Stardust Rhapsody: Anthem | Ep. 12 | The Gambler: Part 1

Welcome to Legends of Avantris. I'm Mikey Gilder and you're listening to Stardust Rhapsody Anthem. Last time on Stardust Rhapsody Anthem. The party over here is Weedlebox's deadly plans for Pixel. The car races off towards the outskirts of town chasing a tracker placed by Ziggy. Pixel finds herself alone in a dark room, or so she thinks. Ready for the performance of her life, she asks the mysterious friend of the Don what he wants. The answer is her. The party erupts into the room casting the creature away. Then the silence rises. The party dispatches monsters none had seen before except Pike. Their attacks eerily reminiscent of the fight with Big Thunder. Pixel begs the party to give up on Weedlebox as she can offer them someone better, the Don himself. They go to Weedlebox's blackmail room for information on the Don and instead find everything they could have ever wanted on Rex Maxim. They set off on the next leg of their journey, sending Pixel home to Weedlebox. As she makes her way back, she walks past large speakers of her stage in an eerily similar feeling strikes her. For a moment, she sees the red eyes of that mysterious stranger. When she gets back to Weedlebox, the realization of her life with him crashes together all at once. At that moment, she decides to leave, but Pixel does nothing quietly. After dealing with Weedlebox, Pixel makes her way back to the Rhapsody and joins the crew. With his signet ring and the recordings of his illicit activities, she takes on a new role of bounty hunter. They blast off into space together, deciding to attend the galaxy's greatest show, the Rex Maxim Real Space Cowboy Smiling Lady Luck Casino Tour. We join them on their way. The quiet thrum of the engine is the only noise that can be heard throughout the ship, as the Rhapsody sails through neon ether currents. Darkness shrouds the hallways of the dormitories as sleep has taken the crew. Pike, you dream. A clock ticks. A family sits down to dinner. Hand in hand, prayers are exchanged, but not to any god of Agathos. Tick, tick, tick, tick. It's not a clock, it's a clock. Tick, it's not a clock. Drowned by the clinking of plates and loving conversation over a meal, the timer on the explosive charges under the table ticks away. Familiar voices crackle in your ear. Confirming positions. Security bots slump over, sparking and deactivating. All is useless as the sabotaged alarm systems. Through the green lens of your scanner, four children excitedly talk over each other as two parents smile and nod. Tick, tick, tick, tick. It can't be helped. This is the mission. Then the sky turns red as it is filled with the cacophony of a roaring engine. Screams fill your ears as each friendly voice is snuffed out one by one. Glass shatters. Tick, tick, tick. The sound of a wailing father covered in his family's blood as all you hear is a shape emerges from the rolling smoke of the smoldering ruins of the once beautifully designed home. Tentacles of metal. Grasping blades. Explosive bullets that stink of sulfur, almost as bad as the stench of burning flesh in the air. Hell has come for you. Delivering salvation to the only one who needed to die today and the only one who survived. Clank. Clank. Clank. Clank. Heavy metallic steps march toward you as you stare up at the scarlet sky with a hole in your chest. Low, methodical, inevitable. A shadow passes over you cast by a wide brimmed hat. Withered skin pulled taut over metal. Terrible crimson eyes. The face of death itself sears down at you as the smoking barrel of a hellish revolver sears the skin of your forehead. Is it a man? A machine? A demon? You never learn its nature. But you do learn its name. Click. Before the trigger is pulled, you're only thought as of a woman. Ophelia. Ophelia. Ophelia. Ophelia. Ophelia. You jolt awake in your room aboard the Rhapsody. Drenched in a cold sweat, plumes of purple, blue, and green swirl in the ether current that billows past your window. You look around. The only red you can see is the digital numbers of your clock faintly illuminating the dark of your quarters. It's the middle of the night. Ah. Yeah. I will take a look around and kind of gather myself. I listen to see if I can hear anything at all. Roll a perception check. Oh, crushed it. 26. You listen around. You scan your room. A sparse, almost a spartan layout in front of you. You see a simple towel slung over the sparring post that Rhett had built for you not long ago. And you hear nothing. The ship is silent in the dark of the night. I'll take a look at the clock. I knew you said that it's the middle of the night. I'm going to get up. I'm not wearing my jacket. I'm pretty dressed down having just woken up. I'm not going to put it on. I'm just wearing casual kind of clothing. And I'm going to see if Rhett is still awake at this hour. Sometimes he is, sometimes he isn't. I will leave my room and see if I can walk towards the quarters, make myself a cup of coffee, see if I can find Rhett. You do so. You head out into the dark of the hallway, the soft tapping of your feet, the only noise as you make your way towards the common rooms. As you approach, you will very faintly begin to hear the sounds of Rhett at the table, tinkering, maybe, maybe making coffee himself. In that case, I would make a second cup. You do so. Once the coffee is done, I'm walking towards where he's sitting and my left hand is kind of shaking ever so slightly and I'll find you and I'll just kind of silently place that second cup of coffee down next to you. I will be at my desk in the lounge, in the side of the lounge. There will be like low music playing from the jukebox on the other side of the room. You would have found Rhett hunched over various pieces of metal that are sort of floral and he would be very gingerly and delicately kind of soldering the pedals onto a sort of central circle or oval piece. And it's coming along. You've seen it sort of in its damaged state and it is now probably nearly fully repaired. And I won't even look up and I'll say, well, is the music too loud? Sorry about that. You can just turn it off. No, the music is fine. Have you gone to sleep at all? No, no, I couldn't sleep. But, you know, it's not too unusual these days. I feel alright and I appreciate it. Cheers. Cheers. Puit the coffee. You alright? I had that dream again. Again? Although I guess I should confess it's more of a nightmare. I mean, look, I've been saying, Pike, this has gone on long enough. I mean, we can talk to Dr. Hughes. He can probably get you some medicine for this. It's always the same. Mission gone wrong. I can't describe to you what I saw that day. And look, I don't need you to. I don't want you to. I don't want you to have to bring any of that up and make it more fucking real than keeping it locked in dreamland. It's affecting your sleep. Listen to me, Rhett. I think it's time you do know. I got a bad feeling. I got a real bad feeling that something is coming. You mean it's different this time? What I encountered that night looked like a man. It looked like a man, but it was machine. It wasn't natural. It wasn't normal. Yeah, yeah, and I know it was bad. And I know it changed your life. Is there anything I can do? I mean, do you want to talk about it? Rhett, it didn't change my life. I died. What do you mean you died? That thing killed me. I mean, I know you were hurt. What do you mean? What do you mean? That doesn't make any sense. You're out here. You're not dead. It doesn't make any sense at all. You're right. What happened after that moment, why I'm still here? It's against all odds. No fucking wonder you dream about that. Good Lord. For a long time, I think I was able to block it out. But until a few weeks ago, when we ran into that thing, the pixel, it all came flooding back. So you think that's the turn point? You think, was it the same guy? No. But those, those silent, there's something there. The feeling was too reminiscent. Well, look, I don't know what we can do besides, I mean, I don't know the first fucking thing about the greater fantasies of this goddamn galaxy. My closest experience to any of that was chuckles. And that guy wasn't even close. Well, whatever happens, Rhett, I'm not sure we can prepare. Ever since that night, I feel like I've been racing towards death again. And I'm not going to be able to stop it. Look, hi, that was a long time ago. I mean, we're talking a decade. We've been at this together. Everything's going to be fine. I know after a dream, it feels real. It feels so fresh. Look, I've been there. I get it. But I want you to know that nothing's coming for you. All right. We may be getting mixed in all this fucking shit. But look, this is of our own doing, right? We're willing to take the risk. We're going after the done. He's mixed up in whatever the fuck we saw. But I can't imagine it's the same thing, Pike. Somehow I walked away from it that day. But my old crew didn't. And I don't want to lose you all. I don't think I could survive it again. Look, it's going to be fine. All right, we've gotten through a lot worse. Okay. I mean, we've been through fucking hell and back. Here we are. And with the crew we've assembled, I mean, there's, I feel like there's not a whole lot we can't take on. You're, you're going to laugh at me, but I think the worst part about these nightmares is they always end the same with her. Yeah. Still dreaming about her, huh? It's gotten worse. The more I try to forget her, the more Ophelia just keeps popping back up. Look, I understand. I understand. It's hard, right? And I understand, regardless of what Coach says, she's not just a fucking co-worker. All right. It's tough. It's tough. And, you know, you've, think about the life you've built since then. Think about the last 10 years, right? It's, I just feel like maybe, you know, we could try to find some way to help you. Sure. We can talk about it, I suppose. I've wasted enough of your time, Al. Let you get back to work, plus I think the sparrow needs some love. Well, look, before you go, first, try to get some sleep. And second, if you ever want to talk about it, talk about her, I'm here. I know we've, you know, gone back and forth and shared plenty of stories, but I do feel like this time is different. I feel like this time it's gotten you shook up in a way I haven't seen before. So, just hang in there, Pa. It's gonna be okay. We gotta focus on the mission, all right? We gotta focus on this fucking jackass, Rex. And then we gotta focus on the Don. And we'll be able to fucking, hopefully, relax for a month or two. I'll ash out my cigarette, I'll stand up, I'll walk over you and I'll put my hand on your shoulder and I'll say, thanks, big guy. I hope you're right. And I'll walk off to the hangars since it's so early in the morning and go, you know, give the sparrow once over, just kind of occupy my time until it's like normal morning hours on the Ram City. You do so. Rhett, presumably you stay at the table and... Yeah, I would get back to, you know, sort of just silently put my head back down and get back to my work. You both go your separate ways. Rhett, the story of Pike's dream ringing in your ears. Pike, the same for you as you make to the sparrow. As hard as you try, it is almost impossible to turn yourself away from the images of your mind. Co-Ziggian Pixel, you awake for the morning. You find yourselves in your quarters, you get dressed, whatever you would do to get prepared for the day, you may do so. As afterwards you will work to make your way towards the lounge to start off a brand new day. I will immediately jump out of bed. I mean, really crawling, but just I'll quickly take a gamer shower, which is just grabbing a body spray. I'm spraying myself and I'm still wearing my hoodie. I don't even get under the hoodie. I just do that and then I walk out into the main area. You grab sword body spray. That's very good. And you just surround yourself in it. But I'll have my pack on me and I'll be making my way to the main area. You do so. You smell and next. Pixel would get up in her. She has these neon star pajamas. They are footy pajamas. And the hood's down and she's doing her hair and doing her makeup. She's sitting on the sink looking into the mirror. She's doing her makeup and you're the best and you're worth love and you're wonderful and you got great friends and a new family and you're going to be a bounty hunter. So good morning. Pixel is going to be a Glitter Glorious day and now it's time to go find Co. She's going to grab a little backpack and show the rest of her makeup in it and one face mask for Co. And then she's just going to scamper out and go like, I love that. And you have it. You do your affirmations. You do your morning affirmations. You get yourself together. You feel incredible. You have slept so well in your footy pajamas. I'm still wearing them though. Full hair done, full makeup, but still in the hoodie. Yeah. As comfortable as can be. You make your way into the hallway and towards the lounge. I'll wake up. I'll be sprawled out on my bed. I've got Howdy Bunny in one arm. And I like wake up. I'm like, oh, I don't feel like working out today. I don't want to do it. I don't want to do it. How late was Ziggy and I playing big funkins cart last night? God, I had too many fucking beers. That's why you fucking won that asshole. Should I work out Howdy Bunny? I don't feel like it. That's not very shucks Howdy of you. You're right. Howdy Bunny. Okay. As I'll get up, I'm going to get into my workout clothes. I will not feel like it, but I'll still get up very hungover after being motivated by Howdy Bunny. And I will basically go to the bag that's in the lounge. I'll have a towel around my neck and I'll just go to work out. Nobody applauds discipline except for Howdy Bunny. And you make your way to the lounge, towel strung over your shoulders as you move in, ready to shake the rust off for the morning. All of you enters the room, expands out in front of you and you see red. Possibly at this point of the morning after the events of the evening have passed, maybe you move to a different section, maybe still at your table, maybe on the lounge couch. Presumably enjoying a nice cup of coffee and maybe the morning paper. Or whatever you'd like to be doing. I think I would have had Hank help me cook everyone breakfast. It's really simple. I would have microwaved Ziggy a couple breakfast burritos. Everyone else I would have just made like eggs. Really simple stuff. Thanks, Rhett. Yeah, breakfast is on the table. It's hot. It's good. Did I cook it too long? It's almost on the inside, but they're really good. Thanks. I'm glad. Good morning. Extra bacon, two for me. Eat as much as you want. There's plenty. Two for me and I'm going to grab two pieces of bacon that leave the rest. I'll heat it up after I'm done as I'm going to go and I'm just going to start beating the shit out of this thing. There's a piece of cake there. Yeah, I would have parked her. It would have been. I would have just fucking like chilling in the lounge, right? Especially, you know, after hours have passed, right? We've been waiting for a while. I would just be sitting there, maybe helping myself to a little bit of breakfast, you know, hot black coffee. And just kind of watching as everybody's rousing for the day. And, you know, I would absolutely say good morning to everybody and, you know, pixel, grabbing the bacon would be right there. My head cannon is that burrito with like molten lava hot, except for the middle, which is ice cold. You hear the crunch as I crush like an ice cube. It's ice cold in the direct center. As I'm eating, I've gotten my pack out and I'm pulling out these long boxes and flipping them open. And clearly inside there's stretches and stretches of playing cards. And I'm with a hologram display of silica. I'm going through an alphabetizing and categorizing them by type. Just talking through and just sort of mumbling. Oh, yeah, that card goes here. No, no, no, that's a general. That's all right. And I'm just organizing them, putting them into different stacks, that sort of thing as I eat my burrito with care. I'm going to come over and see what you're doing. And like as you put one down, I'll pick it up and look at it and put it somewhere else. Oh, no, no, no, that's that. Be careful. Some of these are very, very, very rare. Yeah, that's all the graphics stuff on it. It's really pretty. Oh, that's the nilter flash. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I'm trying to organize them. Have you ever played Marshall the Scatterer? No. I can teach you. Can I play with all of the colored ones that are sparkly? Absolutely. Yeah, that's the whole point. They're collectible. You keep them safe and you keep them. I even have a Rex Maxim, for example. Oh, wait, is this that guy? Yeah, yeah, yeah. What do they call him? Well, in the game, he's one of the generals that you can play. Yeah, but isn't he like a liar? No, I mean, it depends on your point of view. He's in the game, he's like a cowboy and you can use him to command your squadron. Wait, so what else can I play? This card says Rex Maxim, but then this card says Rex comma real space cowboy. What can I use that one? No, no, that's the old art. It looks like, strangely, it looks like a kind of looks like pike actually, but more fuckable. That's wild. That's wild. I didn't really notice that before. Anyway, you can play that one. Oh, that looks nothing like him. Well, if these are rare, maybe you should wipe your hands off before you touch them. We have napkins and I take them as they're on the table that move them closer to Ziggy. I'm going to be very careful. I only handle the special ones and gloves and you'll see that these ones have sleeves. You watch as I pull one out of the sleeve and start rolling. It looks so much better if we don't have any of this plastic thing. They're nitrogen sealed. They're not even oxygen in there. You got to put on some gloves. You're ruining the value. Oh God, I'll just toss it. Okay, okay, okay, nobody move. Nobody move. I'll take the sleeve out and I will very gingerly reinsert the card. Make sure that it's perfectly centered and then I'll pull out a small canister of nitrogen and I'll give it like that and flush out all the oxygen and then seal it. Okay, probably only lost a few hundred notes. As it vacuum seals into the package, it becomes incredibly clear how much bacon grease. I'll say as soon as it hits the line there's a couple of breathes. No, it's on the inside. There's burrito cheese all over the table. The card is... Alright, I'll take out a pen. Grape, beta. Anyways, the game has played over ten games. They're called ARTS and that makes a full series. Each deck is 210 cards so you play 210 separate decks in a row and then you play two finale cards. Hey, Co, you want to have a sleepover tonight? Oh, you're not going to maybe play that nerd shit, are you? Yep. No, it's a three player game, Co, come on. No. Please! You promised last night before you got completely wasted and passed out, don't you remember? Yeah, of course I remember, Pix. It brought you your face mask. Can we play something simpler than fucking 200 cards, 40 odds? It's easy. He's a heroic martial hero. Every time he enters the field of honor all squadrons must salute. Yeah, what did he say? And if you pair him with a lady card he gains swagger. Yeah, it'll bring you hair while it's all happening. Well, last time I tried to play that fucking game, Ziggy played off-model Rex Maxim and he won in one turn. That was fucking cheap. That big, focused card. No, no, no infinite combos this time. It's what we talked about last time. You can't get mad every time you lose. You gotta get used to it. Well, I just think that he was... We gotta find Thor of Fair Combat 2 again, then I'll start fucking getting your ass kicked out of the world, man. I'll start digging through my pants. You fucking hit it because he couldn't beat me. That's exactly right. Oh, hi. Am I out of my damn mind? Is that just fucking ink on paper? It's just ink on paper. Well, you know what? We can let him have his fantasies. I continue to teach Pixel the game, and it is elaborately complex. It is layers and layers of complexity. By the time I start talking about power and stature combinations, the fact that you have to do a scan check and whether or not she has Xenoclucca counters. The entire time, Pixel is casually arranging the cards and nodding and listening, and she's got a notebook out and a big, like, sharpie marker and a neon color. She looks like she's taking notes, but if you were to walk behind her, you would see that she's doodling images of her and little hearts. She's drawing Howdy Bunny, and she's drawing Pike and Rhett doing cool things on the ship, and she's not paying attention at all. I'm just talking myself, but I don't notice at all. There's a huge section where she's designing a new Molly compact and how she's going to put Molly in the newest one, what outfit she'd wear and things. None of it has anything to do with Marshall's scattering. Perfect. I'll walk over. I worked out fast and so now I'll pull the chair up. I'll maybe heat up some of the, like, I'll make it in the space microwave. I'll heat up that they got cold after a while and I'll sit down with a cup of coffee and I'll look at Pike. Pike, buddy. You look like fucking shit. I'm all right. Last night was a little rough. Oh, well, you weren't drinking with us. You went to bed early. Woke up early too. You didn't get enough sleep. You look fucking awful. Thanks, Co. Don't listen to him. You're beautiful. And there's no one better than you. There's no Pike's out in the world better than you. Not even one spelled incorrectly like P-Y-K-E. Those pikes even ain't even half as good. I appreciate it. Yeah, and you're the best driver in the whole world. Not just today, but after two weeks ago. You know what always helps me sleep? Just drinking. Yeah, well, you should have just stayed up playing big funk. I mean, there's only two of us and there's four players. Maybe next time. We'll see how I'm feeling. It's always next time. Oh, I want to watch. That's some lame shit, man. I mean, it could be worse if we could be playing with this fucking shit. Co, put your face mask on and you're going to get pimples. I told you. You don't do your exfoliation treatment. You can't work out like that and not wash your face. I saw you in the Howdy Bunny one. This is in front of everybody. They don't know it's Howdy Bunny. I didn't... I said it out loud, didn't I? Yeah, I probably have like bunny ears or something. You got the special one with holographic film on it. You're not going to drop it. Okay. Okay. Okay. You got to put it on right. Okay, you put it on. Watch the tusks. Close your eyes. You're getting all the stuff in them. My fucking eye. You closed them. Oh, you're stabbing my eye. Yeah, I put my nails on this morning. Okay, look. It's good. You can open them now. It's one of those masks that as you put it on, it does absolutely look like Howdy Bunny. And every time you use your mouth, it says Howdy Bunny. It did. What the fuck are you looking at? Howdy Bunny. We're quite the pair now, aren't we, Kyle? Well, at least I got a good night's sleep. Howdy Bunny. Well, now you both look like shit. Look, eat as much as you want. On this foliate. For once, we got plenty of notes. So dig in, plenty of bacon, plenty of eggs. Thanks for putting this together. And that brings me to the topic of this conversation over this delicious breakfast, if I don't mind myself saying. Where's Hank? He's right here. Oh. And he's just on the ground, sitting like a... Oh, enjoying the DigiBone. Yeah, Hank is right there. Don't feed him that. No, no, no. Can I give him one bacon? He wants it. He wants it. He wants just one bacon. Come on, he's gonna get a bacon over his head. Yeah, eat people food though. I mean, he's a literal robot. I mean, he chews it and then just eats the bacon. Yeah, I mean, it's on the ground. I mean, someone will clean that up. He likes to chew it. He's like a real dog. He usually leaves it under the console. Yeah. Did you know that? He likes carrying it around. You know, I know he can't eat. I just, you know, prefer to feed him oil and lubricants and, you know, gears and sprouts. That's where that 600 pound tupper loop came from in the, in the bag? Yeah, that's where that came from. Oh, I have to check the manifest. Remember, don't look at me right. I don't like placing it over the fly that much. Mom comes in the spray can. Hank leaves. Hank takes the bacon leaves. Fucking Derek. Oh, I got it on jungle.com. Oh, wow. Oh, wow. Come on. Come on, Hank. You want, you want, you want a sausage, right? You want people food? Yeah, Hank. Hank is, he is, wants to hold it. Let him hold the sausage. All right. But he needs his real breakfast. Yeah. Okay. Do you want your real breakfast? Yeah, I want my real breakfast. Okay. All right. All right. And I'll take out a can that has, it's like a rattle can that has like a top and it's like a metal canister. It'll say lubricant on it and I'll take the cap off, but. Oh, damn it. And I reach into my pack and I pull out a smaller version of that can. I love it. And I lubricate the can. There we go. All right, buddy. You ready? I don't like lubricate all this joints and make sure that he's nice and limber and. Um, he got like crouches with it and like, you know, like moves his arms a bit. And he seems very excited to be lubricated in the morning. Um, anyways, beyond all that is everybody eating. Everybody feels good. You can have two more. Please have as many bacon as you want because we got pretty big windfall of notes. Yeah. Just last night, actually in the middle of the night, I heard back from the guild and all of that Digi diary evidence you had on Weedlevox. I mean, it was gangbusters for that. What? You gave him my diary? Well, it was evidence. I had to. Was it not supposed to? Did you read it first? Well, no, I mean, I just, when you gave me the one that said, here's all the dirt on Weedlevox, that's just what I sent him. Did I should have? Should I not have? I gave you my diary. What do you mean? Yeah, I got a bright net. I mean, I could request it. It's very unlikely. I'm sure it's in a filing cabinet, uh, amidst millions of filing cabinets. I mean, no, I can feel out of form. I'm sure there's a form for this. Request for information from the guild. I can answer it back. But I mean, the good news is- You said we got a lot of money. The good news is we got more notes than we were expecting. So we can get the version 3.0. And? We got to go to the mall! And you get to be a bounty hunter! And we get to go to the mall! I pass you your guild bounty hunter license. Now you're a license, come back like the rest of us. Yeah, congratulations. And it's as he hands you the license, uh, that says, pixel bounty hunter on it, that everybody levels up. Yay! Let's go! Oh snap! Um, um, I gotta go! I'm gonna run behind the couch and you're gonna hear Pixel like, quietly sobbing. I can't believe it! I'm a fucking bounty hunter! I think she's mad that you stole her diary. You shouldn't invade people's privacy like that. I gave it to my piggy! I wanted it back! Well, uh, look, the good news is, we have a lot of money, right? Right? And... You see Pixel's head pop up from behind the couch? Hang on, hang on. And so, uh, I did reach out to a shipwright friend of mine, and I figured that the rest of y'all will be needing personal ships at some point, so... What? Wait, does that include me? That includes you? Yeah, you're a member of the crew? Like, like, like flying in space. Like piloting in space. You trust me behind the wheel of a vehicle? Well, not just yet. The pilot can give you lessons, but... I was just gonna say, it sounds like there's flight lessons in everyone's future. I mean, I'm good, you know, I probably don't need it, right? Oh, you're gonna be good. We're not gonna need that, right? What are these for? Like, solo trips to the mall, hanging out with our friends? I mean, you can use it for lots of reasons, and you know, Pai and I each have our own ships. You've seen them in the hangar, but... I mean, I don't think y'all understand that... Boundaries don't only exist on ground, on solid land. But yeah, that's why we got the Rhapsody. Sometimes, and especially with the DOM, I have to imagine we have a dogfighter too in our future. And not to mention space pirates, or any other fucking ne'er-do-wells that want to take us down. You never know when you need a personal vehicle. That's so cool! I'm already on my computer typing up onto a virtual screen that's displayed. I'm looking at all kinds of different ships and just scanning through them. Any ship we want? I mean, I've always really wanted an armored medium beam-wielding Valkyrie mannacore destroyer starfighter. It's not that much! Well, it's not really that kind of from a menu thing, but I put down a down payment to reserve his time, and he's gonna start sending us some options, but just start thinking about what y'all might want. And, uh, you know, we can... Can I have a water slide? Well, that's not... I mean, I... Yeah, we can ask. Is that how that works? You're gonna get a personal ship with a water slide? They have pools in them? No, no, I don't... Can you get a pool? I mean, I never say never, I guess. I couldn't even do the team. In this case, we can say never. Look. You know what you gotta get? You gotta get fuzzy dice. Fuzzy dice? You gotta hang over that thing that looks behind you or something. Oh, no, we don't have to have that bit of fuzzy dice. Do we? Yeah! No, every jackass that was compensating for fucking something had fuzzy dice on their mirror back in home, and on their fucking vehicle. But you're not compensating for something, so that makes your dice way cooler. That's why I don't fucking need it. We could do something a lot cooler than fuzzy pink dice. You could have a rain machine! A what? A rain machine. Why? I don't know. It's good because you look badass on wet and stuff, right? Oh, wait, it's a rain machine? I thought that was something that made the sound of rain. No, it's just gonna make it... It's just gonna make it... You're like a snow machine, makes fake snow. I'm gonna just take a shower in my fucking ship. Well... Maybe it's not the best idea. This guy can do this? I don't think so. Let's not get too fancy with it, alright? I thought we got to do something. Why don't we pick, like, some colors, some very general geographic or geometric shapes, and... Come on, be a circle. No, we gotta go the whole way. You said we have a bunch of notes. I'm gonna get the Terrapin finishing on my exterior shields. Let's just focus on function over form for now. I'm gonna set up a flight simulator in my room. Is that alright? Yeah. Alright, it's ordered. Oh, do you think... Do you think he can make mine look like a tiger? Like the big fucking fangs, like a horn? See that? Seems reasonable. Yeah, I feel like certainly he can do that. And like, will you get some lightning bolts on it? Like my bike? And then the rain machine! Well... I don't... I feel like it'll mess with the electronics. When the tiger would get all wet. I don't know, it's a little off-fame. Alright, alright. I'm kind of more of the, you know, if you look around the storms and the themes of the lightning, the thunder and the rain, I'm more of the lightning side. You can't have lightning without the rain. Yeah, but it's just kind of my thing, you know? It's a thematic clash. And the tiger would get all wet. Yeah, the tiger would get wet. And the smell of wet fur is the worst. Yeah, I don't think there's a real tiger in this situation. Yeah, I should clarify. I don't think there's a tiger. But you asked for a tiger with fangs! No, it's gonna look like it. But it's not gonna have fur? Like how, like my bike? It's not gonna be like those fuzzy walls at that one really awful club you went to. What are you doing? You didn't tell anybody about that. Don't you kind of stop it! And furry! Hex, well you need to shut the fuck up. Look, I don't want to hear it anymore. Shut the fuck up. Just do some research and just hypermail me your options and I'll send it to the shipwreck, alright? Oh, I changed my mind. I'm gonna get mine to look like Phobobit's starship. Oh, that's not the name I remember. Oh my gosh! It's a fire spray? What is this? Could I get mine in the shape of a Molly compact? Well, sure. I don't see why not. Cool. Well... With a water slide. Look, you have time to decide, right? He's not even available to get started for at least a couple days, if not a week or two. So just think on it. That's all I'm asking. I'm gonna take up all my mental energy for the next couple of days. You're gonna be able to like, make sure we don't fucking kill ourselves out there in space? Yeah. Like, I was just feeling comfortable at an air speeder. Like, that's different. But you know, that's just a car. It's driving something that would be on the ground, but in the sky. Space is totally fucking different. Co. The three dimensions! Out of all three of you, I think you're gonna be the most natural at this. I don't know. I play a lot of flight simulator games. Co, you're gonna be the most natural at this. I don't know. He plays a lot of flight simulator games. Absolutely. I pull up. I pull up. I mean, every time I ask him, he wants to actually play real fucking games. He's busy doing his space trucking, and he plays a game and it's just him having a job. He's following time tables and fucking regulations. It's gonna be alright. It's a good game. It's a good game. It's a good game, Co. I promise you, you're gonna have fun with it. Alright. Okay. There's nothing quite like it. Okay. That's fine. Can they be automated so we don't actually have to do the driving? Because I've never driven before, and I tried to play one of his simulator's once, and the whole thing started smoking. There's generally some sort of autopilot on some of these things, but when we get in a real dogfight, you're gonna want to take over the controls. And look, flying ain't all fun games. You gotta file a flat plan. There's checklists you gotta follow. They're starting it up, shutting it down in the middle of your flight. There's lots to learn that's not in your video games. I don't know. They're pretty accurate. Does this mean I can get in your notebook at the mall when we go buy my new Digi Diary? Yeah. I'm gonna make a shopping list. New driving outfit, new Digi Diary 3.0, more happy, more bunny masks for Co. Flight simulated outfit. I don't need that. I feel like there's no air in the... Get this shit off of me. Paddermen! Paddermen! Paddermen! More drugs, Co. Once we get you out there, Co, I promise you, there's no more freeing feeling in the world. Okay. That sounds like some foo-foo shit. Sad poetry, boys would say, to pick up... Until someone's trying to shoot your ass out of the sky. To pick up chicks with low self-esteem, but you know what? You for you, Pike? I'll fucking do it. I'll fucking do it. Yes. I have one question. If we could shot out of the sky, we don't die, right? Like, you'll... Generally, that's what comes next. No, no, no, but... I'm sorry to tell you, but if you die in real life, then you die in real life. No, but... But like, I'm not completely on my own, right? Like, if I mess up, someone will catch my shit for something. If you're lucky, there are fail safes, and the Raph said he won't be too far away, and we're never gonna leave you hanging out to dry, but... Yeah, we'll be there. Wow, bounty hunter and some hardcore shit! Yeah, this isn't a game as much as Ziggy wishes it was. It is pretty cool. I mean, I'll admit, I'll admit, it's pretty cool. There's a lot more forms in bounty hunting than vigilante-ing. A lot fewer elevator shafts, too. Unfortunately, Pixel, we don't have time to go to the mall because... As we all should know by now, Rex Maxim is now at 7th Heaven Casino, or at least he's scheduled to be. Is he not a mall on the way? Well, I think casinos usually have those big gaudy-like shopping sections, so I feel like there'll be plenty of stores to buy whatever you need. We gotta be careful about taking our time getting here, because he might just be dead if we delay, and then our shot at the dawn is gone. Why would he be dead? It's only the first stop of the Rex Maxim Real Space Cowboy Lady Luck's Smile & Casino Tour. Have you already forgotten what we witnessed several weeks ago? Yeah, but I mean, if he's been boning with Don's wife for this fucking long, what makes you think he's gonna get caught now? If he's that fucking oblivious, he's gonna... It only takes one! It's only a matter of time! It is! Someone's railing his fucking wife! What makes you think that he's gonna notice now? Criminals don't become criminals because they think they'll get caught. What a cool guy. I'll bet he doesn't have fuzzy space dice on his rear display. You know, I would have liked to believe that once, until I learned the truth about him. I don't know, I'm glad that Mrs. Ume isn't alive to see this. She would be heartbroken. He still seems pretty cool. I know what we learned, but... I don't know, he's still Rex Maxim. Look at this card! Wait, is he the star of Sex Max on that porno? He's in it once, but I'm pretty sure that they just showed his head and then there was someone else. That's 100% accurate. That's canon. That's absolutely what happened. He never showed a full body in the whole shot, I could... He sold his look, his license off his face just from the beginning of the porno. That's actually what happened. You can't convince me otherwise. Sorry, Mace. I do know that card! Did you see that porno? No! Oh, gosh. I put it on the big screen. Maybe that's why Mrs. Ume liked him so much. Moving on! Back to the plan. Alright! We gotta pull it up right here. We need to talk about our plan. Alright. How do we get to Rex? I know we've met him. Well, I was thinking we could take the Rhapsody. Well, yeah, we're taking the Rhapsody. Sorry, this is my first time as a bounty hunter. I'm getting all the way here. No, that's for the first time in the life of the bounty hunter. So first step, we're gonna take the Rhapsody and take it to the casino. That's step one. Yay, we're doing the plan! I'm writing this down. Take Rhapsody to the casino. Okay. If you all were bounty hunters, right? If you were a favor, we're up to y'all. How would we get to him? How would we bring him in and get him to get us to the Don? Hey everyone, Andy Flynn here, and I have huge news. Our next Kickstarter campaign is coming, and it's called Neon Odyssey. It's a 1400-plus-page space opera trilogy for Dungeons & Dragons 5.5e. It has tons of options for players and GMs alike, including an entire galaxy to explore, 30-plus species, 40-plus subclasses, a brand new space combat system, and so much more. It's taken us three whole books to fit it all in. You can become a VIP at neonrpg.com to unlock a free set of Neon Knights, Sharp Edge Resin Dites, and more. It's only a dollar. Become a VIP now at neonrpg.com. Thank you. We would dress ourselves as bell hops at the casino, and then when he needed his luggage moved, we would take him to his room, which he would tell us what room number is, and he has the key. And then once he's inside, instead of a tip, we handcuff him and we pump him for information. Ziggy, that has to be the single greatest idea I have ever fucking heard. That's guys' right? Bell hops to handcuff Pipeline. That's it! That's it! We're done. I'm writing it down. I'm not going to lie, I'm a little impressed. But what happens when he sees us dressed as bell hops and he already knows who we are? Well, based on everything you've told me... You assume he would remember you, but he's sex maximum. You gotta think behind every corner. We can't risk the operation being blown on the off chance that he may or may not remember who we are. We could try subterfusion disguise again. That's a fair option. But the risk of getting caught here versus getting caught at the Golden God is a little different. I mean, when the Don's involved, I mean, they might just fucking cut our thrones. Well, I wouldn't be very nice. We could, if we wanted to do the disguising thing, we could disguise ourselves as reporters from Space TV and we came all the way out here to do an interview with them. We could take the Rhapsody there. Well, no, I mean, we'll definitely take the Rhapsody there. Yeah, that was good. That's right. Yeah, yeah. This is hard. These are all good outlook. There's no bad idea. All right, there are just some that are better than others. And let's make a tier list. Okay, okay. A hyper grid friendly tier list. I'm writing it down. I got my notepad up right here. Notepad. If any of these plans involve whatever you do with 60 gallons of lubricant gel, I think that that should be the one we pick. Here's the thing. If he remembers us, if he knows who we are, I think we lean into that. If you're to ask me, I don't think he fucking understands how to do that. Oh my God, I could say you've got to be pregnant. You fucked that guy. No. Oh, but he doesn't know that, I'm sure. That's almost it. I mean, can we combine that with the bellhop thing? Bellhop thing? Frequent bellhop. Look, all good ideas right there. So we don't lose it. Maybe. No, it gets there. No, it gets there. They're trying. Black, look, they're, they're, they're bounty hunting. Look, I think, in my mind, let's try to tap in on some of this previous connection. And let's just try to live with this guy and get him to understand how fucked he is. If we can let him know discreetly somehow that we know what we know and we can somehow trade, make a crate, we'll fucking protect him somehow. We'll fucking get him out of that life and get him away from the dawn. If he trades the dawn in, you know, again, I don't know exactly how we get to him. I assume these casinos pay him to show up so that you can fucking, I don't know, at least see the guy. So he'll be around. You send me to find a way to talk to him. Got to find a way to talk to him away from the goons. Well, that's right. Away from any of his fucking security, anyone related to casino, anyone related to the fucking dawn alone. So maybe pregnant bellhop. I'm penciling in pregnant bellhop. That is awesome. Yeah. Let's not call it pencil news. Let's let's let's sleep on it. What do you think you're looking? Are you okay? I wish we had more time to stake the place out. See if there's some sort of backstage or something. we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we and find out what their cameras are like and their security. I mean, it's probably pretty locked down, given the amount of money that flows through a casino, but I can try. Photolops, fan signings, something along those lines. Slip the guy in note, let him know, hey, we know what's going on, we gotta meet him alone, right? Yeah. I have the ability to send him a message, right? I could just, we know. We don't want a chance at being intercepted. Yeah. I think we gotta do this old school. We gotta find a way to get this guy alone. Face to face. In a room, or a bar, or fucking somewhere, that is out of ear shot, out of eye shot. So all we gotta do is just go up and just talk to this guy? Well, no, I mean, here's the thing, we need to make a fucking compelling offer if we're gonna try to protect him. Can we protect him? Oh well. You know, the guild does a good job protecting our personal information. Maybe we can get him registered. Get him to become a bounty hunter? Me, you already said that he didn't, he isn't registered already? Oh, I guess that was all fake. No, none of it was real. Chance. Oh, damn. And here's the thing. God, I thought he was a bounty hunter, fuck. Whoever's putting the bounty on all, everyone connected to Red Line, they really don't like this don. So if we can bring the don in, maybe whoever the fuck this is, you know, we can call on a favor of being like, hey, we cut the head off the snake. Just fucking protect this guy. Wipe him off the fucking face of the hypergrid. He's got information, he's got connections. If he can flip on all those people, then maybe the guild will make him official and wipe his slate clean. Okay. Okay. I can't believe I'm even going along with this, Red. I mean, add that to the list next to like. Like just one step below pregnant Bill Hop. Yeah, all right. Yeah, we don't have to rule out pregnant Bill Hop, we still need to find a way to have us, so just even one conversation might be enough. Yeah, you hide Rex. I mean, he's super famous. Maybe they're gonna have to like give him a bunch of fucked up surgery to change his face. I wouldn't be opposed to that. You can stress that it's either that or death. You probably would choose fucked up surgery. I mean, he's Rex Maxim. Well, would you choose to fuck up your face if you were Rex Maxim? Yes, deliberately. Many times over. No, guys. I mean, that's all I got. Okay, I think it's a good start. I think we can case the joint. Yeah, we'll case the joint, we'll scout it out. It's been a while since we've been to 7th Heaven. We're never there for long. And we'll say, I mean, if we get him, and we get what we need, I mean, this piece of shit has been helping get Redline to a lot of different systems. He disappears. Huh? Huh? Are you suggesting we fucking kill him? Yeah, no, no. I don't want to have sex with him. I'm not opposed to killing him. No, we're gonna fucking kill him. No, we're gonna kill him. Now we're not gonna fuck him. We're just gonna kill him. Why is it always about fucking or pregnancy? Because he just said we have to fuck and kill him. No, no, it's just how I speak. We're not gonna kill him, all right? Can we get the fuck him? I don't want to actually get Red something. Forget that I said fucking. Forget that I said the word, all right? I should try to clean up my language now that it's, you know, now that we're mixed company, so sweet. Look, Red, I just think, you know, maybe after pregnant bellhop, we keep murder Rex just on the list somewhere. That's what I'm fucking saying, see, you punk? All right. Like he's an expert. Add it to the list. Put it under pregnant bellhop, though. Yeah, we'll put it at the bottom. That's like plan Z, though. Plan Z, I'm with plan Z. Why can't we pregnant bellhop and then kill him? Well, well, no, we need to use it when we get to the fucking dime. I mean, you can't die before that, we need him alive. Okay, so pregnant bellhop, get to dawn, kill him. I mean, we still haven't, we still haven't sound proofed the torture room, okay. Oh, well, we okay. That's out, that's out. Delete it, delete it, cut that. Cut murder Rex? Cut torture. Oh, leave murder on that. No torture, maybe fucking. Stop calling the storage room the torture room. That's how you spell torture? It's not a CH? Oh, no, no, no, no, that's right. Otherwise you'd see the little. I think that's a turtle. No, no, that's torture. Torture. I don't know, Zeggy. I don't fucking know. What do you think? I think that's new to you. That's what I thought. How could you, hey? How could you? Where's your bacon? Get ready. Where did you put it? Where did you put it this time? You see Pixel slowly eating the bacon. It looks like. You guys are the fucking experts. We're all the newbies, right? We're learning. How far are we from the casino? Oh, is this a test? No, it was a genuine question. Oh, okay. How far are we from the casino? Before we just, You know that his tour was set to begin today and you've been plotting a course the whole time. Yeah, we've been working on our way there. You have time to get ready, but you're close. You're maybe an hour away. Oh, perfect. Well, then look, at the end of the day, we got a few extra notes in our pocket. We can gamble a little, see what the place looks like, and we'll formulate the plan. Can we gamble a little? I would love to play literally every of the games. You think you'll get there like mid-afternoon? Okay. All right, probably a couple hours from now, maybe a few hours. Easy. We can gamble. Yeah, why not? We've done a lot of good work and we've earned a lot of good money. We can afford another suite, right? I mean, that's the gig. No, please. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. Here you go. I've got a fucking car. I should have. It's all digital. I don't use these physical fucking notes. You give out everyone their fun bucks. And, all right, so get ready. I'll say you have three to four hours and then we will be docking at the seventh heaven casino. Okay. You wanna spar? Sure. Take your mind off whatever's making you feel so down. I got some time. Might as well limber up. Let's go. And I'll go to, must have some sort of Yeah, we've been very upset. Absolutely. Absolutely. This is a training room. This is the danger room. The equivalent of the danger room. Hey, Zuki, you wanna come? No, I'm gonna go set up my flight simulator. I just, yeah, what? Well, I was hoping you would play some more martial, the scattering with me. Well, it's a three player only game which is really an unusual business choice for a collectible card game, but we would need a third in. Let's rent, you wanna play. I got a ship to fly. Besides, I could watch. I was gonna go set up my flight simulator if you want to, oh shit. Oh. Oh. Hey, no, no, hey, hey, no, no, hey, hey, hey. That's definitely a few cards. That's what I did. What's in your mouth? What's in your mouth? What's in your mouth? What's in your mouth? Oh, it's gone. No, he's passing all the human food. Oh, we ate Rex Maxim's rhinestone. That's such a good magic. Rex Maxim, real space cowboys and tatters. I will carry Hank up to the bridge. I go up the stairs and I will sit down and I'll put him in his seat. And I will begin to plot a course and I'll review the flight plan and I'll make sure that any notes that I can find on the casino and what the fees are at a dock there and all that sort of stuff. I'll give administrative stuff. You brush up on all of the intelligence you would need to be able to approach, dock, get to the casino. Everyone else does whatever they would like to pass the time you begin to spar. You may play Marshall the Scattering if you can find a third, which you can't. We can't. We can't find a third. Zegi, you might go set up your space flight simulator. We'll need to realize at first that your room is not big enough to set up a space flight simulator. I immediately go to the storage room. The storage room you'll come to find is big enough to set up space flights. I've got all three dimensions. I've got some like big rings. There's like a lot of me that it's a huge thing. And as soon as I finish, it's a lot of heavy labor in order to set up this huge rig and stuff. And so I sit down and I start my first game and then I pass out. And it's just pull up. Yeah, pull up. Pull up. Terrain. Terrain. Terrain. That's very funny. You all continue to do this. You'll know that as the ship continues, it'll be probably when you're about, I'd say about an hour out, you'd want to start getting ready. You'll have seen that the casino is home to several high rollers. It's incredibly nice experience. And oftentimes people show up in suits, cocktail dresses, evening gowns, tuxedos, if you're so inclined. And as you make final approach, you'll want to dress accordingly. As you punch the Rhapsody forward, that thrum of the engine moving you towards your destination kicks in. The Rhapsody rockets through space. And before you, a glittering golden space station appears. Nice. Loosely shaped like an Ovaler roulette wheel. It spins with a pointed axis, projecting above and below with shimmering neon signs displaying the name Seventh Evan. A digital billboard displays the smug face of Rex Maxim. Next to the words this week, Rex Maxim Reels, Space Cowboy, Little X, Myelin Casino Tour. Ten jackass. With the previous information, you are able to hit all the correct call signs. You pay the docking fees. And you are able to bring the Rhapsody into the hangar bay of the casino. As you touch down, you may all gather together and begin to make your way in. What would, given that Pike and I have been there, do we know the kind of typical attire that folks are normally seen wearing? Yeah, I would say that this casino, you would know pretty much going in that the people who gamble here, really even at any level, tend to dress relatively nice. So you would absolutely believe that you'd want to wear some form of suit, some form of formal wear as you go in. I would have relayed that to the crew, and I'll say, all right, we're docking now, and I'll do it over the intercom that gives them the whole shit. Put on your equivalent of Sunday's Finest and meet me at the gang plank. Or you're wearing a hoodie and cargo shorts. No, it's a t-shirt that has a tuxedo print on it. Yeah! Yeah! Done. Fucking done. I would have spent this time just trying to figure out how Pike is so quick, and that's just kind of the thing. I'm trying to catch you, and you're dancing around me. And so I'm just absolutely, I'm used to just brawling, not like this martial art. And so I'm trying to figure out your thing, I'm still struggling with it, and I would have gotten within maybe two hours of us docking. I would have dressed nicer, similar to how it was in Paradise City, but definitely nicer. I think I would have stuck with the vest, but I would have all full buttons, do the tie, that sort of thing. Pixel would have spent her time listening to the new Zeta Max album, and kicking her feet up and singing along from the couch and snuggling with Hank. But about, yeah, probably about two hours before docking, she would have gone to her room, changed out of her footy pajamas, and into the equivalent of an 80s prom dress, with sleeves that are so incredibly large that you can barely find her in all of the ruffles. But yeah, she's very much in that. I would be wearing nothing like my Rhapsody Records attire. No, no, no, no more pimp outfit. Yeah, I have like four walls. That was very lavish in a different direction. Rhett would have a suit that he normally wears when we're in nicer places, or we need to sort of be incognito in a more formal location. And I think it would be just a nice suit that is sort of tailored well. It would have a hat that he could wear with it. And it's the color scheme of a Game Boy. I would imagine like a tan suit, but that's even better. Yeah, basically like a nearly tan kind of gray beige suit. And then all of the accent colors are the various buttons and detailings of the Game Boy. I love that. And that's what Rhett would be dressed in. And then I think that until we know like the hotel situation, I guess he would like, you know, with a cannon and his pack, he would pack it up with the rest of any luggage that he would bring, presuming that we're staying there. I would probably carry most of it. Like I would probably just grab most of it. My club would go in like a bag, you know, to keep it incognito. I think that I would be wearing a darker colored suit. Still a suit, not a tuxedo. Very much like a, you know, like a slim fit suit. I, with a matching jacket, dark, I'd be wearing a light button-up shirt. I'd keep the top button untied with my tie a little loose. Roll the sleeves up and that's about it. Yeah, excellent. And you're capable of anything you'd want to take with you. You can absolutely pack into bags, forms of luggage, co-made carry all of it. You'd be, you've been here before, so you're somewhat familiar with the layout. You know that there's a hotel. You know that there are shopping areas, you know, various things, but you'll want to go in and probably spend a couple minutes scoping out the layout and getting a handle on the lay of the land as you plan very much to be here for a little longer than any of your previous trips. You look fucking great. Not bad, right? Hey, we clean up real, pretty good, huh? My hair is two times bigger than usual. And it is. Wow, you are getting... I mean, God, with looking like that, Rex is going to believe that you knocked him up. I packed the belly just in case. I can knock him up if you want. Did you pack the belly? You packed the what? I packed the belly just in case. Well, we don't need to go that far. I almost missed it. I almost missed it. Yeah, Ziggy ordered it for me on jungle.com. Jungle.com is coming now. You wouldn't believe it, they had 30 minute delivery. I think we should just join that then. Jungle.com? You know what, I guess we'll need a case. We can easily go with plan B. Okay, that's okay. You know what, I wouldn't have in that case. Thank you, Rex. I get it. That's very funny, Pixel. I trust you. I trust you. Okay. If we're all there, the ramp or whatever, I would set the ramp down and we would walk it down into the hangar of the casino. Yeah, perfect. And I would basically pay for whatever we need to get directions to the various points of interest in the casino and just kind of try to get a lay of the land. Yeah, it's all digital handshakes as you enter to kind of pay for the docking and the stay. And you'll have arranged all that kind of upon your approach. The, I was going to say that Bell Hobbs and now I can't stop thinking about plan A. They direct you kind of towards the entrance to the casino and you'll make your way. As you enter the casino, you enter a glittering gambling hall that seems to ring around the entire space station, countless table games, slot machines and other games of chance later the floor with throngs of well-dressed patrons trying their luck. You see large signs pointing to various locations throughout this resort, including hotel, theater, shopping, restaurants, conference center, racetrack and more. Large neon sevens flicker along the walls reminding everyone just how lucky they can be. Wow. This is nicer than I remember. It's been a long time. We shouldn't get used to this, right? I feel like we're too for two. No, no. I can't get used to being like living like a fucking rich fuck. This is all my investment. I'm going to get corrupt. No, no, don't get, don't get corrupt. Don't get used to this. I don't know. We're working. I need y'all to understand that. This is work, all right? Yeah. And these are all business expenses. I write all this off. From what? You write it off? Space taxes. What? Right? Yeah, there's obviously space taxes. Space taxes. What's a tax? I don't know. You don't know what to, anyway, I'm not going to explain taxes right now. Okay. Let's go. Let's look, you know, let's go, you know, we got to make sure that we're, you know, incognito. We should be able to enjoy the place, huh? You could use some cheering up. Yeah, I think I'm going to grab a drink and maybe... What's with the guss? ...find a table to sit at. No drugs. No, that's not really my speed. I got some glimmer. Just... Let's keep that on the down low. Yeah, let's keep that hidden. Now, spread that around. You need that glimmer? Yeah, you want to do something? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, we're working, we're working, we're working. Yeah. We got to, we, we, we, let's just have some nice alcohol. Yeah, let's have some fucking alcohol, like real normal people. Like professionals. Like professionals. Like professional people. Fucked up on alcohol, all right? That's boot. I'm not going to hurt anything, all right? God, you guys, unbelievable. And as we are walking through, kind of just like taking it all in, I would, I would just quick find a bar, grab a drink, just make it look natural, you know, as I'm continue to walk with everybody and scope the place out and maybe find a place to sit down. I don't know, just check out, like take it all in. They, as you walk through the casino, the, the golden expanse stretches out in front of you, sevens lining the walls, this, this constant ring, this chimes of excited bells erupt through the air as if everyone or anyone at every moment is winning. It's an exciting place to be in, all around the room, in the, just the casino hall in general. There are many spaces you can go to kind of branch off that all exit out through these the, the restaurant, pathway to the hotel, but just in the space that you're in, there are many such almost like island style bars where you could go and you could have anything you'd like to drink. You would know, and Rhett, you would know that at the, at the seventh heaven, the drink of choice is the omni slosh. Can you describe what that is a little bit? The omni slosh. I mean, I know, but just for those at home. The omni slosh is a fantastic drink. The first sip that you take as it comes in kind of a high, almost like a high ball of glass, extends up, and it has this kind of like eerie bounce to it. And as you take a drink, you'd expect almost this evolution of flavor, but it's, it's an eruption of 15 different flavors that hit you all in a single moment. It's almost explosive, but fantastic as it settles. I stick with a whiskey. That's not, that's not pucks me. It's a little too fancy. Yeah, and you get a whiskey, they would fix it up for you in an instant on rocks or neat, should you choose? And you have a whiskey, as you make your way around that? Ziggy will have it on the slosh. I would grab red or whiskey too. All right. While I'm at the bar, if that's your normal go-to drink of choice. I think I might occasionally mix it up, but I think that you thinking that one of the whiskey you want one too. I would have just thought that you want one too. And I'd grab, I'd grab, I'd grab red one as well. Yeah, what, no, I don't fucking want that. Give me a, no, the can. The can. I don't want it in a glass. Who uses a glass? They were trying to open it more. Yeah. Doesn't want to touch it like it opened my own goddamn pier. There's a Zorbrac behind the bar that with the four arms kind of almost like extremely quick lashing out in all directions as, especially to fix the omni slash, you kind of see what it takes as the high ball glass hits in front and they drop the cubes down. Each of three arms as one goes out simply to set a glass, set a glass, pour one whiskey, pour one whiskey. The other three grabbing 15 different containers of variously colored liquids as they rapid fire drop them into your glasses. They slide across the whiskeys go around and then we'll reach just beneath the bar top and produce a can for you. Come. Icy blue pixel. Yeah, I'm down here. Can, can I, can I have a car, Samo? Yes, we can do Cosmos. Can I get a glitter rim? Yes, we can do glitter rim. She said glitter, not glimmer. Just clarified. Ah, glimmer rim. No, no, no, no glitter, glitter, glitter rim. I weighed that a couple of times. Glitter rim. 38, 39, 40. This is one Cosmonaut. It's all she needs, please. You don't say it's full name. Well, I mean, Cosmo seems a little too informal, you know, at a nice place like this. Did I do it wrong? No, no, you're doing great. You're doing great. And then that glimmer rim, please. What, oh, it has the glimmer rim on it. I mean the glitter rim. There you go. Oh, big! Damn, you're a fucking tank. Now I'm ready to gamble. No, we can't, this can't be another parody I say. I know that, like, I know that you were living in Paradise City for so long, but like, that's a very specific kind of degenerate, you know what I mean? You gotta be able to adjust your degenerate, especially when you're a bounty hunter, right? Yeah, I'm not gonna have sex with anyone. I mean, that's, yeah, okay, that's a step up, yeah, okay. I'm just gonna spend a lot of reds money. Well, it's all of our money, we never could have gotten the Widowbox bounty if you hadn't fucking killed the guy, so. Is my nose bleeding? No, you're good. Are you good? I'll take the check. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, I don't think there's any alcohol on this, I have another omnibloss. There's an omnibloss. Zeep is the slosh, an omnibloss. But that's not like, it's not like omnibloss at all. He'll slide it over to you, and every time you take a sip, it's like, as all 15 flavors smash into you, all of them. Oh, Mace. Oh, Mace. 15's the real number. Yeah. Um, there seems to be an error in the bill. This cosmonaut here it says was 200 notes. Oh, let me take a look at that. And here on the menu it says 950. Oh, you're right. There you go. I look at it, was it safe? 250. All right, well, I guess you did kill Lito Fars. I'm like, I use cash. Man, that's the fucking truth. Cheers. If anyone wants anything else, we can reopen the tab. Oh, yeah, can I get another cosmonaut? All right, just a card and tab, open a tear. Pull out my wallet. I'll hand him the card. Leave it open. And he'll proceed to begin to make any drinks that you'd like extremely quickly. The omni slashes keep on coming. The cosmonauts do as well. Just with the glitter rim this time. Just a glitter rim this time, of course. So it's just 25. Do you guys have like a schedule of Rex Maxim's appearance? We're here for the Rex Maxim Wheel Space Cow. Yeah, he got me breakfast. I got a casino tour. No, no, no, no. He's in the dream one. There we go, there we go. Yeah. It'll slide over like an eliminated casino tour list. All in it, as you read through, you'll see over several days, several of the events that he is hosting, some of which include shocking and amazing creature debuts, his musical concert extravaganza, various drinks dining with Rex, gambling with Rex, all sorts of events throughout the casino for the week that he's here. Okay, well, I, he's gonna show up soon. Are we, is this, like, when he's gonna show up? Oh yes, he's gonna show up very soon. Oh. Got him just in fucking time, look. Oh, all right, same day. He's gonna be here? That's quite the itinerary. He seems pretty fucking busy. I mean, the stamina he had in sex Maxim, I mean, makes sense. Or who, who, remember? He stopped saying sex Maxim. Just a personal request of mine. He okay? All right. So, we just need to chat with the guy. Convince him, become bounty hunter. We've got rooms on the ship, Ziggy, then me, then Picks, then Rex. I mean, the slime one. I thought we'd de-slime them. Yeah, Ziggy and I de-slime them. Yeah, we de-slime them. No, there's definitely no more slime. I'll check. He was slimeing the corner this morning. Is it coming back? I didn't think it left. Oh, what the hell? We'll deal with that plot there later. Cut to a closet. And there's a giant, like, wiggly, waving, mounds and fucking blocks of lattery eggs. It's all fucking present. Oh, that's horrifying, and jammed. We have to burn the rat's egg. Oh, my God. Yeah, no toads out. Yeah, yeah. I can't wait for the toys in the attic. Yeah, it's coming. It's coming. It's coming from one side. It's in that moment that you all start to hear a commotion as you move through the casino. Yeah, a longer. Something catches your ears. You turn and look. Oh, no. Well. You suddenly hear a commotion in fanfare near the VIP entrance. A crowd has gathered around the pathway that is blocked off by velvet ropes and security officers, murmuring with excitement. Suddenly, the doors slide open and a loud cheer erupts. From the speakers, groovy disco music plays as you hear the voice of Rex Maxim call out over the crowd. Hello, 7th Heaven Casino, it's me. Rex Maxim, real space cowboy. Let's boogie. He begins to do a series of dance moves. You can only see the glimpse of glittering rhinestones and a bombastic orange pompadour before it's totally blocked by the swarming crowd going absolutely wild. Is the whole crowd dancing and like... Oh, yeah, there's definitely like a sway and their arms are pumping and people are cheering. He's being almost totally blocked from view at this point. Okay, that is, I'm a little... Oh, but you catch the, sometimes you'll catch the, like the bounce of the pompadour above the crowd. That answers my question, I'm a whole mic lesson. As his hair kind of breaks into eyesight and you can hear his, you can hear some, at certain moments, his bombastic voices. He calls out to his fan. Different question, roughly how far away is he from us through this long of a crowd? A couple hundred feet. I'd say from 15 feet. From where you are probably about 50, 60 yards. Yeah, he's, okay, so we're not close, but he's like being bombastic and loud and we're just like kind of watching with the crowd. And also the crowd has moved to him. Music has come over the speakers very clearly and event has begun. What's your attack range? It's that plus one, that's how far it is. Disadvantage. Is that, I'm just kidding, I'm kidding, I'm kidding. That plus one is exactly how far away it is. I think that like subtly like, Co's locked in as soon as like she hears the music and like sees it and she would have been like, let's boogie down. You're so conflicted. You're like, I'm tall. Biggie's not tall. I'm hard. Let's boogie, yeah! Yeah! I am a tortured, conflicted soul at this point of where like I, in my bag, I kind of pull out the low fat tie and grill. And I put it back sadly. Your foot taps a little bit as the boogie kicks up. You just can't fight it all the way. In the buzz and hype of the crowd with the noise that has kind of come up, I'll still be standing right next to Rhett. And I'll kind of like lean in just a little bit. And I'll say to him, you know, just loud enough for him to be able to hear, I'll say, whatever happens, just promise me if you get a bad feeling, you tell me, all right? I will, like always. And I'll just take a sip of my whiskey as I'm continue to watch what's unfolding before us. Let's fucking, let's go take a look. I can't see anything. Where been me? I can hear him. You know, I thought he'd be taller. I wish I was so short. Here, come on, pics. And I will pick you up. Can you see him? Oh my gosh, that guy's weird looking. Yes, well. Keep an eye out for Goon. I'm gonna go look for fucking red belts. I bet if the fuck is gonna get us here. Can I ride on your shoulder? I think it's gonna draw attention. We'll get fine. God's. Come on. Keep an eye, so look at, so if they have red belts, a red fucking rubber bun, a red fucking, anything red. The play, and I have for good. Play it cool, all right? We're just here gambling. We begin to calmly push ourselves through the crowd, just to get an accident. But you're sitting on Co's shoulders. Yeah. I still have my whiskey in hand. I'm just sipping at it. I'm all snag another, was it icy blue? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it has like an icy blue. Tap's still open. We'll be back. Yeah, the floating iceberg, you see, it turns blue when it's cold, see? I'm pushing against the perimeter of the crowd. I was gonna say, it's kinda raw, it turns blue when it's cold. I didn't even realize that Retin Pike might be following me. I'm just doing that thing where it's like, oh, excuse me. Oh, excuse me. Sorry, sorry, I'm just gonna, and I'm literally just elbowing my way, trying to make myself one percent. I've got my backpack on. As you turn, it's like, I'm swinging around people. As you really just like edge through the crowd. As you get closer to the Thrawn, you see what you can only assume is the casino manager approaching the VIP entrance. A puggle, a smaller species that is primarily pig-like with rabbit-like ears, bat-like wings, and a curly tail that ends in a puckball. He is very well dressed in a suit of silver and gold stepping towards Rex as the guards push the crowd back. As the casino manager approaches, Rex finishes doing exaggerated dance moves. I was gonna say, you even danced at all, Mace. That's probably why. That's it. I was gonna do it until Richard stopped. Don't give it up for our Game Master. Don't give it up. We can have a few more minutes with that. Just let it go. As the casino manager approaches, Rex finishes doing exaggerated dance moves for his adoring fans and shakes the hand of his host. Then a woman steps beside him and he wraps his arm around her waist. She is stunningly beautiful and voluptuous gorgonite with serpentine features, including bluish green skin, striking orange eyes with vertical pupils, stripes along her exposed shoulders and arms and two slits for a nose instead of hair. Curled tendrils resembling snake tails grow from her head. Rex seems to introduce the woman to the casino manager and points a large diamond ring on her finger. The Poggle cheers and vigorously shakes both of their hands in congratulations before beginning to escort them deeper into the casino. Mike, it's hard to believe your eyes, but you believe you recognize the gorgonite woman that Rex is him. Whoa, who's the fucking smoke show with Rex? Isn't that cute little thing with the wings and that puffball tail? You kidding me? No. I mean different strokes, huh? You're not a pig, you're a pig. I mean, he probably has a lot of fucking money. Probably a lot more money than fucking Mr. W. Have we seen this Poggle before? Oh, roll a history check. Oh, our first time roll. History check. History check. History check. Show me potatoes out. 17. Oh, the 17. Oh, the 17. Oh, the 17. Oh, the 17. Oh, the 17. Oh, the 17. Oh, the 17. I would say, yes, you would know, you would probably even know his name. Tycho, the casino manager. You would have either heard of him, maybe encountered him. I don't know that you would have ever spoken with him, but you would know generally of who he is and his role at the casino. Is Tycho, do I know if it's his first name or his last name? Tycho Stilts. Tycho Stilts. Oh, hey, Pike, look, I think that's Tycho Stilts, the casino manager. What? What? The Poggle over there, dressed to the nines, fucking glittering halfway across the fucking room with silver and gold. That's the casino manager. Yeah. He might be a good one to try to talk to as well. Sure. You all right? Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Why? Why don't you just, I... You told me to fucking say something if something feels off, something feels off right now. You're sweating. You have the little fucking pale, too. Just a little warm in here, all right? Yeah, it really is. It's as you're discussing that now amongst the crowd, you're seeing this woman kind of from the, from the back, and Rex, as the three of them, begin to kind of make their way towards another section. Rex loons over and says something into the woman's ear. You'll see her turn briefly, and you'll catch the slightest profile, as she says something in response, and then she splits off and begins to make her way towards the elevators. I... look to Rhett, and I say kind of offhandedly, I'm gonna go grab another drink. I'll be right back. And before he can even respond, I'm gonna see if I can start to push my way through the crowd to see if I can see where this woman is going, to get a better look at her. You do so. Uh, let me ask how... So you're amongst the crowds. They've begun to cheer and thrum and celebrate Rex's rival. So just by nature of it, they've begun to kind of move towards where you're at. You start to see this woman moving in a direction that you're not in, and you're not in a direction that you're in. Moving in a direction off to the side, and you almost lose glimpses of her as the crowds cut in between the two of you. Are you Russian? Are you moving calmly? Oh, definitely calmly. I wouldn't want to shove anybody out of the way, or have anybody like... You know, I wouldn't want to be aggressive. I don't want to draw attention to myself. Um, but I'm all... I'm moving in a way that's fluid and natural to try to make sure that I don't lose where she's going. I'm not even sure that I can get to her, but I'm just trying to see if I can get a better view of her. Especially if I think that she looks familiar. Yes. Um, you can. As she splits off, she's now kind of like, she's herself moved out and away from this crowd, and she's heading down, not a corridor, but kind of hugging the edge of this room. The large sevens that glitter behind her, illuminating her, in her beautiful cocktail gown, as she makes her way. Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me. You're gonna continue to move through, and every now and again, still, somebody bumps into your moves past you, and for a moment, you'll lose sight of her until you pause, you scan once more, and you track her just a little bit further ahead. Just a little bit further ahead. Come on. Come on. There's no way. Finally, there's about three or four steps up. You take them two at a time. As you settle on a landing, right in front of elevators, set to take, to up or down to another section of the casino, you look around, you've totally lost sight of her, until you see one section of doors, as the ding happens, and they begin to close. For just a moment, you peek in, and this gorgonite looks up, and you lock eyes as the doors close in front of you, and you know, beyond a doubt, that it's exactly who you think it is. But as your eyes lock, it's also clear she has no recognition of you. Can't be. I'll stand there for what feels like a long while, just staring at these elevator doors. I would say that I have a feeling of disbelief. I'm not sure. I think after a moment, I would snap back to myself and realize that I'm standing there, and just kind of look around. Now, I would turn around, and from this landing up these stairs, I would look back over the crowd to see if I could see my friends. And in that moment, you would feel almost stunned, and it would be not until the ringing of slots, a slot winning, bursting out across the air that snaps you back to, that breaks you out of your stupor, you look out over this, the golden sea of victory in front of you, slowly, and eventually, you're able to lock eyes on your companions. And you see who's moved just a little bit away from the crowd of wrecks as they've started to kind of scope out some of the area. I would kind of shake my head a little bit and gather myself as I try to get my way back to Rhett, and hopefully the rest of the gang, if they're still with him, but I'm looking for Rhett. You do so. You make your way down the steps, you follow a familiar path backwards, a little slower this time as the football is just a little bit heavier. You make your way through the crowd that's now dispersing a little bit as wrecks has moved just a bit forward in the direction they were heading. And in very short time, you're able to make your way back to Rhett. Where do you fucking get off to? Does it look very clear that Pike is fucked up? You would see that I'm a little shook, for sure. I would... Definitely not as collected as usual. I would, as I see Pike approaching, I'll look up to Pixel and I'll say, okay, can I trust you with the mission to go look for more Red Belts? Yeah! Okay, go! And I dart off into the crowd. Go back and report! Completely hunk up on grammar. I'm looking for Red only. I'm dashing every turn. You race off into the crowd, your eyes darting back and forth as you go off on your own personal mission. And I will walk over towards very clearly aware that I get completely serious letting like, sending Pixel off on that little mission. As I'll kind of approach and just like, wait, for you to approach. You okay, buddy? I just saw a ghost. What do you mean, Pike? Did you see the look? There's Tycho Stilts. No. He's talking to Rex and... The woman. What about the woman? It's her. Who? Ophelia. Ophelia. I didn't know if she was alive or dead. That was her? I'm certain of it. There's no way, Pike, the odds of that. She's...that was her? I know, I know. As unlikely as it seems, it... You never told me your name was Ophelia. That...the one that was with Rex Maxim. That was your co-worker? She didn't recognize me at all. Are you sure you're not just... Seeing things? I mean, you're a little shaken up, right? You've been having the dreams. She happens to be a Gorgonite. A beautiful, voluptuous Gorgonite. Maybe there's a lot of parallels and you're just... Right, I'm certain that was her. Okay, Pike. Alright. Okay, I actually fucking get it. Okay, yeah. One-eyed is for fucking ten years. Okay. I mean, nice, nice. I mean, I know it's serious, but like... I kind of like push your hand away and... Okay, it's not the moment. I'm sorry. Sorry. No, I... It's complicated with those things. What? Did I not see a... Giant-ass fucking engagement ring on her finger? Yeah. Regardless, why here, why him? I told you I was having a bad feeling about all of this. But I never would have guessed that... Things would shake out like this. Is that... You wouldn't... Like, how would she have gotten mixed up with this? I mean, that means that she's mixed up with the fucking mob. If she knows anything about this, is that... I mean, you didn't tell me fucking anything in the game. None of that is her MO. Why didn't she recognize me? We looked directly at each other. I know we did. Maybe she's just playing it cool. Maybe she's... She somehow kept her composure. Or maybe she just didn't... How long was she looking at ya? Only a couple of seconds. She was on the elevator and the door shut before I could say anything. I was... Too stunned to speak. Look... Maybe somehow... Fate, or harmony, or who knows what... Knew that your paths were gonna cross again, and that's why you're getting these dreams. And maybe this is... This is fucking good luck for once. Where... Maybe her being here is another way we can get to Rex. Maybe. God! He's fucking fiance. That's... A pike. I mean, that's... That's rough, buddy. I'm sorry, man. Doesn't matter. We know what we have to do. Do you think that... And maybe there's a better explanation, D. I mean, it's been a long fucking time. You think that she actually just... Fucking forgot who you were? Co... You have no idea how much I wish that was the case. Well... This makes things a lot more fucking complicated. The job is the job. Alright. That's right. I really am gonna have to learn some fucking finesse. No, it's tough. We gotta stay focused, alright? This is just... Another... Rogue axis coming in that we need to take account of. Alright, and maybe we can spin it to our advantage. But regardless, I mean... Is there a lot of security around... Is he still there? Are we still like kind of... He's making his way to another section, but he is still... You know, it's a large main gambling room that you in, and they're moving, but they're still in the general section that you are in. Got it. I just want to make sure that I can kind of... I'm keeping an eye on him in case he decides to move or hustle somewhere else. You keep an eye on him. I mean, so they are heading towards... And you would see on the sheet that you were handed for his events, that he is most likely making his way to his bar room meet and greet with drinks and appetizers. And they're very, very possibly on their way to go do that. But they're... Who has that sheet? That's a guy's sheet. Go has that sheet. It's an appetizer. Bar room meet and greet at the 7th Heaven Bar. And they're definitely walking to something. They've not yet left the room that you're in. Are you okay? Can you do this? I can do this. All right, because if you need to take this one off and you just relax in the rhapsody, no hard feelings, all right? We can handle this. Red, I'm not going to miss my mark. He's a professional. All right. Like, you can do this and if you need someone to kick Rex's ass but like not having to look bad for you, I'll fucking do it. I'll... You know if given the chance, I'm not passing that opportunity off. Yeah, so you fucking let me know, buddy. I'll kick his ass. Let's just keep a low profile for now and see if we can get close to the guy. Well, maybe this meet and greet with cocktails and appetizers is the opportunity. Yeah. Does it look like it's got an exclusive like a VIP list or anything? Or is it just open? It looks like it's an open event. Then you'd be able to go to... Oh, it's open. I was like blurry, blurry, blurry, blurry, blurry. Hold on, I'm going to get out of like selfie stick and just like extend it. I want to get a photo of the guy and maybe a selfie and maybe I can sneak up to him. Okay. He's going to be expecting people to see him. He doesn't know you. Yeah, I can get close to him. And I can find out what his jacket feels like. Maybe I can put my fingers in his mouth. Yeah. I don't think that's true. Well, I mean, while we're here, do you think that he might be doing autographs here too? I mean, just like while we're here. I think that's a perfect idea. Yeah, it's a good cover. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hold on, hold on. I've got the perfect thing. I've got the perfect thing. Whatever we decide to do, Rhett and I shouldn't get too close initially. Okay, I'm going to keep an eye out for Pixel because if she actually ran into some fucking red belts and decided to take matters into her own hands, we may have a problem. I'm going to make sure she's not getting kidnapped or chained up or pregnant. Yeah, we're pregnant. Fuck. Oh, no! I'll look up terror. I'm going to watch the primal terror. Is it that moment Pixel returns? I was not looking for red belts. Pixel looked for red belts for like two minutes and then met someone and started talking and then she ended up at the bar surrounded by people and they were all just doing lines of glimmer. Great guy. Okay. Okay, yep. And with that you return. Yeah. Yeah. Pixel, what's the report? On what? On your special mission. I... Um... Affirmative. Really? How many? Okay, I gotta be honest here. About six. Six? Point them out. Why, darling? I already bit them. You did? Yeah. How? Where? I know! You see that? What? You see that group of people by the... You're the enemy! The big stoves are the fucking coot here to scum of the earth! You see the group of people? They're the bad guys! The group of people by the bar? Yeah, those guys. In the middle of them. Just one after another. I mean like the group that's clearly like the boys' trip where they're like a bunch of mid-level managers and saying this casino can't handle us right. Yeah, the one in the blue is Chad and the next one you have Ted. Seventh Heaven isn't right in front of us. And then there's Anthony. There's Anthony, but he prefers to go by Ferney because it's just different, you know? Last night was like a movie, bro. All of those fucking finance bros are red bells and you did them all? What? No! I did six lines of glimmer at the bar with Ferney and Chad and Ted. Bob's over there somewhere. Do you remember what I asked you to do? You said... You did great. You're doing awesome, Pix. Thanks. Okay, just keep being... Stay with Ziggy. Keep an eye on him. Make sure he doesn't get in a trouble. Well, I think that's the bar where he's going to do his meet-and-greet. Oh, yeah! So Ferney and Tony were all planning on going to that meet-and-greet and I said, oh, we're not interested and so then I came back here. Well, now we're interested. Okay, now we're interested. Yeah, yeah. Okay. So no red bells. Oh, and I didn't see anyone with any red bells. Okay, good, good. Yeah, but would a red scarf or a red tie or red socks? Maybe. I didn't see anyone with those either. Okay, well... I just wanted you to know I did my job before I did some glimmer. Mission accomplished. Good job. Bounty hunted gold star. Thank you. Birthday's so hot. All right, let's get in position. All right. To the appetizers. To the appetizers. You're going to be okay, man. Are you sure? I'm keeping it together. Okay, just like... get a couple drinks. That'll be good. I don't know. I've got to stick sharp for now. All right. The Indigo tab is open. Noted. We go to the appetizers. Oh, yeah, Ziggy's already at the appetizers. They've got turkey roll-ups. I hate that. I've got a mini key. There's pigs in a blanket. Oh, mushrooms. Yes, you go to the drinks and appetizers. And Rex, as he moves into this next area, he is flanked by two extremely large goons that currently have their backstores you, but they all go in. And as you make your way, this is like a sectioned off more private bar. Just that it's not behind any closed doors or locked. There's no real VIP stanchions sectioning it off. But it's certainly like a different purposeful section. This is a fan meetup. It's a meet and greet. It's drinks. It's appetizers, turkey roll-ups, pigs in a blanket. Whatever you could possibly want beyond just those two things. There are the, on the wall, neon martini glass moves back and forth as liquid swills within it. As you enter the room, there are a lot of people in here. And you see Rex in the center of this crowd drink in hand in Omni Slosh. As the high ball glass moves back and forth as he is laughing and talking and meeting people, signing things. As you make your way in, you do see that the goons now that surround him, each has a pocket square. And the pocket squares are red. Yes! I don't want to have a foamyah, but I did my job and I saw something. Yeah, I never would have noticed that. Great job, Pigs. Look. Yeah, he's mixed up and he's fucked. That guy is fucked. Are we gonna... Well, we gotta wait to see what Pike and Rhett say. Cause I could... We're shadowing, we're shadowing. They're the professionals. I could, I could sidle in here. Watch, watch and learn, watch and learn. It's been a couple of weeks since I killed anyone. Hey, Pike, they got those little mini chicken skewers, you like. Over here. Should I bring you some? Yeah, sure. Thanks Rhett. I'm gonna see if I can get close to him. I'm gonna see if I can talk to him. I'm gonna see if I can get an autograph. Alright, I mean... I'm gonna walk right up to him and I'm gonna... Ooh, tomato soup with tiny little pieces. It's so cute! Here. Thanks. It's at this moment, you're here. And now, selecting two random fans for a photo of... Oh! ...Lexum! Spotlights swirl around the room as these lights turn on from the very top. He's sitting there, as the lights dance around. I cracked your glow sticks. They swirl around your Ziggy for a moment. You're awfully quiet. What does Ziggy do? Around the pixel, the light shining people, they're illuminating faces. Me! Me! And then they come to arrest... On pike and rats. As you are illuminating. No! Make boogie! No! Brilliantly visibly sighed for a photo of where the Rex Maxim. Oh, my lucky fans! Yes, I'm up! Wait just one second. Is that season 5 episode 13, Bounty Hunter Bumble? Yes! Oh! I never forget a face. I put my hand kind of around my... Rex Maxim, real space cowboy. I never forget... It's Jake and Schlumbo, right? Oh! Boys, come on in for a photo. There are only two rules. I stand in the middle... Don't put your fingers in my mouth. Come on in! Somebody snap us! Guys, tuck in. I love that Rex is just canonically Andi inside. That's not true. I suppose it's the only thing you've ever said in there. That's the meanest thing you've ever said. That is funny. That is funny. What do we do? I would just look at you like... Do you think I'm Schlumbo or do you think you're Schlumbo? Does it actually matter? I get this over with. I take my drink... I don't even leave it. I just take my whole drink up there with me. I grabbed an omni slush at the bar just because I wanted to, you know, win in Rome and all that. Smile for the camera! Rex, it's been... It's been a while. How you been? My expression never changes. I'm just standing there with these... Oh, man! Can you stop moving for just... Pretty good angle. For one minute, just stop moving. Okay. Awesome. The name's not Schlumbo, by the way. Oh! Oh, I couldn't possibly... I have not forgotten your name! Well, it's Hedge. No, it's... Ronaldo. I'll give you one more try. Oh, I know it. Oh, it'll come to me. Uh... You look like a Luke. Not even close. Well, actually, that's a little close. That's closer than I would have guessed. Luke and Desby! I'd never forget a face. Desby's not even close. Season five of episode 13, though, right? Bumbling bounty hunters. Ziggy, is that right? That's the one! Do we mod... Do you modify... Bounty hunter bungles. Oh! I don't remember. Our friend over. He's a huge fan. Ah, I suppose so. Why wouldn't he be? He would much rather be standing on this stage than the two of us. Oh, don't be nervous, Pike. Oh, he remembered now. Don't say that canonically. He remembered. They always remember. Luke, it's okay. Don't be nervous. He can read kind of his own fucking words. He's on the evidence. I'm so powerful. That didn't happen. Alright, look. No, it's Rhett and Pike. Yeah. Season five episode 13. No, that wasn't it. Alright. Look, he's trying. How you been? Are you still doing any bounty hunting? Oh, you know me. The hunting never stops and the bounties keep on coming. Bring your friend over we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we we That's total me. I don't know how to feel about that. Look, I don't know how to feel. Can I feel your jacket? My heart is racing like a maximum racer. My own bird at the work races, if I'm not. I just want to touch some of the frills. Come on. Just watch those fingers. Wow. Yes. Real space cow. Genuine real space cow. Just like a genuine real space cowboy would wear. How do you feel about the rhinestones? I mean, I, I, I, I, I, there, there, there. Yeah, I, there, there, there, there, there, there. Really, I, I mean, just, just, I, I, I can't even. They're really cool. What did you say your name was? I was just, Ziggy. Ziggy? Yeah, Ziggy, that's right, that's right. I think you need to book it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, can I, can I, can I, can I, can I get a, can I get a selfie? Okay. I, I, I can take the phone in and out, it's fine. That's, that's fine. Oh, that's really good. Thank you. If, if my light, my light is, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's just, you guys, what's those? Yeah, I just feel, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I just feel, it's like a perfect photo. Yeah, yeah, it's perfect. Yeah. Oh, thank you so much. I, I, I have something for you. Uh, uh, this, this is, um, uh, let me just make sure that I get the name right. I wrote it down in one moment. This is a very special, uh, Marshall, the scattering card. This is Rex Maxim star Marshall. It's the Luster Ultra Flash, ultra rare. And I, I, I, I, I was gonna have you sign it, but I want you to have it. Dig me. I couldn't possibly take this from you. That was pretty close. It's far too valuable. It's worth thousands of notes, but I have to, I want, I, I, I, the only predated of these. And I, I, I know the other seven were destroyed. This is the last one. I got it from a thruster pack, my very own self. Rigby. Very funny. I could give you 1000 guesses and you would never figure out what this means to me. Thank you. I am going to treasure this in a way like no other. Here. So kind. Look at this handsome fella. fades fades fades fades fades fades fades fades fades fades fades fades fades fades fades fades fades fades fades fades fades some time Rex it's been a while. Oh it sure has been a while. I know you got some obligations you got more fans to see I think I see two ladies over there that are big fans too I don't want to keep you tied up too much just get over here and I'll weave them in. Well I wouldn't want to disappoint my fans and your names? This is Co. Yeah I'm Co. Co striking. I'm never gonna wash this hand. Don't worry she doesn't anyway. I could. I know that you have scheduled autographs that's and I know that the the going rate is at a minimum 15 of autographs unless I want to note that it's 200 but I brought my my low-fat uh Rex Max of Real Space Cowboy Real Space Girl. This is a scathing indictment of the concy. Would you mind signing it? It really meant a lot to someone that I lost recently that I think it would just mean it would be it would mean a lot if you would sign it. Oh Co. For that this is a real Rex fact I cook on one of those every single morning. Oh just like the commercials. Oh there you go. What an ass face. Thank you thank you so much. Okay here's the notes like no no I couldn't possibly oh okay no no no I couldn't possibly for 15 I mean 10. Okay 10 okay yeah yeah okay yeah okay I'm sorry I'm sorry. Yes Pixel what are you loving what have your hand up for uh oh I'm sorry I didn't see you down there. So I have this I have this um full body pillow of you from Seth Maxim and I was wondering if you would sign the butt cheek. The sex maximum yeah you know that was really me. I had a feeling. Most people did most people did yeah a lot of stars they use a body double not me that was full frontal baby. Four or five times. Not a six or seven by some counts but seven is my lucky number. If you push a button it has an erection. He has dotted at the spences in the mall. Yeah I'll sign this I'll sign this that'll be 15 notes. While all this is happening I'm intently studying this guy now that we're up close how does he look. I'd say roll an investigation check at advantage you've had some moments now you're really intently studying um and when you say how he looks I I give me a sense of kind of like what you're thinking maybe what you're looking for maybe. Yeah what I'm looking for is he's obviously somebody who is a public figure he's obviously put together but knowing what I now know about him I'm looking to see if there's cracks in the veneer I'm looking to see if he's as I don't know put together as he wants to be and with that I got a 16. With a 16 uh if there's one thing that Rex is an absolute professional it's acting um it is very difficult as you look at him to get a sense of him beyond how he portrays himself. Sure. Um and I'd say that's what you're able to glean for now. Okay I'm just watching just taking this all in I can't believe my eyes I'm watching everybody stumble over themselves. Disgraceful. Rex an episode 17 of Alien Wrangler when your stitching of your hat changed between scenes was that a continuity error or was that one of those uh uh wasn't meant to symbolize your experience right after the incident. Oh Zaxby I would love to answer that for you but what was that? Oh oh yeah oh I have to go. No wait wait wait hold on I can't possibly look another photo. I think we could have a real opportunity for you a business opportunity if you're interested Rex uh I know we go way back you know the whole bounty hunt thing I think we have a pretty uh strong lead on something that I think you want a piece of. Oh well I I should probably never turn down an opportunity to talk business uh is that moment the the goons that are flanking him the the red pocket squares um will extremely gruffly. That's enough time with Mr. Maxim. Uh oh oh Ah right door friends well. You're here all week. We'll mind you not worry about it. Maybe uh yeah it's right in pike. Yes glumbo in lino. Oh hell. Ha ha. Chose those photos and you I will never forget what you gave me. Thank you. I'm gonna cherish it. I hope you treasure it. I'm gonna treasure it yeah forever. Okay see you later everybody. Don't forget have a maximum day. Let's boogie. Let's boogie. Let's boogie. Yeah. And the goons begin to kind of like almost roughly um and I would say pike with it with a 16 as your your investigation um that interaction uh feels more gruff than you would expect normal bodyguards to the stars to to feel. This is very much like they're shuffling him away um almost as if they're in charge of the movement. Got it. Whoa what do you guys think I couldn't tell what the boots on 5 10 5 11. I mean it's really I I mean I guess the energy when you meet him he seems a lot taller. Yeah yeah yeah well I mean and here's the thing right even if you look at the boots sometimes like you know it's hidden and actually he's on like one of these platform things so I don't know. 5 8. That's possible. My hand is so greasy with his lip gloss. Oh what does it smell like smells of tangerine. That's cannon now. Does anyone want this body pillow I just stole it off of someone in the crowd. Give that back to whoever it was. I can't find them. Oh man. Tony. Oh we still finance bro. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah steal it. Yeah fuck him. Yeah you can have that that's a collectible. Do you think it would sound for more than the 15 notes that I paid for it? You paid the 15. What for the signature yeah on the butt cheek. Oh no yeah no no no no no no that's a sign you could probably sell it for something. Especially if he's gone. The prices will go up so much more after he disappears. Are we gonna do the pregnant thing? No no I mean I either. What are you buying I'm talking about plan A. Or am I talking about plan C. I think that was like plan D. Plan D. That was plan Zeta. It depends on what letter you want to correspond with which plan. Huh. I can't believe he signed my rex max on real space cowboy real space low fat grill. I should have asked him for an autograph but I had to give him the card. Do you want this pillow? No. No. No. No I mean the button still works. Let's. Chance like demonic and like down pitched. Oh no. Oh no. I mean it's already out of his packaging. I you keep it. You keep it. I'll kind of as I look at rex being escorted away by the thugs I'll say like I mean this is this is real syndicate stuff. Yeah. So he's in D. This is gonna be. He's fucked. He's completely fucked. Just gotta find a way to get him alone. I gotta think if we can he might jump at the chance to get out. You think so? He puts on a show but anybody in his position would be desperate. You're right. I mean that that was that was your guys playing right just to like try to ask him it's kind of easy. I mean those goons was practically manhandling him. Yeah. The question is does he fucking does he want to leave? Here's the thing if he if he's not scared shitless I don't think anything we say is gonna fucking encourage him or convince him. I don't think that's necessarily true. I mean not too dissimilar from what I was going through. You know and you you were able to convince me to get out of a bad situation. Yeah it was possible. Pix proved it. Either way he's certainly not gonna tell us how he's really feeling in front of anybody else. And you know he's got a beautiful young I'm sorry beautiful young fiance I mean sorry but like wouldn't he want to get her out of that life if he's gonna be newlywed? Well look as much as I shudder to offer him room on the Rhapsody what do we do about Ophelia? We could give him the slime room. Well I mean things will be weird with slime with Pike. I mean we can't just have her on board with Rex. Let's cross that bridge when we get there. All right all right have you not seen her since who? Like in 10 years? Yeah I lost the plot I'm with Pixel here. What are you talking about? It's been a very long time I'll explain as we find our rooms. Yeah let's get a look at these. I got us a suite and the bag should hopefully already be here. What kind of suites? Like a like a you know normal kind. Like a room at the Golden Gap. Yeah yeah I was hoping for a suit by the foot. Well we could we could order whatever you need. I mean I'm sure they have room service. Like a lollipop or something. You don't have anything they just have more turkey rollups. I should have had him also sign the drip tray oh well. We're all weak. Let's go to the room and you should I mean I don't want to pry Pike but like I feel like you gotta let Pix and Zigz in. I'll explain it all. All right let me close out the tab. Anyone one last drink? Sure yeah take a roadie. None for me. I'll get whoever wants a drink one final drink we'll close it out and we'll take our drinks up to the suite. You do so drinks in hand you make your way to the elevators you've been directed towards where your suite is and that's what you've been able to secure. You ride the elevator up and it's almost similar to the the Golden God where it's in this glass as you walk in it's in this glass case and as you rise up it allows you to look over the expanse of this beautifully lavish casino as these other areas extend out in different directions for the restaurants the shopping you see the absolute hum of life and activity as every section is alive with with movement with moments with winning with excitement. It's impossible to tell at this point you don't feel like you've been here that long but it's something about the the experience the excitement it's impossible to tell exactly how much time has gone by as you've you've enjoyed your drinks you've met racks and you arise towards your floor. What I would tell the group as well about Ophelia is I would tell them her name I would tell them that we worked together I would not explain the nature of the work. I'm sure that Coe would be trying to butt in and say that you know there's something deeper there right and anytime that you would make like a jab about some sort of a past relationship Pike would be very vague about it he wouldn't indulge Coe in it he'd be being you know a bit aloof about the whole situation and just explain that this is somebody that I used to work with and that I wasn't even sure if they were alive or dead which is why I was so stunned to see them in this scenario. I mean could this be like the real housewives of the outer rim and maybe it's a twin or something it might not even be her and she didn't recognize you at all. We'll say that the elevator has gotten to the the sweet level you've made your way in this beautiful expansive room opens up in front of you once again with the glass that lines the wall but this time looking out into the majesty of the galaxy that spreads out around this oveolar space station you see all sorts of creatures fly by a gorgeous long massive not gray but this kind of like off-navy six tendrils extend from the the the edges of its face it's body long as its tail smashes in an ether whale swims by the the glass as you settle in to your luxury suite for your stay and you may converse. I don't have an explanation Vixel I just know it was her because he had that really deep connection. Yeah hung up for 10 years I mean I can't really blame him I mean I I mean when someone did not give you that mom it's hard to let go yeah it's hard it's hard to let go I get it the past is the past and it's it it stays it stays it's like a fucking barnacle it's hard to scrape off yeah we'll get to the bottom of it Are you okay? I'm fine. Are you gonna try and talk to her? I just can't shake the feeling that something is off. Do you think that she could be a an in? It's certainly possible but maybe I shouldn't be the one to initiate that Well if he's done with events for the night then I guess we can just relax here for the evening we can discuss any more plans we have to and get an early night I think we both need some sleep I can try I guess I think maybe tomorrow we can do some gambling Yeah we didn't get a chance to play any games We'll have a chance Wow I mean now that there's all these fucking red belt goons all over the fucking casino and who knows there might be more coming by by the day it's not like we can just go out and just pretend like no one's watching us. No that's true. I mean there's already fucking casino security Yeah and then the spotlights that were on the two of you everyone was looking at you because they now know that you're the guys from the show but the least suspicious thing we can do is enjoy the casino like it's a casino right? Yeah and gamble. Ziggy's right we're just here for the show That was really nice of you giving him that card. It really was it was so nice of you. Well I mean I didn't want to bring it up in case he made me maybe upset but I may have a card. I may have bugged the card that I gave if the GM won't allow it and he'll let you say whatever you want and if he doesn't say no it's it's canon now. I'll sit down and it's just a 12-inch cock and then I'll pull up the terminal and start to connect to the bug that I put in the card right? You did this at the table in the rhapsody? Absolutely. I would have said I would say that once I had an idea that we were going to meet Rex and I had this rare card I would have gone back and I would have scanned it with the hyper grid and in the same way that I bugged Pixel's business I would try to listen in if I can. You may. You may. Ziggy you can't bug everybody I mean you can't just rely on only that. Actually he can and you should keep doing that. I will I will it's it's it's it's one of my best tricks. Can I have one of the cards? Yeah absolutely which one do you want? That one that you keep in that gold case. The gold case. But that's it's come on Ziggy what are you waiting for I'm just gonna grab it. Just let her look at it you nerd. All right all right it's just that that's that's very rare. Fucking I don't know. If you write this on here only one ever made in the whole world? Yeah it's the 30 minutes after tomorrow card it's very special. It's the most powerful card in the game. I'll keep it very safe. Thank you please do. I'm gonna put it in my fanny pack. Worth a lot of money as long as it's undamaged. Mint conditioned. All right I'm going to take my headphones out and you can still hear that I've just been letting the music play so like I have to pause the music but before I do it's like... All right let's see if I can tune in on this hard thing here and see if I can listen in on what Rex is up to right this very second in real time right now. I will say what you get you have you've basically been fed a strip of audio from it and I'll say you'll start from the beginning and or like you know you'll click in and it's it's not you know yeah you're listening and just for the sake of sharing it I'll say you can play it. I'll hit it on speaker. I'll pull the headphones off now that I've confirmed the audio is... And then I yeah I turned that off. Sorry sorry sorry and I will play the audio recording so that we can get a sense of what Rex did after I handed him the card. Okay here we go. You hear the following. Oh thank you yes here you are. Oh of course how silly of me. Never forget to turn your good side to the camera and you'll never take a bad photo. All right see you next time. I just can't believe this guy has so much trash already. All right well down the chute it goes. What what what what's that? Down the chute. No no no no. Warning warning warning. Do you hear the chute? Is that a trash compactor? I think it's a trash compactor. Yeah it's not like a trash compactor. Does that sound like the gas is turning on for an incinerator? Yeah. Total shit total sitting. The rest of the audio is just I think the destroyed card floating out in the space. Was I the ether whale? Well it was a good try. Good try Ziggy. Who immediately takes a gift from their fans and throws it in the trash? Yeah that's horse shit. This guy sucks worse than we thought. What a fucking jackass. That was a really thoughtful gift. It wasn't that the only one that existed. It wasn't one of eight. No one knows where the other seven are. I had the only one. It's rotten. Well. Well Ziggy are you okay? I'm fine. Never meet your heroes I guess. That's that's that's rough buddy. That's that's rough. That's rough. Next time just bug a different car. Do you want a cryptid energy? Okay. I'll grab one out of the cooler. That's very funny. Well I'm a lot of bike kids I don't know what to tell you. The bugging trick's all I got. Well look why don't we stick to the plan? Mesa's fucking ready for that. Yeah I think you might have been. Gotta come up with some new trick zig. All right all right I'll take hard. I'll take hard. I think we get some sleep. And I think we wake up we keep an eye on his itinerary. And we just try to intercept him and try to convince him to have a meet. Okay we need some buildings to have a fucking accident. I guess his fucking camera's all over this place. We could also move on to plan D and just. No no no one's killing anyone right now all right. No we need the dawn. That's why we're here. Oh. Rex is gonna get us to the dawn. Bounty hunting's so hard. It's a learning curve that's for sure. Well. It was so much easier when I just did drugs and performed. This is a better life right? Yeah really is. It doesn't really have all the shopping. Are they adoring fans or the luxury or the money? Well life's not really about that you know. No. No it's not. But that life didn't have you guys. I've been living on the streets my entire life. I've lived in several dumpsters. It's not so bad. I sleep in the slime room. Yeah we should check out that closet. There definitely shouldn't be slimes up there in slime. Yeah I think I was walking by your room when you were there and I heard McClunky a couple of times. I had things to say here. That's where that noise is coming from. Yeah I don't know. Well I guess we should get some sleep huh? Yeah I'm gonna go lay down. Ziggy I'm sorry about your stupid electronic monster card or whatever happens. It's a real loss but it's only. I look down. I'm looking down. I'm still talking to myself. It's only a thing you know. What you're going through is so much harder and if you really want to I'll give you my copy of playing the game. We're all gone. It's a book about it's a book about well playing the game it's a book about women and how to get over it. I want you to have this Pike. I want you to have it. The subtitle is how to manipulate emotionally available women and temporarily satisfy your unresolved feelings about your mother. The forward is by Rex Maxim. I think I really did. I think you really gotta like it. The card is just a card but the wisdom in here that that can get you through guys. You're snoring through the room. I uh I see that everyone's gone. I started playing Starfield Valley and I'm currently never throw out a gift from Ziggy. I've come to find you. You all you all find rooms. You have the sweetest massive. Rhett has really gone to no expense. You all find your rooms and you begin to settle for the night. Each one of you has your own space and you think about what's to come and you think about what's to come next. You think about Rex. How you're gonna get him. What the new plan is until eventually for the evening you fall asleep. Again you dream. All you see is light. Those eyes. You know those eyes. How could you have possibly forgotten those eyes? The light is garish. It shrinks into a single moat. A single eye. A star at its center. Two stars rising above it. It gazes at the constellations. It peers beyond them. All you've ever wanted is to catch it to gaze. And you had it for a time. Familiar voices crackle in your ear. Confused. Uncertain. Afraid. Your scanner searches for the blip of warmth you've come to rely on. It never finds it. The smell of runoff, smog, and acrid chemicals will never leave your nostrils. The sound of panic shouting begging for salvation. And the absence of a decision will never leave your ears. The sight of the chaotic eruptions of cyan, magenta, yellow, and countless other vibrant colors will never leave your eyes. You may not remember but it still lingers. Moments of your life play in static. Like an after-image of everything you've ever experienced. The light is agonizing. It fills your sight once more. Is it starlight? No. Starlight wouldn't be this painful. Your universe turns to blinding white light. White. And you hear a sad voice. Ophelia. Ophelia. Ophelia. Ophelia. Ophelia. Ophelia, wake up! You're having another nightmare. Wake up, sleepyhead. Rex. I-I was dreaming. Ophelia. I think it was a dream. Your fiancé sits on the hotel bed next to you. With his hand on your shoulder. Rex Maxim looks down at you with a stupid grin. Yes, just a dream. But don't worry about that. I ordered you room service. Nothing you love more in the morning than breakfast in bed. Let me grab it. It's at the door. I'll be right back. He walks to the door momentarily. You hear ahhh. As it opens. Yeah, yeah, right in here. Oh, what's that? Oh, of course. Don't forget to move your hips when you're dancing. And he shuts the door. He'll wheel a cart back in, like a traditional. Golden tray. An extremely lavish breakfast laid out in front of you. Any and all of your favorites. Exotic fruits. Delicious morsels of food to enjoy in your morning. You barely register what he's saying to you. As your fragmented memories lost for who knows how long. Start to reassemble in your mind. I'll be sitting up in bed now. She kind of draped over me. Rubbing at my temple and just trying to get my bearings back. As I look around this room. Rex, breakfast in bed. You shouldn't have. Oh, for you, of course. Of course. You know there's nothing I love more than spoiling my queen of hearts. I'm kind of half listening. Yes, yes, queen. A dream. God. No, another nightmare. It was worse than normal. You know what these do to me, darling. So no chance of any morning fun. I said I have a headache. Oh, of course. No, I know. Maybe later though. Who knows? Who knows what the king of hearts enjoys more than the king of hearts himself after all. Would you pass me that candle there? You know I like to romance myself. Of course. Thank you. Pass it over. I'll be right back. Enjoy breakfast, okay? You sit there on the bed enjoying breakfast for a respectable amount of time. I refuse to define the minutes. Until Rex comes back from the bathroom. And how's breakfast? Oh, it's delicious. Everything's wonderful. You can see that nothing is touched except for a glass of mimosa with a couple berries in it. Oh, excellent. Well, I'm glad you're enjoying yourself. Not myself. I'm glad you're enjoying yourself. I'm glad you're enjoying yourself. I'm glad you're enjoying yourself. I'm glad you're enjoying yourself. You know, might be several more moments like this throughout the week here. I'm gonna be pretty busy with my big special tour. Rex Maxim's Real Space Cowboy Smiling Lady Luccasino Tour. Yes, the tour. I'm familiar with the tour, dear. Why wouldn't you be? Of course, that's why we're here. So you'll be busy. That's a shame. Oh, darling, please. Oh, darling, please. Don't be so down. I'm sure I'll find something to keep myself busy. Well, you know, Nido will be here. Oh. I'd love to introduce you. You know, the big health conferences in town. And he's a keynote speaker, of course. I can't wait to show you off. You? Well, who wouldn't want to show you off? I mean, look at you. You're like the horizon, the sun chasing away the night. Stop. Really? Well, I could probably arrange a meeting with Nido, of course. But, you know, some of the other stuff, the events, I think they might all be booked. I'm pretty sure. You know how hard it is. I'm sure you want to get in. But I don't know that I might not be able to get in. That's all right. Oh. That's okay. Well, I mean, I can try. I have strings, of course. No, no, no, dear. I insist. Well, okay. How about, uh, I don't know when they're coming in, but I'm, I'm likely to believe that it's soon. Uh, get ready with me. Have we left enough time, dear? Well, uh, you're right. We should hurry. I take quite a while. You said it, not me. Let's go. To the bathroom. Watch your step. Um, you, you enter the bathroom. And then to, uh, get ready together, you have a very, uh, beautiful, reasonable clutch. You open, you take out whatever, uh, whatever makeup you'd like to kind of, or whatever you would do to get ready. Couple brushes, couple brushes, whatever you would do to, uh, to start to get ready. Uh, racks, and you've seen this so many times before, racks opens what looks like, uh, the largest tackle box you've ever seen. And the entire life is this giant pink rhinestone heart sits on top. He flips it open, uh, uh, makeup extends out and up as these shelves rise from it. And they all split out almost into three tiers as he just starts grabbing it things and painting it on his cheek. And doing it. Rexie, did you take my mascara again? I, no, of course not. I have my own. Oh. Well. There's two. One of those is mine. I told you to stay out of my bag. I, you just have a superior color. You know, I like to, to let my lashes pop. If you won't share with me, I won't share with you, dear. Okay, well fine. You can have it back, I guess. So I'll be, you know, crimping in there a little bit and putting my lipstick on. The, uh, the orange lip gloss, uh, the, the, uh, you know, smells of the equivalent of Florida, uh, wraps around the edges of his, uh, lips as, as he applies it. As you go, you lean into the mirror and as you go, you're, you're applying your mascara. Um, something about your, your eyes as you catch like your own reflection as it bounces back at you. Um, you think of the salari that you saw as the elevator doors closed, then you realize that you remember those eyes. Suddenly you are wracked with pain as an agonizing headache overcomes you and the memories flood back after evading you for a decade. You remember the society. You remember your mother. You remember your missions. You remember the life that you lost. You remember Pike. You're not sure if you remember everything, but you finally start remembering all at once. The agony is terrible. Oh, nothing on your headaches. Oh, God. It's terrible. Oh, goodness. I need something. Give me something to drink, please. Of course. What can I get? What? What can I get you? There, the bottle on the counter. The champagne. Give that to me. Okay. And I'll just, I won't even bother with the glass. I'll just slug straight out of the champagne bottle. Isn't it, uh, sort of not a little early? Darling, I'm in pain. We're in a casino after all. Isn't that what you're supposed to do here? You're right. Of course you're right. I hate to see you like this. The headaches. I know they, they draw on you. The taxing. Yes, they do, darling. Oh, I'm so lucky to have you here with me. Oh, I'm the lucky one. Let's get you out of this stuffy room. I'm sure this doesn't help. Yes, some air. That'll be just the thing I need, I'm sure. The two of you will finish getting ready. You'll, you'll sort out, you'll, you take a drink as the, the memories. You see the, the elevator, the opening, you look out, pike is standing there. You lock eyes, you see it reverberating in your mind. These, these memories rattling a headache that just won't quit. The champagne begins to dull it as you finish getting ready and you in recs make your way out of your, your own room. You make your ways to the elevator and you head down and you step out onto the casino floor similar to the, to the space you came in at exactly where you would have been on the elevator when you first got on. You and Rex walk through the casino halls and come face to face with an impressive entourage that can only belong to Nido and a natural control toe. Both middle-aged humans. The Don is a tall man with a receding widow's peak streaked with gray, a misty slick black hair. He wears an elaborate black suit with a tall collar that wraps around his neck. A half-cape hangs off one shoulder, the inside of which is a bright red, as is the elaborate ruffled silk that shuffles out of his breast pocket. His wife wears a sleek silver gown that ruffles around her hips, a pale half-cape hanging down her back. She is covered head to toe in jewelry with chains of shimmering teal metal draping across her chest. Between the couple strides a huge feline creature that is nearly as tall as its owner at the shoulder. Its fur is a bright red with dark, modeled spots. A strange pattern of crystalline gem seemed to grow atop its head and its long tail is tipped with what looks like a gleaming blade. It has long, tall ears and equally long, saber-like fangs that extend past its lower jaw. The trio is flanked by eight well-dressed guards, each one wearing a full, striking red suit. Oh, the Don, the Don and Anultra, please let me introduce you. Yes, yes, of course, the Don. Anultra, Nido! As he greets him in that format, there is a palpable tension that strikes the room. Everyone looks at Rex. The Don, most of all, but not with daggers, he just stares at him, waiting. Don Contralto? Please, this is Ophelia, my fiancee! I'll extend my hand out to him. Ophelia. Pleasure to meet you. Pleasure is all mine, Don. I've heard so much of you. And I, you? You enjoying your stay here? Of course. Southern Heaven is gorgeous. Lavish, what's not to love? Oh, as are you, darling. I love your outfit, Anultra begins to address you. Especially those earrings. So chic. I think my grandmother had the same pair. Oh, yes, well. Nothing's better than a classic, you know. That does seem to be your stance. Rex. I'll give her the kind of ones up and down, but mostly hold my tongue. We have business to discuss, Rex, you and I. Oh, yes, of course, of course. Yes, the show, the exposé, the dinner. Your afternoon is booked. We should carry forward. I'm sure your fiancee can make do on her own. Oh, of course. I'll be just fine. And has to get used to something like this being with Rex. Oh, you are. Yeah, of course. Ophelia, you know what to do. You can, I'm sure, have fun on your own. I'll just go with the Don, of course, Don Contralto and your lovely wife. I'm sure we can find some way to pass the time. As he looks, he shoots kind of like a quick glance towards Anultra with a curved smile as he almost takes like, he lowers himself almost in a bow, but not quite. As he gestures, he'll catch a glimpse towards her and you'll see the briefest curl at the side of her mouth as she smiles back. The creature, this feline creature in between them, a low purr escapes past its knife-like saber fangs. And I see this kind of moment pass with her smiling. I would say so. Okay. It's hard to miss from your vantage point. Okay. Okay. I'll kind of step up to Rex and put my hands on his lapel and sort of press up into him being a very voluptuous woman and just kiss him kind of on the cheek and I'll find something to get up to, I'm sure. You do so and as you lay your lips on his cheek and you pull away, you can almost feel the temperature as the look of Anultra is now giving you as you move off of him in space, total daggers as you step away. Yeah. Oh, I feel you have fun. I'm sure you'll find something to do. There's so much here to enjoy and I will come find you later after I've entertained the Don and his wife, of course. I will kind of, even as he's talking, turn and start walking away and I'll just give kind of one of these and swish my hips and make my way out. Okay. Bye. And you'll hear as they start to walk away and the guards are following them, you'll hear. And so I thought it was a tiger. Only 37 seconds. I realized in fact it was a pig in a costume as they will then go out of your shot. You make your way through the floor of the casino as you're walking around this familiar sense of bells, lights, the flashing, the ringing, always sounding like someone it has just one huge. And you start to kind of like look around and scan and see what are you going to do? How are you going to pass the time now that you find yourself on your own? I think I would start by stepping up to a bar, getting myself a cocktail to walk around with. And I'd kind of want to survey all of the table games and just get a sense for the types of people that are in the room playing, who's winning, who's losing. But essentially I'd be, you know, not getting right in the action. I'd be kind of surveying like from the outskirts. Roll an investigation check, followed by a perception check. Oh my gosh, it's the first time I've rolled in a really long time. Oh, let's see. Investigation. 8 plus 6. Hmm, 24. I'm sorry, 18 plus 6. Oh, with a 24, you go to the bar, you get your drink, they top off a glass of champagne for you, and you're walking around and taking a couple sips. You're sticking out the games. They have all manner of games of chance that you can play that you've become accustomed to. Everything stretches out in front of you. And you start to pay kind of like close attention to the people who are gambling, their habits, their movements as they're kind of shuffling back and forth from places. And not even just that, but also how employees of the casino are operating. And I would say with 24, you glean a large amount of information from your walk throughout the floor and your perception check. Oh, sorry. 5. You are moving around, you're so focused on kind of studying the layout in front of you, that it takes a minute as you're looking around before you see it. And you're scanning, you're scanning the crowd until you see a familiar figure. And for the second time in 10 years, you lock eyes with Pike. 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