interstellar5555 | ☆TRACK II: DISCORD AND RHYME

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☆TRACK II: DISCORD AND RHYME

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.

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☆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."

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“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.”

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Bait: Yuffie Kisaragi
Challengers: 1) Luci 2) Koumei Ren

There is a sign outside of the Gravitron ride that says: “Take these, you’ll need them.” Attached are two keys.

Upon entering the Gravitron, the challengers will notice that the interior control booth is completely closed off with protective glass - and a locked door. Inside, Yuffie is bound with what appears to be a bomb strapped to her chest. On it is a timer that reads “2:00” - which starts ticking down as soon as the ride door closes behind them, and the Gravitron begins to spin.

The challengers will need to make it back to the door of the booth and unlock the two locks with two separate keys, while fighting against the gravity of the ride. This will turn off the ride, but then they’ll be left to deal with deactivating the bomb.

(It’s not a real bomb, so whatever they do to it will be fine, but they don’t know that. Once they turn it off, the door will open for them and they'll be free to leave.)

THIS TRIAL WILL SUCCEED

Luci pauses outside of the Gravitron, reading the sign and taking note of the keys. Two of them, but she still can't see inside, can't see if Yuffie's in there. Fuck, if she takes the keys and heads inside, she could be trapped and lose time trying to get to Yuffie.

"Fuck," she mutters, shifting her weight while she tries to decide.

When Yuffie wakes up again, her first reaction is to groan dramatically, dropping her head back.

"Oh, come on!" She tries to pull at her arms again, and then she seems to notice the thing strapped to her chest. What. What the-

"This is so not happening." Yuffie looks around and when she realizes that not only is she tied, she's trapped. This is worse than the first time she woke up. What the hell is even going on here? She refuses to think about the cartoon mess strapped to her chest because she does not want to blow up and she refuses to think about that right now. She refuses.

"Hey! HEY. Somebody!"

There's a part of her that is impossibly angry that she's trapped like this, but it's a little overrun by panic and the fact that her arms hurt from tugging against all the ropes.

"Get me OUT of here!"

The terror in the young woman's voice echoing out from the darkness was enough to stay any lingering reservations that Koumei may have harbored. While the girl wasn't Nariko, the youngest member of his band and something akin to a younger sister, he knew that there was no way he could stand by and allow such a thing to continue.

"It looks like we don't have a choice," he murmured, and reached up to take one of the keys. The woman beside him, although not a personal acquaintance, was someone else that he recognized from Pride. Their shared label was good enough for him.

Casting Luci a serious, almost chiding look, he continued:

"I thought Carnies were known for their wild reputation. What's holding you back now?"

Edited 2015-10-19 20:33 (UTC)

"Get out of my way Koumei--" Luci snarls, barreling through the door and barely pausing to snatch one of the keys. The sound of Yuffie's voice had voided her concern that if she stepped inside and Yuffie wasn't there, she'd be trapped and unable to continue looking for her bandmate. Now it doesn't matter if she's locked in, the Gravitron is obviously where Yuffie is being held.

"Yuffie!" Luci bellows as she enters the ride and looks around. Where the fuck was she? "Lucifer's here to get you out of hell, love, just--"

There! Right in the center, of course. Luci takes a step towards her, and Koumei must have cleared the door because there's a jerk and the ride starts to turn.

"Fuck!" She grabs one of the central railings and prepares to vault over to the control booth. If she waits too long, it could be impossible to break the centrifugal force.

"Nngh-- damn!"

The bar was barely within Koumei's grasp when the ride lurched into motion, sending him barreling overtop of the rails and throwing his sense of balance into disorder. One hand still tightly clenched around the key, he tried to find his footing in the mess.

"We'll figure this out, Yuffie!" He called out, trying to sound reassuring despite the chaotic movements of the ride. "Just-- just hold on!"

Yuffie starts when she hears Luci's voice, trying to turn to see her because if Luci's here that means she's going to get her out, right?

"Luci! Luci, I'm in here I-"

That's about all she gets to think before the ride starts.

"What the-" The middle of the ride is generally the place that moves the least on one of these things. That may be true. But Yuffie Kisaragi stays away from anything like this because anything that moves faster than the bus pretty much turns her into a motion sick creature who hides in a corner until someone comes and wakes her up. Needless to say, Yuffie is not at all pleased with this particular development.

Her stomach lurches as the ride does, and Yuffie can't help herself from responding to Koumei with about as much pleasantness as she feels.

"I can't really do anything-ughhh- I can't do anything but hold on!"

Luci doesn't waste time on talking or reassuring Yuffie, she throws herself under the central bars and braces herself. This ride is going to start spinning at almost twenty four rotations per minute, inflicting three times the force of gravity on her and Koumei. She's going to feel like she weighs four hundred and twenty pounds in less than ten seconds.

"We have to shut this thing off!" she shouts at Koumei over the noise. "I'm guessing we need these two keys for that!" She grips the bar over her head tightly as the press of gravity increases. If she doesn't keep her balance perfectly, she'll slip right through bars and be pinned to the walls.

"That's not going to be so easy!"

The weight of the centrifugal force was bearing down on his slender figure, making it impossible to move. Gritting his teeth, he tried to look around at their environment for something-- anything.

Basic physics dictated that the force would be greatest at the edges. They needded to get to the center....somehow.

As the machine continues to turn Yuffie tries very hard to keep focused on anything but her stomach rolling like she's going to throw up. When this is over, she is going to find whoever tied her to this thing and shove their heads so far up their asses they can see daylight. She does, for a moment, remember that there were others with her before and wonder if they're in as bad a situation.

And that's about the point Yuffie thinks about the other part of the problem. She's been trying not to think about the thing strapped to her on the sheer hope that just maybe, the isn't what she thinks it is.

"Hurry up you guys!" She tries to pull at the ropes holding her but there is really no use. They got better at tying this time. If she'd had a chance to get out before, there wasn't one until she was rescued. "Really really soon would be nice!"

"Nothing worth doing is ever easy," Luci barks back. She's watching Koumei struggle with keeping his balance, and realizes in short order that he's going to lose it if they don't stop this thing. Logic says she should take the key Koumei has and stop the ride herself, but if it's a two-person operation she'll be screwed. So it has to be both of them.

"C'mon Yuffie-- Keep Calm and Spin On, that's what my people say right?" Luci kicks off her shoes and starts pushing herself upright. She slips and for a second it looks like she's going to roll through the railing and hit the back. Instead, she just smacks her cheek and lip really good on the rail, but hangs on. So standing up is not an option, apparently.

"Alright--" Luci grits her teeth, her cheek and lip both bleeding as she drags herself beck inside the railing along the ground. She braces her feet and reaches for Koumei's hand. "No standing, keep on the ground. On three I'm going to jump for the edge--" She gestures to the lip between the control room and the outer housing. "And you're going to jump with me and hang onto my arm, or you're going to hit every rail on the way to those cushions. You ready?"

"Ready whenever you are," he muttered, grasping onto her arm firmly with his hand while bracing himself against the force of the spinning.

Casting a glance up at the control room-- and Yuffie's cage-- he narrowed his eyes in concentration while he tried to assess the tech from their distance.

"We'll be fine once we get there; the tech looks basic enough."

And with Luci's help, getting there should be easy enough as well. Physics was the key, and it could help them as much as it was currently impeding them if they used it properly.

Yuffie can't really be well seen, but she can be heard. Her voice carries well in any situation. It's very high pitched on a good day. And this is not a good day.

"I'm totally calm! This is calm! This is very calm for this situation. " Yuffie yelled to them, tying to follow Luci's advice.

Finally, after a long moment, Yuffie calls to them again.

"Just so you know? There's kinda another problem when you get here? So...hurrying might be a very very very good idea?"

"Glad you know about that, because I don't know shit about stuff like that," Luci huffs and blows her black bang out of her face. "We've got you Yuffie, whatever the problem is we'll take care of it. Ready?" She looks back at Koumei and gets his affirmative before she counts down.

"Three, two, one!" She pushes off of the railing and, using their combined momentum, grabs the lip on the control tower. It's shocking, the sudden stoppage of the spinning, but Luci hangs on even as Koumei might drag behind her. She grits her teeth again and gets a leg up and pulls him along with her.

Koumei pushed off alongside her on cue, following her lead and boosting their momentum to the control hub of the ride. Once there, the sudden shock of being relieved from the gravitic pressure was so startling that he had to concentrate with all of his might to not fall and not be an extra burden on Luci.

Reaching up with his free hand, he searched out a hold and began the difficult process of hoisting himself upward onto the ledge. Once there, he offered a hand to Luci.

"Thanks for the help," he said, glancing back in Yuffie's direction, distracted by the news of there being another obstacle ahead of them. "The rest of it shouldn't be too difficult from here."

So long as there were no more stunts that required athleticism, that is. In quarters this tight, though, he doubted that there would be.

"It's kinda a pretty big problem?" Yuffie shouts, but after a moment she can hear all the clunking and craziness of hitting them hitting the control booth and Yuffie laughs because of course Luci would manage it.

The laugh is pretty quickly cut off again by the fact that smaller movement in the middle of things or no, Yuffie Kisaragi does not do fast moving things like this, okay?

She starts pulling again in earnest to try and get free because if they're right there, then she's almost out. It's almost done, and then they can figure out where the other people she was trapped with are and she can deck the assholes who did this in the face.

"You guys are okay, right?"

"'Shouldn't' being the operative word--" Luci grunts and pulls herself up with Koumei's help. Most of the gravity is off of them, but they still have to stop the damn thing.

"Nothing we can't-- fuck!!" Now she can finally see into the control booth, and there's very clearly something strapped to Yuffie with a timer on it. And it's counting down. This is definitely a pretty big problem.

"Go, move it!!" she shouts at Koumei, carefully sliding around the housing of the control room until she gets to the door. Luci moves fast, but she doesn't risk falling and potentially killing herself via gravity. It only takes her five seconds to get to the door, which she opens, and offers a hand to help Koumei inside. Three people in this tiny room-- it's going to be tight.

Quite tight, but not impossible. Koumei, quite slender for his height, scrambled into the hold as quickly as possible to get a look at what was happening. His eyes widened in horror once he saw the timer-- and swift count down on said timer.

"Shit!" He cursed, and squeezed around to get a better look at the device. "How dare they even..."

There was no finishing the sentence as he took hold of his key and shoved it into the nearest slot. "Luci-- do you still have your's?"

It should be obvious what he was talking about.

"I told you we had another problem!" Yuffie shouts, kicking dramatically as she tries to escape in earnest now that they're here. It's a tight fit and after a moment she tucks in her legs to try and give them more room because she knows that there's not much she can do on her own, as much as it drives her nuts.

"Please tell me it's not what I think it is? Cause you're both acting like it's exactly what I think it is." Yuffie says, trying to get both of their attention because they're both focused on things like not falling over and keys and things like that and Yuffie would really like answers.

Now. Kthnks. Sooner than now, if possible.

Yes, there's no doubt what Koumei is referring to-- there's only one thing that she has that he has too. It takes a second or two, she finds the slot and turns the key. The Graviton starts to slow.

And with that out of the way, the bigger problem needs taking care of.

"Sorry Yuffie, you know me, can't be anything else but 100% honest," she says, looking at the device. "Pretty sure this is exactly what we think it is." Though she can't see where the payload would be... it looks like a timer strapped to her.

"There's a way to stop this, otherwise why bother?" she clenches her jaw and looks to Koumei. "Do I start pulling wires, or are you the type that can actually program the clock on a microwave?"

"This is more complicated than fixing the clock on a microwave," he intoned, trying not to think about the fearful ring in Yuffie's voice that tied a knot in his stomach and set his nerves on edge. "But Terry's a tech junkie-- it's hard not to pick a few things up."

With those words he carefully started to peel back the casing, working swiftly but delicately to expose the wires within.

"These just connect to the timer," he muttered, "but we'll find the charge if we follow them."

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☆TRACK II: DISCORD AND RHYME

► GRAVITRON BOMB

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