oo1 ✦ let’s begin.

[richesse]

[ There’s a whisper through the murmur, more a breath of feeling than a fully formed thought. It’s sweet, and warm, and laughing—though it is not gentle, nor kind.

A voice follows the whisper, chased by darkness and shadows, the very suggestion of a nightmare. ]

Do you think we’re still dreaming? Or is this a living nightmare?

[ a hum, and another brush of teasing laughter, there and gone like a brief burst of memory, the last moment of summer that you can taste on your tongue before it’s irretrievably gone. ]

You’ve changed, haven’t you? We all have. What are you thinking, right now…? Who are you?

What are you?

Comments

I’m so happy we’re in a game together again

[richesse]

[ Lortel listens dutifully, her only response to his criticism a slight, thin smile. ]

Then show me. I want to see you change the world.

[ surely he has bite to back up his bark? ]

my sheer delight at realizing we're playing opposites of what we did last time

[pointedlook]

[ He senses that glove being thrown and steadfastly ignores the bait. ]

I'm not a charity, you know. What do I get out of this?

CLUTCHES MY CHEST AND COLLAPSES TO MY KNEES AND FUCKING DIES

[richesse]

[ a real smile flits across her face. there and gone, dissolved like cotton candy in water. ]

I appreciate an entrepreneur.

[ Lortel clasps her hands behind her back, sweet, relaxed. ]

My help. Call for me, and I’ll come. I’ll rescue you, just once.

i'd say im sorry for him but im not

[pointedlook]

Call for you, what, like Beetlejuice? Click my heels together?

[ He needs details, young lady!!! ]

I don't even know what you are or are not capable of.

youve never been sorry a day in your life

[richesse]

[ a peal of sweet, bright laughter. ]

How literal! Am I a superhero now?

[ she grins, charmed. ]

I can be a powerful ally, you know. You shouldn’t underestimate me.

c:

[pointedlook]

[ Arthur, on the other hand, is decidedly not charmed. He frowns harder, somehow, and wonders why people always like to be as vague as possible. ]

So, what can you do, Jubilee? Powerful can mean anything.

[richesse]

Surely you can’t expect me to offer you anything for free.

[ her riposte is immediate, steady and sweet and entirely unfazed. ]

[pointedlook]

Let me get this straight—you want me to show you how to control the dream environment, in exchange for a promise to save me like some kind of damsel, and then don't want to specify how you'd be capable of backing your claims?

[ Can you feel his utter disappointment and disbelief, Lortel? His words taste like the metallic tang of copper, the low level simmering of swiping blood off your teeth with your tongue. ]

I've been offered better trade agreements from six year olds.

[richesse]

[ he’s no easy mark. not like some of these other easily taken in fools.

Lortel beams, bright. ]

You’re a tough customer. I can appreciate that, as a businesswoman.

I’ll decline, then. If you change your mind, I’ll always be here.

[pointedlook]

[ Okay then. Normally, he'd get curious and try to pry for more information, but, he thinks he's wasted enough time here. ]

Suit yourself.

[richesse]

[ curls her hands behind her back. ]

Where will you go?

[pointedlook]

Weren't we done, just now?

[ Can she feel the judgment packed into the arch of his eyebrow? ]

[richesse]

Aren’t we still two people lost in the middle of the apocalypse? They say there’s strength in numbers, you know.

[ she can.

she thinks it’s very cute. ]

[pointedlook]

Who says I'm lost? I know exactly where I am and what this place is.

[ New York City is no mystery to him. ]

It's only strength in numbers if the members are equally capable. I don't know what you can or cannot do.

[richesse]

Do you?

[ oh my. how intriguing. ]

… information is my real specialty. Intelligence gathering. [ a slight smile. ] I’ve already started working, you see. I know of others that could be allies. I know of others with powers we can use. I also know where safe refuge is, and where you can find warm clothing.

[ she rattles it all off casually. one must work quickly when one is deposited directly in the middle of an apparent apocalypse. ]

[pointedlook]

Yep.

[ Maybe he's being purposefully obtuse now. Just a bit. ]

"Safe refuge" isn't a guarantee in this kind of situation. If I want warm clothing, I can raid some Midtown hipster's closet or find the closest Uniqlo.

[ It would do in a pinch, at any rate. ] How can I trust your intel?

[richesse]

How can I trust yours?

[ folds her arms over her chest, fingers curled around her elbows. ]

We’ve got to start somewhere.

tmfw I almost used Andrew cuomo's resignation as proof

[pointedlook]

Give me a piece of intel, something I can verify.

[ Here, this is his proof, for her to check on: ]

This city has a shopping plaza, Rockefeller Center, where they put up an enormous Christmas tree every year. It'll be in the paper, New York Times, during the first week of December.

[ One year, there was even an owl in said tree. ]

[richesse]

[ …

Arthur will feel a brush in the murmur. though Lortel does not open her mouth, he’ll hear these words, whispered right in his ear: ]

how much have you played with our strange connection?

[pointedlook]

Jesus fucking Christ—

[ That's elegant. Okay, deep breath. This isn't extraction, even if it feels like it, somehow. It's close enough that he can work within the confines. And apply some dreamshare etiquette, maybe, for all that exists amongst the connections he doesn't want to strangle. ]

Can't find it in you to warn a guy, first?

[richesse]

Haha!

You did say you wanted verifiable proof.

[pointedlook]

I was thinking more in the line of: X person has these powers, which are useful. So I could find them and cross-reference.

[ NORMAL INFO GATHERING THINGS, LORTEL. ]

Not—whatever the hell that was. Useful, I'm sure, just not without a whole hell of a lot of regulations.

[richesse]

Oh my. And here I was going to tell you more, but it seems that was enough.

[ … ]

A man named Ignis has the ability to manipulate time. Tell him I sent you and he will be willing to help you.

[pointedlook]

I wasn't asking you to spill your guts. Information has a price, I'm more than willing to acknowledge that.

[ It's not usually easy to gather and collate everything, to become a repository whose memory or connections others lean and depend on. So, in the interest of playing nice, he's not going to shake this girl down for everything she's learned already. Not without something to trade. ]

Alright then. [ Maybe "willing" to help is a stretch, but he doesn't know Ignis and his life choices. ]

[richesse]

[ he’s a smart man. Lortel can appreciate that. ]

Does that mean we have a deal?