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Bathic !!1oQZB1czRDh

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Bathic !!1oQZB1czRDh ID:q+Pv/3Yc Thu 28 Mar 2024 08:30:01 No.5962635 View View Report

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>Abort! Abort!

(Monty? You can't get Monty involved! What if he sees through it? What if he starts lecturing you? Or strangling you? Madrigal might strangle you, but at least she won't lecture you. You shut your eyes and—)

*

—open them. "Uh, no. Why would I need to see Monty? I live here."

Madrigal opens her mouth. "You..."

"What?"

"...Charlotte?"

"Yes?" You straighten up. "Obviously? Is some other young lady walking around here with an effed-up... I mean, it's not effed-up. It's perfectly fine. Actually, it can see the very fabric of the universe, so, yeah. Maybe even better than a normal eye? You shouldn't go around insulting people's—"

"I didn't insult it. I thought..." Madrigal bites her lip. "Fuck, I don't know what I thought. I'm cracking up, I guess. You want to bet it's the snake?"

"The snake?"

She thrusts her hand out of the tent. There's a tiny striped snake latched to it. "This little fucker eats memories. Yeah. Told it to only eat the shit I was going to forget anyways, but I guess it didn't remember that too well, ha-ha..."

"Ha-ha," you say. (Wow. Too easy?) "Yeah. Um. That would be a really simple explanation for—"

"It's that, or you've got some Ellery-ass shit going on. I don't mean Richard. I mean some Ellery-ass shit."

Eugh! What could that possibly refer to? "Um, I don't know what you—"

"He had a guy in his head. Not a Richard guy. It was, like... him." Madrigal scratches her nose. "But him if he was, like, perfect. And they'd kind of switch places sometimes, and he'd start seeming all different, and..."

"What?" you say.

"Look, I don't know. I don't know what the fuck a perfect Charlotte would even look like. It's probably the snake. But ask Ellery about it some time, he'll tell you all about the guy— that's what he called him. The Guy. That Guy. Something like that. Ask him." She waves her hands. "But it doesn't really matter, okay? Come in. We were just talking about you, actually."

That's even more ominous than the last phrase. "In a good way?"

"Sort of? Come in. I'm not going to fucking bite you." She holds the flap wide open.

"Uh... can I bring Gil?"

"Bug Man? Is he even with you? Oh." Madrigal squints past you. "You left him over there? ...Can it just be you? It's not really about him."

He'll be fine for a few minutes without you, right? As long as Madrigal really doesn't start biting. You tilt your head, considering, then turn and flash Gil a thumbs up. After a second, he flashes one back. Good enough.

You venture inside, but stop short when you see another woman sitting casually on Madrigal's unmade cot. She looks passingly familiar, but not enough to— "I could've told you that was Charlotte. It sounded like Charlotte,"

Oh. It's Pat. It sounds like Pat. "I don't know what the fuck to tell you," Madrigal says, letting the tent flap fall. "Blame the snake, okay?"

"You're back," you say to Pat.

"Yeah?"

(1/2)

Bathic !!1oQZB1czRDh

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Bathic !!1oQZB1czRDh ID:0/H4/aGF Wed 11 Jan 2023 20:50:38 No.5527508 View View Report

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"I hired her. Uhhhh... fuck. Wait. We got the— shit, where'd I— here." Not Madrigal releases Pat(??)'s hand (it slumps to her side) and bends to retrieve a small box. "It's Matches, okay? Matches? The snake? Check it."

You reluctantly check inside the box. There's a tiny black-and-white snake inside. "...Uh-huh."

"I was in it, then she got me out and stuck me in some stupid goo... I mean, it's not stupid, I guess. It beats the snake. But that's the goo thing, alright? Then I busted out of there after a couple days, hired an assistant, problem solved. No need to go out of your way to— if you call me a 'damsel' again, by the way, I'm kicking your lily ass so hard it—"

"You're... Madrigal," you say. You're still side-eying the snake.

"Yes."

"You... escaped."

"Do I look kidnapped? I've got the snake right here, I—"

"Your kidnapper is right there." You jerk your chin toward Pat, who glowers at you. "How do I know this isn't some kind of—"

"Because I kicked her ass too? Pat, did I kick your—"

"I wouldn't describe it as..." Pat stares down the spear at her chest. "I was countered by absolute gullshit, sure."

"Kicked her ass hard. She was gonna shoot herself, I kicked her ass so hard, but we got that all cleared up— hell, you could say I unhanded her. Heh. Anyhow—"

Madrigal's in a good mood. How great for her. How great. Anybody would be in a good mood, having rescued themselves from a vicious and evil kidnapping without any help at all. No heroine necessary. None of it necessary— your research, your hand-selected team, the delve, the horrible trouble that followed, Annie, Richard, Richard. Your head pounds. You could've accomplished the same thing if you'd woken up this morning and gone straight back to bed. People would still be alive if you'd gone back to— if you'd— and there's nothing waiting for you that'd make it all worth it, no accolades, no adoration, no free drinks or marriage proposals. Maybe a "good job" from Monty or somebody, the "for trying" unvoiced. While Madrigal gets the handshakes and backslaps and gets to parade her fancy spear and pants around wherever she goes (seriously, where in the God-damned hell did she get those?!).

(3/5?)

Bathic !!1oQZB1czRDh

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Bathic !!1oQZB1czRDh ID:3ICU1KoN Wed 09 Nov 2022 03:24:42 No.5456880 View View Report

Quoted By:

"I mean, it could..." She hesitates. "This was a difficult process to start with, and I have an immature snake and significantly less help and equipment than I did the first time. I need all the leads I can get. If I could work with an imprint it's left on you, that'd—"

"Work with. As in experimenting on me?"

Pat tugs at her gloves. "Humanely? Look, Madrigal, I— the faster I get this done, the faster I can let you go, alright? It's as simple as that. I don't want to keep you here."

>Your GRIT is: High.
>Your SNAKE SENSE is: Low.
>PAT'S TRUST is: Somewhat Trusting.
>SNAKE PROJECT PROGRESS is: 20% Complete

>[1] God fucking dammit. Fine. Let Pat experiment on you (and Matches)...
>>[A] ...minimally. Enough to placate her, but not enough to really *do* anything. It'll keep you occupied, anyhow. [+Snake Project Progress, -Grit]
>> ...moderately. She makes a compelling argument, and how bad could it be? You're good at rolling with the punches. [+Pat's Trust, ++Snake Project Progress, +Snake Sense, ---Grit]
>>[C] ...as much as she wants. It's not like you haven't gone through hell already with this, and you're confident you can tough out whatever she plans on throwing at you. If it gets you out of here that much faster, all the better. [++Pat's Trust, +++Snake Project Progress, ++Snake Sense, -----Grit]

>[2] Hell no! You're going to escape *before* she finishes, anyhow. Refuse point-blank... [-Pat's Trust]
>>[A] ...because you don't trust Pat.
>> ...because you don't want to be made vulnerable.
>>[C] ...because you just want things to go back to normal already.
>>[D] ...because you don't want to aid the creation of the goo-snake.
>>[E] Write-in.

>[3] Write-in.

Bathic !!1oQZB1czRDh

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Bathic !!1oQZB1czRDh ID:40Q0Ehom Sun 09 Oct 2022 10:12:07 No.5428916 View View Report

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You don't respond. You are staring at the tiny tank. It's small enough and you're far enough away that it's impossible to tell the contents— should be impossible. Would be impossible were you not gripped and torn and dragged across space and you are inside a tank of water you are freezing cold and your fingers are numb and you have been inside a tank of water for days you are remembering things that don't feel like memories, they're so grey and angular, but you can't— you can't— fuck!

The tiny snake is in the tiny tank. The baby snake. Your snake. Matches. You feel something in your throat you haven't—

"Madrigal?"

—haven't— have never— you snap to attention.

>You spend time in the lab...

>[A1] Actually helping Pat as best you can. You don't know what her 'project' entails, and it probably isn't anything good, but you've got to be pragmatic— especially after that whole disaster. You need her to trust you. (++Pat's Trust, ++Snake Project Progress)
>[A2] Pretending to help Pat, but sabotaging things as best you can. You don't know much about snakes, except that Branwen's made you sick and raving loony for about a week and a half. Oh, and that Charlotte's evil ghost/demon(?) uncle(?) is one(??). Basically, preventing this seems like a net good. (--Pat's Trust, --Snake Project Progress)
>[A3] Staring at Matches. You were *inside* that thing. (It's the size of your pointer finger.) It came out of your *leg.* Are you its fucking mother? Does it work like that? You can't stop staring. (+???)
>[A4] Pilfering shit. There's a lot of stuff lying around: granted you don't know what most of it does, but you're sure it's better off in your hands than Pat's. And you have pockets now. (+Items)
>[A5] Write-in.

>[B1] Apologize for the incident. (-Grit, +Pat's Trust)
>[B2] Don't bring it up.

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