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[youngtimer]

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[youngtimer]

[Celeste getting delivered to his door unconscious is becoming a habit, Horatio was thinking to himself as he enjoyed his coffee. Dolores was trying to tell him maybe there was a reason for it. He'd been just about to go off on her when Celeste sat down next to him. Horatio gave Dolores a pointed look]

We'll settle this later, Dolores. ... Excuse me, Celeste - no, I don't think I did. But it's about as clear as glass that Ryou's head over heels for him. You think they both suffered brain damage before they showed up here?

[he pours her a cup of coffee and slides the sugar bowl over to her]

[gothicgambit]

[Her eyes cut to Dolores for a moment - ah, she'd interrupted. The struggle when you can only hear one conversational partner.]

Pardon the intrusion. [and she means it, as much as a post-rudeness 'pardon' can be meant. Whatever, she was already sitting here. His joke makes her fight a smile as she fixes herself a cup as well.]

I think that Atem is far too noble to make the first move and Ryou is far too passive. So no- [she sips] they've always been that stupid. But during our game last night, I threatened Ryou and Atem nearly had my head over it. He is rather obsessed.

[youngtimer]

Yeah, about that game. ... You're not seriously trying to get yourself killed, I hope. If you are, I hope someone's already warned you that shit doesn't take. You'd be in for a pretty mean surprise. And I don't mean waking up. I mean waking up to me slapping you in the face for being a dumbshit about it.

[gothicgambit]

[The reaction is quick, Celeste goes from carefully setting down her teacup, placid and calm, to instantly glancing up with a glare so scalding it's genuinely surprising he hasn't combusted. Celeste doesn't need to open her mouth to communicate the obvious 'excuse you?']

I have no interest in dying permanently, thank you. I found it unpleasant enough the first time.

[Where was this suddenly coming from?]

[youngtimer]

Good.

[he realizes he might have just ... shown her something inadvertently, but maybe - by the way she's reacting, maybe not. time to play it straight and NOT let on that he'd be really, really, really upset if she HAD wanted to die]

I already have to keep enough people I know from throwing themselves into the Sea of Stars every time shit hits the fan. ... Is that why he drained you? Because you pushed him about Ryou?

[gothicgambit]

[The temper starts to settle as quickly as it had flared, though she doesn't quite switch tracks as fast as Horatio. Still slightly smoothing ruffled feathers, Celeste purses her lips-]

I have no intent of harming your bottom line, have no fear.

[Dry, but lacking in any sort of humor or sarcasm that would hide the hidden truth lurking behind that statement. She waves a lazy, graceful hand to dismiss the subject.]

But no, that was just part of the stakes in the first place. If I had won his soul would have been forfeit. I was just trying to throw him off his game, it was an honest effort.

[Because she said she didn't intend to die permanently. Which was true. It didn't mean she hasn't been trying to stay alive either. Celeste had chosen those words carefully, to hide behind them similar to how Five was hiding from her now.]

[youngtimer]

If it was about the bottom line, I'd just hire another dealer. You're one of the people I trust, Celeste. Those aren't as easily replaced. My personal rules and secrets are more complicated than counting cards, and you know it. Yours are the same.

[it's not laying all his cards on the table, but he's giving her a taste of what he's working with. hopefully enough.]

He did say it was a penalty game, when he dropped you off. ... What was your intention, playing with him in the first place? You know he's a shark. It couldn't have just been for practice.

[gothicgambit]

[Yours are the same...
He's right. She knows that, and he does too. There's the tiniest twitch - like Celeste's about to furrow her brows and stops herself, and her expression is smooth again. If he blinked at the wrong time or took a sip of his coffee he would miss it. It's not that she thinks he's outright lying.

It's just that she doesn't believe him.]

Very well. [She sips from her own cup to hide her face, regroup. Good thing too, because his question... She can either admit something she very very much doesn't want to. Or she can lie. Her heartbeat threatens to race for a moment, embarrassed about the urge and unable to do anything else. The cup returns to its saucer and she props up her temple on one hand.]

If he is, than so am I. The more... official way of doing things here is not quite my usual method. He asked, I accepted. Why do you need to know?

[A sidestep, no outright lies yet but that can easily change. Damn him for seeing through her the way he does.]

[youngtimer]

[they both want to make sure they don't lose their edge. he can understand that. but still ...]

If this is going to be a regular occurrence between the two of you - which I expect it may - just remember the Fog's wager in all of this if one of you kills the other. The house always takes a cut.

[having said his piece...]

Now tell me more about this business with Ryou. I want details. What, exactly, did you say?

[gothicgambit]

I do not plan on it becoming terribly regular, but I have little she would want from me regardless. Still, I shall keep that in mind. [The over-formality of her language is a tell, only to people who know her, something about this is making her nervous. Losing her memories though is obviously not it. She doesn't care about that, never has.]

Well, he asked where I was staying should I lose, and I named that you would look after my body. I've thought he and Ryou were involved for ages, so I asked about him, but Atem didn't seem to understand. So I clarified how he was so very noble and fussed over Ryou like a mother hen. I've never seen someone so repressed.

[Pot, meet kettle. She pauses to take a sip of her coffee.]

Once I realized his obsession wasn't something he was aware of, I tried to exploit it. I tried at first to make him jealous, by implying I was interested in Ryou, [No indication on whether or not that was true.] but that didn't work.

Exactly? I said I didn't want to romance Ryou, I wanted to break him. [It's said casually, with the assurance that she could. This is a dark side of Celeste she's revealing here, worse than her aggression and anger: her urge to manipulate, to grab strings on people and pull until they danced precisely how she wanted.]

[youngtimer]

[he can sense something is off, but not what: he doesn't quite know her well enough yet. he just has realized that Celeste's formality is a mask, and there's something she's masking. he's not about to try and make any assumptions as to what: they're both too complex to demean each other with meager guesses]

Tch. You think that's repression, you should have met my brother Luther. Ten times worse.

[he reserves his judgement on her 'interest' in Ryou until she's said more. ah. her interest lies in his relative innocence to the rest of them, then. Horatio does have to agree it's fun to push a button or two and watch him squirm, but in a teasing way. this darkness she's showing him is something else. something that shows that at some point, she lost so much control that she needs to lord it over others in ways they won't necessarily notice. where only she will know she's in control. instead of shock, fear, disgust ... Horatio simply thinks back to the conversation they had climbing up from the basement in the forest. of how they each had stories to tell. he wonders what they did to her. how deep that fault line of hurt runs.]

Tell someone you want to beat him at a game he takes a lot of pride in, and it's never going to go well.

[gothicgambit]

[Hm, the.. well not understanding, but lack of a reaction is noted. Both unexpected and not. Five had his own experience with control, and what the lack of it does to people. She's thinking about that conversation too. It's a polite side-step instead of outright admitting that was a fucked up thing to say.]

Yes. I'll admit I did it to bring out his worst, but I did not realize it would be quite so effective.

Which brings me back to my point. [She lifts a single finger now, they've finally circled around] The two of them are being absolute idiots and I'm sick of watching them waffle around like fools.

[youngtimer]

You, too, huh?

[he chuckles into his mug before taking another drink]

What would you even do about it? I can't say this is the sort of meddling I have any experience with.

[gothicgambit]

[How unexpected, she thought that Five would be more experienced with making other people act a certain way. Not that she minded actually knowing something he didn't for once.]

What we will do at first is observe, to make sure we aren't wrong.

[She puts two sugar cubes about an inch apart on the table in front of them.]

Jealousy was a poor tactic. I had thought Atem might fall into the right type for it, but it turns out they're both martyrs. [Her nose wrinkles in a momentarily childish sort-of pout.] Fools. They'll just end up pouting and offering sickening support instead of confessing.

Once we're sure of an approach, we just keep -[she taps on the end of one sugar cube with the end of her spoon.]

prodding them [tap]
closer. [tap. The cubes are near touching now.]

Watching them will make it easier to make a plan, at first.

[youngtimer]

[if she wants that sort of manipulation, she should look to Handler. Five is better at the predicting: at knowing people and how they'll react. Handler was always the other half of the equation, the one who set them up to give the reactions she wanted. He's a precise tactician, and emotions are anything but precise]

That, I understand. You need more data. What is it you emotional blackmail types call it? Dirt.

[he grins]

That much I can do.

[gothicgambit]

[She taps the tip of her finger against her bottom lip in thought. If this was a serious matter, yes. But-]

You make it sound so sinister! [It kind of is, Celeste]

Data would be a more accurate term. The more we know about what strings to pull, the easier it will be to drag them into realizing how foolish they're both acting.

If I wanted to actually manipulate them, I would be trying far harder.

[youngtimer]

[at her mild accusation, he simply raises an eyebrow as if to say '...yes, and?'. he enjoys her little quirks and mannerisms when she's away from the game table - she has so many tells, and every single one of them is deliberately chosen, a choreography meant to broadcast just what she wants everyone to see. it's impressive as hell]

Ryou's been messaging me privately about having trouble sleeping. That seems like it could be useful.

[gothicgambit]

Perhaps...

[Atem was very obviously protective where Ryou was concerned, but was that enough.]

I think we can push things a bit more though. They're rather comfortable at home, maybe observe them somewhere outside of their preferred environment?

[There's something she's forgetting, she can feel it. The shittiest part of recovering from an injury, it made everything harder to do.]

[youngtimer]

[he's preoccupied with savoring the last of his coffee before it gets cold for a moment, and as he abandons the empty mug, his gaze lands on his laptop, sitting closed on the couch nearby.

lightbulb.]

Dr. Pierce's grand opening dance for the school. He just put something up about it... hang on.

[he gets up and retrieves the laptop, cracking it open and logging back in. if she's quick she might catch the tail end of his password: ______4r@de. once he's in, he turns it around so she can have a look]

Might be a bit cliche, I don't know. Thoughts?

[gothicgambit]

[Celeste, being an unfortunately terrible snoop, does note the back half of his password. Never know when you might need something like that. But she leans over slightly so he does not have to turn the screen quite so far, and even scoots her drink out of the way in case of errant elbows.]

I think it's perfectly suitable. Cliches exist for good reason, after all.

[Her nail-claws tap a quick staccato on the tabletop, and she turns to him-]

Are you asking?

hint hint: it's an MCR reference XD

[youngtimer]

[he doesn't even hesitate. at this point it's just two pals scheming, nothing else at all. right? totally.]

Seems like the best way to keep an eye on them, don't you think? Besides. Pretty sure with how much we both like to dress for an occasion, we'd make a nice pair.

lmao

[gothicgambit]

[She thinks about it. They might actually, Five seemed to have better fashion sense than most people their age. Her age? Whatever. Obviously this is just as friends, since he's her boss and also probably considers himself a grown man no matter how much he talks about 'second puberty.' They're coworkers. It's fine.

That security that there couldn't possibly be another motive is what helps her answer.]

Hm, I suppose you wouldn't embarrass me. With your permission, Dolores.

[She can't help but be a little sarcastic, and directs her attention to the mannequin silently sitting with them.]

XD

[youngtimer]

[he glances over at her]

Finally, someone with some goddamned manners. Yes, you can take him. He's not mine anymore, anyway. Someone might as well give him a good time.

[that earns a little choked noise from Horatio before he frowns at her]

Doloreeesss...! [ahem] She says you have it. She's just in a mood today, I guess. Thinking she knows what's best for me, as always, when she only knows what she sees happen in here.

I see more than enough, Five. You like her, don't you. It's fine. I'm not jealous. Okay, maybe a little.

[he just purses his lips and gives Dolores the tiniest raise of his eyebrows, the universal frustrated teenager expression for 'oh my god shut UP']

look she's done weirder shit lmao

[gothicgambit]

[Well, whatever Dolores' response is, Five doesn't seem to think it's very funny. Part of her almost wonders what he thought was said.

But at least he doesn't act like she can hear her too.]

Somehow I think there's more to it then that.

[obviously, with how out of sorts he suddenly is. so far Celeste hasn't managed to throw him like that, but this mannequin can apparently accomplish it with ease. Interesting. It does not make her feel inadequate.]

So she 'thinks' she knows what's best. Does she not? Since you obviously seem to disagree.

[youngtimer]

[he coughs]

Let's just say her comment wasn't age-appropriate.