☆TRACK II: DISCORD AND RHYME

[interdimanagers]

Who: Kidnapped Pride Members
What: Corporate hazing, in the style of themepark murder clowns.
When: October 18th-19th.
Where: A large, empty carnival, apparently.
Warnings: This is basically Saw games for babies.

“Burning the ground, I break from the crowd I'm on the hunt, I'm after you. I smell like I sound, I'm lost and I'm found And I'm hungry like the wolf.” ☆DISCORD AND RHYME It’s your first free night after a particularly feverish series of performances. It’s a comparatively lazy Sunday evening - one that all of you are obligated to spent in the HQ. Things are normal, at least as normal as they ever are, are you’re free to go to bed early and for once have the luxury in sleeping in tomorrow. At least theoretically. Whether you go to bed or not, you’ll find yourself drifting off - and then the sound eerie, peculiar music...like the sound of an old music box, with a soft feminine voice singing wordlessly along. You’ll fall asleep, hard, and when you wake up you are somewhere else. "【Sad and Scary Song】"Come Out And Play"Creepy Music Box】[HD]" (Watch on YouTube) ☆THE SACRIFICES At first, you wake up in what seems like some kind of boiler room. Some parts of the floor are slick with moisture, and your hands and feet are bound, with your wrists locked to the industrial piping behind you. Regaining consciousness is slow and difficult, as if it wasn't meant to come to you quite yet. You can hear water and steam flowing through some of the pipes, and the complex is obviously still active with...whatever it's supposed to be doing. But maybe you're just too busy freaking out at your evident kidnapping to think too hard about circumstantial evidence. You aren't the only one in here. Whether they are awake or unconscious, four other Pride members are bound nearby. Around the side of some of the machinery, you can see the glow of computers, though you can't quite see the screens - there are chairs, though, and a cup of Starbucks that is still steaming. Whoever brought you here is probably still around, and there's no telling how long you have before they return. (Click here for your top level!) ☆THE CHALLENGERS You wake up sitting in what appears to be a bumper car of all things - you know, one of those little vehicles you drive around at carnivals to crash into each other? You're sitting in one, and your hand are handcuffed around the bar behind you. Your neck is definitely sore, like you've been sitting like this for a while. It only takes a moment to realize two things: 1) you actually are in a theme park of some sort, and it's still night time, and 2) you're not alone. At least a dozen other Pride members are handcuffed to the bumper cars around you, all pointed in the direction of an empty stretch of wheel worn floor - like an audience, intended to view a speaker. Whoever brought you here doesn't give you much time to be confused. They stride into the center of the "stage" like they own the place. They are wearing a hooded coat of a decidedly gothic style, with a hood that shadows their face. When they speak, they sound feminine - almost like the voice you remember putting you to sleep earlier. "Welcome, ladies and gentlemen," they say, "to your trial by fire." (Click here for your top level!) “Strut on a line, it's discord and rhyme I'm on the hunt, I'm after you. Mouth is alive with juices like wine And I'm hungry like the wolf.”

Comments

Re: ☆SACRIFICE INTRO & MINGLE

[mildwildchild]

It's taking a while for his brain to kick into gear enough to process any external stimuli, but eventually Jamie recognizes the smell of coffee. He spends what seems like an eternity trying to get his mouth to function enough to communicate his thoughts, a slurred jumble of syllables that sounds more or less like "Heeeeyyyyy somebodygetmesummathat."

It takes longer still for him to realize that a)no coffee is forthcoming and b)this isn't the penthouse. Slumped over where he's tied, he pries his eyes open and stares blankly at his lap and the hard concrete floor beyond it for a good minute or so before he can formulate another sentence, and this time it is:

"Wha'thehhhhell?"

☆SACRIFICE INTRO & MINGLE

[magic_to_do]

[It's the sound of his voice that finally wakes Trucy. She blinks in blurry confusion for a moment before she realizes she can't move. And she's not alone. Which doesn't help because they can't move either.

That's when fear finally sets in. Her first attempt at words comes out as more of a squeak. But she takes a shuddering breath and tries again.]

Wha- what is this?!? What's going on?

☆SACRIFICE INTRO & MINGLE

[mildwildchild]

With monumental effort Jamie swings his head toward the sound of her voice. Everything sort of lags as he does so, like his eyes can't quite keep up with the movement of his body, and Trucy's form is blurry and indistinct for a good few moments. Jamie squints at her, shifting in his bonds.

"Where'dyoucomefrom?" He's starting to come around a little more, but speaking clearly still seems to take more coordination than Jamie has at his disposal right now.

☆SACRIFICE INTRO & MINGLE

[magic_to_do]

[She tugs at her bonds, testing their strength. No luck. Whoever tied them up did a good job. Struggling to remain calm, she takes a few more deep breaths to clear her head. There has to be an explanation for all this. Whoever did this, they had to have a reason. She's trying her best to organize her thoughts, but her head still feels... blurry. Like it's packed with cotton.

The adrenaline is helping, but not fast enough. She tries to answer her fellow captive.]

We... I don't-

[Okay, no. Try again.]

Kidnapped. I think... we've been kidnapped. Th-the coffee! They'll be back soon!

[Closer. She's trying to communicate the idea that whoever left that coffee there will likely return before it gets cold. And is they can't escape before then, things could get bad. But she's scared and confused so it's not coming out the way she wants.]

Re: ☆SACRIFICE INTRO & MINGLE

[mildwildchild]

Jamie just kind of squints at her with his head tilted to one side, trying to process everything that's going on. Kidnapped. Yes. Okay. That is probably bad. They should do something about th - oh coffee. He smelled coffee earlier. He could really use some coffee, himself. Maybe they can find the source of the coffee smell and all partake of some together. That would be nice.

Yeah, Jamie is having a lot of trouble focusing right now.

Eventually the concepts of kidnapping and coffee merge together into some kind of vaguely coherent whole. "No - wait," he says slowly, in response to Trucy's comment. "If they left their coffee behind that means - they'll be coming back for it!" Jamie, you are a genius.

"I think we're just tied with - with rope," he manages, peering at his bound ankles. "Is there anything near you that you can use to, like...saw through it or anything?" There always is in the movies. Except the horrifyingly gory ones that end up with a bunch of dead, dismembered teenagers.

Re: ☆SACRIFICE INTRO & MINGLE

[magic_to_do]

[Trucy cranes her neck, trying to see as much of her surroundings as possible. Then shakes her head.]

Nothing here! Do you have anything?

[She knows one thing, after this is over, she's moving her magical studies into escape artistry. She tests the bod again.]

Are the chairs tied down? Maybe we can... hop closer together and try to untie each others wrists?

[Okay, wow. That sounds very silly when she says it out loud.]

Re: ☆SACRIFICE INTRO & MINGLE

[mildwildchild]

It's okay, Trucy, Jamie's still so fogged up that it sounds perfectly plausible to him.

"Yeah. Yeah, okay, let's give it a try, lemme just - " He rocks the chair to which he's tied and finds that, irritatingly enough, the bottom half wobbles a little but the upper half stays put. He cranes his neck around, trying to see behind him, which just makes his vision go all streaky again.

"I'm tied to the pipes," he informs her, sort of incredulously. Through the haze of whatever the hell he's doped up on, this doesn't alarm him quite as much as it probably should. Then he proclaims, with no trace of irony whatsoever, "I think I can break the rope. Hold on."

There's a brief pause and then he grits his teeth, straining at his bonds, complete with unflattering "HNNNNNGGHHH" noise. To the surprise of absolutely no one, his efforts fail.

He tries a couple more times. Same results.

He is wrecked.

"I can't do it," he says faintly. He looks like his world has come crashing down around his shoulders. "I can't do it, man!" he repeats, looking at Trucy frantically. "What're we gonna do? What are we gonna DO?!"

Re: ☆SACRIFICE INTRO & MINGLE

[magic_to_do]

D-don't panic!!

[Trucy also tries to move her chair, with similar results. Okaaay. It may be time to panic.]

Look, just... just calm down.

[Is she trying to convince him or herself? Who even knows.]

There... there has to be a way out! Or a way to reason with them. Th- they must want something!

[If they didn't, there was no reason to keep them alive.]

Re: ☆SACRIFICE INTRO & MINGLE

[mildwildchild]

"What if what they want is to kill us?!" Jamie spazzes at her. "Like live murdercam on the internet? I've heard about snuff films, dude, they're totally real! Think about all the hits they'd get killing a bunch of celebs!"

He goes (dramatically, if unintentionally) limp in his chair, head flopped back and chest heaving for a moment or so, moaning "I told Yosk this kinda shit would happen, I told him" more or less to himself. Finally he sniffs and sits upright again, looking at Trucy. His voice is a little hoarse, like he's on the verge of bursting into tears but struggling to keep himself together.

"So what do you think they want? How should we try and reason with 'em?"

Re: ☆SACRIFICE INTRO & MINGLE

[magic_to_do]

[Despite how hard she's tried to keep calm, Trucy can feel the tears pricking at the corner of her eyes. She draws a slow breath and is pleased when it only hitches once.]

If... if they wanted to k-kill us, we'd be dead. And if they wanted a show, it'd be more interesting if we weren't tied to chairs.

[She refuses to entertain his snuff film theory. It's too horrible to think about. But it would make sense for them to be watching.....

She suddenly fixes her gaze at some point on the ceiling and raises her voice.]

Hey! Can you hear me? Why are doing this?!?

Re: ☆SACRIFICE INTRO & MINGLE

[mildwildchild]

"Or maybe they wanted us to be awake before they murder us so they can listen to us scream." Jamie, you're not helping.

He follows her lead, though, scanning the ceiling for any hint of a recording device. His voice shakes a little as he addresses their as of yet unseen captors.

"We're from Pride Records, man! Don't fuck with us unless you wanna get fucked right back!"

Re: ☆SACRIFICE INTRO & MINGLE

[magic_to_do]

[She's been struggling to stay as calm and optimistic as possible, but that was the last straw. She shakes her head in denial.]

Stop saying stuff like that!!

[She turns her now desperate attention back to the ceiling.]

Please just let us go!! Or- or even just talk to us!

Re: ☆SACRIFICE INTRO & MINGLE

[mildwildchild]

YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH. Jamie ignores this comment in favor of joining her in railing at the ceiling.

"Yeah! Say something, dickheads, unless you're too scared!" He is so full of ginger for someone tied to a chair in an unknown location at the mercy of mysterious entities.

Re: ☆SACRIFICE INTRO & MINGLE

[magic_to_do]

[Anger instead of fear, huh? You know what? She can get behind that.]

Yeah!! Are you so scared of us that you can't even face us?!? Cowards!!

[If nothing else, the anger keeps the tears at bay.]