chaoticlootral | Tuesday

Tuesday - Week 5

[Well, Magnus might be brave enough about bald-faced emotion to approach Alex in public, early in the week, but Taako . . . not so much. He isn't good at this sort of thing. Grief, empathy, not being a dick. Dealing with people and all their messiness. He's actually pretty avoidant, but eventually, kinda late, poking around the mattress store to find her. Approaching, not actually running his goddamn mouth for once, and just putting a cup of ice cream beside her head.]

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[ Alex usually smiles when she greets Taako. she's usually laughing. this time she just looks him over, then sits up and takes the ice cream. ]

Am I too skinny? People keep giving me ice cream.

[ well. one other person. still. she kinda fails to hit the note for that to be a functional joke. ]

[Well, at least it's not being thrown in his face. Though he kind of feels like he'd deserves that.]

You could stand to gain a bit, homie, not gonna lie. Little worried you might float away.

[ This is rich coming from the dude who most resembles a 2x4 in this place, but sure. ]

[ she's not big on confronting conflict head on, so she just goes with it, and tugs at the hem of the t-shirt beneath her red jacket. it... is a large men's shirt. it is practically a dress on her. ]

I do like a billion jumping jacks a day. I know I don't look it? But I've got muscle.

[ ......... debatable. ]

Oh, you're right, my bad. Can definitely tell now you've got guns for days. Just bad lighting is all.

[He giggles a bit, because he kind of likes the idea he can just jump back in and get to joking around with Alex, because he likes that. She's fun and spirited and avoidant, and it reminds him of all the good things about his favorite people, but. It's not really fair either. To just sorta pretend and do nothing.]

. . . I, uh, don't really know what to say. I'm not good at this.

[ her body had been pretty loose until - that. she goes brittle.

after a second it passes. she forces it to. she reaches for the ice cream and starts to eat it, watching Taako and waiting for the rest. she's not quite mature and forgiving enough to help start this particular talk. ]

[Does she think that Taako is in any way mature, because hoo boy. Fair enough though. He sits down on the edge of a mattress across from her, avoiding actually saying much of anything for a minute by crossing his legs very precisely and toying with the end of his braid, making a lot of false starts before he finally just starts steam rolling.]

I, uh. Hm. I'm not really sure there's much I can say about what already happened, right? I mean, that's done and done, and we tried and I wanted-- [To what? Do right by everyone? But he didn't, did he.] I don't know. My point is, we're trying now. We're gonna fix it. One way or another, alright?

[It's a little bit of sad irony that he'd be much better at this if he hadn't had that part of him taken as a fee for this game.]

[ Alex stares at him a moment longer. like she's trying to sort out how she actually feels about what he's said instead of just responding to it with reflex. that wasn't really an apology. and Magnus' apology? kind of gives her the impression that neither of them know what she's upset about.

she looks more tired by all of that than relieved by it. ]

How? Tell me how you're going to fix this.

[Probably not. Magnus is pretty emotionally intelligent, but kind of generally dumb in a loving way. Taako is about as emotionally stupid as you can get, even if he has a high intelligence score. He's also very very very bad at apologies. Honestly looking pretty tired himself - because he is. It's been a long few days.]

We're, uh, communicating. That's what they want, right? Going for the Golden Ending, where everyone gets revived and we bust our way loose. Think there's a trick to it - like the notes say, it's a balance of how many Reapers and how many Players there are, and we have our best shot if we make it to eight weeks without ending the game early. I don't know why yet, I mean. I got guesses? But that's what we're rolling with.

I told Monika the same thing, we're not leaving them behind. The Erased, you know? It's not good enough anymore to just get our own asses out of here. We'll tear this place apart if we have to, yeah?

[ Alex smiles weakly, then shakes her head. ]

That's just stalling. Drawing out the game only works if you figure out the rest. Time... Doesn't solve problems.

So I'm asking you - do you have a real plan?

Yes.

[Apparently not going to expand on that for a minute. He's trying to decide how much to share. Fuck it, right?]

Well. Working on it. Still got moving pieces. Can't have any more Player kills, right? Like Miki's. Like they told Jonas he could do. Especially if a Reaper from each team-- we're calling them the Mighty Ducks, and the Bad News Bears, if you wanna be in on the goof -- has to be alive. So . . . we've been talking to Reapers.

[ she actually snickers - at 'Mighty Ducks' specifically. and even if her smiles are still shaky at best, this one sticks. ]

Oh?

[Flopping over sideways, his hat crumpling on one side a little pathetically.]

Hey, listen, it's been a weird couple of days, gotta get the goofs in somehow or I'm gonna have an aneurysm here. [Sticking his tongue out at her.] So my point is, don't do anything dumb, I'll try not to do any dumb shit, though, uh, no promises I can really keep on that one, I'm doing dumb shit pretty much constantly, and we'll work on this shit together, right?

[ it's so hard to stay mad at Taako? he's so funny and - she gets that his avoidance of things isn't... great? objectively? but it's so relatable. it's so familiar. and he just seems so secure in his weird self, and that's how she'd like to be, so she even admires him a bit.

but, she is still mad. ]

No.

[Staying where he is for a minute, before sitting back up on an elbow.]

No to what part.

[ Alex makes a face, rethinking what she just said and how it... came off. time to... have some ice cream to organize her thoughts here for a second... then: ]

It's kind of - like. Here's the thing. This is up to the Players. Getting that "Golden Ending?" The Reapers don't know how to give that to you.

So all they can give is more time. And... The best bet for that right now is to do something dumb.

[Hey Alex this is scaring the crap outta him!!!!]

I mean, uh, I get that it's up to us, but it's not gonna happen if we all just run around doing our own dumb plans and tripping over each other's feet. What's your idea?

So, team Mighty Ducks? They could win right now. It wouldn't bring back the Erased, but they could win. Easy. And that's their, like, their job. And aside from... [ aside from this week. when... let's not talk about that right now. ]

Well, most weeks, Players have caught the Reaper from the Bad News Teddies. Soon they'll have all of them. And that either means the Mighty Ducks win, or that the Players need to start duck hunting to win. Still no Golden Ending. And assuming trials go alright and no more Players kill, that's two weeks. Week 7.

So if we need to get to Week 8 - which, again, doesn't even actually solve the problem and give you your Golden Ending?

Bad News Teddies need a new member. A Mighty Duck has to defect. That means agreeing to do their job wrong on a gamble. That means swapping out to the rules that suck. The rules that end in kill and get killed. Just to try - and maybe still fail - to bring back some people who are already dead.

Which is a dumb idea.

[Just listening, tilting his head to the side. Criss-crossing his arms, pointing in opposite directions.]

Got the team names backwards. Ducks - Reapers who are tasked with killing Players - they already called their name, sorry homie. You snooze you lose. Bears - Reapers supposed to kill other Reapers - which, uh, . . . . that’s you, right? Just checkin’ that’s the hint you’re dropping.

[ Alex. blinks. then laughs at her own mistake - an actual genuine laugh, that comes out like she's startled by it. ]

Really? I've gotta pass up an Oregon Ducks joke because they called dibs? That's so stingy.

Hey, I remember straight up asking you like two weeks ago and you lied to my face! So nuts to that! You had your chance to claim it first.

[Then, standing up, holding out a hand. The things he does for you Alex.]

Uh, listen though - think we outta go find Magnus. Got an idea or two.

It wasn't exactly public info that there was a Reaper group that wasn't going around killing people yet. We didn't even know who the others were, yet, either.

Also, I'm not allowed to say it.

[ hm. Alex averts her eyes and gets up without taking his hand. she still hasn't gotten the apology she wants. but she nods, fine with retrieving Magnus. ]

[Wow!!! This is fine!!! He made an emotional gesture and got rejected this is fine, it hasn’t hurt his One Feeling at all! (He deserves it, for being a bitch.)

But, yeah. Off to find Magnus, who’s probably still like having a boner over swords? I don’t know. Enter stage left.]

[He's having a boner over swords.]

[ wow Taako called it! anyway Alex isn't big on being the first one to talk here, but... she is here! with Taako!]

Uh, Magnus, yo. [Making a Vanna White gesture to Alex.] Presenting Amanda Whurlitzer.

Think we’ve got some shit to discuss here.

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Tuesday - Week 5

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