#tabula perpet

[ask-melanc-vivura]

What doesn't kill you...

Melanc: Whattt does nottt kill you shall stttill remain a problem in some fashion.

Melryn: What don't kill ya better run.

Astera: what don't kill u ain't gonna get the chance 2 run

Lyalka: X=o|-< What does not kill you will not try again. One way or another.

Tabula: [][]What doesn't kill ya gets the cement shoes and a nice dip in the river.[][]

[ask-melanc-vivura]

[WIST] for Tabula?

[WIST] The echoes of the past - memories, names, scraps of the past that cling to the present. What is something from your past - be it wisdom, pain, or something else - that clings to your present?

"[][]I remember da day I first bumped someone off. Dey say it gets easier in dis line a' work. What a load a' baloney. It don't ever get easier.[][]"

[ask-melanc-vivura]

A troll sits at his desk, a cigar clamped in his teeth and a pair of reading glasses on his nose. He pores over the documents in front of him--fireproof, thank goodness--and punches some numbers into a calculator. He writes a couple new entries into the ledger in order to... balance the equation.

A voice can be heard from his desk intercom.

"A vizzitor to zzee you, Don."

"[][]Tell 'em I'm busy.[][]"

"It'zz the freelancer."

"[][]...Buzz 'er in.[][]"

"Very amuzzing, zzir."

"[][]Dat wasn't a joke. Let 'er in.[][]"

The door opens and a tall, hooded troll enters, her horns obscured.

"[][]You got it?[][]"

"Indeed."

"[][]Lemme get a gander. Make sure you ain't chiselin' me.[][]"

The woman puts a briefcase on the desk.

"I never do."

She opens it to reveal about a hundred epi-pens, carefully packed so as not to break them.

"[][]These look like they're straight from the factory. Are they?[][]"

"Indeed."

"[][]You must really be behind the 8-ball to be comin' here with such a big haul of hot goods.[][]"

"I also dislike price gouging on necessary medicine."

"[][]Yea but you never mosey on up here just for a chinwag and a dib. Need me to take someone for a ride?[][]"

"Kill? No."

"[][]Ah horsefeathers. You're gunnin' for some poor schmuck but it turns out there's some gumshoein' to be done and you need some help. I see it in your eyes.[][]"

"..."

The conversation continues for a while and the woman leaves. Tabula looks at the briefcase full of epipens. He wonders how low of a price he can feasibly sell them for. He dislikes the price gouging of the corporate overlords as well.

The woman slips down the street, through alleyways, under the cover of an overpass, and into a maintenance tunnel.

Melanc exits the unused subway station. That line was closed down a long time ago, but the tunnels are still used frequently by people who don't want to be seen.

[ask-melanc-vivura]

My characters in order of how likely they are to steal your wallet, from most likely to least likely:

Astera Pesmen Tabula Perpet Lyalka Poppyt Melryn Anthul Melanc Vivura

It really says something that Astera is more likely to steal your wallet than a literal mobster is.

[ask-melanc-vivura]

Tabula, if you were reincarnated, what would you want to be in your next life?

"[][]Me? I don't care as long as I get to be with my wife in that life too.[][]"

[ask-melanc-vivura]

April Fools Day activities for my trolls:

Melanc: Having recently discovered the Rickroll, she proceeds to find ingenious ways to Rickroll people.

Melryn: Placing hundreds of cheap garden gnomes around someone's house, all staring at the windows or doors

Lyalka: Puppeteering scarecrows to chase their owners around their farms

Astera: Starting debates as to whether they are wearing blue and black or white and gold

Tabula: This

[ask-melanc-vivura]

Connections

Tabula paces his office, his mind racing. Melanc had needed a cheap phone as soon as possible. From the sounds of it, she needed it for a friend. She had been worried when the handoff happened. Was that because of him or because her friend was in danger?

Tabula stops pacing. With a decisive motion, he pulls a phone from his pocket and speed-dials one of his contacts.

"[][]This is mouse. I need ya to keep an eye out for a gal called Melanc. ...Yeah that's her. You see her? ...A friend? ...Uh-huh. Meet me. Same time, same place.[][]"

Tabula hangs up and puts away the phone. He lifts a hidden hatch in the corner of the floor to reveal a safe. He twiddles the dial to put in the combination and inserts a key. Turning the key, he opens the safe.

Tabula pulls out a clip of caegar notes totalling 100 caegars. He closes and locks the safe and then closes the hatch. Pocketing the money and putting on his coat, he walks out into night. His info guy better be right about this friend of Melanc's.

[ask-melanc-vivura]

Tabula sits in his leather upholstered chair, steepling his fingers over the desk, an unassuming phone in front of him. Although he looks cold and calculating, he can't help but worry. Melanc had called him only a few hours ago, and she must have been in considerable distress. For one, he knows she isn't the type to call him, a high-ranking member of the mafia, even if he does owe her a favor. For another, she needs a burner phone. What would someone like Melanc need a burner phone for?

The time is getting near that he would have to go to the rendezvous point. He grabs the phone and puts it in his pocket. He grabs a black jacket, choosing not to wear his signature white trenchcoat for this occasion. He exits his office and walks out into the night.

Soon, he is walking briskly along a nearly deserted street. He spots Melanc and catches her eye, the phone now in his hand. As they pass by each other, he puts the phone in her hand without breaking step.

Tabula can't help but glance worriedly at her as she passes by. She doesn't seem to notice his glance.

-=-=-=-=-=-

Melanc, burner phone in hand, slips it into her pocket. She knows that even though it's technically a burner phone, it would work exactly like a normal one, because that's what burner phones are. They're normal phones, albeit cheap ones.

Walking back home is much more stressful than it should be. She can't help but wonder why Tabula Perpet himself would hand her the phone. He's an underboss, just one level below the actual boss. He could have sent a grunt or even a capo, but he himself came.

Melanc sighs as she arrives home. The things she does for her friends. At least Thiomi has a phone for her moirail now. Well, when Melanc manages to hand it over.