WEEK 5 CYOA: ICHIRO, ICHINOSE, MABEL, MANDRICARDO

[dormheads]

Comments

[duranduel]

If they make us fight to keep this bat, I'm leaving.

[He says to Ichinose before following her back.]

[He'll even protectively hold the cage. Here's another dried mango slice, Hector. Good girl.]

[txt]

[Point blank:]

Hey, why do you keep looking at her?

[dormheads]

[ Hector eats the mango. Yum.

The lady coughs as she chokes on her drink. ]

I'm not looking at her. [ She was. ] I just think... wouldn't it be better if you just got rid of it?

[duranduel]

Rid of it?

[Looking down at sweet, sweet, baby Hector. Look at those big eyes!]

Why should we?

[txt]

You're totally looking at her.

[But she will be polite enough to grab a napkin and slide it over to her. This is a bar, let there be napkins.]

Unusually interested in other people's business, huh? Why?

[dormheads]

[ She takes the napkin to wipe at her mouth. ]

Have people been bothering you? It's because you have the bat. I'll happily get rid of it for you.

[ She looks over at the cage. ]

[duranduel]

[Mandricardo frowns at that.]

But you haven't said why. Does she have disease? Is she like, a bad omen? What's bad about this particular bat?

[txt]

Pass. She's ours to keep or dispose of however we want. [THEIR BAT, THEIR CHOICE...] Who are you, anyway?

[dormheads]

She's cursed, isn't she? It's easier to just cut the disease at the source.

[ Suddenly, loud cheering erupts in the bar, coming from where the cage is. The door to it is opened now. ]

I think that's for you.

[duranduel]

C...Cursed?

[HELLO??? It's a cute bat???? ARE YOU BLIND??]

[And this is exactly what he feared. Mandricardo turns, and shakes his head at Ichinose.]

Hell no.

[He's going to try to leave, thank you! NO CAGE FIGHTS FOR HIM.]

[txt]

... Seriously...

[No, thanks! She's just going to try to leave as well, flanking their cute little baby bat in case anyone gets grabby. She is armed with a glass bottle and she is not afraid to bash someone in the face with it.]

Is the exit locked?

[Said in the tone of someone who does not expect a smooth getaway. Whew!]

[dormheads]

[ Wow. The exit's locked.

Hector makes another agitated sound.

The woman just watches them move around, but doesn't do anything to stop them. The crowd near the cage seem to only get more excited as the seconds pass by. And then their favorite disembodied voice returns. ]

I told you to go to your apartment. You have to do a cage match now. You could have been watching N*tflix.

[duranduel]

Oh, FUCK YOU, Tanaka!

[And yeah. Of course it would be. Of course it would. Mandricardo grits his teeth. Is there no way out? Of course they'd be forced into this...]

[Shit. Shit. Shit.]

[He turns to Ichinose, handing her Hector.]

Keep her safe. T-Try to find a way out of here, okay? I'll distract them.

[And then he's running to the cage.]

[Better him, and not her.]

[txt]

Tanaka-san, you know as well as I do that something else would have happened on our way home.

[But, also??? She has a cage and a baby in her hands now??? She stares at it like, uh. Oh, no.]

A-Ah, stop, stop! What are you going to do?!

[She cannot stop him with her hands full of baby, alas. But she still has two eyes? Unfortunately. And she's going to use them to look around for any other possible exits. Is the door they came in through the only one, or are there others?]

[dormheads]

[ There is another door on the complete other end of the bar, but whether or not it's openable remains to be seen without an investigation.

As soon as Mandi gets into the cage, it shuts closed behind him. And once that happens, another person blinks into existence in it. Like the other people who were actually visible, they can't seem to look at the actual face, but they can tell it's a man.

Tanaka speaks. ]

Well! Have fun. Don't die, Hector needs her parents.

[duranduel]

[Well! This is happening! Mandricardo has not quite reached the stage of "I hate everything I literally just did" yet, and is currently just operating on the stage "I'm very angry at everything and I'm tired and I'm a bat dad now, bitch".]

Hm. [And he's putting up his dukes, shaking his head as he warily shifts back into a fighting position.] Maybe I'll die just to spite ya...but not today, bastard.

[txt]

[Well.

Mandricardo is still extra crispy. Ichinose is not going to wait for him to start getting punchy before she makes her way over to that other door. Is it openable?]

[dormheads]

[ Ichinose can open it... sort of. It seems like there's something heavy on the other side of it that's blocking the way, so she can only open it a few inches.

The man copies the stance, staring(?) at Mandi. And then a bell rings from somewhere, and he immediately lunges forward to try to punch him in the face.

Hector has calmed down somewhat now. ]

[duranduel]

[He's already been in a fight! It ended....with him being burned alive and pchooooed out of a barrel. It's fine! He was a warrior king, after all, even if his heart is going one hundred beats a minute.]

[The man lunges forward, and he ducks and weaves, launching a sideswept fist to smash into the man's ear.]

[txt]

[G...reat... Will the mystery heavy thing budge if she continues pushing against the door? She will keep her back to the door as she pushes, if possible, in order to watch the fight go down.

And also, you know, just in case someone tries to sneak up on her. She has zero trust.]

[dormheads]

[ The fist connects, and the man staggers back. He shakes his head as he tries to regain his footing, before once again moving forward, this time trying to hit Mandi in the stomach.

Whatever's blocking the door does move slightly! It's slow going though, so it may take a while to get it out of the way fully. ]

[duranduel]

[Mandricardo tries to dodge back - but his burnt skin smarts from all the movement, and he winces in pain. He'll quickly turn his head over his shoulder, trying to spot where Ichinose is.]

Hey, everyone! You came for a good cage match, right? I'll give ya a good one-!

[He's doing his best to keep the heat off her, drawing the eyes of the crowd. He doesn't want to play nice - he'll back up, then make a running leap at the other man, pouncing on him and trying to use his fist to bash down on where he thinks the man's face is.]

[txt]

[She is just vibing by the door, Mandricardo. This is her door now.

But, actually, as she keeps pushing — will she be able to spot what's blocking the door eventually? Because if she can see it, and she gets enough space to reach through the door, she will try to speed things along by nudging it with the collapsible cage from the pet shop. Not the one Hector is in, obviously. She is not using Hector as a tool today.]

[dormheads]

[ It connects, although when his fist touches the actual face, a shock will go through Mandi's body, like he was hit by a small current of electricity. It's probably enough to stun him for just a second, and the man goes to try to strangle him in the mean time.

She'll be able to see that it looks like some sort of large box. Why is there a box there? The cage helps, at least.

The crowd cheers even more loudly. ]

[duranduel]

Agh-?!

[He lets out a confused cry at the electric shock, and then the man's hands are on his throat. He tries to yell, but nothing is coming out - he instead will reach for what he thinks is the other's face to try to jab fingers into whatever eyes he has.]