PC: MARGE IN CHARGE

[tombtaker]

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W0 - MONDAY

[tombtaker]

[ oh it's Ms. Handshakefulness. Great. Lucien is pacing the hallways, pointlessly, and in the process is spreading a really fun variety of emotions. Paranoia, like an animal pacing the bars of its cage, and an exhaustion so profound the freakin' walls are moving. Maybe someone should actually try sleeping in ... his room ... ? ]

[bossbabygirl]

Hi again, Lucien.

[ugh the emotion is that she hates saying his name but is trying not to be weird about it.]

Sorry, are you going to be pacing out here for a while? You're sort of generating a cloud of psychic malaise...

[tombtaker]

[ its one of those things that in the effort of trying not to be weird, it's a little weird. the psychic malaise ... worsens. ]

Nothing else to do in the meantime, is there?

[bossbabygirl]

I guess not. I guess there's no option other than generating the worst vibes I've ever encountered right outside my door...

[she says this so good-naturedly though. like she's a little stressed out but she's not mad.]

You doing okay there?

week 0; friday

[bossbabygirl]

[margaret can be found after the morning announcements in the lounge. she's horrified, but too in shock to be sad just yet.]

What the hell happened last night?

[tombtaker]

[ flurry voice: he sniffs. he's managed to find cigarettes and has started chainsmoking as of pretty damn early by the smell of it. ]

Boring night for me. Locked in with a few drunks and we didn't discuss anything of import.

[bossbabygirl]

[she laughs, rubbing her temple, vaguely bordering on hysteria.]

Boring, huh? You didn't experience a sudden sharp pain that convinced everyone they were dying? Guess that was all from Luke.

[tombtaker]

[ that's fine, that actually seems like a normal response. lucien's emotions are packed away tightly, boxed up so deeply that it's liable to explode at the seams - but not until later. ]

Heard he dropped dead.

W1 - Monday

[tombtaker]

[ hello marge. where is she at. it doesn't matter now she's in the void. whenever she walks by, lucien will peel off from a wall to fall in step with her briefly at least. ]

It's not a brain slug.

[bossbabygirl]

[yes hello welcome to the void. it's monday so she's probably wandering around the new locations, she has a new outfit and is getting ready to head out.]

...I see. What is it, then?

[tombtaker]

[ the dedication to uncomfortable heels is what makes this outfit great and not just good. lucien is much less buttoned up, but he still has most of the tattoos covered at this point. ]

I said it at the trial. A splinter. Removeable, but perhaps needs a bit of work to fix. We're allowed to ask for non-monetary compensation here.

[bossbabygirl]

Ah. So you deliver some packages, and they take out your brain splinter?

[well, that's not such a bad bargain.]

I hate to be a pessimist, but seeing how well everything on this ship functions, you're sure you want them doing brain surgery?

week 1; thursday

[bossbabygirl]

[okay, well, she will find the jorkler later.]

...Hey. Did you get healed up okay?

[tombtaker]

[ the jonker is not medbay healed - this much is obvious by the scratches on his face that are still nasty looking - but he's not actively oozing. so yay? ]

I'll do it later. There's a line.

[bossbabygirl]

Stubborn. But as long as you're not dying. I like the hair?

[tombtaker]

I'm not dying.

[ he is not! he does grimace about the hair, running his hands through it. it at least looks like that sort of semi-permanent stuff that will last about half a shower. ]

And you don't like the hair.

W3 - MONDAY

[tombtaker]

[ 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?” ]

[bossbabygirl]

Hello.

[she answers politely, automatically, though she's disoriented by suddenly being thrown into a life she doesn't recognize at all. the feeling of dying and then being here and missing a part of herself, maybe?]

Oh, that's different. So sorry, usually I'm more together than this. I guess I've just lost some of myself lately.

[tombtaker]

["It happens. Do try and keep track of your soul. It makes it somewhat difficult for me ..." 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. ]

week 4; tuesday

[bossbabygirl]

[a pixelated stranger is waiting as the paintball battle concludes.] I'm back! For revenge.

[tombtaker]

[ me trying to decide if he's figured out the shtick yet and I think no.

this has such bot energy. a pixelated lady with huge tittytatas is in his inbox being demanding. ]

Hilarious. What do you actually want?

[bossbabygirl]

[such bot energy.]

Well, for one thing, I wanted to introduce you to a friend of mine who saw you and really liked your vibe. His name is Otsillac, so you can probably hit him up.

[in other words, audience.]

W6 - SATURDAY

[tombtaker]

[ hello margie. he'll come find her at some point. ]

Still feel solidly in your body?

[bossbabygirl]

Very much so, very much so.

[she's having a drink at the bar.]

I missed this place. No rats trying to shake their anatomically incorrect rat parts in your face while you have a beverage.

[tombtaker]

[ INCORRECT parts? ]

I have no follow-up questions.