Take off your silver spurs and help me pass the time (Closed)

[summertimeblues]

Who: Richie Tozier (summertimeblues) & assorted sweet beans
What: April Catch-All + memshare nonsense that doesn't need to be clogging up the intro log, WELCOME TO THE GAME NEWBIES!!
When: Ap..ril....
Where: Southern Outpost/Olympia/Wherever else we wind up going
Warning(s): Persona 5 and Wonder Woman spoilers, mentions of sexual assault, suicide, some murder clown...

Comments

[vorrutyer]

[ And Byerly, who might be a good person under it all but who will never not be insufferable, shoots back - ]

Dear fellow, if you're going to start hitting me out of jealousy, you're not going to be popping me just one.

[ Then - ]

You might be able to earn him back.

[summertimeblues]

[Earn him back?

Richie pauses. Then he speaks cautiously through of the bitter draw of his smile.]

That's a bigger bubble of optimism than I'd expect out of you.

[vorrutyer]

I'm a font of surprises.

[ Then, with a shrug he tries and fails to make look casual - ]

It's not outside of their powers, is it? So the key may be - perhaps - to give them proper motivation.

[summertimeblues]

[The ungainliness of the gesture doesn't escape him. He just has a hard time parsing what he's trying for.]

He's not in the pods, Byerly. He's gone. Don't dangle something in front of me that you can't deliver on.

[vorrutyer]

I'm not dangling. I'm just -

[ Being sincere, for once. Honestly trying to extend a crumb of hope. Which, honestly, he's rather irritated at himself for - what business does he have, trying to foster those sorts of emotions when it might not pan out? If he were trying to manipulate Richie, that would be one thing - but this has no real purpose. ]

It's a possibility.

[summertimeblues]

[Oh.

The rigidity leaks out of him. The hard lines of his mouth go slack. It wasn't more unfathomable prodding, working towards an aim Richie wasn't sharp enough to carve out for himself. It's a pat on the back. A squeeze of the hand. Platitudes, but earnest ones. Richie feels a spark of shame burst in his middle.]

Could be. [Concede it. Let it pass. Even if the likelihood is less than zero. The only favors he expects are the ones he never asked for. Anything that he actually wants? Forget it.]

Did you really have an audience with them once? [He makes a small jerk of the head to the brown haired cutie behind them, little girl giggling at her older brother's antics.] Or was it the whisper you heard when you woke up?

[vorrutyer]

[ And By pulls a face, very slight, at that relaxation. A wordless, implicit apology for even raising the prospect. Stupid and soft. Even with them on friendlier terms, that's not their dynamic. ]

Just the promise given to me upon waking. Lick boots, and we'll keep them safe.

[summertimeblues]

[He notes it. Takes no further action. They're an odd couple, ain't they? Too much alike and too big of instigators to keep off one another's toes. He'd said as much to Prior to ward off an invite to the party, but hell, he's starting to believe it.]

That's about the same line they fed me. With an addendum, of course. Oh, we couldn't possibly interfere. If It wakes up, it's your mess to clean up! Cheerio! Pip pip! Be a good sport and try not to fret, luv, you'll have your fun until the circus comes to town.

[vorrutyer]

[ A short bark of laughter. ]

Good heavens. Really? Never mind that they could probably dissolve the beast where it lies. Never mind that the universe would be a damn sight better for it. It doesn't help their little war, so why bother?

[summertimeblues]

Exactly! [Richie's shout is one born of months of pent up frustration, an absolute lack of outlet for his outrage.] And Christ, sure there's a whole bushel of people here fit for fairy tales, each one capable of something stranger than the next — does that mean that they'd be able to anything about it? Does that mean they'd be able to see? I can't — there's no way to tell, and I'm sure as fuck not sending anyone to go test it out in my place. I'd be as good as fluffing pillows for their coffin, now wouldn't I?

[vorrutyer]

Such a noble heart you have.

[ Said like a joke, meant in sincerity. ]

[summertimeblues]

[He peels out of the rant, hands on his hips.]

What? Are you gonna knight me for it?

[vorrutyer]

Well, Barrayarans don't have knights. We have Vor. But, alas, you've come too late to be made Vortozier - I'm not the Emperor any longer. You're stuck as a prole.

[ Then - ]

I can see it, it seems. So that's something.

[summertimeblues]

All right then. I'm going to take my application straight to your cousin. [He licks an invisible pen and scrawls over an equally absent scroll. The mime is a dedicated affair.] "Dear Your Resplendent Worshipness, Miles Vorkoko: I, Richard Tozier, do submit myself as chief clown-slayer of the Barrayaran armed forced. References available upon request, or whenever the hell they plan on waking the old gang up."

[Anyway.]

You saw what I remembered. If it was in front of you, it'd be pulling new shapes out of your head.

[vorrutyer]

Not a bad campaign. And Barrayarans have a long history of murdering people with painted faces - you'd fit right in.

[ With a shrug - ]

And yes, it'd be pulling horrific things out of my memories, but your morning breath didn't actually kill me. So the creature would end up harmless.

[summertimeblues]

[There's another meaning behind that, isn't there?

But the remark is there and gone in a flash, and his honor is at stake. (Painted faces, though...considering how he'd painted the rest of his history, would that mean...)]

That's because I hadn't had my nightly bowl of pan fried jalapenos. I'll be the death of you yet. [He takes a moment to think, hand to chin.] Perhaps now I'd just see your dick. Ten feet tall with the balls stomping around like elephant feet.

[vorrutyer]

[ A mock-innocent blink - ]

What - you really think the monster would shrink down from the original? That wouldn't be good for scaring you.

[summertimeblues]

Byerly, my sweet By-baloo— [He plants a hand on each of the man's shoulders.] —mutant space dick is spooky no matter how big or how small.

[vorrutyer]

Really?

[ He pours down at his crotch. ]

But I spent so much to get those special features installed.

[summertimeblues]

[Richie clucks his tongue and shakes his head.]

You've been had, my friend. They took you for a sucker.

[vorrutyer]

It has suckers, incidentally.

[summertimeblues]

[Lessons Richie Tozier has yet to learn: Don't play gay chicken with a bisexual.]

Ah— [He breaks, bursting into laughter, but lord all mighty those ears burn brighter than Rudolph's nose on Christmas. Richie pulls back, clapping him on the shoulder one last time as the redness annexs his cheeks.] All right, all right. Enough of that.

[vorrutyer]

[ By touches a finger to his temple, then flips it upwards in a lazy parody of a victorious salute. He'll take his victory gracefully. ]

Why does it try to frighten you, anyway?

[summertimeblues]

It's...hummm. [He pulls his lips in.] It does eat. There are bites out of the bodies, but it doesn't finish them off in a way that...it's more like the death itself. Or the condition of it, the amp up before the final blow. It takes a lot of sweet time building up to the kill.

And at the beginning and end of every year it feeds, there's some big blowout. Almost like a sacrifice. There was an explosion at the Kitchener Ironworks years and years ago, something like eighty-eight dead. That was at the end of a cycle. There was a shoot out that the whole town got in on in the thirties, I think? Some bank robbing gang came into town for a breather and they all lay in wait for them the next day. Peppered 'em right up with all the farming shotguns and nightstand pistols they had. The fire at the Black Spot — don't know if it's still a thing in your time, but there were a fair share of white supremacists in Derry back in the day. Didn't take kindly to the black folks having fun so they barbecued them in their own bar.

[He gives him an apologetic look. Sobering stuff, nothing pretty. Good ol' Derry.]

It seems to take the worst parts of people and crank them up to eleven. The moment it wakes up, things start going south all over. Then it naps for about a quarter century and starts the whole deal all over.

[vorrutyer]

Oh, we have other systems of casual hatred where I'm from.

[ Cheerily said. He continues: ]

So is it a sort of - heavens, one feels foolish asking questions like this. Does it feed psychically?