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

2/2

[inaclearing]

Oh, fine, just fine. I, uh - I really missed you too, though.

1/2

[kninja]

[kninja]

I'm not gonna ask you to get into it now, but you'll fill me in on everything I've missed, right? I see Miss Mafuyu's got a new haircut, for one thing, and... well, I've been worried about all of you. Didn't mean to leave you all in the lurch like that.

[inaclearing]

[Immediately:]

It wasn't your fault. Just - just bad luck, I guess. [...] The haircut's really new, she just did that yesterday.

[kninja]

It's cute. Really suits her. ...You wanna go get drinks before everything explodes?

[inaclearing]

...yeah, sure, I could get out of here.

[It's a lot and it's really loud and he's having some weird survivor's guilt feelings about like 90% of the people here?]

[kninja]

Lemme just--

[He waves to get Jonathan's attention, gestures between himself and Brett, and mimes drinking, just so the poor guy will know where Obi's disappeared to and not have a panic attack.]

All right. You'll have to lead the way. I heard more places opened up each week for you all, too.

[inaclearing]

Yeah, maybe better he doesn't come...

[As he watches that, because yeah they'll at least have to stop in the nightclub, even if they don't actually stay there. That done, though...well, Brett doesn't really feel the need to tell anyone where he's going, he just turns to leave.]

Did you get new places every week, too?

[kninja]

[He follows after, hands behind his head.]

Uh-huh. Each week, the stairs to the next deck of the ship would open, until the last time when we got two. And then His Honor, Misfire, and Miss Aiba built a radio and got in contact with someone outside, who opened a trapdoor out the bottom for us.

[inaclearing]

...who?

[kninja]

[*Whoops it was Jonathan, Hagakure, and Aiba who built the radio, not Misfire. I just have robots on the brain I guess.]

She said her name's Carmen. She's on her way now, I think. Everything else she said turned out to true, after all.

[inaclearing]

Yeah? Like what?

[kninja]

Like about the vending machine giving us presents and how many robots we'd have to fight. Things like that.

[inaclearing]

You fought a robot?

[kninja]

We fought a bunch of robots! Even Li'l Daka got one, though kinda mostly by accident. He tripped.

[inaclearing]

[Brett laughs.]

Oh, man, really? I wish I could've seen that.

[Ah, and here's the nightclub. Brett sort of...pauses in the doorway, rather than going directly to the bar.]

[kninja]

[Obi waits. For a bit, anyway.]

...Brett?

[inaclearing]

...sorry. Sorry - I, uh.

[He circles around the bar. Behind the bar is - not where Jonathan was, at least, but it's also where Brett went after finding him.]

What do you want? There's, um, lots of stuff.

[kninja]

I'm not real picky. Guess I shouldn't have anything too strong when my body's finally just starting to come back to normal, though.

[He takes a seat, watches Brett back there, and asks:]

Do you wanna talk about it?

[inaclearing]

[Brett shrugs and grabs two glasses, filling them both with beer from the tap. It's sort of a random selection; hopefully it's fine. He's quiet as he does so, and doesn't answer until they've both got a drink.]

...I found Jonathan in here.

[kninja]

[Obi is quiet in turn, absorbing this newly somber, sobering context for the space.]

...I'm sorry, Brett. [He exhales slowly.] Killing's an ugly business, and... it can stick. In your head, I mean. The smell...

[inaclearing]

Yeah. Yeah, I...

[He lets out a gust of breath.]

I handled it really badly. Still think about it. You'd think, after enough time here, I'd have stopped being so...

[kninja]

Feels like we've had this conversation before.

[He sips his beer.]

"We all have things we handle badly." It went something like that, right?

[inaclearing]

Did we?

[Brett stays behind the bar, leaning back against the shelves. He's holding his beer, but not really drinking it.]

Sorry - yeah, I guess we did. I still should've stepped up, though.

[kninja]

In what way?