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[makehistoria]

WELCOME TO YOUR PRIVATE CHANNEL, <MOIRAE>. FOR SECURE COMMUNICATION, USE 44.78.67.42

• Stocke uses <swordpacts> and <moirae> interchangeably; the former especially for Devil's Nest business. Any of his friends/fellow Nest employees probably have his number.   • He's careful to use randomized names on the network the rest of the time; watch out for that if you want your character to contact him about something he said! (Basically just come up with an excuse for them to recognize his writing and all is good.)

Comments

[foolishwren]

_{[She stares back, and there's a long moment where they both clearly have no idea what the other was talking about.]}

... Oh.

_{[Light bulb moment.]}

Uh.

Shit. They don't even have video games in this world...

[makehistoria]

[...is this going to be another ice cream moment? It is, isn't it?]

[On the other hand, the ice cream thing did turn out pretty well. Stocke warily prompts,] ...final bosses?

[foolishwren]

... Whoof.

Okay, so.

Where I come from, there are these-- virtual reality games you can play. Kind of like watching a cartoon, except you control the main character.

And usually you have to make the character fight evil dudes.

'Final boss' is like... the last evil dude you have to beat to win the game. So, usually the biggest and baddest.

[makehistoria]

[Okay, cartoon Stocke knows. If only because of Ryslig. On the other hand, a lot of Ryslig cartoons dance kind of delicately around the subject of monsters by now, so what Stocke comes up with is...]

So... like an evil spellcaster.

[Hm. That doesn't sound very impressive, or anything like the giant demon they just tangled with. Maybe he should pull from another example? He's definitely fought pretty big and bad things, like those giant spiders, but the biggest and baddest he can think of -]

Or a three-story tall amalgamation of stairs and the negative emotions of sacrificed people.

[Yeah, that seems more in the demon's ballpark. He's getting it!]

[foolishwren]

... Okay.

<sub>[THAT IS WEIRDLY SPECIFIC, STOCKE. But sure, she could buy that being a video game boss.]

[And she knows all about amalgamations forming from the negative emotions of sacrifices.]</sub>

Yeah.

Something like that.

My point is, he was huge and mean-looking and you're like. The size of a pea.

[makehistoria]

[Stocke's tendrils flick up in a shrug.]

Most everything I've fought - besides soldiers - has been that big. Size doesn't mean anything.

[Well, okay, it does, most big things are a lot tougher. And he's exaggerating a little bit, though he's certainly killed (or destroyed, in the case of thaumachinery) enough things AM's size to spare.]

[But he's just not getting what's the big (ha) deal here.]

[foolishwren]

MY POINT _{[She repeats this for emphasis.]} is that those kinds of fights aren't something you should go getting into for fun!

And I'm one of the idiots who's like the first to throw a shotglass on the floor and rip my shirt off when someone makes an off-color comment in the Nest, so you know I'm not fucking around here!

_{[It's only partially true, actually, there are at least a few other Nesters who can usually rip their shirts off faster than she can. But details.]}

[makehistoria]

So I wasn't fighting him, [Stocke responds, placidly enough. He was being chased, big difference right there!]

[Is he gonna be stubborn about this? He's gonna be stubborn about this.]

[Still, by now the shade's tying off the last of the bandages. He checks the knot - not too loose, not too tight, shouldn't fall apart unless Mason's very deliberate about tugging on that end - and steps back, wiping his hands together.] Those feel fine?

[They won't stop Mason's burns from hurting, but at least they'll keep gunk out.]

[foolishwren]

Trying to make someone attack you is basically the same thing.

<sub>[BUT... she's tired of arguing. And yes, her feet do hurt.]

[Still, she flexes her toes with a grimace.]</sub>

Yeah... I mean. As fine as they're gonna feel, I guess.

[makehistoria]

Long as they're not too tight.

[He shuts the first aid kit - for a moment considers putting it back where it came from, covering their traces as much as he's able. But that'd be a cruel trick to play, leaving it half-deplenished without any sort of indication; he'll leave it here for people to realize when they come back after the Hunt's fog.]

You ready to go? [If she answers in the affirmative, he's ducking under to pull her onto his back again.]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[She puffs sharply through her nostrils. God. Is it too much to hope that maybe the Nest will be slow when they walk in so as few people as possible witness her getting a piggyback ride that wasn't her own idea.]

[.... nope. The busiest hours in the Nest are in the middle of the night.]

[She'll never live this down.]</sub>

Ugh... yeah. Let's go.