( open ) foolishly laying our hearts on the table, stumblin' in

[transmit]

WHO: Elysium, Wriothesley, and YOU!
WHAT: BACHELOR PARTY
WHERE: Various locations in Las Vegas
WHEN: May 15th-16th
WARNINGS: Copious consumption of alcohol, unsafe and insane behaviour probably (it's a night out in Las Vegas, standard warnings apply), I'll add more as they come up


[ On the evening of May 15th, all characters will be receiving the following text. Unless you're you know who, who it's been purposefully filtered away from. ]

🎉 You're Invited to Wriothesley's Bombastic Bachelor's Bash!!! 🎉


Date: May 16th
Time: 11AM — ???
Locations:
██████████████
██████████████
██████████████
██████████████
Dress Code: Casual, swimwear

Join us for a day of exciting adventures as we celebrate Wriothesley's last hurrah as a single man, jam packed with activities to make it a time to remember! From aerial rides to skydiving, to a poolside lunch and bar-hopping with party games, it's our time to let LOOSE!

Bar and general venue expenses will be covered by yours truly, but for everything else please plan your budget accordingly. For any questions, contact me here @ hottie.

Whether you know the man or not, the more the merrier! He'll be happy to have you.

Can't wait to see you there!

Your new or old best bud,
Elysium


( OOC: This is an open log, so feel free to thread jack and top level to your heart's content! Characters may join for every prompt or the select few they'd be interested in, assume the locations field contains a detailed timeline of where the crew will be and when. For the bar and clubbing prompt, characters ages 21+ only, please!

No one's actually getting married btw (probably), Elysium just wants an excuse to party. )

Comments

[penaltypoints]

[ Nodding, Yesod makes for the table, taking a seat there across from Wriothesley. Netzach might have slumped forward onto the table's surface or leaned back in his chair, limbs slack; Yesod sits there as stiffly as he stood.

Since it's unlikely that any civilians will overhear the conversation, it's easy to take a direct route to revealing the truth: ]

I am a colleague of Netzach's: Yesod. He and I both make use of the cloaking device technology at our disposal. Our physical bodies recently underwent maintenance, which has evidently led to my avatar data being transferred to his body, while his avatar data was transferred to mine. He is here as well...

[ Netzach seems to be enjoying himself regardless — but then, he doesn't know that their avatars essentially resemble their past selves. ]

[frostfist]

[ For all that he looks like he'd been about to flee the premises moments prior like some sort of prey animal, Wriothesley looks remarkably put together as he follows behind and takes a seat, posture far more relaxed than Yesod-as-Netzach.

Damn, but this really is a different guy entirely, huh? Back straight, voice clear-cut and efficient. A far cry from the redolent guy he'd had drinks with weeks ago. ]

Yesod, huh? A pleasure to meet you. I'm Wriothesley but, well— [ he waves a hand at all the activity around them ] you probably guessed that already.

[ How long is it going to take for all this to die down and for him to return back to a welcome state of obscurity.... ]

Have you been here long? Netzach never mentioned anything about you?

[penaltypoints]

[ Wriothesley's completing their exchanged introductions receives another nod; Yesod's gaze follows the movement of the other man's hand. Everyone but Wriothesley himself is presumably here of their own will, welcoming the excuse that Elysium has provided. ]

I suppose congratulations are in order.

[ Unless Wriothesley has had more than enough of that by now... Yesod turns his head to regard him across the table once more. ]

I arrived approximately two months ago. I believe Netzach and Malkuth were already here at the time, but it would have surprised me, had Netzach spoken of our workplace at length.

[ It's filled with nothing but unpleasant memories. Besides, while Netzach isn't avoiding him here, what is there to mention? That he insists on interfering with Netzach's freedom to drink himself into oblivion and fall asleep on the floor in various locations? ]

[frostfist]

[ Wriothesley makes a face at that. ]

No need. I'm not even seeing anyone [ yet ] so all of this is truly more than a little premature.

[ Going from being single to suddenly getting married? No thanks, that's an acceleration straight out of his worst nightmares. He'll enjoy the single life a little longer. But he does straighten at the mention of workplace, arms folding on the table in front of him. ]

Malkuth never spoke of your workplace much either, other than the fact that it was [ hm, how to put this ] somewhat constricting at times.

[penaltypoints]

[ The apparent misunderstanding that has arisen and resulted in... all of this... is for Wriothesley and Elysium to resolve, then. No wonder the former isn't particularly enthusiastic.

Moving on from the topic altogether, Yesod focuses on Wriothesley's reaction to his answer instead. ]

That is an understatement.

[ That said, considering that he and all of his colleagues were brought here from different points in time, the workplace in question might also differ depending on the context. And there was the matter of Malkuth's efforts to distance herself from him and Netzach for their protection... ]

What has come up in conversation between you and Netzach or you and Malkuth, in that case?

[frostfist]

[ Understatement, huh? There's always more than meets the eye, that's just how life is, but clearly there's a lot more going on here than he could have imagined.

Wriothesley shifts in his chair, straightening so he can give Yesod-as-Netzach his full attention. They may only have met a handful of minutes ago but he is genuinely interested in what the other man has to say. ]

Not much. Malkuth mentioned a few of the methods used by her [ their? ] Library when we first met. Something about forming contracts with new arrivals and then turning them into books upon failure to complete the conditions of said contract?

[ Which: still creepy, by the way. ]

She didn't seem keen on saying much more than that so I didn't ask.

[penaltypoints]

[ Malkuth isn't responsible for the Library and its methods, of course — Angela is — but the ruthlessness of its operations sounds like an extension of Lobotomy Corporation, yet another system of processes that conforms to the City's norms. Yesod frowns, thinking back to what Malkuth has shared with him regarding the future. ]

...That is correct, to my knowledge, although Netzach and I have yet to experience it ourselves.

[ It makes less and less sense that the two of them are here in their machine bodies, their memories and skill sets incomplete, while Malkuth and Gebura have the human forms that Angela's negotiations promised all of them. Certainly, he and Netzach aren't useless like this, but the resulting situation has been needlessly complicated, its consequences drawn out for too long. Perhaps it really was an error on LILITH's part. ]

I doubt that any of us accept such methods gladly.

[ That, too, is as complicated as everything that came before it, across their lives. ]

[frostfist]

[ It's relieving to hear Yesod say that, even if Wriothesley knows as well as anyone that working for any person or place doesn't automatically convey the beliefs of that workplace onto the person themselves. There's obviously a lot at play behind the scenes, and while his naturally curious nature urges him to find out more, it doesn't quite feel right sticking his nose into things when Malkuth had kept her mouth shut on things and he barely knows Yesod.

Time to pull back a bit, at least for now. ]

Well, you won't have to comply with those methods while you're here at least.

[ Unless LILITH decides to pull a fast one on all of them. ]

Speaking of, how are you enjoying things here? In [ he gestures around them with one hand ] Las Vegas and Neo-Tokyo alike?

[penaltypoints]

[ Wriothesley's assertion seems confident... He must have been here for some time now — in fact, much of what he has said suggests that this is the case. There are things that Yesod would like to ask, and he studies the other man, curious, but he gives Wriothesley's unexpected question some thought first.

The freedom to consider enjoyment at all, to indulge in it, is new. ]

It's certainly a change of pace. While we were brought to this world for a specific purpose, we have a substantial amount of leisure time on our hands.

[ It hasn't been unpleasant to interact with his colleagues away from what they knew, and to meet people from other worlds entirely. ]