#twosday extra

[screaming-skvll]

“Y’know, the Awoken know a thing or two about makin’ sparrows.”

“That’s a sparrow?”

“What’d you think it was?”

“Like, a hunk of Awoken sculpture or metalwork that fell over... and which you sat on.”

“Well... it’s not that. Obviously.”

“I mean, not so obvious. I thought it was that.”

“...What’s that in your hand?”

“What? This hand?”

“...Yeah, that hand.”

“Oh, it’s, uh... it’s a little bottle I found. Pretty, right?”

“Uh-huh, lovely Awoken glasswork. Typical for a vial meant to hold Queensfoil tincture.”

“I mean I guess so, but it could’ve had anything in it.”

“...”

“...”

“Did it have Queensfoil in it?”

“...Yeah.”

“Did you drink the Queensfoil?”

“Uh-huh.”

“So how many levels of ascendant are you right now?”

“Like... maybe five or six, right now, my dude.”

(Cleansing Knife w/ Refurbished Black Armory)

[screaming-skvll]

“So my drum was feeling pretty light, but there were at least three of ‘em left on the zone...”

“You know we’ve seen the feed from this match, right? Like, a hundred times.”

“I took a deep breath, said to myself ‘What’s the point of having the heavy if you just die holding it?’ Then I—”

“Slid through the doorway, knocked out the first two with perfect headshots, and with your last three rounds, traded with the third, successfully dislodging them from the zone, preventing a last-minute tie.”

“You know these folks hadn’t heard the story yet. Rude to interrupt.”

“It was four.”

“What?”

“There weren’t three, there were four. You did take out three, which to be fair was a plenty impressive play, but there was a fourth eyeballing the zone from away toward mid. Saw on the feed, she had you dead to rights, and it was a shot from her scout that actually scored the kill on you.”

“That’s... in the feed?”

“Uh-huh. And the match records. But that’s not the point.”

“Do you need a point, aside from spoiling a good story for everyone else?”

“The point is the clock ran out. If you had just waited, rather than blazing in, the match would’ve ended before they captured the zone. The tie you thought you were preventing was never a real possibility.”

“...And I suppose you think that means what I did made no difference, huh? Didn’t matter?”

“Strictly speaking, it didn’t make a difference, at least in terms of the match outcome—but I wouldn’t say it didn’t matter.”

“Oh no?”

“Sometimes it matters to make a stand, even when it can’t change the outcome. That’s the real point of your story. That’s how you should tell it.”

(Bretomart’s Stand)

[screaming-skvll]

“Found something weird the other day.”

“...Where’d you get that?”

“Uh, let’s say definitely not on the Moon, where I most certainly haven’t been since the interdiction.”

“Put it down. Right now.”

“What?”

“Put... it... down.”

“OK, alright, here. What’s your problem?”

“Don’t touch it.”

“I put it down! I’m not touching it! Ease off, man!”

“Shut up and listen to me very carefully. You have stepped in some very serious shit. Very serious, very bad shit. We are gonna try to clean it up, but I need to know everything that’s happened since you picked up this thing.”

“What?”

“Where you’ve been, what you’ve done, every last damned thought that’s been through your head since you laid eyes on this friggin’ thing.”

“OK, you’re starting to freak me out.”

“You should to be more than freaked out. You should be so goddamn scared you’re transmatting crap out of your boots. Do you have the slightest fucking clue what this is?”

“Some weird Hive weapon, I dunno.”

“Well, you’re gonna know. You’re gonna know exactly what you found, and you’re gonna know what it means to mess with sorrow.”

(Husk of the Pit)

[screaming-skvll]

“That talk the other day, about combining Eliksni and human weapon parts—it got me thinking, and I remembered this.”

“Woah. Where’d that come from?”

“It’s one of those pieces from the Vestian Outpost, back when Variks was around to rig them for us. You know h—”

“Shh! Did you say Variks? We can’t just stand here in broad daylight in the Tower talking about bloody Variks! Dammit, quick, here, this way.”

“Wuh?”

“Listen, you better keep that thing stashed away, or better yet throw it away before somebody gets the idea you got it from Variks.”

“But I did get it from Variks, like, three years ago.”

“No, I mean they’ll think you got it recently. As in more recently than his little stunt in the Prison of Elders that, you know, resulted in the death of a certain beloved Hunter.”

“But everybody dealt with Variks all the time till before that. Hell, you used to be out there in the Reef three times a week.”

“Yeah, well, I had the sense not to dig any of the weird guns he gave me out of the trash heap. How’d this even survive the vaults getting smashed last year?”

“Well, I had this one in one of my caches, so when I thought of it after hearing that talk, I went an—”

“OK, doesn’t matter. Just get it out of here. Don’t let anyone see it.”

“There is a guy standing over there literally covered in armor bestowed by the Cabal emperor, and somebody else over there openly wearing an Eliksni banner for a cloak.”

“Sure, but it isn’t a House Judgment banner, is it?”

(Hand of Judgment)

[screaming-skvll]

“It just... never ends.”

“Nothing ends. Haven’t you heard?”

“Don’t get all philosophical. I mean this magazine. Look at the capacity. Do you see this?”

“Uh-huh.”

“You’re not looking.”

“I see it.”

“You’re not even looking!”

“OK, OK, I’ll look... Yep, lotta bullets.”

“Gotta carry a lot, with this kinda fire rate, I guess.”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Suppose you prefer slower-firing types, though, think it’s better to get more oomph per round, right?”

“Eh.”

“Are you listening?”

“Mm.”

“Hello?”

“Hm? You still talking about that gun?”

“I—!”

(Unending Deluge III)

[screaming-skvll]

“Now where have I seen something like this before...?”

“Couldn’t say. Don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Uh-huh. Where’d you get it?”

“Where does anyone get guns around here?”

“C’mon, don’t jerk me around here. I know what that is.”

“Do you?”

“Yeah. So where’d you come by it?”

“...I know a guy.”

“OK, how do you know this guy? And before you try to tell me ‘I just know people’ or some shit like that, please don’t lose sight of the fact we’re discussing illicit procurement of unsanctioned arms, upon which the Vanguard and Consensus don’t look too kindly.”

“What, you a lawyer now?”

“Your guy. Tell me.”

“...You better have the glimmer, if you’re angling to buy. This person doesn’t fool around.”

“Let’s say I’m more than just looking around. You can arrange a meet?”

“Yeah. Come back to the bazaar tonight, after the ramen shop closes. I’ll be around by the back. Can tell you when and where, but that’s it.”

(Red Spectre)

[screaming-skvll]

“Only cloak I ever needed is the one my Ghost made me when it rezzed me.”

“Isn’t that more of a scarf?”

“Aren’t you more of a paracausal theoretician than a fashion critic? And a Warlock?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Everyone knows Warlocks’ sense of style is... limited.”

“Have you, like, never heard of Sharona-8?”

“An exception. Just because the greatest fashionista of the City happens to be a Warlock... Besides, I still think she got sorted into the wrong class.”

(Neuroghast 1.0,  KD Bogatyr 2.0, KD Bogatyr 2.0, Makeshift Scarf, Superblack)

(Request: @goatmattersinc)

[screaming-skvll]

“OK, OK—what about the greatest sniper rifle ever made?”

“The Ice Breaker series?”

“Ugh, no. Please. I’m talkin’ about the Stillpiercer.”

“That one’s not fair game, it was some special side product for Hunters.”

“Maybe, but it does technically count as a production model, albeit a limited one. It was listed in the foundry catalog, so we’re obliged to give it due consideration, no?”

“Damn. Fine.”

“OK, so, the platform was pretty standard high-performance stuff—”

“Yeah.”

“—the optics were good, though nothing remarkably special—”

“Yeah.”

“—but of course, it was the enhanced detection package built in that made it really stand apart—”

“Obviously.”

“—and I contend that’s what makes it the best sniper of all. Because the best gun is the one in the hands of an operator with superior situational awareness.”

“But you could get about the same radar boost from any old Third Eye modification, and have a much better base gun to begin with. So if you’re really gonna lean on this situational awareness BS, then you’re just saying the best gun has to have Third Eye on it.”

“Those enhancements couldn’t go toe-to-toe with the Stillpiercer’s Self Spotter System. We’re talking improved detection resolution, not just ADS support. And combined with the micro-transmat protocol for multiple precision shots? No contest.”

“I think there is very much a contest, even if we’re limiting ourselves to the Häkke catalog. Plus this one’s moot, since you can’t even get it anymore.”

“Wouldn’t be so sure. I know some collectors out by the south wall. They can come up with almost anything.”

(Stillpiercer)