The City of the Specter, Atem's Palace

[metagame]

The corpse sinks to the floor
Even the brightest gold, even the sharpest blade
Becomes sand, becomes dust

Comments

[prozaic]

[Just like the snake he is, Shalem flutters his tongue out to better scent the room. He's actually going to ignore Atem to look around, especially the scrolls. (6) But maybe he should have sniffed instead...]

[metagame]

Wow! Scrolls! There are so many of them!

[prozaic]

[Fine... he's picking one up to read... (13)]

[metagame]

Shalem finds a Wisdom text that someone (Atem) has drawn penises all over. It's illegible.

[prozaic]

[Yep, putting that away because kids gotta be kids. Of course. He's simply going to walk along the shelves, brushing his hand all over the scrolls.]

Atem. [His sanity's recovered enough that his voice is back to its usual cadence.] Are you happy here?

[A simple question.]

[metagame]

[He snorts.]

What kind of question is that?

[prozaic]

One that you do not like, evidently. Should I ask you your favourite one, then? [He doesn't blink at Atem, but flicks his tongue out, snake-like. He's full of bad ideas, but his condition is dropping even lower, he sees nothing wrong with what he will do next.]

Shall we play a game?

[metagame]

Aw, you didn't give me a chance to ask first!

[He drops all pretense.]

Alright, Shalem. Let's play. But if you lose, just like Jesse... you'll suffer a penalty.

How about we try the same game, hm? Four Aces. Draw two cards of the same color, and you win.

[prozaic]

Very well. I accept those terms. [He knows he's miserable at games, but still. Right now, he doesn't care.

But then he gets the two red Aces... Well then.]

[metagame]

[He whistles!]

Aren't you the lucky one?

[prozaic]

[He gives a nod, a graceful winner.]

It seems so. Alas, I do not receive a prize.