now listen good and listen straight, you're not the master of your fate

[bloodisthicker]

[Another week, another murder, another absolute shitshow. Tarrlok kind of just wants to lock himself in his room for a while, but... well, he volunteered. So... it's definitely going to be much later in the day before a note advising everyone to meet up in the bar for some comfort food is slipped under everyone's door.

At least Tarrlok didn't have to take care of everything alone, though; while he spent most of the time cooking by himself, Speedwagon and Yosuke helped take some delicious pork buns up to set them out across the bar so that everyone could drown their sorrows in stuffing their faces. And, you know, alcohol, maybe that too. There's also some vegetarian stir fry for people who don't like pork, too, of course.

There isn't an official bartender to start out with, but there is live entertainment courtesy of Yosuke, who's strumming his guitar over in the corner there.

Hopefully someone will step up, because lord knows everyone in the Vault needs a drink right now.]

Comments

[bloodisthicker]

...I don't really know what to think about the whole thing, honestly. With all the strangeness that I've seen here, there's a chance it could go either way, but...

Well, in the end, sometimes being figuratively haunted isn't too much different from the literal sort. I'm sure the former is a lot more difficult to deal with than the latter, though.

[goodforsomething]

Yeah, I know a few people who could take care of ghosts. That, not so much.

[Stan falls silent for a moment.]

He shouldn'tve been executed. Not sayin' he oughta be able to get away with murder, but there's places he could've gone back home. [Though psych wards in the sixties weren't super fun. Still, they were a sight better than Murdervault.] Maybe they could've even helped him.

[bloodisthicker]

...I don't know. Do you think there's a point where you're too far gone? I... would agree with you otherwise, but... there's a pretty infamous instance of a highly notorious criminal escaping from prison back home.

...granted, he never committed any crimes that anyone could connect to him, but I don't know if that's better or worse.

[...he's silent for a few seconds.]

...in any case, even looking at it from that angle... well, this is a place where you get executed for sleeping outside your room.

[goodforsomething]

If he never got pinned for anything, how'd he end up in prison?

[IMPORTANT QUESTIONS I guess]

Yeah, I ain't sayin' I expect much outta the Kingmaker. Geez, that's such a pretentious name...

[bloodisthicker]

Oh, no, I meant... after he got out of prison, he just sort of dropped off the face of the earth. Before he was arrested, he definitely was charged with more counts of bloodbending than I can actually keep straight.

I can't believe he's apparently twenty-five as opposed to, say, sixteen.

[goodforsomething]

He sounds like this shitty kid who used to hang around my shop. Wore too much black and thought he was cool 'cause he hung out in the graveyard and had eyeliner on.

What the hell's bloodbending?

[bloodisthicker]

...That sounds like the Chief's kids, honestly...

[...you know... are those kids okay, Unalaq always gave him uncomfortable Like My Dad vibes...]

...oh, right.

[...does he really want to explain this here and now...]

It's an incredibly illegal subset of waterbending, which is basically the ability to manipulate water. Given that the human body is something like 80 percent water... well, I guess you can imagine how that goes.

[goodforsomething]

Woah, that sounds pretty gross. [Bet it'd make a great movie.] Magic like that's just a thing where you're from?

[bloodisthicker]

...well, that isn't particularly common, given that it's kind of complicated and also extremely illegal.

Controlling water that isn't actually part of someone's body is common enough, though.

[goodforsomething]

Sounds fun! And kinda terrifying.

[bloodisthicker]

It's usually not that bad, since there are plenty of nonviolent applications for bending. It's just that... well, the violent applications can be a little savage if the benders aren't disciplined enough to be trusted with them, I guess.

[goodforsomething]

When do they get them?

[And, because we all know how YA fiction works...]

...is it when they're teenagers?

[bloodisthicker]

...Actually I figured out I could bend... not too long after I could walk steadily. I'm sure there are some people who figure it out a little later, but you usually know when you're fairly young.

[goodforsomething]

Oh, magic toddlers. Even better.

[bloodisthicker]

...well... given that you need to put some work into doing the forms correctly to control your element properly, it's less chaotic than you'd think, but only slightly.

[goodforsomething]

Ha! Can't say I've spent a ton of time with little kids, but they can do plenty of damage without special powers.

[bloodisthicker]

...oh, well, I'd definitely imagine so, yes. I can't say I have much experience with them either, but... I've heard things.