Two Nights Only - Buy Now

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WHO: Sampo, Caelus, Noctis, and Gilgamesh
WHERE: Inside Gil's teapot, mostly.
WHEN: Just after the mid-month zodiac post
WHAT: Sampo having Noct and Caelus come stay over while things in the city aren't so hot. Chaos probably gonna ensue.
WARNINGS: Just general nonsense of four chaos goblins in one house.



[ 'Meet me outside of Poundland' isn't exactly the best sentence to say to ANYONE, and yet it's a sentence Samuel had to use today. Thinking back on it, he really wonders why the owners of this establishment decided on fucking THAT for the name of their store, but.

It did fine for a meeting place--especially given the 'place' he was staying was hidden in plain sight in the shop nextdoor. The shop that, in Undertown, many had wonderings if it was the front of some money laundering group. Which was hilarious.

Sampo can be found waiting--looking enough like "himself" to be recognizable, but with a mix of grey and blue hair instead of his usual ruffled brown.

He'll wiggle his fingers when Caelus and Noct finally approach, before throwing his arms out wide with a bright smile. ]

My friends! You. Uh.

You weren't followed, were you.

Comments

[illucesco]

I am Noct. I just also turn into a seal sometimes now.

[A beat.]

Anyway, you have a raccoon tail.

[actnormal]

Prove that you're Noct. Turn back into him right now.

[They are not talking about the tail.]

[illucesco]

[The most tragic look.]

Do I have to? [That requires so much effort. He’s got to haul himself out of the pond. He has to dry off. He has to take off the pelt.

Noooooooooo.]

[actnormal]

Do it or I'm telling Sam a ghost seal ate my cousin.

[illucesco]

Fine, fine. [grumbled while hauling 220 lbs of fat out from the pond:] Where did you even get the ghost seal thing from anyway? There aren’t any ghosts.

[He’s just gonna try to dry himself off best as he can on such short notice. It might take a minute.]

[actnormal]

Because I don't know what else would eat my cousin?

[illucesco]

Daemons bigger than houses have tried and failed, you think a seal’s gonna get me?

[Yes that was a past life but still. Anyway, he’s dry now, so he’s just gonna take this pelt off. He’s still wearing the same clothes he came in with, although now the jacket’s gone.]

See? It’s me.

[actnormal]

[. . .

Caleb sits up, squinting.]

Are you a selkie?

[illucesco]

Have been since last month, thereabouts. I found out because I took a bath and turned into a seal in my own bathroom.

[actnormal]

[Snickering now, yep.]

Seriously? You somehow missed you were a selkie until you took a bath?

[illucesco]

It was kind of hard to miss when suddenly I was a seal on my bathroom floor when that never happened before.

[Gathering up his pelt and just tying it around his waist like it's a sash.]

...it actually made fishing a little bit easier.

[actnormal]

Of course that's what you care about.

[Nerd.]

So you weren't born a selkie?

[illucesco]

Nope, and it isn’t a past life thing either—apparently it was, uh, “written in the stars,” or so that shopkeeper said when I asked him what the hell.

[Whatever the stars are writing right now, Noctis has the sneaking suspicion it’s some kind of terrible comedy.]

Anyway, last I checked you didn’t have a raccoon tail either, so what gives?

[actnormal]

[Hm. Stars. Was the shopkeeper from his past life?

Anyway. Caleb just shrugs.]

I was coming out of the thrift shop by the park, with all the really good stuff, and suddenly I had a tail.

[illucesco]

…by the park. [A pause.] Was this during the time the fae were running around kidnapping people?

[actnormal]

Uh...yeah, I think.

[illucesco]

Yeah, so, bad news, that was probably the fae’s fault, but at least they didn’t kidnap you for rip-off Olympics.

[He’s still annoyed about that, yep.]

[actnormal]

[The fae, huh?]

I guess it could be worse. [Smirking!] I can take baths just fine.

[illucesco]

[Just a groan.]

Ugh, those assholes. All I got for going through all that are fish I can’t eat anymore.

[A pause.]

At least you got away with a tail. It was…pretty rough, going through their idea of the Olympics. I went up against the guy I knew from my past life, and if I hadn’t yielded, I’d. [He pauses briefly, realizing it’s a bad idea to casually say that there was a point he, or rather the king, had honestly worried Ardyn was out to kill.] I’d probably have needed a really long nap afterward.

[actnormal]

[Except Caleb can guess what Noct was about to say. He smiles a little sadly.]

You can just say "might have ended up dead", Noct. I'm not six.

[illucesco]

[But if I had ended up dead, what would you have done?

Because if Caleb died, Noctis would be furious beyond belief and raring to go get a measure of justice for him. Or vengeance. He lies down on the grass, remembering the flash of pain when a sword had pinned the king to the throne of Lucis—and wondering, guiltily, if he can cause such grief to Caleb, to his loved ones.

But that's too heavy a subject to talk about, so Noctis decides to simply avoid it, and use his hands as a makeshift pillow as he stares up at the. Sky? Looks like a sky.]

Just didn't want you to yell at him about it, I guess. [A pause.] Don't do that, by the way, he's usually just a cranky asshole but he can be dangerous when pushed. I had to break out the Royal Arms in our fight and those things hurt to use.

[actnormal]

I wouldn't have yelled. I think Sam or Argenti might have killed him, though. [Caleb is pretty sure he does not have those awesome destruction powers, even if he does have that bat he found.] Or Wuxian. I'm not really good at anything like that, you know.

[Also--]

What do you mean, hurt to use?

[illucesco]

[Immediate wince.]

Yeah, don't...don't tell them.

[He's friendly towards Ardyn, and he likes to think that they're at least at an understanding, but the guy is dangerous if poked too hard. As for the Royal Arms—]

Like. Okay, remember when you scavenged that cool weapon from that lich we fought, but it turned out that if you missed on an attack roll with it, you got psychic damage? [A pause.] So like that, but there's no roll, it just happens.

[actnormal]

[A look at his cousin because honestly--]

So you're not going to use them again, right?

[illucesco]

[A beat.]

Not unless I have to. [Even if they hurt to use.]