[MASK OR MENACE] IC Contact

[stylistic_disloyalty]

"Funny enough I'm not going to lie here-- I definitely saw your call but I'm going to decide whether or not to respond based on how interesting the message is. I'd make it good. Maybe I'll change your contact to 'Yeah, This is Worth Answering'."


( Voice / Text / Action )

Comments

[stylistic_disloyalty]

...Yes. Yes I am.

[Still a head. And there are so many questions she wants to ask immediately, but Laura passing out again is going to be counter-intuitive to getting answers. Luci doesn't have great self-control to begin with, but she can at least look out for her own self-interest when it's incredibly important.]

Is this more Porter Bollocks? Because that would be more of a comfort than... practically anything else right now.

[pummelgranite]

OK.

[ She looks steadier, at least. None of that haziness or vacancy to her gaze. ]

Mind if we get out of here? Away from-

[ the pause where she scrambles for something to say besides "your body" goes just a hair too long ]

- the bed?

[stylistic_disloyalty]

[There's that, at least-- Luci was almost afraid they were going to get stuck in a constant feedback loop of Laura losing her shit every time she woke up and saw what was going on. Until she just... removed herself from the vicinity. Luci would, at least.]

Only if you carry me like the fucking princess I am. [She huffs, trying to inject at least some levity into things so as to not aggravate Laura further. Having to be carried around like an extremely ugly clutch is humiliating though, and it rankles Luci to think that she's going to be dependent on somebody carrying her if this lasts. She can't insist it be Laura, even Luci isn't that evil, so... who?]

Don't look at the bed. [Her body.] You know this place well enough to walk with your eyes closed.

[pummelgranite]

[ Laura snorts. ]

What happened to "I, I will be king?"

[ She's already seen plenty of what's on the bed, but she still looks away as she picks up Luci's head carefully and picks her way towards the blown-off door. ]

Bathroom first?

[stylistic_disloyalty]

He was never this helpless. [Fuck. Fuck. The unpleasant feeling of being picked up like an object is insane, the vertigo is enough to make her brain twinge unpleasantly in what must be sympathetic-nausea. At least she had no stomach for piddly things like motion sickness anymore, silver linings or whatever.]

Laura, you're carrying me around like emotional baggage, are you sure you want to go somewhere with hard surfaces?

[pummelgranite]

. . . yeah alright. We'll use the sink in the bar. Less mirrors too.

[ And so she starts heading that way. ]

He never survived a beheading. Great quality to have in a monarch.

[stylistic_disloyalty]

...Laura I will laugh right along with you once this is not happening. All of this.

[She does have a good and clever point, but Luci is still acclimating to life as a head. What the fuck is she going to do? Be carried around everywhere all the time? Fuck that, her fans can't see her like this-- so what was the fucking point of anything?!]

[This was karmic retribution for every snide thing she'd said about anxiety disorders.]

So. Any tales of people surviving as heads because of Porter Bollocks?

[Please say yes.]

[pummelgranite]

[ Laura would disagree that Luci deserves this. But Laura is wrong about a lot of things.

She heads to the lovely minibar. Carefully carefully she puts Luci down upright on the highest counter. ]

No idea.

[stylistic_disloyalty]

[Hell, she can't tell if she feels better being carried around, or set down on a goddamned shelf.]

Somebody would have been on about it. 'Look at me, look at me, I'm a head!' Can't keep anything off of social media if it happens to somebody boring. So...

[So that leaves the other option.]

...Laura. You would tell me if after Ananke found us-- if I--

[If she ended up less decapitated, and more 'lacking a body'.]

[pummelgranite]

If you were a severed head spitting hot takes? [ Instead of a severed neck spewing hot blood. ] Yeah. I'd tell you that.


Uhm, not to be weird but, do you mind if I clean you up a little bit?

[stylistic_disloyalty]

Right. Sure. [Yes, Laura would tell her that, of course. She might not have been quite so fucked if Luci had been like this, still talking and capable of independent thought.]

Probably a good plan, let's keep this as... [She swallows.] Clean as possible. [And after a beat:] You should call Magnus to. Clean up.

[What the flying fuck are they going to do with her body?]

[pummelgranite]

[ Laura turns on the water, waits for it to warm. Then wets a paper towel and begins cleaning Luci's face as carefully as she can. ]

"Clean up."

[stylistic_disloyalty]

It's a mess, it gets cleaned up.

[Luci's eyes follow the towel, but for the most part she doesn't betray how awkward this feels to her. It's going to take some getting used to.]

You weren't attached to that old thing, were you? Much more charmed by my quick wit and winning smiles.

[What a hideous joke, what the fuck is she even saying.]

[pummelgranite]

Already forgotten. Who even has a body anymore, right?

[ this is their second worst date hands down ]

[stylistic_disloyalty]

[At least she's still talking on this one.]

Passé, am I right? And hey, now I'm the right weight-class to finally pursue a modeling career. You think Gucci would take me?

[No, she hasn't acclimated to the idea of not having a body yet, but snark is easy and familiar while Laura is toweling her off.]

[pummelgranite]

I hear they're pretty strict about height.

[ cleeeaning. god her hair is a mess. how in the fuck will she wash luci's hair without sticking her head under the faucet which will not be happening under any circumstances. ]

What about cable news?

[stylistic_disloyalty]

[Quick, to online videos of astronauts washing their hair.]

Possible, I already have the coveted skill of laughing at the most inane bullshit. As long as I don't have to read the weather, should work out just fine.

[pummelgranite]

Of course not. You'd be there as an incendiary talking head.

[ she just slipped it in there so smoothly, so casually. maybe it will go unnoticed with the flow of conversation. her own private satisfaction in this hideous moment. ]

[stylistic_disloyalty]

Perfect-- I have plenty of practice, now I have the other prerequisite. Who says finding a career as a head is hard?

[She forces a laugh, but this is probably the end of the line for this joke. The reality is hitting her again, and there are only so many head jokes they can make before she's forced to deal with the reality.]

Almost done?

[pummelgranite]

Uh huh. [ She puts Luci carefully back on the counter. ]


How- uh. How's just standing there? Do you need uhm, like a pillow orrr....

[stylistic_disloyalty]

[Luci breathes deeply. This is not something she wants to think about, but it's something she has to think about now.]

Might tip over on that, huh? Where do you keep the plants you talk to, some nice windowsill? That's as good a place as any, right?

[pummelgranite]

I was thinking like, in front of a tv maybe? Just til we- you know, until you're feeling better.