*In a booth in the bar, while people around them are quite drunk... two people remain quite sober...*

*...too sober, actually.*

Roach Leader: *staring into an untouched drink* Well. Now what are we going to do?

You're going to keep at Phibrizzo. Unless you were lying about--

Roach Leader: *firmly* I wasn't. We can do it. Dr. Gerbil left in a hurry-- no time to take any of his notes with him. And... well, there's a disturbing amount of research on mazoku in his files. Apparently, it was some kind of hobby of his.

So you're not bluffing.

Roach Leader: My sons' lives are at stake...

I know.

*A pause.*

*sniffs the air* What's that?

Roach Leader: What's what?

That smell. It's the smell of blood about to spill.

Roach Leader: Er...

*stands up* Stay here.

Roach Leader: Why? Where are you going?

I'm going to find Dot.

Roach Leader: WHAT? Are you absolutely insane?

Yes. And will you do me a favour?

Roach Leader: What? What now?

*softly* Please don't die. I'm really not in the mood to lose you.

Roach Leader: *blink* Say what?

*But in that one blink, she's gone...*

Roach Leader: ...damn RL vanishing trick. One of these days...

[Setting: still the bar]
[bgm: Chihiro Onitsuka - ROLLIN']

*And at another table of the bar, over at the other side...*

Luna: So... let me get this straight-- the bandits we thought ambushed you and Dad--

Lina: --were actually the Demiurge Chatty and EGC no Ningai #2 Mack. But Chatty was really mean, and Mack begged HER to spare your lives?

Laurence: *nods* Uun.

Luna: That doesn't make much sense.

Lina: Maybe she wanted to torture them.

Laurence: *Shakes his head* No, no, she actually got down on her knees and begged. "Please, Chatty-sama, it's just some merchant and his kid. Let's just take the money and run."

Luna: So then she killed Dad and made you into an insert, eh? That's cheating.

Laurence: She didn't kill Dad.

Lina: She didn't kill him? You mean Dad's alive?! *jumps up* WHEEEEEEEYAH! *in his face* Where is he? Where is he? Huh huh huh?

Laurence: He's...

Luna: Yes?

Laurence: ...he's...

Lina: Well? :3

Laurence: ...a coat.

Lina and Luna: *deadpan* Ehhhhh? ¬¬

[setting: Unknown Space]
[bgm: Medeski, Martin, and Wood - We Are Rolling]

*A darkness-filled place. It could be anywhere.*

*Out of the shadows, into the one and only light, steps Chatty.*

...I need your help. I never thought the day would come when I would say that, but there it is.

*Pause.*

Well?

Ordinal: *stepping out of the shadows, hands in his coat pockets* Is that so?

Yes. I need you to--

Ordinal: --tell you what Dot is up to, hm? Because you simply can't figure it out on your own.

*eyes widening* How--

Ordinal: --did I know? It's the topmost thought on your mind. *He smiles, with a green halo shimmering into view* Thursday's only a raw power source, isn't it? It boosts your existing powers-- and weak telepathy runs in the Johnson family genome. So...

*cringing* I see.

Ordinal: *cocks his head to one side* You're repulsed. *Shrugs* Well, that can be changed soon enough.

*stares*

Ordinal: *smirks* And now you're afraid. Thursday makes me more powerful than you, now, doesn't it?

*staring* You don't know what that thing is. You can't control it.

Ordinal: No... *walking right up to her face* ...but I do now.

........

Ordinal: *grins* Isn't that right...

*He turns away, lifting up and addressing his right sleeve...*

Ordinal: ...Mr. Inverse?

Monkey wrenches are fun. :)