AUDIENCE FOR: Jason Todd

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[JASON!!! HE'S RIGHT.

but he pulls away and aquarius kind of stays where they are, once again starting to reach out to grab his shirt but pulling back before they begin walking to keep up.]

First of all, trying to light a cigarette with a stun gun is the dumbest thing I've heard today. And secondly...I can let you borrow a lighter just for that.

[unrecked]

[Do you want to hold his hand, buddy? He's so used to being forced to hold hands this week that he just sticks his free one out and back so they can take it if they want.]

Hey, I've done way more desperate things in my life. [Zapping a cigarette to life with a stun gun is child's play.] I'll let you light me up when we get there then.

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[you know

the worst part is that canon has told me they've actually gotten used to holding hands so like. that + affection week means that fine, they take the hand and kind of trails after him. the hand is still cold through the gloves though.]

That doesn't make it any stupider, Todd. But okay. I'll light you when we get there but you still have to tell me about what happened on Thursday.

[unrecked]

[He will deal with the Italian Ice hands, it's fine. He will lead the way to the cemetery, not exactly taking his time, but not rushing either.]

That's a fair trade. You want to hear about how I missed almost every single one of my shots for some reason? Because that was ass.

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[stop. anyway into the cemetery they go, and aquarius seems to be glancing around. the cemetery is likely back to the way it was since it's post-trial and no longer a murder location.

there's a slight rustling from somewhere, little odd spooky noises, but they don't pay attention to those.]

Sounds like a curse. What were you even doing?

[they will let jason pick where they're going to sit.]

[unrecked]

[He looks around to check on the graves that certain people hid shit in and then others exhumed. He does not like the rustling and spooky noises, but he is trying to ignore those.

He will find a nice, sturdy mausoleum for them to park it. They can hang out near the front like weird goth kids. He sort of hurriedly hands the cigarette out to them. PLEASE LIGHT. He's about to crawl out of his skin.]

Well, I spent the first half convinced I was a lifeguard, so there's that.

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[all of the graves are back to normal. everything's filled in, everything's smoothed over, and the spooky noises seem to settle a little when jason and aquarius settle. they jump up onto the mausoleum, settling so they're a little taller and reaching into their pocket to pull out a lighter.

yes, yes, here's your cigarette. it is lit.]

A. Lifeguard. [they sound so incredulous.] Do you even know how to swim that well?

[unrecked]

[No, don't be taller. That's not fair.

He drags on the cigarette for a second to make sure it's lit, and then he moves a bit away from them so he isn't blowing smoke all in their face. He leans on the mausoleum with his shoulder to keep from using his back.

He takes a long moment to just suck the shit out of the cigarette and then exhale the smoke. Then he makes a face.]

What the hell does that mean? Yes, I can swim. What? You think I'm too heavy, or something? I'll sink?

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[jason is already half a foot taller than them on a normal day, let them have this. thanks for not blowing smoke in their face though, even if they don't really seem to mind either way. they aren't rushing him, patiently waiting.]

Don't be dumb. People float. [so there.] Okay, so let's go back. What happened when you were a lifeguard? Is that why you got bit by a shark?

[unrecked]

Oh, now I'm buoyant. I see.

[In that "you calling me fat" way. But he's teasing. Mildly.]

Yeah. Apparently, I was a lifeguard with my hostage. Royce. I never saw him, but I talked to him through the radio. When I went out on the beach, someone was drowning, so I had to save them.

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[they just kind of gently kicky.]

So partner lifeguards. Sure. [lightly. unsure.] Who was drowning? Were you able to save them?

[unrecked]

[He takes another drag of the cigarette, looking out over the cemetery rather at them. After he exhales:]

...It was Lup. I saved her, yeah. She thought being there was weird. She kept trying to remind me of the hotel. It felt... like something was off, but I couldn't remember anything.

Then a shark grabbed her.

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[...dislike.]

She was right. Being there was probably weird, but...[jason not remembering is also weird. they go quiet.] ...you know, actually, if you don't want to go into it it's fine. I get the idea.

[they're really curious, and they're still uneasy, but they're also aware that talking about things like this isn't easy especially now that there's a whole bunch of other new shit on top of it.]

[unrecked]

I didn't even tell you how I got my sweet shark bite yet.

[He peers at them, though, using his thumb to flick the cigarette.] It doesn't bother me. [At least, not in the way Aquarius might think.]

I figured I could throw her back toward the shore, so that's what I did without really thinking about it. But the shark got me and pulled me under. I drowned. Then woke up somewhere else.

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[they're listening attentively at least, shifting to pull their knees to their chest. ]

She was safe then. Even as the shark pulled you under. Does that mean you woke up alive somewhere else? But you were still hurt.

[unrecked]

Yeah.

[He hooks his thumb into the front pocket of his pants so he doesn’t put the cigarette out on himself accidentally. That’d be funny.

His head rolls against the stone he’s leaning on to rest.]

I remembered who I was and the hotel. I don’t know if it was because I died or not. Harrow asked me if someone had been trying to convince me to go back, like her.

Anyway, I woke up on a dating show.

[Don't just leave it at THAT.]

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[they're pretty still, arms around their knees and chin on their legs, watching jason and pondering this over.]

Did she remember the hotel at least? [wait.] What do you mean a dating show?

[DON'T JUST LEAVE IT AT THAT?]

[unrecked]

I don’t think she did.

[Yeah, he left it at that. One shoulder shrugs, and he sucks on the cigarette briefly again.]

I was on a dating show with three “bachelors” I could interview for a match. It was… Cloud, Yuri, and Sylvain, though. Except two of them were fakes, and one just had a scrambled brain.

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[looks at cloud. aquarius doesn't know enough to make that comment though so they make the more logical conclusion here.]

I'm assuming scrambled eggs was Yuri. Did you match with any of them? [...hang on a sec.] How long were all four of you split up?

[unrecked]

[Yeah, very funny. I should have made him lose but it’s fine.]

I could ask three questions, but couldn’t break character. Did I mention I had to be an actor for an audience, otherwise we’d probably all die? [He sort of… shoots a sidelong glance at them that’s maybe curiously pointed.] Yuri seemed… the least… genuine, I guess. The most embellished.

So I just took the risk. [A pause.] Dunno. A while, I guess. Had to get through the dating game—and the bullshit after—before getting to Hua and Harrow.

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[stop i hate you. anyway aquarius is aware of that look, but they don't acknowledge it because it's jason hours and jason hours mean listening to him explain this cyoa.]

I've heard acting's a tough gig, but that's a little extreme. What came after the dating game? You and Yuri stuck together after that? If you were an actor I'm guessing everyone else had to be, too, somehow.

[unrecked]

[He sighs.]

We “won,” but they didn’t like our choice of getaway. The hotel. Thought it was boring. So they dropped the floor out from under us. We ran into an injured girl Yuri knew from home. When she sighs, apparently monsters are attracted to her.

Well, she sighed.

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[. . .

they seem to just kind of. pause. and focus a little more when jason mentions monsters.]

What kind of monsters showed up? That means you had to fight, didn't you? What happened to the girl?

[they have a lot of questions sorry jason.]

[unrecked]

[Very funny. He doesn’t seem to mind really.]

Never seen it before. Looked like a giant lizard. A dinosaur. I grabbed the girl so we could run. I didn’t think we’d be able to fight it. My arms were full and Yuri had, what? A pipe. The thing was at least fifteen feet tall or more.

We ran down the other side of the tunnel, but it was a dead end except for two doors. One to the hotel, one to a mansion where we could see Harrow and Hua Cheng. I didn’t know if it was a trap, so I gave the girl to Yuri and told him to go into the hotel door because the monster had injured his leg.

He followed me, though. The monster had been charging something, some kind of beam. It got us across the back as we ran in.

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[aquarius, thinking about all of the random garbage people have used as weapons before and going "you could have made it work."

they do not say this. instead, they continue to listen and try to suss out what the hell kind of monster this was.]

Why would he follow you? [like fair but COME ON.] So you got hit and burned with a laser beam from a dinosaur's mouth and were thrown back into a mansion where Harrow and Hua Cheng were. Is that what you're saying to me? On top of this injured girl, Yuri's leg, and your shark-bitten and drowned body.