[PRP] Let's Taco 'Bout It (Chester & Preacher)

[The Semblance of Unity]

Luckily, bullshit magic land had spit them out fairly quickly after they'd dropped off their watery stone thing. Even more luckily, Preacher knew there was a Taco Bell nearby. She'd insisted they go and was now staring at the menu intently. She stuck her hand through a rip in her jeans to scratch her thigh. It felt good to be back in her normal clothing, crop top, sports bra, ripped jeans - even if she was still stuck in that stupid medical boot. She caught a glimpse of herself reflected in the glass door and turned resolutely away.

"How many tacos have y'ever eaten in one go, Nurse?"

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[Smerdle]

"Taco Bell tacos?" Chester already knew what he was ordering and, as such, was not looking at a menu. "Five? Maybe? I don't usually get the plain ones, so I'm not sure how many I might eat in theory." He hoped she wasn't gearing up toward some sort of eating contest. The thought made him kind of gaggy.

"You?"

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"One time I ate nine n' got sick. It was awful." Even though she sounded quite cheerful about it. Preacher ordered (not nine tacos), then stepped to the side a bit so Chester could do his thing.

"Soooo. yeah, Silk was less bitchy than I thought. Also, ya went to tha library?" Preacher Maria: conversationalist extraordinaire.

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[Smerdle]

Chester placed his order and moved over into the pickup area.

"She seemed under a lot of pressure, so..." In his experience, bitchiness took a certain level of concentration to maintain. "She's probably just overwhelmed. Or maybe she's turning over a new leaf." The improbability of this statement, coupled with Preacher's sudden change of subject made him smile and shake his head.

"Hm. I did." It wasn't a surprise that she knew, considering he'd said as much on the listserv. He folded his arms and watched the workers behind the counter assemble gorditas for a few seconds before looking at her again.

"I was researching the purge." He didn't say it loudly, but he wasn't worried who heard either. It sounded more like a new diet fad than a murder spree. "Why did you go?"

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Preacher snorted rudely. She didn't hate Silk, but she didn't like the fetch anyway. They called out her order in record time and she grabbed the bag, shoving a fistful of sauces into it.

"Whatall did ya find out 'bout tha purge? I went ta look up stuff 'bout that charter." She frowned and touched one of the burn scars along her neck. "So basically, some o' us gave our consent ta make the thing like... a buncha cycles ago n' I needed ta find out why I gave mine."

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[Smerdle]

Food grabbed, Chester looked around for a table, pointing at one of the two in opposite corners away from everybody else.

"There? Unless you want to walk?" He doubted she did with her injured foot, but it didn't hurt to ask.

Once they were alone, he said, "In cycle 18, someone murdered most of the differentiated visitors with a single cut to the back of the neck. They left behind four nobles and a sort-of moonwalker." Chester hadn't really understood that part, but he hadn't been invested enough to look into it further either. "I touched one of the pictures, and there were two people arguing about murder and how 'it must be done', like they had planned it but hadn't carried it out. I'm not sure who they were, but I should probably inform Jeremiah at the very least. Things have been busy." As she well knew.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Nah, that's good." She picked apart her burrito and began squeezing sauce into it.

"Funnily enough, there were some kinda attacks up in cycle 4, too. That's why tha charter even happened." She frowned. "How can ya even die from a back o' tha neck slice?" Obviously, people had, but still.

"Who all was left behind? Probs Spinel ho, firelord a** - hmm... "

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[Smerdle]

Chester leaned in close to his Cheesy Gordita CrunchTM, and when he sat back again a quarter of it had disappeared.

"The book said the cuts severed the cerebral spine. I had chalked it up to magic, but maybe there's more to it. It would suggest medical knowledge at the very least."

Another quarter of the Gordita disappeared into the ether. He barely even chewed, which probably kept him from choking when he chuckled at her survivor list.

"The Spinel Lady and the Burning Man, yes. Adoelle, one of the original principals. And someone named Minerva Mercer." He didn't even need his notebook for that. "Michael Mitchell was the sort-of-moonwalker, which is a little strange because he was certainly moonwalker enough at Blackfriars." He shrugged.

"Did you agree to the charter because of the attacks? Or... past you, rather." He presumed so, but he knew as well as anyone that people had many different reasons for doing the same thing.

The Semblance of Un!ty

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"So... first off, I was a nerd in cycle four and y'ain't allowed to tell no one. Basically, there was attacks n' people said that tha spirit-bound were responsible. N' I dunno how, but turning Melany into some kinda magic tupperware was supposed ta stop th'attacks, so I said yeah." She frowned and took another bite of her burrito. Chester's gordita was at least half gone already.

"Minerva, who is also Noeh - like Chenoeh from Dune, yeah? Is m'boss relative. She's like.... Okay, so magic filters through Sonny first, then it hits ya girl Spinel. Then it filters further inta nobles, Minerva; weres n' wargs, Pride; n' undiff, Pax." She began doodling on a napkin. "Nobles, Minerva, Adoelle was the princip. Weres n' wargs, Pride, Michael was the princip. Undiif, Pax, Heliogirl was the princip. So beofer thisall happened, Adoelle said to Minerva lets make a thing! Nobles r' cool, the spirit bound is too powerful, n' created nobles and split tha weres and wargs. That's what tha charter did. Somehow. I think. Ughhhhh." She groaned. <********, cycle four nerd me got told this charter would stop spirit bound from attackin' people. But I couldn't find nothin' on th'attacks. N' the pages 'bout Minerva were ********' wiped, tho she was that one what said hey sign tha charter." Another bite of her burrito. "Oh, I also watched some bit o' them ******** around in Melany's back"

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so i don't lose the link

 

[Smerdle]

It was a lot to tack on to what he knew, especially with her delivery, though Chester was surprised to find that wasn't the main sticking point anymore. Somewhere along the way he had become conversationally fluent in Preacher. He listened as intently as he could while also simultaneously chewing and casting covert glances at the people meandering over near the cash registers, hoping that none of them were spies.

"If there was nothing about the attacks, then Minerva could have been lying outright. That, or someone's trying to frame her. There was erased text in the notes on the purge too, something between the discussion of the survivors and some further information on the person who said they knew who the killer was. They're probably not related, but... I don't think anyone should be erasing history like that." No mention was made about her past nerdhood, though he would make every effort to keep it a secret.

"What were they doing in Melany's back?" He was glad he had finished his first gordita. It was one thing to discuss people long dead who probably hadn't suffered to get there, and a bit of another to hear stories of a girl who was still technically alive as she screamed through her past torture.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

She was kind of grateful Chester had learned to follow her - or least enough so that he didn't ask her to repeat herself. "Yeah, only tha deers: Pride, Pax, n' Minerva, and the principals can erase r' block stuff in tha library. The old ones is dead, but presumably tha new ones could read past tha block." They'd just have to strong-arm one into it. In fact, Preacher wasn't sure she knew who the new principals were.

Preacher took a huge bite of her burrito. It was good that she never was particularly squeamish. "Well, the bit I saw... it was after-ish. They'd, y'know, flayed tha skin off." She made a flopping motion with her hand. "Carved tha s**t inta tha bone, and were-" She frowned. "-puttin' some... kinda purpley coagulated stuff on it. I dunno what it was, though. Silk were there, screamin' her head off. They kept Melany conscious durin'."

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[Smerdle]

"Ah." Another thing he had to rely on others to do for him, this reading redacted history nonsense. He supposed it wasn't that bad once he got past the initial disappointment, however. He wanted to be a principal or a deer about as much as he wanted to be a noble or one of the spirit-bound. Which was, not at all.

"That's... unpleasant." Honestly, he was less invested in the charter than some, though he was certainly happy to help with fixing it, but the bone carving and the Play-Doh wound treatments were proof enough that it needed to go altogether.

"Silk was screaming?" They'd barely been in her presence just now, but the fetch still didn't seem the type for high emotion. Reaching in his bag, Chester retrieved another gordita.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Yeah, it's kinda bullshit that they can erase junk." She watched as he pulled another gordita. "Are those good? I ain't had one."

Then she returned to the question at hand. "Yeah, Silk was real opposed ta tha whole Melany bein' made ina magic noble tupperware. Real opposed. She dint look all... like she looked diff'rent in the book, though, not like how she does now. I dunno. I get everyone is all inta tha charter, but it feels like it's treatin' a symptom and not a cause." She gestured with the burrito and a piece of tomato fell out.

"Like tha old sigil is more important in m'opinion, but people ain't ask my opinion."

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[Smerdle]

"Mmhm. I agree. Magic is broken on a fundamental level. I hope fixing the charter is beneficial in the long run, but..." He didn't want to die before the year was out. The more time they wasted on this, the less they had to stop the reset. He looked down at his food.

"No one's asking for my opinion either." He shrugged. "If we can get a principal to come to the library, maybe we can find something that will help. I wouldn't suggest we needed one at all, but a lot of the good stuff seems to be hidden away for whatever reason." Or maybe he only thought the redacted stuff would be good because it was a secret. After a few more seconds, he unwrapped the corner of the gordita and held it up a little.

"I like them. I can break you off a piece but that might get disgusting."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Yeah, I think that real solution begins wit' dissemblin' tha first sigil, but I already said that." She grimaced. "Yeah, that's tha next step - getting a princip. N' I'm workin' on gatherin' the components of the first sigil so it can be destroyed." Preacher wasn't sure if it all would work, but hey, she had to try.

"I can jus' grab a bite," she said, her hand reaching towards his. "'less you're afraid I got cooties. You can have some of my burrito?"

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