i am a cage in search of a bird

[crocodiline]

[ The figure inside the frosted glass snaps her fingers, and the glass falls away, sliding into grooves in the ground below. Inside, behind additional bulletproof glass, sits a woman, legs up on a transparent glass desk, absentmindedly petting a... whatever this thing is.

Say hello to your mastermind, everyone! ]

Hey there, everyone. Nice to talk to you in person - my name is Cipher, welcome to my city. Sorry I took so long to show up in person. No need to get up on my account - how about we talk business?

[ Let's drive. ]

Comments

[hotpaprika]

[Jonathan is definitely shocked about how sudden this all was, but, well, of all the things to happen to him these past couple weeks he can easily take something like this.]

Everyone! I am so proud of you for solving this case!

[He waves at them. It should be noted that his hair has somehow grayed significantly since his death, but he seemed genuinely happy to see everyone.]

[specialyellthing]

[Zinda swoops in, and yanks him into a hug.]

Champ!

[hotpaprika]

[He hardly even hesitates as he warmly returns the hug.]

Zinda! My dear friend, how I missed you!

[capreelcious]

Penguin!

[ He goes over and gives him a hug with a slight noogie. ]

Your hairs all gray!

[hotpaprika]

[Jonathan yelps a little at the noogie, but smiles and returns the hug nonetheless.]

Floyd! [He looks away sheepishly.] Haha, it turned gray the moment I woke up in my new body. I believe the stress of this whole ordeal somewhat aged me a bit.

[capreelcious]

Aha, fair enough~. It was pretty stressful and annoying.

[ Probably moreso for Jonathan, who actually died! ]

So you wound up on a cruise ship, huh?

[hotpaprika]

[YEAH IT WASN'T FUN.]

We did. I must it was surreal to wake up expecting some sort of afterlife and then find out that that we were living in a cruise ship. It was somewhat nice, at least. I much preferred the pub over the nightclub in New Rapture.

[capreelcious]

Nice. Think they'll let us "survivors" take a tour of the cruise ship before we all decide everything goes kablooey?

[inaclearing]

Thanks...?

[Brett doesn't feel like he did much of anything, but like 95% of this is actually that he last saw Jonathan as a literal corpse and had a whole panic attack about it and now he's going a little pale - it's fine though he'll be fine.]

[hotpaprika]

[Jonathan sees Brett and immediately goes to pull him into a hug.]

I... I'm so sorry for not listening to you that day, Brett. I truly am.

[inaclearing]

[Brett, after a moment, hugs back tightly.]

No, no. It's my fault, I should've...done more.

[hotpaprika]

[Jonathan's eyes sting as he clings to Brett.]

Don't... don't blame yourself... if Joy showed up and asked for drinks I'm sure you wouldn't think anything nefarious would take place. Or worse, you would ask to come with and she would simply poison you too.

cw: suicidal ideation sorta?

[inaclearing]

[Brett snorts.]

I wish she had. Could've had the decency to be that up-front about it.

[hotpaprika]

... Please don't say that. I am truly happy that you made it out of this situation alive. I am sure the betrayal hurt on your end as well, but having you dead would have hurt me more than Joy's actions.

I... am sorry for saying such things about myself, during my last couple of weeks alive.

[inaclearing]

I'dve been fine in the end, apparently. But - I take your point.

[That stuff hadn't been easy to listen to, particularly for Brett.]

Sorry.