[okay! cool! he can do this. this isn't so bad? so the world's a little blurry and the door is...
...that way?
he starts to walk, but it's definitely slower and a little more cautious as he strains his eyes to focus on rita instead. the lights are bouncing off the walls and throwing shadows around in a way that's redirecting his line of vision, but having the other three ahead helps. he doesn't move that slow though, and he'll follow rita through the door without wasting much time.]
"Opportunity" is a little bit of a stretch, isn't it...?
["Of course not. We're offering you quite a lot here."
The voice feels a little like it's coming from ahead of you, now? And as you approach the point of light, it resolves into an object. It's a podium, cylindrical, with two buttons on top of it. A screen around the width of the cylinder shows pixelized versions of all your faces, and it begins to spin rapidly.
"Let's see which one of you gets to play this next game!" says the female voice, and the spinning begins to slow, before... Manwol's face stops on the front of it.
"Manwol, how exciting! Now, please step up to the podium and we'll explain the rules of this game."
The buttons illuminate; one reads TRUST. One reads FORSAKE.
"Now, you aren't the only ones making your way through Wonderland right now. At this moment, in an identical chamber, another group is playing this very same game-- you can consider this something of a... competitive mode," the male voice says. "Beyond this room is a deadly challenge the four of you will have to overcome in order to proceed, but based on your decisions here, you can improve your fate in the next."
"These challenges aren't ones that most people can walk away from," adds the female voice. "They're designed to push you to your limits, to a breaking point. But, choose well, and you might not have to face it at all!"
"If both of you select Trust, each team faces the challenge as it was originally designed, which means one you may not survive... but not facing it is what the Forsake button is for. If you both get greedy and choose Forsake, though, you both get a more difficult version of the trial, and the resulting challenge will almost certainly kill you. If you choose Forsake and they choose Trust, on the other hand... that's the best outcome for you! You get to skip the challenge, and your opponents face a nearly impossible version instead."
"You can discuss this if you... really think you need to, I guess, but-- Manwol, you're the one making this particular call."
-- There's another group?! And you mention this to us now?!
[because the first thought Manwol thinks when she hears "another group" is that. another group. just like the way sieghart's group had spilled out of the forest moments after her own group had staggered out. is it like that? are they people from wiwaldi?
no -- they could be lying. her own adventure had nothing to do with sakyou's, and yet. her eyes flick to the others, her hand hovering over the space between both buttons.]
[ just because some of his other memories have been affected doesn't mean that malik is unaware of how this is going to come across, so before he can get yelled at, he explains: ]
We're going to face a difficult trial either way if both groups end up picking the same option, both described as deadly... That's a 50% chance of a lethal trial. 25% we get to skip it completely, and another 25%... I would assume if the roles were reversed - if we pick Trust and they choose Forsake - we get stuck with the impossible challenge. So we're looking at lethal odds regardless, but with a higher chance of failure if we pick Trust.
...[he considers this, squinting a little at the group. all of that sounds bad, but.]
There's no guarantee the other group is our friends. But I don't want to hit forsake on strangers either. There's four of us. If we're hit with a challenge, we can get through it. We just have to be smart about it. We don't even know what the challenge is.
[frowning though.] I'm not good with forsake, but...it's up to you, Manwol. You know our answers.
[...wait, he will yell at the disembodied voices.]
Hey! Can we get a confirmation that the same is true in reverse if we pick trust and they pick forsake?
["Oh, there are plenty of people here! Wonderland is a popular place for those bold enough to seek its rewards."
The female voice then adds, "But yes, that's correct. If you pick trust and you're forsaken by the other team... well. We don't think you're going to make it very far in here!"]
[It's not as if Manwol doesn't understand Malik's reasoning. It's math, and it makes sense. This would be much easier of Manwol didn't care, and if she didn't pretend that she didn't all this time. She grits her teeth and looks down at both buttons.
This is more than just putting her life in someone else's hands. This is about putting everyone's -- and as much as Manwol likes to think that she doesn't care -- Taichi was right, in that conversation they had before. At this point, they've all started to care. Even Malik, who might not care about anyone, but who's someone that Manwol cares about. Ugh.]
...We don't have any idea what these trials are like. I'm choosing Trust.
[and she'll hit the trust button unless someone shouts her down]
[ he rolls his eyes. he knows it was futile to argue. it always is. but here's hoping that he can get the laugh and rub it in their faces that he told them the right choice and they ignored it-- this is of course banking on the fact that they all survive whatever this mysterious trial may be.
yeah, he's kind of annoyed for being the odd man out, but he's not so dedicated to being an asshole that he's going to try to further dissuade anyone. ]
[that other group... it's on sight... that or there's no group at all, and all of this is a game with cards stacked against them. exactly like wiwaldi,
well, Manwol hit the button, so she'll step off the podium and head towards the Darkness Waiting Beyond]
[the colors help him figure out the verdict and he just huffs in annoyance. it'll be fine. but he's quick to follow after the others into the darkness.]
[Onward you all go! This next room is circular, also very neon-colored and bright, and it's covered in... machinery?
A few huge blocks that appear to be dice fall from this machinery, covered in adjectives-- you can see words like fiery, poisonous, and so on.
"Welcome to what we like to call the Fear Factor... y. The, uh, the name is a work in progress, but this is very exciting! Now, we already know what you're going to have to fight. The form it will take, though, that's going to be something special," says the male voice.
The female one says, "You're going to roll these dice to help build a customized, more dangerous version of the foes we've prepared for you to face. The end result will be like nothing any of you-- or us!-- have ever seen before. So, each of you go ahead and give those bones a roll or two, and we'll find out just how dangerous your challenge is going to be."]
[is manwol more offended that she messed up forsake/trust or more offended at this name.... She'll pick up the dice and roll them twice, getting a 2 and 9.]
[So, here's the thing. As Malik is a little shit and Rita and Taichi react, the two of them breathe out a little wisp of what looks like black smoke, which floats up toward the ceiling and disappears. Huh. It happens to a lesser degree with Manwol's comment.
Anyway, here's what those rolls get you!
Manwol has rolled: Aggressive and False Appearance. Malik has rolled: Stench and Petrifying Gaze. Rita has rolled: Death Burst and Flying. Taichi has rolled: Teleporting and Fiery.
"Oh, these will be fun," the male voice says excitedly. "Go ahead, let's crank 'em out!"
The machinery whirs to life, and in four containers, shapes appear. Machinery nearby attaches to those containers, and with a lot of very loud whirring, beeping, and clanging, they do... something to the things inside, though it's impossible to see. When it all comes to a close, the containers open, and reveal four things.
Out of the container closest to Manwol comes... Claude? He's covered in blood, but seems basically uninjured, and there is an unnerving, almost malicious smile on his face. Sakyou's sword is in his hand, and he pulls it out of an unmoving body dressed in a kimono, idly flicking off the blood. His other hand is holding a bloodied piece of Tsuyukusa's staff, which he throws carelessly aside. When he stops moving for a few moments, though, his outline begins to blend in with the factory scenery like a chameleon.
From the one closest to Malik comes... his father, with a very strange glint in his eyes that Malik might want to look away from. There is also a horrible fucking smell coming from the area he's standing in, and you all kind of get the sense if you got any closer it would be choking. He begins to advance on Malik, so that latter part is going to start being a problem very quickly.
Near Rita, a container releases a twisted-looking spirit, transparent and misshapen, mouth open wide in a constant, spooky-sounding wail. It quickly lifts off the ground to hover over all of them, but its glowing red eyes are focused on Rita, its long, clawed arms beginning to reach out toward her from above.
And finally, the one that Taichi is closest to releases-- himself. Something looks pretty off about this version of Taichi, though, and it's not just the fact that heat emanates from him; it's the expression. He looks blank, like he's barely even aware of being here at the moment, even as he abruptly blinks closer to advance on the real Taichi-- familiar sounding yells come from behind the fake Taichi, but he ignores them, leaving them behind as the container closes off again.
Manwol barely has time to register the black smoke that comes?? out of their mouths?? and wisps to the ceiling?? but she's definitely alarmed because black smoke is not good in ghostie world, and then she hears the whirring machinery and sees the containers, and then containers open and out comes --
fuck.]
-- You have got to be kidding me!
[She's suddenly very aware of how badly outmatched she and the others are -- even if they each take their own enemies -- what are the chances of them... but she doesn't have time to ruminate, she lunges for the piece of Tsuyukusa's staff Claude(?) throws to the side, trying not to focus on the limp kimono-lad body, and Muramasa in Claude's hands...
not that she can even see them now that he's -- flickering?? blending in?? SHIT. i hope the piece of staff Claude threw is like the size of a fcking chopstick, but it's better than nothing?? MAYBE??]
[ malik sneers at taichi, despite black smoke wisping itself away out of their mouths. false bravado is easy to keep up, and honestly, when he sees claude - there's a little fear, but nothing compared to when he sees his dad.
he doesn't make eye contact, his first reaction being to immediately look at the floor. he's shaking. nothing is even happening in the second this takes place, and malik knows he has to move.
thankfully(?) the stench keeps him from staying still and he just runs in the opposite direction from his father. nope! not today! not again! fuck this! ]
Does anyone have a weapon?!
[ yeah manwol just picked up a piece of one but like. anyone else. ]
rita's already disturbed by the smoke, but what follows is absolute nightmare fuel. seeing tsuyukusa's staff and sakyou's body is plenty disturbing, but then there's this horrible thing reaching for her, and she's backing the hell up, nearly tripping over her feet as she does. also, there's another taichi??]
What the hell is all this!?
[she takes a breath, a heavy gasp, and manages to answer malik.]
I've got magic. Three -- four shots. [her gaze turns to "claude."] ... That sword. [they might need that.]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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...that way?
he starts to walk, but it's definitely slower and a little more cautious as he strains his eyes to focus on rita instead. the lights are bouncing off the walls and throwing shadows around in a way that's redirecting his line of vision, but having the other three ahead helps. he doesn't move that slow though, and he'll follow rita through the door without wasting much time.]
"Opportunity" is a little bit of a stretch, isn't it...?
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The voice feels a little like it's coming from ahead of you, now? And as you approach the point of light, it resolves into an object. It's a podium, cylindrical, with two buttons on top of it. A screen around the width of the cylinder shows pixelized versions of all your faces, and it begins to spin rapidly.
"Let's see which one of you gets to play this next game!" says the female voice, and the spinning begins to slow, before... Manwol's face stops on the front of it.
"Manwol, how exciting! Now, please step up to the podium and we'll explain the rules of this game."
The buttons illuminate; one reads TRUST. One reads FORSAKE.
"Now, you aren't the only ones making your way through Wonderland right now. At this moment, in an identical chamber, another group is playing this very same game-- you can consider this something of a... competitive mode," the male voice says. "Beyond this room is a deadly challenge the four of you will have to overcome in order to proceed, but based on your decisions here, you can improve your fate in the next."
"These challenges aren't ones that most people can walk away from," adds the female voice. "They're designed to push you to your limits, to a breaking point. But, choose well, and you might not have to face it at all!"
"If both of you select Trust, each team faces the challenge as it was originally designed, which means one you may not survive... but not facing it is what the Forsake button is for. If you both get greedy and choose Forsake, though, you both get a more difficult version of the trial, and the resulting challenge will almost certainly kill you. If you choose Forsake and they choose Trust, on the other hand... that's the best outcome for you! You get to skip the challenge, and your opponents face a nearly impossible version instead."
"You can discuss this if you... really think you need to, I guess, but-- Manwol, you're the one making this particular call."
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-- There's another group?! And you mention this to us now?!
[because the first thought Manwol thinks when she hears "another group" is that. another group. just like the way sieghart's group had spilled out of the forest moments after her own group had staggered out. is it like that? are they people from wiwaldi?
no -- they could be lying. her own adventure had nothing to do with sakyou's, and yet. her eyes flick to the others, her hand hovering over the space between both buttons.]
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[ just because some of his other memories have been affected doesn't mean that malik is unaware of how this is going to come across, so before he can get yelled at, he explains: ]
We're going to face a difficult trial either way if both groups end up picking the same option, both described as deadly... That's a 50% chance of a lethal trial. 25% we get to skip it completely, and another 25%... I would assume if the roles were reversed - if we pick Trust and they choose Forsake - we get stuck with the impossible challenge. So we're looking at lethal odds regardless, but with a higher chance of failure if we pick Trust.
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[yeah, rita's thinking the same as manwol. and she gives malik kind of a tired look.]
Those might be the odds if we were choosing blindly, but Malik, I think you're the only one here who's enough of an asshole to pick "Forsake."
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There's no guarantee the other group is our friends. But I don't want to hit forsake on strangers either. There's four of us. If we're hit with a challenge, we can get through it. We just have to be smart about it. We don't even know what the challenge is.
[frowning though.] I'm not good with forsake, but...it's up to you, Manwol. You know our answers.
[...wait, he will yell at the disembodied voices.]
Hey! Can we get a confirmation that the same is true in reverse if we pick trust and they pick forsake?
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The female voice then adds, "But yes, that's correct. If you pick trust and you're forsaken by the other team... well. We don't think you're going to make it very far in here!"]
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This is more than just putting her life in someone else's hands. This is about putting everyone's -- and as much as Manwol likes to think that she doesn't care -- Taichi was right, in that conversation they had before. At this point, they've all started to care. Even Malik, who might not care about anyone, but who's someone that Manwol cares about. Ugh.]
...We don't have any idea what these trials are like. I'm choosing Trust.
[and she'll hit the trust button unless someone shouts her down]
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[ he rolls his eyes. he knows it was futile to argue. it always is. but here's hoping that he can get the laugh and rub it in their faces that he told them the right choice and they ignored it-- this is of course banking on the fact that they all survive whatever this mysterious trial may be.
yeah, he's kind of annoyed for being the odd man out, but he's not so dedicated to being an asshole that he's going to try to further dissuade anyone. ]
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rita just stands back, crosses her arms, and lets manwol make her choice.]
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The walls in this room all light up white, becoming screens, and on the far wall across from you everyone sees the following words.
YOUR DECISION: appears, and then in big green letters, TRUST.
THEIR DECISION: appears on an adjacent wall, and then in big red letters, it says... FORSAKE.
"Ooh, tough luck," says the female voice, sympathetically. "Let's hope Taichi was right about strength in numbers, shall we?"
And the door across from you opens, again with only darkness beyond it.]
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well, Manwol hit the button, so she'll step off the podium and head towards the Darkness Waiting Beyond]
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he follows manwol again into the darkness. ]
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... Whatever it is, we'll handle it.
[and she follows them into the darkness.]
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Just be ready for anything.
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A few huge blocks that appear to be dice fall from this machinery, covered in adjectives-- you can see words like fiery, poisonous, and so on.
"Welcome to what we like to call the Fear Factor... y. The, uh, the name is a work in progress, but this is very exciting! Now, we already know what you're going to have to fight. The form it will take, though, that's going to be something special," says the male voice.
The female one says, "You're going to roll these dice to help build a customized, more dangerous version of the foes we've prepared for you to face. The end result will be like nothing any of you-- or us!-- have ever seen before. So, each of you go ahead and give those bones a roll or two, and we'll find out just how dangerous your challenge is going to be."]
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[is manwol more offended that she messed up forsake/trust or more offended at this name.... She'll pick up the dice and roll them twice, getting a 2 and 9.]
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[ ah. there it is. anyway, malik also gives the dice a roll and gets 8 and 10. ]
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rita rolls the dice, and gets a 10 and a 1.]
Whatever. I'm more than ready for a fight.
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Anyway, here's what those rolls get you!
Manwol has rolled: Aggressive and False Appearance.
Malik has rolled: Stench and Petrifying Gaze.
Rita has rolled: Death Burst and Flying.
Taichi has rolled: Teleporting and Fiery.
"Oh, these will be fun," the male voice says excitedly. "Go ahead, let's crank 'em out!"
The machinery whirs to life, and in four containers, shapes appear. Machinery nearby attaches to those containers, and with a lot of very loud whirring, beeping, and clanging, they do... something to the things inside, though it's impossible to see. When it all comes to a close, the containers open, and reveal four things.
Out of the container closest to Manwol comes... Claude? He's covered in blood, but seems basically uninjured, and there is an unnerving, almost malicious smile on his face. Sakyou's sword is in his hand, and he pulls it out of an unmoving body dressed in a kimono, idly flicking off the blood. His other hand is holding a bloodied piece of Tsuyukusa's staff, which he throws carelessly aside. When he stops moving for a few moments, though, his outline begins to blend in with the factory scenery like a chameleon.
From the one closest to Malik comes... his father, with a very strange glint in his eyes that Malik might want to look away from. There is also a horrible fucking smell coming from the area he's standing in, and you all kind of get the sense if you got any closer it would be choking. He begins to advance on Malik, so that latter part is going to start being a problem very quickly.
Near Rita, a container releases a twisted-looking spirit, transparent and misshapen, mouth open wide in a constant, spooky-sounding wail. It quickly lifts off the ground to hover over all of them, but its glowing red eyes are focused on Rita, its long, clawed arms beginning to reach out toward her from above.
And finally, the one that Taichi is closest to releases-- himself. Something looks pretty off about this version of Taichi, though, and it's not just the fact that heat emanates from him; it's the expression. He looks blank, like he's barely even aware of being here at the moment, even as he abruptly blinks closer to advance on the real Taichi-- familiar sounding yells come from behind the fake Taichi, but he ignores them, leaving them behind as the container closes off again.
Let's fucking go, y'all.]
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Manwol barely has time to register the black smoke that comes?? out of their mouths?? and wisps to the ceiling?? but she's definitely alarmed because black smoke is not good in ghostie world, and then she hears the whirring machinery and sees the containers, and then containers open and out comes --
fuck.]
-- You have got to be kidding me!
[She's suddenly very aware of how badly outmatched she and the others are -- even if they each take their own enemies -- what are the chances of them... but she doesn't have time to ruminate, she lunges for the piece of Tsuyukusa's staff Claude(?) throws to the side, trying not to focus on the limp kimono-lad body, and Muramasa in Claude's hands...
not that she can even see them now that he's -- flickering?? blending in?? SHIT. i hope the piece of staff Claude threw is like the size of a fcking chopstick, but it's better than nothing?? MAYBE??]
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he doesn't make eye contact, his first reaction being to immediately look at the floor. he's shaking. nothing is even happening in the second this takes place, and malik knows he has to move.
thankfully(?) the stench keeps him from staying still and he just runs in the opposite direction from his father. nope! not today! not again! fuck this! ]
Does anyone have a weapon?!
[ yeah manwol just picked up a piece of one but like. anyone else. ]
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rita's already disturbed by the smoke, but what follows is absolute nightmare fuel. seeing tsuyukusa's staff and sakyou's body is plenty disturbing, but then there's this horrible thing reaching for her, and she's backing the hell up, nearly tripping over her feet as she does. also, there's another taichi??]
What the hell is all this!?
[she takes a breath, a heavy gasp, and manages to answer malik.]
I've got magic. Three -- four shots. [her gaze turns to "claude."] ... That sword. [they might need that.]
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