W3 🛸 PLAYER CYOA: I HATE YOU BOTH (JAN) 🚀 DAHUT & LUKE

[dropoffs]

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DAHUT

[riverbeans]

[Where are you? ... Who are you?

—Ah, you remember. You're Dahut. There's something you have to do, but what is it? You can't remember. All you know is that you are Dahut, and there is something you seek.

Before you is a corridor, though for some reason, you can't make out the details yet. All you can see are that there are doors, and that a mirror hangs on one of the walls.]

[artificialsweetener]

[NOT THE AMNESIA. Well, he guesses he's Dahut. Maybe he's looking for the kaiju ramen shop...

He'll start walking down the corridor after a second of hesitation, though, squinting a little at the obscured details. First, he moves to set his hand on a doorknob, gently trying it and wondering if whatever he's looking for is tucked away somewhere behind one. He still keeps a wary eye on his surroundings, though, and calls out with a somewhat hesitant:]

Hellooo...?

[As he tries to PIECE TOGETHER HOW THE HELL HE GOT HERE. AND ALSO WHO HE IS.]

[riverbeans]

[HEWWO Dahut goes to the sound of silence in return...

Unfortunately, the door does not open to the kaiju ramen shop. In fact, it doesn't open at all; looks like it's locked. Though looking at his hand, it seems... small? Smaller than it feels like it should be, perhapsmdash;in that he feels like it should be larger relative to the doorknob, not that it's small proportionate to the rest of his body.

... Were doorknobs always this high up? Well, that might be a silly question to think. Maybe this door is just huge! It's fine.]

[artificialsweetener]

[NOT THE SOUND OF SILENCE.

ALSO WHAT THE HELL well this is fine, except his brow is definitely furrowing because this does not seem right at all, somehow. These fuckin willy wonka-ass doors he hates it here. His gaze flicks briefly over to the mirror but he doesn't want to head there just yet...

He'll move to try another couple of doors first, jiggling the handles and even knocking on one.]

Hello? Hello...!

[riverbeans]

[Damn, what do you have against mirrors, Dahut.

Most of the doors produce nothing, but after knocking on one, he finally gets a response—a muffled voice, behind the door.]

What is it? It's not time for your lessons yet.

[Your lessons? You started your lessons last year or so, in preparation to raise you into being a proper ██████. This voice sounds like your teacher.]

LUKE

[riverbeans]

[Where are you? ... Who are you?

—Ah, you remember. You're Luke. There's something you have to do, but what is it? You can't remember. All you know is that you are Luke, and there is something you seek.

You are in a building, surrounded by people. They panic around you, shoving past you to try and reach the doors.]

[rav3n]

[It's a good thing he's amnesia'd because otherwise he'd be like "wow this is a fresh and funky symptom"

But he is not! He is just... here. Wherever here is. Something within him immediately tries to search for answers, but there are none to be had; and maybe it's a good thing there's chaos and panic to focus on, because that darkness would be so easy to get lost in.

Instinctively, he moves against the crowd--towards whatever it is they're running from.]

[riverbeans]

[It's hard to say what they're running from—only that they're trying to get out, although if Luke is paying attention at all to that, it doesn't seem like they're succeeding...? At some point, the crowd stops, as though blocked, hovering anxiously around.

But since he's a weirdo who wasn't moving away to begin with, one person looks towards him.]

Are you mad? We have to get out!

[rav3n]

[Hm. Well that seems bad. He isn't not paying attention, though it does take him a minute to realize what's going on. Only after the stranger calls out to him does he stop, turning to sweep his gaze over the room. He's not quite sure what he's looking for, though, so he turns back to the other person.]

Why? What's going on?

[riverbeans]

[As Luke looks around, it'll start to dawn on him. These are his... coworkers, maybe? They're familiar faces, and he feels like he sees these people regularly. (A part of him feels like he saw them—but why would he feel that's in past tense? They're still here. No, they're dead not on the Eudoroa—wait, what's Eudora? They're his colleagues, standing in front of him here and now. Everything is fine.) He doesn't remember what his job is, but that's probably not important.

His colleague answers,]

There's a gas leak in the building somewhere.

HELL

[riverbeans]

[Both of you are free from the prisons of your own minds now, and yet you still wander through Hell. There are things both of you must do that keep you bound to the world, unable to pass on.

Somehow, you know there is one task that comes first, as you venture into unfamiliar territory. In the process, you may experience glimpses of another's experiences, their tribulations and their emotions. Finally, as you walk forward, you can see two familiar figures in the distance.

Perhaps it's time to help them out, the way Dahut helped (?) Luke wake up?]

ARTHUR

[riverbeans]

[Arthur's soul lingers, killed by a slashed throat. All he wanted was a life free from a duty he grew to hate, and to live in peace. And yet, he was driven to despair, unable to escape his chains, tired of being alone, and afraid that he was too weak to protect anyone.

What do you do?]

[artificialsweetener]

[Wow this is a lot of grief and despair and anguish that will surely not come to haunt him when his little freaky heart is back online.

For now, though... After a brief glance toward Luke, he'll move to sit beside Arthur, taking in the radiating suffering - the feeling that this is deserved, penance for all of these failings and wrongs and hurts from two lives lived. What a miserable weight.

Considering how HIS ATTEMPTS WITH LUKE WENT!!! He won't immediately drop a net on Arthur... But he does try to call out, first. Softly, gently:]

...Can you hear me?

[riverbeans]

[Dahut will feel it—Arthur's grief and regret over the woman he's speaking to right now. Her name is Opal, a woman who came to his house. Someone he cares about deeply, but a reminder of his past sins and failures.

"I didn't even try to stop it. I just let it go. I ran after it, once I realized what I'd done. Through the gates, across the old railroad bridge. But I was too late. There were tire tracks running off the road, heading down the riverbank..." Arthur swallows, savoring this last moment before she hates him, before she knows what his cowardice cost her. "It was New Year's Day."

Her breath stops. He wonders if she is feeling the water close over her head again.

"I saw in the paper they said she drove into the river on purpose. But I knew it wasn't her fault."

Opal is breathing now, hitched and jagged.

Arthur keeps his eyes screwed shut. His voice scrapes out of his throat. "It was mine."

Silence, thick and cold. Arthur thinks of food congealing on a plate.

And so, all Arthur says in response is,]

I'm sorry.

[artificialsweetener]

[This, too, is a lot to take in. These scattered bits of memories, these little broken pieces that make up the tragedy he'd already found so endearing even in just the short week he'd known him.

Knowing that Arthur is speaking words he wants to deliver to a person that he most certainly isn't, there's a little thread of something guilty in his chest.

He reaches out with Opal's hand, stroking the top of Arthur's depressed little head.]

I'm sorry. I'm not the one you want to apologize to... [Instead, he's just here fielding the words for a distant person in a distant place, who will maybe never get to hear them, even if he hopes that's not the case.]

I'm not who you want to talk to at all, but no one here is, so let's get you up, okay?

GREGOR

[riverbeans]

[Gregor's soul lingers, killed by a slashed throat. All he wanted was to serve his purpose, and to provide for the people around him. And yet, he was driven to despair, manipulated by those who preyed on his desire to help, desperate for an iota of control over his own life, and afraid of his loved ones falling as he did.

What do you do?]

[rav3n]

[Okay well. HE DIDN'T GET TO DO THIS FOR DAHUT SO CONGRATS GREGOR THIS IS THE FIRST TIME HE'S TRYING TO DO THIS. At least he is used to helping people, even if it's not in these circumstances. He approaches carefully, taking in the ideas that resonate.]

It's alright. We'll get you out of here.

[riverbeans]

[In response to his words, Gregor only looks despondent.]

... You shouldn't be here.

[As he sees someone who isn't Luke, but a woman he failed.]

Leave me, Yuri. You'll be better off.

[And Luke will feel his guilt, his regret that he ever allowed her to enter his life when it ended up destroying her.]

[rav3n]

[Well damn if that ain't relatable. NOW HE HAS TO LARP THE SIDE OF AN ARGUMENT HE DOESN'T AGREE WITH time to channel Jimothelle. What would she say... Well she's a bully so--]

Idiot. I'm not leaving without you.

CHAT

[riverbeans]

[idk if you wanted to talk to each other first about anything]

[rav3n]

[Tags here first because Luke didn't break out of prison on his own so now he's like wtf (redux)]

Where...?

[artificialsweetener]

[WELCOME BACK. Dahut gives his little paws a squeeze.]

Hello! We're in Hell. [THANKS.] How are you feeling...? Okay?

???

[riverbeans]

[Arthur wakes up, as does Gregor, in their respective spaces.

Dahut and Luke will understand that in Arthur's and Gregor's eyes right now, they see Dahut and Luke only as a warm but anonymous blue flame. They will not hear either of the two if they speak now, but Dahut and Luke are still free to move around.

In fact, perhaps now they should regroup.]

[artificialsweetener]

[LIL GUYS OVER THERE THEY MADE IIIT. Dahut stands with his hands on his hips even though to these other fucks he just looks like part of a friendly anonymous blue flame, and looks over toward Luke with his shrapnel. HE'S STILL JUST GOT THIS ARROW STICKING OUT OF HIS CHEST TOO. Well, that's fine. He'll keep an eye on these other nerds while he talks.]

That was pretty rough... Waking people up is hard! How did yours go?

[rav3n]

[THAT WAS A LOT... but not as much as Arthur's. Damn.]

It could've been worse. [He wants to get that arrow out of Dahut but honestly that might be worse right now so he just looks at it and doesn't comment.] He wanted to fight a lot more than I did.