2021-07-11: The Comedy of Echo

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  • Log: The Comedy of Echo
  • Cast: Riley Arwell, Xander Lovell, Magilou
  • Where: Zoara Badlands
  • Date: July 11, 2021
  • Summary: Magilou, despite a second (at least somewhat accidental) attempt on her life, proves to be a supportive friend. For Riley. Everything anyone says can and will be used against Xander.

<Pose Tracker> Riley Arwell has posed.

After being repeatedly thwarted in their attempts to get a sacrifice, the Fangs decided to try to spend some time just living with the curse as best they could, on the gamble that the situation wouldn't become urgent while they eked out some extra days between kills.

And... whoops: It became urgent. Riley can no longer speak, courtesy of thorns newly sprouted inside his throat.

And so the Fangs have gone back on the hunt -- or at least are making their way back to familiar territory in order to do so. There was a... small disagreement about how to go about ending this curse cycle, but Riley's hope is that they'll stumble across an easy kill soon (one who DOESN'T have secret power armor she can summon in an instant) and Xander will just... forget about that other, horrible, potentially life-ruining plan.

Aside from the thorns in his throat, Riley has thorns and red flowers growing from the back of his head and down his neck, and there's a theoretical infestation of them running up from his left hand to his forearm, although he's been removing the ones in that area as soon as they sprout and so the arm is just bandaged.

They haven't come across any likely victims yet, so Riley is playing with a recording sphere while they walk, hoping there will be an interesting sound that he can steal.

He scans the bleak horizon for animals, then looks over at Xander hopefully. Give him an interesting sound?

<Pose Tracker> Xander Lovell has posed.

For his part, Xander's got most of the left side of his face covered. Rather than a patch, he's got more of a half mask to help contain the infestation that's gotten out of control from his missing eye. It does crawl down to his own shoulder, but at least his mantle hides most of that. This time, it's Riley who's gotten the worst of it.
 
And guess what Xander hasn't forgotten about: that other, horrible, potentially life-ruining plan!

But he hasn't voiced it since the first suggestion. He hasn't voiced... all that much. Long stretches of silence fall between them, not because Xander means to, but because it was always Riley's role to fill the space with chatter and jokes and song. And Xander doesn't... know how to do that. Not without making a fool of himself.

Especially since Riley is very likely to steal his voice and use it against him in the meanwhile. Riley's giving him another (terrifying) prompting look.

"Just put the sphere down," he says, slowly, as if Riley were holding a deadly weapon. "We'll find you a bird. Or. Something."

<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.

    Magilou, who has been kicked out of an awful lot of the Badlands, still has plenty more of it to get through before she's a universal pariah.

    Anyway, all that to say she's out here too, all on her lonesome, because Bienfu hopped inside her on account of his little feets hurting. Coward. Unlike him and his tiny little legs, Magilou is an expert at gallivanting around aimlessly.

    If there's anything to be said for the Badlands, they do at least have roads. This one hasn't been maintained beyond the occasional auto-mobile chugging along between towns which aren't on the railway line, but it is, at least, flat ground in contrast to the lumpy and more cracked ground a few feet to the left.

    Of course, the fact that this is so grievously between towns means that sometimes, things go wrong. As in here and now: one of those strange wheeled carriages broke down, who knows how long ago, and is now just sitting forlorn on the shoulder of the passageway. It stands out, in the boring abyss of a place which is TECHNICALLY vivacious enough to support life.

    A single tumbleweed rolls past it. Obviously.

    This is, of course, the place where Magilou has slipped inside to get a cat nap out of the sun, because Magilou would never admit that she is as prone to her delicate little feets hurting as Bienfu is. It may not be immediately obvious just who is lurking inside the rusting vehicle. This may be their ultimate doom.

<Pose Tracker> Riley Arwell has posed.

No matter how tragic Riley tries to look about his circumstances, he can't seem to get Xander to make idle talk at him, which means it has been a quiet walk indeed.

Just put the sphere down. We'll find you a bird. Or. Something.

In response, Riley plays the "Dissappointed" noise from the sphere, which he stole from Xander earlier; it is a small clip of Xander's voice making a sound of disapproving protest.

It seems Xander is safe from Riley's sound thievery for now; Riley will just have to wait until Xander's guard is down later if he wants to expand his vocabulary.

A wind in the road reveals a broken down automobile, inside of which they can just make out the shadow of a figure sleeping. Riley stops in his tracks and tugs at Xander's sleeve, pointing over.

Their luck has been so bad lately that he's afraid to trust it... but it doesn't get any easier than a lone person sleeping, if that's really what they've found. Could they really be this close to getting his voice back?

...All it will cost is another life. He remembers Avril demanding to know if he remembered their victims' names, and looks aside with a grimace. But this is no time to be squeamish. If he wants this, he should be the one to do it. He draws his bow, gritting his teeth and ignoring the burning and trembling of his bad hand, and looses a shadow arrow. The aim of the shot was questionable, but the power of Valmar guides the arrow, and its path curves through the air, finding its way toward its target.

<Pose Tracker> Xander Lovell has posed.

The sound has almost become an echo of itself every time Riley plays it -- which only makes Xander grumble more to realize he's done that. The amount of time he's spent with his face in his hands has increased significantly since Riley took advantage of the spheres.

He stops, suddenly, even before Riley touches his sleeve. Xander swallows a thick lump in his throat, shaken as the bloodlust pries at his senses. He's able to resist it more than he believes he can, but the dangerous problem today is that he has no desire to resist it at all.

When Riley gets his bow, Xander reaches out to stop him, looking incredulously as Riley's hand and back again. This time the silence is less fear of Riley's diabolical ways and more so they don't awake this fortunate(?) opportunity before them. But Xander's too late to stop Riley from firing. Once the arrow takes flight, Xander darts after the shot in pursuit with a dagger ready to go for a killing strike given Riley may only be able to wound their target in his condition.

Surely sneaking up on an unassuming target with a knife to finish them off quick and quiet won't end poorly again.

<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.

    Magilou, who is having a great dream about never mind that, all a sudden finds herself very violently awake as her napping spot pitches forward and back with the entry and exit of an ominous arrow. The car almost rocks onto its side before it THUDS back to ground, helped in no small part by the small woman going "what huh BUH" in the back seat where she wasn't bothering anyone for once.

    Magilou's hat is all skew-whiff on her face as she shoves the door open and shoves herself halfway out. It covers half of her face, but can't quite cover the way her mouth is all drawn down in a deeply grumpy scowl. "WHO THREW THAT,"

    This is about when Xander dives in, meaning that whatever Magilou was about to say is shortly cut off by her pulling a shikigami from her sleeve and extending it out into a shield for Xander to stab instead of her face. "Look what I found!" She incants, as that paper doll spirit curls around to loop under him and rise up, like she was pulling the rug out from under his feet.

    She does this despite, for all intents and purposes, having just woken up. Just how prepared is Magilou to throw down at all times?

    "UghhHHHH," Magilou groans, right afterwards, flomping onto her belly on the seat of the car, before she rolllls off onto the floor and... reverse-somersaults out? Is that... that's what she's doing, okay, that's why she's sitting on the road now. Her hands all plant between her legs, shoulders hunched, and she pouts something awful at Xander and Riley.

    "You two look like shit," she points out, sullen. "Are you sure we're doing this?"

<Pose Tracker> Riley Arwell has posed.

Which is worse? That Riley just shot at one of the two(ish?) people in the world demented enough to want to be their friend, or the indignity that he missed?

Are you sure we're doing this?

In the mixture of surprise and dismay, it's all Riley can do to stifle some utterance that would have him interrupt this already extremely awkward situation by choking himself on blood.

He waves his hands back and forth to make an unmake an X shape in what he hopes to be universally intelligible as 'nope, whoops, our bad!' but no further explanation is really practical under the circumstances, so he looks at Xander hoping he will back him up and not lunge for her throat or something. They like Magilou now, right?

<Pose Tracker> Xander Lovell has posed.

If Riley's quick on the sphere trigger, he will have the opportunity to record a delightfully shocked yell from Xander as the shikigami knocks him right off of his feet and sends him tumbling back in the desert sand.

To his credit, he manages to recover by carrying the momentum back up to his feet, weapon poised and ready for another attack. Until he sees the target.

"Are you fucking KIDDING ME?!" he shouts, hurling his dagger into the ground to free his hand to claw into his scalp with a growl of frustration.

It's followed by an uncomfortable pause as he considers Magilou a moment, the image of Riley nearly choking to death still vivid in his mind's eye. The dread of it drowns out the rising nausea of the curse's urge to slit Magilou's throat. ...It wouldn't be easy. He couldn't even get the drop on her sleeping. But when his partner could well fail to wake up the next day before more thorns sprout in his throat, certain risks become worth taking.

Xander risks a glance in Riley's direction, then hisses out long and slow when he sees Riley's desperate miming to call off the fight. ...Fine. Fine. He folds his arms and sighs.

"We'd rather not, if you're willing to let this one slide." Not that it would surprise him if Magilou decided it wasn't worth it to forgive them.

<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.

    "Frequently," Magilou responds to Xander's shout, on such clockwork timing that it may well be reflex.

    ... for all her theatrics, let it be said that Magilou doesn't quite let Riley and Xander out of her sight in those moments, even though she has to glance back and forth between them with the respective ranges they've chosen. Back someone up into the corner, and they'll fight all sorts of unwinnable battles. They're enough of a garden that they might be beyond sense.

    Still, maybe there's a reason she tumbled out in just the way she did. It certainly makes it easy for her to shrug, already on the ground, palms lifting up to the sky. "Somehow, I'll find it in some heart to forgive you," which is not EXACTLY how that saying goes, but this is Magilou, who as we have established is frequently kidding everyone.

    "But it seems like Filgaia hasn't been working out for you," she says, with a look to Riley's neck and Xander's face. And then she double-takes. The way Riley was gesturing... "Oh, heaven forfend, XANDER is doing the talking now?! The situation has just been upgraded to an absolute travesty!"

<Pose Tracker> Riley Arwell has posed.

Riley relaxes a little as both Magilou and Xander seem willing to back down from the fight he started. It seems Magilou is willing to overlook a far greater than average number of murder attempts and this is, unfortunately, a major quality he needs in a friend. He offers her a grateful, sheepish smile at her quick forgiveness.

XANDER is doing the talking now?! The situation has just been upgraded to an absolute travesty!

Riley nods his agreement with a hand on his heart to underscore his sincerity, then by way of explanation, gestures at some of the thorns sprouting out of his neck and then taps himself near the voice box.

Then he holds out his recording sphere and plays back, 'An absolute travesty!'

<Pose Tracker> Xander Lovell has posed.

"Reassuring," Xander says to Magilou, refusing to look at her.

He holds his own head up with another sigh, like he's never had enough oxygen in his life. Maybe Xander's just bad at breathing what with all the stress. "You don't have to rub it in." Then to Riley, with sudden horror. "When did you -- you don't have to rub it in, either!"

Xander should have taken those spheres away when he had the chance!

"Riley wanted us to exercise restraint this time around. This is how Valmar rewarded us." He gestures to Riley. "The curse spread to his throat. He can't speak."

So now everyone is stuck with Xander having to talk. Including Xander.

<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.

    Magilou looks frankly delighted at the fact that Riley has figured out a workaround. "Why, you kept a sphere around!" Is she assuming he just pocketed one when they met at the sphere theatre..?

    That's STEALING, Magilou!

    "It's like I always say," she adds, to Xander, with a wink, "if you don't pour salt or sugar on an open wound, you're being too nice!" She... she's taking pride in rubbing it in. What a bad-bad lady!

    She at least quiets down a little as Xander explains the situation, leaning her back against the side of that poor, abandoned car as she considers Riley again. "No good deed goes unpunished, huh? That's rough, buddy. Your boss is really something!" Just what he is, well -- Magilou doesn't expound on that.

    She doesn't think the Fangs would take it very well if they learned she was looking into their chains of employment. Call it a hunch.

    "I'll give you this tip for free," she shrugs, jerking a thumb over a shoulder in one direction of dry, dusty road. "That way will take you to Halim, and there's a disproportionate amount of tough cookies looking out for them around there. The way you are now, let's just say... I wouldn't bet on you!"

    Magilou, who is an esteemed gambler, may well have issued the most grievous insult imaginable.

    Or, perhaps, the most grievous warning.

    Why she'd try and warn them away from one of the bigger towns nearby in the state they're in... well, clearly she's just looking out for them. Isn't she?

<Pose Tracker> Riley Arwell has posed.

If Magilou and Xander keep an eye on Riley during their exchange, they may catch him helping himself to random sound bytes here and there. It's hard to say what will come in handy later.

For example, when Xander points out that their situation came as a 'reward' for Riley's choice to hold off on killing, Riley answers back with Xander's own voice: 'You don't have to rub it in.'

Why, you kept a sphere around!

Riley gives a little shrug. He may have 'accidentally' walked out with several. It's not like that's the worst crime he committed in his life.

Your boss is really something!

Riley gives another theatrical nod of agreement, hanging his head.

She then... warns them away from the nearest town. That's good, as far as he's concerned, if they can't FIND a place as vulnerable as Cereza, it's going to make a lot more sense to go after just one or two people like they always do. If these 'easy targets' would stop turning out to be Drifters and evil friends.

Riley flicks a glance to Xander to see if that actually convinced him or if he took it as a challenge.

<Pose Tracker> Xander Lovell has posed.

Xander regards Magilou flatly. "And what a disaster it would be if you were ever too nice."

Riley echoes his own words back at him and Xander flinches, snapping his gaze back to stare at him. He opens his mouth, then shuts it abruptly, rubbing the back of his neck as he looks away. "... Sorry."

Maybe that was too far.

In regards to their 'boss', Xander grunts. He has no car to lean on -- that is Magilou's leaning car -- so he just has to suffer with his standing and talking. Uggh. "Something terrible," he finishes for her, as if that wasn't already implied. "I didn't ask to work for him." He's only aimlessly complaining, forgetting that emphasizing him versus them might be interpreted differently by Riley.

Xander follows Magilou's gesture beyond the desert, thoughtfully tapping his finger to his arms. "So Halim's attracting a bunch of Drifters, is what you're saying."

...And, possibly, more likely to be away from the settlements in the other direction...?

<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.

    "The seas would squall! The mountains would fall! The minute I'm considerate is the curtain call!" Magilou rhymes, cheerfully, at the idea that it would be a disaster.

    "... but it seems it would be just as much a disaster for you, mm?" She points out, in the wake of Riley's recording. "Well, I can't really blame you. After all --" here she looks to Riley, with a too-cheerful grin, hands all forming a heart in front of her. "It's not like you can fight back right now, can you, cutie?"

    Trust Magilou to point it out like that!

    Her attention goes back to Xander, as the poor man suffers in the indignity of having no leaning posts. "You know, most people who get pressganged just join pirate gangs." Now who's rubbing it in???

    "Haa," she lets it go, sighing, a bit of a slump against her enviable ruined car. It's terribly hot, having baked out here in the sun all day. She doesn't comment on the sensation. "If you want to go and start a fight anyway, it's your funeral. But it's just not a good target for you, the way you are now. I mean, you couldn't even kill one slumbering maiden!" Magilou winks, to Riley. "Arrow flew right over my head." Don't most people sit up when they're woken unexpectedly..?

<Pose Tracker> Riley Arwell has posed.

It's not like you can fight back right now, can you, cutie?

Riley gives a sigh and taps the recording sphere as if to say 'I'm gathering ammunition.'

Then Xander accidentally goes for the jugular. 'I didn't ask to work for him.

Riley winces and smiles self consciously, his eyes averting from them both. Xander's '...Sorry' comes from the sphere.

Then Magilou tries to dissuade them again from hunting in the nearby town -- it's not really clear if Xander's convinced or not -- and while she's at it, makes fun of them a little. Arrow flew right over my head.

In response, Riley uses the sphere to make the Dissappointed noise again, and then scrawls out a message in his notebook and shows it to Xander.

'Is Magilou teasing me?? Am I being teased??'

How cruel that he should finally be the one in the hot seat at a time when he can't do any comebacks...!

...speaking of hot seat, shouldn't that metal car she's casually leaning on be broiling right now?

<Pose Tracker> Riley Arwell has posed.

After a delay for processing, he adds: "Tell her I won't stand for cheap shots about my cheap shots." (Riley why not write the note directly to Magilou?)

<Pose Tracker> Xander Lovell has posed.

Xander suffers Magilou's rhymes with a slump of his head to one side. He does not need to vocalize his 'uugggh' for it to be clearly heard in the heart.

Her turning the idea back at him is piercing, perhaps even more than she realizes despite making the attack. Xander hisses a tch of a sound through his teeth, biting absently onto his finger as he avoids eye contact with them both. Riley echoing the apology only makes it worse, Xander opening his hand to cover the lower half of his face with it.

This is why he doesn't do the talking.

Pirates. "If that's a comment on my eye I swear--" And Xander doesn't finish that sentence, because he's hoping the way he growls it speaks for itself.

He studies Riley's notebook a moment, looking slowly back to Riley in exasperation. "Riley. That is the only thing she's been doing since we met her."

Xander is not commenting further on the Halim situation himself because that would be telling. (And he's bad at acting.)

Riley adds his second message, and Xander gives another glance to it and glance back. His brow twitches, and he doesn't look back to Magilou despite allegedly passing a message on for her.

"Riley says you're absolutely right and he's going to refrain from using his bow."

<Pose Tracker> Riley Arwell has posed.

Riley mimes being stabbed in the heart.

<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.

    "Yes, you're so totally helpless!" Magilou concludes, cheerfully, as Riley indicates he is building power.

    Does Magilou realise how cruel she is? Magilou is a mirror; she reflects. When he reacts to her line about pressganging, though, she bursts out laughing. "I~ never~ said it~!"

    It was totally and absolutely a comment on his face.

    (It was just also a comment on other things, too.)

    Her face scrunches up in pique as Riley writes something to Xander, though. "Hey!" She complains, hopping to her feet only to wobble back and forth a little with the characteristic baby-horse stance of someone who just woke up. She reaches up and angrily adjusts her hat, so it finally isn't all tilted on her head. "No fair passing notes in class!"

    Especially not when Xander is clearly not communicating the intended message, judging by Riley's miming. Lo does Magilou march right up to the murderers, and -- her sleeves aren't attached to her shoulders, so when she goes up to Xander to try and grab the paper from his hands, Riley can likely see the red spots where her skin was in contact with the metal.

    Which she doesn't acknowledge in the slightest.

    "That is not what that says, give it here!!" She insists, instead.

<Pose Tracker> Riley Arwell has posed.

Riley. That is the only thing she's been doing since we met her.

Riley's shoulders sag like Xander just pointed out that his new cat has been destroying the house since he got it. It's true, but surely she has redeeming qualities...?

Riley contemplates her. She helps him tease Xander sometimes, for one thing, and that is fun, if less feasible right at this moment...

Then, BETRAYAL! And Magilou soon joins the mix to try to find out what was really in the message. Wanting to forestall having her leaf through some recent messages trying to dissuade Xander from terrifying life choices and a lot of incomprehensibly recorded song ideas, he rips out the page in question and freely surrenders it to her in the hopes of distracting her from the rest of the notebook.

He squints at the burns, then, and points them out to her. Did she cook herself a little and not notice...?

<Pose Tracker> Xander Lovell has posed.

That sing song teasing only makes Xander growl further, yet he offers no action to back up the implicit threat. But then, that's common for Xander, isn't it. He shoots a glare at Riley like this particular offense is his fault somehow.

While Magilou is being distracted by the page of Riley's true intentions, Xander seizes Riley's wrist and points to Riley's bandaged, bloody hand pointedly, eye narrow. "It's what it should say."

When he glances back to Magilou, he double takes with Riley's pointing, alerted to those marks along with her. Xander digs through his bag for a small jar filled with some manner of off white cream. Once she's looking at them, and not the paper, he tosses it her way -- he's not about to risk handing it to her himself. The last time they made contact, things did not go well for either one of them.

"You're not used to the desert, are you?"

<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.

    Magilou has an entire skirt made of books. She happens to know just how valuable notes to oneself can be. Is that why she jumped up to try and grab them..?

    Riley is, perhaps, more clever than he seems, because he gets out ahead of her by ripping the page out. Magilou thus takes the one less-incriminating page, instead, and reads with utmost theatricism, gesturing with a hand for maximum effect: "I won't stand for cheap shots about my cheap shots!! ... you get that?" She asides, to Riley, and Riley's sphere recorder.

    It's in that sly glance that she catches him pointing to her back. Magilou looks behind her. Magilou says, entirely too belatedly: "Oh, woe! Yes, mine is untold suffering!" She catches the jar of cream that Xander tosses over, and marvels for a moment about him just casually having it on hand.

    That question gets a grin, all dragging up the edges of her mouth like butcher-hooks. "Let's just say Lunar is a greener place than this," she says, as she proceeds to scoop out some cream and slap it on her shoulders. There is an actual slap sound effect.

    There are a full four seconds before it occurs to Magilou to say: "Ow!! Oh, no, does this count as the ignoble defeat of Magilou? It seems I've been bested by these scurrilous villains!" Magilou, you did that to yourself. Moreover, you're still just applying that cream without a single care for the murderers who have apparently waylaid you. Magilou, stop that.

<Pose Tracker> Riley Arwell has posed.

Riley makes an exasperated face at Xander as he points out that he shouldn't be using his hand. Putting an arrow in somebody is a lot more likely to heal the hand than pretending it's a normal injury that might heal if he goes easy on it. The only thing that heals the wounds from the curse thorns is murder. (Riley may be willfully overlooking that while the injury can't get better, it can certainly get worse.) But he appreciates where Xander's heart is at in scolding him, and even after pulling a face at him, he taps his own heart in thanks and plays a noise from the sphere that might not translate very well to Magilou; it's just two successive guitar notes.

Magilou claims the note, and dramatically reads it back to Riley and his recorder. He obligingly nods and plays the line back to her, as if this is somehow necessary at this point to communicate it. But while he is doing this, this time he dramatically mimes along to it, as though he's the one saying it. There is some level of absurdity that is escalating, here.

Magilou applies burn cream to her burns in a violent manner that casts further doubt upon her ability to ... feel anything that is happening to her. Riley is just about to try to figure out some way to 'ask' about whether it hurts when Magilou starts belatedly dramatizing her pain. He squints and aims a questioning glance at Xander. Is this worth asking about? If he asks Xander to ask her about it will he just OBSTINATELY DO THE OPPOSITE again?

<Pose Tracker> Xander Lovell has posed.

They absolutely can get worse, and a failed arrow strike might be worse than not having one at all! But Xander flinches with the guitar notes, face reddening. He drops Riley's hand and immediately turns away. "...As long as you understand."

Riley probably does not understand nor did he agree to anything.

Oh no. Is Magilou... Is Magilou deliberately helping create sound ammo?! "Don't encourage him!" To Riley: "Why!"

Murderer Xander may be, but what he supplies is a genuine salve for burns and burn protection. It's a quick acting formula: alchemy gets to have the privilege of Functionally Magic.

He winces in sympathy (sympathy?!) at her slapdash choice of application. "Yeah, maybe don't do that." He shakes his head. "At least you've got your hat. But please tell me you've got water rations. Or know how to get them."

Catching Riley's glance, he returns his own uncertain look, then shrugs helplessly and gestures to the notebook for clarification as if he isn't guilty of notebook related treachery.

<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.

    Guitar...! "I've really underestimated the applications of sphere recordings," Magilou reflects to herself. She did not comment on Riley's hand.

    ... well, it's a difficult situation, and it's not like Magilou has figured out anything useful.

    "Perfecterrible!" Is Magilou's hideous (and entirely too cheerful) response to Riley's mimicry. Did she make up a word specifically to bait Riley into recording it? No one knows that. In response to Xander's anguish, she just chastises him, still chipper: "You should really support your boyfriend's promising new career as a parrot."

    Even if her application of the medicine leaves much to be desired, the cream itself, perhaps surprisingly given Xander's general propensity to murder, is quite helpful. "No one can tell me what to do!" Magilou declares, but at least makes some effort to be a bit gentler after that.

    "Oh, don't worry," she assures him, lightly. "I'm a witch! I can conjure water whenever I want!" Is... is that how that works? Or is Magilou just distracting from the point..?!

<Pose Tracker> Riley Arwell has posed.

You should really support your boyfriend's promising new career as a parrot.

Rather than protesting this characterization of his newfound penchant for mimicry, Riley turns to Xander hopefully and plays a snippet of Magilou at him: 'Can you, cutie?'

The mystery of Magilou and her burns continues. Riley writes a new note in the notebook. 'Do you think Magilou is pretending to be able to feel pain?' He shows it to Xander then tears it out and offers it to Magilou, since she's going to want to steal it anyway. Maybe she'll have a more meaningful comment on the matter.

<Pose Tracker> Xander Lovell has posed.

"He prefers the term partner," Xander grumbles, trying to hide his bashfulness under a scowl, but that does nothing for the blush darkening his face. He gives a hesitant glance to Riley, about to ask if that is in fact, correct, when... Can you, cutie?

"GIVE ME THAT," he demands, redder by the second as he scrambles to forcibly take the sphere from Riley.

The effort is not so great that he actually grabs anything at all (is he even trying?), and he seems immediately distracted by the note Riley offers him in its place. Xander blinks once. He hadn't... caught on to that, but now that Riley points it out...

"That's --" He hesitates, looking at Riley, but he knows where the note is going to go already and looks to Magilou. "Do you feel pain?" he asks, handing over the page so Riley can take responsibility for his question. As blunt as the question is, his tone takes a sudden shift toward something gentler.

He lowers his voice to Riley. "...You're not about to get a real answer to this."

<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.

    "If you're going to insist on that term, you both need matching cowboy hats." Magilou pauses, and explains: "It's Filgaia."

    Magilou, that's not what Filgaia is about. That's a stereotype, Magilou. That's Ragnell's funhouse version of what Filgaia is like. Magilou, stop that.

    She in no way stops Xander from trying to steal the precious parrot ball, but neither does she help Xander with his crimes. She finishes applying the cream to her shoulders, instead! Once it's done, and Xander calms down a little, she screws the lid of the jar back on and offers it back to him. She can't imagine they have much luck getting support from other people when it comes to their wounds, on account of all the murders. If he indicates she should keep it, though, she'll promptly...

    ... open up a book and tuck it in. The book is hollow! Her skirt is a LIE!

    Either way, conveniently, it frees up her hands to steal another note. Magilou reads it, and laughs, a hand sweeping back to fan out her hair. "Oh, boy..." She says, in exactly the same tone and style of, 'that's a LONG story'. In the gesture is hidden a moment of loading; it is, of course, unrealistic to expect a real answer. But...

    There are a few reasons why Magilou would want to make a show of disclosure to the Fangs in specific; she'd hate to admit that Riley's genuine concern is any sort of factor.

    "Don't get me wrong," Magilou says, a hand settling on her hip. "It's not like I don't feel it. Physically. But should I be upset about it..? Well, I can put forward my best guess, but it doesn't really matter. Besides..."

    There's something sad, to her smile. "... pain is easier than happiness. People can resist pain, you know."

    And they can't resist happiness...?

<Pose Tracker> Riley Arwell has posed.

GIVE ME THAT.

Riley mouths 'noooo' and hugs the sphere protectively in his arms.

But things turn more serious when Magilou gives an answer -- of sorts -- to their question. So she can feel it, but doesn't feel anything about it? ...That does sound like a long story. And one they're unlikely to get today.

He looks down at his sphere, finding it inadequate to the task of responding to that. Magilou receives Xander's '...Sorry,' followed, after squeamish consideration, by her own 'That's rough, buddy.' Riley makes a gesture of embarrassed apology afterwards. But it's your own fault you've barely said anything sincere between the two of you for this whole conversation!

<Pose Tracker> Xander Lovell has posed.

Xander gives Magilou a blank look with her ideas on Filgaia. "...We're not doing that," is all he manages to come up with in response.

He waves his hand dismissively at her attempt to return the cream. "Just keep it. I can make more." He cannot help staring as she stores it in her... Book Skirt. Which is, itself, so absurd his mind tries to block it out and blur it into a Normal Skirt.

As Magilou (sort of) answers Riley's question, a shadow darkens Xander's face. He isn't without his own moments of ignoring, even forgetting, pain, and while he doubts it's precisely the same, it's enough overlap to make openly discussing any of it uncomfortable.

"I think what he means to say is... He didn't mean to pry into anything that had an emotional reason. And... sorry for whatever brought it to that point."

Xander takes hold of Riley's arm. "...And maybe we need to go." He points toward Halim. "Away from there." Did Magilou succeed?!

<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.

    "Phooey," Magilou pouts to Xander. Riley can't say it, but she's got his back.

    The secrets of Magilou's skirt are many and nefarious. Did you know that one in the back is a pop-up book? It started as a joke, but all great things start as jokes.

    For instance: things which turn out to be surprisingly truthful?

    Magilou laughs, and her grin is a knife. "Aww, did I hurt your feelings? It's not that serious! If I weren't entirely put-together, could I be the life of the party like I am?" That question doesn't even make sense, but maybe she's a little annoyed with herself for revealing that much.

    (Does that really mean she has to be mean to everyone else?! Apparently, yes.)

    "Don't worry so much!" She assures them, with a wave of her hand. "As for me, I'm late to attend to the doves. Toodle-loo!" She wriggles her fingers, and sets off on the road, at entirely too jaunty a pace.

    Magilou may, in fact, be skipping.

    And humming, to herself, in such a way that Riley could get a sound-clip before she disappears past the loading screen: "... tra-la-la-la-la... o/`"