but even if the stars and moon collide [afterparty]

[allatonce]

[Well, that sucked!

After about an hour, invitations written in colorful ink appear under everyone's doors.]

Understandable if you're not up to it, but we're having a memorial and "don't wanna be alone" hang-out in the restaurant again.

[The restaurant has very much been decorated with the most rainbow fabric she could find in the department store. Jonathan got roped in, mainly so she could make sure he was doing okay, but also because she assumed that he knew how to put a tablecloth on a table. He seemed like the type, anyway.

After consulting with Undertaker, most of the food that's been set out is more traditional Chinese funeral food than Victorian—you can get a whole roast duck in the restaurant—but she tried for a mix of things. There is fruit, the aforementioned roast duck, and several vegetarian dishes along with potatoes for some reason and... cookies? Okay then.

Joy's trying, because that was way less terrible for her than it was for basically anyone else.

Happy Pride Wrath, New Rapture!]

Comments

[fuckingguy]

[ After Nandor leaves the trial, looking deliberately stoic and leaving nothing but a single low fucking GUY in his wake, and the bathysphere delivers them all back, he knows what he must do. He grabs all his tokens and heads, pretty immediately, to the vending machine in the lobby. You can find him there for ages, feeding coin after coin into the machine and reacting in various animated ways to what falls out. And out. And out and out and is that a gun? The magic of it all has started to wear off the more mundane items, and some he simply growls at in disgust and throws to the side. Of the less mundane regains, uh, we've got all the weapons, with the exception of the gun, which he looks a little too happy to see. We've got the Biocomputer, which, uh, he's not sure what to do with that! And we've got the Bible+, which drops into Nandor's hands effortlessly. He catches it without thinking, registers what it is, and immediately screams at the top of his lungs. Oh, and he also triggers the smoke bomb in the middle of the lobby, releasing a malevolent purple cloud that is very annoying and makes him cough, but also kind of stops below his waist? It's as if the person this was made to conceal was three feet tall or something!

But, all this booboo the ghoul behavior aside, it's clear that Nandor is not simply here for the love of the game. He has a specific thing he wants out of this, and you can tell because, after one wizard hat too many, he outright starts demanding shit of the vending machine. ]

You will release... your human alcohol... to me.

[ Eventually, he does, in fact, receive a bottle of Malort! He leaves with fresh purpose, two spears, two knives, a gun in a wet bag, and a full-on Medieval mace.

From there, he does briefly show up at the afterparty, but once he gives it a once-over and sees who's present and who's not, he doesn't seem inclined to socialize. That was a lot of yelling, a lot of drama, a lot of raw emotion. His mouth still tastes like old pennies. He hangs around for a bit, looking increasingly mad at the very concept of being there, before leaving as abruptly as he came.

Much later, you can find him in the clinic, investigating the blood bags in the fridge. Like, not in an "opening the fridge to crack a soda" sense, genuinely inspecting the plastic. His brow furrows. ]

Is it even possible to tamper with these?

[ He appears to be asking this of himself. ]

vending machine

[onemillion]

[Was that a scream?? Rossiu looks in to check because it might have just been an unfortunate regain... but then he gets distracted by a different unfortunate regain.]

Lordgenome?

[Yes that is all one word. Anyway he enters the room, still staring at the head-in-a-jar with all the trepidation one might expect from someone staring at a head-in-a-jar.]

Did... Did you get him from the machine?

[He wants to ask how, but he knows he will never get an answer to that.]

[fuckingguy]

Oh... Rossiu. Is this a friend of yours?

[ What the fuck, Nandor's eyes say, even as his mouth forms the reasonably pleasant-sounding words. What the fuck is this. ]

[onemillion]

No...

[How does one explain Lordgenome without sounding deeply crazy. He already explained Lordgenome to his friends and they all thought he was deeply crazy.]

This is... well, he's essentially a computer. Though it would seem he's not active right now...

[He carefully taps on the glass like one would a fish tank to get the attention of the fish. Lordgenome does not respond.]

My apologies, I had no idea he would be in here.

[fuckingguy]

Honestly, understandable oversight. Even I could not tell you how it got out of there, and I was watching. [ He watches the glass-tapping with mildly disturbed interest. ] It was like just [ vague gesturing ] poof, out, and now this guy is here!

... He does appear to be in sleep mode. Perhaps I missed a manual of some kind?

[onemillion]

The vending machine is incredibly strange...

[He thought animals popping out of it was bad enough but now this??? Ugh.]

No, there isn't any sort of physical manual, we kept all of our information on secondary computers. He occasionally does this, and it usually is at the most inopportune times, so this isn't really surprising...

[He trails off there, frowning at Lordgenome.]

But I don't understand how he could be here. He was with Simon and the others and he was supposed to be assisting with navigation and the operation of the Arc-Gurren. I wasn't anywhere near him.

[And also wow he really hates that idea!! Good luck, Team Gurren, you guys are gonna need it.]

[fuckingguy]

... Bit concerning. [ He has no clue what any of what he just heard means, but it sounds like maybe something grim is afoot! ] And you are sure this is the real Lorgenome that got vended to us?

[ what are you talking about, there's no d in that word, there was never a d in that word ]

[onemillion]

[listen the fact you got it 99% correct is important!! and good enough. though now that you've mentioned it...]

Something does look a bit odd about him...

[Hold on, he's going to carefully pick the head-in-a-jar up to get a closer look. Lordgenome does not respond even as Rossiu turns it this way and that.]

...I think you're right, actually. This... doesn't seem to be the actual Lordgenome. A very convincing fake, but a fake nonetheless.

[The words don't really express it enough, but HE SOUNDS VERY RELIEVED, ACTUALLY.]

[fuckingguy]

[ Nandor gives what he thinks is a polite smile in response! And yet....... even with Rossiu confirming this, he cannot resist leaning over and tapping on the jar part a bit, as if Lordgenome is going to wake up over some "annoying tourist at a zoo" provocation. ]

... Just making sure. [ of what, you buffoon ] It would seem so, yes. But what would the point even be? If it is just to make you worry about your friends, should they not be releasing these things on a Tuesday?

[onemillion]

[thank you nandor for dealing with. this. all of this. this is a lot.]

That's certainly a good question.

[Fake Lordgenome does not respond. All he does it sleep!!! What a lazy fake!!!]

Perhaps that is the intended purpose, but it really is just luck when these things happen to fall out?

[So it could push someone over the edge to murder if they were already on edge... or it could be totally useless. Like this thing!!!!!]

Though that doesn't make much sense. Why wouldn't he use any advantage he has?

[WELL ANYWAY, Rossiu shakes his head.]

Thank you for retrieving this... I suppose. My apologies for the confusion.

[fuckingguy]

I fear we are only gonna come away from this with more questions... but you are welcome, of course.

Perhaps one of us who gets along with the Mayor should ask for more details. It certainly does not seem like half this shit is a coincidence.

[ He is definitely looking at the Bible+ on the floor right now! ]

[onemillion]

[...glances at the bible+..........]

No, it doesn't. I do have plenty of questions about these items as well... I'll see if I can get any more information out of him.

[He's not expecting much, but hey, he got more than he thought he would last time!!]

[fuckingguy]

Oh, good. He is... a very distasteful creature, that one, but it is for the best that we keep some kind of rapport.

[ maybe he should try?? haha jk absolutely not let's let rossiu take this one ]

[onemillion]

Agreed. I can handle that well enough, so I don't mind asking him questions.

[It's not fun, and it's not like he wants to talk to their captor, but he can handle it so that's what he'll do!!]

...Anyway, you don't mind if I take this, do you?

[This weird fake Lordgenome, he means. Better than letting someone else deal with it, right???]

[fuckingguy]

... Ah. No, of course not. He is your fake computer head friend, after all, and not mine. Also, would really clash with the kind of decor I am trying to pull together.

Do you think it is still a real computing machine, or will it be totally useless?

[onemillion]

Honestly, I'm not entirely sure. Without him waking up, it's doubtful... but not impossible. I'll hold onto him and see what I can accomplish on my own.

[It's not gonna be much!! But he will attempt.]

Though if we do get access to better tools and more technology, I may be able to come up with something.

[Though lbr, Aiba would be better at it. Rossiu's more the leader-guy than the tech-guy.]

Thank you again, Nandor. I'll see what I can do.

[So for now he's just going to take this head-in-a-jar back to his room!! Oof, this thing is heavy.]