foundationmods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
foundationmods) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
thefoundation2020-04-26 03:07 pm
foundationmods) wrote in thefoundation2020-04-26 03:07 pm
Entry tags:
RECORDING 7: THE THIRD WEEK.
A third week in this place begins, with less of your number among you. The final week completely covered by everyone's rations, though with proper meting out, you'll be able to make it stretch until after week 4. It seems as if everyone will have to go without a few meals here and there..
To make things worse, when you wake up - it's clear the Miasma has gotten thicker. Everyone, save those still protected either by their powers or items they brought with them, is now even more deeply affected by the curse. Arguments will be flaring up more, along with negative thoughts and feelings...and even more worrying Is that any magic that touches the house itself will corrode over time. If a barrier is put in place and touches the floor, walls, or ceiling, in half a day it will be completely consumed by the miasma and fizzle out. Spells or seals will also corrode, and even personal healing abilities have been halved.
The Temperature has dropped, just a bit - down to the mid to low 60's. Strange, isn't it? As before,the rooms have changed, so hopefully you kept anything essential in the static area.
25 of your number still remain.
...What new horrors await you this week?
no subject
[Still with that faint thread of skepticism beneath, and probably he should know better than to turn this into anything like a challenge in present company but it's also almost reflexive, a product of all the needling this last week and his own stubborn evaluation of it. It's minor in the grand scheme of things, after all, and he watches patiently as Hikage messes with his lacings before dismissing the water not-sprite with a flick of his wrist.
The stare moves back to Hikage's face, eyebrow raised despite the fact that he isn't looking back -- the expression still filters into Subete's voice when he makes a nominal attempt to parse that disjointed mess of a reply and mostly fails. Hmm.]
Just how many questions are you answering at once? Or is it just that you're still hearing voices, hmm? [curious, not quite a true question but dipping into the depths anyway] I would have expected a little more than two pieces, for all that fanfare.
no subject
But as for the now. ]
Several. If I was still hearing them, this conversation would be going very differently. [ The gear shift between his faces is pretty noticeable after all. ]
You should know that some hold more weight than others. [ Done messing with the lace he looks up finally. ] And some of them don't matter at all.
no subject
[--is all he says in response to that, though the thoughtful look in his eye is sharply edged, gears turning in response to all the gear shifting; and perhaps he could have not bothered to take his time neutralizing the threat before wading in, but perhaps he also didn't feel like it. It's a night or a week for whims, after all. Something like that.
There's a hum before he reaches out and snags the book that was being read, flipping it over to read the cover if not the contents, fastidiously avoiding any stains or residue. Idle curiosity, or just a pause for thought, tapping a finger against the binding.
Tap, tap, tap. The silence runs long, but the night is longer and he doesn't seem to be in a hurry either.]
Indulge my curiosity, then, even on the things that don't matter. [there's something about the way he draws out the syllables that acknowledges them and the not-weight behind them, rolling them about] How many things are going on that list of yours?
no subject
He clicks his tongue at the book being taken though the real source of his irritation is more than several worlds away. Not that it matters here, but the memory is too recent for him to just turn the page on. The book in question is one on the occult, it's a thick read and pretty weathered even by the standards of this library, the page it had been left on has to do with magic but the discourse of the book is pretty varied.
Hikage in the meantime takes the silence to put himself together a little more, outwardly mostly. By the time Subete speaks up he looks presentable again, save for the damaged lace and stains that are mostly hidden by his dark sleeves. ]
Subete, I can't quantify an answer if the question is qualitative. [ Or maybe he just can't right now, really. A heavy sigh and then he continues. ] Which list, exactly?
no subject
All the same Subete collects darkness like so much else and files it away, especially now -- together with the book of the occult, the old notations on mystery and magic that aren't exactly strange to him, given his own background. Something about it makes his mouth curve up before he lets it lie, but then Hikage's response draws out an actual laugh this time, short and light counterpoint to all the sighing.
Ah, maybe he's exacting a little schadenfreude for all the late-night startling and the not-so-late night ambushes after all.]
I didn't think I hit you over the head that hard this time. [Subete Stop Hitting Amnesiacs In The Head 2k00] Mercy it is. Your choice: a list of the things you've done, that you proclaimed so proudly, or a list of your tests, that you rambled about so readily.
[The still-sharp light in his eye sparks, a pleasant sort of challenge: mercy again?]
no subject
We've come this far, so taking the easy way out with tests is something I'll pass on. A list of things I've done then—you really do want to spend the entire night with me huh? As much as I'd like to, I prefer a bed to a wooden desk or hard floor.
Keeping this simple then: make curry, lie to someone, count cards in Old Maid, blackmail someone, teach someone how to kiss, kill someone.
no subject
[Easily, like pairing cards together, and maybe it's so easy because they've been here enough times (somehow) or because it's satisfying to see Hikage scowl and be on the back foot for once even if only for a moment. If nothing else, the night is fruitful for that much. His eyes narrow briefly before he sits back and spreads his hands in a shrug.]
I'm afraid my bedside manner is atrocious. So I've been told. But more importantly: you counted cards in Old Maid...?
[Yes, that's apparently his first reaction, because. For real, man. There's a huff of breath that could definitely be another laugh or a sigh or a bit of both, but instead he folds his arms again, considering. Or just possibly putting together more math:]
I do wonder just how many someones you managed on that list.
no subject
But yeah, why wouldn't I? I like to win, and it was a better use of my time than listening to their petty banter. [ A shrug that loosens his posture. ]
That depends on which item, but feel free to guess.
no subject
[Spoken without the least inkling of remorse or shame as a prime perpetrator of said head injuries; certainly his possibly repeated attempts to turn it off and on again have failed to the nth degree, but it's not like Subete is one to give up so easy. That's probably why he's still here, trading faintly barbed remarks at too early in the AM.
There's a quiet snort, ostensibly about the Old Maid, because sometimes Hikage is something else in an entirely different sense than his usual piece of work.]
Liking to win and cheating at one of the simplest card games in existence are two entirely separate things, Hikage. [bemused more than amused, but both emotions are there turning around and around in carousel; he tilts his head and there's a quirk at the corner of his mouth, almost mischief] You know, I seem to recall you saying some time ago that age is one of those relative things.
That said, I'd be more impressed if all of your someones turned out to be the same person.
no subject
That's true in definition, but not in function in this case. [ Apparently he will die on this hill of Old Maid and the look he gives speaks for him: And? He holds it while ostensibly considering how to respond to the rest. ]
Really? That would be overkill and not necessarily in the good way.
no subject
[And that's definitely his casual low-key (it's low-key for him) elitism coming out, with the caveat that he's a little leery of the non-crowded option as well, with the secondary caveat that really, his strategies for machines and people should be a little more refined all things considered but in this case who knows how much that would help.
Just. Shaking his head about card games...... In an AU somewhere Hikage was the villain in a YGO series.]
Functionality is what matters even in the smallest details, huh? You might miss out on a thing or two that way. [because sometimes, somehow, you can be both at the same time; there's a lazy note in his voice that sticks around] Anyway, don't you think it would be impressive if there was someone out there who'd fall for all of that, all at once?
no subject
A beat as he considers the rest, folding his arms across his chest loosely. There's a mute tap,tap,tap with a finger as he counts out what he listed to himself. ]
There was, I just wasn't interested. And if I'm missing out on purpose, that doesn't count. [ Somehow still he can say this with full confidence and with the same nonchalance as if he's talking about selecting what restaurant to dine at. ]
no subject
[Applying the quality worldliness to himself while theoretically calling the other guy a monk is also some measure of absurd, but it's not like they've been particularly trying for seriousness or even any kind of coherent metaphor on this end of things. At the very least they've thoroughly strayed to different tastes entirely, but there's an airy quality in Subete's voice as he reminisces about real cuisine of any kind...
That's probably where they're at, at this point. That, and the deep and tragic lack of restaurants of any stripe.]
Mm, it would be functionally similar to miss out on purpose if you hadn't tried it in the first place. [a little sigh, a touch affected because he's just like this, leaning his cheek on a hand] You actually did find a golden goose? Tell me you at least plucked a few feathers.
no subject
Right, moving on. ]
I'd take gyuudon at this point, with grated daikon and extra green onion. [ Thoughts for the future; best to aim low as he's not even going to dream about locating sansai no nimono or shoujin ryouri any time soon. That and he might laugh again.
Luckily he can easily settle into a shade of his typical deadpan with his next reply. ]
It still doesn't count. And yeah I did, before the goose flew itself into a windmill.
no subject
Onsen tamago and cheese, mentaiko mayo.
[Something self-satisfied sneaks into his voice for a second even as he answers right away, like he's reading off a menu in front of him rather than a book. There's a brief click of his tongue but still something amused about it because they're still dying on some hill here.]
Mmhm. [noncommittal but also non-agreement] Now you must tell me about this windmill.
no subject
A glance over at the occult book that's sadly not a menu. ]
I must, huh? There's not that much to tell and there's no windmills here, that's what I was checking actually before everything got all stormy. It was over in roughly two seconds, but that was about her attention span anyway. [ It's as much calling out his tumultuous mood as it is a passing attempt to call out the water sprite's for mussing up his hair. ]
no subject
[It's not like he immediately started looking things up by the time they arrived or anything, but given that he was one of the later arrivals it's not like he had much time nor signal to really get in-depth, either.
The hill is growing even more hills, the hills are alive, thus go the sights in San Jose, apparently. Speaking of sights, he'll follow the glance to the book and slowly raise an eyebrow.]
Sounds like rather unsatisfying quarry, really. A real storm would get all those windmills moving. [thoughtfully, because what they were talking about was satisfaction, after all; pleasantly, because his water has done nothing wrong in its unlife] All things considered, though, this one must have been good for blackmail and lies at least. The rest is a harder bet, I'd say.
no subject
Mmhmm. [ He's not conceding the point entirely, but it is true that no one has managed to keep his attention for too long up to this point. ] But susceptibility to deceit has nothing to do with attractiveness, at least on a basic level. Like I said though, I wasn't interested.
[ aka: she was nice to look at but def too stupid for him to actually pursue something behind his reflexive otomeness. not to mention the rest of his everything. ]