[b]Numb:[/b]

Numb takes the Irish Transfer in the lobby without blinking. This is how [i]they[/i] operate too. The friend group is the entity, the friends in it are mercurial. 

“So here’s what I’m thinking.” Eli says. They’re bright and alert now, fresh from a nap and a shower. “It’s only going to look like this today. Today’s the day we get this for ourself, so if you want to see the crowd at its comfiest you’re looking at this. Tomorrow, the normies are coming in, because this is who the art’s really for. This is like, we’re looking at the paintings, but we’re the frame right now.” 

Crystal hasn’t filled them in. They just, know, like this has happened before and it’s going to happen again. She adds, with dark amusement; “You have to sell your agony to those who have essentially never known it. They’re the ones who can pay to see it.”

“So I want to catch that as it happens. Like, as it starts off looking like our space, because we’re part of the product getting sold here. It’s like… When you catch a fish that’s too small to eat, so you use it as bait for the fish you actually want, right? We’re that smaller fish they’re trying to catch first, but it’s great because this place is made for a bigger fish, so until we get eaten this shit rules. The bait’s too good not to bite.”

And she’s right, honestly. At some level, Crystal’s plan to demonstrate this to the mainstream does mean that, does look like that. It’s hard to think of a rebuttal she could make here that isn’t just a reframing of perspective, a different choice of words. 

[b]Leather:[/b]

Keep watching, don’t see anything. The smoke rises. If someone’s fucking with you, they’re not overplaying their hand just because you twigged.

“Rudy, I am about to break down this wall.” He uses clawed hands to rip down smouldering beams, his skin protects him from the cinders that kick up with every break. “Okay, so good communication is effective anyway. See if we can get an answer. Rudy? Rudolph Merkin? No?” 

He doesn’t cough. It seems like he should, but he doesn’t. His voice just gets fuzzier, like a filter’s getting clogged in there. “Now, remember, what kind of sensor should we be using?” 

> Thermal Sensor - Sound Sensor - UV Sensor - Radiation Sensor
> Thermal Sensor

“That’s right. We’re looking for the opposite of what we usually do, the human body tries to regulate its temperature so at this point, Rudy is trying to be [i]colder[/i]. We could also try looking for heartbeats, but if Rudy is an android we’re not going to pick that up. Now-”

> Must remove all valuables from the house before completing the rescue.

“Well, let’s get Rudy out to the window first, and then we can do that before we finish. Mr Merkin is going to count as a valuable, right? I’m sure he does something valuable for society, to live in a nice place like this.” 

There’s a laugh from the audience, though it’s impossible to tell what level of irony Leather is operating at. 

“Apparently it’s an old coin collection. So while I dig this Merkin Mannequin out from under the bed - good thinking, Mr Merkin, stay low under the smoke, keep something solid over you - We’ll have to figure out the best way to find and retrieve that. Okay, Mr Merkin, do I have permission to leave with you now?” 

[b]Monk:[/b]

Tranquility takes control.

“There’s a story called Gutei’s finger. A young boy watches a zen master deliver lectures with one finger raised in the air, like this-” she demonstrates with one finger of one of her six hands, “and he starts to teach like he’s watched Gutei. So Master Gutei finds out, and he takes the boy and he cuts off his finger. And then as the boy is crying, he looks at him and holds up his finger again - the one he’s just cut off. And the boy was enlightened.” 

She chuckles under breath. “Apparently that story means I know nothing about Buddhism. My entire body is the raised finger that nobody has cut off yet. I just skipped to the end of what enlightenment looked like, but I am still trying to understand what that means. I do know that it helps to do the actions. I think if I can just act enlightened for long enough, perform it, then I will come to understand what I have been performing. Before then, I can’t teach what I don’t know.” 

A Red face, the mask of an implacable Samurai warrior, takes her face. “It is good that your captor is dead and her empire buried beneath the serpents. It is good that your enemies are few and weak. Mine, at least, are so apathetic they might as well be.”

Green again. “Sorry, had to switch to Security for a moment. Tranquility can be a bit too trusting, and Authority - she’s the yellow one - she needed to know what Security would think about taking any of the inheritance for yourself. I wish we could talk like you do.”