un: ut malum pluvia | audio

[somebadnews]

[ Since Five spoke to the Merchant, he's had a change in perspective. At first, the castle mystery seemed to be irresistible. (Not in any small part because it literally is. He's still compelled to dinner, despite since being smart enough to avoid the ballroom and gardens.) He won't say he loves mysteries, but it bothers him when he doesn't have a proper explanation for something; his ego is still alive and well and tells him he could absolutely solve it if he cares to. But once he found out Anurr mislead him (weirdly shocking) and has been amassing his power east, and that they're apparently actively hunting Matthias once they leave here, he's come to the conclusion that he needs to spend his energies on what's ahead of them in what little time they have.

He sticks inside the room he's been given, which is large enough for him to take stock of his inventory and blissfully gives him the freedom to properly pace as he works relentlessly into the night. Anurr's finger (still on the string it was given to him on) gets placed near where he's currently writing on the walls. He has half a mind to call him just to chew him out, but he hasn't been drinking enough for that. Apparently he has been drinking enough that he dragged one of the statues that kept turning towards him into the room. He's made friends with it, and asks its opinion on occasion, halfway appreciating the silence and halfway wishing it would point out something he's overlooking. Because there must be something.

Almost immediately after he starts writing probability equations, he gets sidetracked when he starts to work on how to save his brother's life. Their moment at the staircase made him aware of how fragile this second chance is, and he has no good answer for what to do if they reach the beacons and Allison insists on returning to an uncertain future where her daughter may or may not (but definitely not — how would she?) exist and Ben is stuck here. He should be using every waking moment with his family and take this as the only time he might have left with them, but instead he's still selfishly trying to figure out how to have it all. His family alive with no apocalypses or threat of the undead. There has to be a way.

For good measure, he writes some notes on the side, something to get back to, about Kamala's problem. The idea that it'll only take a few days to solve how to break apart universes, time, life and death itself is... ambitious. He's tried before. Notebooks upon notebooks of equations, some that might lead him back to moments when he could retrieve the siblings who were here and are gone, more that need to be worked out. Some that are utter nonsense that he wrote while half (or fully) out of his mind. He's tried so hard. Halfway through the space on the expansive wall he reaches another dead end and a breaking point.

It's been a while since he completely wrecked one of his rooms out of sheer frustration, and longer since he's had one so lavishly furnished to tear apart. Doing it here where no one can see is intentional, even if the explosive bout of anger isn't, and up until the last crash it feels fantastic to see the destruction and release some of his frustration.

Then he hears something scream and remembers. The things in this castle are alive.

Oh. Oh, that's... not good. His thoughts are immediately derailed by that horrible realization. He can't tell from the mess he made which thing made the noise. Did he just kill the vase or the dresser? Or is the curse going to put them back together? ...Shit. ]

[ Five clears his throat as he turns to the network. How to put this without admitting that he threw a tantrum and might have broken someone... possibly more than someone... several horrifically-cursed-people into pieces. For someone who can be fairly blasé when it comes to murder, this seems a little too much like insult to injury. ]

You're all pretty handy, aren't you? [ God, starting with a compliment. They have to know something is wrong, but he doesn't know how else to handle this weird problem. Maybe he should have written this down to not give himself away, but he's already started now. ] We have any carpenters, or... maybe some metal workers? I need something repaired.

A few somethings. I'm sure you can take a break from the mystery to do a mundane task. Call it a favor. [ Something crunches under his foot and he winces. That one may be a lost cause. ] ...Thanks.

[ And if anyone happens by his room (or heard the ruckus and went to investigate), he's at least trying to sort out the mess he made, and trying his best not to notice the statue looking much more accusingly in his direction. What's worse is he can't get a broom without worrying it'll snitch on him. Fucking magic castles... ]

Comments

un: absterge

[downswing]

What have you done?

un: ut malum pluvia

[somebadnews]

[ Something... he did something. Now it's either try to fix it, or ask Wangji to help him bury the bodies before he's kicked out. ]

I'm sure you can put two and two together from the context. You haven't noticed a tool shed around the castle, have you?

[downswing]

They utilise tools to recover the forest.

[somebadnews]

[ With So Much Patience: ]

Know where they keep them?

[downswing]

Apologies. Perhaps seek the lowest southern grounds.

un: widow, audio

[redhourglass]

( look, she can put two and two together. at least, in this case, she hopes she's wrong, but ... )

Something. ( repeated, deadpan. a beat, then — ) Or someone?

un: ut malum pluvia | audio

[somebadnews]

[ Five was hoping people would just rush to volunteer their time and not keep putting him on the spot. Because he doesn't really need to say it, does he? ]

Do you have a method for telling the difference?

private;

[redhourglass]

( private, because she'll make some allowances for his dignity )

Not particularly, but the animate inanimate objects I've met have been pretty vocal.

I can help you move things — if you tell me what happened.

private;

[somebadnews]

[ Not all of them are. The statue just keeps looking his way like it definitely knows the difference but won't say a word. And why does that question keep coming up? Sometimes things break, there doesn't have to be a reason. ]

Do you want me to say I was fighting a pack of demon wolves that broke in from the window? [ He actually checks the window now. ...Looks fine. ] It's not that interesting.

un: song | voice;

[spoilers]

That hardly sounded ominous at all, dear. ( This is being supportive, yes? ) What happened?

( Oh, she can make a guess, but it's her way of inviting him to talk. Not that she expects he will. She wouldn't. And for better or worse, she thinks they're probably more alike than either of them would care to admit. )

un: ut malum pluvia

[somebadnews]

[ There’s someone he hasn’t spoken to in a minute. Not that he hasn’t seen her at the dinners, but he’s yet to approach her with the amount of over sharing he keeps doing at them. Wonder if she’s been hanging out in the void Winnie reappeared from.

And anyway, he disagrees. Judging from the muted reactions and lack of accusations, he feels like he’s successfully downplayed this. Not many offers to help either, so maybe he should have called it a murder. Or dealt with it himself. That’s what he’s probably going to have to do anyway so he doesn’t know why he bothered.

As is, he’s committed to this ‘no big deal’ reveal he’s got going, because murdering furniture is a level of weird he’s still grappling with. ]

Something broke, it doesn’t matter how. [ Many things. He just doesn’t know which were actually alive. ] Are you handy?

[spoilers]

( So that's how he's going to play it? She makes a soft, 'mhm,' noise. )

That would depend, sweetie. This something that broke, I suspect it needs more than glue to put it back together?

( There's an almost amused patience. His - probable - murdering of the furniture doesn't even seem all that strange to her, which should, perhaps, make one question the life they've led. )

But I'm more of an engineer than a carpenter.

[somebadnews]

[ He's curious where she's been, but it's an awkward thing to ask and he's already made this a regrettable situation. As it is, he's sitting with his assorted pile of broken furniture and listening for any sign that the scream he heard was real.

No one has told him how putting them back together would translate if they ever break their curse. He's already trying to rationalize this if he can't fix them and they wind up... wrong. ]

I'd settle for glue if I could find any.

voice | un: slothbaby

[cosplayqueen]

Okay dude you're freaking me out. [Kamala has got a #badfeeling about this.] Did something just crack?

voice | un: ut malum pluvia

[somebadnews]

[ ...Well, yes. So maybe he didn't phrase that vaguely enough, but he doesn't know what to do with this. It's a Weird Situation. ]

You heard it? [ Looking at the mess, it was probably pretty loud. He's only now considering the consequences of his lapse in judgment. ] I think I can fix it.

[cosplayqueen]

We all heard it! [She points out hysterically. Kamala takes a giant, soothing breath and exhales. Okay. Time to be useful.] But, whatever. This isn't a name-and-shame post. How exactly are we fixing this?

[They're in this together.]

[somebadnews]

[ The hysterics are definitely making him reconsider what he'd already decided he was overreacting to. Wasn't he overreacting? Nobody came running, so he figured...

He was considering just gathering up the broken parts to bury in the garden as his best Plan B, but he could maybe try Plan A before jumping to it. ]

...I don't have much in the way of tools, but I've put things together before. If I can find something to use as glue that might help.

un: hidden ragdoll | audio

[matermali]

Why?

[ She isn't asking why he needs these things. She is very much asking 'why are you like this'. ]

un: ut malum pluvia | audio

[somebadnews]

[ This reminds him why he doesn't ask for help. If it wasn't already obvious it was bad idea, it's telling that Vanessa is one of the few who decides to chime in. ]

I got bored of castle mysteries and wanted to try my hand at arts and crafts.

[matermali]

Is that what they call it now? A bit whimsical for you, isn't it?

[ Just put them out of their misery if they aren't already dead, Five. ]

You're normally so quick to burn the bodies.

[somebadnews]

[ She didn’t have to put it that way. Too soon since the hound incident so he has to take it as intentional. ]

I’d think you could tell the difference here. [ Hopefully Kamala is still too busy looking for glue to catch that. ] Jury is still out if the cursed can die. Right now it’s just some broken furniture.

@plane jane

[captain_marvel]

[Carol isn't one to judge a person or reach out to a stranger and try to imply anything about them but ... well. This guy does not seem okay. So she has to ask:]

You okay there, buddy?

[She'll get to offering actual help in a second.]

@ut malum pluvia

[somebadnews]

[ At this point he's resigned that you're all useless. Like he's the first person to ask for some normal help that he presented in a perfectly reasonable way. He even said thank you for christ's sake. ]

I'm not the one smashed into pieces, so what do you think?

[captain_marvel]

Things are things. You're a person. I think it ...

[Oh wait. Her brain's caught up now. She's still getting used to the weirdness of this particular world.]

Was it one of the talking ones?

[somebadnews]

[ He was trying to skirt around saying what he suspected. It's the weirdness that's getting to him. ]

They weren't talking at the time.