we interrupt your regularly scheduled Babish rip-off for this important announcement

[otomechapilot]

I'll do the cooking show after the Jaunt, I didn't have time to prepare it, but...

What's this I hear about Tower falling?

Comments

[chalicejoker]

"Thanks." He sighs. "It was...stopped. But only by a man who gave far too much to do it." Ryo reaches out and pats him on the cheek, but for once, the mantis stays quiet.

He still seems to think he's going to get caught in some kind of trick question. "...emotions and relationships are difficult?" He's trying, here.

[otomechapilot]

"It's weird that she's doing worse than a coinflip when what she represents IS relationships," Sara says.

Sara sighs, and puts another card - an image of the Devil chaining together a man, a woman, and a treasure chest in a hellish punishment. The pose and composition is almost exactly the same as the Lovers card.

"...I think they're missing the parts of them linked to the dead Arcana."

Try that thought on for size, see where it takes you.

[chalicejoker]

Hajime stares at the card for a long moment. "...just so you're aware, I'm really more used to things represented by cards where you want to take as many of them out of commission as possible. Like that's the goal." He almost misses the other Undead. At least he understood them, even if he wanted to seal all of them. "And I don't...I don't see why taking the one that wrecks things out of the equation would hurt."

[otomechapilot]

"Tower isn't about wrecking things," Sara says, flatly. "Wrecking things is his hobby. His job is burning your hand when you stick it in a fire. If he's fine with an apocalypse, it's only because nothing makes you learn faster than a spectacular disaster."

Sara sighs, pressing her thumbs into the gap between her nose and her forehead.

"...without Temperance, the Arcana have no sense of balance. Without Hierophant, no sense of morals. Without Fortune, they had no luck. Without Star, they have no hope."

"And I really hope not having Tower doesn't mean they'll have no sense of the consequences of their actions."

[chalicejoker]

Hajime frowns. "You could argue they already didn't have a sense of consequence when they brought in a bunch of people like us to do all of this for them and they didn't think some of us might react poorly, and violently so."

[otomechapilot]

"Which they started doing right after their sense of balance got murdered by Cthulhu, right?"

Sara pinches the bridge of her nose again. "...I'm not saying that you're wrong, that they're innocent, that they shouldn't have asked instead of taken. I'm saying that there's a good reason for them to want their family back."

"I want a World where Ruin leads to Revelation and Revolution as much as I want one where Hope is real."

[chalicejoker]

"It's not like we can change anything now, anyway," Hajime says, "and I...just haven't had the same experiences with Ruin to even think such a thing has the possibility to exist." There's a pause. "But I'm not planning on going out with the intent to kill again, if that's what you're worried about."

[otomechapilot]

"Believe me, I understand that there are monsters out there that need to be slain, and I get it. I get that he's as much the end of things as what comes after the end, and I've lived through an apocalypse." Sara said. "And... I really hope I'm wrong."

She meets his eyes. "No one deserves Moebius or worse for trying to shake the bars of their cell. I'm not telling anyone.

I promise."

[chalicejoker]

"I think we all do." Hajime's not sure Tower's death is going to be this level disaster, but it's too late now. Best they can do is hope things work out somehow.

And not having this blasted everywhere any more than Ryo already had is good, too. "I appreciate that. Ryo does, too." Because speaking for the mantis is just a smart move right now. "If anyone asks, I guess we were just in here swapping recipes."

[otomechapilot]

Sara laughs. “Poutine is next in line for the Snackin’ thoughtcast, but want to be next after for plausibility?”

Sara looks up, humming in false thoughtfulness. “That way we were swapping recipes.”

[chalicejoker]

"That'll work." Hajime nods. "My recipe for takoyaki's pretty kickass."

"Won contests with it!" Ryo adds. "Is very plausible swap!"