AUDIENCE FOR: Lup

[guestservices]

mostly void, partially stars.

❤

Comments

[evocationary]

[a long pause.]

I shouldn't talk about it with all of you. You want us to kill people.

[guestservices]

We aren't meant to discourage you, no.

Again, all I can say is to make whichever decision you can live with the most. Eternity is a long time for regrets.

[evocationary]

[



maybe she will sit on the counter for a second.]

[guestservices]

[they will just observe her.]

[evocationary]

[a pause. finally:]

I want to beat up the Nightman. You should get me an audience with that guy.

[guestservices]

I'm afraid that's not within my capabilities.

[evocationary]

Yeah, yeah. I know. It's like asking for an audience with the UWU, it's not happening.

Nice to think about, though. Even if he could probably uh, snap me into dust.

[guestservices]

[a hum]

It's not bad to have dreams.

[evocationary]

[she just glances at them]

Oh, I see you, too, are unsatisfied with your job conditions. [this is a joke.]

[guestservices]

[dryly]

Certainly, some of the perks could be better.

[evocationary]

Yeah, like, better pay than some sandwiches or a terrible handful of origami cranes, or existential dread? Do you think we could form a union?

[guestservices]

[thoughtfully, holding a finger up to their chin area:]

To be fair, I do like the sandwiches and origami...

[evocationary]

You really have to aim a little higher.

[guestservices]

Oh? What should I be aiming for, in that case?

[evocationary]

I don't know, like, gummy bears? That's pretty good payment. Gummy worms. Maybe like, a McFlurry.

[guestservices]

[a beat]

What's a McFlurry?

[evocationary]

Corporate soft serve ice cream with corporate candy mixed in.

I can absolutely make you one, without the corporations.

[guestservices]

Corporate candy, huh...

Well, I wouldn't be against trying it out.

[evocationary]

Sure. You wanna do that right now, before I'm silenced forever?

[guestservices]

Food is best enjoyed with chatter, so sure, let's do that.

[evocationary]

[she's going to lead them off to the kitchen. i have no idea if she can actually make a mcflurry from scratch but listen, she's going to do her best.]

... Hey, question, again. What do you think about all of this? Do you think things are like... going well? Or.

[guestservices]

[ganba lup...

a hum]

Not to be depressing, but I'm reluctant to say things are going "well", given that people are dead—though from the Nightman's perspective, that's certainly a good thing. With that said, I don't think the rest of you are necessarily on a one-way path to disaster, either.

[evocationary]

I meant by the standards of how these things go, mostly.

[she is distancing herself from the thought of all the dead people because if she focuses too hard on that, she spirals, and she's determined to not do that again today. in this conversation.]

It's about pleasing the Nightman, right? So, uh. You know. [...] I just wondered if there were like, quotas or anything. Stuff we're not hitting.

[guestservices]

Mm... it's less about hitting specific numbers, and more about following the contract. There's wiggle room for how it must be followed, which is something both parties can take advantage of. For instance—

The contract doesn't stipulate a strict amount of blood that must be shed and so the Nightman won't necessarily demand that arbitrarily, though in a similar sense, the Nightman could retaliate if it's clear that you're consistently trying to limit the "entertainment".

Does that make sense?

[evocationary]

Mmhm, makes sense. [she says, thoughtfully.]

... There's always wiggle room in contracts, I think.