VI

[foreverphantom]

Comments

[foreverphantom]

[ looks down at both of his steaks. he's eaten more of the cooked one, but the raw one has a few bites taken out of it too ]

...it's alright. Better than nothing but chips and vending machine hot pockets.

[doublefists]

What's it made of? [ curiously... ]

[foreverphantom]

What, the steak?

Beef. Cows. [ OBVIOUSLY. ]

[doublefists]

[ wow this is so elitist??? you're rich enough to afford a cow??????? ]

Wait, really? [ catapults herself up to go GET ONE? ]

[foreverphantom]

It's generally only called steak if it's beef.

[ but watches this, amused ]

[doublefists]

[ comes back a few minutes later

eats her steak with her bare hands. okay.

chews... sighs in absolute heaven and talks with her mouth full: ]

I've only ever had this once.

[foreverphantom]

[ he barely seems to notice her rude table manners ]

What, steak? Beef?

[doublefists]

Both.

[ still while chewing. ]

They don't do great underground. Cows. Or whatever.

[foreverphantom]

Mole person?

[doublefists]

[ rolls her eyes, but grins. ]

Yeah, you got it. [ munch. ] Somehow the topsiders never thought of that one.

[foreverphantom]

Ah, I see. If they're topsiders, then that makes all of you bottomites.

[doublefists]

It makes us fissure folk, but sure, call me whatever you want.

[foreverphantom]

"Fissure folk"'s not bad. Makes it sound like you work on a boat, though.

[doublefists]

More like holes in the ground that spit smoke, not fish. [ amused. ] It's what we call ourselves. Undercity-ites doesn't have the same ring to it.

[foreverphantom]

So why bother living down there in the first place? Doesn't exactly sound desirable.

[doublefists]

[ looks... at him... ]

You think we picked to live down there?

[foreverphantom]

I don't know what it's like underground in your world. It might be fantastic, aside from the apparent lack of cows.

[doublefists]

You just said it doesn't sound desirable. Good guess. It isn't.

[foreverphantom]

Then what's forcing you down there?

[doublefists]

Topsiders. Piltover's finest. Money, elitism, a willingness to ignore anything that makes you uncomfortable.

[foreverphantom]

Ah, of course. Capitalism. The one thing I was right to destroy.

[doublefists]

[ help, that makes her laugh, brushing her mouth with the back of her hand. ]

Yeah? You destroyed capitalism? [ she does not believe you but ok ]

[foreverphantom]

[ for now he is treating the laugh as being at the absurdity of the statement, and not at the absurdity of this twink destroying anything ]

Not intentionally. But it turns out, when you destroy everything else, capitalism falls apart on its own.

[doublefists]

[ it's a little of both, to be fair. ]

Alright, so are you going to tell me the whole story, or.

[foreverphantom]

[ shrugs a little ]

Not much to tell. I wanted to destroy everything, so I did. There wasn't anything or anyone left that could stop me.