W2 🛸 PLAYER CYOA: BUP SQUAD (TEEJ) 🚀 BAIKEN, ICHIBAN, THRONÉ

[dropoffs]

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intro.

[verminous]

ICHIBAN

THRONÉ

BAIKEN

[You're sucked away from whatever you were just doing on the ship and promptly spit out onto a bus, seated on one of the bench seats (either together or separate seats, however you decide.) Outside, you can see your surroundings are dim, all fog and trees.

A young woman sits in the driver's seat, while an imposing man sits near her. Throné has a pocketwatch in her hand, a red clock with a little fire embellishment, that is warm to the touch, and each of you has either an outfit or an accessory signifying your given E.G.O.; they cannot be used at the moment, but you get the feeling that these will be more effective with a buildup of emotion. You also get the sense that it's not without risk. There are also weapons on the bus, if you decide to take a regular one; you're probably going to need it.

Neither the driver nor her companion turn around to greet you, at the moment. The only sound is the thrum of the bus's engine (doesn't that sound more like a train? Well, whatever) and the wind rushing by as you drive.]

[naeddre]

[i do in fact like that baiken and throné are red and ichiban is green what a good start. anyway, she gets spat out onto a train bus, and is in an outfit, complete with the laurels because they're cute. immediately, her hand goes to her knife, and she keeps it in one hand before standing and moving back, away from the strangers.

she'll take a second to look at the pocketwatch? what dis.

also this outfit is going to immediately get a thigh slit somewhere so stay tuned. for now she doesn't even acknowledge the other two, in crisis mode.]

[kabari]

[ yeah the girls are red. like throné, baiken also has a new fit, although i'm giving her a boob opening or else her ribs will be crushed to death. can't wait to photoshop this later.

there's some grumbling upon noticing that they are definitely no longer on the ship, and some utterance about drinking too much to remember how she got here. no matter, there's a katana for her to take once she gets her bearings. she can tell it isn't hers, but it'll do for now. ]

The hell's this all about?

[ to no one in particular; she'll be damned if she got signed up for another excursion without her knowledge or consent AGAIN. ]

[frotag]

[ the last time ichiban was on a bus, it was a lot brighter and way less ominous. he was also properly seated, not spread-eagle on the floor. as he comes to, his companions will also note he's gotten a fit change, just. with a longer "skirt" to make it look more like a hakama. let him live his samurai dreams? ]

Huh? Necchan, Baiken-san? Where are we?

[ unlike the two of them, he's not particularly concerned or apprehensive; legit, he's more confused and disoriented than anything else. ]

[naeddre]

[a long pause...]

I don't know. [she says, finally, which is an answer to both of them i suppose. she's still holding onto her knife, but she stashes the pocketwatch for now unless teej tells me it explodes or smth.] This isn't the ship.

[duh]

[kabari]

It's a bus.

[ said flatly, like. come on. surely you two know this??? but really, that's the only information any of them have, so she can't explain further. ]

Goin' somewhere, by the looks of it.

[ unless the bus is completely still and we have a driver for no apparent reason but even so, they are somewhere new, so it doesn't render her point moot. ]

[frotag]

Cool, love that for us...

[ bluh!! he stretches after he gets to his feet, then scans their immediate surroundings. sure is a bup... he's not afraid to ask for help, though, which is why he calls over to the two mystery figures at the front of the bus, who have yet to acknowledge any of them. ]

Excuse me! Can you tell us where we are or where we're going?

[verminous]

[The watch doesn't explode, luckily for Throné! Their bus is still rumbling along, though when Ichiban calls out, the male figure turns back to them.

"Where we are isn't important. As for your destination... we'll be approaching the Backstreets of District 4."

Through the windows, they can see the trees beginning to thin out.

"Verg," the driver says. "Blockage ahead. Permission to vroom-vroom?"

After a moment, the man nods. "Proceed."

"Okay. Here come bumpity-bumps."

Hopefully they're all holding on to something or otherwise good at balancing, because the bus jolts as it rumbles over something. Multiple somethings.

Red liquid and unidentifiable clumps coat the windshield; the driver squirts washer fluid over it, and it smears, then quickly clears away, dissolving the liquid and clumps both. Neither the driver or the man react to this.]

interlude.

[verminous]

[Don't worry about your emotion bars, they're not important right now.

However your confrontation with the False Apple ends-- successful or not, dead or not-- you've felt something from it since you engaged with it. A strange sort of resonance, as if from something you're somehow attuned to, drawn to, that now grows stronger. Overwhelming, almost blinding.

You blink. When you open your eyes, you're standing on a battlefield, just long enough to see it, but not long enough to speak with each other... because after a flash of golden light blinds you for real, forcing your eyes closed against the shine of it--

You open your eyes again, and you're somewhere else.

Stay tuned for toplevels.]

throné.

[verminous]

[You open your eyes in a plain, locked room, the walls painted blue. This doesn't feel like you, for a moment, like you don't belong here, but then the sensation settles.

Of course you would be here. That's Claude in the room with you, after all, in a formal navy outfit, standing behind a few individuals in white coats. Just watching with interest, right now.

The procedures have been a success. They've said so. Recovery time in teenaged subjects is truly remarkable, evidently. They never said what they were going to be for, but you found out once they were over-- it's impossible to ignore your new arm, after all. To you, it's like you just woke up with this one day, but to all of them it's just a step in a plan.

"-hasn't been responsive," one researcher is saying to another.

"Come on. It should be able to move just like your old one, now. Just try."

From behind them, his eyes stay fixed on you.]

[naeddre]

[of... of course. yes, this is where she's supposed to be.

it takes throné a second to reorient. claude immediately puts her on edge, and she straightens, instinctively. stares right at him. she doesn't break that gaze even as the researchers talk to her. give it a try, they say. she doesn't look. she doesn't look, she has to keep her eye on him.

but she's obedient. yes, father.

... she moves her arm. rolls it. tries to wiggle her fingers.]

[verminous]

[She can move her arm, sure, but she tries to wiggle her fingers-

Which is when she realizes she doesn't exactly have them.

The bug arm is familiar (why? That's weird), but it's utterly foreign to her at the same time. It moves when she tries to lift her arm. The tip of its scythelike end twitches when she tries to move her fingers. But is that really-- attached to her?

"Very good," one of them says. Her father's expression does not change.]

[naeddre]

[oh. that's nightmarish, thanks.

this is what gets her gaze to break. she looks away from claude and down at her arm, and stares. moves it. it twitches. it's not her hand, it's not her arm, it's not her hand -- panic rises up in her throat. they said the procedure was a success, is this what they meant? a beat.]

I don't want this.

[it's out of her mouth before she can stop herself.]

[verminous]

["You don't have a choice." He finally speaks, gaze still fixed on her.

It doesn't matter if she never asked for this, never wanted it. His smile is sharp when he continues.

"Surely you wouldn't want to reject a gift, anyway?"]

[naeddre]

[a gift. you have a gift, throne. you have a gift and you will learn how to use it, or else.

she swallows hard. something in her aches, but.]

... No, sir. [she says, even though something in her resists and writhes and screams at the thought of it. at the thought of calling him sir. it's not right? it isn't, but it is. he is father and Father and he isn't. sometimes she gets the two mixed up in her head.

she doesn't argue, but she's waiting. she's watching.]

[verminous]

["I didn't think so."

Something resists, screams inside her, but... it probably would've broken down and had to give in eventually even if she tried. Right? There's nothing else to do. There's no other way out or forward. No other way to end what feels like a nightmare.

"Go ahead and begin testing," he directs them, and they nod.

They hold an apple dangling from a string before her. All she needs to do, they inform her, is reach out and pierce it with her arm.]

baiken.

[verminous]

[You open your eyes somewhere in the Backstreets, in an unidentified but run-down location. This doesn't feel like you at first, like you don't belong in this space, but the feeling settles; no, this is you after all.

It's been rough, after the war. There's nowhere for anyone on the losing side to go anymore, the corporations dissolved, their employees shunned; it was a waste of years, in that sense, working and fighting and seeing your comrades all around you die for... no reason, in the end. What was all that worth? A corporate changeover, back to life as normal for everyone else, and for the rest of you-- nothing.

You're luckier than the rest. Others can still identify you as being from the old Corp, but you don't share the most obvious common mutations, so it's easier to live without being immediately shut out of everywhere you try to go like the rest are. You know they hate you for it.

You know she hates you for it. Delilah couldn't put up with it. You're not sure where she disappeared to, if she's survived after the fall, one of the many experiments they used and then tossed aside.

A man stands across from you, in a navy outfit. The one in charge of it all, who used you both, who you've never managed to kill.

"It'll always be this way for you," he says.]

[kabari]

[ there is a fury clawing to escape, like it'll rip right through her flesh and bone so long as it has the opportunity to chew up that man too.

outwardly, all she does is scowl. ]

I know.

[ that's the hardest part: acceptance of this fact. this shitty fucking life that has amounted to nothing. ]

[verminous]

["All this time, and that's all you have?"

He can't help but laugh, at that, shaking his head.

"I thought you'd be less disappointing."]

[kabari]

Shut up!

[ the words are practically spat out - poison in her mouth. ]

I'm about once second away from changing that.

[ she wants to rip and tear and destroy. if she's already lost everything, what else does she have to lose? ]

[verminous]

["Oh, are you? Do you really think it would change anything if you did?"

He grins, watching her with a brow raised, arms spread.]

[kabari]

It would for me.

[ would it?

the world around them won't change because one stupid blue fucker met his end. it won't change the loss, the wasted life, the hatred she feels.

is the momentary catharsis worth it? wpuld she even feel it at all? ]

Guess there's one way to find out.

[verminous]

["There is. Are you going to take it? What will there be for you, if you do?"

It won't change anything. It won't change anything at all.

Is it worth it?]

ichiban.

[verminous]

[When you open your eyes, you don't feel quite like yourself... but then the sensation clears. No, this is you. This is correct.

You're standing before an imposing set of office double doors, wearing a blue uniform. The war isn't going well for your side. You've all sort of been able to tell... but what choice do you have but to keep fighting it, when those are the orders? What choice do you have but to keep taking lives in a futile effort like this one? If they won't call a stop to it, if they're content to keep throwing their employees' lives and futures away, then--

That's all there is to do. It's not like anyone can change it.

You have a feeling you know who will be behind these doors, if you open them.]

transition.

[verminous]

[After each of these encounters-- you each see the same glowing light. You each feel pulled toward it, drawn into it, either encouraging you on or dragging you forward, whichever the case may be.

Time to keep going.]