, once their status have shifted from prisoners to guests, Emily would have such a blast in the Flooded District. I don't think they have Whalers her age but. Whalers having younger siblings or kids her age is. In the realm of possibility.
What if daud tries to convince Jess he's not that bad/ can be sorta trusted for now by explaining the whole story and that the tower isn't safe. But realises the only way he's convincing Jess that he's not trying to harm her is free corvo
Archives:
Emily: Can Corvo show me that tyvian chokehold
Jess: Absolutely not
[a double kidnapping later]
Jess: Did you teach Emily how to to a tyvian chokehold
Daud, genuinely confused: Is that not a normal thing to show a child?