>>821590
Hang up on him now. Have him killed right away before he becomes a bigger problem. Since when have you hesitated to murder a man?

If you let him think he is safe "for the time being", you are giving him a free pass to make another mistake. Have someone give him a boiling oil enema and be done with him for good.

hang up, he's wasted enough of your time

>>821590
A. Just hang up.

>>821590
A

b. maybe he has something to say that isn't whining

A

FRACTAL 2018/08/08(Wed)04:34 No. 896402 ID: 270774
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Your thumb is on the disconnect button before the first syllable of whatever shit Ne is howling crosses the line. It might be a mistake, you think, idly. Ne isn’t to be underestimated. But neither are you, fucking frankly, and you didn’t get that way by letting men yell at you. Whatever he cooks up in response to this, you’ll deal with, and you’ll deal with it easily if you can pull off this alliance with the Sukebun.

Rabies is going to be home soon.

>A. Get into your nightclothes and wait for him.
>B. Go to sleep. You’ll talk in the morning.
>C. Go out. You’re not in the mood to see him right now.

A: You shouldn't leave him on his own for too long.

A

C is the most Jolene-like, but . . . I want to finally see Rabies so I'm voting A.

>>896402
A

C

A and make sure you have a loyal gunner at the ready - for all you know, Rabies might want to murder you as much as you want to murder him. Only sooner. Because he's an idiot.

c! your day is going good, so don't let him ruin it

A for the A.

>>896402
You don't have to put up with any more crap tonight. Pull a C and have a night to yourself. Find a place with people who aren't a bunch of hoods and gangsters. Relax a little.

A only if Rabies is only good at giving the D. If not, C and... eh, we'll have fun some other way.

A — but make sure you’re ready for any of his moods and his suspicions over who’s really running the junkyard now

A

A. Don't chance a fuckup with the eyeball in the house, not with things with the oyabun stressed as they are.

C.

B. Avoid the temptation to just kill him ahead of schedule.

C

A

FRACTAL 2018/08/14(Tue)21:19 No. 897222 ID: 270774
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You think about going out. You really do. The night has gone swimmingly so far, and the idea of ending on a sour note - or even a boring one - is unappealing. But when plans are going so well, the absolute worst thing to do is to relax. You know that well. Rabies can’t be left unattended.

You think about him as you undress and dress again. It must seem ridiculous, to reapply makeup before bed, but your mother always told you that presentation is everything. A husband returning is like curtains opening on a stage - everything must be set, lights and greasepaint, and the backstage carefully hidden away in shadow. This, you know well, too.

Your mother taught you many things, and you disliked a lot of it. Your mind wanders.

FRACTAL 2018/08/14(Tue)21:20 No. 897223 ID: 270774
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You’d stayed home from school to cry the day away. Another breakup, this one even more bitter than the last. Part of the anger and hurt was the bewilderment, because as you lay on your bed, biting your nails and weeping, you found that nothing you were feeling was heartbreak. It was only bitterness, bitterness, bitterness, a feeling of defeat and humiliation - like you’d lost some kind of game in front of everyone. But when you think of the boy - well. You haven’t thought of the boy. You’ve thought only of your own failures, reviewed and rehashed every step you made, wondered where you could have gone so wrong that your constructed allure couldn’t hold up to daily wear and tear.

You realize as you soak the pillow that you’ve never particularly liked any of these boys. It’s not balm. It makes you unable to understand why, then, you feel so stricken every time this happens - why the embarrassment and the rage is so potent. It doesn’t make any sense, and you hate problems that you can’t solve.

Any time your friends pored over the pages of the yearbook, picking their next prey, comparing hairstyles and muzzle lines, you always felt like you were doing it wrong. Their racing hearts and shrill giggles were never something you could replicate, at least not genuinely. You always just asked the boy’s heights. At seventeen you’re already approaching six foot, and you quietly crossed out anyone who would look absurd walking next to you. The pool was small, but it made success more satisfying.

FRACTAL 2018/08/14(Tue)21:20 No. 897224 ID: 270774
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Your mother enters the room. She never asks. She doesn’t have to. She’s your mother. “Are you done yet? Come on, now, Jolene, he wasn’t that much to begin with. You could do better.”

You sit up. The hand dragged across your eyes brings a streak of makeup with it. “I know I could do better.” Your voice is brittle. “That’s why it hurts. He wasn’t even good enough for me, so how could he?” Something’s seizing your chest, and again, it’s nothing to do with him. It feels like the shock of being plunged into cold water. You’re realizing something. “I didn’t even like him. I never like them.”
“Well,” starts your mother, but you cut her off.

“I don’t think I like men.” The air in your room feels so cold. “At all. I think - Mama, I think I like -”

FRACTAL 2018/08/14(Tue)21:20 No. 897225 ID: 270774
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Your mother’s mouth is a red gash. “Jolene.”

You don’t look at her. You can’t. She’s your mother.

“I think you’re just a little frustrated with boys right now.”

FRACTAL 2018/08/14(Tue)21:20 No. 897226 ID: 270774
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You think about Rabies. You feel the same thing you do about every man you’ve ever loved - pity, and vague annoyance. It’s nothing to do with the fact that you intend to kill him. You always separate your career and your personal life - you pride yourself on it. You’re just a little frustrated with him right now.

“Can’t live with them, can’t live without them” - another piece of ancestral wisdom.

FRACTAL 2018/08/14(Tue)21:21 No. 897227 ID: 270774
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He gets home loud and rowdy and awful as always, setting all the boys downstairs howling and baying. You listen for his footfalls, for metal stairs creaking under heavy steps.

And there he is. Your man.

“Hey, sugar,” says Rabies. His mouth drips. You smile. “Whatcha been up to all day, huh?”

>A. Be coy. “I had some girlfriends over for dinner to catch up. It was so nice to see them!”
>B. Be flattering. “I just waited for you, honey.”
>C. Be matter-of-fact. “I attended to some business relationships.”
>D. Be nurturing. “I had a large dinner made, and there should be plenty of leftovers for you. Sloane has a friend over, and they’ll be up late.”
>E. Be provocative. “I saw Lowry Lewis.”

i've started up a fresh, more up-to-date disthread! if you want to discuss acid soup, go to this one, not the one linked in the first post of this thread: https://tgchan.org/kusaba/questdis/res/124805.html

a, may as well tell him what happened

A+D

a!!

a! please don't provoke him on purpose, we know what he's like

E, "and now she's a lazy 8!+(#-ass. I'm impressed, can I write a book on how you broke your ex-girlfriends? I want to lord it over them when we tie the knot."

a

A and D
Under no circumstances should we agitate him. We want him to be predictable for what we’re planning.

If we say D, I really don't think we should mention Gretchen being here. Cut that part out.

A + D... be Careful jolyne, this guy took your eyes

A + D but don't mention Sloane's friend, perhaps mention that she got a little worked up at dinner and needs her rest instead.

C, D

>>897227
A and D seem like the best way to go for now.

something between A and C. a work dinner, that sort of tone

A+D

A & D. Now's a good time to see if he appreciates subtlety.

FRACTAL 2018/08/24(Fri)18:05 No. 898894 ID: 270774
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“I had some girlfriends over for dinner,” you tell him, sweet and easy. He doesn’t care about shit like this, so it’s always safe. “It was so nice to do some catching up with them.”

He’s stripping off his vest and shirt, and they both go on the floor. There’s a noncommittal grunt, somewhere deep in his throat.

“I had a large dinner made, since we had company, and so there should be plenty of leftovers for you,” you add. That’s something more on his radar. “Should I have someone heat something up, darling?”

“I’m good, baby.” He turns his head over his shoulder, and in the dim light of the bedroom you can see that his mouth is dripping with blood, not slaver. “I ate while me and the boys were out.” He wipes his jaw on the back of his hand, then wipes his hand on the bedsheets, and you smile.

FRACTAL 2018/08/24(Fri)18:06 No. 898895 ID: 270774
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You keep smiling as you cross the room to him, and when he takes you in his arms you smile over his shoulder, out at the wall of windows that spans one plane of your bedroom, where it opens out into dark dusky air and smokestacks and oily lights that shift and grind into new positions every night, dragging rubble and screeching metal along the ground, a groaning screaming orchestra that lasts all the way through til morning. Right now, he’s standing between you and all of that, a warm and solid obstacle, one you can sink your nails into.

Whatever he’s saying into your ear right now is unimportant to you, just as much as any lies you could spin up would mean nothing to him. What you’re thinking about now is time.

FRACTAL 2018/08/24(Fri)18:06 No. 898896 ID: 270774
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It’ll move so quickly. A skyscraper downtown creaks and tilts sideways - you hold your breath, waiting for it to collapse onto its side, but it doesn’t. Not yet. Not tonight.

END INTERLUDE 2

chapter 3: https://tgchan.org/kusaba/quest/res/898897.html