"I hope the trip here wasn't too much of an inconvenience for you," Double Trouble said reassuringly, correcting their sunglasses, "But I think a change in scenery might just be for the best in this point of the process. So, how are you feeling?"
"To be perfectly honest with you," Hordak stated calmly, lying down on a rubber beach lounger, "This location is hardly what I would consider 'relaxing', given the history of this place and my impact on it in particular."
"Well, I'd say that depends on how you choose to look at things," Double Trouble explained, writing down on their notepad, "I think it's important to examine how much progress Salineas has made in rebuilding thanks to your help."
Double Trouble gestured across the sandy beach they were sitting on, to the busy docks full of fishing ships, to the intricate stone masonry of Mermista's palace.
"Entrapta was the one responsible for helping rebuild the Sea Gate," Hordak admitted, "I only convinced the Princesses to accept her help. Hardly equivalent to the destruction I had incurred to these people in the first place."
"Well, it's a start at least," Double Trouble sighed, quickly flipping back to their previous notes, "How about we talk about something else? During our last meeting, I noticed you and your brother had an interesting discussion about a man named... Keldor, I believe it was."
"What about him?" Hordak growled.
"I curious about your history in dealing with other people before Etheria," Double Trouble stated, "And there don't appear to be many people with actual names in the greater Horde in my experience."
"Keldor is not a member of the Horde any more than the Princesses are," Hordak explained, "He was an alien asset I had picked up from a backwater world on the far reaches of space. Frankly 'asset' is a far too generous description of him."
"How did that happen?" Double Trouble queried, writing down on their notepad.
"He had somehow managed to broadcast a message directly to our ship as we were passing by his world," answered Hordak, "Keldor was a prince of the planet Eternia, who asked for our help in usurping his older brother. I think his name was Randy or something. In return for our assistance, he promised the Horde a source of unfathomable power held in the royal castle, Greathall, I believe it was called. The fact that he managed to find and contact us at all was a minor miracle, given the primitive culture we observed from our orbital scans. I was sent down to investigate and, at my discretion, help facilitate Eternia's 'regime change'."
Hordak sighed for a second as he paused to recollect his thoughts. Double Trouble continued scribbling on their notepad
"Keldor used our weapons, our armor and our equipment to bolster his troops and stormed Castle Greathall," Hordak continued, "Only to be stopped when a magic spell he had prepared literally blew up in his face. The stupid wizard melted the skin off his own head. His troops retreated and brought him before me. I repaired the damage as best I could but my knowledge of Eternian biology was... lacking to say the least, and the nature of magic is still something of a mystery to the Horde. Needless to say Keldor was not as grateful for my medical care as I had hoped. Apparently, he was considered very handsome by Eternian standards and so he swore vengeance against me for his own incompetence."
"So it sounds like things didn't end on the best note between you two," Double Trouble observed, "So what happened after that?"
"The operation on Eternia had been deemed a failure," Hordak recounted, "Keldor grovelled before Horde Prime and pledged his loyalty to the Horde. I recommended the Horde abandon Eternia and was promptly reassigned. I was thankful to be as far away from that miserable creature."
Double Trouble continued to write on their notepad as Hordak laid back and closed his eyes.
"My ears still hurt from having to listen to his ceaseless... petulant... whining..." Hordak said, before he began wheezing in a high pitched shriek, "'You shall pay for this, Hordak, you bumbling boob!' Every waking moment with 'Eternia should have been mine, you Nosferatu nincompoop!' By the Horde, I should have just let him die."
"Hordak?" Double Trouble said, "I thought Horde clones weren't allowed to have names."
"It was what Keldor chose to call me," Hordak explained, "Apparently, Horde Unit Alpha Kappa One Three One Four Five was too much for the ignorant wizard to remember. So he chose to refer to me as 'Horde Ay Kay' for short, which soon morphed into simply Horde-Ak."
"So you were working together for some time then?" Double Trouble deduced, writing down another note.
"We had... an arrangement," Hordak sighed, "Horde Prime was just as curious about the Eternian's magical powers as he was of our technology. So I was ordered to participate in a cultural exchange... and he learned far more about me than I ever wanted anyone else to..."
"You are referring to your... quirks?" Double Trouble guessed.
"Now that I think back on it," Hordak muttered to himself, "All of this happened very shortly before my genetic defects were revealed to Horde Prime. If I didn't know any better, one might have thought Keldor had found some way to pay me back for his disfigurement. Never trust a magician, I suppose."
"Mmm-hmm," Double Trouble mumbled, "Tell me, Hordak. Did you ever apologize for disfiguring his face?"
Hordak's eyes narrowed at their therapist.
"I saved the man's life!" Hordak roared, "It was the result of his own stupid mistake! He should be thanking me for every second he spends breathing!"
"But that came at a cost," Double Trouble explained, "One I don't think he expected to pay. Even if it was his fault, Mr. Keldor appears to have gone through a very traumatizing experience. Now I don't fault you for trying to help him, but afterwards don't you think you could have tried showing a little bit of empathy for his situation."
"I highly doubt that anything I could have done would have changed Keldor's disposition," Hordak grumbled, "The man was an entitled petulant child who would never take responsibility for his own actions."
"Possibly," Double Trouble said, "But we'll never know if we don't try."
Double Trouble's lecture was interrupted by a blustering roaring wind creating a small tornado of sand around them. The roar grew louder as a large shadow fell over them. Double Trouble covered their faced and looked up at the large red aircraft that flew over top of them towards the dockyard.
"I think that's a good place to end our session," Double Trouble stated, picking up their scattered things and putting them back in their bag, "Until next time?"
"Yes," Hordak said, getting up to leave, "Until next time."
~*~
DT's Notes
Hordak, Session 6
-My first client to come to Salineas is Hordak, hopefully there won't be anymore family interruptions this time.
-Uncomfortable with the new digs, still feels shame and guilt for the destruction of Salineas
-Dismissive of the Progress he's made, baby steps...
-Following up on Keldor from our last session
-Claims Keldor is another 'asset' of the Horde, like the princesses
-Wanted to hire Hordak to help him kill his brother, stuff like this is why I just don't trust royals
-Keldor blames Hordak for losing his face after a botched lifesaving surgery, no good deed goes unpunished
-Keldor named Hordak, and he kept the name when he came to Etheria... sounds like they might have been much closer than he is willing to admit
-Paranoia, Lack of Empathy, Entitlement, Delusions of Grandeur sounds like Keldor and Hordak have quite a lot in common.
-WHAT IN ETHERIA IS SCORPIA DOING HERE?!
