yogen | may missions

Entry tags:

!event

may missions

Who: Alice Yabusame, B.B. Hood, Childe, Dito, Himeko Inaba, Kiyotaka Ishimaru, Nene Yashiro, Noah Ebalon, Rantarou Amami, Rio Ranger, Shin Tsukimi, Sou Hiyori
What: mission time
When: May 20, 2000
Where: various
Warnings: tba.

(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. Note that there will be references to violence and murder.

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.)

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[He's quiet as he takes in the sight of the room, eyes flickering about behind the crimson mask and settling momentarily on the cat. A glance beside and behind him towards the group, and then he's stepping forward into the room to address Aiko herself.]

I'm sorry if we're intruding on you, but nothing seems to work quite right in here in comparison to what I know of this place. Do you happen to know what's going on?

( it's a cozy carriage, in the sense that cozy tends to translate to small, and amami's not too fond of it to tell the truth. it might be about a hundred times bumpier and louder, but the small, confined space with hardly any room (or reason) to move his legs while they travel is very car-like, and he finds he could use some fresh air. in fact, he's dibs'd a window seat — now he's probably hanging his head out of it like a dog, trying to watch as they get closer and closer to their destination.

it's only ishimaru's voice that draws his attention back, glancing between his classmate and the boy seated with them. )

You have any ideas for what? I'm not against it, but it's not like we've got food or anything on us. If he's really that tired, it might be a good idea to let him rest until we get back.

( he'd just feel a bit bad pestering the poor kid when he's clearly exhausted as-is. )

[ The door leads into a pitch black room, or more specifically a hallway. The light of the lantern won't go very far here, no more than a few feet ahead, as though the darkness were absorbing it. It seems to go on endlessly no matter how far she walks, and by time that becomes apparent the way back will already be lost. But as long as she keeps moving, she'll eventually reach the door at the end - one with a proper keyhole this time.

It will open easily with one of the keys that she was given earlier, and opens to reveal a large ante chamber. The room is as dark at the hallway. It's hard to tell in the relative darkness if it's empty or if the furniture is simply hidden, but what can be seen is the sparkling green gemstone hidden in the very back of the room. ]

... Ugly. Really fucking ugly.

[ dito mutters, especially as the blood spurts around and its chest stretches like a goddamn wound. it kind of interests dito honestly, the way it moves to viscerally without any real discernment.

oh, dito wants to cut into it so much more.

he's got a high pain tolerance, too.

there's a toothy, wide-mouthed grin from dito at this point as he backs off, pulling his spear out as he considers where to stab it next.

— he's not expecting the sofa, though. ]

Shit.

[ dito mutters as he attempts a dodge, ducking to the side and out of the way of the sofa but still really, really focused on the monster at hand.

a little too much, maybe, because he doesn't care what bonnie's doing at this point (even though he gives her a pointed glance, because really?), and he's going to fucking do that 20 minutes challenge. he can kill it, he thinks. he doesn't know what his motivation is here though, aside from simply being peeved by all the others right now.

yeah, that'll do it.

and the fact that he's not liking this thing. ]

Hey, ugly—

[ he's so set on that. and he's shallow.

he rolls his shoulder, positioning his spear forward again. ]

Come at me for real.

[ he's going to stand there a second to gauge its position, far more interested in its own movements than its furniture. midori's gone ranger's gone bonnie's gone...it's fine!!!!!! ]

( hey remember how she kinda latched onto aiko like, hardcore? i don't think this encounter will actually fix anything. she kinda squeezes noah's hand in hers before taking out a small notepad from her pocket and writing. ... you can't trust ghosts to know jsl, you know? once she's written what she wants to say down, she gently slides it across the desk. )

Do you remember what happened to you?

That's the question, isn't it?

[ She takes in a breath, exhales the tired sigh of one whose been dealing with a problem for far too long. Her fingertips brush against the paper that's slid across as her eyes flick across the words. Her brow furrows and a small frown tugs at her lips. Her hand now reaches up to touch the back of her head where it had been struck before, the very memory enough to make it throb, and if she thinks too hard of it she's certain that her body will return to the state it should be in.

So she doesn't. ]

Vaguely. I know I was assaulted in the library. It was by one of you transfer students... Did you ever find out who did it? You should have killed him before he could get to anyone else. You would've saved yourself a lot of trouble.

[ It's harsh and even cold, but the truth often is. ]

It's too late now though. After that incident, I found myself here... I'm not sure how it came into being or even how I came to be here, but if I had to guess... I'd say it's because my contract was broken... You guys did this to yourselves.

[ She shakes her head. There's a soft, humorless laugh. She hadn't wanted to die either, but then she hadn't been given a choice either. ]

I won't bore you with the details, but my contract tied my fate to the school. If I could live until the end of the year, then not only would every third year graduate, we would do away with these anarchic systems of killing and dying for points or because of slight failures. But if I died, then so would everyone else.

[ High risk, high reward. Everyone would survive if she succeed, but everyone would die if she failed. ]

So if you think of the school as being like a sand castle decorated with shells and colored glass, then this place - [ She extends her hand the surrounding area. ] - Might be like the tide coming in to sweep it away bit by bit... Well, that's my best guess anyway.

[The word "contract" pulls a small sigh from Childe's lips, letting his weapons join together into a polearm that he can stab into the ground beside him. Specifically so that he can fold his arms. He's well versed by now in such exchanges, and if whoever it is she'd entered into an agreement with is as final and rigid in such contractional dealings as Zhongli... Well.

If that's the case, they might be already done for.]

Quite a thing to gamble on. Not that I can particularly fault you for taking the risk, but it's a rather bold move. Who holds the other end of your contract? Perhaps the negotiations of a new one are on the table?

Edited 2022-06-02 02:26 (UTC)

[Noah sweating because he healing-potion'ed the guy who did this like... last month, oops. He's always had the sense that Komaeda is not a good egg but his sense of wanting to connect with others is too great. It'll kill him one day.

The good news is everything is Komaeda's fault. The bad news is Noah would still die for him. Or is that the opposite? Maybe it's all bad news. Noah guiltily runs a hand through the back of his hair.]

There are loopholes with contracts. [Noah is a lawyer obviously.] They're kind of like magic circles, right? If you have two magic circles and they're bound together, if you get rid of one of them, the other one might still work. But if you get rid of both of them, then they wouldn't work at all. [No, Noah, that's absolutely not how that works. What makes you think that's how that works. (NPClamor cameo, anyone with supernatural sight gets to hear him probably going NO NOAH THAT'S NOT HOW THAT WORKS AT ALL) (Noah is convinced though).]

...um. [Anyway, more to his point.] If we kill the other contract-holder, the contract is null and void because there's no one to uphold the other end of it. Right?

[No one judge him for this he's trying.]

[ It's fine, at least the monster is still here to keep him company.

It's mouth opens and closes causing teeth to clack together, massive chest rising and falling as though it were breathing. It's not very intelligent, but it has just enough of a mind to recognize that a person should not be able to stab it, nor to dodge a sofa. It crashes into the staircase behind him, the resulting bang mixing with the sound of wood cracking and splintering, the cushions falling to the ground behind it.

It pays no mind to its gaping wound as it rushes forward, quick relative to its size but far slower than a person such as Dito, swinging one massive arm out, long fingers reaching in what appears to be an effort to get a hold on some part of him, or at least to slam into him hard enough to throw him off balance (or clear across the room.) ]

[ Such chilling words... Alice doesn't recognize the murdered girl beyond today's ghostly glimpses of her, and he knows next to nothing about these contracts — only that they appeal to different people for different reasons — so he stays quiet now, listening. Questions about the shadow students won't change their shared fate; he doesn't ask them. Finding a way to nullify this particular contract altogether, on the other hand, seems to be the right path to take... ]

[ with the click of a silver cross down on the floor, midori takes a step back to pick it up from the floor. looking at the face then flipping so he can check behind it, he pawns it off to ranger next. he's seen enough crosses or thought of the idea of them on his two floors due to the theme, and he doesn't need it at the moment. someone else could use it, he believes. ]

There's nothing important about this one.

[ a camera from one, a cross from another. it brings him back to the camera again to check the picture he took only to be met with something else. ]

Wait...

[ good is one word for it, but when it's used by ranger it's meant to be useful. the image presented to him is strictly that when it doesn't match the reality before him— either what they're seeing isn't what they're really seeing, or this is an alternate reality in the image, or the fate of the person before him of the future or past. he can't say because photographs can mean so many things. it puts him in the mind of the one final destination move when the protagonist used a camera to figure how people were going to die.

midori has never been fond of his picture taken, and so it crosses his mind to avoid doing so here, and the same with ranger along with the group. ]

It's interesting. [ tapping the photo while showing it to ranger, he'll bring him along towards the row of dolls in search of the mysterious box to check out. ] What do you think, a pretty useful camera, hm?

[ he does wonder if dito and bonnie are fairing well, probably nothing compared to the little puzzle solving these two have to work with. ]

[ There's a wry smile at the questions. ]

The contract with the school... I don't know exactly who signs off on them. They don't tell us that, so you'd just be guessing... But I guess you could say there is a loophole of a kind.

[ Aiko instead stands up, looking around the roof. It's in shambles, the tree outside withered and dead, an entire world that's devoid of any life save those shades which are trapped within it. There's them, there's her, and then there's the students who keep coming in here and disturbing it.

The cat hops off of the cabinet, scooting behind the desk and pawing at her legs. She glances down, her thoughts of how they might deserve that fate as much as the suggestion that maybe throwing her murderer into the void would be enough - that monster could be their stand in for the other half of her contract. A sacrifice for the great good, if you will, and then the two schools could coexist nicely.

There's a small sigh before she scoops the shadow up. It wiggles in her grasp, but eventually it resigns itself to being held. ]

But where there's life, there's hope, and change only follows action. That's why I took such a risky gamble. It's the same reason that you keep messing around with monsters and dropping victims into the void to try and figure things out, right? That could've backfired pretty spectacularly, you know.

[ She looks to Alice, then Childe, before her eyes finally flick down to Noah's hands. Brusque, cold, distant, those all describe her - but not heartless, and none took such a risky position for the fun of it. ]

Anyway, that's how it is... There's nothing in life that's free, actions have consequences, and sacrifices must be made. The only want to satisfy the contract that I made is to bring an end to the school and everything within it... Do you understand?

[ Do they see why they're here yet? For one reason or another, they're all tied back to this place - people who feel at home and have toyed with it, who want to protect others, and even one thought of her so much despite not knowing her at all. ]

[ dito is dying because of you

If he moves the dolls aside, he'll find that the lock box is in fact there! There compartment on the top has a lid which can be flipped open to reveal an indentation where something can be placed. It seems to be just the right size for the number with the key attached to the back that he had found before. Once he does so and flips the lid locked once more, he'll hear the click of a lock, the tiny doors swinging open to reveal a winding key! If used to restart the grandfather clock, it will reveal a moonstone at hidden within it.

Incidentally, there's a breaker box here as well. He may want to lower the handle once he's done. ]

Edited 2022-06-04 04:50 (UTC)

Huh. That is useful. We'll have to play around with it more, ahaha... Wonder if it belonged to one of the kids here before?

[ Not that it really matters. It's theirs now. ]

Sure hope this is the most annoying thing we're gonna find in here.

[ While his coworker is taking care of the jewelry box (or at least, an object similar to one,) he'll examine the breaker box for several seconds, eyes trailing to see where the wires go before pulling it down. ]

[ It's not long before she reaches that point, where she's unable to see the path that she just came from. Bonnie only looked back once or twice, mainly to see if anything would follow her, but it didn't seem like anything was coming. Oh well.

Once she's at the door, it takes her a second to find the keys from before... and once she's in, she looks around. Augh, there has to be some kind of light switch here as well--

Except, that's immediately ignored.

What isn't is the gem that's waiting at the back of the room, glimmering, nearly calling out to her. ]

Ohh?! How beautiful!

[ It's a present just for her! Time to press on towards that gem then, traps be damned. ]

[Ishimaru frowns as he considers Amami's words.]

Well, you do make some good points, Amami-kun. There is not much we can do as is, and it may be best to just let him rest. If anything, perhaps his pulse could be checked, just to make sure that this is not dire?

[ dito is dying because of lonnie's 1!

between the camera and jewelry box, and fiddling with the grandfather clock— they're given so much to work with. he does leave his coworker with the breaker as he inspects the stone in hand. must be one of the items they need to use within the main hall. ]

Do you want the jewelry box? You can fit all your belongings inside.

[ which he saw all of that when inspect ranger's body during his malfunction, and they must be important pieces since he doesn't really wear much jewelry aside from clothes. if he wants to, even his gloves can go inside, as he doubts the other's partner wears anything worth putting inside. ]

This might be all there is here, as we're dealing with clocks and obtained something inside of it.

[ he gives everything a good look over as he watches ranger pull down the handle. ]

[ well maybe if hiyori were there he wouldn't have rolled a 1!

There's no immediate change when the handle is pulled down, but a close inspection will show that the wires run in the direction of the wall with the eyes on it. It would be safe to assume that it's connected to the devices present in this room. If they walk across the tiles once more, they'll find that they no longer sink down. The room is silent save the ticking of the grandfather clock.

They are free to leave once ready. ]

Edited 2022-06-04 21:21 (UTC)

[ Well, that was anticlimactic. Still, he'll take that over more excitement at this point. Ranger shakes his head in response to the question. ]

Nah, I don't need it. Don't people tend to get in trouble when they steal from places like this?

[ Granted they're already taking three items, but they probably shouldn't test their luck by continuing to take more... Then again, maybe he'll just come back for it later. For now though - ]

Seems like it. Should we get going back? Dito should be be done with his part by now.

[ Unfortunately, the hallway was empty, but the dark room seems to have something within it. She'll feel and hear what seems to be the cracking and crunching of bones under her heels as she moves along, everything from delicate finger bones to crushed in skulls. The shadows themselves seem to shift around as she does so, each step drawing another slight response, but nothing that would impede her from collecting her bounty.

What a prize it is! There are two that await her, in fact. One is a lapis lazuli, a circular precious gemstone that's just the right size to fit into the slot in front of the west arrow in the front room. But it's likely the second item that will justify her trip down here, a reward for her bravery in the form of a large fabergé egg. It's warm to the touch, but there's nothing that suggests any danger.

The skeletal hand that grabs ankle, on the other hand, may be of some concern. ]

Absolutely! ☆ There's no way Dito can be bested by a creature with no eyes.

[ then again, he doesn't want to comment on the lack of brains the participants had on his floor. it's still a sore spot for him even with those who muddled between his plans, causing everything to backfire when he had planned, prepared, and gambled to get a foolish teenage girl to sign a contract to keep every person alive.

he sets the jewelry box down finding it a shame when it doesn't look damaged at all. well, that's for ranger to take and not not for midori as he holds onto the moonstone, and places the camera around his neck.

midori will start moving along with ranger so that they can leave the room. ]

Take a closer look.

[ he's handing off the moonstone since ranger actually likes little space trinkets. ]

[ Fortunately, he thinks Dito will have an easier time handling the situation without the prerequisite handholding. Ranger takes the moonstone and looks it over. There doesn't seem to be anything unusual about it, especially not enough to warrant going through such efforts to hide it, so he supposes there must be another reason that it had such efforts were made. Really, this entire set up seems rather needlessly elaborate. ]

Hm? It just looks like a normal moonstone to me... You think it goes out front?

[ It's just idle chatter as they make their way back. If Bonnie took the west wing, then there should only be two left. ]

Edited (why is my brain empty today) 2022-06-04 22:07 (UTC)

[Dropping victims into the void.

He’s quiet for a moment, but the comment eventually pulls a soft chuckle and a “Fair enough” out of him. He lets her finish speaking before he comments again, however, tapping the toes of his shoe onto the ground and mulling her words over as his eyes drift towards the wisteria outside.]

And if we were to find a way to… Level the playing ground, so to speak. Would that send us all home?

With everything else found in the rooms.

[ since there were more directions for them to take, but they're just chit-chatting while bonnie and dito work unless they have to go into another room. ]

What other stones do you think we'll find? Could they all represent night time...?

[ interesting, interesting. ]

If it's a moonstone for the north, then it'd be a sunstone for the south.

[ The moon that captures and reflects the sun's light. They've been natural companions for all of human history, really, and for good reason.

The other are harder to say. It could be water and earth, or blues and blacks for the night and day skies, or a continuation of the abstract symbolisms that the two names jewels would bring with them. ]

What's the point of hiding them behind such a complicated mess? This some sorta trial of courage? The reward better be worth it if so.

Edited 2022-06-04 23:07 (UTC)

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