＊ FJORD ﹠ ❛ LET'S GO OVER THE PLAN ONE MORE TIME .
caleb sits crosslegged in the middle of his tower's salon , staring at the crackling blaze on the hearth. it's not very late — only five minutes to ten — but most everyone has already retired to their rooms in exhaustion. up until a little bit ago , it had been three of them , but beauregard is sound asleep and snoring in an uncomfortable position on the fainting couch , a book open on her stomach.
so , two now.
whether @falchioned's request is for his benefit or caleb's is uncertain. he appreciates it nonetheless. " we've gone over it six times. " caleb pushes aside the rug that takes up most of the floor right by the fire , struggles a little partway through , and kicks it the rest of the way. his jacket is strewn over one of the chairs , but his book holster and components pouch remain on him. from the pouch , he pulls a piece of chalk , the cheap kind and begins to outline their sorry excuse for a plan on the floor.
it starts with a trap , as all plans that go to shit do. somewhere in the middle there's a fluffernutter ( followed by a series of question marks , because not even the gods know how that will go ). near the end , caleb allots for someone losing consciousness ( adds an asterisk denoting that they should count potions and stop by a store in case they are low ). the final item on the list , written in capital letters and boxed in : IF FUCKED , RUN.
looks like most of their plans do when he visualizes the worst outcome , but seeing it written out is somehow infinitely terrible , like he's manifesting it to happen. he looks over at fjord and holds the chalk out for him to take for any additions. " i don't feel very good about this. " he pauses to allow space for beauregard's snore , then continues. " each time we go over it , i see more problems than solutions. "
