kaisou | [treasure 8] it's black and white, this message is for you

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[treasure 8] it's black and white, this message is for you

WHO: Gilgamesh, Sampo Koski, and you
WHERE: Gemini
WHEN: endish of January
WHAT: in which Gilgamesh is only so good at waiting before his temper snaps and a few executive decisions need to be made. Payments arranged. Favors compensated. Please help.
WARNINGS: n/a

one. voice; un: AUO - to whom it may concern (and it should concern you)

in which a king needs to buy stuff like rocks and labor

[ Gil's tone is... strange. neither of his usual emotions--bored or smug--seem to be present in the tension that he speaks with, and he's trying to sound... neutral. overwhelmingly so. he is pulling a facade of calm into his voice that feels like it doesn't quite fit right. ]

I am quite tired of waiting for the pieces of a puzzle to fall into place, and so, I will see them seized for myself.

I need material ore. Whether it's tin, copper, gold, silver, tungsten, platinum, cobalt, or diamond itself--or some unknown to me magical panacea rock that exists only in an anomalous riftgate, I am in the market to purchase ore or information regarding ore.

If you know a deposit that can be pulled up, or have the means to put together a mining expedition if only you had the currency, I am paying for your services. If you need someone to keep beasts at bay while you collect the ore, I am available for the work, or I will fund your hirelings. Hook or crook, I simply need a stockpile of materials and I need it a month ago.

My. [ and that neutral, authoritative tone falters here; he takes in a breath, digs his teeth into his tongue and steadies himself again, though there's a noticeable shift and an unease in his attempt to sound like the boss of you. ] My partner has a crystal growing in his skin and the symptoms are getting worse. It glows constantly and he's lost the ability to differentiate temperature. He has a forgemaster on retainer, but they need materials to find one that can contain whatever the hell it is-- [ oops, that's an emotion, can't have those.

swallow it down. go back to neutral, even though it's cracked and his temper is beginning to show through. he's shifted to a sort of... resolved, unflinchingly firm calm. ] I will not lose him a second time. I don't care what it costs. I don't care if you think to bleed me dry. I'm available at the Auguries of Innocence during the day, and if I'm not there in the evenings, the Vogue.

[ a long pause. another slow breath. ]

I do not know what I will do if he's taken from me again. Therefore, I will not entertain the possibility. You may respond to this solicitation, or to me directly.

[ that's not a threat.

that's a promise.

a King does not break his promises.

and then, soft and so very, very tired. ]

... please.

two. action - with lightning in my heels and my heart on fire

cash for gold. or silver. or titanium. or rainbow magic rock.

[ and as he promised, if you have stuff to sell, Gilgamesh is outside of his teapot and ready to pull out his fancy golden wallet. he's given to the masculine urge to perch on the roof, standing on the Auguries bundled up in many, many layers of expensive winterwear because he was still born in a dry, desert climate, and this sucks, but he needs fresh air and to not be near people unless they're doing his bidding.

if you'd prefer a Vogue introduction, there's a certain particularly gothic corner of the party palace that he's sitting adjacently to, nursing a glass of wine and trying not to look like he wants to explode. the look on his face is dire--anger, concern, constipation. he's bottling things and it's fine; one day, like all proud rich and powerful men, he'll do enough cocaine about it that he'll probably explode and die. ]

three. closed to Sampo and close CR - and oh, I am so tired

when i'm alone, i fall apart

[ and when he's not brooding and hovering over his phone, waiting for someone to come through with something, Gil is doing a surprisingly good job at avoiding the people who might be coming to see him just for him. he's running on a few anxious months of watching things get worse while Sampo laughs that it'll be all right, just let ol' Bladie work and then here it is.

not all right.

Sampo's skin freezing cold to the touch because he stood in an icy, unheated shower for thirty minutes, unaware that he'd forgotten to put the heat on. he's angry, he's tired, he's ~~scared~~ and he's digging his teeth into his lip until he tastes blood as he runs through a hundred different contingency plans and keeps coming back around to what happens if the worst happens.

the King may have fallen apart in his grief for Enkidu

but Gilgamesh has mourned Samuel Kouvac once before, so all he has left is to get angry about it and that... feels like it won't end well for anyone.

so he does his level best to avoid the people who know him best. including Sampo. especially Sampo. ]

Threaded | Flat

I'll do it. You don't have to pay me and frankly I wouldn't take it anyway, I'll do it. He's my brother. [rubbing tiredly at his temples] Stardew Valley has mines, and Hyrule's loaded with resources. I'll hit Hyrule, see what materials I can dig up there.

Sammy's getting worse, huh? Dammit.

[He was hoping that blacksmith would've covered it by now, but...

He'll take a picture of his own keycrest (a pendent with carvings), that's made from everstone material]

Head to the Kanto region and look for a rock that looks like this. Not a perfect fix, but it'll stop the symptoms from getting worse.

[She almost sticks to text- mostly because hearing this, hearing her boss' voice like this, and hearing what's happening to Sampo, she still has that happy meal toy from Sampo, this can't be happening to SAMPO-

No, she owes her voice.]

I'm. I'm going to look for diamonds in Hyrule.

[A swallow, audible. She's trying as much as possible to keep from stumbling over the words.] I...I know they're there, I've found a few before, I. Would any of the other precious stones help? Should I be grabbing...any of those?

[Edward's never gotten on with Sam. Under normal circumstances, he'd cheerfully pickpocket and con the man, but then these aren't normal circumstances. Edward finds Gil in the Vogue, watches him for a long moment, then speaks up, his usual brash voice far more muted and soft:]

I've something called the eagle's gift. [A secret, then.] It...lets me see important things, when other people can't.

[A pause.]

I can find your materials. I know where to start—a friend of a friend has a cave in her backyard full of material ore.

I'll help look.

[This is peak worst time for him to be doing anything, thanks to his weakening during the winter and being a water month at that, but this is more important.]

There's got to be something that'll do the trick.

Ritsuka had, of course, seen Gil's network post. She'd also talked to Sampo back when he'd first posted about the strange rock attached to his skin. Finally, she knew Gilgamesh, in several incarnations, and how he tended to deal with things.

Or not deal with them, as the case may be. This was the same king who, in a different lifetime, had once literally worked himself to death by taking on everything he could by himself.

Which meant that, naturally, she had to go check up on him, taking shameless advantage of her Kaisou-given teleportation abilities to get the drop on the avoidant king at one of his usual haunts.

"Gil?"

I can craft gemstones, if that's of any help to you. Don't bother with payment when there's no telling if it will do anything or not.

Been minin' for shite plenty of times, from here to th' stable gates an' back. Anythin' I got of use, I'd be more'n willing t'part with.

[Hyrule is a vast, resource-rich expanse, which makes it a good place to start for finding materials for a keycrest. Which is great, because they need this yesterday.]

What—What do you mean, Sampo can't feel heat or the cold? Is he—What's happening?

Are you okay with me checking dumpsters and goodwills? Sometimes you find some weird stuff and it might help.

I'm on call for when you have the ore.

[He won't apologize for being a perfectionist; this is a friend's life he's dealing with, even if he and Sampo aren't close. There's... some kinship there, somewhere, somehow, and he's not sure how to explain it. Maybe it's because of how he always seems haunted, pursued by something.]

We might have a complication. A small one. I need to make sure the ominous-looking dungeon that suddenly appeared beneath my forge isn't going to swallow half of Hyrule. If I lose my forge there are others I can use, but it would be a setback we can't afford.

Aides du Meropide: we're considering this an official commission request. You have permission to use guild resources on the search, and please report back with your participation results, and hours worked.

If you need someone to lick rocks, I did it before! Magic ones have a zing but I remember some weird moon rock in Kanto that didn't have the zing, and that's the one we used to make the charm.

[There Is Someone Watching You All.

Shadow won't say a thing, but... the way the bunch of absolute fools here are coming together for one of their own.

Hm.]

[Zulius knows Gil will be trying to avoid the people who love him. He categorically knows this is something Gil will be trying. He also knows Gil will likely be prickly and unhappy with any sort of comfort. Zulius also doesn't give a single solitary fuck about any of these facts.

It took him a few goes to locate Gil. Teleporting to the man's various haunts. Eventually, he finds him on the Auguries' roof, popping into existence with the usual flash of rainbow-y light. Gil spotted, he walks over to his friend, arms folded- party against the cold, partly because he is worried here. ]

Hey you.

[Husk isn't much of a bleeding heart- or at least, he tries to tell himself he isn't one. He can't solve everyone's problems, and this city has an absolute metric shit-ton of them. So he sees this and starts to move on until... something clicks.

This is Sampo's partner. He remembers the conversation he and Sampo had a couple months ago, about what that rock was doing to him. The issue has clearly only gotten worse. God fuckin' damnit. He heaves out a sigh.]

I don't know shit about rocks, but I got plenty of contacts in Undertown and Ghost City. I'll reach out. See what I can see. Maybe the black market's got something going on.

The little shit ain't going anywhere. He's not allowed. He owes me a bottle of whiskey.

[ See, they can BOTH pretend they don't have feelings and it'll be fine.]

[ he knows full well that Gil would not want to see people right now. much like Jing Yuan himself when he awoken to that part of himself return and the shadow of mara once again hanging over his head like a axe waiting to fall. a part of him very much wanted to go to his friend, to both of them, but the rest of him urged patience.

but is the former that won out in the end as Mimi began to insistently meow at him, sharp blue eyes staring intently at him, tail swishing sharply. ]

Mimi...

[ how is it that his will little more than paper in the face of this cat? his son, his friend, this creature who has been by his side for more years than he can count. Jing Yuan sighs picking up the creature in his arms and closes his eyes, holding the picture of Gil's longue room in his mind. within a breath they appear in the man's home, Mimi immediately leaping from his arms and letting out a questioning meow.

Gilgamesh? father? where are you? Mimi is coming to find you. ]

[ he didn't know
how was he supposed to know?
Sure, things had stayed pretty same-y for a while. His tastebuds dull was one thing--he'd gotten used to making things more intense in flavor to help. the no sleeping thing was also fine--he had so much more time to DO things, and even if he missed sleeping, it's not like he got tired? so it was just... a new adjustment.

but when gilgamesh had tried to hug him from behind after what he'd thought was a nice, moderately-temperate shower, the reaction of the golden haired man had scared him--scared him bad.

(Samuel Kovac, did you just go roll about in the blizzard for an hour? Your lips are damn well near blue, what is wrong with you?)

he'd touched his own face, his hands, it didn't. feel? bad? a glance in the mirror, however, told him everything he needed to know.
He bit his lips, he pinched his skin, he'd even asked gil to slap him--and none of it activated a single nerve in his body. Dull sensations. Pressure. No pain--no feeling.

He was getting scared now.
He thought he'd escaped this kind of fear when the announcement that the Black Order had been taken over and he was told he was now a free man. He could feel it shaking in his body, and even Aha was deadly quiet. This wasn't a joke. This wasn't funny anymore.

He remembered putting up an want-ad for ore and magic stones. He'd gotten a few things he found himself, a few he'd been working with--alongside Blade--but none of them had shown any signs of lessening the stone's effect, yet.

And now it was getting worse. And he couldn't...

Seeing Gil's message to the network filled him with a weird feeling. It'd been over a decade since someone worried about him so hard. And he can't bring himself to respond to anyone who offered a kind hand yet.
He'd pulled pranks or jokes--or tried to scam most of them by now--of course they wouldn't answer a plea for help, right?
And yet, here they were.

If he could feel anything, it'd be the corners of his eyes burning.

He needs to go find gil, once he's dressed and ... mostly warm again, having spent an hour in bed trying to get his body back to a temperature that looked fine.

He'll find gil on the couch
and whether or not the anxiety-ridden king wants it or not

sampo is crawling into his lap. ]

[ she didn't know. she didn't know and something in her chest twists painfully at the thought of Sampo slowly dying all this time. ]

Whatever you need, darling, it is yours. [ already she is sending messages to some of her contacts, sourcing as many metals and gems as she can get her hands on as fast as possible. ] I know a few people who owe me favors I'm more than happy to cash in for this.

[ inhale, exhale. ]

I can even ask Percy for help, he's good at tinkering with magical stuff like this.

Threaded | Flat

voice; un: midnightfishing

UN: Wilder | Text

voice; un: musicologyminor

action;

un: violetsmoke; voice

action

un: silverrose

voice; un: shadeshift

hyrule scavengers unite

voice; un: photocutie

voice | un: chaosraccoon

text; un: blade

text; un: neoteric

voice; un: riftdancer

not here

three

voice: UN:bar_cat75

three, time to get mimi'd.

3