WEEK 1 CYOA: Alphinaud, Kon, Manwol, Bradley

[dormheads]

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[arcsplainist]

[ How long has passed since he awoke? Alphinaud doesn't know, but eventually he hears the faucet running faintly in the distance, and thinks maybe cold water is what he needs too. This wasn't real, this wasn't real, this wasn't real. Yet he remembers it so clearly, every moment vivid in his mind.

He gets up to his feet, despite how sick to his stomach he feels, wanders out of the room, and then realizes something. ]

Wait...

[ His stomach drops; it isn't over yet. ]

We... who is coming?

[battling]

[ He doesn't want to get up, he doesn't want to face this. He doesn't want to exit in a reality where he would dream about killing Nero and wake up happy about it.

What kinda Northern wizard would he be if he didn't face whatever the fuck is coming at them head on? It takes a moment, but he slowly gets up and leaves the room.

He'll be fine. If he can just... pretend that this was all some kind of illusion. ]

... Didn't get a name for that voice.

[lifeless]

[Manwol takes a moment to stare at the now overflowing sink, the water sloshing over the side and onto the bathroom carpet. Messy. Always messy. She can hear Chansung's voice admonishing her even now.

He's dead, but he's not. And if he's not dead, then maybe the others aren't too. She thinks about Nier's hand in hers, purses her lips. She leaves the bathroom and slams her bedroom door open, not caring if it nicks the now dingy looking wallpaper of this place that's not their home.]

Whoever it is, we'll meet them soon enough.

[she says tersely, eyes instinctively flicking towards Kon's bedroom -- not his bedroom ]

[refate]

[ forehead braced against his fist - his left one, the one that he can move, the one that's supposed to move - kon flinches a little with the slam of the door, but doesn't move right away. he can hear them outside the room, gathering, and he closes his eyes to compose himself.

it's fine. he gets up, brushing the back of his fist across his mouth, and makes his way to open the door. when teiten came from him, he refused to be taken - whatever this is, he's not letting it overwrite him again.

hey guys. ]

Well. [ a grim facsimile of a smile. maybe one thing came out of what it forced them through. ] I hated every second of that, in retrospect. We're going to hate the next part, too, but. Go together?

[dormheads]

[ Everything is silent.

Mostly. If they listen carefully, they may hear a scraping sound from downstairs. ]

[arcsplainist]

[ Alphinaud frowns.

He wishes he had any resolve, but right now he only feels—well, terrified of what's to come next. He wishes they had never come inside to begin with; he also wants to know what horrendous being has forced them into this.

He bites at his lip, nervously. ]

From downstairs.

[ His voice isn't as calm as he'd wish it to be. ]

I... know not if we are allowed any choice in the matter.

[battling]

[ He takes just a few second to close his eyes and steel himself. Does he know what's coming? Of course not. Does that mean he's just going to stand here and let it come to them? No. ]

We ain't gonna let it keep controllin' us.

[ It's barely contained anger out of him. ]

If there are answers I want 'em.

[lifeless]

[They certainly are going to hate it, aren't they?

Manwol grits her teeth,]

Let's put an end to this.

[one way or another, because they're absolutely going to end SOMETHING.]

[refate]

We probably don't have a choice. [ because that's the reality of it. ] But Bradley's right - and I've had more than enough of altered realities trying to alter me. So.

[ he looks at the three of them - they were family, right? fucked up as they were. kon figures they got through everything before now together, even if it was fake, so.

he goes to head down the stairs. ]

[dormheads]

[ Silence.

And then, they'll hear the television in the living room then on. There sound coming from, a voice, but they should maybe go over to have a closer look? ]

[arcsplainist]

[ Exhaling slowly, Alphinaud nods. ]

Then descend we shall.

[ He follows Kon, down the stairs, to the living room. ]

[battling]

[Down the stairs and towards the TV. What's this voice, does it get any clearer?]

[lifeless]

[Even if all the things they've done as a 'family' were false and honestly traumatic -- Manwol has no problem following them now. Manwol's bringing up the rear, and while she looks towards the TV too, she also glances at the front door.]

[refate]

[ down they go! kon doesn't hesitate - because he's not sure they really have the time to hesitate the moment they head down - but he does immediately reach out for any lamp, vase, knickknack, whatever might be in range as he turns cautiously towards the living room proper.

in he needs to improvise. if the voice is clearer, is it the one on the phone..? ]

[dormheads]

[ It's a different voice.

In fact, as they step into the living room, they'll see what's playing is a home video. Manwhol is on the screen, sitting at a table of what's probably a cafe. At the same table is a man. She glances at the camera, rolls her eyes, before looking back to the man. ]

The tree is non-negotiable. It needs to be giant.

[ The man replies, but it's just a garbled mess to their ears. Manwol in the video just laughs, shaking her head. ]

That's not extra maintenance. You'd be my husband, so it's worth the effort.

[ They hear the sound of something scraping across the floor in a different room. ]

[arcsplainist]

[ This is ??? to Alphinaud; the only thing he recognizes is Manwol in the video. ]

'Tis a memory?

[ But, hm. Scratch, scratch. He glances off, then looks at Bradley. ]

[battling]

[He looks towards Manwol for a moment, before closing his eyes and trying to find the location of the scratching.

Closer to the front door, or more towards the dining room? Or can he not even tell from this spot?]

[lifeless]

[Manwol blinks -- once at seeing herself on the screen, and then once more at hearing the sound of her own voice. It isn't that strange, honestly. Obviously it's some kind of low tier illusion created by whatever's trying to pull all of their strings in this suburban horror nightmare. Just another notch in the long post of whatever purgatorial punishment is about to be sprung on her yet again --





But when she sees the man on the screen? Smiling? And then sees herself? Smiling back?

She flinches -- physically jolting back, sudden enough that she almost falls over her own feet. Maybe she catches herself on the side table, and usually this is the part where she'd freeze in shock and let the others investigate the scrape-scraping sounds next door, but Manwol just as quickly lurches forward, seizing a photo frame and then hurling it across the room at the television.

Fortunately, she misses! Unfortunately, she tries to grab another photo frame for another try, already forgetting that the others are around her.

she's like 5'2'' and spindly and easy enough to stop, but there's something Wild in her eyes that's clearly bent on Destruction, and she's barely making any sense between her clenched teeth as she snarls out curses and names, her eyes on the screen as she tries to lift the second frame --]

[refate]

[ this can't pan out any way but fucking terribly.

kon does the same as the other two, but then manwol snaps, and he doesn't know why, but he knows that she can't keep going. not when this might be trying to taunt her, or draw her in. not when she's wild like this.

she's almost a full foot shorter than him, and they're both brought down to only human like this. ]

Manwol, stop - [ his arm goes around her waist, and he picks her up, moving closer to bradley and alphinaud while grabbing a vase in his free hand. ]

[dormheads]

[ The Manwol on the screen and the man she's with both turn to stare at the camera, watching them go. They're smiling.

As for the sound, it seems like it's coming from the first floor bathroom. It happens again. The scraping. ]

[arcsplainist]

[ Now that's a reaction Alphinaud wasn't expecting. He looks behind, watches as Kon forcibly lifts her up away from her violent burst of anger. He was on the mark, but it was clearly not a good memory. ]

You mustn't let it get the best of you!

[ You have the lead, Bradley. ]

[battling]

[ The reaction he... He can't say he wasn't expecting something like that. Sometimes things are just terrible, even if he doesn't know why or who...

Still, it seems she's being restrained, if not entirely calm yet. ]

Don't go letting it get under yer skin. They're toyin' with us.

[ He will start moving towards the staircase and slowly moving up it. ]

[lifeless]

[it's really for the best that Kon's taking her away. That way she can't see the television anymore, and the ringing noise in her eyes dulls down to a soft roar, just enough so she can hear Alphinaud and Bradley speak to her --

"get the best of you" "under your skin"

but it's that person, she wants to say, but getting the words out feels like more effort she can manage while being carried. She's shaking hard enough that her elbows probably keep knocking accidentally into Kon's side, she just wants to scream and rage. instead, she curls a hand over Kon's shoulder -- ]

I'm -- [she swallows, I'm going to kill them. Like everyone else we -- no, she can't, she drops the frame hanging from her grip. it's taking all she has right now to try and pull herself together, so much so that she doesn't say anything else.

Until finally, she stiffly pats Kon's shoulder in her best attempt of 'let me down'.

She's still shaking, but not so much that she won't be able to find her footing on her own.]

[refate]

[ there's a beat, between her patting his shoulder and kon actually putting her down. the struggling and the elbowing doesn't really bother him all that much, and it's not - it's not like he doesn't get it. they're all pretty shaken up, and she just had this thrown into her face.

so once they're actually moving to the dining room to get to the bathroom, because he's not sure going upstairs again is the best idea, he sets her back on her feet. his hand stays between her shoulders, though. ]

[dormheads]

[ When they all look into the bathroom, the most obvious thing is that there's a giant hole in the wall. None of them will recognize it, so they'll know they didn't decide to make another murder hole overnight. In front of the hall, there's fallen pieces of meat that smells horribly.

Close by, but not in the bathroom itself, they can hear the sound of something thudding against the wall. Bradley can also hear it from where he's standing. ]