week 7 | friday night

[jackhole]

[ so! since finding gilbert's body, rhys has definitely stuck to break's side the rest of the day, disappearing only for a little bit in the evening before returning to break really late at night (around 3 AM or so) and whatever break is doing is now interrupted by a very frantic rhys. ]

Break -- Break. You need to come with me. Now. And just -- just trust me, okay? We need to go see Miata.

[ he's got a bit of a wild look in his eye so maybe you should trust him, huh, break? trust rhys as he leads you down to... the basement? weird. ]

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[vicedirector]

[ Miata's eyes widen the longer Rhys talks. For a few seconds she doesn't know what to say, sort of standing there, stunned.

And then she fishes a bundle of papers out of her pocket.

A symbol, immaterial, glows on the floor beneath her feet, and expands until it reaches Rhys and Break. Working properly, it should physically root the two of them to the spot. Miata holds up her hand, pointing directly at the former, and a faint green glow burns at her finger tip. ]

One, you don't call the fucking shots around here. How dare you think you can push me around, you fucking prick. If you feel like damaging what we've set up and endangering those three, I have exactly zero problems with handing your ass over to Mammon; she can be here in 30 seconds flat. Enjoy your shitty afterlife with no second chance. And that goes for you, too, Grandpa.

[ She takes a deep, shuddering breath. There's anger behind her words, but not legitimate, genuine malice. Whether or not she'd actually sic Mammon on them isn't clear. Her eyes dart between the two of them. ]

...that said. We're running an ambidex game down here. Reconnaissance and rebellion. Bringing back the deceased isn't impossible, so that's one of our end goals. I'm guessing that's what you're after.

[jackhole]

[ rhys can feel it, when he's rooted to the spot and he wants to move and a smaller part of him wants to apologize, take back what he said. but he's at a point where his mind's sort of running on "panic" and he's not entirely sure how to stop it. he's fucked up, but he needs... he needs to survive? or... get out of here? or...

or, he's not actually sure. he just sort of wants it all to end already. how that happens, he doesn't really care anymore. ]

Then -- [ do it, he wants to say. egg miata on some more for... some reason. but he stops himself and scrubs his hands over his face and no, he can't. he can't do it. she's agreeing to protect break if he keeps his behavior in check.

can rhys keep his behavior in check? he jerks suddenly, when he feels like he hears the wheeze of a certain masked AI's laughter behind him, looking away from miata and break and to the rest of the room in a daze.

no, he's just imagining things. he looks back at them, eyes wide and mouth opening before closing and shaking his head and his shoulders slump. ]

Yeah, it's -- ... it's cool, I'm fine. Please, just... talk to Break.

[crazily]

[ Whether it's fatalism or familiarity, Break's expression doesn't shift in the slightest when he suddenly finds himself rooted to the spot he's standing in. He can't see the symbol, so he actually has... No idea what's happening here, but he doesn't need to. He does have some familarity with what she's doing, though whether he recognizes it or not isn't clear, but probably more than that, he just doesn't care if he dies. That's the real crux of why he's here at all, and it's not until Rhys responds that Break speaks. ]

It is, yes. If I can return home, I'd appreciate it, but it's secondary.

[ He nods, but it seems that he's at least taking this completely seriously. ]

That's more or less what working for Pandora entails, so I can be of assistance. My skills admittedly lie more heavily in strategic assassinations, but I'm not unskilled in gathering information. I've been gathering a fair amount for my own purposes here, after all. [ He shrugs, since he doubts that 'how to get away with murder' is exactly what Miata is looking for here... ] Please tell me what your exact goals are so that I know what to look for. I'll bring you whatever I can.

[vicedirector]

[ Slowly, slowly, Miata lowers her hand, and the green glow fades. It takes another few moments to get her to shove the papers back into her pocket, the circle fading in turn.

.... ]

We've been gathering the objects that the dead players brought here with them--the rickshaw, the tome, the shoes, the crystal.... they're links to their homeworlds, so provided their souls are still here, we can use them to draw their souls back to prepared vessels. That's the first problem. The second problem is that I'm not as skilled in magic as I need to be to do a ritual like that.

[ a pause, and she waits to continue ]

[jackhole]

[ rhys is still a little bit on edge but he's not going to bait miata again. he stares at her though, listens to her explanation and at least adds a bit of a helpful tidbit, or at least what he thinks is helpful. ]

You're more skilled now though. Leviathan, the demon of Envy, [ that clarification was for break ] gave you her power, right? And you've been practicing this whole time. You have to be better now, right?

[ if he sounds kind of desperate, it's because he is. ]

[crazily]

[ Break nods in understanding, since at least his canon is bullshit enough that he really has no problem accepting this... It's still not as bad as the Abyss or Jack, so he can actually accept this fairly easily. ]

Mm, I understand. Have there been any issues collecting things thus far? I hadn't paid it much mind myself.

[ Though Break also hasn't really cared about anyone that's died, so. ]

...As for magic, my own usage of it is rather specific, so I don't know if I'd be any help. But if there's a way I can assist, I will. Is it a matter of lack of power or lack of time to master the skills?

[vicedirector]

Not really, no. Buddy has Morrigan's staff and Urashima has Cheshire's bell, but they seem committed enough to keeping them safe, so I'm not actually worried about them, for now.

[ when urashima dies is a completely different matter, though, um ]

The latter. Katerina, my boss, she's been studying magic for over ten years. Kinda hard to learn all that shit in the span of a few months.

[ a nod to Rhys ]

Well, yeah? That was a mid-level paralysis spell, so Leviathan's help is definitely doing something to bolster progress. But bringing the dead back to life isn't a walk in the park, it's one of the most difficult spells you could ever imagine.

[jackhole]

We'll get them, I'm pretty sure about that. There's not enough people left for everyone to notice if the staff or the bell go missing.

[ rhys just shrugs then. he knows how this works and he's pretty confident about being able to pull it off.

but right, huh. there's something that occurs to rhys then. ]

... Katerina is sacrificing all of us for her own power, right? What if some of us were sacrificed to you so you could bring us all back? We'd only be dead for a little bit, it could work.

[crazily]

[ Break seems to be deep in thought as he tries to think all of this over, but ultimately, he's also playing catch up here. Rhys thinks about this more quickly than he does, and when he offers his suggestion, Break's brow furrows deeply, but he lowers his hand. ]

...Like I said, I'll do whatever it takes. I don't have anything to lose here anyways.

[vicedirector]

[ a nod ]

That's the basics of it. Make sure to gather the dead players' items, in one piece, and be my eyes and ears. [ a beat ] Ears.

[ .....sorry grandpa

Miata goes and collapses in the sofa, motioning the two of them over. ]

This is gonna be a long story.

[ and insert here the tl;dr i'm gonna give christy on plurk ]