Quoted By:
Hey! Whoa! Wow, you're really... geez, this whole Richard thing really knocked you for a loop, didn't it? Is this supposed to be positive thinking? You slacker. Ahem. As an intelligent and perspicacious young lady, you will no doubt be a natural at adapting to your newfound... relationship, and nobody will notice anything weird, and the snake thing will be forgotten, and it'll be exactly like you've had a father for 23 years. A good father. Yes! Yay! You can see it now, and if you clench your fists hard enough you can see it even better. If that makes Richard look over in concern, <span class="mu-i">even better,</span> because that presents an opportunity for some normal interaction, and you—
Gil explodes. Well, not really, but that was your first impression: an electrical spray in your peripheral vision, accompanied with a gooey crunch. "GIL!" you say on instinct, and whirl to meet Gil's non-exploded human eyes. "Oh."
He's sprawled awkwardly on the ground. "Sorry..."
"You're not dead!"
"Uh... no, I-I'm, um... sorry..." Just as awkwardly, he hefts himself to a seated position. "I-I-I didn't mean to interrupt your... er... I-I didn't think it'd make noise, and then it... made..."
"What made noise? Oh! You were— you were—" You gesticulate. "You were beetles! And now you're— wow! You magycked—"
Richard rubs your shoulder. "Primrose, you don't have to speak just to fill the air. Good work, Gil! I would expect that to become less effortful with repetition. Perhaps quieter, too."
"Ah," Gil says. He looks a tad green. "Well, I-I-I guess I'll... find out... you can go back to your thing? Like I said, I-I didn't mean to..."
The longer you spend in Richard's— your father's— Nice Richard's presence, the more wrung-out you feel. Better to keep him to small doses, like a shot of cough syrup. Or grain liquor. "Not at all! We were just wrapping up, weren't we? Yes! I postulate that we have completed our— our sacred duties, at present, and thus we shall henceforth commence, um, our egress, and deliverance upon the world of, um—"
"What?" Gil furrows his brow. "We're getting out of here?"
"N— um— yes."
"Good," he says, and stands, shedding light.
-
Either you bolt to awareness at the same time as Madrigal on the bed, or she does so slightly before you, but that's the first thing you see: her face, curved and flushed, against the dark rock of the bedroom wall. "Wh..." she says.
Gil, beside you, is still slumped over. In the absence of life, his skin has taken on a tacky sheen. You avoid touching him. "Hello!"
"...Fuck. What... Charlotte?"
"Yes! 'Tis I!" You pause. "I mean, yes! Hello. Are you feeling okay? You're awfully pink... what happened with Ellery?"
"With Ellery?" She touches her cheek. "Noth— nothing. None of your business. We talked. What happened with <span class="mu-i">you?</span> What the fuck did you do to that guy?"
(2/4)
