DICK & ESCHA; None Braincell With Left Dick

[crashout]

Comments

[unpredicktable]

[ he wants to know. what limitations. so bad. ugh ]

Right. Escha and I might not be able to talk about it freely, but you don't have that issue. Now that we know for sure multiple people have these extra rules, it's just a matter of finding them and figuring out what they do.

[ a beat ]

How are you at charades?

[applechemist]

I'd rather not talk about the limitations much. You don't need to worry about them.

Just... If you think you know who's possessed, please tell me as soon as possible.

[crashout]

That doesn't make it less worrying, Escha. [But he'll drop the point for now, even if...something nags at him. They can talk about it later.] We'll let you know as soon as we can.

[At Dick's question, he just smirks.]

I figured out what you two were trying to say, didn't I? I think I can do pretty okay. Why do you ask?

[unpredicktable]

A deadline.

[ "dick escha just said she doesn't wanna talk about limitations" he's talking to himself ignore him, anyway-- ]

Because I get the feeling you might have to do a lot of it in our stead. [ it's wry. he's not super thrilled? ] ... I'm as excited at making some progress as the both of you, but we have to be careful with this information. I get the feeling the demon wouldn't have called me boring if it knew about these extra rules.

[applechemist]

... Sometimes being careful with the information can help to protect people, after all.

[ That's the opposite of her usual outlook on secrets, which. Hopefully makes for more emphasis on how she wants her rules handled. ]

[crashout]

...secret's safe with me. Both of you. [But he can act as a gopher. He's used to this, and it's why he says:] I don't mind legwork. I've told you before. I'm not going to tell anybody what we've learned unless I think it can help and we can all trust them, but I'll see if I can work information out of other people.

[There's a frown of thought.] Anybody you guys think I should start with?

[unpredicktable]

I know. I trust you.

[ both of them, otherwise he never would've said anything. but then it's back to work, so-- ]

Not sure. Escha and I have a few things in common, but I doubt there's an actual pattern between who they picked and why. Not if they want to keep this secret.

[applechemist]

But on the other hand, they did assign the two of us in the same room. Isn't that like they don't want it to stay a secret?

I'm not sure where to start with, though.

[crashout]

[He stays quiet, looking at his clamshell for a moment before snapping it closed.]

Could be a test to see how much we trust each other or how well we work together. [...he has some thoughts, but...]

There are some people I think I need to talk to, and I'll try to bring information back as soon as I can. The more we have, the better we can plan our next move.

[unpredicktable]

Depends which came first. The special rules, or the rooming assignments. A lot of this place seems... predetermined. It's possible we were selected for this at the same time we were selected to be brought here.

[ because life is weird. ]

Right. Good luck.

[applechemist]

[ Escha nods... This seems pretty wrapped up. And then. ]

... I actually have one more thing I wanted to tell you about.

[crashout]

Of course it was predetermined. We just have to figure out the timeline. [But regardless, that's that. Or not? If anything he's just surprised Escha has information to share. Like. Pleasantly so, and he's sort of relieved.

...unless this is bad news. Which it might be. But uh, anyway.]

What's up?

[unpredicktable]

[ dick decides to concentrate on escha's Thing instead and just goes ??? ]

[applechemist]

It's not a huge thing, but Logy and broke into a storage room and found some shoes.

[ She gets up to go grab them from where she'd set them beneath her stuff. They're these???. ]

I didn't know what the letters and numbers meant, and there's some water in them, so I thought I'd ask if either of you could make sense of it.

[crashout]

You went without telling us. You're learning. [It's sort of a joke because he and Dick both fuck off without warning, but also Escha? Oh well. He'll take the shoes and just kind of squint.]

...is that...a crucifix? [What in the fuck?] I'm not up to date on bible verses but that's how they're usually written, right? [Dick please explain.]

[unpredicktable]

[ dick is stuck on something else: ]

... Nike's? [ wait, right, shoes-- he looks at them a bit closer and recites, dutifully: ] Book of Matthew, chapter fourteen, verse twenty-five. [ to escha-- ] The bible is a religious tome. The religious imagery in this place that we've been using to fight the demon all comes from that so far. [ and then he grimaces a bit ] I don't know it enough to be able to recite all the verses by numbers, though.

[ he's THINKING about it though :T? he's lit muttering "matthew, matthew, matthew" to himself. why aren't more dc villains obsessed with christianity, god. ]

[applechemist]

So these are important?!

[ But they're just. Shoes. They're not even fancy looking shoes!! ]

[crashout]

[He's just staring at Dick like ??? because of course he would know that much. Junpei's from the history that God abandoned or whatever the fuck, what does he know? But to Escha, he nods even while Dick's talking his way through.]

They could be. They were hidden out of sight and you had to break in, didn't you? Most of the things we can use here aren't easily accessible. What happened in the storage room anyway? Did you guys get in and out okay? [He can ask that while Dick finds Jesus ig.]

[unpredicktable]

[ dick is squinting at the shoes and im giving him one more tag to understand this pun so escha can tell her story ]

1/2

[applechemist]

We smashed the door, so getting in was easy!

Then we put together a skeleton, and then we were smacking around a locker to break it open, and... Then...

2/2

[applechemist]

[ Escha trails off and goes quiet, like she can't quite? Remember what happened next? And then looks increasingly distressed the longer she tries to recall. ]

U-um... I don't...

I don't remember what - we woke up on the floor, back outside the room.

[crashout]

[This sounds familiar.]

...were the bones real? [That's not the question, but.] What happened with the skeleton, Escha? Why'd you have to put it together? [Did they get knocked out by a skeleton wtf.]

[unpredicktable]

[ dick is distracted from his realization to a pun journey by the skeleton story, yeah, just giving her a very ????? look ]

Did you guys check yourselves for injuries after you woke up?

[ did they even wake up or was their memory just. wiped. psychic ghosts ]

[applechemist]

[ Escha shivers, but... Seems much calmer when she's not actively trying to remember whatever she forgot. ]

The bones were real. We just thought it might be a puzzle, because the door repaired itself behind us and it sounded like everyone usually got trapped and had to do figure something out.

The lights went out and something knocked on the door, and then we went to open it, I think, and then...

That's all I remember.

[ And she looks to Dick and shakes her head. They didn't check for injuries or anything. ]

[crashout]

Something knocked? [Why the fuck are demons like this? There's a light frown because why were there bones, who did this, why is this real???]

Sounds a little like what happened with Beck's group during that first round of missions. The lights went out on them and they were all knocked unconscious. But they woke up with a few injuries and items missing.