villainy commenced [[1x1 w/ the-nug-king & hexspecs!]]

[grey matter]

"I have no idea. That'd... Make sense though. Maybe I should accuse him of it... Ah, the look on his face if his plan is foiled? That'd be great... Ooh, then I can turn the tables on him by asking him then and there to be my nemesis just to one-up him... And. I will get chairs. I don't have any thrones in here though, you'll have to deal with... Uh. Wait. When the heck did these get here..." He looked into the corner, finding twelve folding chairs just... in the corner for some reason. "I do not remember obtaining those. But since they're here, we're using those."

He started setting them up as Lucas approached the doorway, [i]definitely[i] looking more dapper than normal (he was absolutely breaking or the pinstripes again, but under his lab-coat to attempt at being less noticable, but failing at that because... pants are very obvious clothing garments). "Lazarus. We have duels to resolve."

Lazarus had a decision to make: play dumb or play knowingly? Maybe... seem to know more than he lets on in an obvious manner but just seem overall knowing but keep the tension? Sure. For now. Unless he wants to turn the tables on Lucas at some point. "Hello, Lucas. You're a bit later than everyone else. That's not... typical of you."

"We have duels to resolve," Lucas repeated. "Pieces first. I managed to get four," he said, revealing a hand of four pieces from Pandemic.

"Hah! I got five," Lazarus said, showing his five.

"Tsk... Seems neither of us collected them all, though. There are still more out there. You may have won this battle, but I will win the war."

"Wait, there are more than that?"

"Yeah," Bon Voidage interjected, "there were like... Twelve?"

Lazarus gasped. "Just as many as the chairs..."

"Is that a sign of something? Chairs connected to game pieces?" Lucas asked.

"Maybe. I don't know. I'm not cashing in this bounty until we get them all, though."

"The let's increase the wager. The one who finds 2 out of the 3 left by the end of this takes all the other's pieces too."

"Intense and unexpected! I like that. Now... The next one. Gifts for Three but also Morgan by extension for making sure we didn't die. Oh- did- did we even mention that to them?"

"I... Don't think so." Lucas turned in the doorway. "Three, is now a good time?"

[[Ohhhh now I realized I barely thought about what'd they'd give to Three/Morgan for Thanking's Sake and Rivarly Build-up. Feel free to have them say no to increase That Spicy Spicy Rival Tension]]

[the-nug-king]

((aaaa three's not there rn they went out to calm down Crying Baby in the last post, idk if you want to change it or just have lucas and laz realise they're not there, it's up to you?))

[grey matter]

[[My bad! Let me just. Have Lucas realize "wait what."]]

"...Wait, they... Left? Where are they?" Lucas said, not looking out there anymore.

"Morgan was getting upset. So... No actual duel resolutions? How anti-climatic... Wait! That means... Well, look, I know I didn't want those specific objects out during a game, and certainly not around a baby... But... I mean, it's just us here and everyone else. How bad can that get?"

"...Oh. You- You knew what I was planning? Other than that?"

"I think we're being too vague. What I'm saying is... Draw, draw, or draw?"

"That's... Still vague. But... Ah. Draw. If everyone else is alright with that."

"What are they doing?" DVS whispered to Bon Voidage.

"I have no idea," Bon Voidage whispered back.

"Swords! We're breaking out the swords! And... Ugh, well, I can't make this dramatic without the swords. Hold on, I want... I want to make sure you're all okay with us having a swordfight right now because I'm pretty sure we're going to wait for Three, right? Otherwise we just... ruined all the tension." Lucas sighed. "Please don't tell me we just ruined all the tension."

"I mean... What were we going to do with the swords anyways? I had an idea, but I wouldn't dare assume as to not overly expect anything."

"Swor- actually, should I even tell you? Should I?"

"Sword... Stabbing? Sword... fighting?" He had a brilliant idea to throw Lucas off-guard. "Sword... asking me to be your nemesis?"

"I- wait, you... Ah, screw permission. Whoever doesn't want to be in here for this, get out. Lucdust, please text Three and tell them that this is happening so they don't come in here and get involved with a swordfight with a baby in tow. And... I apologize if we were about to start without Three, but," Lucas turned to Lazarus. "You, Poethief... Why, you've just gotten on my nerves." He un-pocketed a potted plant, the shiny plant from last time, and ripped it out from its pot to reveal... it was a sword but also a plant. A metallic plant. He threw off his lab coat beside it.

"Mad Botanist... You're always on my nerves." He drew a sword from under his scarf, smirking as it glimmered a little too shinily for a typical sword.

The two stood there for a moment, before Lucas spoke up "Last warning to anyone who wants out. This could get... cluttered. Unless anyone has objections, because..."

"Board games are sacred." Lazarus finished Lucas's sentence for him.

[aaaAaaaAAAA SHOOT THEY'RE SWORDFIGHTING EARLIER THAN I EXPECTED.]]

[the-nug-king]

Scorpius sighed. "Fine! As long as you don't get distracted afterwards so we can do board games! Oh, and I found two of the pieces, so I guess I win your rivalry or whatever."

Aurion sighed, smiling. "The two of you remind me of my younger self. Not as competent, or evil, or powerful, or in any way really comparable, but the fervor is there.

"And you're missing the incredibly gorgeous rival!" said Cazenar, frowning in distaste at one of the fold up chairs and instead dropping himself into Aurion's lap. "But apart from that, sure, you're both just like Aurion."

"Get off! You're blocking my view of the duel!"

[grey matter]

DVS scooted a bit closer to a wall before saying "I do not object."

Bon Voidage joined him, giving the two a thumbs up. "Have fun stabbing each other."

Lucdust began sending Three a message in their iconic capslock. "LUCAS AND LAZARUS ARE SWORDFIGHTING. MAYBE DON'T COME BACK FOR A BIT. THEY'LL PROBABLY BE DONE SOON?"

"...So. Are you ready? That's an all-encompassing ready. This is your last chance to back out for any reason..." Lucas said.

"And waste all this tension? Never! You?" Lazarus replied.

"Of course."

Lazarus made the first strike. "Shouldn't have left your guard down!"

Lucas backed away in a fluid motion. "It wasn't. It was a pleasantry of the duel."

"Yeah, right. And this is just a pleasantry of the typical swordfight."

Lazarus initiated a bind (as in, the thing where the swords push against one another) before they locked eyes.

"This normally doesn't go on this long," Lucas said.

"You think I don't know that?"

"For all I know, it could be Inamonth swordfighting logic."

"And you're telling me this because?"

Lucas did a quick sweeping move with his left leg, causing Lazarus to fall over, Lucas pointing the tip of his sword at him. "Because that. I could've done worse."

"But so can I!" Lazarus grabbed Lucas by the leg, forget the potential of the two of them getting stabbed and in pain, and pulled him to the ground.

[[forgive me pausing here if you don't have a reaction for anyone - I am not the best at writing swordfights but these two deserve their banter. though I worry it's a little lackluster today but I think it's in character, at least?]]

[the-nug-king]

Cazenar tutted, shaking his head. "Oh come on! Where are the dramatics? No one's even jumped on a table yet! Can neither of you do a pirouette, or do you just not care enough to try one?"

"Shut up!" Aurion snapped. "Minions, don't listen to him! I don't need either of you embarrassing yourselves by falling over."

"Uh, I vote dramatics?" said Scorpius. "We get to vote on this, right? And does anyone have popcorn?"

((welp I'm Back sorry about disappearing))

[grey matter]

"I've got you covered." DVS passed Scorpius a bowl of popcorn he'd seemingly manifested out of nowhere, which, he probably did. "Wait, did I just- Nevermind. I vote whatever ends up with you not accidentally stabbing me."

Lucdust simply spelled out "FIGHT HARDER" and did nothing else.

"I also vote dramatics!" Bon Voidage declared.

"I'd like to be dramatic, but now Lucas is on top of me. I blame myself for that one."

"As you should!" Lucas got up and quickly dusted (HAH!) himself off before Lazarus also got up and the two were swinging their blades about once more.

"How do you even manage to do decently at stuff you do for the first time? I'd say I don't expect it of you, but now it's becoming a pattern and I don't think I like that."

"Practice cramming!"

"That's... awfully in-character for you, somehow. We're really lacking in banter, my pitiful plant poltroon."

"You're calling the wrong person a poltroon. I was the one who challenged you to this, you cacophonic couplet coward."

"Ooh, look at you breaking out the alliteration, AND the poetic forms? Color me amused AND a bit bemused..."

"Rhymes? At a time like this, it'd be an utter crime!"

"Anyone can rhyme 'rhyme' with other rhymes. It's not that impressive this time, you pile of grime."

"WAS THAT AIMED AT ME OR FLESH LUCAS?" Lucdust spelled to no avail as Lucas and Lazarus dragged on their banter and swordfighting. They... had seemingly gotten really caught up in the banter part, because they were really focused on one another and seemed barely aware of the room around them.

[[It's a-okay! Pardon my lack of good swordfight writing... I don't know HOW to write a swordfight nor do I know how to write movement in a swordfight but boy, can I write cheesy one-liners.]]

[the-nug-king]

"Okay, maybe we can do this at boardgame nights more often," Scorpius admitted around a mouthfull of popcorn. "This is fun. You two are cool."

"Hmm. Rhymes... I suppose with DarkBoard's innuendo filter still on, we're all going to have to expand our wordplay," Cazenar sighed. "If you could fit in a sing-off though... now that would be impressive."

((It's totally cool! I grew up playing Monkey Island, I am very much of the opinion that the most important part of sword fighting is the insults. And fights are always tricky to write.))

[grey matter]

Lazarus gave a slight nod as he continued the sword-swinging. "I'm running with that idea, thanks, Cazenar. I have no idea what song I'm going to-"

"We're no strangers to love..."

"Lucas! Why, I never! You dare invoke that song?"

Lucas snorted. "You know the rules, and so do I."

"Lucas, I swear, if you keep at this..."

"A full commitment's what I'm thinking of..."

"I could absolutely get this from another guy!"

"Low blow, Lazarus. Low blow."

"Well, there's infinite timelines and in one of them we- actually, I don't want to think about that. Those timelines aren't... Ones I'd want to think about. Buuuuut, you wouldn't get this from any other guy!"

Lucas cursed under his breath with how the tables had been turned on him. "Are you a real villain?"

"Also a low blow."

"That's just- did they not have that in Inamonth?"

"What song even is that?"

"Just... one that came to mind."

"Geez, are you guys only going to sing dead memes or something?" Bon Voidage said, looking unimpressed. "Give us something that isn't those!"

Lucas glared at Lazarus. "I'm gonna slice you up."

Lazarus's eyes lit up once he realized what the song was. A reprise! A reprise of Knife Fight! But this time with a sword fight! Heck yeah! "I'm gonna cut you down!"

"I'll put you in your place!"

"I'll put you underground!"

"This is the end for you, you gutter-crawling cur!"

"I've got a tip for you, get the point?"

"Yeah, sure."

"How does one song already seem to hold so many bad puns...?" DVS murmured.

"You think this is bad? You haven't even come close to watching us duel before..." Lucas scoffed.

"You broke the song chain, Lucas! You should be ashamed! This is the ultimate showdown of ultimate destiny!"

"I don't even know the lyrics to that one!"

"I know them all by heart, I'm confident it's also some sort of arcane prophecy!"

"Pick another song already!"

"Uh... If there's something strange sleeping in your bed... Lemme tell you somethin'."

"No, you idiot, we are not invoking the weird off-universe Ghostbusters theme! Also, I'm pretty sure there's innuendo or something in that one."

"...There is?"

"Hurry up and pick something else before I... stab you, declare this over, then declare you my nemesis before this duel can even get any... better."

"Uh... I can't believe I'm resorting to this... I've been cheated by you since I don't know when."

Lucas winced for a moment before giving Lazarus a nod of... semi-approval. "So I've made up my mind, it must come to an end."

They were now swordfighting... To Abba's Mamma Mia.

[[Speaking of Monkey Island, Knife Fight directly quotes some of it. Thought I'd invoke it since... Well, you mentioned Monkey Island.
Song list:
Never Gonna Give You Up by Rick ASTLEY
We Are Number One from Lazytown
Knife Fight by Lemon Demon
Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny by Lemon Demon
Bustin' by Neil Cicirega
Mamma Mia by ABBA (but Lazarus is definitely playing the Austin Weber cover instrumental in his head, as in, the Abba in a cold river version)]]

[the-nug-king]

Cazenar clapped, throwing his head back in laughter, much to Aurion's irritation. "Yes! Yes, this is wonderful! Aurion look at our minions! They're all grown up and so good at duelling!"

"My minions you mean! And I don't want this encouraging you to sing at me again."

"Aww, just because you don't know the words..."

((Omg gooood!))