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

[dropoffs]

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[verminous]

[She reaches out with the intent to pierce it, and once more, her arm responds-- but probably not how she expects. It whips forward at the end, the shape of it changing in order to stab right through the core of that apple; they murmur and take notes, as her father nods.

None of them are paying any attention to how she might feel about watching this happen.]

[naeddre]

[she really does not like it. she kind of wants to throw up, a little.

they murmur. they take notes. she thinks about what it would be like to pierce them with the arm. take notes on that, you bastards.

she stares at claude.]

[verminous]

[He stares back, like he's daring her to do something. To make a move, to try to do what he's sure she wants to.]

[naeddre]

[she doesn't. she doesn't want to, right, she doesn't, she doesn't hurt people. she doesn't want to hurt people, she never has - she doesn't want to lick the blood off her fingers, she doesn't want to crave it.

but right now. right now, she wants to be free. she wants out.

so she shoots forward, and tries to pierce a researcher right through the heart.]

[verminous]

[When she shoots forward and pierces them-- they bleed, yes, but something almost seems to shift around them. Like doing this almost, but not quite, breaks something.

The other researcher shouts in alarm, backing away. Her father still wears an unpleasant smile.

"I wasn't going to try you on living targets just yet, but... no real loss."]

[naeddre]

[she pauses - is there blood on her arm? she gets stuck, staring, for a second.

a sharpened knife. a tool. how does it feel to cut through my flesh? does it feel like your hands were destined for this?

she takes a step away, back. brings the arm up to her own chest, like she's going to - like she's going to...

she doesn't.]

[verminous]

["...Interesting."

He watches her with that same challenging look, while the remaining researcher cowers.

There is blood running down her arm, warm.

"But you can't, can you? Just like you can't kill me."]

[naeddre]

[she turns a look on him, flicking the blood off her arm. her arm? it... it's her arm.]

I can. I... [did? didn't she?] I will be free.

[verminous]

["Can you really free yourself?"

The blood drips, and spatters the floor next to the sliced-up apple with red.

"It's pointless, you know."]

[naeddre]

[she swallows hard, as she stares at him.

how strong is she right now? any stronger than usual? or is it just the arm that's changed?]

[verminous]

[It seems like it's just the arm. The arm itself does seem strong, though, after what she saw it do.]

[naeddre]

[well she can't cut her arm off with her own arm so this is USELESS to me

it's fine. she's going to try to rip the arm off anyway, break it against the wall, against the floor, stand on it and pull. however she can, not making a sound, staring claude directly in the eye.]

[verminous]

[With some effort... this is manageable, actually. The procedure is still somewhat freshly done; she's healed, but it's new. Eventually, as he meets her eyes the entire time, unmoving, Throné rips off her own arm to free herself from it. It hurts the entire time-- it's still part of her, it still bleeds, it still hurts. It's like a fox gnawing off her own leg to free herself from a trap.

He smiles again.

Then she finds out why, as it regenerates and grows anew right from the point where she tore it free.]

[naeddre]

[you have not played octopath so you don't know how symbolically accurate this is, but. boy howdy.

by the end, she's gasping, dripping blood, dizzy with the pain - and then it just... grows back. it just comes back, and she watches it happen with an amount of despair that she can't contain.

the fact that you're alive is proof that you're the best of them all. your journey was all part of the process... my little seed.

she looks at him. and she just - screams, just lets out a noise that is absolutely devastated.]

[verminous]

[She screams, and he hardly reacts-- not even to that devastation, that despair. All he says is:

"Now do you understand? You won't try that again, will you."]

[naeddre]

[she drags in a breath. and throws herself at him, with another little shriek. die.]

[verminous]

[She throws herself at him, and he looks at her in shock as her arm contorts and shoots right through him, blood leaking from the hole she's just pierced in his body.

He takes in a breath. He laughs.

And as he dies, something shifts again. She's cracked something, by killing him, and golden light seeps through those cracks; they open further, light growing brighter, until it blinds her too much for her to see.

But she hears the door open. The warmth will guide her forward.]