MISSION 2.C

[adsum]

Participants: Natsume, Komaeda, Hinata, Helena
Location: Fourth Floor
Date: 08/22 - 08/28

(ooc notes: I will state any possible content warnings in the subject line of the mod response when it comes up. If anything makes you uncomfortable, please tell me so I can back off and refocus the thread.

There will be no tag order, and a mod response will come after at least 4 player responses OR the next day, whichever is earlier. Please note this means that if you're absent for a day or more, the thread will move on, but I will pace things so that people aren't missing large plot beats.)

Comments

[decrypter]

[while Komaeda may have narrowly avoided hitting Helena in the face, the sharp sound of the smack is still enough to startle her. with a yelp, she flinches back, probably stumbling into Hinata along the way. but before she can ask what on earth that was about, the drowsiness she was about to comment on abates for a moment. long enough to be noticeable, and she shakes her head a little.]

...Has anyone else been hearing something since we came in here?

[that hissing. it's still there. and this clarity won't last forever - this unnatural tiredness is slowly creeping back, making her lean a bit more on the cane. the sound, it focuses her immediate mind, while the body wants to maybe rest.

no. not yet. not until they're through the exit. no, she tells herself.]

[crystallomancy]

The hissing, you MEAN. Yes.

( komaeda just immediately distracted him by being a goddamn MENACE.

a menace with the good quality of being a willing guinea pig; natsume watches first the lights, then the... other movement out further. hard to see given the volume of brightness, but there.

and the unusual tiredness, too, as the effect of clapping the light away dissipates.

........ )

A-san, I'm going to clap NOW.

( just a forewarning for her, since she yelped before and he has been tragically yanked forward by komaeda, and he doesn't want to startle her -- he'll clap another light between his hands, wincing a little at the sting of his hands against each other. he is just a little bit stressed, he may have used a little more force than necessary. )

-- What do you suppose it IS? There's nothing here to cause IT, but I doubt it's a shared deluSION.

[commences]

( after natsume's clap, komaeda blinks as if trying to force the drowsiness from his eyes, and he looks towards the miniscule lights here and there. this sudden feeling of taking a nap didn't come until they arrived, and so he hums softly as he tries to get a good idea of where everyone is from the small bits of light. )

...

( he lets natsume go so he can properly clap, and komaeda doesn't want to hold him back — he has an idea, and he's going along with it. with the group close enough, he manages to shuffle behind natsume and hinata just a bit, and with both his hands he'll slap them at the same time against their ass — )

Just to keep the lights away. ( whatever those lights happen to be, and if either natsume or hinata made a reaction... that's komaeda taking his turn to make some sound, you know? don't disappoint him. ) I heard it as well since the start... but with this many, it hasn't gotten any louder..

( or are they just not being subjected to their power? either way, with the lights all around them, it probably doesn't matter where they go because they'll run into them eventually. )

I didn't get a good look when trying to squash it. ( there wasn't any residue on his hands either that he feels so. ) It's no firefly, that's for sure.

[crystallomancy]

( natsume turns around and punches komaeda in the stomach )

Sorry, there was one on YOU ♪

[commences]

GHRG —

( is that a sound? i don't know. but right in the stomach is where he's healing AFTER HE'S BEEN ALMOST POISONED! WTF NATSUME!! okay, but with the pain comes his legs weak as he falls to his knees, but since he's on the ground he's going to wrap his arms aroudn natsume's leg ( to trip him up ) — you're coming with him bitch.

but with every pain... comes hope, as long as komaeda can hold on —

cough... )

Ah...ahaa... from that too... can come... ( cough ) hope...

[crystallomancy]

( you BITCH he's (rolls a dice real quick) falling yeah, hissing even though he's catching himself with his forearms. )

I'm going to throw sulfuric acid on you as soon as we have access to IT, I swear to GOD--

( sighs sorry everyone )

[decrypter]

[a loud thwack breaks between them, a very decided strike of the cane against the ground. while it doesn't have the same power it did before, it's the equivalent of a judge hitting their gavel, a door being slammed. it's also very attention getting at close range.

having recovered from her stumbling, it's been clear enough what she can hear from the childish scuffling that does nothing to solve their predicament - and really, infighting can wait until they're at least out of here. slap each other in your own time.]

Please, would you cut it out? We still have to find the exit.

[at least they haven't moved her to actually yelling. that'll be a rare day if it occurs.]

Come on, we have to keep moving.

[crystallomancy]

( —he jerks a little, quiets down, and then, after a moment: )

SorRY, A-san. ( but not sorry, komaeda. HE STARTED ITTTT would be his tone but he knows he's at fault here too.... even if komada DID start it........ ) We should continue lighting up our surrounDINGS.

( ............he's kicking komaeda off his legs, so not much in the way of deliberate hurting but if he gets hurt then that's just how it happens, natsume just wants to stand up again so he can get to work on smacking more little lights and disappearing their tiredness :/ )

[commences]

I'm sorry for (E)S-kun...

( ensemble stars-kun. komaeda sighs as he's shaken (but not stirred) off by natsume's attempts. even though he did start it, it beats letting drowsiness take over them within this odd abyss. whenever the idol gets to his feet, komaeda follows suit albeit slowly — he is a sick adult, you know! a hand rests on his stomach where the other hit, and he chuckles softly before hinata has a chance to get on him for his actions. )

Of course, trash like me only knows to ruin things... sighs...

( is that good enough for an apology? he even bows his head despite helena can't even see him, so that's an accomplishment. )

Hmm... if you suggest crushing more of the lights... ( since helena's the party leader, he directs his inquiry towards her: ) I can go up further to see how many I can kill if that's fine with you?

( he's going to listen just this once. )

[adsum]

[ Smacking people's asses may or may not be productive, but every time one of them extinguishes a light, they can see and feel their surroundings change. The ground becomes uneven, full of gnarls, something slick and wet curls around their ankles from the darkness but pulls away as they walk by. The air becomes chilly, with a sticky dampness that clings to the skin and squeezes on the lungs. The movement in their periphery slows and speeds up simultaneously, golden eyes a streak until they blink away into the dark. The ringing in their ears becomes louder and louder and louder and louder until it's almost painful, until it's all they can hear and nobody's voice can reach them, not even their own.

Only a few lights remain. Two. One.

Zero.

Silence. Darkness. Emptiness. As if starting all over, they find themselves standing in a void of nothing and nowhere, but this time, even the floor is taken from them and they plummet all at once, falling, falling, gaining speed with nothing to slow themselves with, nothing to do but brace for the impact if it would ever come— and come it does, after three solid minutes of falling, in an explosion of shredded nerves and splintered bone and blinding light. ]