WEEK 6 CYOA - TAICHI, MALIK, RITA, MANWOL

[dormheads]

Comments

[godcards]

[ well. this sucks. if malik wasn't feeling nauseous already, he certainly will now with all these throbbing gray tones.

the holes burned into his memory bother him about as much as his limited vision, but he can't really dwell on what he doesn't remember. so he's just vibing i guess! ]

[overlimit]

[rita closes her eyes and tries not to show a strong reaction to these new sacrifices. with one arm still supporting cam, the other tenses, her hand clenched into a fist.]

I'd rather lose my past than my future. Take it.

[but quietly, she mutters] Sorry, Estelle...

[the second one... isn't any easier to face. her magic talents are what make her who she is. without them...

... they can't afford to keep increasing their penalties.]

... Take them both.

[goalsides]

[the smoke is a little weird and he's eyeing it warily, a slight wince as his body settles into not being in its peak condition. as everyone else takes their penalties, and taichi hears that name from rita he just. frowns. a lot.]

...we'll be fine. Even if you're just an amateur, you're better than the rest of us when it comes to magic. We just have to be smart going forward.

[or he'll just stab everybody. that sounds like a good plan.]

You have our sacrifices. Can we proceed?

[ambiography]

{At Manwol's question, Cam whispers, "Hey, you know how I told you guys this place literally eats your suffering? That's bad vibes, right there."

Malik can keep vibing! He is allowed.

Rita, on accepting her penalties, will remember the moment she chose to give up, will recall Estelle at her side, but then-- it fades. She can't hold on to it, and after a moment, it's gone; her memories of her life are like that moment never happened. Following that, she'll find she can't quite remember higher-level magic or anything too advanced, and she'll have some difficulty with any further spells she casts.

After Taichi asks if they can proceed, though, one of the voices says:

"Oh, of course you can! That year thing, that was a pretty good one, you all are doing great in here! Maybe a little too great, in some cases, we might need to up your difficulty a little, but... let's move on to your next challenge."

The remaining two panels light up, and the door slides open!

In the next chamber, once again, they see a point of light further ahead of them.]

[lifeless]

[Manwol's mood sours at Cam's reply, but she thankfully holds her tongue. She's worried. She's worried about Malik, who offered up a whole year's worth of memories. Rita, who had to lose a memory and some of her abilities (are their memories always going to be sacrificed, no matter which game they're forced to play), and...

She looks at Taichi as she walks through the door. She doesn't think Muramasa is speaking to him, but his aggressive behavior was obvious as soon as he wielded it.

...They have to be okay. She has to be responsible, and do what she can.]

[godcards]

[ if nothing else, malik seems a little less aggro since he lost another chunk of memories. he trots along behind manwol - he remembers the other three, why they're here, and his time at wiwaldi. which, for now, is enough to keep him moving forward. ]

[overlimit]

[in those last moments of reliving that memory, rita's eyes widen, welling up with tears. she wipes them away... and it's gone. both the memory, and whatever she was feeling just then.

she'll continue to the next chamber, cam still cradled in front of herself in one arm.]

[goalsides]

[heading for the light is a little too apt when this place wants to kill them, he thinks, but he says nothing. he follows along with the others, and even if he's still kind of buzzing with unsettled energy he does make sure that manwol and malik in particular are having an easy enough time walking given they're also colorblind now.

granted, he trips over his own foot and stumbles, knee buckling as he bounces a few steps to stay upright. fuck. okay.

there's an annoyed kind of growl, but still nothing! let's see what's in this chamber...]

[ambiography]

[As they approach the light... well, they've seen this before. Seen the podium before, with their faces on it that begin to rotate like a slot machine.

"Ready for another round?" says the female voice. "You know the rules here, so let's just see who gets to play this time!"

And the rotating screen stops on... Malik. Looks like it's his turn to make the decision; the same two buttons are on the podium, Trust or Forsake.]

[lifeless]

[thank you taichi for helping ur blind friends out. manwol squints at the letters but the setup is familiar enough that she immediately knows what this is.

...she's thinking of who the opposite group apparently consists of -- while also knowing that they have to be fake, because why would Beau hang out with her worst enemy? then again, she also remembers what cam said]

You said we should always hit forsake?

[addressing cam,]

[godcards]

[ it takes a second for malik to orient himself. if he were in taichi's position, he'd rely on color-coding, but that doesn't work here, so he wants to make extra sure he knows which button is which. ]

I'm hitting Forsake.

[ sorry guys you don't even get any input. unless someone stops him, he's hitting that button. ]

[overlimit]

[taichi gets a lingering look of concern as they advance, but before long they've made it here, and... yeah, this is exactly what she figured malik would do.]

... It wasn't the other field trip team after all. So...

[kind of a resigned gesture. like, sure, maybe all of this is bullshit and they might as well take the easy route.]

[goalsides]

Wait, are we sure there's only one group wandering around and playing right now? [uh? guys??? but okay, malik's hitting the button before they can even stop him, so that's cool.]

[ambiography]

["Yeah," Cam says, "Forsake gives you the best odds. Could be a little bit harder, but you could skip, and no chance of the worst case scenario."

Malik's made his choice already, though, and as he hits the button, the male voice speaks up again.

"Oh, taking a different route this time, huh? Let's see how that goes for you!"

On the wall across from them, a screen displays:

YOUR CHOICE: FORSAKE.

THEIR CHOICE: TRUST.

Confetti falls from the ceiling, as that voice laughs. "Oh, congratulations! Since your opponents picked Trust, you don't have to face the next challenge at all! You can move on whenever all of you are ready."]

[lifeless]

[This feels like something they should be celebrating, but Manwol's already ready to hurry up and move on to whatever freakish torture challenge is ahead. She touches her forehead, tries to squint at the blurry letters before her.

Confetti lands in her hair and she brushes it off.]

Let's go.

[godcards]

[ that's ok malik will celebrate enough for all four of them. he is feeling very, very smug right now. ]

I told you all. I told you!

[ wait shit which blurry blob is which, who is what, where is the door, where are they going. ]

[overlimit]

[rita gives an uncertain look to manwol and taichi (can they see it? can anybody but her see anything? GOD.) but there's nothing to do but move forward, so she does.

she'll be nice and brush some confetti off cam as well as herself as they move.]

[goalsides]

[dislikedislikedislikedislikedislikedislikedislikedislikedislikedislikedislike.

he's still very tense as they move forward, bringing up the rear to make sure manwol and malik are heading in the right direction...wherever that is. where are they moving on to? onward and forward. he does nothing to brush off the confetti so that can just live in his hair now i guess.]

[ambiography]

[Off you all go! The next room you step into is full of more ominous-looking machinery than the last factory, with open, bubbling pools on the floor, a whiff of noxious fumes as they enter.

"Oh, no, this isn't-- pardon our mess, you skipped this!"

It all fades into darkness, then reforms into a hallway with three doors ahead of them.

"Instead, you're lucky enough to have earned a bonus round! Now, you can pick one of these three doors to enter, and you'll play whichever type of game is listed on that door."

Words appear on each: HEALING GAME, ESCAPE GAME, RECOVERY GAME.

Cam looks at these, and he speaks up to say, "Guys, listen, I know you're gonna want out but the Escape Game-- that's how I got trapped here in the first place. Only one person gets to leave, in that one. I didn't want to take the deal, but... she did."]

[lifeless]

[i have decided that manwol cannot read, she just squints at all three names. she was about to jump straight out of her skin at the BUBBLING POOLS OF NOXIOUS FUMES but then it disappears just like that? very nice FAKE OUT, VOICES!!!

She looks at the doors.]

What does it say.

[godcards]

I think we'll have to rely on Rita for that one.

[ he's not going to embarrass himself by pressing his face all up on the doors. ]

[overlimit]

How blind are you guys right now...!?

[guys????

she sighs.]

"Healing Game, Escape Game, Recovery Game."

If we're taking Cam's word on this, the Escape Game sounds like garbage, so that's out. [looking down at the head.] Know anything about the other two?

[goalsides]

You don't really wanna know the answer to that. [stubborn. but he hums to himself as he thinks of the other options.]

What's the difference between healing and recovery anyway? Wouldn't that be the same?

[ambiography]

["Definitely garbage. Sure, it'll get one of you out, but the rest of you are gonna be stuck here basically forever."

As for Taichi's question, his brow furrows as he thinks.

"I mean, healing usually doesn't work in here? It's one of the rules. So however that goes, it's gonna be their way. But if they're separate things, then Recovery probably means, like, recovering something else."]

[lifeless]

Why do they all have to be games...

[manwol can't resist saying, despite the black WISPS that will probably APPEAR from her. She squints at what she's hoping is the recovery game door]

We'll all have to play something in order to get whatever it is, and we've all lost a lot so far. My vote's on recovery.