citynet | audio, @DONQUIXOT3, beginning of the month

[oh... is that gutter his fault for bringing up the Work... sorry.]

Uh, I just meant you're the one who knows what to look for.

[but here he goes for Turn 2. he winds up the form annnnnd it's a 5. progress! he will celebrate more silently, to be polite after her gutterball, which is mostly a whispered hell yeah and a fist pump he turns awkwardly to do in the opposite direction. Hell Yeah.

ahem. anyway.]

Anyway, you guys really don't get time off? I guess when you have a job as weird as either of ours, it feels like cheating to take a break, huh? Can't even tell you how many times I tried to just stay home and not think about anything and instantly felt like I was doing something wrong. You know?

[does she know. is it this specific kind of dire on the bus.]

[ wow... he's just a slow start. look at him go, half of them down. despite her wanting to stare at other lanes, the clatter does draw her attention back, bright-eyed and eager to catch the next. ]

I suppose some of my compatriots must feel the same as thee, but I do like to treasure the time that I am afforded off between our missions! Sinclair and I play chess together, and I at times like to draw as well.

[ she likes fighting! gets a lot of energy out! feels good to be dismissed at the end of the day! but, ]

Much of our time is spent upon the road, travelling from one district to the next, as well as feeding Mephi -- we sit and wait to be instructed one way or another until sundown, and then we are dismissed to our rooms in the back. Though we are lucky, for there are many whom work from morning's light 'til the moon has risen high into the sky, peeking from behind the clouds which shadow The City -- all so that they may live yet another day.

In contrast, there is far less to do here, and thus I am eager for anything at all, be it useful to our ends or not. It is affecting some worse than others.

[ gregor............. ]

[thanks for admiring his 5... he leans on the end of the ball return as he waits, listening. hmm! well, it's nice to hear that life on the vore bus isn't always the worst, even if the fact that the bus has to be fed is bad by default.]

How big is this bus...? [rooms in the back?? this bus is bigger than his apartment.] I guess I kind of see what you mean. It's been a while since I had a real hobby.

[like bowling, speaking of, as the ball returns. give him a moment to go make his next roll... it's a 3. he's catching up. calculated.]

Hell yeah. [AHEM--] So, some of your people are going a little stir crazy? Before I got here—and uh, before the whole thing with the murders and the SHIFTING—I was in this... test site, to see how a bunch of people could live together in space. Uh, that's not really like this, exactly, but it's getting there...?

[he forgot what he's getting at. maybe they should play cards?]

Well, sticking together's the best bet we've got so nobody goes nuts all by themselves. Ultimate buddy system.

O-ho, congratulations, squire!!! Thou hath bettered thyself so quickly, though thee still have a ways to go to beat me!!!!

[ ......... she's getting too into it again but she's up anyway, let her come stand by him to get her ball ready. though she's just holding it for now, staring at the outer lanes for a quiet, attentive moment before her lightbulb smile flicks back on and she looks forward at the resetting pins of their own. ]

... In space? Thou were among the stars? What is it like up there?

[ sorry now she's interested in something else. ]

Yeah, yeah, I'll make a comeback.

[can you make a comeback if you were always behind...... details.]

And no, not me... Uh, so, they want to send people to space, but living in a tin can you literally can't leave without dying in space isn't great for people, right? So they had us in a simulated version of the space thing, just, uh, in the desert somewhere. Testing it out.

[he shrugs. another womp womp from junpei.]

Most of the time the testing site was pretty boring, honestly. I'm not really into the whole make friends with the whole group and be a great team for synergy and whatever the hell else thing.

[yes he is. ultimate buddy system. cringe. luckily he hears himself speak and adds--]

I just mean, well... not for somebody's science project.

[ she doesn't believe him for a second, mr ultimate buddy system. the addendum makes more sense. ]

If thou hadn't added that on, I would have called thee a liar! Thou hath been one of the most friendly people I have had the pleasure of meeting, Junpei, and happy am I to have done so.

[ maybe because he's a nice guy by nature or because they bonded over similarities in their jobspace others just can't.

okay let her bowl. assuming the Form, she is hitting five down!!!! ]

It's too bad that thou hadn't gone to space, though! I wish to be among the stars myself, for it is seen as impossible and thus worthy of reaching towards. There is not one in The City who hasn't looked up and wished the same at least once.

[wow, being called out on his soft center like this, so overtly... he's going to clip through the floor in awkward guy embarrassment. or: he clears his throat and shrugs, like, well maybe that's the case!!]

Oh, I, well... [anyway,] What's the punishment for liars...?

[ah, but he gives an appraising nod for the Form, and holds his hand out for a fist bump after her throw. put it here, homie.]

I dunno if I'd want to go to space. Maybe I could make it to the moon or something, but what do you even do on the moon? [laughtrack] Uh, good luck, though?

[ she'll think of an appropriate punishment for liars that isn't taking their tongue since she likes talking to junpei........... good thing there's no time limit on ball throwi-- oh

...

she'll place her hand on his fist? ]

Liars shall be made to tell ten truths about themselves in order to cleanse the foulness from their tongue.

[ good punishment, probably. ]

And I thank thee for thy well-wishes! It is no easy feat to become so recognized within The City where I am from, but every step forward is another step to the top!

[ you can't get anywhere just sitting around, hoping it happens to you -- you have to reach for it yourself, and take the steps towards that future... even if it's dangerous and like, mostly everyone learns their place or dies before they do. some fixers just are not meant for greatness. ]

[you know....... he really should have seen the lack of fist bump awareness coming, but does he correct her, no of course not. instead he puts his other hand down over hers and then does a sort of one-bounce, let-go-and-wiggle-fingers maneuver, like this is actually a secret handshake and not a failed bump. it's stupid. he does it anyway.

but that moment is now blissfully over, so first:] What the hell, ten? That's going to take forever. I guess that motivates people not to lie...

[and there's so much he doesn't understand about this city, and honestly, the drive to get to the top of anything? junpei just wants to lead a quiet life, etc, etc, so it's only well-wishes he can provide, really. maybe the bowling helps. the Form.]

Anyway, uh... you've got my vote? [do they vote. regardless it means nothing, they're not from the same place,] Squire-vote?

[ omg she learned a secret handshake this is the best day of her life. she'll follow it up a little clumsily as she learns the end by watching him, but now this knowledge is sitting in her brain forever. prepare to be greeted with this every time now.

okay let her score... a solid 3, no sweep this time. junpei really does have the chance to catch up!!!!!!! ]

Squire-vote! [ haha. that's cute. it makes her giggle, patting junpei on the shoulder. ] One is graded on their capabilities and strength rather than voted upon, but thy confidence and belief...

[ ... she isn't shy, not by a long shot, but. for some reason she trails there, hand lingering on the other's shoulder as she stares at a lane three down. maybe even junpei can catch the slight movement of what feels like something there in the emptiness wholeness of the bowling alley. ]

[the handshake is now real and official, great job team. he'll remember this and then never explain to any witnesses why they do this thing. this is buddy system solidarity.

anyway, he goes to pick up his ball in advance, and stand there holding it while she... zones out...?]

Uh...

[--oh shit, he gets it!! it's time!! he freezes, like if they move too suddenly it will spook the specters or whoever is over there, and just barely turns his head enough to look in that direction in his periphery. oh shit!!!]

Did you see someone...? Are we about to go nuts?

[is there a chase scene in the near future--]

[ chase scene.......... sort of. ]

If it is anything like last I saw them, [ very soft, serious, unlike the normally bright and cheerful tone that's familiar to any who spend five mins around her, ] then they will disappear should we get close, or attempt to find them. But if we take opposing sides, then they shall have no place to go.

[ does he follow. like word wise because she's already on the move, slipping off her shoes for ultimate sneak and to better slide quietly on one of the lanes beside the effected. ]

[oh he's following word wise, it's on now. he's finally been let in on a plan before it starts, what an honor... he nods hastily before he turns to go the other way, but like, circuitously—can't just make it obvious where he's going, so he loops around to the bowling ball rack and then back down towards the other side lane.

should he also take off his shoes... no, he'll fall and crack his face open, they've got to stay on. after a second's consideration he steps up onto the mechanism for the unused lane bumpers, to walk on that.

when he gets about halfway he waves a hand down at his side, trying to both get don's attention to ask what the fuck he should do now but also be cool and casual about it. secretive, around the Specters...]

[ oh...... so sorry junpei...... but she's very much a cat on the hunt, making her way carefully down the lane and stepping onto more solid, less slippery ground with the same mechanism he's perched himself on.

it'll take a moment to catch her attention from the corner of her eye, but she tilts her head at time and then towards the back. keep on. there's a way to get behind the pins, after all, though it's a little tricky and you're in danger of falling into that machine itself... it shouldn't trigger.

be a bad way to die if it did. anyway, she's going to make an example of it by ducking under the pin reset machine nimble as can be with her short stature, though

she soon finds out there's a lot more machinery in the way than she thought and ducks back out, frustration clear on her face as she takes a pin and chucks it into the innards of the machine. there's clanging noises as it hits against bits and bobs, and then finally rolls into the actual walking section behind the machines where the mechanics would work.

... ... ...

oh good there is room back there that's great. she'll make a motion with her hand, something like a door? look for a door. there's no way there's a back-end to this part, and she'll stay out here to catch whomever scurries out. ]

audio, @DONQUIXOT3, beginning of the month

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