so_shik | Sixteenth Spool of Thread-[Voice]

No no, nothing like that. Actually Haruki's the one who brought me back to the house and set my leg so that's fine. It was somebody else.

[Good. Really good. Not living with a lunatic is a good sign. But still...somebody else?]

Who?

...I told you about the Reaper's Game right? The cheating-death game?

Yes. I remember--I'm creeped out, but I remember.

How much did I tell you exactly? Like detail-wise, do you remember me telling you about all of the components and people involved in the game?

I remember the Reaper guys--you told me about them. And the general gistiness of the game, but nothing else, really.

Why, was it someone from it that did it to you?

...every game last seven days. During those seven days, there's a Reaper with a higher ranking than most who's known as the Game Master, or the GM. The GM gets to hand-pick what the missions will be for the game to see who survives and who doesn't while ordering lower-rank Reapers to do their bidding. The final mission is to take out the GM and defeat them before determining if you've won the game.

There's a Reaper here in Luceti, and he's a GM. His psychs work and mine don't, apparently.

[Okay, so she doesn't quite follow the explanation--but she understands enough of it.]

And he's been a-rustling up the trouble, for you? Leg-breaky trouble, in particular? What a rat-fink.

Yeah well, you remember that experiment in May? Where the entire town almost collapsed on itself and people were being possessed and dying and everything? He attacked me then too but with his full power...

And did that end up in more or less than a broken leg? Because I am liking this guy less and less, the more I hear. So the more I hear, the more the flames of friend-revenge can be flamed.

Well in May, I got to fight back because my psych worked but when I fought him a few days ago, mine didn't work so I ended up being picked up and dropped and shot breaking my leg. I'm not sure which part I like less, the fact that he broke my leg or the fact that I couldn't stop him.

That and he talks about math way too much anyway.

Oh my god. Your leg-breaky guy is the weird math obsessed guy? I talked to him. About milkshakes, and he was all busy with the cruel laughter and the major case of rudeness. I was not impressed.

Ugh. Why is he such a je-...wait milkshakes? Really Buffy, really?

[Okay, a twinge of humiliation finds its way into her voice.]

W-well, it was back when there were those earthquakes and I was all, aaaah, I'm going to turn into a milkshake and he told me I'd make a horrible milkshake and I said that I'd make a great one, since I'm so sweet. Not that I'd want to me a milkshake anyway because I really don't want to. But he said it all with more math and less niceness and it was really all just one big messy fiasco.

Okay see that makes more sense, you should have said that first. But yeah, definitely not a nice guy. At all. I can just imagine what kind of stuff he's pulling on everybody else.

[Actually, she's mildly surprised that that somehow managed to make more sense.]

If he tries anything, again--just, gimmee a holler, okay? I'm a fast runner.

I'll keep that in mind but, no offense, what could you do? His power isn't exactly normal.

Don't worry, neither is mine. I mean, there's this inconvenient little limit in this world, but my punch still packs a--well?--a punch.

Somehow everybody's powers work except mine. Is that weird?

Well, I wouldn't say I have powers, more like just plain old power. As in supernatural and singular. I punch less like a girl and more like a...really well-dressed and really petite heavyweight boxer. Well, okay, probably a little more powerful than that.

But, magic and stuff? So not my field. And if I remember from when we last talked about it, you had something that sounded sorta like magic mojo.

You as a boxer? Somehow I can totally see that.

And...yeah you could say that. Telekinesis specifically, that's my best one anyway.

I heal pretty quickly, too. Throw in the occasional prophetic dream and that's the recipe for a vampire slayer.

Yeah, telekinesis is definitely on the magic side of things. Could that be why it's not working? I mean, was it a learned skill? Because I didn't learn how to heal or punch...they just sorta arrived one day.

You don't still have those dreams here do you?

Well...not exactly. If I have my pins it should work just fine and I have the pins but they don't work. I don't know what it is.

Not here, no. Haven't had a single one.

Pins? It works through pins?

[Your incredulity is showing, Buffy.]

That's good at least.

Yup. Little pins that you wear, but we can only use four at a time. [Yes Buffy we know you think this is weird but it's true]

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