[Slowly, each podium begins to surround its occupant with a hard plastic bubble. Jamie and Bolton's platform is shielded behind a wall of hard plastic. Toby's podium, on the other hand, doesn't shield him. The Griffin flaps his wings and makes a snap decision, escaping his own podium before it closes and going to Toby. He grabs the penguin with his forelegs and takes to the air, looking for a way out of the room. Before he can get very far with his flightless brother, the glass floor opens.
The other Champions can only watch in horror as the vacuum of space strips feather from skin and drags Griffin and Toby both into the giant hole in the floor. The Griffin's claws scramble for purchase against the metal, carving furrows into the edge, but there's no stopping the unforgiving void. They hang suspended in nothingness for a horrifying moment, as the glass begins to close back over them again.
[[EXPLICIT CONTENT BEGINS]]
And then it becomes apparent that they're swelling. They begin to bloat, the skin under their feathers flushed with blood and bursting capillaries, until they're more feathered blobs than anything resembling an actual living thing. Toby chokes and blood sprays from his beak, wings and feet flailing in the nothing for a long second until his struggling slowly falls still. The Griffin dies much more slowly, staring up at the remaining Champions for the long couple of minutes that it takes to suffocate in the void of space, beating his wings and reaching out with claws until his struggling too falls still.
[[END OF EXPLICIT CONTENT]]
Once the glass floor closes again, the bubbles disappear and release the other Champions. Bolton finds his voice.]
The teleporter's ready to take you back to the main level. First group up there, make sure you leave the pad quick so the others can follow after you.
Execution: Pilot Ejection (cw: graphic descriptions of unprotected space death)
Attention, Champions. Now that the votes have been tallied, please stay close to your podiums.
[The mechanical voice comes from the room around them.]
Input tallied. Culprit identified. Execution Protocols initiated.
[Slowly, each podium begins to surround its occupant with a hard plastic bubble. Jamie and Bolton's platform is shielded behind a wall of hard plastic. Toby's podium, on the other hand, doesn't shield him. The Griffin flaps his wings and makes a snap decision, escaping his own podium before it closes and going to Toby. He grabs the penguin with his forelegs and takes to the air, looking for a way out of the room. Before he can get very far with his flightless brother, the glass floor opens.
The other Champions can only watch in horror as the vacuum of space strips feather from skin and drags Griffin and Toby both into the giant hole in the floor. The Griffin's claws scramble for purchase against the metal, carving furrows into the edge, but there's no stopping the unforgiving void. They hang suspended in nothingness for a horrifying moment, as the glass begins to close back over them again.
[[EXPLICIT CONTENT BEGINS]]
And then it becomes apparent that they're swelling. They begin to bloat, the skin under their feathers flushed with blood and bursting capillaries, until they're more feathered blobs than anything resembling an actual living thing. Toby chokes and blood sprays from his beak, wings and feet flailing in the nothing for a long second until his struggling slowly falls still. The Griffin dies much more slowly, staring up at the remaining Champions for the long couple of minutes that it takes to suffocate in the void of space, beating his wings and reaching out with claws until his struggling too falls still.
[[END OF EXPLICIT CONTENT]]
Once the glass floor closes again, the bubbles disappear and release the other Champions. Bolton finds his voice.]
The teleporter's ready to take you back to the main level. First group up there, make sure you leave the pad quick so the others can follow after you.
[Then, quieter as he turns toward Jamie:]
...Let's get out of here.