socialcapital | [ JACKSON HEART ]

"Ah, sure! That's no problem, I have it memorized."

He pulls out his notebook and starts writing quickly.

Is there anything I could offer you in return?

"For writing down some words...? I don't need anything for that! If anything, it makes me happy you liked it enough to wanna keep part of it!"

They're not just "some words". They're your words.

"Yeah, but I'm gonna put them out there because I wanna share them, y'know?"

I know. Then, for that path, I'll just wish you the best I can.

Good journeys, Totality. May your shoes always be up to the roads you'll tread.

"Wah, Sun Sign even has special themed see-you-laters... I don't think we have those so- so! Um! You too! That thing too but for you!"

[He holds out his hand for the paper.]

You're with Siren's Melodies, aren't you?

"May it always be good publicity."

He puts the paper in Satin's hand triumphantly.

"I've heard there's no bad kind. Hehe. But yeah, that!"

[He takes it with the gravity of someone receiving something precious, and rises.]

Good luck with your practice. If the one you work on next turns out anything like this, I think you'll be just fine.

He kicks his legs some more.

"If I make it big I'll invite you to a show!"

I'll look forward to it.

[He heads to the door, closing it softly behind him.

... and stays there a moment, hand flat against the door frame.]

For now... keep this moment and all its dreams just as they are.

The vibes in this area ARE good. The feeling in the air is excitement and passion and anticipation. They only dull a little bit as the door closes, that's how saturated they are.

Also you got the song lyrics!

[He tucks that page away, lingering a bit to appreciate this time for everything it is -- like the garden in that other childhood, something sweet and precious and holding an innocence long lost to time.

And then he heads back, following the signs to the dressing area.]

This area... this area. It was evident as soon as he entered, but the emotions here permeate the air in a way he would probably be able to feel even if he had no specific sense for darkness. In the rest area they were light and giddy, but the closer he gets to the dressing room area the more everything feels almost saturated.

These are old emotions, blunted by time and distance, but digging under the surface does make them feel fresher. It's the exhaustion so deep it's turned into despair. Something bleak and inescapable, the furious agony of a trapped animal, the miserable exhaustion of a swimmer who's realized they're too far from land to even know how to make for safety, of a wanderer in the frozen woods who wants more than anything to just lie down in the snow. To give up. To stop. To stop. To stop.

The guards in this section almost seem more concerned with keeping someone in than keeping you out, and barely notice you. Near the door to the dressing room is a man in a suit, talking on the phone. He bears vague family resemblance to Jackson, and is arguing with someone on the other end of the call -

"No, you don't have to worry about it. Whatever it was you sent over last time shut him up for hours. ... Well, no, obviously we made sure it was safe. ... No, listen, we have medics on staff, we're not about to make pâté out of a goose's still layin', y'know? We wanna keep him happy. Ish. Yeah, yeah..."

[Ahh. He'd been so fortunate in avoiding the merchant; perhaps it's only fitting to have run into this jailer instead.

He waits politely to the side, years of experience as service staff keeping his expression schooled and posture appropriately deferent until this very interesting conversation is over.]

The conversation doesn't seem that important, because as soon as he notices Satin he wraps up the conversation with a quick '--just go take a nap, sis, let me worry about the kid. Later--', hangs up, and then looks Satin up and down with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah?"

My apologies for the interruption, sir. Ashiya, apothecary. I was asked to report here...?

Edited 2026-02-15 03:53 (UTC)

He frowns, like, he knows he didn't actually call any of the on-staff medics. But the possibility that a medical emergency happened that he somehow just wasn't aware of is not zero.

After a moment he does a dismissive little wave.

"Okay, hold on, I'll go check what this is about."

He steps into the dressing room and closes the door. Any conversation that happens inside is quiet and too muffled to really hear, but it only lasts about a minute before he steps back out with a shrug, leaving the door ajar and waving Satin in.

The behavior is odd enough that it's almost certainly not accurate to how this man would have acted in the real world - he likely would have just barred entry - but this puppet is defined in Totality's memories by his apathy more than anything else. At least it makes him a very surmountable obstacle.

[Very surmountable. And it means there's little justification for choking out him and the handful of guards in attendance.

... pity.

He takes the invitation, entering the room and closing the door behind him.]

Inside the exhaustion and dread and despair is even thicker, but there's still a tiny spark of the excitement and passion from the other area even here.

Totality!!!! is here. He's at the absolute height of his fame, maybe 20 or 21 years old. His hair is longer. He has an earring. He is skinny like 'has a drug problem' skinny. He honestly might still be a little bit high. He smells like he's been drinking heavily because he's been drinking heavily.

But regardless of the state he must have been in before the door opened, this version of him still seems to have access to all his Blessings, and so physically, he's somehow in peak form despite all this.

Which is why he just sort of watches Satin curiously, without any sort of caution or concern that a stranger just walked into his dressing room.

"Did someone ask you to come here?"

Yes.

I'm a bit encouraged that the gentleman at the door seemed to take me for someone involved in health care. I'm not unskilled in that area, but most of my interactions in this capacity have been regarding custom drug formulations.

"Woooow, they usually wait until after the show for that. But usually they also go through uncle Ray and he wanted to know if I called you. Which I don't thiiiink I did?"

He's genuinely not 100% sure, because.

...

Well.

I'm afraid I don't know if you were the one who asked me to be here, either. And if you, personally, would prefer that I depart, I will do so.

"No no, you came all this way, wouldn't turning around and leaving make that a waste of time?"

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