Act 36: Upsetting Revelations
--- Joshua ---
“Fuck, are you sure it’s going to take that much Madness for the basement?” He had to ask upon hearing how much Madness this was going to cost him.
“Yeah, boss, it’s uh, we had these bootlegging ink stills down there plus a lot of, uh, storage stuff.” Avery tried to explain, crouched in front of a small trapdoor in the floor as he pushed one swirling mass of Madness after the other into it. “But, uh, you sure this is going to be worth it?”
“Given how I had to call a show early because I ran out of Ink, those stills are something I absolutely want to get my hands on.” He nodded, flexing his hands in front of him for an emphasis.
“Yeah, but those stills are probably as run down as everything else.” The Cabaret Manager warned him. “We’re probably going to need even more Madness to get it going. At which point we could’ve fixed the foyer and probably everything else to open the Cabaret back up.”
“True…” He forced himself to admit. “But, it’s not like we can get that Madness back now that you’ve started putting it into the basement.”
Avery stopped what he was doing. “Actually, since it hasn’t realized- er, solidified, uh, something like that. The Madness is still malleable enough for me to pull it back out, but uh, once it settles it won’t want to move without costing Madness. Though, uh, that would only work once we got the foundation settled.”
“Maybe… but I’ve got a good feeling about this.” He told the anxious animation, while not telling him that feeling was based around video games telling him that anything that costs a lot is worth even more. (What the fuck is a sunk cost fallacy?) “Come on Avery, have I led you wrong yet?”
“Well… there was the hat you don’t really wear… and the coat that tried to eat me…” Avery began listing.
“Hey, don’t diss my fashion sense. I’ve got style for days, besides I’m the one wearing this stuff on stage not you.” He tried to argue before Avery could list anything else. “I’m telling you there is something big and valuable down there, just trust me.”
Avery frowned before eventually letting out a reluctant sigh. “Alright, you’re the boss… boss.”
With that settled Avery went to work putting the rest of the Madness into the basement, before stepping back as what rust and decay had previously sealed the door shut began to break away. The metallic rot floating into the air before fading away as the trapdoor became as good as new.
“Now then let’s see what treasures are hidden in the basement!” He clapped, before opening the doors to a small set of stairs leading into a sea of black. “Uh, Avery?”
“If I’m remembering right… there should be a string like… right here.” Avery told him taking a few steps into the darkness before waving his hand in front of him. “Ah, found it.”
There was a faint click and a light came on revealing an even deeper sea of black surrounding them.
“Avery…” He began, looking down at the flooded basement. “The fuck is this?”
“I, uh, I don’t know.” The Cabaret Manager admitted, stepping onto the small isle of untouched basement in the sea of black. “It… it looks like ink… but a lot of it…”
“Did… did those stills you were talking about break?” He frowned, stepping into the basement.
“Maybe but… they made like Dream drinks, the Ink was just… cartoon alcohol.” Avery tried to explain. “This though…” The Boss Dream tapped the ink with his shoe before pulling it back. “Yeah, I’ve got no idea what’s going on here…” Avery confessed, as the ink clung to his shoe more like glue than any other liquid.
“That’s… worrying.” He grimaced, reluctant to touch the ink himself. “Can we even make use of the basement when it’s like this?”
“We can, though there’s not much space…” Avery told him, looking the space over. “Uh, you mind if I use a little more Madness? I want to try something.”
He raised his hands. “You’re the manager, you think you’ve got a solution, go for it. I’m not going to micromanage.”
“Alright, then give me a second.” Avery left the basement for a moment before coming back with a couple bits of Madness. “Hopefully, this works.”
Taking the Madness in hand Avery clapped his hands together before pushing it into the floor, causing the edge of the little basement isle and the sea of ink to bubble and glow. After another moment the ink began to flow backwards, eventually causing a wooden crate to pop out of the ground where the ink had previously been.
Unfortunately, even if this doubled the amount of space they had to work with -in spite of the crate taking up a third of the space- it still left the majority of the basement trapped under the black.
“Well, that… sort of worked?” He told Avery, taking a step away from the Dream now that they had more space.
“Yeah, but we’re going to need even more Madness to clean up the rest of this mess.” Avery sighed.
“True, but… we’ve got this crate here! What’s inside?!” He asked, trying to keep positive.
Prying the crate open he found his baseball bat and a large bag with a dollar money sign on the side.
“Huh, how did these get here?”
Scene Consequences
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
-Cabaret Basement has been restored.
--Joshua can now store items he Toonifies as a Standard Action, and the draw them as a Quick Action. Bigger Items take more space, small enough items take no space. (Current Limit: 2/3)
--Buddy the bat, and Toon bag have both been stored.
--Consumed: 6 Malicious Madness, 3 Laughing Madness, 2 Terrifying Madness, and 1 Excited Madness. (Leaving one of each by the end of the Turn.)
--The basement is flooded in Ink, by feeding more Madness into it Joshua can unlock more storage slots and possibly hidden treasures from the Cabaret’s past.
---
After the the mild disappointment with the basement ink stills, or rather the lack thereof, he decided that it would instead be in his best interests to try and work away at his ink production the old fashioned way. (Namely via drugs.)
With the taste of strawberries and copper on his tongue, he tossed his last vial of Malice to the side. (Good thing we’re seeing the Doc later, don’t want to run out of the good stuff.)
Rolling his shoulders and loosening himself up to the sound of some sinful swing, he eventually rubbed his hands together before placing them both on the ground and pushing out as much ink as he physically could.
He had a number of ideas for his ink powers, but all of them revolved around his ability to output as much ink as possible or at the very least significantly more ink than he could currently produce. And so with few other options of pushing this production beyond using it, he did his best to try and flood the warehouse floor with ink as he waited on the Malice Doc.
Scene Consequences
-Gained (1+D6=6) XP to Ink Production.
--Currently: Lv. 6 (10/14)
-For maintaining malice chain gained 1 Malicious Madness.
--Currently Stored: 1 Malicious Madness
---
“And what exactly are you doing?” The Doc asked, climbing out of the black SUV he and his bodyguard arrived in. “Beyond making a mess.” The Malice dealer added upon spotting the black puddle surrounding him.
“Working on my ink limits.” He answered, climbing to his feet. “Realized I’m going to need more resources to work with if I’m going to be pulling bigger heists for you .”
“Hmm, I see…” The Doc told him. “I’m guessing that this means you’ve chosen your target for said heist?”
“Yeah, the museum.” He nodded.
“Not the bank? Figured you would want the money from such a venture.” The Malice dealer admitted.
“More money, yeah, but I get the feeling a museum job would draw a more… manageable response.” He lied, not wanting any attention aimed at his actual target of whatever was causing his Madness to go haywire.
Was it a risk going after something that knocked him out just by getting close to it?
(Absolutely.)
Was that going to stop him from getting his greedy little mitts on what was clearly a Malice artifact of some power?
(Fuck no.)
Was he insane for doing so?
(Well, you’re not sane, that's for sure.)
“I can appreciate knowing your limits.” The Doc admitted. “But your job isn’t this ‘heist’ so much as playing distraction for our other agents. Is that manageable given your current plans?”
(Maybe but…) “Don’t worry, I’ll definitely put on a show no one can look away from.” He grinned.
“For your sake I hope not.” The Malice dealer warned him, before snapping his fingers, prompting the man’s bodyguard to bring over a suitcase that was undoubtedly filled with vials of Malice. “I’d hate to lose any more test subjects to perfectly avoidable consequences.”
Scene Consequences
-Joshua will now be targeting the Museum for a mandatory heist. If you do not purposely perform the heist by Act 40 it will trigger automatically.
-Gained 5 Vials of Red Malice.
A/N: Would’ve let you guys vote for where to hit, but it seems pretty unanimous going by the comments that this is what you would’ve chosen.
---
(Okay, this has gone on long enough.) He decided upon spotting Annette once purposely run out of the classroom before he could talk to her. Which on its own would’ve been fine, if not for the fact that she also refused to talk to him during the class that they had a project together. (One that’s getting way too close to its due date.)
Personally, he could care less about his grades as long as he passed the class, (excluding whatever lecture Chris decides to give me.) But he knew Annette’s grades were a lot worse off thanks to her bullies, and he refused to be the reason someone failed at their goals. (That kind of rep is not befitting a star of our caliber!)
It took him some effort and just a hint of his enhanced physiology, but eventually he managed to catch up to the other teen. Which of course led to her taking a detour in a completely different direction from her usual path.
Luckily, he’d been expecting that.
“How the fuck did you get here?!” Annette cried as she rounded a corner just to walk straight into him.
“I walked.” (And jumped the stairs when no one was looking.) “Now then mind telling me why you’ve been avoiding me the last couple of weeks?” He asked, figuring it was best to be as blunt as possible given Annette’s personality.
“I haven’t been avoiding you.” The other teen quickly lied with a shake of her head as she started to back away from him. “I’ve, uh, I’ve just had things going on.”
“Given how worried you were about your grades I very much doubt that.” He told her. “Unless those girls have finally left you alone?”
Annette grimaced, giving him an answer despite her silence on the matter.
(Actually…) He frowned, giving Annette a once over as he noticed several things.
First the fact that the usually confrontational teen refused to meet his eye and instead of her normally aggressive posture she seemed to be trying to make herself as small as possible. The way she shifted from foot to foot and how she was still trying to back away from him as if she planned on making a run for it any second. All of which when combined with the way she’d been avoiding him for weeks led him to the fairly obvious condition that,
“You’re scared of me.”
Annette winced and looked ready to bolt.
“Why are you scared of me?” He asked, before letting out a half-bitter laugh. “I mean, I know we’re not the best of friends but what could I have possibly done to scare you?”
“Y-you…” Annette swallowed, before seeming to force herself to work up some kind of nerve, her eyes gaining a slight steel to them. “You’re a Deviant.”
His heart stopped. “What?”
“You’re a Deviant… What’s more you’re, you’re using your powers on the other kids.” Annette told him.
“I- what?!”
“Last week you-you made those girls trip, and a couple weeks before that I saw you use your powers to summon some… shadow thing to attack those boys!” Annette listed, seeming to turn her fear into anger of some kind. “And, and there’s been other weird stuff going on around school, and people getting hurt, and it’s all been you. You’re using your powers to hurt people!”
(Fuck.)