Apocryphal Chapter - Since The Death Of God, There's Been A Vacancy Open
The moment of triumph is at hand. You have planned for this for what feels like ages. Your Facility responds to your anticipation, forests of gleaming steel and glass rising from oceans of bright emerald chemicals. The oceans churn as the great worms waiting within them stir in their slumber. The machines creak and hum, awakening only for the momentary inclination that they may be needed before returning to their dormancy. In the sky, glowing kaleidoscopic cracks like hands descending from the heavens signal the outer beings picking up on your excitement. Milling about beneath the neon lights filling the sky, the false Sweepers make their march within the new ivory forest. The only absent from the celebrations are the Horsemen, who you would not allow free so easily, and the jesters, whose powers aid you in secret even now. Besides, they're annoying. You don't want to have to deal with them right now.
Your wings flutter eagerly, their glowing patterns casting a thousand false sunrises over the field of battle. The hollow keening of your claws digging into the earth echoes through the air. In your hands, you hold the key to victory. All that's left is to claim it. No further delays. No more waiting. The time is now to reveal the full extent of your preparations.
"Four of a kind. That's my win for this round."
Across the table, WhiteNight's wings flap in frustration, sending waves of wind tearing through his own little slice of reality. The so-called Kingdom Of God is an empty void of white clouds and thorns, filled completely by the colorless radiance cast by the divine Abnormality. While you're sure the sight would be awe-inspiring to any ordinary person, a delicately-crafted beauty beyond anything man could imagine, it feels rather barren compared to the domains on either side. The austere, solemn emptiness of Silent Girl's Judgement Halls or the grim crimson skies of Apocalypse Bird's Black Forest both seem far more vibrant. Or maybe the mood is just killed by the fact that its ruler is currently pouting like Yuma when you tell her she's had too much cheesecake.
"Thou art cheaters."
You lean back in your seat, an amalgamated mass of wires and machinery that would tower over any ordinary person. For the record, you are cheating. The clowns might be annoying as hell, but scrambling space is good for stacking the deck the way you want it. The others are doing similar tricks, with only the six-winged beast playing fair. Well, as fair as he really can. "We all agreed to the rules, and decided that a certain level of cheating was unavoidable. It's not our fault you're only omnipresent instead of All-Seeing, All-Knowing, or whatever the fuck Silent's doing."
The diminutive Aleph had resigned earlier that round, allowing them to retain their mountain of chips with ease. True to their name, Silent Girl hasn't opened their mouth to do anything more than smile since the beginning of the game. That smile seemed to be pretty much plastered on, though normal tells were never going to be a factor in a game like this. All four of the Abnormalities sitting at the table had some level of enhanced observation abilities, enough that everyone could literally see the whole deck from the moment Angela dealt the first hand.
You had fully expected to be superior to your peers in that capacity, as information isn't exactly WhiteNight's domain and you're not sure to what level Apocalypse Bird actually understands what they're supposed to be doing. Their eyes might be able to see pretty much everything, but they're not good at acting in that information. Then again, you don't know what to expect from somebody whose solution to a prophecy of a monster killing everyone under their protection is to kill the people first. Not a whole lot of long-term planning going on over at that side of the table.
Silent Girl, though, you hadn't expected. She was a new Abnormality to you, one with an uncanny resemblance to your sister. The petite girl's stare is piercing in a different way than Angela's, though. She's winning this game by a lot at this point, even with your recent victory. As it turns out, a supernaturally good judge of character in combination with a detached attitude that makes emotion reading useless is enough to beat you at poker. There's always the option of just scanning through memories directly, but that's intrusive and boring. So for now, you'll take a strong second place.
"That's game anyways." you announce, pushing up from your seat with your many legs. "Silent's got a good lead and unless she screws up badly we aren't catching up in the last hand. Cheating can only do so much."
"It's only right to finish the game anyways." the Beast of the Black Forest chirps, the sound reverberating through the room at a volume that would probably rupture an ordinary person's organs. The great bird clutches their chips in a massive talon, slowly passing them from the pile in the center to your pool. The scene looks a bit comical, such a large monster scrabbling to grasp such tiny objects. It is taking a long time, though.
Your patience wearing thin after the seventh chip, you unfurl Lobotomy and wrap the thorny protrusions around the center pile, dragging the whole mass over to your side of the table. "If you say so. The kids say I need to relax more anyways."
Silent Girl nods cheerfully and enthusiastically, undeterred by the glare you shoot them. Across the table, Apocalypse Bird shakes their whole body in assent and opens a claw to await their next hand. With a resigned look, WhiteNight pulls back and returns his attention to the game. And so the battle between the mightiest of Abnormalities continues.
At least until eight. Mami has a concert that you don't want to miss.
