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ARTHUR

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telepathic message

[opheliac]

[a thought seem to be coming through from... somewhere.]

Why am I feeling like this? This is good! This is what I wanted. I had to break the cycle, and...now I'm here. Everything is great! Everything is how it should be.

... So why do I feel like shit?

[pointedlook]

[ Well, this seems like walking the knife's edge to reply. He's still not 100% sure of how Jinx will react to things—mostly, he doesn't want to add to the distress she's already in a spiral over.

Also, the whole telepathy thing still creeps him out a bit. Worth a shot in replying, though. ]

Miss Hot Topic?

[opheliac]

[huh. so people can be tuned into her mind even when she's just sitting here alone and thinking. that... sucks, actually. jinx could say nothing and pretend he got the wrong person. and she almost leans to that option, but...]

Listening in, pretty boy? I bet this is every guy's dream. Getting to know aaaalll the dirt and cracks on what a girl is thinking about, so you come in and sweep her off her feet. One way to cheat into her heart.

[pointedlook]

Not on purpose; your thoughts were pretty loud.

I'd rather not find out this way, it feels ... invasive. Affection shouldn't be cheated.

[opheliac]

But that's what we do anyways, right? When it comes to the heart and the real butt of things. We Cheat. Lie. Abandon. Hurt.

[vocalistyodels]

[Old man tries this fancy murmur talking thing with someone specific in mind. He never did get his name, but really is he one to talk? Projecting sassy map giver thoughts over the murmur for a connection-]

You wouldn't've ever been in a cult would ya?

[pointedlook]

[ Oh. This is unexpected, but hardly unwelcome. ]

I'm not even religious, so, no. Why?

[vocalistyodels]

[Nobody expects the radioactive cowboy!]

Well hell, was testing out a theory. Not that it means it ain't something...

Spoken with some other folks and cults are repeating subject is all. Had my own run ins with em myself, not been in one though.

[pointedlook]

[ He's the Spanish Inquisition???????? ]

Okay, I think I see how you arrived at that. There's a few, right? Who've had run-ins with cults. Or been in them, I suppose.

[ A beat, then: ] Does the US military count as one?

[vocalistyodels]

[Shows up and kills people... guess that's him too. Though he doesn't use the guise of religion and all that. Sometimes a motherfucker, or several, need to die.]

Guess you've had the same talks.

[That does get an amused laugh from Cooper.]

Hoo-rah, am I right?

[A soft snort.]

If that's the case then guess I've been in one too, marines though.

telepathic message; around week 4

[opheliac]

Muffin, you know a lot of shit about what's going on around here, right? The Ins and Outs?

[pointedlook]

I try to keep up, generally. Why?

[opheliac]

I'm on a big hero mission.

[pointedlook]

Is there some wizened, cryptic wizard or oracle doling those out somewhere I should know about?

nov. week 4

[longwillows]

[As usual, her request for attention is heralded by the playful chiming of bells on the wind and the thickening scent of guava. Wherever Arthur might be, there's the warm sense of weight settling next to him, the swish of fox tails through the air.

Fondly:] Hey, high roller.

Think I've come up with something for my special trinket.

[pointedlook]

[ As if carried on the Santa Ana winds, the playful shimmer of bells catches his attention first. Right on its heels is the ripe and familiar scent of fruit. Just as her weight seems to settle next to his, he's already leaning his shoulder up against hers. ]

High roller, huh? You've never seen me play craps.

[ Of course, he knows that isn't what she's getting at. It's amusing all the same. ] What did you land on, then?

[longwillows]

[There's a wash of affection and relief as he leans into the weight on the Murmur and she leans back in turn. The swish of tails gets faster. Distinctively...wag-like.] I don't need to. You took a gamble on me!

[Only the boldest and the bravest would raise the ante on Kalmiya Longwillow's offer.

The network ripples mildly as she focuses her attention through her sight. Then, in mirror of the way her hand reaches out, an image is offered of a tiny owl token, not even the full length of Kalmiya's palm. Next to it is a ring, cheaply made with the gem resting in an indiscernible middle space of color.]

I found these at a souvenir shop. Thought I could mount the gem to the owl—maybe leave a bit of a hollow in the statue to change the weight.

[pointedlook]

[ With their tether, he gets the rush of affection; the gentle wave of it breaking on shore, the sun-warmed embrace of the ocean in summer. It's funny in a way that her tails have become such an extension of her emotion because their connection has made those clear as a bell. So now the joyous sway of them is emphasis, punctuation to a sentence he already knows.

Endearing all the same. ]

Leaving it unbalanced in some way would make it unique, less easy to replicate. [ He hums in contemplation as he observes the tiny owl statuette and the ring that looks like it came out of a vending machine. ] Maybe you could give the owl a third eye.

[ Premonition. Or maybe as if it could see into the dream space. The thought is as interesting as it is amusing. ]

[longwillows]

Ohh, [in a revelatory arc,] that's clever! Like a little psychic owl.

[She's clearly tickled by the possibility.] I was going to put it on the stomach. I thought that would be cute.

[In physical space, she rolls both pieces around in her cupped hand, before setting the owl down to study the ring. As she leans back into a sprawl atop the covers of her bed, in the mental space she stretches horizontally across Arthur's lap and slips the cheap ring past the first knuckle of her index finger to hold it up in indication.] There's a visual component too.

Oct TDM overflows

[pointedlook]

> captcha
> and nobody liked that

yes these are happening in december,

IGNIS

[pointedlook]

>from here<

[ Honestly, even with the lack of particulars, Ignis has gotten pretty close. He's impressed.

So, perhaps because of that–or maybe due to the well-crafted question–he indulges the curiosity some more. ] Debatable, if a vase or a music device is more useful. That all depends on the angle, doesn't it?

[ A rhetorical question, to duck right under the compliment. Over their tenuous connection, though, there's a sense of acknowledgment. Beyond that, Arthur presses on. ]

It can only use something I've heard, since it's drawing on my memories as the library. I picked what it's currently playing, since it seemed fitting and was less likely to draw unwanted attention.

december (tether ping w/ arthur & sharon) 👻

[opheliac]

We're breaking up.

[ a small sentence will breeze through between arthur and sharon, possibly making it hard to decipher if the message is for arthur or for sharon. but given that there's some strange three-way tether link between them, it could be quite possible the announcement is for the two of them.

what does she mean by "breaking up"? does it mean by breaking their tether bond? can't be that since everything is still intact, no sign of their threads being tampered with or damaged in any way. it's strong as ever if anything. then does she mean their friendship? if so, why? did something happen? why would she call off her friendship with them when between the three, jinx is the clingest? ]

[ clearly, this deserves an explanation, but whenever arthur or sharon attempt to inch closer to their thread to jinx, there's a sensation of getting forcefully shoved away, preventing them to come any closer. it happens each time they get a little too close. ]

[merged]

[ One small sentence sends a ripple of confusion through her, followed almost immediately by a spike of alarm. She can tell the message is not meant for her alone. She can feel Arthur's steady presence there as well, solid and grounding, which only deepens the confusion. Then she forces herself to steel. The confusion dulls, the alarm tucks itself away, and she focuses on what matters right now.

There are multiple people from Jinx's world in the dream. Vander and Silco, at the very least, the only two she knows for certain. That leaves only one conclusion she can reasonably draw. Jinx would never sever a connection because of Vander. He doesn't strike her as that kind of man. But... ]

Is this because of Silco? [ The question snaps out sharper than she intends, a thin edge of betrayal threading through the tether. They had spoken about this. Jinx had said she would speak to him, that she would sort it out. ]

[pointedlook]

[ Jinx's message is all at once sharp and clear as glass, opaque as gesso on board. Did she mean to send it to both him and Sharon? Knowing her moods could be mercurial, it's entirely possible she'd lashed out, uncontrolled.

But, something about how it's been said feels–calculated. Weighted. He rolls it around in his mind as surely as he does the red die in his pocket, letting the hard edges of both press in.

Sharon reacts first, her confusion colored by distress. Both are covered over in armor, ready for the possible argument. While he's heard the name she mentions, he doesn't know where Silco figures into Jinx's history or what they mean to her. Considering the sensation of being shoved he gets when he tries to reach across the mental bridge to Jinx, he doesn't suppose he'll be getting any helpful answers if he asks.

Instead, he falls back on familiar habits and looks for the patterns. The PASIV might not be here but that hardly matters; people are going to be people, whether they were dreaming or awake. Tracking backwards, he thinks about her sprinting barefoot from the Hosts, how she'd pleaded about something being a mistake. How she's said it's always on her, every time. And how she's talked a big game, blindingly brilliant, but shown fragile wonder at being asked to have dinner at the townhouse with him and Sharon. ]

What exactly are you running from, Jinx?

[opheliac]

[ there is stillness there, as if she is standing behind a cracked-open door—wide enough for her to hear them, but secure enough to shield away her true emotions... except this isn't over via murmur, but through tight-knitted tethers where every sentiment is displayed on a window.

jinx has yet to figure out how to bury it all in the gutters, and they can feel her longing for them foaming in various places along their linked thread, but it is overshadowed by her heinous demeanor, her smile so tight that it could cut flesh on its own. the bluenette breathes out a ghoulish laugh; it's loud, obnoxious and vibrates through their connection. ]

Haha, oh, oh wait. You still think we're all paly-walies. How cute... and pathetic. — Boss man has nothing to do with this; this is all me. And I'm not running from anything.

I was just getting bored of pretending to listen to you loser slobs yammering in my ear and playing the part that I give a crap about either of you.