Act 44: Flowing Ink, Thanksgiving, And Toon Booms

  --- Joshua Durand ---

  After walking off his rather painful fall, he once more found himself running across the city rooftops, using his Ink Flow to manage all sorts of acrobatic feats that were normally far beyond him. The entire time feeling like he was right on the cusp of something with his powers. Some break through that he could feel slipping through his fingers like the flow of madness he kept grabbing onto.

  Which is why with building frustration he eventually downed a vial of Malice, hoping that the boost would be enough to give him that last little push he needed.

  And with that sweet sinful symphony flowing through his mind he continued to run, jump, and flow through the world around him. Before eventually some subconscious instinct convinced him to loosen his grip on the power he kept grasping to use his Ink Flow, not quite letting go but also not quite clinging to it until it slipped from his grasp.

  This time when he came out of the inky black he found an odd feeling clinging to his skin, almost like the same feeling he felt whenever he reached out to the flow. A sort of silky fluid feeling washing over him, like running his hand along the water’s surface without actually breaking it. One that was underlined by the ink slowly rising into the air around him.

  After a moment of watching this, the feeling slipped through his fingers and he was back to feeling the way he always did, his body no longer producing the ink that it had been. (But there was something there…)

  Once more he reached out to the flows of madness, this time keeping in mind the fact that (You need to feel it without stopping the actual flow of things.)

  And once more when color returned after his dash, he could feel the flow still in his grasp. He tightened his grip on the power, the world around him flickering black like it always did whenever he flowed somewhere. Though this time the pressure of the flow became too much for him to keep his grasp on as it slipped away from him.

  “Okay, I think I’m getting it…” He nodded to himself, before experimenting a bit more and finding that as long as he kept a loose grip on it he could quickly flow twice in a row.

  Which, while he was technically capable of before, he could feel that the drain on his Ink was significantly less. Almost negligible for the second use of his power, even if he only had a few seconds to use it before it all slipped away from him.

  “Still if I can learn to dash twice, then why not thrice?” He couldn’t help but grin, as he felt the flow of madness wrapping around him.

  Scene Consequences

  -Thanks to Malice Vial Gained ((d6/2+1=)2XP) to Mobility and Ink Flow.

  --Gained 1 Malicious Madness for continuing the Malice Chain.

  --*Skill Level Up* Mobility Lv. 5 (0/12)

  --*Power Rank Up* Ink Flow Lv. 4 (1/10)

  ---New Perk: Flowing Ink(I): For a short time after using Ink Flow, Joshua can use it again up to (I) time without cost.

  ---

  Chris ran a hand through the air above the oven baked pizza, checking to make sure it wasn’t giving off too much heat, before giving them both a nod. “Okay, and the pizza is ready.”

  “Thank Madness!” Maddie groaned, leaning against the kitchen counter. “I’m starving.”

  “Didn’t you already have lunch with your family?” He couldn’t help but ask as Chris cut up the pizza.

  “What? No!” The closest thing he had to a sister laughed. “None of those bitches can cook. They’re shit, tastes like literal shit. Especially when I compare it to the stuff Chris makes. Oh, speaking of!” Maddie turned back to Chris. “Once more the only compliment I got from my mother was about the pies that you made… Which I claimed to have made myself.”

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  “Of course.” Chris nodded, clearly having expected nothing else before snapping his fingers. “Joshua, get the rest of the desserts out of the fridge.”

  “Already did it.” He admitted as he started to cut himself a slice of chocolate mousse pie, while leaving space for his pizza pie.

  “You know life would be so much simpler if everyone just did pizza and desserts for Thanksgiving.” Maddie told them, getting her own plate. “None of that garbage of everyone insisting on cooking something only they like, and everyone having to get dried out turkey or pickle filled egg salad to be polite. Just actual shit everyone likes!”

  He let out an amused huff. “That’s not very thankful.”

  “But I am very thankful that I have you two as my backup cooks.” Maddie assured him.

  “And I’m thankful you only got buzzed instead of outright drunk to deal with your family.” Chris sighed, gently nudging his best friend out of the kitchen.

  “Yep, nothing beats liquid patience!” Maddie happily agreed, before flopping on the couch and taking the whole space up.

  Both Chris and Joshua gave her a light glare, before the elder of the two rolled his eyes and lifted Maddie’s legs making room for them to sit.

  Joshua, being more petty, flopped on top of her instead.

  “Alright, what’re we watching?” Chris asked, grabbing the remote and flipping on a streaming service.

  “Eh, something animated.” He decided.

  “Comedy or horror! Ooh, horror comedy!” Maddie called.

  “Right.” Chris nodded. “Invader Zim it is.”

  Scene Consequences

  -Grown a bit closer to Chris and Maddie.

  ---

  “Uh, Boss, shouldn’t we be more focused on the Cabaret?” Avery frowned as they stood in the small basement space not absolutely flooded in ink. “I mean, we’re so close to being able to reopen things again.”

  “We should.” He nodded in agreement, “But at the same time I’ve also got maybe a week before I have to put on another show, and I’d rather have enough space that if I have to cut out half way through a heist I can still keep some of my loot.”

  He was still a bit peeved that he’d lost everything back in the museum.

  “Alright, if you’re sure…” Avery shrugged.

  “I am, and I am also curious about if certain Madness might speed this whole clean up process a bit more.” He added, as he began to pull on some Liberating Madness, briefly enjoying the way it filled him with a sense of freedom, before pushing it towards the floor.

  Like the last time they’d done this the floor began to glow where it and the ink met, before slowly pushing the ink back like a receding tide. And while this didn’t make a whole lot of space, it did make enough that both he and Avery could both stand on the actual floor and walk around the crate.

  “It looks like it’s still going.” He noted as he hopped down to the floor proper. “So I guess the Liberating Madness did work a bit better.”

  “Yeah, though I’m not sure if it’s worth it given how little of it we have.” The cabaret manager admitted, rubbing the back of his neck.

  “True.” Joshua agreed, before noticing a door had formed next to the stairs with a bunch of faded and ink stained posters on it. “What’s in here?”

  “Um… I’m not sure?” Avery admitted, with a curious frown. “We had all sorts of storage stuff in the basement, and it’s been years since I was down here.”

  “Well let’s find out.” He grinned, making his way over and throwing open the door to find, “The light isn’t reaching in here, it’s too dark to see anything.”

  “Uh, hold on, I'll see if the kitchen has some matches or something.” Avery told him, before making his way up stairs.

  While the Cabaret Manager took care of that he stepped into the closet, clearly able to see that there was a lot of stuff in here even if he couldn’t make out any actual details about anything.

  Running his hands over some things, he found a bunch of crates, barrels, and what felt like some smooth spheres. “What is this a bowling ball?”

  “Okay, there weren’t any matches in the kitchen but Fishy Friend had some for his cigars.” Avery told him when he came back, struggling to light one of said matches. “I’m starting to think he got some of those water only matches, or something…”

  The moment Avery stepped into the closet the match in his hand ignited, revealing the room’s contents. Namely the boxes and barrels of TNT, bombs, and other explosives.

  “Oh, shit! Out, out, out!” He yelled, rushing to shove the cabaret manager out of the closet because he knew this gag.

  Without any debate they both ran out and slammed the door closed behind them, before slowly sliding to the ground on the other side. “Why is there so many explosives in there?!”

  “Toon shenanigans use a lot of explosives!” Avery answered as if that explained everything. “Like the old boss used them to make entrances when he’d rob banks or gang hideouts and stuff!”

  “Okay… okay, that makes sense…” He slowly nodded, before hearing a sort of hissing sound. “Do-do you hear that?”

  “Yeah… what is that?” Avery frowned, looking around before both of their eyes fell on the bowling ball still in Joshua’s hands. The bowling ball with a burning fuse sticking out of it, a very short burning fuse.

  As one they both said, “So close…” before the explosion washed over them.

  Scene Consequences

  -Pushed back Ink.

  --Thanks to Liberating Madness pushed back 1 additional space. (??? Number Left)

  --Hammer Space increases by 2, making the cap 5 Items.

  --Rolling treasure die… Gained:

  ---Toon TNT: Joshua can now spend 1 Madness to create a Toon explosive, that only deals slight damage to living beings and massive damage to inanimate objects. (May cause temporary dismemberment in Toons.)

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