but he will approach shoma, after looking around to make sure the remaining people on this floor aren't about to, like, come after them. they really should get going, but first—]
[ well unless lowe is about to tell me otherwise he's standing here with a robot arm, a stab wound in his shoulder, bleeding probably and also with bleeding teeth marks?? in his head?? but at least the bleeding has slowed down enough that he's sort of just staring at a bunch of exploded bodies round his feet like he's trying to figure out what the fuck just happened. ]
...that...could have gone worse. [ which is about all he says because it could have also gone better and he'll compartmentalize this to consider how many people he just straight-up murdered later. it's fine. they can freak out about that later. he kind of shakes his robo-arm though. is it still like the actual arm is steel instead of muscle or more like now it's a casing because the corrosion wore off because i assume it's the former. ]
We should go. We've lost a lot of time, and if Arthur's heading upstairs it means the game's probably starting. At least we can pass as the Boss now...? [ he says, staring at this exploded man that isabel is trying to loot. ]
[ Tingtang boss's outfit is absolutely disgusting, being covered in blood and gore, but it is in one piece. So if you don't have objections to wearing the bloodiest Hawaiian shirt you ever saw in your life, then this is fine. The shirt was once a nice dark green. It's almost black now. FFXIV /payrespects emote. The bright side is... pretty sure you only need to wear the shirt, and don't need to steal any more than that.
You managed to solve the problem of the shirt, but I don't think anybody could have predicted this.
Your arm feels like a prosthetic, basically, rather than just being an encasing. The good part is that it doesn't hurt. The bad part is that your arm is no longer regular flesh and blood. Well, we can figure that out later probably.
You can move onwards now, up the fourth floor and guided by workers to a certain corridor, where you will enter a pretty simple room. It's got a game table set up, and behind it, you see an elevator. Once you step into this room, all three of you feel rather strange -- like you're resonating with something, but you're not sure what yet.
At the table, you see two figures seated already! One is Arthur, who's tapping his fingers idly on the table. Second is that literal mechanical box of a person you saw earlier, who glances up, adjusting the bowtie they have on them. It looks right at Shoma as you come in and when it speaks -- you recognise this voice. It's entirely mechanical and essentially autotuned, but the pitch is very familiar to you. ]
Tieqiu Boss, Amame
...Shoma...
[ Feel free to take a seat, fellows. Because you have one more guest coming up behind you as you do. Once again, quite a familiar voice to at least one of you. ]
charles is freezing the moment that the yurodiviye leader speaks, before he whirls around. he knew something like this could happen, he'd spoken to the previous mission groups—but it's still deeply unpleasant to have it happen to him. (though it's not as though it's the first time something like this has happened, either.)
he also has a very specific trauma i did not mention to lowe so i'm sorry but his first reaction is to pull out his sword—but he does at least calm himself after that, holding it by his side rather than pointing it at anyone. a moment passes, and then he just laughs.]
... Haha.
[it's not exactly a happy laugh. it's fine.
he turns away from king riven to look at shoma instead, because he can only surmise this isn't a pleasant surprise for shoma either.]
[ yeah. like. even autotuned as it is, of course he recognizes that voice. this looks nothing like her because it's a literal mechanical box (which, like, ironic) but there are a few things happening here. first of all he's hyperfocused on that stupid bowtie and frowning so, so deeply. second of all the tieqiu boss says his name like that and he immediately kind of wants to crawl into a hole and die.
the downside of people thinking he's 12 is that he only kind of got a sense that something like this could happen, so this really sort of knocks him on his ass for a second. charles is busy pulling a sword and shoma's busy taking a few steps back to kind of shift behind the two of them as if maybe...if she can't see him she doesn't have to know he literally just murdered a bunch of people downstairs.
are there actually enough chairs for all of us to sit, or is it just isabel? he's letting his gaze bounce almost frantically between her, charles, the yurodiviye leader and the tieqiu boss. ]
[ If Riven recognises Charles... he says nothing. He does consider him with a carefully neutral expression though, hardly reacting even when the sword is drawn, before he moves on to take a seat at the table beside Isabel and Amame.
For the record they really weren't kidding, it seems. They legitimately are playing a regular game of cards, the specifics of which I will not get into. The rules are quite simple and extremely straightforward, though -- turns out, it really is all about pure gambling. You can argue about how much skill gambling technically takes, but them's the breaks.
There are no extra seats, Charles and Shoma are stuck standing behind Isabel. ]
Tieqiu Boss, Amame
...I didn't know you were here for the Bough.
Sorry, but I'm here to win, too. I have to.
[ Despite being nothing more than a mechanical contraption right now, you can still feel a profound sadness coming from her. ]
Jefe de Los Mariachis, Arthur
I'm not interested in small-talk.
[ As a response to Isabel. Mr. Riven also doesn't seem much interested in small talk, though he is still looking at Charles with a somewhat steely gaze first before he focuses on his cards.
You can have your rounds to chatter if you feel like it... or just play! How do you want to go about this? You have a few items at your disposal, so tell me your gameplan. ]
[charles resumes looking chill and amiable, smiling grimly as he watches the game—even if he's keeping king riven in his line of sight as he does. just ignore the uncharacteristically murderous vibes coming from him. it's probably nothing to worry about. he will kind of shift between shoma and amame, though, if it looks like shoma is trying to leave her line of sight.
... he does get a little distracted with how badly isabel is playing, though, and debates trying to place his sticker on her. does it seem like the other leaders are doing well, in which case a bit of luck is probably not going to save isabel, or are they also doing shittily? unless he cannot tell/it is too late, in which case he can only wonder.]
[ he's at least no longer trying to run away even if he's half-shielded by charles now. he definitely is wondering what the hell is going on here, looking at king riven and then looking at charles before he thinks about what amame said. isabel is playing badly but he's also sort of used to these things going pear-shaped by now that while charles is scoping things out, he's going to aim for distraction.
or, at least, getting an answer to something. ]
Mame...what do you want the Bough for? [ he hates hearing her sound so sad, and he also kind of wants to reach forward and rip off that bowtie so he can stop looking and stop thinking about other things. ]
Turns out this round is total dogshit. Arthur looks dead inside as he puts down a pair, and Isabel puts down a 2-pair. In all his years of gambling his way up to the top, he had never seen such bullshit before.
This is the most miserable set of hands you all have ever played in your lives.
Isabel wins but at what cost? ]
CHARLES
ISABEL
SHOMA
[ Well, that thoroughly sucked. ]
Jefe de los Mariachis, Arthur
This was terrible.
[ Amame folds her cards quietly with the aura of thoughtfulness. That's round 1 done. Riven speaks with a slight huff and scoff, voice stern. ]
Yurodiviye Leader, King Riven
Boy. That aura will swallow you alive in the face of the Bough.
Tieqiu Boss, Amame
Haven't you heard?
The Bough has the power to change everything.
I know you wouldn't have wanted to see me in a place like this, but... if I can get it, I can fix everything.
[ You can do round 2 while having a conversation with your CR. ]
Well, I'll keep your advice in mind, Your Majesty. How's shaking people down for money been going for you?
[what he wants to say on instinct is "you have no right to tell me that." but he doesn't, because he knows it's not him. frankly, charles doesn't even struggle to doubt that, given [mumbles]. if anything, that awareness is why he's fuckin pissed off right now.
but isabel doing better this round does cheer him up a little so he will drop the murderous aura... for now. yaaaay, isabel.]
[ isabel is doing better!!! charles is less murderous!!!
this answer from amame actually fucking sucks!!!
none of this is real. well. in terms of people being here. he thinks. he's, like, not entirely clear on what's happening and how this is happening or what-have-you but he has enough sense to realize this probably isn't amame. then again, it's a good mimic of her consciousness, and for a moment it almost feels exactly like it was hours (days, weeks, now) when he was sitting on a cold chair and a wall of glass was between them. so it's with agitation that he says: ]
No. You can't keep trying to fix everything yourself. You saw what happened last time! You and Dad--[ he just kind of abruptly stops and exhales harshly. ] You can't. It's my turn.
[ Isabel takes another win, nice four-kind! You CAN feel proud of yourself. In fact, +1 PE. Me like is this the first PE you've gained, I hope not. ]
CHARLES
ISABEL
SHOMA
Jefe de los Mariachis, Arthur
Would you like to expand on that?
Yurodiviye Leader, King Riven
'Tis a necessity.
The poor suffer 'neath the foot of giants who gorge themselves on wealth stolen.
Why should their coin not be returned to them, the rightful owners?
[ The AU where Riven is actually defender of the proletariat (sort of). It's a little weird, but listen. The point is, he's still fighting for the people. ]
Tieqiu Boss, Amame
You're my baby brother, Shoma.
I'll always... I'll...
...Sometimes, I still wonder what could've happened if I'd stayed with you and Dad instead.
[ Well, that's neither here nor there, because I just looked at the time and I want to get you guys on your split paths before we force Jan to go to bed. DST is so cursed actually. It does really seem like it's your turn now.
You guys win the game, and although Arthur seems rather unhappy about it, Amame is quiet, while Riven just seems thoughtful on the results.
[charles just lets out a quiet bark of laughter. what a sick joke, hearing those words. his hand twitches around the hilt of his sword, but he stills it.
he is paying attention to the other conversations, sorry, but hey, he figures they're paying attention to his too. he just shakes his head, before moving towards the elevator.]
...we don't have time for that. [ he says, as a person who really should maybe take a moment but chooses to continue suppressing everything. he's still holding amame's gaze just long enough before it's actually too hard, and so he turns for the elevator to follow to our SPLIT PATHS???????????? ]
[ Welcome to the basement. The place is rather dim and kind of awful -- you can see people who will likely never see the light of day again for the rest of their lives, swinging pickaxes to further the tunnels underneath the casino, making room for more vaults -- more places to store gold and riches, built by the hands of the poor.
There is nothing you can do for them. Even if you gave the most rousing revolutionary speech, Charles, they are too downtrodden and committed to their 435,622,359th swing, earning one Ahn per hit of the pickaxe in the stone.
That strange feeling of 'resonance' grows stronger as you go deeper into the dark. It also gets... colder? Yeah, significantly colder, a strange chill that travels up your legs and settles somewhere deep.
You feel lonelier, somehow.
Your surroundings get icier and icier as you go on, too, slivers and little veins of crystalline rime making way to entire walls, swathes, caches of never-melting frost.
Finally, you come out into a clearing, staring up at a massive mansion. The doors call you forth to enter like a pull. ]
[STOP HE WOULDN'T GIVE A SPEECH that's more of his friends' alley than his........... but okay yeah his gaze does linger on the people like he wants to DO SOMETHING ABOUT THE SITUATION.
he will be good though and follow the cyoa path which is to go deeper in, even if he's frustrated by the inaction... dislike all these other feelings too, though.]
[ he's following after the two of them, and he would normally find this kind of fascinating but with the one-two punch of what just happened and now going further into a kingdom of iceolation, he's just keeping to himself. he doesn't bother giving a verbal response, shoulders hunched and staring around the path before they come up to this mansion.
[ As you step in, your scenery changes. You lose sight of your fellow companions for the time being, seeming to step into a mirror reflecting all you are -- you, and only you, and the sins you've carried.
The Bough resonates deep with you, asking you to see yourself first.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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but he will approach shoma, after looking around to make sure the remaining people on this floor aren't about to, like, come after them. they really should get going, but first—]
... How are you feeling?
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...that...could have gone worse. [ which is about all he says because it could have also gone better and he'll compartmentalize this to consider how many people he just straight-up murdered later. it's fine. they can freak out about that later. he kind of shakes his robo-arm though. is it still like the actual arm is steel instead of muscle or more like now it's a casing because the corrosion wore off because i assume it's the former. ]
We should go. We've lost a lot of time, and if Arthur's heading upstairs it means the game's probably starting. At least we can pass as the Boss now...? [ he says, staring at this exploded man that isabel is trying to loot. ]
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You managed to solve the problem of the shirt, but I don't think anybody could have predicted this.
Your arm feels like a prosthetic, basically, rather than just being an encasing. The good part is that it doesn't hurt. The bad part is that your arm is no longer regular flesh and blood. Well, we can figure that out later probably.
You can move onwards now, up the fourth floor and guided by workers to a certain corridor, where you will enter a pretty simple room. It's got a game table set up, and behind it, you see an elevator. Once you step into this room, all three of you feel rather strange -- like you're resonating with something, but you're not sure what yet.
At the table, you see two figures seated already! One is Arthur, who's tapping his fingers idly on the table. Second is that literal mechanical box of a person you saw earlier, who glances up, adjusting the bowtie they have on them. It looks right at Shoma as you come in and when it speaks -- you recognise this voice. It's entirely mechanical and essentially autotuned, but the pitch is very familiar to you. ]
[ Feel free to take a seat, fellows. Because you have one more guest coming up behind you as you do. Once again, quite a familiar voice to at least one of you. ]
Shall we, then?
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[ lovelace will swap out one bloody shirt for a different bloody shirt, then. trying to wring it out a little bit first. this is so fucking gross.
and upstairs, she will go take a seat at the table. it's fine she's the boss? ]
Don't be so impatient.
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charles is freezing the moment that the yurodiviye leader speaks, before he whirls around. he knew something like this could happen, he'd spoken to the previous mission groups—but it's still deeply unpleasant to have it happen to him. (though it's not as though it's the first time something like this has happened, either.)
he also has a very specific trauma i did not mention to lowe so i'm sorry but his first reaction is to pull out his sword—but he does at least calm himself after that, holding it by his side rather than pointing it at anyone. a moment passes, and then he just laughs.]
... Haha.
[it's not exactly a happy laugh. it's fine.
he turns away from king riven to look at shoma instead, because he can only surmise this isn't a pleasant surprise for shoma either.]
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the downside of people thinking he's 12 is that he only kind of got a sense that something like this could happen, so this really sort of knocks him on his ass for a second. charles is busy pulling a sword and shoma's busy taking a few steps back to kind of shift behind the two of them as if maybe...if she can't see him she doesn't have to know he literally just murdered a bunch of people downstairs.
are there actually enough chairs for all of us to sit, or is it just isabel? he's letting his gaze bounce almost frantically between her, charles, the yurodiviye leader and the tieqiu boss. ]
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For the record they really weren't kidding, it seems. They legitimately are playing a regular game of cards, the specifics of which I will not get into. The rules are quite simple and extremely straightforward, though -- turns out, it really is all about pure gambling. You can argue about how much skill gambling technically takes, but them's the breaks.
There are no extra seats, Charles and Shoma are stuck standing behind Isabel. ]
Sorry, but I'm here to win, too. I have to.
[ Despite being nothing more than a mechanical contraption right now, you can still feel a profound sadness coming from her. ]
[ As a response to Isabel. Mr. Riven also doesn't seem much interested in small talk, though he is still looking at Charles with a somewhat steely gaze first before he focuses on his cards.
You can have your rounds to chatter if you feel like it... or just play! How do you want to go about this? You have a few items at your disposal, so tell me your gameplan. ]
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[ okay we're going to play..... which roll of mine were we using. it doesn't matter they're both Bad ]
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... he does get a little distracted with how badly isabel is playing, though, and debates trying to place his sticker on her. does it seem like the other leaders are doing well, in which case a bit of luck is probably not going to save isabel, or are they also doing shittily? unless he cannot tell/it is too late, in which case he can only wonder.]
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or, at least, getting an answer to something. ]
Mame...what do you want the Bough for? [ he hates hearing her sound so sad, and he also kind of wants to reach forward and rip off that bowtie so he can stop looking and stop thinking about other things. ]
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Turns out this round is total dogshit. Arthur looks dead inside as he puts down a pair, and Isabel puts down a 2-pair. In all his years of gambling his way up to the top, he had never seen such bullshit before.
This is the most miserable set of hands you all have ever played in your lives.
Isabel wins but at what cost? ]
[ Well, that thoroughly sucked. ]
[ Amame folds her cards quietly with the aura of thoughtfulness. That's round 1 done. Riven speaks with a slight huff and scoff, voice stern. ]
The Bough has the power to change everything.
I know you wouldn't have wanted to see me in a place like this, but... if I can get it, I can fix everything.
[ You can do round 2 while having a conversation with your CR. ]
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[ well anyway. i rolled a 12, please be proud of me. please. ]
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Well, I'll keep your advice in mind, Your Majesty. How's shaking people down for money been going for you?
[what he wants to say on instinct is "you have no right to tell me that." but he doesn't, because he knows it's not him. frankly, charles doesn't even struggle to doubt that, given [mumbles]. if anything, that awareness is why he's fuckin pissed off right now.
but isabel doing better this round does cheer him up a little so he will drop the murderous aura... for now. yaaaay, isabel.]
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this answer from amame actually fucking sucks!!!
none of this is real. well. in terms of people being here. he thinks. he's, like, not entirely clear on what's happening and how this is happening or what-have-you but he has enough sense to realize this probably isn't amame. then again, it's a good mimic of her consciousness, and for a moment it almost feels exactly like it was hours (days, weeks, now) when he was sitting on a cold chair and a wall of glass was between them. so it's with agitation that he says: ]
No. You can't keep trying to fix everything yourself. You saw what happened last time! You and Dad--[ he just kind of abruptly stops and exhales harshly. ] You can't. It's my turn.
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The poor suffer 'neath the foot of giants who gorge themselves on wealth stolen.
Why should their coin not be returned to them, the rightful owners?
[ The AU where Riven is actually defender of the proletariat (sort of). It's a little weird, but listen. The point is, he's still fighting for the people. ]
I'll always... I'll...
...Sometimes, I still wonder what could've happened if I'd stayed with you and Dad instead.
[ Well, that's neither here nor there, because I just looked at the time and I want to get you guys on your split paths before we force Jan to go to bed. DST is so cursed actually. It does really seem like it's your turn now.
You guys win the game, and although Arthur seems rather unhappy about it, Amame is quiet, while Riven just seems thoughtful on the results.
The elevator is yours. ]
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I wouldn't. You never want to expand on anything, so why should I?
[ WAIT, SPLIT PATHS??????????? ]
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he is paying attention to the other conversations, sorry, but hey, he figures they're paying attention to his too. he just shakes his head, before moving towards the elevator.]
Let's go. Unless either of you needs a moment?
[SPLIT PATHS??????????]
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There is nothing you can do for them. Even if you gave the most rousing revolutionary speech, Charles, they are too downtrodden and committed to their 435,622,359th swing, earning one Ahn per hit of the pickaxe in the stone.
That strange feeling of 'resonance' grows stronger as you go deeper into the dark. It also gets... colder? Yeah, significantly colder, a strange chill that travels up your legs and settles somewhere deep.
You feel lonelier, somehow.
Your surroundings get icier and icier as you go on, too, slivers and little veins of crystalline rime making way to entire walls, swathes, caches of never-melting frost.
Finally, you come out into a clearing, staring up at a massive mansion. The doors call you forth to enter like a pull. ]
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[ hmmm hate this place. but off we go into the mansion! ]
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he will be good though and follow the cyoa path which is to go deeper in, even if he's frustrated by the inaction... dislike all these other feelings too, though.]
I can agree with that.
[off they go!]
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...okay. in we gooooo.... ]
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The Bough resonates deep with you, asking you to see yourself first.
Charles!
Isabel!
Shoma!
Have fun. I say this like you probably didn't already see the TLs on flatview. ]