[WEEK 1, WEDNESDAY SOMETIME: Akira]

[spinatalltale]

[hey Magilou is doing cartwheels on the beach!! why?]

[BECAUSE SHE CAN, THAT'S WHY]

[she's also wearing this now because eventually people have to see how bad her fashion senses are]

Comments

[jokered]

It might be easier if you asked something I could actually answer.

[does he mean because he's unwilling or because he really doesn't have an answer? we just don't know.]

And maybe if you didn't deflect that off of yourself immediately, too.

[spinatalltale]

[she's taking it to mean the former, honestly]

Deflect? Why, Mr. McGecko, I have no idea what you mean.

[PLAYIN' DUMB]

[jokered]

[whatever. she can try asking better questions then, honestly.]

Are you going to tell me about your hopes and dreams for the future, Maggie-lou?

[spinatalltale]

[maybe she wasn't trying to ask good questions!!! LOOK SHE DOESN'T WANNA TALK ABOUT HERSELF AND IF HE TALKS ABOUT HIMSELF SHE MIGHT HAVE TO RECIPROCATE SO NO THANKS!! emotional intimacy is gross!!!]






Oh.

I was just overtaken with this horribly sudden urge to turn you into maggot stew.

[jokered]

[geez, magilou. this isn't even emotional intimacy, it's basic trustbuilding so they can maybe try to get out of this alive.]

...Yeah? I guess you could try, but I don't think you'd be able to catch me.

[spinatalltale]

[it counts as emotional intimacy okay, she builds trust by getting herself into dangerous life or death situations with people before she stands casually by while they ask all her old contacts about her past that she still refuses to talk about during the entire journey]

Yeah, probably not, if we're comparing physical abilities. Witches aren't exactly known for their particularly high DEX stats.

[jokered]

[well.

okay, akira mostly does that too so he can't even judge, but he's definitely more emotionally available than she is.]

An unfortunate loss for you then on your maggot stew.

[spinatalltale]

[yeah. but like. literally everyone is more emotionally available than she is]

I know! How tragic.

Though you could just offer yourself up to the mercy of my kitchen knife if you're feeling particularly generous.

[jokered]

[the struggle.]

I'm not big on running myself into sharp object, so I'll pass. [and he's pretty sure magilou doesn't even have a kitchn knife, anyway.

this conversation is getting them nowhere, it seems.]

[spinatalltale]

It tends to be a little on the painful side, so no one can blame you.

[MAGILOU. . .??? HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT??]

But! For your persistence, I will reward you with a tiny nugget of insight into the life of Magilou.

[not everything about her life was a secret, after all. such as:]

I am a ferocious and dangerous escaped convict! Hardened to the bone from years of eating nothing but iron nails in a damp cell!

[jokered]

[magilou...............]

...

[her statement gives akira pause, though. his head tilts; he's clearly not afraid or even troubled by this revelation, though. instead, it's skeptical and curious.

she's full of bullshit a lot, but he gets the sense that she's not really being entirely dishonest here.]

You're really an escaped convict? [she did give the impression she understood a prison cell before, but he wants to be sure of this.

because honestly... it interests him in a pretty sincere way.]

1/3

[spinatalltale]

[part of dealing with her is knowing how to separate the bullshit from sincerity. she does tend to mix the two a lot]

That's ri~ight.

[she sounds way too happy for an escaped felon]

I know what you're thinking, too: "Magilou, how could a girl as cute as funny as you find yourself thrown in the slammer?" Which, by the by, is an excellent question.

To which the answer is--

[spinatalltale]

M U R D E R.

[spinatalltale]

And by murder, I actually mean, unlicensed practice of witchcraft.

[THOSE]

[ARE NOT AT ALL]

[THE SAME????]

1/2

[jokered]

...

[ok.]

That sounds like something you'd be arrested for.

[does he mean the murder, or the witchcraft? he'll never tell.]

[jokered]

[though, thoughtfully:]

I never considered that unlicensed witchcraft would be an imprisonable crime. [it makes sense, though.] How did you break out?

[he has a million more questions, like "was it legitimate" and "how long was her sentence" but.

you know, one thing at time.]

[spinatalltale]

Of course it does. I am, after all, very guilty.

[of murder or unlicensed practice of witchcraft??]

Prison riot. Titania was an island prison out in the middle of the ocean too, so I had to hop a stolen ship to truly get out. Boy, was that an adventure, especially since we made off like thieves in the night during a storm.

[and then they shipwrecked]

[jokered]

[he'll go with unlicensed witchcraft because he doesn't really take her for a murderer. though... he also doesn't doubt that she's capable, either.]

Sure sounds like it.

[but akira will call it fair. there's a lot he's curious about, but he thinks that's probably all that magilou will actually share with him at once. a slow process, but he'll take her lack of dramatics for a moment and try not to abuse it.]

"Two criminals on a deserted island" sounds like the start of a bad comedy routine.

[y e a h.

he never said he wouldn't share anything about himself, she just asked the wrong questions before.]

[spinatalltale]

[:)]

[she's quiet for a moment, head canted to the side and hands propped on her hips, as she eyes him with a heavily lidded stare. the curl of her lips is slight, but it's that smile again. the one that makes her look like a cat with a mouse]

I prefer the standard "two criminals walk into a bar," but I suppose not everyone is into cliches.

[ha]

If that second criminal is you, then I wonder what you were bagged for?

[jokered]

There are no bars for us to walk into, unless you've been holding out on those mai-tais.

[he doesn't react much to her expression, keeping his own neutral.]

Assault. [but:] It was bullshit, but I still got the charge anyway.

[and he's not even going to mention that he was arrested a second time thanks to other circumstances. that arrest? that arrest he's not willing to talk about with anyone yet.]

[spinatalltale]

Ugh, I wish.

[GIVE HER MAI TAIS???]

And if there's one thing I've learned, it doesn't always matter whether it's legitimate or not. Prison is a good way to get rid of those who are a thorn in someone powerful's side.

[she says, almost flippantly, like she's just making a casual observation about the world]

[jokered]

I didn't go to prison.

[he just got arrested.]

Just arrested, sued, expelled from school and put on probation for a year.

[hm.]

Prison only comes if I break my probation. [...again. without faking his own death.]

[spinatalltale]

[. . . . . . . hm]

[hmmmmmm]

[that's interesting]

Uho.

And are you breaking your probation? Or have you turned into a good little ant who works for the good of the colony?

[she feels like she may know the answer already. just based on hunches. just based on everything she's seen of him so far]

[just based on that spark in his eyes]

[jokered]

[that's a question he's definitely not going to answer directly, even though she's clearly trying to bait it out of him.

even if she has hunches, he remains evasive in his own way, shrugging and never indicating the truth. he doesn't staunchly deny, but he doesn't confirm, either.]

I wasn't in prison before I got here. [a casual shrug.] I'm just a high school student.

1/2

[spinatalltale]

Hm? How boring. Ants can be so dull.

[well, that's fine. it wasn't as though she made up an entire story about being born on the ocean floor when he asked her about her past or anything]

[. . . wait. . .]

I still say the prisons where you come from-- with basic amenities and free meals and everything!-- sound just like resorts compared to Titania.

Then again, I suppose it's silly to expect much out of a prison that exists solely for the sake of removing troublesome people from the eyes of the Abbey.