week 2

[arsholes]

[One week down and (if the Alchemist's promise is to be believed) just three more to go. In the past week royalty has been bullied, explicitly non-Satanic chairs were ordered and you began the pact-bonding process with your new proprietor of mercantile wares, ✨Garfield the Deals Warlock✨.

All in all, a surprisingly good week despite the kidnapping and looming threat of death. We'll see how long that lasts.


Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday

✨WEEKLY DEALS✨
1. The Cloak of Duplication - An ancient vampiric artifact, when worn it changes your appearance and voice to perfectly mimic another individual of your choosing. (You still have to sell the act, though.) [5 coins] SOLD
2. The Battle Axe of Hatred - A sick as hell electric guitar with an energy that feels like it is powered by the screaming of an ancient and evil lord- or at least once was. It has a signature on the body that simply says "Ron" and looks like it might have been written in blood. [5 coins]
3. The Jable - Put down your keys and stay a while. [2 coins]


✨LEFTOVER STOCK AT 50% MARK-UP✨
1. The Tingler - The whole hand tingles from wearing this ring, as if more blood rushes through the area. [2 coins]
2. Christine Jr. - A tiny red convertible. It's powered by pedals like a bicycle, with a steering wheel. For some reason it makes you think of old men in silly hats. [6 coins]



(( OOC: Don't forget to submit your orders for any threads that aren't with the Alchemist or Garfield! The Alchemist and Garfield both have "office hours" now so feel free to reach out to them. The compact functions have also been updated and don't forget activity check!

This week is where the real game begins, so get in your regains and CR while you can. >:3 ))

Comments

[predecir]

[Bruno doesn't startle when she speaks; he heard her come in. He'd just been sort of thinking she might not notice him. Easy to get into the habit of being silent and overlooked - he did that ages before the walls were ever involved.]

I get it. [shrug] I guess I'm okay. I - ha - I'm probably the most hated guy in the village, but I think that was the first time anyone ever actually tried to kill me. Just an easy target, I guess.

[He tosses some salt over his shoulder idly. From the look of the floor, not the first time he's done that!]

Thanks for, uh. What you did back there.

[amitiesbind]

I guess.

[ It's not much in the way of tone, just a thoughtful echo of his statement. It's strange to her to think about Bruno having been chosen ahead of her. After all, no one here knows about- ]

It wouldn't have been right not to. She shouldn't have...

[ Olive's hands clench lightly into fists at her sides. ]

[predecir]

...maybe. But you shouldn't, if that ever happens again.

[His tone is very gentle, but all the same. She's just a kid; he shouldn't have been hiding behind her like that, even if she's the one who put herself there.]

I know I'm not exactly some super magic sword guy, but I...I don't wanna see you get hurt. Definitely not for me.

[amitiesbind]

[ ... you know, this might be the first time someone has objected to the patented olive silverlock "i care moderately about you let me risk my life real quick" maneuver. ]

I can't just... stand there. You shouldn't have to-

[ Olive darts her eyes, and by extension her face, away for a moment, shutting her lids tight as she takes a breath. ]

No one should have to face down something like that alone.

[predecir]

People do a lot of things they shouldn't have to do.

[Bruno's quiet for a moment, thumb running over Rosa's back as he looks down at the photo of his mother. He turns his attention back to Olive pretty quickly, though, with a sheepish sort of smile.]

I'm an adult. I should be looking after you, you know?

[amitiesbind]

[ Olive manages a breath of laughter. ]

I don't know. It's usually a two-way street with the adults I know. My mom-

[ She quiets. That's not the thing to talk about right now, is it? ]

Professor Macpherson would probably say the same thing, though.

[predecir]

[Bruno huffs out something that's trying to be a laugh.]

Oh, don't get me wrong, it usually is with me too. Dolores is all grown up, now, but Mirabel's a little younger than you. Barely knows me, and she's already trying to look out for me.

[And the thing is, he knows she was probably right. If she hadn't found him back there, he guesses he was never really planning on leaving. At least, not before ending up here.]

But I wish it weren't like that. I wish I were... [Well. He isn't. Anyway...he looks sidelong up at her.] It's okay, if you want to talk about your mom. This - [gesturing at his photo] - it's just complicated. Always has been.

[He's not gonna break down at the mention of maternal figures!]

cw mental illness, the gotham city criminal justice system

[amitiesbind]

See? The kids are alright.

[ Olive takes a moment, turning it over in her head. Should she... should she talk about it? At least part of it? ]

It's... complicated for me, too. You have a big family, but for me... it was always just me and my mom. You have to look out for each other at that point, you know? But she was sick. Which was fine until... it wasn't. She ran out of her meds, and... did something awful. And Batman threw her in a cell in Arkham Asylum for it.

[ Congrats, Bruno, you are officially the first to learn that Olive's mom is a minor Batman villain! ]

Sorry, it's... weird not to have people know about her. Everyone back home kind of does. It's why I'm in the school I'm in - Bruce Wayne took pity on Calamity's daughter and paid her way into his alma mater. But when mom was alive, we looked out for each other. I think that's what I was trying to say?

[predecir]

[Bruno's face crumples a little as he listens. But the first thing out of his mouth is:]

I won't tell anyone. If you don't want me to.

[Maybe Olive doesn't mind people knowing, but for Bruno, it's been weird not to have people know about his gift. Weird, and an enormous relief. The Alchemist said something the first day, so it seems like everybody ought to know, but...no one's come looking for a vision. No one's even really asked about it. It's so strange, he can't help but think that maybe everyone somehow forgot, or didn't hear, or didn't believe it was true.]

That's awful. I see why you hate him. [...] My sister Pepa, she used to have a lot of trouble controlling her gift when we were kids. Still does, a little, but it's a lot better now. She used to destroy things sometimes, with lightning or the rain...people would get mad. But it wasn't her fault, she didn't ask for any of that. If anyone had ever tried to lock her up because of it...

[amitiesbind]

[ Olive swallows, then nods. ]

My mom... well, rain and lightning probably have more constructive uses than controlling fire does. Everyone said she was "a danger to herself and others." Maybe if Batman was more like Bruce Wayne... she'd be somewhere they could have helped her. Even if it was just a rich guy paying for it out of pity.

[predecir]

Someone should've done that. Especially if she was okay to begin with.

[There was medicine that could repress it? Or just help her in other ways? Bruno wonders if something like that could've done any good for him or Pepa, or Dolores.

...it probably wouldn't have mattered. If you're a Madrigal, you're supposed to use your gift.]

Probably could've helped people out, if she got the chance. Pretty much any gift can be useful for the community, it's just...a matter of figuring out how.

[amitiesbind]

You'd think.

[ Well, the meds didn't control the powers, but... she doesn't feel like going into the mental illness. ]

But... it's too late now.

[predecir]

[That's fine, in Bruno's world and at his canonpoint we talk about mental illness about as much as we do Bruno.]

...I'm sorry.

[amitiesbind]

It's fine.

[ This part of the discussion, at least, she's gotten used to. ]

... Sorry, I didn't mean to come in here while you weren't feeling great and unload all of that.

[predecir]

[Bruno shrugs.]

I'm fine. [he is not] I mean, this is old news, it's not even really worth...not really worth talking about.

[........Olive's one of the few people who has a little more context for that argument, though. Bruno thinks that over for a moment. A few of the things the Alchemist said weren't entirely incorrect, but the way he put it all...he can't just let that stand.]

She didn't...drive me into the walls. She was angrier than anybody, when I left, she didn't...want that.

[Though Bruno can't help but think, sometimes, about how much more smoothly the family seems to run without him there. Though he's not sure now if he'd be welcomed back.]

[amitiesbind]

Just because something happened a long time ago, doesn't mean it goes away.

[ She may be young but like. She knows that! She's found that out by now! ... Though her natural slight distrust of Certain Adults has her a little "hm" about who this woman was angry about. But surely that's just her. ]

That... sounds rough. No matter what happened. Don't listen to the idiot in the bird mask.

[predecir]

[Bruno shakes his head.]

He must have been listening to the stories in the village, if he thought I'd want her gone. No matter what happened.

[Maybe he is afraid to face her again. Maybe he already knows what she thinks about him. That doesn't mean she should die. Oh, but he's sure none of the villagers would be surprised, if he were to act like some kind of malicious phantom, returning after ten years to strike the family down...]

[amitiesbind]

[ Olive nods. ]

There you go. That's just stories. Not you, or her. But still, you don't deserve what they say about you.

[predecir]

[He shrugs.]

They've been talking like that since I was a kid. Sounds like it's just gotten worse since I left - must've added some kind of mystique, disappearing in the middle of the night like that. You're not really supposed to talk about me in the house, but my older nephew, he tells stories like I do, so I still hear some of it. Once he scared Antonio so bad with that he cried.