maelstroms | 𝟽 🆁🅸🅽🅶🆂 ᴍᴏʟʟʏᴍᴀᴜᴋ

[ Considering the chaos of Fridays, Ming Yi is just staying out of the way now that his business of double-checking the circus is over with. He hasn't eaten much of anything this week, but he's settled into the common room to tuck himself out of the way of everyone running around like chicken's with their heads cut off, cradling a cup of tea in his hands with his eyes half-shut. They still move to the doorway when someone comes in, but he inclines his head slightly in acknowledgement when he sees Mollymauk. ]

Don't suppose you checked out any strange rooms today?

[Ah, yes-- Molly had come here to kind of get out of the way of everyone else as well. His room is lonely as always, but there's also the unsettling feeling of . . . well. Things you can't see that could be hanging about. Weird.]

Nothing, this time. Just where we woke up.

[ And then everything went BONKERS, so here we are now, we suppose. ]

Apparently the kitchen smells like sweets and was locked when that group went in. [ He doesn't bring up the posters to Molly, figuring he'll find out tomorrow anyways and better to give themselves a moment's peace before things get started. ] I haven't heard anything strange about this room yet, at least.

[Well that was like. A lot!

Haha.

molly will have helped get shi qingxuan to the medbay and into that dang pod if help was needed, but even if it wasn't, he'll show up shortly after. just immediately sitting himself down wherever there's room and turning to ming yi.]

See. I told you. Good fortune.

[ Molly accompanying them is fine with him, honestly, especially since he only has so many damn hands for this entire thing. Carrying Qingxuan and getting the pod open aren't exactly compatible with one another, so after that's done he's settling in for the long haul - however long that winds up being (three hours, apparently) - and.

Snorting when he brings up the card thing again. ]

All she had to do was survive, so I guess your card was right.

[He puts a hand over his pocket where the cards for, for a moment, but then relaxes, just kicking his legs and looking over at the pod - quiet. Until:]

She's strong. I told her earlier this week that she seemed a very kind goddess to me. So I'm glad, not just that she's alive, but she was the one to destroy that thing.

Where we're from, there's a realm for ghosts. Should he find his way to such a place here, I'm sure that he'll get the rude welcome that he'll deserve.

[ Point blank on that one, he's dead certain that Beau will total him for a second time if she's able to get her hands on HK-47. ]

... she's kind to a fault. But stubborn.

Part of me hopes a machine doesn't have a ghost. Wouldn't want to see the rusty bastard again in any afterlife.

[looks away from a gy definitely existing,]

No fault in kindness. None at all.

I'm not sure what the extent of sentience allows for, since we don't have machines like that. Possessed objects that gain mobility, sure, but those are still ghosts or things that have become spirits. At least most of us would sooner destroy him again than let him last long.

[ A long pause, considering how to phrase it. ]

... there is fault in kindness, but not from those that are kind. [ just those that would abuse the kindness ]

[Molly's been avoiding people, mostly, but he's still wandering the halls attempting to keeping moving. Hiding doesn't seem to make it better. When he sees Ming Yi, he'll raise a hand, but, the eye contact is perhaps a little too long, too sudden--]

[Fjord looks worried.

“So before you woke up in the dirt . . . nothing?”

You can feel the magic, pulling you. Whatever you say, it will be the truth. You’ve no choice about that for the moment. Jester doesn’t seem to be sorry at all.

“There is no before. Whatever happened before is not me. Some asshole got buried in the dirt. Fuck him. I am enjoying what I’m doing; I want nothing to do with that. Anything that came before, I was happy to just leave it be.”

“Do you really not want to know your past?” Nott is hesitant, hands in front of her, nervous.

“I really don’t. Whoever that was came to that end, and I want nothing to do with that. Whatever it was, it doesn’t feel good when I– the moment when something creeps through, I don’t like it. I don’t want anything to do with it. I was happy! I liked the circus! The circus was great!”

She tries again: “I’m sorry to belabor this, but what if you had a good life before this? What if you were famous or rich or had friends or family?”

At this, Yasha tries to intervene, how you love her, ”I think he’s quite an amazing person–“ but you interrupt anyway.

“Okay, here’s the thing that you’re not catching. That wasn’t me. This is mine. I don’t want anything from that other person anymore. That  person is someone else. It was– I’m in for a penny, might as well. I’m told, although I don’t entirely remember this part, that I only said the word empty over and over again for the first week.”

Caleb, asks: “M.T.? Or empty?”

“Empty. That sounds terrible. I don’t want to remember anything. I don’t want to anybody else’s baggage in my head and I don’t want anybody else’s problems, thoughts, ideas. I like this person, right now is a good person. Is a fine person. Is a happy person. It’s very freeing. It’s the best thing– it’s the thing that happened to me. It’s not the best thing that happened to me, it’s the thing that happened to me. I found peace in building a new person.

What if the past feels that I owe it something?”

Beau pipes in, loud and brash as always. “You don’t owe your past shit. If I don’t feel anything about my past, but I still remember it and I still don’t give a fuck about where I came from then, why should you care about shit that you don’t even remember?”

You scowl right back at her.

“I spent two years before I met you all cajoling people, occasionally ripping them off, occasionally doing a good turn here or there. Never trust the truth. The truth is vicious. The truth thinks you owe it something. None of that. I like my bullshit. It’s good. It’s happy. It makes other people happy."

Nott, again: “But it’s not who you are . . . ?”

“It is exactly who I am. I may be a liar but I’m never a betrayer. I’m honest in my work, and I believe in doing a good turn. I’ve never cheated you out of money. I’ve never robbed from you. I stayed with that circus for two years, I know how people treat each other. It’s important. I don’t care where you’ve been. I don’t care what terrible things any of you have done. You’re here now. This is how it works.

I do my best every town I went to and every town I left, no matter how they treated me– and a lot of them treated me with deep disrespect. I left every town better than I found it.”

You can feel Beau’s glare from across the room. You don’t care. You don’t care at all what she thinks of you.

“Let me make this abundantly clear. My name is Molly. That person is dead and not me. It’s just a person who had this body. They abandoned it.

it’s mine now.”

And the memory fades. ]

[ Monday is a long, long day.

Ming Yi wants nothing more than to avoid people, after the eventful and colorful history that he's been left to witness from veritable strangers. And to meet eyes with Molly, he already knows he's in for yet another headache when it lasts a little too long, spilling right into disorientation afterwards.

But, he supposes it's not the worst of them that he's seen. Even if a dark part of him could almost laugh.

After all, he knows what life after death is like.

He brings a hand up as the memory fades, massaging his temple with a deep sigh and closing his eyes. ]

... I don't suppose we're going to have a heart-to-heart about this?

[Molly is doing almost exactly the same motion, pinching the bridge of his nose and punching out a breath in a way that's just

so fucking exhausted with this memory.]

I rather think I laid it all out on the line in it already, don't you?

I do. [ point blank ] So I'm glad that you've got no interest in having one.

[ Because... the wishy washy types here... ]

You're not wrong, though. The truth is vicious. [ That's it that's all you get out of him for talking about it. ]

Especially here, I think.

[Looks directly at our scapegoats.]

[ Hm. Looks also at our scapegoats. ]

I think this place, by nature, is vicious. The indulgences may seem divine, but look at the positions we've gotten ourselves into.

Exactly the issue, isn't it? They've got us by the fucking shorthairs. Rock and a hard place doesn't begin to cover it.

[Reaching to scratch his face for a moment.]

It wasn't as if I could say no to the deal.

... no, I don't suppose any of us could, considering we're here.

[ For whatever their reasons, they all agreed. That was the only requirement - no questions asked agreement. ]

This week is just going to be a slap in the face for it, I think.

[ Ming Yi doesn't stick around, once he has his shovel and has collected his boots. He's making a direct line to his and White's room, and while his expression hasn't changed... his steps are brisk, his grip iron.

But he does stop at his door before he enters, setting the bloodied shovel against the wall and - pausing, sighing at his bloody fingers.

And, also. He's not completely unaware in his bid to leave the conference room. ] ... thank you for your help today, Molly.

That is what I'm good for. Help, very few questions asked.

[He'll just glance over at the shovel for a moment.]

And I'm pointedly not asking any questions.

I'm not sure what sort of answers I could give you, if you did ask the ones I'm sure most of the people would ask.

[ The comment is dry, as he carefully fishes his phone out. ]

"Ah yes, I went on a killing spree that covered the entire base." Exhausting.

[molly

laughs

sorry.]

Yeah-- Yeah, I suppose that's a fair point. And you don't strike me as the type with enough boiling over rage to bash someone's face in. But what do I know.

[ He expects it, it's fine. ]

Maybe a robot's. [ extra dry, beep goes the door lock ] Whatever "boiling over rage" I had was resolved before I even agreed to come here. So, while many of the people here exhaust me on the regular, to be honest, it's not enough for me to murder anyone with us.

And at least I'm living in a reality where drilling holes into peoples' faces doesn't make sense to me.

[LAUGHING MORE.]

Thank gods for small miracles, correct? We can't solve one fucking murder, but at least we do understand the concept putting a hole in someone's face does not fucking constitute a favor! Hells bells!

[ He grabs his shovel while Molly laughs, shouldering the door open, and - leaving it that way, if he wants to come in. ]

What sort of favor is that meant to be? [ Honestly, he sounds a little incredulous? Accomplishment. ] He was so mild when talking about it. I think he drilled through whatever reason he has in that head.

My roommate is a fucking slob too, by the way.

[He will! He'll just barge on in. Remember that he was in here like. An hour ago.]

And I agree, if you're going to be a murderer at least have the decency to, I don't know, have a little pride about it. I kill people! Simple.

We agreed to keep our things to our spaces, so honestly I've only seen some of his mess. As long as it stays there, he can be sloppy - not my problem if he grosses out his guests.

[ Yeah Ming Yi's not bothering with a tour, he's just going to unlace his boots so that he can get them off, depositing them and the bloots at the door. ]

I'm over 500 years old - I have absolutely killed people. Won't lie about that. But like a good, reasonable person, not someone convinced it's not their fault that someone died because they killed them.

He has guests? Tell me, tell me tell me-- [STOP]

[anyway he just rikers right into whatever chair is available. the boots STAY ON. this has pissed off multiple people. It's fine, they look good?]

Five hundred? Don't look a day over four. And the same, I suppose, though I've only got the two years.

I can guarantee you it is not even remotely interesting enough to gossip about. If he's indulging in lust while I'm down here, I haven't heard it - so it's either over so fast it's laughable, or... [ beat ] Honestly, just not happening.

[ why are you both like this! anyways, he doesn't even bother getting mad at him about it because, frankly, he doesn't care. Also White stomps around with his shoes all the time so whatever at this point. ]

Thanks, it's the murder. Blood makes for great mud treatment. [ DEADPAN AS HELL, as he drops to sit down and slump backwards. ] I'm not going to ask why you're only two, I feel like it probably has something to do with that memory of yours I saw.

[ming yi he's really gonna mc fucking lose it at all of this. the white ownage, the immediate swerve to murder mud masks, the deadpan tone

he needs like half a second of like truly shoulder-shaking laughter into his hands before he gets it together enough to respond. stop you're going to smear his shiny gold eyeliner. dear god.]

Shite. But you are a terror, you know that? [the BRUTALITY of it all. Anyway. Geez. Just brushing on past to the actual not-question.] Something like that. Maybe it's short for two hundred ... ?

[ Ah the satisfaction of a good dunk. He does like White, but White makes it so easy for people to roast him, and Ming Yi is just being honest.

He laces his fingers and folds them over his stomach as he leans back in his seat, apparently satisfied with nearly causing Molly's makeup to run. ]

Apparently no one expects me to say things like this. [ he at least knows his dry commentary is causing him to swiftly grow on people ] You don't look a day over one.

𝟽 🆁🅸🅽🅶🆂 ᴍᴏʟʟʏᴍᴀᴜᴋ

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W2 - MONDAY - 1/2

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w2, saturday

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