005: Dead Man's Hand / moonlight

[usagipino]

[Pino is back after a relatively long absence. She's wearing her overalls this time and her melodica is sitting off to the side. She's lying on her stomach and is playing with what is clearly an incomplete and extremely tattered deck of cards. There doesn't seem to be any real rhyme or reason to what she's playing; she's just stacking them, flipping them back and forth, making them walk around, and so on. She is also humming softly to herself.]

[You might notice that the main cards she's playing with are the black eights and aces.]

Pino was right about meeting the card soldiers! But what'll happen now? [She starts building a little tower.] Vince doesn't see the light. How come? It goes flicker-flicker flash!

[She knocks the tower down.] Hmmmm, is it going to be dangerous again?

Comments

[grand-gaia.livejournal.com]

[Blink]

[mercwamouth]

Playing with a stacked deck. I'm gonna have to fine you.

[usagipino]

[She looks up and spots him and grins.] Hee! Are you a card soldier?

[usagipino]

Fine Pino? How come?

[mercwamouth]

You're cheating. That makes you a bad cat-robot-girl.

You gotta pay a fine now.

[usagipino]

Pino isn't bad! Pino isn't a cat, either!

[mercwamouth]

Well the PJs don't help. Particularly if I'm hallucinating.

That'll be five bucks.

[usagipino]

Pino doesn't have five bucks. What are five bucks?

[mercwamouth]

Dollars? Yen? Pounds? Rupees? Scratch? Moolah? Dough? Money Units?

[usagipino]

Oh! Money! Pino doesn't have money.

[grand-gaia.livejournal.com]

I don't think so?

[mercwamouth]

Then I'll have to take collateral.

[Grabs the melodica]

[usagipino]

Okay!

[usagipino]

No! No! That's Pino's! Give it back! [She springs to her feet and makes a flying leap for it.]

[grand-gaia.livejournal.com]

Why?

[usagipino]

There are a lot of card soldiers. But some of them are dying.

[grand-gaia.livejournal.com]

[WAAAAAAAAARGH?!]

What? Why?!

[usagipino]

Mm, because of the metal soldiers. The Autoraves. Everyone's fighting. And there's the light! Vince can't see it.

[mercwamouth]

[Miss!]

Well you should have thought of that before you cheated.

[usagipino]

Pino didn't cheat! Pino doesn't cheat! Give it back! Pino needs that! Pino found it!

[grand-gaia.livejournal.com]

M-Metal soldiers?!

Why can't he?

[usagipino]

Mm! I guess they're killing everyone.

Pino doesn't know.

[mercwamouth]

What's the magic word?

[exserpens.livejournal.com]

[Crowley wanders over to where Pino is playing, hands in his pockets. He doesn't say anything, just stands there for a while. Pino reminds him of Henrietta, a little, and even more so of Aziraphale :|]

[usagipino]

Pino doesn't knoooow...

[usagipino]

Crawly-Crowley! [Eee her friend is here!]

[mercwamouth]

[Starts to play melodica. Badly.]

[usagipino]

[And she runs up and stomps on his foot, rather hard.]

[mercwamouth]

[Stops playing but shows no physical signs of pain. He just freezes for a couple seconds. He then presses the melodica toward Pino]

...Close enough.

[usagipino]

[She snatches it away, then scoops up her cards, and runs off.]

[mercwamouth]

I hope you've learned your lesson.

[exserpens.livejournal.com]

[he smiles]

Hallo, Pino. [nods to the jumble of cards] Hard at work over there?

[usagipino]

Mm-mm, Pino is just playing. It's boring because it's just the card soldiers and the metal soldiers fighting now.

[exserpens.livejournal.com]

Soldiers? You mean in your world?

[usagipino]

Mm! They found us when we were going in the Rabbit.

[exserpens.livejournal.com]

[Silence for a moment.]

Are you all right? Your friends?

[usagipino]

Everyone's dead except Vince.

[exserpens.livejournal.com]

...I'm sorry.

[usagipino]

It's okay. Pino was sad, but I still have Vince.

[exserpens.livejournal.com]

Yes, of course.

And at least you can come here if you've the need.

[usagipino]

Mm! Pino loves it here!