the third punishment

[faceofjustice]

An hour past dark, any door Tsia, Anders or Logan try to open will lead to the same blackened corridor. Inside, the Headsman waits, ever-sharp axe slung over his shoulder as he beckons them forward. Any attempt to fight or flee will be quickly silenced by the Headsman and the blunt side of his axe

Comments

[cellwave]

Shalnark will be joining the crowd out of curiousity, watching passively, and taking a number of pictures of the proceedings with his cellphone.

...Purely for scientific reasons, of course.

[thii2ii22tupiid]

Ohai there Shal, Sollux has noticed you seem to have an electronic device. He makes no attempt to hide the fact that he's studying you using it.

[cellwave]

He notices Sollux, of course, but completely ignores him. These hilarious important photos wont take themselves, after all!

On his way out after the punishments, though, if Sollux is still paying attention, he'll notice Shal holding the phone towards him this time, not attempting to hide his actions in the least.

"Smile big."

Click.

[thii2ii22tupiid]

He's not paying much attention to Shal by then, but enough to notice the man point the device at him. He doesn't smile, but he does look over and scowls some.

"What are you doing?"

[cellwave]

Oh, that voice. Shalnark remembers you, Sollux. He tucks his phone away in a pocket, placing his hands on his hips.

"Preserving memories! This way when we're old men sitting in rocking chairs, we can reminisce about the good old days, and how much fun we had together watching the public punishments."

Yep, that was a joke, Sollux.

[thii2ii22tupiid]

Sollux snickers, "I'm not sure it'll ever end up that way. That's a image preserving device? And it works here?"

[cellwave]

"Don't be so pessimistic. I've already ordered us matching engraved pipes."

Look how sad you've made him, Sollux! Except not really. He pats his phone through his pocket.

"Yep, works fine."

As a camera, at least. He still wasn't getting any cell service, but that was to be expected.

[thii2ii22tupiid]

"Uh, what?"

Man, this guy was weird, Sollux has no idea what to make of him. He shakes his head a bit.

"Its pretty rare to find anything electronic here. Did you bring it with you or find it somewhere?" He kind of hopes Shal found it somewhere, because that means Sollux might be able to find more, but highly doubts it.

[cellwave]

"I brought it. Some others brought theirs, too, but I think they've mostly given up on hoping that they'll be useful by now."

There's a hint for you, Sollux. Ask around for people's cellphones, and maybe someone will give you one. If you're lucky, that is.

[thii2ii22tupiid]

Sollux is not likely to be able to ask nicely enough for that. Also he kind of assumes everyone is from prehistoric worlds without personal, handheld electronics unless he knows otherwise.

"That do anything other than take pictures?" Because if it was 'useful' it had to do more than that. Pictures would be just as useful here as elsewhere, unless he needed to print them out.

[cellwave]

"It's a cellphone. You use it for talking to others, and the more modern ones even connect to the internet." Shal's of course was an older one without that feature, but he was too attached to it to trade it in for one that did. Besides, it had more important uses than checking the web.

"But there's no service here, so it's not good for much other than taking pictures and playing games at this point."

[thii2ii22tupiid]

"Oooh." He knew what that was, more or less. He'd seen Dave with one, and Trolls had similar objects. "I've never actually seen a cellphone before, at least not a human one.

"Yeah, there wouldn't be, we're lucky to get any power at all."

[cellwave]

"You're right, we are lucky." Nope, Shal didn't mean that in the least. Not that he let on about it at all.

"And hey, by the end of this, I'll be a Grand Master at Snake."

[thii2ii22tupiid]

Bad luck was still luck, Shal!

"Snake? Is that a game you have on it?"

[cellwave]

"You don't even know Snake?" Shal sighs dramatically. Sollux, you're too clueless! You're ruining the mood!

"Yeah, it's a game."

[thii2ii22tupiid]

"No, I've never heard of it before."

He did, however, know a legless-scale-beast game. That might be similar!

"The only human games I know are the ones in the library here."