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Senior Crew ([personal profile] dropoffs) wrote2024-03-17 06:25 am
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murdergate: (repeat)

[personal profile] murdergate 2024-03-20 11:25 pm (UTC)(link)
Sort of. We were on-board the Eudora--

[ he sees briars, thick and encroaching. some poor creature caught within.

the party returns.

yes, right. they are inside that manor that likes to play tricks on the mind and heart. he has to hold onto that anchor, but it's so hard when the atmosphere draws him in. what a better life. what rosamund should have had.

please don't tell him jonathan and his jawline are yet another betrayal.
]

And how did you meet your groom, again?
applebough: (pic#17053340)

[personal profile] applebough 2024-03-20 11:34 pm (UTC)(link)
[ "the jawline betrayal" setting up io to be mastermind /s

Unfortunately, Yuri remembers something that Rosamund told her. The silhouette caught within those briars, emaciated... her jaws clench. She has a feeling that she knows who that is.

"By the way, if we're all seeing things that went horribly wrong, I'm pretty sure I know what's coming up for me. And please, don't hesitate to step in and shake me out of it!"

She closes her eye, quietly breathes in, opens her eye, and quietly breathes out.
]

Yes, we met on a trip... I'm sorry. Rosamund, can I speak to you privately for a moment? I need to tell you something really important... Please.
rosebleed: @polarsirens on tumblr (011)

[personal profile] rosebleed 2024-03-21 12:02 am (UTC)(link)
Don't you remember? I told you, he was the one who...

[But something seems off with her friends suddenly. Rosamund's good cheer doesn't drop, just takes on a bemused quizzical bent. Yuri's asking for a moment aside, and Jonathan is so agreeable. She playfully bats at his hand.]

Fine. I'll see you very soon.

[That's a promise.

She turns back to her companions with a furrow between her brows.]


What is it? I thought you wanted to meet him, why did you shoo him off so suddenly?
murdergate: (two)

[personal profile] murdergate 2024-03-21 12:11 am (UTC)(link)
[ he wants the looooore but also it would be tainted by this fabrication so perhaps he should hear it from rosamund later, when she's in a proper state of mind. ]

Rosie--is it okay that I call you that? Later. This isn't, uh. Real. The party.

[ glancing to yuri. he's reading what she put down, yeah? ]
applebough: (pic#17029604)

[personal profile] applebough 2024-03-21 12:23 am (UTC)(link)
I... I did.

[ She wanted to see how Jonathan was like. Her True Love. What if he was here right now, looking at Rosamund with how much he loved her, how much he valued her, how much...

...
]

He's a great man, but Nodd is right. This... this isn't real. This... is something that you wanted over what actually happened.

[ Yuri is absolutely tense. ]

You told me... "we were supposed to wait for a prince to fight through all the thorns". Jonathan, he... he never made it.

[ Even though Yuri is afraid of the backlash, she keeps eye contact with her. Speaking out about this is painful. She would have wanted Rosamund to enjoy this memory, even if it was in a form of a dream.

But these dreams are painful and dig into your soul, because it would never come true.
].

... I'm sorry...
rosebleed: official art (023)

[personal profile] rosebleed 2024-03-21 12:40 am (UTC)(link)
[She looks between them, bewildered. The silence stretches long.]

...Well that's not funny at all.

[She huffs, setting her hands on her hips and fixing them with a petulant look.]

I thought you two would come up with a better joke than that. And really, how would you pull a prank like that off in the first place? "The party's not real." What, was I going to turn around and everyone would duck under the furniture?

[Before she takes her next breath, half her face crackles. It's papery. Like a scrap of parchment hanging rigid in the air, her features painted in black ink, wood-etched shadows lining her cheeks and the twists of her curls.

Then she's normal again, and still talking.]


And it's really quite rude, actually, to say that stuff about the briars? You know how worried we all were, you know how dangerous it could have been.
Edited 2024-03-21 00:42 (UTC)
murdergate: (listening face)

[personal profile] murdergate 2024-03-21 12:49 am (UTC)(link)
[ well that's scary and even when he saw her execute a guy in glasses, nodd didn't think of rosamund as frightening. it may be a bad instinct that it makes him want to comfort her all the more. ]

Yuri wouldn't lie to you, kid. Try and remember--I know it hurts. And, hey, if it helps you, I'll fall on my face like you did for me. But you gotta snap out of it for us to leave this place.
applebough: (pic#17047941)

[personal profile] applebough 2024-03-21 12:58 am (UTC)(link)
[ Tremors run through her self-confidence even though Yuri knows what she says is true. Her conscience shaken up by the crackles in her features for just a moment. None of this should be new to Yuri. She worked in that corporation that managed all sorts of undying monsters--the difference is that she cares for Rosamund and it hurts. ]

... I know, Rosamund. I know how dangerous the briars could be. You were always getting hurt because of them. It made hugs awkward because you didn't want to hurt anyone with them either. This isn't a joke. We're being serious. Please...

[ She wouldn't bat an eye at strangers being munched alive by a bus, but for someone she cares about, she looks like she's almost on the verge of tears. ]
rosebleed: @polarsirens on tumblr (040)

[personal profile] rosebleed 2024-03-21 01:19 am (UTC)(link)
What are you...No. [She shakes her head.] No?

[This solemn tone is grating on her. They've got to be joking though. That's ridiculous. They're having this whole party together to celebrate the upcoming wedding. And she invited them specifically.]

You — you brought me gifts, for heaven's sake!

[Because participation makes this real.

Once again the party dims. Rosamund doesn't notice that the guests are gone and the briars extend high over all their heads. High enough to hold the prince and his horse above the ground. The horse has been dead for days, entrails spilling and drawing flies, making a stench. He's been slowly bleeding to death in the thorns, on his own sword, partially impaled.

"Are you the Princess Rosamund of Reverie?"

A more familiar vision of their friend has run to his side, greeting him in confusion and horror. There is no one else with her. "Yes."

"Hello."

"Hi. What's your name?" The Prince swallows a breath in. His head suddenly drops down. "Okay, wake up. Keep- Stay awake."

"I'm Prince Jonathan...of the Kingdom of Apogee. I heard from a wise woman that you were in danger in the castle."

Then there's a fluttering of wings. Large but not so bird-like.

"Hello, sweet girl."

Eight fairies, beautiful and strange, and in one case moth-like and frightful, all light around Rosamund. Their keen eyes are fixed on her. There's important business to discuss.

Except the party flashes back in. The Rosamund before them looks on the verge of tears, her eyes darting between theirs.]


Stop talking like that. We're going to be happy together.
Edited 2024-03-21 01:20 (UTC)
murdergate: (pic#17054866)

[personal profile] murdergate 2024-03-21 01:27 am (UTC)(link)
I wish you had been.

[ nodd sets a hand on yuri's shoulder, gives her an encouraging squeeze. it's mostly for her sake, to help her hold back the tears as they implore rosamund to accept the truth. but it would be a lie if it wasn't somewhat for himself as he sees that flash of a horse pierced through, bled dry. poor jonathan close to becoming the poor beast's twin, encased in thorns. ]

But it didn't happen. You know that. You know we met on the Eudora long after your prince couldn't rescue you.
applebough: (pic#17053297)

[personal profile] applebough 2024-03-21 01:35 am (UTC)(link)
[ ..........

Yuri doesn't say anything despite the encouragement from Nodd. Her gaze falls to the floor and waits for the other shoe to drop.
]
rosebleed: @polarsirens on tumblr (041)

[personal profile] rosebleed 2024-03-21 02:01 am (UTC)(link)
That's not true.

[But her voice trembles now. Though she turns to Jonathan with an outstretched hand she flinches when there's a shift.

Her eyes don't focus on it, not quite yet. She can't think about it too hard, you see. It was the whole kingdom. Hundreds and thousands of people buried in briars. After a hundred years, only one clawed and bled her way out.

But she has Jonathan, and she does have her friends, even if they're clearly acting weird. The mounting panic means nothing. She doesn't see the green tendrils snaking in around her. She doesn't.]


If I choose to be happy, all I have to do is fall asleep, and let him wake me up. I don't have to choose anything.

Right?

[She turns to her true love with a smile that twitches at the end.]

If I choose to give it up, then I could end up alone and miserable. Just like real people do.
murdergate: (pic#17054865)

[personal profile] murdergate 2024-03-21 02:10 am (UTC)(link)
[ nodd exhales, audible, although not at the level of a full sigh. ]

It's all right, Yuri. You've been really strong today. I'll take this.

[ a gentle pet to the back of her head. he steps forward, encroaching upon rosamund and her doting betrothed. ]

Jonathan is dead, Rosie. You lived, but not because a prince came and saved you. I don't know if it was a curse or the fairies or what, but you didn't get this party.

[ he will lift a godsdamn hand if that figment of a dead prince tries to interrupt him ]

You're alive and it's time to stop playing with ghosts or you're gonna hurt your real, breathing friends.
applebough: (pic#17029582)

[personal profile] applebough 2024-03-21 02:25 am (UTC)(link)
[ Oh. Yuri looks up and sees Nodd confront Rosamund about it. She kicks him a quick nod and then goes off to fend off the briars. Time to get that gun out, though she tries to do this discreetly and trying to shoot at the briars at very close range as if she's applying pest control. ]
rosebleed: @polarsirens on tumblr (039)

[personal profile] rosebleed 2024-03-21 02:53 am (UTC)(link)
[Its not that she wants her living friends to be hurt instead.]

No!

[It's that anyone had to be hurt at all.

Rosamund runs after a man she's met once, whose fate she doesn't know. She'd left him cradled in the briars that day, after rejecting the fairies' offer. She could have returned to her happy story, lent them her aid and set everyone back on the paths they've always been, Once Upon a Time after time after time.

Instead she traded it for something that wasn't exactly better. Just more fair.

She tries to climb the briars. Her hands slick with blood at once. She remembers the blaster suddenly, fumbling for it at her waist and shooting at the thorns carrying him away.]


He doesn't deserve this either! He deserves a better story! He shouldn't have to die just to be in mine!
murdergate: (three)

[personal profile] murdergate 2024-03-21 03:05 am (UTC)(link)
Rosamund!

[ he's so close to catching her sleeve, but she eludes him, racing after the man that should have saved her or been saved by her. there's a sense of ownership to their diverging destinies he can't place. the briar moves swift and brutal, intent on tearing jonathan apart and probably rosie in the process. ]

Shit.

[ he runs after her and grabs rosamund's arm, narrowly avoiding a shot to the stomach. a new hug, tight. nodd is very much the opposite of a prince, but we don't actually all get what we deserve whoops. ]

Kid, please. He doesn't, but he did. You're alive and you gotta let it be. So the three--

[ .....where are you amaltheamichellesomeone..... ]

--four of us can go back.
applebough: (pic#17053293)

[personal profile] applebough 2024-03-21 03:24 am (UTC)(link)
[ Anyway, so she started blasting.

There's no reason to be discreet now, so she is careful to shoot the briars around Jonathan even if it may be a foregone conclusion. That said, she does a good job at trying to protect herself from them, but she only has one gun that she doesn't have full mastery in and that she's only one person who is trying to do multiple things at the same time, which is also trying to cover for Rosanund and Nodd. Which is why her side gets impaled with a briar and she gets some cuts to her face by thorns by a narrow dodge.

But she keeps trucking on, shooting the briars that attack her. She's not here to die.
]

Your guns! Please use them!
rosebleed: @polarsirens on tumblr (008)

[personal profile] rosebleed 2024-03-21 04:00 am (UTC)(link)
[The shift is terrible to bear. Rosamund shivers on the spot. She looks to the blood in hands. Then to Nodd, to Amalthea.

And then...oh god no.]


Yuri!

[Rosamund rushes, her own panic forgotten for the moment as she kneels to help her friend.

Swirling in their minds, they may remember the true version of this memory. A deal struck with a person not once seen within, and the acceptance of her fate thereafter.]
murdergate: (two)

[personal profile] murdergate 2024-03-21 04:16 am (UTC)(link)
[ nodd releases rosamund once they awaken(?) in the garden which becomes the ship. he would have hung onto her while the vines eclipsed them as well, intent on appealing to spirit over fighting the memory mansion on its own terms.

but, thankfully, rosie broke free of the farce.

he hurries to yuri. his own aches from reliving an old beating are truly faded. rosamund's door cured him well enough to fit the setting of a party and then he was merely scratched by the thorns.


We should get her back and to the medbay.

[ assuming her injuries are sticking around??? aahhh!!! ]
applebough: (pic#17053299)

[personal profile] applebough 2024-03-21 04:38 am (UTC)(link)
[ The previous doors were fickle, changing Yuri's appearance to however it suited them at the time. Alex's blood still soaked her clothes, a faint scent of pine, and the injuries of the briars all stick to Yuri. The first aid that Amalthea gets helps a little, but now that the briars are gone and nothing is plugging her wound, she is... bleeding out. (yay) She feels lightheaded...

Though she sees the true memory for Rosamund, she can't bring herself to comment on it right now. She just needs to focus on staying awake and alive.
]

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[personal profile] rosebleed - 2024-03-21 16:35 (UTC) - Expand