CAPTIVE GAME: WILD CITY & Worldbreaker

[idolpro]

[ You're in a room with no doors or windows, about the size of a living room. Depending on how many of you are around, it might feel a little cramped. The walls and ceiling are draped with fabrics, the floor covered in colorful rugs and piles of sitting cushions, but you can see the dirt ground and untreated wood walls peeking through in places. There are three or so oil lamps to light the space, each placed on a stump-like round little table that isn't big enough to hold much else. It's kind of cozy, but...

Most of the cushions are embroidered with an array of colors, but there's one pillow in particular, set aside from the rest, that's one solid color – Challah's position color. ]

Comments

Re: CAPTIVE

[goodtoolboy]

Alright well. I'll owe you one after this. But we'll do what we gotta get our unitmate back.

[turning on primal instinct, you might notice that your lizard brain is informing you that Scythe is the biggest, scariest animal in the room]

[goodtoolboy]

Fear.

I dunno if it'll work either, but we can start there.

Re: CAPTIVE

[goodtoolboy]

...if you wanna?

[why would being a scorpion matter]

Re: CAPTIVE

[bad_crowmance]

Of course, I wouldn't want to get between you and your unitmate.

[ He smiles, his tone pleasant and only slightly barbed at that last word. Barely even noticeable unless you're paying attention.

And when primal instinct hits him, the reactions are subtle. His pupils dilating, his shoulders tensing just a bit. ]

...Interesting ability you've got there.

[everylast]

[ A brief pause- ]

Yes. I'll do it, in the case that our first option is fruitless.

Re: CAPTIVE

[presentational]

[ Hunny is not exactly scary in normal form ]

It's not fair if I make the rest of you do all the hard stuff! And my manager liked the venomous kinds. I saw it in one of his magazines once!

Re: CAPTIVE

[presentational]

[ and, as the fear kicks in, there's also something that crawls up onto his ankle, up into his pant leg. ]

Re: CAPTIVE

[bad_crowmance]

[ He blinks rapidly at that-- no sign of tears or anything close as he looks downwards, towards his leg. ]

...So that's your strategy, huh?

Re: CAPTIVE

[goodtoolboy]

[are scorpions supposed to be scary is that it]

Okay. Go for it.

[everylast]

[ That was ... immediate.

There's, at first, the thought of just what did BAD END=DEAD END do to their captive, in order to rescue Worldbreaker so quickly...?

... And, then, there's the stomach-sinking, icy-veined feeling that they can't rescue Challah, now.

He balls his hands into fists at his sides, and--- a darkness crosses his face that hasn't been seen, before. ]

[presentational]

[ when their hostage vanishes, an irritated scorpion drops to the floor, and then circles the empty chair, pincers snapping with agitation

He feels you, buddy ]

[goodtoolboy]

[oh my god]

Already?!

[everylast]

... Is this some idea of a sick joke?!

[ His voice breaks, deeper and angrier and ... quite a far departure from the soft and gentle himbo prince he's presented as thusfar. ]

[presentational]

[ turns back to human form, loosely curled up at the base of empty chair. ]

They got to it faster than us.

[everylast]

And now these demons just plan for us to "sit nice" and "wait" [ those words come in a sour, mocking tone. ] as we're unable to do anything to save someone dear to us, I suppose?

[ his tone is deeper, angrier, with venom and hate and darkness and is almost a complete 180! from the soft uwu himbo prince presentation he'd had up until now. ]

[everylast]

And, now, Challah suffers for it.

[goodtoolboy]

[stuffs his hands in his pockets]

...this is my fault. We should've just busted his nose right away. ...I dunno what makes people cry, I thought we'd have more time.

[presentational]

Those are the rules.

[everylast]

[ ...It is, in essence, his fault, but Horizon has enough grasp of himself not to say that right now. ]

...

We need to gather the attention of the hosts. We'll force them to return Challah to us.

[everylast]

What keeps us from playing as if we were the homeland of our captive, and saying "rules are meant to be broken"? We'll force the hosts to listen to us and return her.

[goodtoolboy]

They're not gonna.

[simply]

This is the point.

We'll have t'see how bad she's hurt, and decide what t'do then.

[everylast]

No-

Surely, there's a back door- a failsafe to give us a chance in the case that this happens. We'll gain their attention, and then--

[goodtoolboy]

We aren't stronger than them. We aren't even close to as strong as them. The only reason we can still use our abilities is cuz they let us, in most games they're turned off. And I should be more powerful than anyone here but they stripped my power like it was nothing before I even got here.

I won't stop you if you wanna try, but this is how these kinda games work.

We were supposed t'make him cry as quick as possible and I fucked it up by not wanting to be an asshole. And now we gotta deal with that.

[presentational]

Why would they listen to us?

[everylast]

[ In truth, his words make sense. But -- this powerlessness, this hopelessness- unable to do something while he knows someone is being hurt -

It stirs a feeling inside of him that he has no context for. ]

We'll hear it from them, then.
















[ and then he picks up one of the oil lanterns and smashes it against the floor by the draping fabric ]