Private Du Reichst So Gut

[Arcturus Dinn]

She'd found him by happenstance, he'd sought him out. Yet here they both were all the same.​

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The drink which was placed before him was not his usual choice, but he drank it all the same. Not quite in unison with her - well, he lifted it to his lips at the same time, but drank nowhere near as much as she did - but something to that effect.​

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"Drengir..." He mulled the word over his tongue, before offering up just a single shake of his head. "Nope, don't reckon I know it." But if she'd seen fit to bring it to Velok then maybe it was something he wanted to look into. You know, for curiosities sake. "What's it do for you?"​

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Arcturus knew of only the bad side to the concoction brewed up for him. Velok hadn't seen fit to verbally share the rest; had the Whiphid even known for himself? Certainly if he knew about the hunger for flesh he'd have warned Arcturus right? ... Right?​

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Her question and accompanying words caused a dry laugh to be exhaled through his nose. Must have been something special, mustn't it, to upend his whole life like this.​

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"Terentatek tooth," he offered with a shrug. Such a small and insignificant piece of the Sithspawn, and yet even so it had been mighty potent. He shuddered to consider what the consequences might have been had he used another part of it. He'd harvested so much of the beast, after all... But aspects like its heart would not have lasted quite this long before degrading, rotting. Teeth though?​

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Teeth were fethin' hardy.​

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"Wasn't even really a soup in the end... It sort of congealed into a weird... mass..." A pause for effect. "Probably should have been a sign not to eat it, in truth. But, well, I never could say no to curious endeavors." Besides, he'd tossed the tooth into the pot. It seemed only right he not waste Velok's time and his own.​

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Mercy ​

 

[Mercy]

She shoveled down another fistful of pretzels.

"Think big karking ugly evil darkside trees. Sentient ones. All they wanna do is consume everything around themselves." A shrug there. She was still feeling the residual vibes of the dust too much to wanna get into the whole story. But that by itself was plenty to make a good educated guess. "You know, I feel like I was the only one Velok Brokentusk told what the good and the bad chit will be, if I consume it."

Thoughtful about it.

First Avalore and now Arcturus Dinn .

Maybe because the old warthog had known that neither of them would have taken his creation if they knew. Whereas it only took a single glance to see Mercy wouldn't have that sort of hesitation.

It was possible.

"Anyway- It lets me sense the evil fethin' trees if they are nearby and lets me tap into their hivemind. Oh, right. They are a hivemind. All connected, what one sees, everyone sees. Chit like that." As if the fact they were giant meat-eating evil trees wasn't enough. A shrug. "Bad thing? Uh, I am way more fething hungry."

meatmeatmeatmeat

"Like. Way more. Meat? Good chit." Then a glance to him. "Not 'cannibal wanna eat human flesh' hungry for meat, but uh. Guess that Terentatek tooth really did a number on ya."

It explained the way she gulped down and chowed up every piece of food and alcohol she could reach however.

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Mercy explained, and Arcturus' brow raised to the notion of sentient hiveminded trees that had an all consuming desire to chow down on whatever they came into contact with. He got the distinct feeling that he was very lucky she hadn't also garnered a taste for flesh and blood in the process, same as he, or else the tables might have turned quite dramatically back in that alleyway.​

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Where he could only manage a little bit of each of the bodies he'd left in his wake, he wondered how much of him there would have been left to discover if she had wanted to eat him. A sobering thought.​

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He downed the rest of the glass as quickly as he could muster.​

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"He told you what it would do?" That... That... Karker. Was he really maddened though? Honestly, despite everything, no. He'd known in a way what he was signing up for. One did not get the good without some of the bad when it came to Sith meddling. Always read the fine print, kids.​

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Not that the Whiphid had formulated a contract for them to glance over.​

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"Is that a bad thing?" he asked, when she mentioned the downsides she felt, with something of a smirk. "Now mix up our two downsides, and we'd have a real problem on our hands..." The laugh which escaped him was dry. "I imagine it leaves your wallet aching."​

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Probably her stomach, too, unless she'd gained the bottomless pit trait. If she had, cool. All the more power to her. She'd probably make back her credits too if she partook in eating challenges.​

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"I still don't know if it even had a positive effect," he mused, grimly, "Probably why ole Brokentusk didn't see fit to tell... Here, have this gummy, it'll ruin your life and that's that..." Another short laugh. No, he'd find a way to get it under control. He had to.​

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He was Arcturus Thesh. He would not be a slave to anything ever again, much less his own damned stomach.​

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Mercy ​

 

[Mercy]

Arcturus Dinn

A snicker there.

"Yes, yes he did. I met one other person who got something from him and apparently wasn't told either." Mercy didn't really understand why you would swallow whole some alchemized chit without even being told what it would do to you. Sure, she was a blunt brick wall, but even she- that train of thought paused there briefly as she reconsidered.

Maybe she would have anyway.

Especially if the soup smelled good. Strange how she couldn't remember how it smelled anymore, or tasted for that matter.

An eh there. "Not a real problem. I always ate a lot anyway. And it just means I got more fuel to do more. My life has been getting more exciting every day, so, not like I can't use it."

Pointed look towards Thesh again, because if anything qualified as 'excitement' it was almost being drugged and then eaten alive. She shrugged and finished the rest of her glass, before putting it down. "Look, easy enough to check. My chit had to do with the Drengir. Maybe yar chit has to do with Terantateks. Have ya tried getting to one? Maybe ya can sense 'em like I can sense my food."

It seemed obvious to her.

She chuckled though. "Naw. Not ol' warthog's style, I don't think. He wrecks chit, but just randomly cursing people on the street? Nah. Has to be fair, I think. Some give an' take. A prize in return for a price, dig?"

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

The idea of finding a terentatek to try and deduce what the effects were had not crossed his mind.​

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But then, very little had really crossed his mind since the addiction first set in. It had been so, so intense at first, he felt certain days had blurred by before he'd even come up for air. It was slowing though, he knew. As his body adjusted to it. Maybe he just needed to give it a few more days before his head screwed back on straight.​

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"I mean, I do have some hatchlings... somewhere out there." Hatchlings they were likely not, not if Ishani Dinn had been correct in how long he'd been stuck in the Nether for. More like fully grown monstrosities. But they were his fully grown monstrosities. Surely he could find a way to get close to them again. He'd hand reared them after all, with Melydia Gold ... sure he'd just eaten a gummy made from their mother's tooth, but feth it.​

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Worth a shot, right?​

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She'd finished her drink. He'd finished his.​

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He raised a hand to the barkeep, and ordered them another round.​

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"Is it bad that I feel all the better for knowing I'm not the only one who ate it without asking questions?" he inquired with a grim smile. Their drinks soon came, and he hefted the tall glass to his lips almost at once. The concoction still lingered in his mouth like a thick coating. Grim...​

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Yeah that was definitely the word of the evening.​

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Mercy ​

 

[Mercy]

Arcturus Dinn

"There ya go then. See if ya can sense 'em without looking at them, chit like that. Experiment. Go wild." A wave of the meaty hand that stilled immediately with the coming of the second round. "Yeah, that's what I am talking about, here we goooo." Murmured warmly as she accepted the glass and immediately took a big karking gulp.

Gulp.

Gulp.

......guuuuulp.

Only once about 3/4ths was downed did Mercy ah and put it down again. "Kay, needed that. Anyway. Don't like... uh. Eat 'em, kay? I am sure they don't deserve that."

Unlike some humans who definitely deserved it. Then Mercy shook her head while pulling the jar of olives (every bar had one of those, right? If not, she'd order them in anyway) and started grabbing into the jar. The bartender was just staring at her at this point. But Mercy wasn't being violent or causing any trouble, so where you really going to tell someone that looked like they could bench-lift you not to have... some... olives?

"Nah, I get it. Being a lone idiot is lonely, feels safer in groups." Deadpan as Mercy munched around an olive. Then she smirked and it signified she was karking with him.

"Look, pal. I gave ya a lifeline. I figure- you can try an' use it to get yar chit together." She sniffed. "Since we..." Smiling warmly as she leaned in to whisper the next part conspiratorially. "-Sith need to lend a hand to each other every once in a while, eh? At least with the whole Galaxy being against us right now..."

A wave of her hand.

"Or ya can keep eating people in the shadows. Next person ya meet might not be as..." Grin widened. "...merciful as me. Ya feel?"

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

"Maybe I will," he retorted, leaning back in his seat as he did to the sound of a thousand pops; he'd been sleeping in weird positions while the beast was arisen, his mind not his own, and it was not doing his back any favours. Arcturus was feeling more like himself by the second though now, life was breathed back into him anew, that much was obvious. Much less stray puppy, much more, well, as she soon inferred and spoke in whispered tone, Sith.​

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Or at the very least much more human.​

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"I don't think anyone's ever looked at a terentatek and thought, yum... Sithspawn meat..." Maybe he was wrong. And given what he'd eaten from Velok, oh boy was he wrong. He didn't know that though. Not yet.​

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Talks turned to all she'd done for him, and he nodded thoughtfully. Aye, he wouldn't be blowing the opportunity she'd given him to get back on his feet, to chain the beast 'til he knew how best to temper it. It did leave him with some pressing thoughts and concerns of his own though.​

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"I reckon I owe you, well, something... For all the good you've done me tonight." He glanced toward her, almost pinning her with his gaze. Not quite, though, she didn't seem the like type to find much about a glance intimidating. He hadn't been trying to intimidate, anyway. "You want a favour, or what?" He paused, pondering what else he might be able to offer. "Some of that sand for yourself? I have other kinds, too... Something of a uh, Sandman... To some folks at least."​

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That was weird. Why had he said that? Either way he had. He was just left to wonder what, if anything, she'd ask of him.​

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Mercy ​

 

[Mercy]

Arcturus Dinn

She shrugged.

"You just gulped down, what? Two-fourths of ground-up Sith bone, bub." Bemused expression at the idea that this one was any shape of a picky either whatsoever. "Who knows what the lil' beastie inside of ya will say the moment it lays its eyes on a Terantatek." Oh, the meat itself might not be tasty, but that wasn't what Thesh was after.

Otherwise it wouldn't have singled out Mercy.

Hundreds of fething innocent weak fragile souls walking around Denon. He picked her? Nah, this was about force potential. About strength. And Mercy wasn't sure there was anything more powerful in terms of darkside corruption than an honest to good ancient Sithspawn like a Terantatek.

Mercy chuckled.

It was odd in a way. Sure, she had helped people before, but it had always been on a job. This was different. Did she like it? Eh, it had been a pain in the arse, but once Thesh stopped trying to bite her he wasn't too bad. Meek enough that Mercy didn't feel the need to dominate the entire space, so that was nice for a change.

"Oh, don't worry, buddy. One of these days you will get a call from me an' I expect ya to come running." Mercy was about to finish her drink until she realized the prime opportunity in front of her right now. "Aaaactuaaaally. While you wait on my call, there be a lil' thing ya can do right now." Making it clear this wouldn't make them square, but hey, if you were owed by somebody... it was time to abuse the power dynamic, no? She pulled out a holo-screen and brought up her vault screen.

"Neat, huh? Made it myself. Figured... if everyone be going for them UCs, why not me? Anyway. It was all going well, until some piece of chit left me a bad review." She brought up Ashin Cardé Varanin 's review. It wasn't actually that bad. 4/5 was still ok- "Can you believe it? Me not working well with others? I work karking excellently with others. Once I figure out who MonolithFollower800 is, I am gonna throw 'em off a building."

There Mercy grabbed her bottle and polished it off in one go.

"So, buy my services. It's just a karking measly five hundred UCs, don't get stingy. And leave me a glowing 5/5 review." She leaned in there, until her chest was pressing against his shoulder, but there was nothing sexy about this move the way Mercy was looking at him.

"-and when I say glowing, I mean glowing, chief."

More olives were grabbed and munched on. But if Arcturus thought he managed to avoid the awkwardness-

"So... you want me to refer to you as the Sandman? Kinda weird, man."

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

The thought of devouring a Terentatek filled him with dread. Because that didn't just mean eating the thing, it meant taking it down... THEN eating it. He glanced down at himself, as though staring at his stomach, and mouthed a very silent "Don't even think about it" to his gutbeast.​

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Maybe before he went a-dabbling with the positive side of his boon, he'd find a way to suffer through the hex of it all consistently. Maybe that would keep him from battling with a ferocious Korriban beast in a fight which decided who got to eat who.​

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A much larger swig of his drink was warranted at that thought; he watched as she devoured yet more of the food available on the bartop, watched as the barkeep hovered close by as though waiting for the opportune moment to steal away something, anything, that would mean other patrons might have a chance at getting their hands on it too.​

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Then he looked back to the woman. Nodded his head as she stated he'd receive a call when the repayment was due; whatever form that took, he supposed he'd just have to be ready for it.​

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"Alright, consider it a done deal," he stated, just before she tacked on something a little more immediate. His personal space was invaded moments later, as she shifted on closer and showed him a holo-screen pertaining to some Underworld site that had been started up. More than a site, really, more like a whole network where people could trade credits and services. UCks... Underworld Credits. A currency unto itself. Arc hadn't done much with it yet, but even he had amassed his fair share of UCks. Most of them were just sat gathering interest in a weird excuse for a bank.​

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"Honestly, yeah, really neat," he responded, impressed that she'd had the foresight to put up such a page within the UCk Vault. He hadn't gotten that far yet. Wasn't sure about the logistics behind shipping sand across the Galaxy. Either way, he listened to her plight about the missing half a star, and as she lamented and vowed vengeance against the one responsible, then came her request.​

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That was it?​

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Sure. He could do that. It wasn't going to erase the debt he owed, she had made that perfectly clear, but in that moment he'd have done just about anything to get his personal space back.​

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"You know, sitting so close to me is not helping the Cause of the No-Bitey" he mumbled, as he pulled out a device of his own and copied the hololink to the site. There it was, in all its glory, Mercy's Mercenary Services. She was breathing down his neck as he began to type. She smelled of olives, and pretzels, and ale... And undercutting it all, something sweet and alluring.​

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He pulled his head back away from her, tried to smell the musty air of the bar instead, and - once she had given all of her most valuable input as to what he ought to say - hit send on his review. Credits had been sent her way, all 500 of them, and a 5* review. Maybe now she'd give him some breathing room.​

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"Arcturus," he finally stated, once the ordeal was over. "My name's Arcturus."​

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It wasn't. He didn't have a name, not really... But Arcturus was as close to one as he was ever going to get.​

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Mercy ​

 

[Mercy]

Arcturus Dinn

No matter what 'Sandboy' said she didn't budge, until he hit submit with all her required edits.

Life didn't exactly give her great confidence in humans, or sentient life in general, really. The fact that most of the chitty situations she got into happened entirely because of her own decisions? Well, that... that was not something Mercy thought of or would even consider. It was always someone else's responsibility.

"Pretty sure I taught ya 'bitey spirit' plenty of reasons why biting me is a bad idea, Sandboy." Mercy murmured thoughtfully as she went to look-up his review on her own screen. Entirely ignoring the 'Arcturus' or at least it looked that way.

Until-

"Well, guess ya can guess my name now. Mercy. Pleasure, Sandboy." Did not reach out for a handshake, but that could be forgiven. Especially considering one large meaty hand was occupied with more olives and the other with the screen. "Ya know, I bet if I had a whole farm of ya, I could get my rating back up to five outta five..."

Thoughtful expression sped into her face at that thought. At least until she noticed another review. One that had come in just a moment before Thesh's hence missing it at first.

"Lol, what." Actually using the abbrevation because this was fethin' weird. "Someone actually saw me tear off the limb back on that chit moon?" That surprised her. The name didn't sound familiar at all, so Mercy must not have encountered the individual. "Navboy5.10?" Brows raised behind the rims of her shades.

Then a shrug.

"Well, guess at least someone was enjoying the show while I was kickin' evil tree arse." She reached out for her glass and then realized with disappointment it was already empty. A glance over to Thesh's glass. Tempted to finish theirs off as well, before regaining some semblance of control over herself.

Instead just ordering a third round for them.

"So, what's yar plans moving forward?"

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

"Sandboy?" he repeated back incredulously, realizing all at once that nobody had ever seen fit to refer to him that way before despite it being such low hanging fruit. Sandboy... Pfft. The nerve of this woman. All things considered though, he supposed he was deserving of her criticism. He had tried to take a bite out of her arm, after all.​

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Then came her name.​

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He sort of just gawped. Sure he'd seen it plastered over her Vault page, but that was her actual name? Like, no joke, not just a stage name, her name was Mercy? Force help him. He pushed down his surprise. Didn't even make any attempts at a handshake himself, either, given the state of her oily hands. Girl really knew how to put back those olives. Monster appetite indeed.​

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"Unabashedly inflate your numbers?" Now that brought a wry grin to his face, "How long you reckon it'll be before people are making fake accounts, just to make'emselves look more legit?" Judging by how quickly the idea had come to Mercy, he wasn't above thinking it had happened already. There likely weren't all that many measures in place to counteract it, after all... It was the Underworld they were speaking of. Anonymity was of great importance to those guys.​

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Mention came of another review, though Arcturus knew nothing about that. Seemed like Mercy's luck was improving. Two reviews to trump the perceived negativity of the one. He still wasn't so sure 4.5 stars was all that bad, though.​

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A third round of drinks was met with a question, and he pondered the answer as he finished up his second glass and moved on to the third. Once upon a time Arcturus might have struggled under the effects of drinking two glasses in quick succession, but his misery induced binge after the events on Coruscant had done wonders toward honing his resistances. Still, he was feeling the warmth of it through his core.​

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"I'm not sure; get this thing under control, I guess. Might quietly sequester myself away to some realm or another, help to block out the temptations 'til I better know how to handle it." To most it would no doubt read as him running off to some desolate planet, but in truth he had entirely other things in mind. Maybe another stint in the Nether was what he needed. Maybe he'd see if Kal had any new and exciting project ideas they could work on, keep him busy and active so that he didn't slip.​

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Yeah... The more he thought about it, the better that idea sounded.​

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Mercy ​

 

[Mercy]

Arcturus Dinn

"Fake? Every sentient I convince to rate me is quite real, thank ya very much." Mercy drawled over the rim of her drink while smirking.

Convincing was one word to describe.

Another one was vaguely threaten or acutely threaten. "But, I reckon not everyone can have my persuasive skills..." Thoughtfully murmured as she glanced over the bar and shrugged. "So, yeah, I bet lotsa people gonna be generating fake accounts. Not like there be anyone who is checking the veracity of these reviews, 'ere."

Darker expression suddenly.

"Otherwise they would'a flagged the chitty 4.0 one." It had clearly hit a sensitive spot with Mercy.

A grunt. "Never a bad idea to isolate for a while." Brows furrow there as she contemplated that prospect. A shudder followed next. "Well, it ain't for me, I like to have people's eyes on me." That wouldn't come as a surprise. The surprising part was the lack of a posse or cheerleaders following Mercy wherever she went.

"But figure ya dun' have much else of a choice."

She finished her drink and rose up.

"Aight. I am gon' go look for some more... physical entertainment." Her large hand smacked Thesh in the shoulder. "-trust I won't see ya again in the shadows of an alley, Sandboy. Keep it kosher."

And maybe vegeterian, but that wasn't Mercy's business.

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

He didn't really say all that much in response, there was no sense in arguing with her after all. Let her believe what she wanted to believe - who the feth was going to come after her because of her less-than-moral decisions, anyway? Only dumb, soon-to-be-dead men. Mhm.​

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"Well, that 4.0 will be eclipsed in no time." He gestured to the bartender, even as Mercy seemed to be wrapping things up, and ordered her a drink for the road. Even if that road was only a few paces away from him, to wherever some greener pastures lay.​

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Arcturus, for his part, finished off his drink and then rose to stretch out his back. It still hurt, a feth tonne, after being bashed into a wall multiple times, but it was worth it to have some level of control over his mind again. Maybe that was why he'd only signaled for the one drink. Maybe that was why he turned without ordering another for himself.​

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Lucidity... Yeah, he needed to regain his lucidity.​

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"See you on the flipside," he said over his shoulder, as they parted ways. Maybe one day he actually would run into her again... And when he did? Well, he hoped his beastly needs were kept to a minimum by then.​

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Fin​