Why a bus? [that's not even important? he's still holding the sword but he helps rita to her feet, stepping back out of the way when she begins casting.]
Manwol, move!
[because rita is throwing a fireball into a machine and it's likely going to explode.]
[They can all do what they're doing! The important part here, though, is the fireball.
This is a pretty makeshift golem, so when the fireball hits it, it just sort of flails around-- anyone too close is at risk of being slapped with its cables or jagged limbs, and the fireball's burst causes a brief shower of debris.
For a moment, it seems like that might be it, as the core shorts out and ceases to glow, then bursts in a little shower of sparks.
However-- that ghost had Death Burst on it, and the central piece of machinery explodes, before a chain reaction starts taking out all of its other pieces. It's still pretty close to some of the other machinery, too, so they're going to have a pretty big explosion problem on their hands in... oh, a couple of seconds.
[OH BOY!!! Manwol throws herself out of the way before Rita's fire makes contact, and just when she thinks they did it, the whole place starts shaking. a jagged piece of machinery flies and buries itself into her left shoulder, and she swears out loud.]
Come on!!
[and she's reaching out to grab Malik by the arm so they can start hobbling their way towards the door sliding open]
[ he covers his face at the initial shower of debris, but that means his arms take the brunt of the damage. he grunts with pain as the shrapnel cuts him, but then manwol starts yelling and grabbing at him so it's time to go ]
You don't need to pull me!
[ taichi is probably fine with running because he's a mad soccer lad, but malik watches rita as he runs to make sure her short little legs can get her out of here fast enough. he doesn't care or anything but they can't just leave here in there. god. ]
actually no, kind of bad. that's a lot of explosions!
rita's taking off running, arms over her head. a few pieces of debris hit her, one of them heavy enough that she nearly loses balance, but she manages to keep moving forward.]
[well. fuck! taichi is probably fine because he's a mad soccer lad, except for the part where you know how when your vision's blurry you don't notice things are coming at you from the side until they're too close? because yeah, there's debris flying and he blocks with his arm which means machinery digs into his forearm and a little on the side of his face as he runs.
but, well, forward! forward and he's making sure all four of them are ushered into the next room to see what hellscape awaits them next.]
[You all make it out, in various states of injury! The next room is essentially blank, to begin with, just a big circular chamber, and the male voice says:
"Well, that was a bit better than we expected! Maybe we went too easy on you for that one."
And the other voice adds, "Now, why don't you smile and show your opponents how you're doing after that challenge they just gave you?"
One section of the wall turns into a screen, showing a group of four people standing in an identical room; they're all looking over like they can see you as well as you can see them. In that room all of you see Beauregard, Chung Myung, Gennai, and Alexei, who all seem like they're doing perfectly fine! They're just vibing here in Wonderland after they didn't have to do a fight at all.]
[Manwol, exhausted and poisoned, looks at the screen when prompted, and freezes.
...This has happened before, the more rational part of her says, but her eyes are honed in on Chung Myung -- looking alive and healthy -- and as always, her temper snaps. Is it because of the fight they just went through? Is it because she's remembering that it was her choice to hit trust over forsake, which led to the this? They're being yanked around, and Manwol's sorry to say that she falls for it --
in that she immediately throws Tsuyukusa's staff at the screen, it's fine]
[ while manwol is having a tantrum, malik glowers at the screen. it does take away from this immersive hateful experience since he doesn't even know who the other three are, but they all know who beauregard is. why the fuck is she even here?
honestly if malik had something to throw, he'd do that too. but instead he crosses his arms and huffs, before realizing that they're bleeding and ow, that actually kind of hurts, so he stops. ]
[the screen gets a cold look from rita. beauregard is... a weird one to see? and she's just kind of disgusted at the sight of alexei.]
... It's a stupid trick.
[she huffs, and turns her attention to a piece of debris that's embedded itself in her arm, considering whether or not to attempt to remove it. she winces... and decides to leave it. this probably isn't a good time to start bleeding any more than necessary.]
[oh. you know, it's a trick, and they're all aware this place is just messing with them, but also there's something about seeing this specific man that kind of makes his blood boil. the other group isn't speaking, still observing, and yet it's like he can just hear his stupid voice all over again.
"He who fights monsters should be careful that he does not become a monster himself. If you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you."
[A little bit of black smoke emanates from... everyone, actually, at their reactions! Also, the staff bounces off and hits Malik.
"Come along, and we'll show you," says the male voice, and the door ahead of you opens up. There's a hallway ahead, it looks like, lined with a few pieces of machinery, but if they're paying attention...
Taichi and Malik will hear nothing in this hallway. Manwol and Rita, however, can hear what sounds like a whisper coming from underneath one of these pieces of machinery. "Hey," it says. "Hey, over here!"]
[ig the staff rebounds and hits Manwol on the wrist, i'm committed. she'll pick it up from the floor though, because while she's angry and petty, she's not petty enough to just leave it here.
time to head to the hallway....
She tilts her head at the sound of the whispers, and then immediately grimaces.]
Don't listen.
[SHE OWNS A HOTEL FOR GHOSTS, GHOSTS DO THIS SHIT ALL THE TIME!!! just assuming that everyone else can hear this as it's happening]
[ the staff twacks malik in the eye. the black eye from week 1 is back! or will be, in a few minutes. thanks manwol. the fact that we're going down this hallway like nothing just happened doesn't endear malik to her when she says something. ]
[rita's kind of in awe at the staff managing to hit both of them. isn't she supposed to be the one with cursed luck? yeah, okay. luck is definitely fake.
she pauses, stopping in the hallway at the sound of the voice.]
[to his credit, he doesn't even laugh when the staff rebounds? probably because he's busy being ready to leap through the screen and fistfight gennai. as it is, they're walking down the hall and...you know. he is weirdly used to girls just stopping and hearing voices nobody else hears, so he slows his pace just a little to see what's going on there.]
[There's a little more black smoke from Malik when he says that.
Anyway, as Rita kneels down to look, she will find.... god, I am so sorry it's Rita specifically who's looking, because there's a human head laying here, wearing a red beanie cap. There's no grossness here! He's genuinely just a head, no blood or anything on the neck, and he is looking back at Rita impatiently.
"Hey, can you like, un-stick me here, I kind of can't get out from here? On account of just being literally a head? So if one of you guys could give me a hand, that would be pretty cool."]
[Manwol gives a look at the black smoke that wafts out of Malik's mouth, and then gives him a look. at this point, she's starting to wonder if the black smoke is...
but then she's distracted because no one in this group listens to her, apparently,]
Please tell me that you all hear that.
[she doesn't know it's a head.... that's rita's head friend now]
[ he's still walking forward, but he'll walk backward if it means keeping an eye on the group. he really doesn't like what's going on with rita trying to- ? find loose change? what is she doing down there? and apparently manwol is hearing voices so this is all VERY NICE, VERY COOL. ]
[well. it's hard to miss a head when rita's pointing right at it, so he...kind of stares in its vague direction, not quite able to make out any features or the like.]
...are we gonna help him? What's it even doing down there? [he could ask the head directly, but no. he will ask at large.]
["Yeah, congratulations, you've exposed my dark secret! Which is that I'm a fucking head, yes, great observation-- are we really just gonna do the 'talk about me like I'm not here' thing, or are you gonna get me unstuck so I can answer some of your questions?"
He can't really like, roll or move or anything, he just sort of attempts to wiggle. His ears wiggle a bit, I guess.
"I've been here for a while, I've got a pretty good idea of what's going on in this place, so if you help me out... maybe I can help you guys."]
[ malik's just standing in the middle of the hallway watching this. he hasn't even seen the head but you know what? ]
Carrying around random body parts can't possibly be helpful. If it isn't another illusion, how can you trust a random... head... that's just laying around in this place?
and reaches in, and grabs the head with both hands. she turns to hand it to taichi... then remembers he's carrying a sword. does she have to hold this head? god damn it.]
... Fine, whatever. We might as well hear what you've got to say.
Any funny business, and you're getting drop-kicked, though.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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Manwol, move!
[because rita is throwing a fireball into a machine and it's likely going to explode.]
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This is a pretty makeshift golem, so when the fireball hits it, it just sort of flails around-- anyone too close is at risk of being slapped with its cables or jagged limbs, and the fireball's burst causes a brief shower of debris.
For a moment, it seems like that might be it, as the core shorts out and ceases to glow, then bursts in a little shower of sparks.
However-- that ghost had Death Burst on it, and the central piece of machinery explodes, before a chain reaction starts taking out all of its other pieces. It's still pretty close to some of the other machinery, too, so they're going to have a pretty big explosion problem on their hands in... oh, a couple of seconds.
The door across from them slides open.]
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Come on!!
[and she's reaching out to grab Malik by the arm so they can start hobbling their way towards the door sliding open]
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You don't need to pull me!
[ taichi is probably fine with running because he's a mad soccer lad, but malik watches rita as he runs to make sure her short little legs can get her out of here fast enough. he doesn't care or anything but they can't just leave here in there. god. ]
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actually no, kind of bad. that's a lot of explosions!
rita's taking off running, arms over her head. a few pieces of debris hit her, one of them heavy enough that she nearly loses balance, but she manages to keep moving forward.]
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but, well, forward! forward and he's making sure all four of them are ushered into the next room to see what hellscape awaits them next.]
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"Well, that was a bit better than we expected! Maybe we went too easy on you for that one."
And the other voice adds, "Now, why don't you smile and show your opponents how you're doing after that challenge they just gave you?"
One section of the wall turns into a screen, showing a group of four people standing in an identical room; they're all looking over like they can see you as well as you can see them. In that room all of you see Beauregard, Chung Myung, Gennai, and Alexei, who all seem like they're doing perfectly fine! They're just vibing here in Wonderland after they didn't have to do a fight at all.]
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...This has happened before, the more rational part of her says, but her eyes are honed in on Chung Myung -- looking alive and healthy -- and as always, her temper snaps. Is it because of the fight they just went through? Is it because she's remembering that it was her choice to hit trust over forsake, which led to the this? They're being yanked around, and Manwol's sorry to say that she falls for it --
in that she immediately throws Tsuyukusa's staff at the screen, it's fine]
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honestly if malik had something to throw, he'd do that too. but instead he crosses his arms and huffs, before realizing that they're bleeding and ow, that actually kind of hurts, so he stops. ]
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... It's a stupid trick.
[she huffs, and turns her attention to a piece of debris that's embedded itself in her arm, considering whether or not to attempt to remove it. she winces... and decides to leave it. this probably isn't a good time to start bleeding any more than necessary.]
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"He who fights monsters should be careful that he does not become a monster himself. If you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you."
whatever.]
Fine. Challenge completed. What's next?
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"Come along, and we'll show you," says the male voice, and the door ahead of you opens up. There's a hallway ahead, it looks like, lined with a few pieces of machinery, but if they're paying attention...
Taichi and Malik will hear nothing in this hallway. Manwol and Rita, however, can hear what sounds like a whisper coming from underneath one of these pieces of machinery. "Hey," it says. "Hey, over here!"]
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time to head to the hallway....
She tilts her head at the sound of the whispers, and then immediately grimaces.]
Don't listen.
[SHE OWNS A HOTEL FOR GHOSTS, GHOSTS DO THIS SHIT ALL THE TIME!!! just assuming that everyone else can hear this as it's happening]
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To you? Alright, I'll keep that in mind.
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she pauses, stopping in the hallway at the sound of the voice.]
What is it...?
[she'll kneel by the piece of machinery to see.]
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Hear something? [because he sure doesn't.]
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Anyway, as Rita kneels down to look, she will find.... god, I am so sorry it's Rita specifically who's looking, because there's a human head laying here, wearing a red beanie cap. There's no grossness here! He's genuinely just a head, no blood or anything on the neck, and he is looking back at Rita impatiently.
"Hey, can you like, un-stick me here, I kind of can't get out from here? On account of just being literally a head? So if one of you guys could give me a hand, that would be pretty cool."]
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but then she's distracted because no one in this group listens to her, apparently,]
Please tell me that you all hear that.
[she doesn't know it's a head.... that's rita's head friend now]
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[ he's still walking forward, but he'll walk backward if it means keeping an eye on the group. he really doesn't like what's going on with rita trying to- ? find loose change? what is she doing down there? and apparently manwol is hearing voices so this is all VERY NICE, VERY COOL. ]
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... It's a head.
[that sinks in for a second, and she asks it]
... Why are you a head.
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...are we gonna help him? What's it even doing down there? [he could ask the head directly, but no. he will ask at large.]
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He can't really like, roll or move or anything, he just sort of attempts to wiggle. His ears wiggle a bit, I guess.
"I've been here for a while, I've got a pretty good idea of what's going on in this place, so if you help me out... maybe I can help you guys."]
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I'm not touching it.
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Carrying around random body parts can't possibly be helpful. If it isn't another illusion, how can you trust a random... head... that's just laying around in this place?
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and reaches in, and grabs the head with both hands. she turns to hand it to taichi... then remembers he's carrying a sword. does she have to hold this head? god damn it.]
... Fine, whatever. We might as well hear what you've got to say.
Any funny business, and you're getting drop-kicked, though.
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