[PRP] Death Hotel (Preacher & Chester)

[The Semblance of Unity]

It was simple, really. Preacher had decided to turn her worry off like a light-switch. "Well," she said, looking back up at him. "I ain't see a reason why not. Bed's big enough and it ain't like we don' live together." She snorted. More like he was inflicted with her on a daily basis. "Was mainly askin' whether ya planned on stayin' for tha castin', though. Since they said people can leave."

After a moment, she patted the bed and arced her eyebrows at him.

smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

"Oh." Okay, fine. Now he was embarrassed.

"Y...yes, I was going to." In fact, he had been quite confident with regard to doing so until this very moment. Chester cleared his throat and remained standing despite her goddamn eyebrows. "I promise I won't do anything to screw up differentiation. I just feel I should be a part of this, more so than I already have been. If I want the cycles to end, I need to understand what that will mean, specifically for the nobility." There had been so much talk of them guiding future magic users and stepping down after a certain number of tries at immortality that he doubted some of them would react kindly to him taking a little of that purpose and need away. But those were problems for later. Tomorrow was for cooperation and observation.

"Close your eyes. I have to change my pants."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"It ain't nothin' I ain't seen before." But fine. She dutifully closed her eyes and actually kept them closed, listening to him shuffle about. "N' I ain't worried 'bout you, of all people, ********' with were stuff. Y'ain't gonna ******** me." She shifted in the bed, resisting the urge to peek.

"Yeah, dismantlin' the sigil should kill off tha cycles. N' everyone person with magic should have a say; it's only fair. Are ya done yet?"

smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

"Yes." He dropped onto the blankets next to her, not quite disappearing as she almost had, but sinking in far deeper than he'd anticipated.

"This makes me want a magic bed."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"I know," she said with feeling. "D'you think we could manage ta steal one?" Preacher hummed for a second, rolling onto her side to face Chester and rearranging the poof of some of the blankets and pillows.

"I guess it's a bit big, though..."

smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

Chester snorted. "It's very big to be stealing. Maybe we could employ some crafty use of invisibility, but I get the feeling they'd be able to see through that around here." He shifted off of his elbows and fully reclined. "I think it might be easier just to make one over here ourselves and try to drag it through a portal. If we have the time before the end of the world."

Downer. He sighed and looked over at her, brows raised in resignation. "Or we could just steal it, like you said."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"D'you like makin' things complicated?" Her eyes had shifted again, back to the sort of yellow and pink combination they were before. Preacher yawned and her jaw cracked. She reached over to poke him in the arm.

"It'd be nice ta illegally download a bed. N' tha world ain't endin' yet, I got too much s**t ta do." She frowned. "If tha world did end tomorrow, what would ya even do?"

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[Smerdle]

"It just sort of happens." And maybe he did like it. Complicating things gave him problems to solve and kept him free from boredom. He caught her yawn, holding a hand over his mouth as he did the same. He scooted farther up onto the bed after that, finally getting his feet properly on the mattress.

"If the world was going to end, what would I do..."

He had an answer right away, in fact he had several, but he couldn't share any of them. Chester looked up at the ceiling, settling on a response that was a little less likely to humiliate him. "I would cast something really big on this side. I don't know. Build a town or something. Maybe if I used enough power, I would become a fetch. Not that I want to become a fetch. But as a last resort, if nothing else worked..." He shrugged into the blankets, dismissing such defeatist thoughts.

"What would you do?"

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

While he spoke, Preacher wriggled furiously, fighting with the blankets. Chester got under them so much more easily than she had, how unfair. Eventually she was appropriately nested, blanket up over her head as well, although she still peeked out at him.

"Become a fetch just to persist?" She hadn't thought of that. "If ya built a town you could become tha mayor or that king, or the feudal lord with a buncha handmaidens or handmen." Preacher let out a giggle, although it was muffled.

"As for me... I dunno. ******** a man, punch a man - maybe not the same one for both, though. Eat something nice. But, y'know, this ain't bad either." Just lying in a huge, comfortable, talking. She shrugged, shifting. Preacher never really had big dreams or goals beyond the day to day.

smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

Chester nodded. "Mmhm." He was determined to persist in any way he could, minus begging for nobility. Even being stored in the library somehow, like Vivien, was preferable to being snuffed out forever. He looked over at Preacher buried in her blanket cocoon and grinned. "Handmaidens or handmen. I'll consider it."

He turned, sliding his arm under his head. "Those are good choices. Hopefully, we'll get enough warning so I can have time to punch someone too." Chester was quiet, watching her strange eyes for several breaths before he added, "This is nice. You're right."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"If ya persist n' get all corpsey, come find me n' fill me in? Assumin' I ain't dead. 'Less you wanna let me in on your spell. I'd prob pass on the harems, though." She snorted. Harems. Preacher tried imagining Chester with one and could nto quite manage it.

She grinned brightly at him. "Well, we might not have enough time, nor warnin', so better get it out now afore we die." She pointed to herself.

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[Smerdle]

"I will, if it works. If you don't dismiss me as some creepy magical stalker, I'll tell you all about the library so you can watch this very conversation." He pushed himself up so he was nearly sitting again and waved at whatever invisible magical camera was filming them for posterity. Then he took off his glasses and left them on the bedside table before lying back down. "And you can join in on the magic too, I don't mind. No harems required."

It took him a second or two to figure out what she might be getting at, maybe because he was currently a little blind or maybe because his brain just wasn't making the connection. "You mean... I'm not going to hit you, not here at least. Maybe at home, but we have casting to do tomorrow and I'm not... We need rest, not bruises." His brow furrowed slightly, failing to find a good reason not to throw down in the middle of the court, but knowing it would turn out badly if they did.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"So I can be a gross corpse forever wit ya, or have a corpse stalker." She tapped her chin. "Tough decision, but I promise I'll try real hard ta remember ya. Like... even if we cycle, it seems ********' weird that I'd forget ya, y'know?"

Then she wriggled a little closer to him, trying not to disturb the blanket nest so much. It was so ******** warm and toast and good. "Now or never," she said, and one of her fists popped out of the covers to smack him lightly on the chest. Preacher honest to god giggled. "Got ya."

smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

"Yes. Weird." But that was exactly what would happen, he was sure of it. They'd be born into similar but different bodies, slightly older or younger with different jobs and hobbies and families. And they wouldn't know each other from—

Chester had managed to get a little lost in his thoughts for a second, as he tended to when he got going about the resets, but when Preacher's fist darted out to hit him like a cat chasing feet, his worry burst like a bubble. "Not... No! I wasn't even ready." He reached out to tap her hand, squishing himself down into the blankets to get out of the line of fire.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Well, if I ain't gonna remember, we betta fetchify. Right, Fetchster?" She slid her hand away from his, grinning.

Chester might have burrowed down deeper underneath the blankets, but Preacher was underneath the blankets, too. Slowly, her hand wriggled underneath until - ahah! She ghosted her fingers up over his side and thwapped him lightly on the stomach. "Ya gotta be born ready, or I'll getcha." Preacher laughed and poked her finger at his belly button.

smerdle