[The other signs all say variations on the same thing-- Everything you've been looking for is here! and so on, with the path continuing right on up to the side of the building.
The spinning of its black and white stripes slows as they approach, though, and once the first of them reaches it, it will come to a stop on a black segment of the building. There's no visible door, but after a moment one slides open in the wall before them, and above the door there's now a sign that reads: MANWOL, RITA, MALIK, TAICHI.
Through the door there's only darkness. They can't see anything inside.]
[taichi gets a blank look. rita does not know what wonderland is. also, wow! somehow this is even sketchier! but it's not really surprising that it feels like they're being invited to walk into a trap.]
Hey, not a bad idea. We'll be right behind you, Malik.
[she'll give him a light shove in the back. it's not enough to force him in, she's not that terrible. at this moment.]
[It's not really like a door slides shut behind all of you, or slams ominously. It's a lot more like-- one second there was a door for you to step through, and the moment you're all inside, there just isn't one.
The darkness is not much different, either. You can't see much here, only some vague, dim shapes of the outline of this room... but then, somewhere in the darkness of this huge room, there's a bass beat that absolutely slaps. Lights begin to flicker on, flashing in time to the music that begins to play, and neon-colored panels light up on the walls and floor, also flashing in perfect time. There's a circular panel above all of you that slowly lowers down, though you can't quite see what it is yet, and over the pounding music you hear a pair of voices.
"You made it! Welcome to Wonderland," says the first. "Whatever you seek, you will find it here."
The second says, "But it's not going to come easy, dears, I hope you're prepared for that."
"The rules are simple. You will be evaluated through a series of tests and games to determine how much you truly want your prize."
"They'll be rough, but they're important. In Wonderland, you can only find the things you truly desire by losing the things that hold you back. You follow the rules, you push through the pain, and you will leave here... happy."
"Try to break the rules, or find shortcuts, and you won't leave here. Ready to get started?"]
[Manwol squints as the lights and neon panels start flickering on, and raises a hand to shade her eyes (yeah ig she's wearing a witch hat to go along with her necromancer uniform, that's the only compromise ill take) as she listens to these voices, and takes the situation as it is exactly.
...
She decides to look at Rita, who she already knows is the smartest person in this group.]
[ the flashing hurts malik's eyes, and he's not sure if he prefers this over the unknown black abyss. somewhere in the back of his mind, he has a bad feeling about this slappin' bass. hm. anyway, after all is said and done: ]
This can't be too hard. I've been through half of what they've described already... And I'm good at games of chance.
[ he's pretty confident about this despite my roll luck ]
[rita leaps forward and grabs taichi's sleeve as he runs in, but as the room lights up, she lets him go, opting instead to take a defensive stance while the voices begin their explanation. she meets manwol's gaze...]
... Sounds similar to what some of the other groups went through. There's no way out, and there's a clue we'll get for finishing this. So...
[rita grabs his sleeve and it slows him down enough, but when she lets go he looks around the room and listens to the music and adjusts to the lights.]
Yeah. Our last trip was a bunch of trials, too, that we had to fight our way through. Guess that explains the weird costumes? [he shrugs, not entirely bothered just yet.]
...we'll have to play for it and keep each other as safe as possible. It's our only shot out. I'm ready if you guys are.
["Perfect!" says the first voice, which by the way is male, I should differentiate them somewhat. "Why don't we go ahead and get started with round one?"
"Oh, this'll be an exciting one," says the female voice.
The circular platform begins to lower, and as it drops down to about waist-height... you can all see that this is, in fact, a roulette wheel covered in different symbols. Across the room, a pair of floodlights switch on to illuminate a heavy stone door, with four dim red circular panels over it.
"This," says the male voice, "is the Wheel of Sacrifice. You just give it a spin, and you give up whatever it lands on. Now, of course you can refuse if you land on something you're not willing to give up, but you will incur a penalty for your reluctance."
The female voice adds, "After enough sacrifices have been completed, the door will open. Now, go ahead, why don't you give it a try?"]
[Manwol looks at each of the others in turn as they all basically say "let's do it", and then sighs. Her expression turns even more dark at the Wheel of Sacrifice because anything with the word of "sacrifice" is probably a bad time, but.
the others are right. there seems to be nothing else to do but go forward.]
If I get cursed...
[she mutters, and then she grabs hold of the wheel and spins it hard. it eventually ticks down to "backpack". her face is blank. SHE DOESN'T HAVE A BACKPACK??? but she'll step back so the others can spin next,]
["Oh, no, no curses here," says the female voice. "We run a completely above-ground game here, all of this is-- well, it's exactly what it says on the tin."
"And of course you can just take the penalty if you don't like it," adds the male one. "Now, what should we do for this one, this is just the first round."
"Don't go too hard on them, we don't want to discourage anyone."
"I think I've got it," he says, and then continues on.
"Manwol- for rolling to give up an object, I'd say that phone is sort of important, isn't it? Not that it's doing you much good right now, anyway, this is-- it should be a pretty easy call.
Malik, you landed on... oh, now this is a fun one. You get to give up something that happened in your past, and normally this one would mean just a fight, but how about your initiation, instead?
Rita... Rita, Rita, Rita. Don't look like that, we're not going to just kill you here, we do want you to succeed! Skull just means that, at some point during your stay in Wonderland, you'll suffer from some pretty nasty luck.
And Taichi-- well, this one's not really my favorite, we see this one a lot, honestly. I'm not going to take an eye from you, not in round one, but how about we just... reduce your vision? You might need a little help in here afterward, but I think all of these are a fairly small price to pay. What do you all say?"]
[Manwol immediately looks upset, because even though her roll is technically the least bad out of everyone else's... She thinks of her phone, and more importantly, all of the pictures that are on it. Damn.
...She shouldn't care this much, but it bothers her all the same. Her phone truly is silly in comparison to everyone else's -- and yet]
You don't get to decide what's easy or not.
[she snaps, taking her phone out and holding it out. it doesn't matter, because they all need to make enough sacrifices to move on.]
[ normally, this might be something that required a bit more thought - this is too easy, isn't it? and nothing comes from free. malik learned that the last time he went on a trip. and yet... ]
Go ahead and take it.
[ he almost seems? hyped about it? as hyped as a moody teenager can be. ]
["Oh, feisty, aren't we? Don't be like that, we're giving you an opportunity, here!" says the male voice.
Manwol and Rita won't really feel much different-- the wheel absorbs Manwol's phone, and Rita feels no different after accepting her bad luck. Malik will find himself recalling the memory he gave up before it fades, and... well, he might find it's not just that memory, as any later memories that rely on the one he sacrificed are now affected. They're much fuzzier, if not gone completely. Taichi will find his vision blurring, like he definitely needs glasses, and this bright and colorful flashing room probably just got a little more disorienting.
The four red panels over the door have lit up, one by one, as the four of them accept their sacrifices, and the door slides open!
Through it, everything is dark again, and if they step through they will be able to see just a single point of light ahead of them.]
[There's something like a surge of -- pride? affection? Satisfaction? At hearing everyone else's answers. Manwol might have thought entering the game was a bad idea from the start, but there's something about everyone's attitudes that bolsters her.
(they're all probably going to regret it later, but they can at least have this.)
Manwol doesn't hesitate, she'll step through first, and head towards that point of light]
[ malik is still-- hype? the adrenaline is still there, but as his memories degrade around the one that he lost, a more concerned feeling starts to take root. there's no time to worry about that now, however, as they have things to do.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
...and what the hell would it know about "our heart's desire" or whatever anyway?
[to the sketchy building!!]
no subject
The spinning of its black and white stripes slows as they approach, though, and once the first of them reaches it, it will come to a stop on a black segment of the building. There's no visible door, but after a moment one slides open in the wall before them, and above the door there's now a sign that reads: MANWOL, RITA, MALIK, TAICHI.
Through the door there's only darkness. They can't see anything inside.]
no subject
I've seen the movie. Is this supposed to be the part where we enter and fall in?
[should they all hold hands... is there perhaps... another way in that doesn't have their names emblazoned on the top]
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One of us should go in first to see what happens... Then the rest can follow.
[ yeah he's fine with setting up someone else to sacrifice, it's cool, ]
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Hey, not a bad idea. We'll be right behind you, Malik.
[she'll give him a light shove in the back. it's not enough to force him in, she's not that terrible. at this moment.]
no subject
It's part of a story. It's like...it's a fantasy world where you have everything that's nonsensical or whatever. So we should keep that in mind?
[but...well.]
We're wasting time, and I have to finish my homework before tomorrow. So let's get going?
[he will be the first to leap into the abyss. bye! what's going on in this darkness?]
no subject
The darkness is not much different, either. You can't see much here, only some vague, dim shapes of the outline of this room... but then, somewhere in the darkness of this huge room, there's a bass beat that absolutely slaps. Lights begin to flicker on, flashing in time to the music that begins to play, and neon-colored panels light up on the walls and floor, also flashing in perfect time. There's a circular panel above all of you that slowly lowers down, though you can't quite see what it is yet, and over the pounding music you hear a pair of voices.
"You made it! Welcome to Wonderland," says the first. "Whatever you seek, you will find it here."
The second says, "But it's not going to come easy, dears, I hope you're prepared for that."
"The rules are simple. You will be evaluated through a series of tests and games to determine how much you truly want your prize."
"They'll be rough, but they're important. In Wonderland, you can only find the things you truly desire by losing the things that hold you back. You follow the rules, you push through the pain, and you will leave here... happy."
"Try to break the rules, or find shortcuts, and you won't leave here. Ready to get started?"]
no subject
...
She decides to look at Rita, who she already knows is the smartest person in this group.]
We're not actually doing this, are we?
no subject
This can't be too hard. I've been through half of what they've described already... And I'm good at games of chance.
[ he's pretty confident about this despite my roll luck ]
I'm ready, even if you three aren't.
no subject
... Sounds similar to what some of the other groups went through. There's no way out, and there's a clue we'll get for finishing this. So...
[she'll take a step forward.]
Whatever it is, we'll just have to win.
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Yeah. Our last trip was a bunch of trials, too, that we had to fight our way through. Guess that explains the weird costumes? [he shrugs, not entirely bothered just yet.]
...we'll have to play for it and keep each other as safe as possible. It's our only shot out. I'm ready if you guys are.
[bring it, game.]
no subject
"Oh, this'll be an exciting one," says the female voice.
The circular platform begins to lower, and as it drops down to about waist-height... you can all see that this is, in fact, a roulette wheel covered in different symbols. Across the room, a pair of floodlights switch on to illuminate a heavy stone door, with four dim red circular panels over it.
"This," says the male voice, "is the Wheel of Sacrifice. You just give it a spin, and you give up whatever it lands on. Now, of course you can refuse if you land on something you're not willing to give up, but you will incur a penalty for your reluctance."
The female voice adds, "After enough sacrifices have been completed, the door will open. Now, go ahead, why don't you give it a try?"]
no subject
the others are right. there seems to be nothing else to do but go forward.]
If I get cursed...
[she mutters, and then she grabs hold of the wheel and spins it hard. it eventually ticks down to "backpack". her face is blank. SHE DOESN'T HAVE A BACKPACK??? but she'll step back so the others can spin next,]
no subject
Oh, so this is like a Shadow Game... Well, I guess we'll see what happens, now won't we?
[ he doesn't have a backpack either so he can't help you out there manwol, but he gives the wheel his best spin and it lands on swords. ]
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it's rita's turn, and she'll step right up and spin. the wheel lands on skull, and her expression darkens. that's some ominous shit.]
no subject
[but he spins! and his lands on eye. considering who lost an eye on one of these, he looks extremely wary suddenly.]
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"And of course you can just take the penalty if you don't like it," adds the male one. "Now, what should we do for this one, this is just the first round."
"Don't go too hard on them, we don't want to discourage anyone."
"I think I've got it," he says, and then continues on.
"Manwol- for rolling to give up an object, I'd say that phone is sort of important, isn't it? Not that it's doing you much good right now, anyway, this is-- it should be a pretty easy call.
Malik, you landed on... oh, now this is a fun one. You get to give up something that happened in your past, and normally this one would mean just a fight, but how about your initiation, instead?
Rita... Rita, Rita, Rita. Don't look like that, we're not going to just kill you here, we do want you to succeed! Skull just means that, at some point during your stay in Wonderland, you'll suffer from some pretty nasty luck.
And Taichi-- well, this one's not really my favorite, we see this one a lot, honestly. I'm not going to take an eye from you, not in round one, but how about we just... reduce your vision? You might need a little help in here afterward, but I think all of these are a fairly small price to pay. What do you all say?"]
no subject
...She shouldn't care this much, but it bothers her all the same. Her phone truly is silly in comparison to everyone else's -- and yet]
You don't get to decide what's easy or not.
[she snaps, taking her phone out and holding it out. it doesn't matter, because they all need to make enough sacrifices to move on.]
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Go ahead and take it.
[ he almost seems? hyped about it? as hyped as a moody teenager can be. ]
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Hmph. I'm not in the habit of relying on luck, and I'm not about to start.
Do what you want.
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How generous. [flatly. but he frowns in thought.] ...but okay. If it's just a reduction, I can probably still get around okay.
I guess we're all in agreement here.
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Manwol and Rita won't really feel much different-- the wheel absorbs Manwol's phone, and Rita feels no different after accepting her bad luck. Malik will find himself recalling the memory he gave up before it fades, and... well, he might find it's not just that memory, as any later memories that rely on the one he sacrificed are now affected. They're much fuzzier, if not gone completely. Taichi will find his vision blurring, like he definitely needs glasses, and this bright and colorful flashing room probably just got a little more disorienting.
The four red panels over the door have lit up, one by one, as the four of them accept their sacrifices, and the door slides open!
Through it, everything is dark again, and if they step through they will be able to see just a single point of light ahead of them.]
no subject
(they're all probably going to regret it later, but they can at least have this.)
Manwol doesn't hesitate, she'll step through first, and head towards that point of light]
no subject
he follows manwol through the door. ]
no subject
rather than march forward, like she's inclined to, she'll wait a second and walk with him to the door and beyond.]
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