[ tracking lucien down when he's like halfway sobered up and aware that his phone is gone and has managed to put two and two together because like nobody else touched him at that party UNFORTUNATELY!!! ]

DID YOU STEAL MY PHONE???

[ bud you could have literally pulled yourself a 10 and gotten a smooch from anyone. no one would question it. sad!

well, he does, in fact, pull the phone out from his pocket, but he doesn't hand it back quite yet. ]

This thing? 'Course not. Do you think all infernals are thieves? Found it in the bathroom. Must have dropped it.

[ it said second closest person and he followed the rules and got stuck with a roach man and then he never got a second chance!!!!! ]

I don't even know what an infernal is, I just think you personally are a thief because I had it with me until you touched my back and fucked off forever when you were supposed to be getting me a drink! And, you know, because YOU HAVE IT NOW. Don't give me that found it in the bathroom bullshit!!

[ holding the phone up. ]

What'll you pay for it?

Huh?! Nothing, because it's mine and I already paid for it when I BOUGHT IT!

[ he can found wandering the ship - he likes exploring the planets, but he's had his fill of a wintery hellscape lately, so maybe a bit more time indoors isn't the worst for this week.

so maybe today he's wandered into the adorable little bunny rabbit cafe, sees both that it's adorable and pink and also, todomatsu is in here and turns around to leave.


and can't open the door.


he keeps trying it for like. two minutes, increasingly, silently, furious. ]

[ well this cafe fucking rules actually so todomatsu is just sitting here serenely with his cute latte art and his colorful macarons. last week was shit but he's finally healed and walking without crutches, so things are looking up!!

but then he just sees this happening out of the corner of his eye and it is DISTRACTING him from his WATERMELON GAME and finally looks over. ]

It's probably locked. You got the alert, right?

[ TRYING THE DOOR HARDER. ]

[ there's a moment there where he leans both hands against the door, dropping his head and the air seems to ... shimmer. almost. red eyes open and close in the air to dart and glance around and then close again, quick enough to be a trick of the eye.

and then he slams both hands against the door one more time, stands up straight, and looks perfectly calm again. turning around to look at him. ]

What?

[ .......um, ok ]

Didn't say anything.

You were thinking rather loudly, friend.

Well, you were fighting that door rather loudly, so it was hard not to.

You don't want to be in here with me any more than the reverse.

[ he will. stomp over to sit. at the same table. ]

I mean, I was here in the first place because I wanted to be here. Though yeah, the "with you" part puts a little bit of a damper on it.

With me.

I did nothing to you that others have not done worse. I was participating in the games, and I returned it, did I not? I can't have this terrible a reputation for simply saying what needs to be said at times.

What the hell does "saying what needs to be said" have to do with it?! No one else stole my phone, and you were a dick about it! If you'd just given it back ten minutes later without trying to break into it, without me having to track you down to ask for it, and without asking "what I'd give you for it" [ ticking each of those things off on his fingers ] I wouldn't have cared that much!

That was barely any dickishness!

[ okay so he is aware he is being a dick on SOME level. ]

And I didn't try and break into it. I wanted to know what was on it! Never seen anything like it.

If that was what you wanted, you could have asked!! The passcode was there for a reason, I have personal stuff on there that I don't want people looking at without my supervision!

[ he is currently pacing up and down the halls, because we all love bring your daughter to murder day.

he will actually stop and offer totty a cigarette though, if he's nearby. ]

[ god. he thinks smoking's gross but honestly he'll take it right now, fuck it. he's in grayscale right now anyway thanks to the weekly effect, might as well go full showa. ]

Thanks.

Sure.

[ he'll strike a match for him too, since he's on a roll with this being polite thing. ]

What do you think? Three for next week? Organizing the vote will be more difficult.

[ lights up... ]

We did such a great job of organizing this one.

[ takes a drag and leans back against the wall as he exhales. ]

I mean, what the fuck.

What the fuck about covers it.

[ doing the same then, looking over at him. ]

Have you ever killed anyone?

[ well, he already told everyone he was an anime character today, so. ]

Yeah. Died a bunch of times too. It just never mattered because it was a comedy and we pretty much always came back in the next segment like nothing ever happened.

[ a sort of snort of laughter, mostly humorless. he's not laughing at him, just. circumstances. ]

Only died the once myself.

[ fair. most of what they did was for laughs anyway. ]

Didn't stick?

Didn't stick.

[ taking a long drag. ]

More of a tragedy, however.

[ a bit of a hum. ]

That kind's usually a lot harder to come back from. So congrats, I guess, even if it probably sucked.

[ the way I wrote week 30 by accident my god

well lucien is hanging out somewhere kind of quiet, maybe the library now that it's cleaned up and not locked down. he'll ... give a wave? yo. ]

[ it fucking feels like week 30. ]

Hey.

[ ...he'll sit down somewhere nearby. probably just look up at the ceiling. ]

This is all getting really old, huh?

Old. Circular. New again.

[ time is a flat circle etc etc etc. ]

You seem to be taking it badly.

Huh? [ looks back over with a frown. ] Why's that?

[ BECAUSE YOU LOOK SAD BUDDY. ]

I don't mean--

[ the first thing you feel is pain. The wrenching, wretched pain of skin loosening and freeing the parts of you that sustain life - you can see the magic around you, deep purple and vivid-bright - and you know you’ve made a mistake. She’s killed you. You’re already dead, your mind is just faster than your heart to realize it. Vess DeRogna - Archmage of the Assembly and traitorous bitch - had won.

No no no no— I won’t be made a puppet, I won’t be made hollow, not like this not like this—

But you don’t have time for objections more than that.

For a while, it’s dark.

Then you wake up.


You’re sitting on the ground, in a field - quiet. It’s evening outside, though you don’t recognize the star patterns above your head. There’s the remains of something being packed away around you. A … carnival, maybe. There’s a large tent, half-fallen down, a few caravans to the side. Half of everything is in piles - poles and crates, costumes tossed in heaps. Bits of paper float by on the wind. It’s calm, like the aftermath of a storm.

No one else is around, except her.

“Oh. You’re here? A little earlier than expected. Hello.”

There’s a woman, seated on a crate across from you. She has milk-white eyes, and is much taller than she has any right to be. Then again, when you take another glance, she appears perfectly normal. Smiling, but only a little.

She’s shuffling cards in her hands (two, no, more than two, four, eight, infinite … two), deep red with a golden decoration inked across the back. the ever-swirling ocean blue of her skin is hypnotic, making it almost impossible to know where to look.

“I don’t think I have all of you … do you know where the other part might be?” The woman watches for a moment and then: "Well. Once upon a time. No-- Twice upon a time."

There's a strange sense of timelessness happening - you are everywhere, and nowhere, and also a small part of you ... somewhere. all colors and songs and joyful life, while you are here. with her, watching you carefully.

"Now we can begin. Begin again, I mean. Would you like to see the draw?"

the woman continues shuffling her cards, before putting three down on the small table between the two of you. face down.

"Your past. Your present. Your future."

She turns the first. A purple-skinned tiefling child draws blood from his arm, filling a chandelier hanging from the ceiling of the great Sanguine Sanctuary. On either side, a dark-furred catfolk woman, and a tall, muscular blonde watch on, holding tight to either elbow.

"A terrible trade for magic ... but I suppose one has to make sacrifices."

She turns the second. A purple-skinned tiefling in a red coat, patterned and beautiful, spinning. It makes you sick to look at it. A red eye is tattooed across the back of one of the figure's hands.

"Empty. Free. Death-obsessed. Then again, you always were, weren't you? In another time and place, you'd be in another time and place."

She pauses, fingers against the third card and she hums before standing and walking away. You feel everything go dark again. Silence. Like when everyone has filed out of the theater after the performance, and you've been left here alone. Comforting, in a way, to be finally alone in the quiet.

there's a sound like a song, filtering through the silence. and before long (or not long? time isn't anything here) you hear the final notes of the refrain. A blade twists in your chest and

You hear footsteps. The woman is back, bending down to look you in the eye, smiling.

"Thrice upon a time. Can you believe it? Say, do you know what comes after thrice ... ?"

But you don't have time to respond. The purpose. The promise. THE VISION. OPEN YOUR EYES. A whispered command: wake up.

And then the light pours in.

You're back.]

[ god. that felt more like a weird dream than a memory, and it's a little disorienting to be right back in the library again afterward. ]

...That was the death that didn't stick, I guess?