THE DUNKER, struck by sudden acid reflux or maybe merely hot, burning regret, eats a donut to wash away the bad feelings, to drown out the world!
[THE DUNKER's mind roll: 1-->6+1]
But as it happens with maladies of the stomach or the mind, even a donut seems capable of little other than making it seem a little less important for a few moments. THE DUNKER emerges from the experience feeling less rich than before, lacking one more donut in addition to the general lack of insight and purpose. When will the Donut God reveal itself to him? Has he not been sufficiently voracious? Has his gluttony gone unnoticed? Or does it know to fear his hunger already, and refuses entry on these grounds?
"Oh! That reminds me," the fat guy says, and draws from a particularly full pocket of his a binder that he opens up, taking a look inside.
Meanwhile,
Halesey dourly rises to Hungry Pete's challenge, leading the devout wizard down the entire four floors, straight out of the building past the potato vortex in the ceiling (the sight of which provokes a slight sound from the man). Once there, they stare each other down, Hungry Pete's eyes defiant, Halesey's - resolute. With a swipe of his hand, Halesey produces the Document, as one might call it. Hungry Pete is perplexed.
"Your document is a magazine?" he says with incredulity. Halesey says nothing.
"It looks... unclean," the man ventures to add, and it is at this moment that Halesey unleashes the power of the centerfold, opening it up for Hungry Pete to gaze upon in all its glory, averting his own eyes in the process.
Hungry Pete, shockingly, does not combust. Not entirely. He does catch fire, ash starting to billow from his clothes, bits of his flesh sizzling like bacon. His eyes are shut rather tightly. He is screaming in pain, though not entirely incoherently - Halesey perceives something there, a chant of some kind. The man's voice, upon reaching a fever pitch, quickly cuts out after he passes out from the pain.
* * * * *
John does not argue with the old man and his mysterious request, and walks into the desolate interior of the gas station. It seems like this place hasn't been open for a long time, that is to say about a month, which in gas station years is probably a lot. The shelves are empty, and the place smells awful. It probably smelled awful to begin with. A bathroom door has been left open a crack, and on the counter lies a briefcase, stood up, much cleaner than the rest of the room, though still quite ratty and worn. Grabbing it, John returns outside to the man.
"Ah, good... you've got it," says the old man.
"Now."From his pocket he quickly produces a set of handcuffs, which he then moves closer to John's hand. John reflexively draws it back.
"It needs... to be cuffed to your hand, you see?" the old man explains, jangling the handcuffs a little and chuckling.
"Otherwise it doesn't work..."* * * * *
Larry, thinking nothing of it, takes three of the glass discs in h-
-is burning. The Oldthinker's house is burning, and smoke fills Larry's lungs as he sits, cross-legged and seemingly paralyzed until now, judging by the stiffness of his limbs, atop the rug in the center of the room. He does not feel like he is dying. Next to him, still kneeling, is Mrs. Lady, who MHC brought, the lenses of her glasses glowing a bright green, her hair prickling up at the static electricity in the room. Her head is swinging from side to side slowly. Distant bells can be heard amidst the crackling of flame. The others are gone, save for one unfamiliar man. His head reminds Larry of a burning candle wick, a flame burning around a small black core, the rest of his body obscured by a black robe. From behind it colored smoke slowly rises, its tones clearly discernible despite the dim firelight of the room.
"Hey, uh," says the robed man in a strange voice. He doesn't appear to have any more impressive words for Larry. Mrs. Lady looks at the man and tilts her head.
* * * * *
Eta springs into covert action, first by erasing any signs of her presence. This involves closing two doors that are six meters apart (making sure to leave the further one open a crack) so that's easily done. And then, for her next trick, she has the shade quickly open the unoccupied room and hide inside, closing the door behind her to avert suspicion as much as possible, though this robs her of a good vantage point on the corridor itself.
Thanks to the rather small size of the place, this entire maneuver takes no more than about thirty seconds, which is fortunately plenty of time to avoid the returning occupants of the area. However, as Eta quickly finds out, the inside of these rooms is very clearly soundproof, seeing how she can't hear a single thing from outside once the door is closed. The room itself looks much the same as the other ones - same ensemble of sarcophagus, desk-and-chair, screen.
"I am not sure of the element of surprise here. Optimally we would have gone out and caught them as they were entering together, before they'd had a chance to scramble. Catch them with a quick question while they are off-guard."Hindsight can often be easily confused with useful advice, as a side note, especially by the one giving it.
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Topic: The Forgotten Art: Approaching the Nexus (Read 272029 times)