[Secondish day of Chuck E Cheese Liminal]

[itsananimalthing]

So hey. Everybody. Tell me what all our asshole patrons had to say about Moebius. I already talked to Malik and Matthew, so I got their stories. Already know that we killed one of 'em, so Moebius was a punishment, presumably for that. Death was behind the whole doing-things-over part, and Devil was behind the whole kill-all-your-friends part.

Also there's the tidbit that Lovers claims they don't make the places they send us to, they just pick 'em. Which is interesting. Unless she was lying, though I'm guessin' she wasn't.

But mostly I wanna hear if any of the rest of you talked about Moebius with your Trump. I got most of my memories of that Jaunt back, but not much of anything from that whole thing we apparently did to earn it, and I'm thinkin' that's gonna be pretty important. I'm hopin' somebody else can give me somethin' to go off of to jump-start workin' on that.

Besides, nobody ever talks about this shit, and we're down to too few people who lived it to let people forget about it.

Comments

[itsananimalthing]

Oh yeah? What you got, Rosie?

[The nickname used to be to annoy her, but now it's just habit; he sounds genuinely interested.]

I'll trade you whatever else you want if you've got somethin' new for me.

[runawaystory]

How new it is probably depends on how much you've already got, but I remember most if it pretty well.

[itsananimalthing]

Come by the forge, sister. We can do an exchange.

[runawaystory]

Works for me.

[And in a few minutes, she appears at the forge.]

Knock knock.

[itsananimalthing]

[The beaten metal door is half-open for her, and slides the rest of the way open with a touch. The fire is lit, but not to the strength that it would need to be for actually working metal. There are various projects strewn about, mostly weapons, but some more utilitarian or delicate things. Riddick comes out of the room beyond the forge proper to greet her.]

Hey. C'mon in. You ain't been in here yet, have you?

[runawaystory]

[Rosalie peers around curiously, picking her way over to Riddick with care. After the mess in Bando... She'd ignored as many reminders of it as she could, including Riddick's new hidey-hole. This is the first time she's given the entrance anything more than a passing glance.]

I've seen it around.

[itsananimalthing]

[It's changed since it first appeared, and doesn't look nearly as much like the forge from the monastery, now. The walls are a different sort of stone, the door is metal instead of wood, and most of the cultural touches are gone. That ought to help matters.]

Well, the more comfortable part is past the actual forge. You might wanna be sitting down for this. I'm gonna try to sanitize it up a bit, but I ain't had a lot of time to work on it.

[runawaystory]

[Yes. It does help. Rosalie finds somewhere to sit, waving off Riddick's offer.]

Don't bother. I've had to sit around in worse for a story.

[itsananimalthing]

I meant the story, not the room.

[You seriously think he'd clean the room for her? You obviously don't know him very well, Rosalie.]

What I got is direct memories. Got feelings attached. If I can strip what I got of some of the feelings and stick it into a data packet, that'll be easier on both of us.

[runawaystory]

[Oh well.]

I've dealt with messy stories before, too. But your way definitely sounds better.

[itsananimalthing]

Yeah, but you ain't lived them. Getting a whole pack of direct memories means it feels like you lived it. So have some tea. I'll finish cleaning this up a little more.

[And he points a teapot from the fire and a cup, the former of which had already been there steaming and the latter apparently just appeared on the rim of brick next to the fire.]