Week 2

[airlockedmods]

Week 2

[The Champions have now been here for one week, and while the dud of a first incentive didn't tempt anybody, the fact remains obvious: a lack of murder isn't going to be the thing that gets you out of here.

Blaze Dudely and Rox have not made a reappearance since Tuesday, leaving you to your own devices for the moment. That door they entered and exited through remains locked, and there is no new area to access this week. Are you sure they're even still back there? Despite their absence, you all wake up on Sunday morning from strange dreams. What to make of it?

You can only hope it's not a bad omen for the rest of the week.]

Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday

(( Don't forget to turn in your AC for Week 1, submit your memory regain, and turn in your Benefactor threads! ))

Comments

Are you guys ready for a toplevel

[challengesfate]

[Ah. Wow. Okay. So, uh.

Fuck today.

Fuck today right up the ass.

That's the general attitude Lucina has as she quickly goes through the supply closet and the art room for various objects that don't seem to have a purpose until she turns up in the Game Room. It looks like she's taken one of her bedsheets, stuffed pillows in it and tied it off to have the general shape of a torso and head, and painted it to have a very nasty expression in purple - because don't think she didn't notice the color of the blood that welled up on Rox Petuu's face, something so unnatural that it made her skin crawl. She ties it to a chair and clears the room a bit so it's in the center, and retrieves a broom she'd found in the storage closet, and...]

TCHYEAH!

[Lucina is beating the stuffing out of it.

Maybe not as good as mauling the real thing, but even through her anger, it's clear that she's got skill with a weapon - maybe not one as unwieldy as a broom, but still, she's knocking this thing down again and again like it's nothing.

Want to take a swing?]

[playthedamncard]

[You know what? He's fucking game.

A lot of his usual de-stress methods are unavailable to him. Some working out to let out his frustrations (and other feelings he doesn't have the words for, or the desire to find the words for) might at least help.

He'd been thinking of making something of a cardboard punching bag out of boxes. Like he'd suggested Chloe do. Fat chance of that now.

He pops into the room with what looks like a plastic trident (is it a trident if there are only two prongs?) in his hands. It won't be the same as throwing a chair, but it's...something. When there's any kind of break between her strikes, he takes the opportunity to hop in, taking a swing with the long end, much like the broom handle. A few swings. He's not skilled in weaponry, doesn't train with kendo swords or anything, but neither is he just a punk wildly flailing like he's never been in a fight.

Just be glad he didn't bring a knife.]

[challengesfate]

[I mean, ideally they could do this to a punching bag in the gym, but there is no gym that they know of here - just this one floor, and now a slowly dwindling population.

When Lucina notices she's not alone, she takes longer pauses between her strikes, allowing him to hit. At least this way, they can smack around a bunch of pillows and they shouldn't destroy anything or hurt anyone.]

GWAH!

[But gee Lucina why do you keep knocking this thing completely over, it's getting to be ridiculous. Time to grumble and set it right.]

Damn...

[playthedamncard]

[Well, they don't exactly have anything sturdier unless they want to put in effort to design and make something sturdier and honestly Fuck That. He's watching her her, in that his eyes are on her, but his gaze is more distant than that.]

It doesn't do much good. [Casual observation. But they're both still doing it.]

[challengesfate]

[She sets it right with a little more force than necessary, and the head with the painted angry face lolls to the side.]

No. It really doesn't.

[Urge to just push this thing back over rising.]

I prefer it to having nothing, though.

[playthedamncard]

[He's still seething from Lunafreya's ridiculous insistence, her foolhardy misguidance. Which is on top of everything that happened, with Petuu and Chloe. With the motive and Mokuba. It feels a bit like his nerve endings are raw, like he feels the anger that much more brightly.

But he is nothing if he is not in control.]

They didn't think this out very well. Or perhaps too well. Little to take our frustrations out on but each other.

[challengesfate]

It's not just that. But that does play strongly into it, I think. The motive itself...

[Her father, safe, alive and then-]

...That lights the fire of our frustrations. That's the root.

[playthedamncard]

[Everyone has someone. Everyone.]

What would you do to save them? What lengths would you go to?

[challengesfate]

...I would give my life for my father. I would give everything to save him.

[She grits her teeth and balls her fists.]

But he...would never want a life to be taken for his.

[playthedamncard]

It feels noble, doesn't it? That you'd give your life, to say that you'd give everything, but to know there is a line. [It's about as cold and lifeless a tone he's taken with anyone. Just to not let out his anger at her, to show it. He knows better than to show it when not in the heat of a duel. Most times.] He wouldn't want you to take a life, but would you?

[challengesfate]

...

[She's very quiet, her eyes closing in thought, the faces of everyone she's met in this place flitting through her mind.]

I don't know.

[playthedamncard]

And that's the most dangerous part of all of this. Not knowing what you might be capable of.

[He gives that fluffy purple face a hefty if plastic smack.]

Psychological experiments to push us. Even we aren't fully aware of ourselves in the end.

[challengesfate]

...I...think I can see what you mean. But despite what we don't know of ourselves, and of each other...would it not be safer to band together despite that?

[batfortheprincess]

[There's nothing but weariness left in his bones when everyone scatters. Chloe was gone, Princess Asseylum and the rest of the hostages were in danger, and while things were far from perfect in the past week, there had been hope when no one had killed. Now, the situation had turned on its head and more deaths felt inevitable.

The thoughts plague him as he wanders by the game room and hears the noise. For a couple of minutes, he just silently stands by the door and watches Lucina's merciless attacks. He was never really the kind to get physical when frustrated, but...]

...Does that help?

[Maybe it's a stupid and obvious question, but he just doesn't have it in him to say anything else.]

[challengesfate]

[She does stop at the question, but doesn't answer immediately. Lucina allows herself to catch her breath, wipes her brow, turns to Slaine first.]

...It's...better than doing nothing.

[It'll exhaust her enough to go to sleep tonight, but that's all it's really good for.]

[batfortheprincess]

[He nods. He's... never been one for this sort of exercise but...]

Do you mind... if I give it a try?

[Because yeah, it would be better than just sitting around and moping.]

[challengesfate]

[She doesn't mind at all. In fact, at his question, she offers the broom to him as she steps back.

Have the fuck at it, dude.]

[batfortheprincess]

Thank you very much.

[He takes a couple seconds to just figure out how to handle the broom, but once he gets an idea of how he wants to hold it, he just... goes to town. Not that it's visually that impressive; there's no finesse to any of it and it's clear he's not familiar with wielding a melee weapon like that - it's less anger and more desperation that's fueling his attacks, and it drains out of him quickly enough.

He stops to catch his breath and turns to hand the broom back. Did it help or not? He's not sure, but he does feel tired. This kind of thing really isn't for him after all, huh.]

I-I appreciate it.

[challengesfate]

[That's alright - it's not for everyone. Lucina watches in silence, noting the lack of technique, but...not in a condescending way? It's just something she notices. When Slaine is done, though, she gently takes the broom back.]

You're very welcome. It...will help you fall asleep tonight, if nothing else.

[batfortheprincess]

[He just nods.]

Is this something you do often? You looked fairly... comfortable with wielding that.

[challengesfate]

Training? Yes. I've been using a sword for most of my life...the broom isn't quite right, but, it's a decent substitute.

[batfortheprincess]

That's very impressive... I can't imagine learning something like that from such a young age.

[There's a bit of a weak smile at that.]

Did you learn it for sport or self-defense?

[challengesfate]

It was...more because it was tradition. My father learned the sword from his father, and so on...but it became for self defense in time.

[batfortheprincess]

Similar practices exist in Vers, but I believe it is rare for such skills to be utilized in actual combat.

[A pause.]

...May I ask what happened? [If it's an assassination plot...]

[challengesfate]

...Yes. It's alright, it...has been a long time.

[Still, she pauses. It...hurts, to think about, considering what's going on at the moment.]

My father left to lead Ylisse's troops in a great war. He...never returned.