[There's a cake, and multiple game systems, and in and among the snacks on the table is...a running camcorder.]
[Jay would prefer not to forget this.]
[Tim arrives, blinking at the spread--it's overkill, it's weird, it's not something you just do for the guy who tried to immolate you a couple months back, the guy whose wound you split open just to get him to talk--and something jolts in Jay's chest.]
[It's only the second time Jay's seen him since the chess match, and Jay's stupid goddamn instincts keep insisting he's dead.He can't be here.]
[But the dead man said something, and Jay's supposed to respond.]
That's just, uh--
[Jay lifts the tablecloth (courtesy of Wonderland, not Jay's nonexistent party decor) and underneath, there's a grey tabby batting at Jay's shoelaces with six-fingered paws. He's small and lanky, only about a year old.]
no subject
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Jay would prefer not to forget this.][Tim arrives, blinking at the spread--it's overkill, it's weird, it's not something you just do for the guy who tried to immolate you a couple months back, the guy whose wound you split open just to get him to talk--and something jolts in Jay's chest.]
[It's only the second time Jay's seen him since the chess match, and Jay's stupid goddamn instincts keep insisting he's dead. He can't be here.]
[But the dead man said something, and Jay's supposed to respond.]
That's just, uh--
[Jay lifts the tablecloth (courtesy of Wonderland, not Jay's nonexistent party decor) and underneath, there's a grey tabby batting at Jay's shoelaces with six-fingered paws. He's small and lanky, only about a year old.]
--this asshole.