Quoted By:
"But you can't be judgy while I'm telling you, either. And you can't tell Branwen or Earl. I'm not saying I won't ever tell, but I want to do it, not you. And you can't tell Tedd... does Teddy know everything you know?"
Gil grimaces. "Pretty much? Sorry."
"Damn! Well, tell him to not be judgy, too. It's not even any of his business. But could we— we go inside? Or something? There really is a lot."
"Yeah. Sure. Lemme just... HEY, HEADING IN FOR A BIT!" He jerks his thumb over his shoulder, and Earl sticks a thumbs-up out in return. "Okay, I-I think I'm good. Let's go."
—
You prop your chin up on Branwen's dinner table. "So what's wrong with your hands?"
"My hands?" Gil lays them flat. "Oh, the bits? I-I dunno. I can't feel them."
Maybe he can't feel them, but they're bothering you. He has gravel and splinters sunk in all over his palms, not to mention his gloves, which— you guess they're goo, too. Weird. Are Pat's gloves real, then? You yank Gil's wrist forward and attempt to scrape off one of the bits, but it's embedded for real. "Can I pick them out while I explain? It <span class="mu-i">looks</span> like it hurts, even if it doesn't."
"...Yeah? I-if it'd make you feel better... oh, shit, you just had that?"
You're pulling your pocketknife out of its proper home (your pocket). "Yeah! I grabbed it when we were packing. Here, hold still. And if it does hurt—"
"I-I-It won't."
"Okay, but if it does, tell me! I don't want to mess you up worse."
"Um, alright. Will do." Gil peers down as you begin scraping at the worst-looking splinter. "So what's up with Richard?"
"Well, he... hold on." You cast a long look behind you. Richard's leaned back on the settee you slept on, smoking. You're going to tell Gil everything, and he can't stop you, okay? Because you hate him, and you're going to kill him once you're God. You need him to know that.
Richard waves you away, but doesn't say anything.
Okay, you're taking that as a "he knows that." "Ahem. Okay. So, Richard's not a snake, but he is a snake-person, from the moon, maybe, but he's trapped in the moon, so he had to be a snake to come down here and talk to me. All the snake-people do this— um, I mean, they're all helping him do it, because they want the Crown— you remember the Crown? The Crown will bring the Wyrm back to life, which they want 'cause because they think the Wyrm will free them from the moon. But the Wyrm's stuck underground, and the only way it's coming back is if they stick it in a <span class="mu-i">person's</span> body. That's me!"
Gil can't decide whether he's staring at you or at the splinter you're pulling out. "What?"
(2/4)
