Dragoknighte

🦄 Darker Than Black - Merged With T.S.

Mali Anson

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Location: Grimaldi Books
Skills: N/A

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"If possible, I'd rather make it to Grimm before stopping at any restaurants. We do have business to attend to. If we're really hungry, we can always go through a McD's drive thru or something." In the past, Mali had done a good bit of traveling, long drives across the country, generally to visit family in far off places, so she maintained the mindset of keeping her eye on the endpoint rather than taking the time to see the sights along the way. Time was precious and instead of wasting it making a bunch of unnecessary stops, they could spend it where it needed to be spent. If there was time later, then they could go hang around Chicago and sightsee. Not to mention the fact that they were there for a pretty serious reason, lesser concerns could be put off.

"So did you want to say more to her, or are we going to leave? Seems she's still busy with that man." Mali asked Zoie in reference to Adelaide and Robert. It'd be rude for them to just show up, let her know that her friend was dead, take a piss and bounce, but it didn't look like they were anywhere near the point of ending their conversation. She didn't want to interrupt, and she certainly didn't want to take part in whatever it was they were discussing. But there was also the danger of having to wait forever to finish talking, and then they'd miss being able to make it to Grimm before late night. However, this was more Zoie's trip than hers, so she left the decision to her, although Mali dropped the implication in her tone that she'd prefer not to stick around longer than necessary.

🦄 The Paradoxical Emendation - Merged With T.S.

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Giosue Zino

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Location: Ville au Camp: Kitchen House->Carnival Set Up
Skills: N/A

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"It's quite alright, Mr. Grady. Just please try to avoid making similar mishaps in the future." He knew that James likely would forget to mind the cleanliness of his mannerisms in the very near future, but it was a trait that Gio had learned to tolerate with far less regulated individuals than he. Truth be told, he wouldn't have made a commotion about it had not the fluid in question not been contaminated by bodily liquids. The thought of drinking a man's vitreous made the stomach turn in disgust.

Mundane concerns aside, every new word brought up by the young man sitting across from him pulled along with him new questions. His entire line consisted of Emendator-likes? And he had met other Emendators? It was entirely possible that there were more out there that they hadn't met yet, but the way he spoke made them sound absolutely commonplace. Perhaps by others he had simply intended a past meeting with Evelina, Drem or the others, but such a set of beings being out there was a hell of a fact to conceal from the rest of them.

And then there was the matter of the sudden onset of night well ahead of schedule, which Ben took completely casually. And 'She.' Regardless of however this all turned out, he was going to have to get a detailed debriefing on just what had transpired in his absence. The Camp needed to be a secure space, and this Carnival potentially brought along with it enough variables to destabilize the entire operation. But that wasn't even the worst part.

"My apologies, Ms. Andromeda, it appears as though the coffee isn't meant to be." As much as he'd like to migrate the coffee grounds to some sort of stable container for safe keeping, people were moving and he couldn't afford to be left behind. Regrettably leaving the tea behind, Gio quickly made his way behind Ben towards whomever this mysterious She was,

🦄 Darker Than Black - Merged With T.S.

Mali Anson

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Location: Grimaldi Books
Skills: N/A

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Zoie seemed pretty comfortable, so she wasn't going to try concealing things too much. This was a safe spot. Probably.

"We actually used to live in the same building," Mali explained as she toweled off her hands. (It was actually a small relief to see actual paper towels here. With a restroom as fancy as this, in this day and age, she wouldn't have been the least bit surprised to see one of those air dryers that didn't actually dry the hands in the slightest) "Well I guess we still do, technically. Don't know if he moved out since. But we hadn't formally met until just now. He offered to buy lunch, but time didn't allow for much more than that. I gave him my number, so he'll probably call within the next day or two if he remembers."

"If I had to guess what he was doing here, he's probably following some lead regarding Alicia's death. They were real close, and that man takes family seriously." With that, Mali opened the door and held it open for Zoie, thereby ending her two cents on that particular part of the topic until they were back in the relative security of the truck, although there was a tangent she did transition into for less secure, more casual spaces.

"He did ask if we knew of any good places to eat in the area. I didn't, and wasn't sure if you did either. Where is a good place around here to grab a bite? I could use some actual food." The airplane food was higher quality than expected, but it just wasn't enough, especially with how little she'd had the day before.

🦄 The Paradoxical Emendation - Merged With T.S.

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Giosue Zino

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Location: Ville au Camp: Kitchen House
Skills: N/A

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Gio finished setting up the coffee maker and stared at it for a few seconds, more to have a single stable fixture while his mind was free to wander. It would need some time before he could actually make Andromeda's coffee (the water still had yet to boil after all), so there was no rush on his end. Not that he ever rushed anything that didn't need to be rushed.

But he was thinking about the nature of Ruthie and those that Ben had revived in times past. They had acquired properties of Paradoxes, but were they truly Paradoxes? If they were, then it seemed that it was tied to the returning to life aspect rather than something intrinsic to The Dice's abilities herself. But if not, these human-paradox anomalies were perhaps even more valuable than he'd thought. And the boy. He wasn't getting the sense that Ben was another. Perhaps he was a Paradox but never even knew it. Maybe he was a one in a trillion human who was born with powers and they'd never run into one before. It was certainly possible, they didn't know everything. Absolutely fascinating.

Unlike James. He was conducting himself in a disgusting manner. Reactively, he moved to shield the coffee from any stray water droplets the Georgian and flung about haphazardly.

"At least wipe your face dry first, Mr. Grady. The las thing we need is your eye fluids ending up in the beverages." It seemed that the younger members of the room had decided to take the reins with questions this round, so he abstained once again. And he had learned quite so much with the last batch of answers, he was happy enough with his rate of learning as it was. He had time. He could wait.

🦄 Darker Than Black - Merged With T.S.

Mali Anson

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Location: Grimaldi Books
Skills: N/A

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"You're tellin' me. If I didn't know better, I'd have sworn we were back in the Diamond District." Hell, if Mali's senses hadn't been reawakened back in the parking lot, such an extravagant restroom almost certainly would have tipped her off that something wasn't quite right even here in Chicago. But she didn't really have the privilege of thoroughly investigating the place when she just needed to relieve herself. If there was serious reason to double check the place later, she would, but for now she'd just accept it as a weird fact of life and appreciate the level of luxury present.

Mali picked a stall and went about her business. When she was done and washing her hands, she first gave herself a look in the mirror. With all the fancy make up of the shopping trip gone and the frazzle of travel added, she thought she looked pretty horrible. Her eyes had been eclipsed with dark circles creased with stress, her skin had developed a bit of an oily sheen and she was fairly certain that she saw the beginnings on a zit just below her right cheekbone. At least her hair was still pretty. Mostly. But all that was merely a self distraction from the other matters at hand, and whether she could broach them in a suspicious, semi-private location like this bathroom. So she'd play it by ear.

"Hey Zoie. Did you recognize those guys in the parking lot that you passed by on the way in?" Depending on how Zoie answered would dictate Mali's own response. At worst, she could just fill her in on all the details in the truck.

🦄 The Paradoxical Emendation - Merged With T.S.

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Giosue Zino

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Location: Ville au Camp: Kitchen House
Skills: N/A

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"At this rate we're going to end up dirtying all the dishes in the house by the time everyone's been served," Gio chided, but moved to prepare the grounds for Andromeda's coffee regardless. In a way, it was only mildly inconvenient. The water was already being boiled for tea, some of it could be used for coffee, but that didn't stop him from thinking over how to delegate the task of cleaning all the used dishes after the conversation was over in the back of his head. Time loop or no, it wouldn't do to have a pile of unwashed glasses sitting around. Chances were that he'd have to do it if he wanted them done properly, but the only bothered him slightly.

Despite the mundane nature of his complaint, the forefront of Gio's thoughts were centered around the real discussion at hand. He hadn't been planning on asking her anything of interest, she seemed like she had been quizzed quite enough when he arrived at the scene. He thought she'd just have her drink and then sent on her merry way. Evidently Gilbert had other plans. Plans that immediately bore fruit. The Watch really had no idea what to make of this information. He could immediately invent all sorts of explanations for all this, but all the possible explanations left him with no real recourse on how they should move forward with what they did know now. It made him almost consider changing his choice of beverage to something with more punch as well.

In the middle of pouring grounds into the glass container of the coffee maker, the Emendator stopped and shot his peer a glare from his peripheral vision at the pun, but otherwise said nothing and continued what he had been doing. He had his own questions as well, but it'd do no good to overburden the conversation with too many at once. He had time. Perhaps they would answer him without having to utter a word.

🦄 Darker Than Black - Merged With T.S.

Mali Anson

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Location: Grimaldi Books
Skills: N/A

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Mali stopped in her tracks after getting called out by Zoie. So much for not interrupting the moment they were having. She turned towards the two women and gave them a little wave and a nervous smile before proceeding again. She was put on the spot in an awkward situation, and could introduce herself properly later. Perhaps if she was in a better state of mind she'd be able to come up with some other course of action, but the biological urges were really starting to press on her mind. The urge hadn't been so bad when she'd been in the truck, but now that reprieve was in sight, her bladder decided that the time was now.

"What, I'm not just going to say no and then go in at the same time anyways." Mali answered Zoie, as she opened the door and held it open for her companion. She gaze her something of a perplexed look at the "back teeth are floating" line. It wasn't a phrase she'd heard before, but wrote it off as one of those Southern sayings she threw around. "Knowing our luck though, all the stalls are going to be packed. If that's the case, I'll rip off the door and you throw the occupant out, capiche?" She wasn't serious about the latter half, but the idea certainly appealed to the primal, selfish monkey brain.

🦄 The Paradoxical Emendation - Merged With T.S.

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Giosue Zino

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Location: Ville au Camp: Carnival Set Up->Kitchen House
Skills: N/A

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"Thank you, Miss Ruthie," for answering the question he had directed at Gil when the Emendator had failed to. It was a relief that Peter's reasons for wanting his remains removed didn't involve some dire end outcome for the Camp that they wouldn't have been able to see coming. But at the same time it was rather disappointing and vexing that he was doing this for such a selfish reason. And how does he know that he's stuck in this loop because his body's on the grounds? Sure the place itself is in a time loop, but that hasn't stopped anyone else from being able to move on. It wouldn't surprise Gio if it was Peter's own psychological hang ups that were still keeping him in this life.

A vindictive part of Gio wanted to say "Maybe we should just let Peter's remains stay on the grounds for a bit longer then. Take our time removing them." He wasn't exactly mad at Peter, but when all was said and done, he had far more important things to do. The afterlife situation of Paradoxes, let alone one who had fallen to his own disregard for the rules, was rather low on his list of concerns. So far low that it was a topic he had ceased thinking about seriously some centuries ago. But it wouldn't be right to just leave him to his fate like that, now that he had asked for help. If Gilbert wanted to have the remains removed today, he wouldn't object, but as it was, the Paradox could stand to wait a bit longer.

"Indeed. There's no reason you wouldn't be able to accompany us, Miss Andromeda," for now, "I doubt that anything of interest for you will come about, however." Gio answered before he followed Gilbert to the Kitchen House. He wasn't too cognizant of the Camp's alcohol storage, but he had full confidence that Gilbert did given the amount of time he spent in the kitchen. Certainly they could find something for such an interesting woman.

"Salutations," he casually greeted the Paradoxes and Ben, but otherwise paid them no mind. Sophia and James were on the more responsible end of the spectrum, so he felt no compulsion to keep track of what they were doing with the young man here. "A cup of tea would be delightful. And how about you, Andromeda? Would you like a cup as well, or does something else tickle your fancy?"

🦄 Darker Than Black - Merged With T.S.

Mali Anson

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Location: Grimaldi Books
Skills: N/A

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Mali would be lying if she claimed that the first thing she looked for wasn't the restroom, but more important was the scene in front of her, with Zoie and Adelaide. They were clearly having a moment here, and Mali wasn't sure what to do from here. If she approached them, then she'd probably ruin the whole thing, but it'd also be rude to just ignore them entirely. Not to mention she did need to tell Zoie about Caesar. The various residents of Boston Heights were something she neglected to mention up until this point to either Relic or Zoie due to a lack of relevance, but if he was here, than who knew what else was going on outside of their peripheral vision. And hey, a free meal was in it for them as well.

But when it came down to it, the body won out and Mali charted a path well around the two women so she could use the restroom with a minimal amount of invasion on their grieving. It'd at least be a few minutes until she was out, hopefully by then, they would be done and she could introduce herself. If they weren't? Well she would just go wait by the truck again. At the very least, her worst imaginings of the situation had shown themselves to merely be fiction this time.

🦄 The Paradoxical Emendation - Merged With T.S.

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Giosue Zino

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Location: Ville au Camp: Carnival Set Up
Skills: N/A

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Gilbert's reply was rather vague, but Gio simply interpreted that as the nature of the events that transpired being confidential, not to be talked about before the current crowd, whether that be the rousties or the Paradoxes. Understandable. Likewise, he didn't want to share what he had learned right at this time either. It was no big deal, they could go over the details later, in private.

"Gio," he gave in response to Ruthie's introduction. It was only common courtesy. But the claim that she could speak to the dead would be something that he'd normally disregard as a simple ruse in order to procure money or attention. Yet, stranger things had happened before, and the one who appeared to be swayed was Gilbert. So it could be entirely reasonable that she really did possess the ability advertised. At least, that was his though process before the woman spoke up again. That was all it took to settle his mind as far as this matter stood.

"Well, there it is," Giosue said, as he gave an open-handed gesture that indicated that the facts had been laid bare. "Did Peter say why we should relocate his remains? And where would we put it anyways?" Just because she was talking to him didn't mean he was right. He wasn't going to dig up someone's body and relocate it to who knows where on a whim or unfounded paranoia. If he simply wanted to be buried somewhere close to home, he'd just have to deal with the inconvenience in the afterlife.