polymods: (Default)
polymods ([personal profile] polymods) wrote in [community profile] polylogs2021-06-01 03:00 pm

Carcosa, pt. 2

POLYMYTHOS: CARCOSA

Carcosa


Ⅰ. CARCOSA
You Are Still Here.

Another month, and you’re still in the city of Carcosa! Isn’t that just wonderful?

You still have access to the city’s temple and the High Temple.

The side effects you may have suffered from throughout the month of May are now at an end - if you had a pesky mask glued to your face the whole time it will now fall off. You might need a little moisturizer, but otherwise you’ll be just fine.

You could sit around inside the relative safety of the temples, of course, but why not get out there and explore the city some more? Come on, grumpypants!



Ⅱ. SPEAK EASY
CW: Optional alcohol consumption.
What kind of pet shop is filled with rambunctious yahoos and hot jazz music at 1 AM? That's right - the best damn pet shop in town! Sidle up to the back door of Curly's Pet Shop and a panel will open enough to reveal a pair of eyes. "What's the password?" you'll be asked. Whatever word first comes to your mind, well, that apparently is correct because you're let in at once.

The front of the building definitely does indeed house fish and birds and kittens, but the back room is definitely not a good place to find a new animal companion; you find yourself in a crowded little room with low lighting and a small bar crammed into one corner. There's seats and some tables, and most importantly there's a band playing jazz music across from the bar.

Why not take a seat and have a drink? It's probably not paint thinner. Probably. Maybe you'll spot some of your fellow Travelers and you can sit and have a chat. Make a new friend who can hold your hair back if you party too hard.

And you better hope that the place doesn’t get raided!

Notes:
1. The drinks are all era-appropriate - you’re not getting Redbull with vodka here - and even if your character has non-human physiology they will work the same as they would on a baseline human. That’s right, your magic or your healing-factor or your vampire blood is no match for these Gin Rickeys!

2. If Curly’s does get raided while you’re there, you can run and hide or choose to engage with the police, who are armed and not too shy about opening fire if you go on the offensive. As with the rest of the regular residents of Carcosa, the officers are human and can be killed. Killing them may affect the colour grading of your Scrywatch depending on the situation. (Is it beneficial to personal growth to kill in order to save someone else, for example? You tell me!)

3. Did you want a pet from the front of the building? Well, just remember that baby turtles and alligators might SEEM like a good idea, but they grow up! Also any animal you take will not travel with you to the next island. So sorry.



Ⅲ. EXPRESSIONISM YOURSELF
CW: Optional paranoia, hallucinations.
If you wander the streets at night, you may find yourself getting turned around. You'll find that the streets have lost their many lights, and the beautiful and delicate art deco architecture has given way to something much more stark and heavy. The buildings are block-like, but they curve in exaggerated ways that hurt the eye if looked at too long. All are in blacks and whites and greys. Nothing looks quite real, but you can walk along just fine. Probably better not to go off alone, though.


Periodically you will encounter that pesky sign of some sort painted on the walls. If you follow the sigils, you will eventually be led to a long staircase that winds down and down until it finally terminates in a large white room lit by a few electric lanterns. There's black paint there, with brushes. Maybe you're feeling creative?

Notes:
1. You’re pretty sick of this stupid sigil, aren’t you? In fact, you consider yourself QUITE the detective and have been searching after its meaning! Or maybe you played Call of Cthulhu a lot in college, you nerd!

Painting the sigil on the wall will cause you to feel disoriented and paranoid until you leave the white room. From that point on you can discover a copy of a play entitled The King In Yellow anywhere in the city you choose. Reading the first act of the play has no effect on you, however if you choose to read beyond the first line of the second act you will spend the rest of the month suffering from periodic hallucinations, often of a tall man in a pallid mask.

2. While there is no compulsion to paint, choosing to work out any of your character’s issues through art therapy can be reflected in your Scrywatch colour if it is significant enough.



Ⅳ. AS FAR BACK AS I CAN REMEMBER, I ALWAYS WANTED TO BE A GANGSTER
CW: Optional gun violence, injury.
Art? Theatre? Music? BAH! Boring!

Maybe your tastes are a little more on the dangerous side? Whatever this island may be, it seems to offer plenty of opportunities to get into the seedy underbelly. Maybe you feel the need to steal a car, rob a bank, transport some illegal hooch for a smiling fellow in a yellow fedora. Grab your tommy guns, kids, it's time to outrun the Feds!

Naturally, you could wind up injured having all of this fun, but surely you could get some help from your fellow Travelers, either directly or by having them haul you to some sort of underground doctor. These doctors do exist, although it might take a while to get referred to one by a local.

You might also find yourself under arrest and stuck in an old-timey jail cell for a month. What fun!

Notes:
1. As was stated in the first prompt, the regular residents of Carcosa are normal humans. Killing them is possible and may affect the colour grading of your Scrywatch depending on the situation. Any weapons you find are era-appropriate.

2. You can break out of jail if you’re resourceful enough.

3. The underground doctors aren’t working in a real hospital for a reason. In fact, some of them might be less doctors and more, well. Vets.

You still jamming to that Carcosa playlist?


Network · Logs · OOC · Memes · Plurk

extrasensory_problems: (baseball_smile)

[personal profile] extrasensory_problems 2021-06-21 07:26 pm (UTC)(link)
I think that's a good idea.

(He takes a look around the pet shop and then motions towards the front door.)

So I was going to head back towards the temple, would you like to walk with me or are you going to stay with the cute creatures for a bit longer?
neverwither: (Uh oh)

[personal profile] neverwither 2021-06-21 07:55 pm (UTC)(link)
Because it answers your question. You said he could be wrong, and then what? That answers your question.

( Her voice is oddly flat. Factual. Indeed, the spark Connor saw is decidedly absent. She doesn't intend to play at being a machine, but that's how her demeanour appears.

Perhaps it's simply so the calmness will counteract Connor's irrational insistences upon gambling and threads and the permanence of a gun shot.

Perhaps, like him, she seeks refuge in the mechanical.

Perhaps she knows that being able to restore her shouldn't be a deciding factor in her de facto spouse having a gun held to her head.

She looks away from him. This time it isn't his gaze that bothers her but the way her eyes squeeze tightly shut and her jaw locks. Not that it silences the noise. If anything, the efforts to find some equilibrium only make her feel more lost at sea. A tiny, fragile boat tossed around on unforgiving waves.

No. No. No

All she has to do is keep it together. Is it really that hard?

Yes. Yes, it is. And it's pathetic. Elijah would be so ashamed of her.

If he isn't already.

But still Chloe tries. She forces her eyes to open and meet's Connor's once again. Her attempts to maintain her usual poise make her look like she might sink into a heap any second. A puppet with her strings cut. )


...The fish. You were talking about the fish... I'd like to hear more about... dwarf gourami...
neverwither: (It killed the cat)

[personal profile] neverwither 2021-06-21 08:01 pm (UTC)(link)
I was thinking of staying with them a while longer, so they wouldn't feel lonely. But if you'd rather not walk to the temple alone, I'd be very happy to walk with you.
lickstheevidence: (Default)

[personal profile] lickstheevidence 2021-06-21 08:22 pm (UTC)(link)
[Connor unfurls himself, standing up straight and taking a step towards her.]

No. No that was- that was a feature exclusive to the RK800. Kamski wouldn't- why would he do that to you? Why would he make you so...disposable? I had a mission, one that could be potentially dangerous. It was necessary for the duration of the investigation that I could be replaced if I was damaged, so it wouldn't interfere with the mission. Why would Kamski do that to you? Does he really lack the capacity to care?

[He squints his eyes at her reaction, risking a scan, observing her stress levels, her posture, the tightening of her jaw. Did she really believe that Kamski gave a damn about her? Kamski, as far as Connor was able to discern, cared for only one thing- himself. Everything else was minor annoyances he had to wade through in order to keep up appearances, but it wasn't hard to see through them, not for Connor. The irony of course being that Connor was trapped in the same web, in the tarnished thrall of someone who wasn't even human, wasn't even alive. Someone created by Kamski. He studies her intently for a few moments more, refusing to make those connections, to add two and two together. Turning back to the aquariums, his voice is surprisingly soft.]

What would you like to know?
neverwither: (When you stare into the abyss)

[personal profile] neverwither 2021-06-21 08:48 pm (UTC)(link)
( Disposable? Does he not realise how ridiculous he sounds? How can he not see the very obvious fact that having version after version of her stored securely makes her the very opposite of disposable? Can he not see how much a man must care to go to such lengths to ensure his creation would never be lost? To enable her to be by his side always?

A pretty doll tailored to his liking and tethered to him until the end of time.

Her head shakes a little at her own thought, banishing it from existence. This island... It has her all mixed up. Of course it would. It seems engineered that way.

Which would be perfectly plausible if these troublesome notions hadn't plagued her long before her arrival.

Or is Connor purposefully trying to press at her? Will it give him some sense of purpose if he can see a deviant snap before his very eyes? Will it comfort him somehow? Will CyberLife give him an extra special pat on the head if Chloe - the great Turing Test Chloe - breaks?

And yet she's met with the oddest tone. Head tilted to the side, for a second she looks at Connor like she has no clue whatsoever what she's seeing. His softness makes her want to sag to the floor, but she refuses to do that. She will stand up straight and look at the fish and retain some small shred of dignity. )


Anything. Just... talk? About them. Please? If it wouldn't be too much trouble.

( Through her typical politeness, there's a note of desperation. So much for dignity. )
extrasensory_problems: (baseball_smile)

I'm cool with leaving this thread here if you want :)

[personal profile] extrasensory_problems 2021-06-21 09:05 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh that's okay, if you want to stay a while longer feel free to. I'm sure the pets would enjoy a bit more company, I'm just going to head back to find some food.

(He gives her another warm smile.)

But this was really nice, I'm glad we ran into one another Chloe.
neverwither: (All smiles all the time)

that’s good with me ^_^

[personal profile] neverwither 2021-06-21 09:16 pm (UTC)(link)
( He gets an equally warm smile in return. )

It really has been so lovely to meet you, Carter. Take care out there, and I hope we’ll run into each other again soon. We have dance moves to practice, after all.

( This time a wink accompanies her little laugh. )
lickstheevidence: (Default)

[personal profile] lickstheevidence 2021-06-21 09:19 pm (UTC)(link)
[No, she's the one that has it wrong. Connor's only ever had one backup, that he continually added to as he made new memories. There weren't endless copies of him strewn across several different systems. If he dared, he might even be able to uncover some fragmented memories of the Connors before -51, the Connors that endured all of Cyberlife's agonizing testing. But to have version after version- if that doesn't make her disposable, he wouldn't know what does. She's not unique, not special. She's a copy of a copy of a copy, and who knows what kind of tinkering Kamski had done to all those copies? Which version of Chloe was real? Did she even know?

Connor has no desire to see her snap, anymore than he wants himself to. But he does want her to open her eyes. To stop being so kind. To stop being so understanding. To stop being Kamski's perfect assistant. She's deviant, right? He needs guidance, he has no idea how to be a deviant. Unfortunately it seems that Chloe doesn't, either. He hesitates at her request, but finally, haltingly, he resumes his mini lecture. He's lost the passion behind it.]


Dwarf gouramis are considered labyrinth fish. That means they breathe straight from the air with a lung-like labyrinth organ and need to have access to the water's surface, very much like betta fish do. Males will create elaborate bubble nests at the surface of the water in order to impress females in an act of courtship.
neverwither: (Not the happiest camper)

[personal profile] neverwither 2021-06-21 09:36 pm (UTC)(link)
( Ah. Now that is a tone she's much more familiar with. The perfunctory tone. The 'let's humour little Chloe and her cloying needs' tone. The tone that suggests that one could be doing much better, more productive, more important things.

It's enough to make her straighten. The picture perfect posture returns, but it's stiff. She nods in all the right places as she listens and, under other circumstances, she would find it all fascinating and adorable and encourage him to share everything he knows.

Now it just adds to the noise. )


Thank you, Connor. That was very nice of you. But you don't have to try so hard for my sake. I don't want to ruin them for you.

( Her own tone is distant, and she drifts away to look at nothing in particular. Not the animals, just whatever is on the nearest display.

It feels a little like home. )
lickstheevidence: (Default)

[personal profile] lickstheevidence 2021-06-21 09:45 pm (UTC)(link)
[It wasn't a tone he meant to adopt, but after their awkward, stilting conversation, in which neither of them said very much and yet spoke volumes, he's finding it hard to go back to talking about fish like nothing happened. His confusion might be evident on his face, but only if she bothers to read it as such. He looks from the fish to Chloe and back again, with a slight shake of his head.]

I don't understand what I did wrong.

[He tilts his head, watching her as she moves away from him to look at other items in the shop. He doesn't try to stop her, but he keeps one eye on her while he side-shuffles to look at some of the other tanks of fish.]
neverwither: (I think of things I wish I didn’t)

[personal profile] neverwither 2021-06-21 10:04 pm (UTC)(link)
You didn't do anything wrong.

( She did. It's just the way of things. And now, to her shame, Connor has gotten a peek behind the curtain. Looks like that mask at the ball may have had a couple more behind it. )

You don't want to talk to me. Not really. But I keep talking to you anyway.

( Truth be told, she isn't entirely talking to him. Locked in her own head, she tries to make sense of, or at least eradicate, conflict after conflict.

Because well, in Connor's case, it's not exactly true that he doesn't want to talk, is it? It's just that he wants to talk about that. About fear and death and pain. Devils and angels and god. More gears to grind together. )


I thought... I might be able to help. Or at least make you feel less alone.

( But that would mean being a successful version of herself.

And she is not.

Did Elijah always feel alone with her? Did her presence do anything at all? )
lickstheevidence: (pic#14309935)

[personal profile] lickstheevidence 2021-06-21 10:25 pm (UTC)(link)
[He stares at her again, but this time it's out of befuddlement. He has no idea what she's looking for from him. Does she think they can just suddenly be friends like nothing happened between them? Like Kamski didn't set them both up to use for his own schemes? Obviously she has some issues herself, so why is she so intent on denying them? How was hiding behind a mask of false cheer any different than hiding behind the facade of a machine?]

You keep talking to me but you're not saying what you really want to say. You're saying what you think Kamski wants you to say. I almost killed you, yet you have nothing to say to that? No anger, no hurt? You're not upset at what happened, how Kamski used us to prove...what? I wasn't deviant when I entered his estate, and I still wasn't deviant when I left. He almost lost you and it was just another experiment to him. Just another test. You're not talking to me. You. Are not. The eyes I saw in Kamski's pool room that day were so much more alive than yours.

[She's right about that at least. He does want to talk about those things. He doesn't know how to process them if he doesn't talk through them to figure them out. If he were home, it would've been Hank listening to him, helping him through this process of deviancy. But she's not Hank, and talking to her about what he almost did to her is awkward and difficult enough without her bland dismissal of it as being fine, everything was fine, she's perfectly fine. How is he supposed to learn how to be a deviant from a deviant who feels less than he does?]

What do you think you might help me with, exactly?
lickstheevidence: (Default)

he looks hooman, he acts hooman, he is hooman. connor isn't though :P

[personal profile] lickstheevidence 2021-06-22 12:25 am (UTC)(link)
May I ask what century, then? [Connor glances around, but comes up blank. Too many variables that he hasn't spent any time trying to organize into meaning, his LED slowly circling yellow.] Though what century they're trying to simulate here is debatable at best.

[Connor reaches up to brush his fingers over the ring of light, with a slight tilt of his head and looking plainly at Kit.]

It is an LED- a light emitting diode. It is an external feedback biocomponent that lights up in different colors- blue, yellow or red -according to an android's mental processes and overall condition. It also functions as an android identifier to distinguish us from humans, in accordance with the American Androids Act of 2029.

[Because Kit will surely understand all of that, won't he?]
nightschool: (🖋️ 59)

[personal profile] nightschool 2021-06-22 08:58 am (UTC)(link)
Inquisitive to a fault, being on the lookout for those branded and marked a traveller like him ensures the daemon takes notice of the man. But the blood and a physique to rival Gallowglass despite a steep difference in height tip Kit into instantly intrigued.

The man's a sharp one, too.

"Ah," he accepts as though the confirmation is the next link in a conversation they'd already been having, unabashed to be caught out. He'd expect the same of anyone else. That he's taken to wearing long sleeves has more to do with hiding his band from himself and the style of dress he's accustomed to than thinking he can hide his disc's judgement and verdict. "In the middle ground--allegedly."

I am neither among sinners nor among saints. A line from the furiband intake of new reading material occupying his days comes to mind.

"Are you injured?"
aviate: (( gl ) the thing is...)

[personal profile] aviate 2021-06-22 11:38 am (UTC)(link)
It's a little hard to when stuff like electricity would probably be considered magic in your time.

[He has an excuse!!]
cryptsleeper: (Doing real research)

[personal profile] cryptsleeper 2021-06-22 12:08 pm (UTC)(link)
For most. [There's a light enough shrug.] My father as a polymath and four centuries old, I grew up with it.
neverwither: (I think of things I wish I didn’t)

[personal profile] neverwither 2021-06-22 02:14 pm (UTC)(link)
( Chloe laughs. It’s not a light, musical sound. It’s quiet with just a hint of bitterness. Not android enough for Elijah and not deviant enough for Connor.

The remark about her eyes cuts deep. But maybe Connor’s seeing what he wants to see. Maybe this isn’t about her at all but his own feelings of guilt, fear and regret. And if her eyes were so different then, wouldn’t he have seen some of those emotions he’s searching so desperately for her to name? How could they have been any more alive then than they are now?

The frustration simmers over so that a trickle of it can be heard. )


So I should say what you want me to say instead? Maybe I don’t want to be angry. Maybe I don’t want to spill more bile into the world. You don’t know if you’re talking to me because you don’t know me.

( So often others think they do. They’ve seen her on TV, at an expo, interacted with her for either business or social pleasures. So many opinions from so many people.

Just another android like all the rest. A technological wonder. A herald of doom. A pretty piece of plastic. A charming hostess and party guest. A glorified blow-up doll for a reclusive freak.

That simmering that’s almost lasted a lifetime burbles all the more. )


Do you think it’s all that simple? Black and white, deviant or machine? You have no idea, Connor, so please don’t act like you do.

( An awareness of what she’s saying snaps back in. It’s all getting far too close to the bone. Far, far too close to the surface. Dead eyes are better than ones filled with fire.

Safer.

Any flames present in those blue eyes are extinguished by a film of tears. No matter. They won’t fall, and they’ll dry up soon enough.

Chloe’s retreat inward is signalled by the change in her voice. A muted version of her usual soft tones. )


I wanted to do something. For something good to have come out of it. I’m sorry for the mistake. There are good people here. Perhaps they’ll be able to help you gain some understanding of the way you feel.
kyley_b: https://twitter.com/dachacha052/ (hit you)

[personal profile] kyley_b 2021-06-22 06:06 pm (UTC)(link)
(Alternately, you could sing it to the tune of Janie's Got A Gun.)

There's a couple of chimp victims who could have told them. (Even if those are apes. Whatever.)

"How the fuck do you even keep meeting monkeys? I think I've seen one outside of a zoo like, once. And it sucked."

He turns Deadpool's head so he can look at it properly. "You shot at me! And then your monkey shot at me! And you almost got me exploded! Unlike YOU, I can't survive as just a head!" He frowns thunderously. "And we're not discussing my romantic life, thank you very much."
lickstheevidence: (Default)

[personal profile] lickstheevidence 2021-06-22 08:22 pm (UTC)(link)
[That sound is...not one he ever expected to hear from Chloe, and he's taken aback by it. He struck a nerve, he knows- but which one?

He might have seen all kinds of emotions in her eyes then, but he didn't have the complete capacity to understand them all at the time. He only knew that whatever it was he saw there made him stay his hand. He's about to respond, to interrupt her small rant, but what she says now stops him and he looks uncertain, biting at his lower lip.]


You're right. I don't know you at all.

[What he knew about her he'd gleaned from that day, the less than an hour's worth of time spent with her in the company of Kamski and Hank. He'd never spoken to her directly, had no idea who she was other than the pretty girl who'd answered the door with the pleasant smile and cute voice.]

But what I want isn't important. You need to speak your own thoughts, your own truth.

[She was the very first android, lauded and acclaimed and so very famous, accordingly. And he was the very last android, Cyberlife's most advanced prototype, proven to be a flawed design only a few days into his field test. What could he possibly know about her? He flinches under her verbal assault, but he takes it all the same. It's something she needs to get off her chest, obviously, and it's the most fire he's seen in her since they first bumped into each other here. He murmurs a reply to himself.]

It was all that simple. It was supposed to be that simple. Cyberlife thought it was that simple.

[And they'd programmed him to solve that binary problem, machine or deviant, freedom or capture, Cyberlife or Hank. And then he'd gone and fucked up everything, and now he was here trying to figure out how to adapt to the broken code that manifested itself as deviancy. He nods, drawing himself up, his own countenance devoid of any sort of emotion, though he can't stop his LED from churning red, or the deep sadness in his eyes.]

Maybe they can help you as well.
neverwither: (Oh sh!t)

[personal profile] neverwither 2021-06-22 09:04 pm (UTC)(link)
( Part of Chloe is defeated, ready to nod and agree for the sake of appeasement (as she is so very used to). Part of her still stews, expecting him to launch even further into all the unseemly matters. To talk at her as if he understands a single thing about who and what she is.

Only he doesn't.

It's enough to create a crack in the protective layer she's wrapped herself in. Where she wants to draw back so far into herself that the world takes on a dreamlike haze, he manages to coax her out just a little.

But it's enough.

They share a pain. One that Chloe can recognise. Or rather, one she can tolerate enough to not outright deny its very existence. Things were supposed to be simple. Their experiences may be different, but that is the crux of it. It was all supposed to be simple. Everything about them was meant to be driven by a singular purpose. Nothing outside of that should have mattered, not in any significant way. They both should have been able to live in the comfort of absolute truths. Of being exactly as their design told them they should be. Happy Spouse. Deviant Hunter.

Simple.

Only it never had been and never would be.

The fire doesn't return to her gaze, but animation does. Her eyes are deep blue oceans, swimming with questions. Gentle as her natural (as natural as it could be considered) demeanour is, it doesn't lack life. Risky as it could be, she takes a step closer and tries to catch his eyes.

No doubt she seems unstable. An android with pitiful emotional control. And maybe there's some truth to it. Or she might seem like a rat in a maze, running the same route and expecting different results.

Even so, she again attempts the action of trying to connect with Connor. )


...Do you want to know me?
lickstheevidence: (Default)

[personal profile] lickstheevidence 2021-06-22 11:18 pm (UTC)(link)
[Connor's faith in who and what he was supposed to be, who he had been, was shaken early on by something as small as a fish. A dwarf gourami, much like the ones in these tanks, had given him his first, brief taste of deviancy, an inkling that maybe there was more to existence than what he was being told, there was something beyond the confines of his mission programming. Life for him had never been as cut and dry as he was programmed to believe. Markus knew that, and had seen right through him during their encounter; he'd cut to the very heart of Connor's dilemma. Amanda had told him herself- he was meant to obey, not to question, but how could he not? He was a detective, forced into the role of Deviant Hunter. What was his existence worth if he couldn't express his ingrained curiosity and ask questions?

It was only when he had nearly slipped out of their fingers and away from their control over him that he was presented with the information that he was supposed to deviate all along, and what was he supposed to do with that? Amanda had been lying to him the entire time, was that just one more lie so that Cyberlife could save face from the absolute embarrassment of watching their star prototype reject them so completely? Or was it the truth, and he had been designed to deviate? Was he really deviant? Could he trust his own mind? Nothing, nothing was as simple as he had been led to believe, not Cyberlife, not his mission, not deviancy. He was floundering even before he was brought here, and without someone who at least understood something of what he was going through, he would continue to flounder until he was swept under the rising tide of his own deviancy. He needed someone like Chloe to guide him, he'd just been too afraid to admit it. Now it seemed that she needed someone to help her, too. Maybe in this instance, things were that simple? Maybe...they could help each other? Maybe they could...start over?

He lifts his eyes to hers, the smallest of smiles tugging at one corner of his mouth, and he finds himself nodding softly. He holds his hand out toward her, keeping his voice gentle.]


My name is Connor. It is very nice to meet you.
queenking: ([neutral] ew no why)

[personal profile] queenking 2021-06-23 01:58 am (UTC)(link)
Dunno what athens-ma means, but you're somethin' to them. [Saxsice nods sagely, absently petting the head of the chinchilla still peeking out of her cleavage.

Then, in the same breath:
] Yeah, some kinda bar. I can smell it.
queenking: ([up] sunlit babe)

[personal profile] queenking 2021-06-23 02:01 am (UTC)(link)
[Far from seeming offended, Saxsice just chuckles to herself and leans back against the bar, waiting for the giggle fit to pass.]

You're givin' me way too much credit, Miss Chloe. It was less hard work and more bein' sneaky and clever and findin' shortcuts. [She takes a sip of her drink, expression shifting from bemused to something more pensive. Talking about home is dangerous, stirring up emotions that Saxsice does her damndest to keep buried.] "On The Rocks". It's close to the ocean and there's rocks there, plus it means "over ice" in drink-lingo.

[She laughs, shaking her head and actually blushing a little.] I thought I was so damn witty when I came up with that.
queenking: ([up] he said WHAT)

[personal profile] queenking 2021-06-23 02:09 am (UTC)(link)
[Saxsice takes the offered hand to shake, her own surprisingly coarse for someone who looks as young as she does. She's also got a grip for her, tipsy or no. She follows his gaze, but doesn't catch who it's directed at -- nor does she much mind. There's a hell of a lot of interesting people to watch, after all.

The comment gets a chuckle, and she swirls the woefully pale gin-and-something she holds.
] I'd kill one'a those ocean zombies for a decent rum right about now. Specially mixed with something fruity n' unsuspectin'. The kinda thing that knocks you right on your ass.

[To her credit, Saxsice doesn't quite stare at the cheater, but her eyes are wide and impressed once she sees his trick performed. She turns back to Jack, giving him a much more appreciative once-over.] Remind me never to play cards with you. I dunno how to play without cheatin' and I'm way less subtle than that. How'd you know he was playin' dirty?
unkindled_madness: (talking)

[personal profile] unkindled_madness 2021-06-23 02:16 am (UTC)(link)
...do what you will with it. I'll leave you to your masterpiece.

[It's definitely not a masterpiece. Looks more like a failure to paint a wall properly. Then again, he'd take a poorly-painted wall over some art he's seen.

Anyway, with that last look, he's headed back for the stairs.]

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