ic inbox - Pasture / Sheep Game

[finalbows]

choose

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[ Angel Devil. ]
[  chatcube, or action. ]
[ if you're visiting the rose barn,
look for the door with the creepy bat-and-angel-wing sigil on it. Knock first! Or get zapped. ]

CODE

Comments

[finalbows]

<sub>[ you're floating. you're not touching the ground. there's no mist-swollen earth rending beneath your steps, anymore.

your crinkle your brow, looking at that red band. your free hand strays to your throat. no bell collar. ]</sub>

...I merely found my mind straying to other times, a while. But I'm here now, cat.

[catposting]

[ chuckles ]

Daydreaming about bullying more strays with your Ranker act?

[finalbows]

...Hn. It's their faults for falling for it. I barely even know what a Ranker IS. If some silly old discontinued doll like me is able to pull the wool over your eyes, it's more than enough proof you need to hurry up and wise up, or die.

[catposting]

Did you hit your —

[ sighs, shakes his head and sits up. ]

Sometimes I feel like you say words just to fill the air, Rosebell.

[ taps his red arm cuff. a green light blinks in the middle of it. ]

Are you close, Sheep Fiend? Rosebell's gonna create an entire mind palace for us at this rate, you'll barely recognize him by the time you arrive.

[ you hear a bleat over the cuff-that's-apparently-a-comlink. ]

Oh? You should have said so. Yeah, just come in. We're not busy.

[ there's a nearby hiss of an electronic door opening, followed by rustling bushes. a man-sized white sheep ambles into the clearing on its two hind legs, dressed in white robes, bound around the waist with a red sash. the sash's bell jingles as it walks. unlike the Sheep Fiend of the pasture, this one's cat ears and tail don't need to be stuck on. the abs are still drawn on, though. he's around a head taller than the kitten while standing up, though the kitten stays put on the couch for now. ]

Sheep Fiend, you look ridiculous. Where did you even get that?

[ Sheep Fiend bleats. ]

What? Rosebell gave that to you?

[ both of them turn to look at you. ]

[finalbows]

...
We were making sheep-sized clothes for the play anyway...

[catposting]

Now you're just doing it on purpose.

[ Sheep Fiend bleats in assent, then flops down on top of the kitten. ]

— H-hey! What did I say about personal space?!

[ SHOVES HIM OFF. Sheep Fiend bleats sadly and moves over. now they're sitting side by side. the kitten spits out wool and groans ]

Seriously, you guys are impossible.

[ the kitten sounds happier than you've ever heard him. ]

[finalbows]

Ah, but I'm impossible from a dis~tance~~.

Sheepy, dear, just because you're a living blanket doesn't mean the fur rug over there wants to be tucked in all the time. But. Isn't there... Someone... still missing...?

[catposting]

[ the kitten winces. hands the apple to Sheep Fiend — who munches it happily — and taps the cuff-comlink again. a hologram appears, showing a small girl with pale skin, black hair and talon-like feet, dressed in all black save for a red bracelet around her wrist, sitting on the floor of the soundproof room. she stares ahead, motionless. ]

She hasn't spoken since the last mission. The food trays I give her come back empty, which is promising, but... she won't talk to me.

[ Sheep Fiend bleats again. ]

... He says her life signals are active, but it's like her mind isn't there.

[finalbows]

_{[ something in your chest falls into a painful, empathic stillness, to see her like that. ]}

I see.
...Nutrition intake and minimizing loss of muscle mass are the two most important things for buying time in these situations. _{It's why he grows us standing. If you can't even properly bask, the body's doomed.} --That's. Well. It's something. And we NEED whatever something we can get.

...
It'll be... very. Very difficult. Taking on the Chaos Floor, without her.

[catposting]

Hey, don't get ahead of yourself. We can't even fund the test with our existing funds, unless you found a way to exchange your gil for points. You know how conservative the directors are.

[ he hesitates, eyes flickering away for a moment. ]

I made a deal with Red. To get the funds.

...

It involves robbing the Workshop.

1/2

[finalbows]

I want to rob the Workshop...!

2/2

[finalbows]

... _{[ ahem. shepherd's staff. HOLDING, shepherd's staff... ]}

...It would be very dangerous. We'll need QUITE the solid plan.

1/2

[catposting]

[ speaking of which. glances at the staff. ]

Are you sure you don't want an arms inventory for that? I know it hasn't caused us problems so far, but this is the Workshop we're talking about, not some decrepit off-the-grid factory. It's not like they cost much. I'm sure you can get one of those with gil.

[ Sheep Fiend gives a small, very guilty bleat. ]

2/3

[catposting]

[ the kitten freezes. ]





You got what?!

3/3

[catposting]

[ aaaaaaand that's all the warning they get before a black-haired human boy appears out of thin air, falling face first onto the ground between you and the couch. his shirt is stained with dried blood. it isn't his. ]



Uhhh. Hey! Am I interrupting?

[ this is a manifestation of your impression of Splash, not Splash himself dreamwalking. whether or not you can tell, however, ]

Re: 3/3

[finalbows]

Yes. Very much so.

1/2

[catposting]

Ahahaha. Sorry, sorry! It's just, um. Well, I'm sure this was a misunderstanding! You see, Sir Sheep here stole a reaaaaally really important map I was guarding, so if you guys wanna kindly hand it over then I'll be on my way! Hahaha. You guys totally meant to steal a different map, right? Right?? Look, I really really really don't want to fi—

[catposting]

[ the intruder squeaks as a fur tail slams him against a hedge, knocking the wind out of him and pinning him there.

Sheep Fiend bleats apologetically. the kitten, now standing, folds his arms and turns toward you, for a moment seeming taller than he is. ]

Thoughts?

1/2

[finalbows]

It's a tumbleweed. Those can be a... dangerous, species, if allowed to roll around, unchecked.... They roll and roll and roll, and bumble into places they shouldn't be... and get, stuck, in irksome positions. Proactive managing of them is rather necessary, to prevent conflagrations.

2/2

[finalbows]

_{[ stalks up to the Weed, and tap-taps him on the forehead with the head of the shepherd's crook. ]}

Tell us, dear! What would YOU do with a pesky, noisy tumbleweed getting in the way? Perform a con~trolled, burrrrn? Or... something, else?

[catposting]

W-wait, sir! I don't want to get in anyone's way! I'm just here to retrieve a map!! You're the ones that stole it in the first place!!!

[finalbows]

What's the saying...? Ah, yes.

Finders, keepers. Losers,
weepers.

But, how odd, I don't SEE any tears just yet. Do you need a little help with that part, doll?

[catposting]

[ squirms!! damn this fur tail!! ]

I-I'm not as easy to threaten as you think...! B-besides, if you kill me, they'll come for you! You don't want to get on the wrong side of the Workshop!! Just give me the map and I'll go quietly, I promise!

[finalbows]

Oh no, oh my, friends. Do you hear that? We don't want to get on the wrong side of the Work~shop. All we need to do is hand over the map!

What do you think, my darlings? Should we give him what he wants?

_{[ this is the 'you two better have copied down that map already' voice. ]}

1/?

[catposting]

...

[ vines sprout from the hedge behind the intruder, caressing his neck and chin. the kitten floats up, cross-legged on his blue lighthouse, a strange glint in his eyes. ]

Are you saying... that they let you, a trusted employee, run around freely...? That as far as they're concerned, you're on — let me guess, your lunch break?

[ a vine strokes his cheek. ]