newlydead r2 - day 13 - simon

[jinglebros]

[ It's night and Santa is wide awake. There's lots of hustle and bustle outside the hospital set and it's hard to sleep, even if you're heavily injured. He's getting stronger but he still can't wheelchair by himself out there yet, so he's stuck in bed and worrying. Oh boy.

He's all alone in the hospital set right now. It'd be a great time to meet privately with someone. ]

Comments

[court_chesster]

[Simon posts Money at the door as he enters, giving the monkey some shiny baubles to play with before approaching Santa's bedside.]

Hey there. How you feeling?

[jinglebros]

[ Santa smiles up at him. ]

Kinda like shit?

[ Okay, a whole lot like shit, but he's getting tired of saying exactly how bad it is, so. ]

[court_chesster]

Well, lemme know if you need anything.

[Pulls up the nearest adjacent bed and takes a seat.]

I imagine you've been filled in on what all happened today.

[jinglebros]

Yeah. What the shit is going on? It's like fucking life dynamite blew up out there.

[ Thinking about it, though, he has a sudden realization. ]

...you got your pass, then?

[court_chesster]

...It didn't quite go as intended, but yes. Seems like I've secured my vote as well.

[jinglebros]

So you're not willing to share the pass unless I offer something else, is that right?

[court_chesster]

I didn't say that, but did you really expect me to wait around for you when you immediately allocated your votes to other people?

[jinglebros]

I was working on trades this entire time to try to get you a vote! Rohan took advantage of my confusion. It was fucking poor show. That's why I want to use the pass on the stupid asshole.

[court_chesster]

Oh. I don't care who I use it on...

[looks almost bashful for a moment, but it's a short moment]

Wait, how many people have you asked about me? Isn't that going to make people suspicious of both of us?

[jinglebros]

Not that many. I've been careful, don't worry about it. I've mostly been working trades for other votes with the intent of nailing a vote for you. My intention was to get Kyrie to cover you in exchange for a deal she wanted to make.

I've been manipulating people here. You can do a lot when you lie in bed.

[court_chesster]

[Smiles a little at that.]

I was a little worried I wouldn't find a moment to sneak in here.

[jinglebros]

I was worried too. I'm glad you did.

And I'm glad you found a vote, I'm relieved. I think you're interesting.

[court_chesster]

Interesting, huh...

That's a way of putting it.

[jinglebros]

You know who I grew up with. I find a lot of things interesting other people wouldn't.

[court_chesster]

Guess so...

[pauses awkwardly]

So I'll hotel Rohan and we can figure out where to go from there. Anything else we should get out of the way while we have a little privacy?

[jinglebros]

I have a few things to address, actually.

[ Santa narrows his eyes and leans forward. ]

You should know who did this to me and why I'm so badly off. It was a simple deal with Junpei that he would stab me a little so June wouldn't have to. I don't know what he brought, but you see the results. He certainly didn't 'simply stab me'.

[court_chesster]

...No, no he did not. Do you know why? It doesn't seem like he was trying to kill you.

[jinglebros]

I'm pretty sure he was aggravated that he had to do it in the first place. Which is fucking bullshit because we made a fair trade for it. I guess I was wrong about him being a 'fair man', huh?

[court_chesster]

That's a pretty extreme way to express one's pettiness. You sure he wasn't trying to incapacitate you so they'd give away your votes?

[jinglebros]

[ Santa looks surprised, as if he hadn't thought of that at all. ]

You know what? He doesn't agree with how I want to vote. It's fucking possible that's exactly what he was doing.

[court_chesster]

Seems likely to me. How come you decided not to get rid of him?

[jinglebros]

I'm getting rid of him via votes. I think he might have an anti-pass and if he does, the hotel pass won't work.

Of course, if you have another idea...

[court_chesster]

[laughs]

I dunno, this kinda sounds like a personal problem.

[jinglebros]

[ Laughs too. ]

We shouldn't have to worry about it much longer, anyway. Not if everything goes according to plan.

[court_chesster]

Ooh, I like the sound of that!

[jinglebros]

Let's just say if everything works out, we'll be down quite a bit when this voting round is over.

We're getting closer to endgame, Simon. You ready to hold your head high?

[court_chesster]

Dunno! I've never tried it before.

[jinglebros]

You better do it, if you want to get anywhere close to the Final Five.

[court_chesster]

We'll see.

Hey, apropos of nothing, but do you like to play games?

[jinglebros]

As long as they're not death puzzles, I'm usually pretty okay. Why?

[court_chesster]

You must be soooo bored being laid up in here, right? So maybe sweet ol' Simon could bring you a game from the prop room — something we can do even if there are other people around. Like cards, for example, or chess — and in case one of us needs to send a signal to the other, we can build that in.

Though don't say chess unless you're actually good at chess. Playing against amateurs is boring as shit.

[jinglebros]

I'm bad at chess but fucking amazing at poker.

[court_chesster]

Okay, I'll bring you a deck of cards tomorrow. I don't normally play poker, but somehow I'm sure I'll do just fine.

[jinglebros]

You know what? I'm sure of that too.

[court_chesster]

Great! You can "teach" me.

[jinglebros]

Looking forward to it.

EVEN LATER THAT NIGHT

[court_chesster]

[Summoned by a concerned monkey that only reluctantly left the hospital set, Simon returns, now in a sweatshirt and pink plaid pajama pants, hair down. He seems a bit grumpy to have been called upon, but let's be real, it wasn't like he was actually sleeping.]

...Hey.

[jinglebros]

Hey.

[ Santa is fidgeting in his bed and upset enough that his face is flushed. His blankets are kicked off and his pillows have been tossed to the floor in frustration. He's Really Mad. ]

Thanks for coming.

[court_chesster]

What's up? We don't have much time left.

[They might have had more if not for the time he spent paranoidly checking around for signs of ambush the entire way there.]

[jinglebros]

Use the hotel pass on June.

Kyrie's going to betray me and kill her. I can't let her die.

[court_chesster]

Okay, sure.

[Fiddles with his tablet, yawning a little.]

How'd you find out?

[jinglebros]

Thanks. I wouldn't have yanked you all the way out here, but... it's June.

She said something that clued me in when she was roughing Tenmyouji up earlier. It took me awhile to realize it, but... here we fucking are.

[court_chesster]

Nah, I get it.

Heeere we are.

[jinglebros]

So the question becomes, do I let the man who saved my life die, or the woman who tried to kill my sister?

[ The answer seems very obvious, and let when he picks up his tablet, it's very hard to actually change his vote back to Rohan. ]

[court_chesster]

[Noticing the hesitation.]

Once somebody's betrayed you, there's no going back.

[jinglebros]

There isn't, is there?

[ Clicks the buttons, then sets the tablet down. ]

...