Office Hours - We Could Be

[shieldof]

[Faith's door remains closed, the brass "PRIVATE" plaque silent and unyielding. Trying to force the door yields no results, but- she said you could contact her here, so just go ahead and knock. Worst case scenario, you're no worse off than before, right?]

((OOC: Please tag your top-levels with the appropriate week and day.))

Comments

[shieldof]

[It takes a few moments for the door to swing open. Faith is sitting at her desk, hands folded carefully in front of her, dead-eyeing Roman as he steps inside.]

Sir Roman. Please come in.

[cratetraining]

Heyyy. Office looks pretty normo. Your boss-slash-goddess send a lot of paper work your way?

[He waltzes in like he’s meant to be here. Are there any other chairs in this office?]

[shieldof]

[There is one guest chair in front of the desk, yes. A comfortable looking one, even!]

[Faith is not inviting him to take it, but she won't stop him if he sits.]

My papers are my own, Sir Roman. Is there something you need?

[cratetraining]

[Roman sits on the chair.

...or rather, he sits on the armrest of the chair and leans back onto the rest of it.]

So what actually is your Goddess' deal? She the head of the cult, or just some idea you use to convince people to eat each other?

[shieldof]

My god's "deal" is exactly as I have described it, Sir Roman.

[She frowns a little, eyeing the ass-on-armrest action going on but not saying anything.]

[Yet.]

[come on man other people gotta use that chair, she's gonna have to sanitize it now]

And if I may say, you seem quite preoccupied with eating things a human should not consume.

[first the dog food now this]

cw slight ableism & sex references

[cratetraining]

Right, yeah: "live in the little playpen and ignore the big red murder button and everything'll be just peachy, promise!" [He puts on a goofy voice for that, then takes his eyes back to hers.]

Where I'm from, people who claim a god's telling them what we're supposed to do are either schizophrenics or bullshitters. Which one are you, Faith?

Or Solitaire--whatever her name is, I didn't catch the full thing--went on an errand to get the masks for the death orgy and you're stalling.

[Her calling him out for the eating preoccupation does get a little laugh out of him.]

Ooh, maybe that's because I secretly wanna suck a dick or mummy didn't hug me enough. Come at me.

Re: cw slight ableism & sex references

[shieldof]

Or perhaps you are merely incredibly crude for reasons I cannot begin to fathom, Sir Roman.

[yeah, that's got a little actual bite to the tone]

My god is quite real, but you've already made up your own mind about them and myself, I suspect.

[cratetraining]

[The bite in her voice shifts his expression to something...well, not quite serious, but a bit more analytical in the way he looks at her.]

And what if I haven't made my mind up? Most of my theories about you are just kinda throwing shit at the wall, not gonna lie.

So if she's real, she's just delegating taking care of the new blood to you. How're you supposed to use us to breathe new life into this shithole? And what happens to us when that's done? Assuming nobody tries cutting out early with a little... [He clicks his tongue and drags his thumb across his throat with a wince.]

[shieldof]

You are living beings. Existing here. I thought that part was rather simple to understand.

[cratetraining]

That’s it? Are we supposed to repopulate or some shit? I’m gonna assume no unless Solar Flare is a sicko.

If it’s like, a whole world that needs reviving, twenty-plus people in a mansion is a fucking speck. So there’s gotta be some extra steps in the plan.

[shieldof]

Please do not concern yourself with "re-population".

[Ew. No. Please.]

[sigh]

How much do you understand of the arcane, Sir Roman?

[cratetraining]

Yeah, obviously fucking not. There’s a bunch of teen girls here. I have standards that include not going to jail.

[He shifts off of the chair down onto the ground when Faith asks him a question, leaning back on the chair from the floor.]

Like magic? Other than old fairy tales and Etsy witches, I don’t know shit. It’s one of those things I considered “not real” until like, forty-eight hours ago. There’s not enough magician tricks and drugs to explain everything here, so…sure, arcane magic. What’s the deal with that?

[shieldof]

The weave of magic is-

[Oh, how to explain this to a- ...Roman, how to explain this to a Roman.]

It is heavily tied to and influenced by the presence of living things. The difference between a dead world and one with even a small group of living beings- it's rather like priming a pump, that may be the best analogy. Magically speaking, this world has gone from a state of lifelessness to a state of harboring life.

[cratetraining]

Uh-huh. So we’re Viagra. …or whatever you call the dick-don’t-work pills.

[Despite his usual vulgarity still being in effect, Roman scratches his chin with genuine thought.]

You gotta drop some fresh blood into the withered-up and pruny weave bits to get it going again. Thing is: we’re keeping this place alive, which means we can’t leave.

I don’t have anywhere to be, but somebody else might wanna see Mommy and Daddy again or go back and unfuck their own messes. You can see where planting the whole sacrifice shit in someone’s head becomes a problem.

[shieldof]

You are BRINGING this place to life, not necessarily sustaining it. Staying here indefinitely should not be required.

[don't ask what viagra is don't ask what viagra is don't ask what viagra is]

You are remarkably not incorrect. And yet the rule must remain, and we will all have to deal with it.

[cratetraining]

Ok, so we're just hanging on until the pills get into the bloodstream so to speak.

[Well, hopefully "dick-don't-work pills" speak for themself.]

Who decided those rules, Faith? You, or your goddess?

[shieldof]

My god did. As they did with the information in your profiles.