a_gentle_boy | Nineteenth PSI

[filtered to Vince]
Mist -- . . . Vince? If you're free sometime soon . . . Sometime really soon, preferably. And, um. If you don't mind having to pull off a small miracle. And . . . If you promise not to yell at me or anything when you see me.

I really need a haircut.

[filtered to Luke, Wy, Shiraasan, Lyn, Ness, and Duster]
Are you all OK? Did you make it through the night?

[open call]
Did anyone find out anything interesting at the party? I think I might've gotten something . . . I don't know if it's important. It seems as if Billy is nice as long as you play along -- He likes fire a lot, and he likes it when you don't mind about him setting them. If you say anything about it, though, he gets upset really quickly.

It might be nothing. I don't know. If anyone runs into him, though . . . try and humor him. . . . Maybe things would have gone differently if I agreed.

[For anyone who runs into him, Lucas now dons a stylish hat pulled down low over his face, and a strip of cloth cut as a mask wrapped around the top of his head with a single eyehole for his right eye. If anyone asks, he is playing cops and robbers. He bumps into things a lot.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

. . . That's good. Mm. Well, I played with Billy for a little while. Then I think he got upset when I told him not to light up the gas.

...How upset?

. . . Upset enough to try and hurt me.

Try to-

...

Did he get any further than just trying?

. . . A little.

....

[Click.

Guess who is headed to your place, Lucas.]

[Certainly not Shiraasan. Lucas wonders momentarily if he should hide or something.]

[Knock knock knock. Even if you try checking out the peephole, you probably won't see the person at the door. Not that you really need to, but still.]

No one's home, Shiraasan, sorry.

[The voice is kind of muffled through the door.]

You're not fooling anyone. Just let me in already!

What gave it away?

[The door swings open.]

Doors don't tell you when someone's out, using their voice.

[And she steps inside, immediately looking around for Lucas.]

Mine does.

[Lucas is behind the door. He's got his hat and a Freddy Kreuger mask on.]

Liar.

[She is gonna try getting all up in Lucas' face. Seriously, what is this.]

What's with all of that?

. . . I'm practicing for, um. Halloween?

You're just making stuff up!

[And now she's trying to yank it off of his face.]

Aaaahh!

[Lucas screams bloody murder. That really hurts. He clamps his hand over his face and pulls back.]

Stop that!

[His scream is enough to make her stop and draw back immediately in surprise. It was actually so unexpected, she's... kind of just staring in shock.]

. . . Sorry. Just . . . Just don't touch up there, OK?

...What did they do?

It's just a little burn . . .

People don't scream over little burns.

What about medium-sized burns?

How big is a medium sized burn?

Um. This big?

[Lucas makes a vague motion across his face with his hand. . . . Then after a moment's hesitation, he pulls up the left side of the mask a little. Shiraasan may catch a glimpse of a large patch on the left side of his face, from about level with the bottom of his nose, all the way up to his scalp. Most of it is raw and bloody, although the part around his eye looks more melted and blackened from the burn. The left eye is white and cloudy.

The glance won't be long enough to appreciate that the raw and bloody sections are slowly shrinking, extremely slowly.]