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

[grey matter]

The two were now incorporating some dramatic circling into their stabbery. In the short time it took for Aurion and Cazenar to say anything at all, they were already at the second verse.

"Yes, I've been brokenhearted!" Lucas sang, really getting into this despite it being ABBA of all things.

"Blue since the day we parted," Lazaras sang back, smiling in realization of the pun that Lucas really wished he could've defended against but there weren't many unintentional puns in Mamma Mia.

Their duel was now incorporating some ballroom dance into it as well, the moves gradually gaining more dance-like traits. Soon, it would probably be better classified as "Dancing with swords involved" rather than "Swordfighting with dance."

[the-nug-king]

Cazenar looked on in rapture. "I'm... I'm starting to feel a little inadequate now. Aurion-"

"Tomorrow night, in the courtyard. Try and dip me, and I'll stab you."

[grey matter]

Soon, the two would approach the end of the song.

"My my, I could never let you go!" Lazarus sang, the final lyric.

This left it up to Lucas on whether or not the two would be doing this for another round. It was up to him to think of something, anything, but he could only stare at Lazarus in silence for a few moments at the swordfighting and dancing continued, and Lazarus did the same until saying "So...?"

"Oh- right, uh-"

"Having a hard time thinking of something, are we?"

"We are, if you're implying that it's a we thing."

"...that I am."

"Do you think this is dragging on too long? We need a dramatic climax but we missed the end of Mamma Mia."

"Uhhhh... We kiss?"

"We kiss? I mean, that's one way to end a swordfight, but..."

"Well, the only alternative I could think of is more songs, more banter more... more anything that isn't much of an ending, but would give us time to generate another climax."

"Hm. I feel like this fight lost all its tension after the singing ended. Which is unfortunate. Because now I can attempt this!" Lucas up and attempted a throw move, much to Lazarus's shock. He yelped before he was caught again, thrown utterly off-guard.

"I am normally not this throwable, is this the forces of Inamonth working their magic?!"

"I can only assume. I didn't expect that to work. At all."

"Then why'd you do it?"

"Climatic ending."

"And now we kiss?"

"And then we'll be nemeses from that point on."

"Quite the segue, Lucas. Quite the segue. I'll let you have the victory of declaring it... But I get to be the one to lean in!"

"Fine."

And then they kissed.
It was pretty brief though.

"Alright, we're nemeses now."

"The way you say that so casually, Lucas... Geez, it's like this wasn't the climax and you have some sort of secret plan..."

"I don't, I just really don't know how to react. I'm happily overwhelmed but it's also my mind trying to... process all that? I kinda got lost in the moment."

"You would've been more lost if I went with my initial plan of proposing to you during all this."

"Pro- what?!"

"Yeah, but I saw some stuff in my documents that suggested I should probably wait until later to avoid a harsh rejection. It happens though, it's inevitable that we'll marry. So, no using my pun idea-"

"Was that plan just because of the pun?"

"Yeah."

"What was it?"

"Like I'd tell you! I have an upgraded version I'm saving for when it actually happens!"

"I'll... look forward to that? When'd the documents say we were getting married?"

"Not telling you unless you seek out the documents yourself! Because fate being sealed in too many minds is... not a good thing? Besides, Lucas, we're not the only ones in the room and I don't wanna break Inamonth time more than it's already been broken."

"Oh. Oh! Hey, Lucdust, you can tell Three they can come back with Morgan now!"

Lucdust proceeded to send a message and give Lucas a thumbs up.

[the-nug-king]

"Mmmm, seven out of ten," said Cazenar. "Shaky start, incredible middle, anti-climactic ending. You can't just throw out the idea of marriage and then expect your audience to be satisfied with something less impressive."

"Uh, I'm not sure they were really doing it for the audience?" said Scorpius. "I mean, it was super cool to watch and everything, but y'know... I think it was more kind of about them than us."

"And they shouldn't be interupting their studies to get married, anyway," Aurion agreed.

Three appeared back in the doorway, with a now much calmer Morgan. "Hello. Lazarus. Lucas. I assume some kind of congratulations are in order."

[grey matter]

"That was totally for... foreshadowing... reasons," Lazarus flubbed. "Oh, look, Three and Morgan! Hi! Thanks!"

"We're nemeses now. And that's neat. And... yep! Wow, I'm saying that." Lucas said.

"I kind of want a sword now," DVS said quietly. "But I wouldn't even have a use for it...

"I don't know if that's entirely the point of swords, but we have mind powers and you should probably just make the sword anyways." Bon Voidage shrugged.

[[I am very satisfied with this duel! Hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it- because Lucas and Lazarus Being Anti-Climatic and Kinda Clueless is Honestly Pretty Cute.]]

[the-nug-king]

"Well, congratulations," said Three. "Although I would appreciate it if you put all swords away before I bring my child into the room. And Morgan, would you mind not drooling on my shoulder? ...I'll take that as yes, you would mind. Very well then."

((yessss they're good!))

[grey matter]

"Oh- shoot, I forgot we were holding swords!"

"Lazarus, we were just swordfighting."

"Yeah, I know," Lazarus said, putting his sword back into his scarf, "I just kinda disconnected from the thought."

Lucas nodded in vague understanding and put his sword away as well. "So, board games?"

"BOARD GAMES," Lucdust spelled.

"Board games!" Bon Voidage agreed.

[["My child" said Three- big dawwwww]]

[the-nug-king]

"Board games," said Three, sitting down.

"So what are we playing?" Scorpius asked. "Should Lucas and Lazarus choose, since it's their, like, big day?"

"What?" said Cazenar, "I disrupt board games for drama all the time, and no one lets me pick the games for that!"

"Well we would have when you two became nemeses, but you were both in hospital from poisoning each other!"

[grey matter]

"We... get to pick? Ohohoh!" Lazarus laughed. "Lucas. Are we going to go back to the classics?"

"Apparently it's been used as a torture element in... some circles?" Lucas replied.

"You don't- no way! Then we- hm. Okay, that idea's on the table still but... I'm open to other ideas."

"What are you guys talking about?" DVS asked.

"Monopoly," Lucas said. "It... is sort of ceremonious as our first duel game."

"Buuuut I'm sure there's more games we could play... Like the Mysteriously Titled Masquerade Game?" Lazarus asked.

"That one is good for groups... Sure, why not!"

"Alright, so this one... This one is... uh, pretty complex. And we have to decide what deck we're playing with... not to mention which hide-and-trade system we're using for the mask pieces... But it's worth it, I swear!" Lazarus brought forth a large box from one of the shelves. "This game is really, really flexible if you want it to be... and, fair warning, it is very, very Inamonthian in origin. Expect some things you might not see in other board games. It's like... Part hidden role, part role-playing, part... party... There's a lot to this game."


[[Time to re-invoke the masquerade game I made up! You are absolutely free to help make up whatever the heck gets involved in this. I have high hopes for this... If I can manage my concepts well. Here's the link to the initial concept again! httpss://docs.google.com/document/d/1mF ... 1n5MU/edit

Edit: boy did I have ideas for this once since
* there's a little device and all the cards have chips in them and the device recognizes them and it... It makes the game work and the device also functions as kind of a narrator? Probably some eye closing and opening like in Werewolf games.
* Sudden cards get added in by said device sometimes. Suddenly, you get two Yu-Gi-Oh trap cards, an UNO draw four wild, and a pipe card from Clue(do)? What you're supposed to do with them is up to the device...
* The Detective! They're basically trying to figure who is what character/goal and it makes role-playing necessary rather than optional.
* The Psychic is a character (not a goal) that gets to see ALLLLLL the characters or roles or something like that idk-
* I definitely want to invoke the infection or mind control goal in here sometime.
* Oooh boy this is gonna get chaotic]]

[the-nug-king]

"Oooh, yes, that sounds way more exciting than the stuff we usually play!" said Cazenar.

"You don't have to be involved, Cazenar." Three set up a board on the table in front of them, so they could continue holding Morgan and simply lay their cards out hidden in front of them.

"Yes he does! Cazenar's one of the original gang! It does sound way better than Monopoly though," said Scorpius. "Unless any of the cards are scorpion themed, because I once played a werewolf variation and was the Scorpion, and I have enough of that when I'm working."

Three raised an eyebrow. "You work?"

"I rob a bank every holiday!"

((ashgdasdggasdh brain is too bad at concentrating on words rn to get the rules Properly sorry, and I'm generally much better at understanding rules through play than reading them, but yeah hopefully I'll be able to make enough stuff up at least for weird Inamonthian times!!))