rule #1

[scaler]

[Molly has found the journal.

'Calm' is not a good word for it. Neither is 'relaxed,' or 'adjusted,' or 'accepting,' but she is very good at putting on all four. Keeping her head is what keeps her alive.

She's gotten acquainted with the important bits: the magic, the wishes, the losses, the indefinite stay, the familiar faces. Also the really important bit: walkers. That is, lack thereof. Allegedly.

None of it seems real -- but then, options are limited.

She presses a crease into the corner of the journal's page with her thumbnail. The first thing it picks up is a mutter half to herself.]

Feet first, I guess.

[Then, louder:]

So, hey. Ain't I supposed to get a gift basket? That's what luxury places like this do, right? What kind of welcome wagon is this?

Comments

[scaler]

Not as far as I know. Just, I could use all the fine motor control I can get, you know?

[lucre]

Motor control? Why do you need that?

[ What is that even... ]

[scaler]

[pause.

Her tone goes a little dry. She's not sure if Lucrezia is joking or if they're talking around each other somehow.]

To hit things better.

[lucre]

...with a motor?

[scaler]

[... Yeah, okay.]

We're still talking about alcohol here, right?

[lucre]

We were talking about drinking.

[scaler]

-- All right, look. Where I'm from, when people talk about drinking without specifying what, they're usually talking about alcohol.

I don't drink alcohol.

[lucre]

But what is an alcohol?

[scaler]

[... pause....]

Wow. Okay. Back to basics, I guess.

You know how when you drink a lot of wine, sometimes you start laughing a lot more, talking a lot more, falling over a lot more?

[lucre]

Only if you drink too much. Drunkenness?

[scaler]

Right.

[Good, at least she doesn't have to explain that part.]

You get drunk because of alcohol. Basically, it's a chemical that fucks with your brain. [she never claimed to be scientific.] It's in wine, beer, liquor, that kind of stuff.

[lucre]

So drunkenness does not come from wine? Are there wines without alcohol?

[scaler]

Not good ones. Alcohol comes from the way it's made. People used to try to take the stuff out, or make something that tasted close enough to wine without the alcohol.

Not really worth it if you ask me, though.

[lucre]

Do you truly require this motor control of yours here?

[scaler]

That's the question of the day. Rather have it than not, though.

[lucre]

What does it do exactly?

[scaler]

It just means how well you control your movements. You know how when you get drunk it's hard to balance or catch things? Same rule applies to hitting things and getting out of their way.

[lucre]

And what must you hit or escape?

[scaler]

Geeks, walkers, the dead risen again. Whatever you want to call them.

Things that aren't here, apparently.

[lucre]

Walkers. I have heard of those.

[ But it would be presumptuous to assume everyone in their world knows each other, right? And yet, there's always a chance. ]

Do you know a girl named Clementine?

[scaler]

[And that's another. Seems they've gotten popular here.]

Yeah, I do. [Her voice is calm but pointed.] How do you know her?

[lucre]

By chance.

She looks most lovely in blue.

[scaler]

[That doesn't make her feel better.]

Then you know Lee, too.

[lucre]

Yes. She is his charge, is she not?

[scaler]

That's one way to put it.

He looks out for her.