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 Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2011 8:44 pm
There was no more delaying it. He had to go see Barth. He had killed and harvested countless Lepuses, but really... there was plenty of Parts for the experiment. Now it was time to sort out the equipment but the only place he knew that had what he needed... was the place he had been avoiding.
Well. Just... bite the bullet.
Armed with his gift tucked under his arm, Christof wobbled to where his discarded ladder hidden outside the demon dorms had become entangled in overgrown lawn. It really had been too long.
Well... no matter. He was here now and... and maybe Barth wasn't.... TOO upset about the whole trying-to-kill-him-thing?
His stomach ached.
Well, he had to. Sooner rather than later, if his Mistress found out about the Dragon Incident... well... just be quiet, and hopefully she wouldn't hear him climbing up the side of the building just next door.
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Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2011 9:26 pm
Barth's room had not degenerated into piles of mess.
There was very little changed since he had gotten back from the island. He had crawled out of the white suit, at some point, and into pajamas, but except for a few visitors he hadn't engaged in much activity besides moping, sulking, and sleeping.
While not cluttered, the room had a slightly dank, condensed smell.
With a good amount of sleeping under his belt, he had cycled back to moping, and somehow made it all the way over to the kitchenette, where found a jar of picked tongues and ate them, slowly, over the counter.
Usually, he adhered to the school of thought that if you waited long enough, things (and people) came to you. But the situation was looking increasingly bleak. He was half in the mind to do something about it, which worried him.
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Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2011 9:29 pm
As though the problem in question had less faith in Barth's ability to do anything about it, the solution came scrabbling at his window before jimmying it open with a subtle, but familiar noise.
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Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2011 11:58 am
Barth knew that noise very well. But...it could always be Calder, he supposed. Calder had come up that way once, and presumably knew where the ladder was hidden.
The only part of the room that was well-lit was the kitchen, bright like an artificial spotlight. Moonlight from the window was faraway and too soft to resolve anything but blue silhouettes.
"Hello?" Barth asked, hopefully.
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Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2011 1:49 pm
The window closed quietly behind the figure as it stepped gingerly onto the carpet, and there was a distinct... charbroiled smell in the air as the gentle, shy grunt of greeting drifted towards the kitchen area.
He hadn't had time to search for skin grafts since... the dragon incident. And Time had been of the essence. If his Mistress knew... he had been bad... on top of not speaking with the Sloth as of yet, she'd be doubly cross he was sure.
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Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2011 7:38 pm
"Ah," Barth said. He was immediately self-conscious. The urge to do something about the current situation was back. Should he try tempting? He was normally very good at it, but then, his sort of tempting wasn't too difficult. Sloth was easy to encourage. You just had to yawn a bit, and everyone else started up.
People wanted to be comfortable, at ease, relaxed.
And he had no difficulty steering conversations (desires) into Contracts. In both cases (encouraging Slothfulness in others and enabling his own laziness), he only had to wait. People supplied things on their own. The Craft of Temptation was best when it was uncomplicated. But this was important.
He settled for trying at sincerity and fiddling ineffectively with the jar of tongues.
"It's err, it's been a bit. Since the trip. I thought maybe you'd...?" He trailed off, hoping for some clue from Christof.
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Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2011 7:58 pm
The hunchback lurched forward without a word- not that that was much of a surprise- into the light of the kitchenette. He hadn't had time for skin grafts, the flames from his fight earlier that afternoon still evident by the ruined skin on his face and shoulder, and he quietly exchanged the jar in the Sloth's hand with the package. It was wrapped in newspaper, tied off with thread. What was left of his face was flushed as he quickly, and expertly, popped the jar open. Upon seeing it's contents, his face fell, staring down at the pickled... treats... with distaste.
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Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2011 2:03 pm
"Oh, it's err, thank you," Barth said, letting the package rest against the counter the same way the jar had. It wasn't soft and soaked with blood, which was new.
He picked at the thread with his claw, as quick unwrapping thread and newspaper as he was putting on his socks. Which was to say, painfully slow.
"Been um, been keeping well?"
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Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2011 2:08 pm
The hunchback's eyes glanced across the room- there were no mirrors directly facing them... he only hoped the Sloth had been too lazy to pull down his coverings of the one near his bed. He swallowed, finally digging out his pocket knife from his pocket- it was dull, mostly used for jimmying thing open, but it was sharp enough for this...
Before he could chicken out of it, he set the jar down to quickly saw through the stitches of his mouth. His scorched hands were trembling when he untucked the emergency needle from the hem of his vest, fishing a pickled tongue from the jar before turning away to do his quick work.
It certainly tasted.... disgusting. Everything had a very vinegary flavor. And it was even stiffer than the last one. But it would do for a few minutes.
He coughed, trying to clear his ill used vocal chords, "Hawe... been better." He managed clumsily.
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Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2011 2:33 pm
"You can have one, if you- oh." Barth waited for him to finish, brushing aside the string and starting the gradual process of unwrapping the newspaper.
"Me too," He admitted.
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Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2011 2:36 pm
Well... Mistress had SAID to go... go "talk" to Barth. He was being good now. Still his eyes wouldn't meet his ex-Master. "I... I am... thtill thorry about... about what happened. Er. B-before. In... In the corn." His voice was weak and quiet, his hands twisting the jar before he set it back on the counter.
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Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2011 3:01 pm
"Sorry? What for?"
Barth couldn't remember what Christof had done. The corn was a fog of paranoia, hallucinations, and insanity. His mom was fine. An apology for letting him get dragged away, maybe? But the Reaper had hardly touched Barth before slinking back into the corn.
Chronologically...the fog had rolled in, he had...hallucinated...and then they had gone underground.
...Had Christof...? What had Christof hallucinated?
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Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2011 3:04 pm
Christof's brows furrowed, finally glancing up to look at the Sloth with a slightly puzzled look before dipping back down in shame. "I... I thought I had theen Mithtreth. I thought..." These burns he felt now, these burns were real. He picked at a flaky patch of broiled skin on his right forearm. "I... tried... to..." He couldn't bring himself to say it, not out loud. "Hurt you. The... the fog put it in my head but... I wath the one to.. to dethide to do it. I... I didn't WANT to, not really! I didn't! But... but Mithtreth had commanded and I had to obey or the fire and I didn't want... " He shook his head, fumbling to sit on a nearby stool. Thankfully, there were always places to sit nearby at Barth's place.
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Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2011 3:07 pm
Meanwhile, in the neighboring dorm room, Riley coincidentally thought that they should just kiss and make up already.
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Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2011 3:18 pm
Barth was not aware of Riley's thoughts, but had she projected them, he would have been slightly offended that she would think he did anything in a hurry.
Now, however, he was trying to piece together what Christof was telling him.
"Err, fire? Is that what happened with your, err...?"
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