☆TRACK V: I WILL TWIST THE KNIFE PT. 2

[interdimanagers]

Who: Everyone in the last part of the log.
What: Everyone has a terrible night.
When: December 7th, 2054
Where: Naomi's ocean side mansion, followed by a secret Pride laboratory.
Warnings: Violence, blood, and at least one murder. Vague gore. NPCs being unhinged in a threatening way, though it's possible to have your character avoid ended up in the ballroom if you don't want to see this mess.

☆I WILL TWIST THE KNIFE The bubble has burst. The chaos of the night’s violence has finally boiled over into something uncontrollable – blood has been spilt, screams have been heard. No matter where you are in the mansion, you know by now that something is acutely wrong. Multiple members of Pride have been hurt – possibly killed – and you may still have no idea why. Some will try to escape. Some will try to fight back. Yet, as any rebellion starts to descend, a piercing note - a melodic cry - will summon you towards the ballroom. It can be resisted, in part - but only as far as you find yourself frozen in place instead of moving forward, at least while this spell holds. It's drawing you to the source...if you follow it, maybe you can stop it. The compulsion is strong for members of both labels. The cry seems to echo long past its termination point, to be heard wherever you are. If followed, it will bring you to Naomi Rivers in the center of the ballroom, her expression creased with strain. Though you may desperately want to strike her, something intangible is holding you back. "No!" she shouts at any Virgo nearby. "It isn't done! You need to...you need to finish this!" She'll point desperately at the nearby Pride, rendered unable to flee. "Get them now!" You don't want to. "Do it!" The compulsion weighs heavily on you - for Virgo, to act, and for Pride to surrender themselves. All subtly has disappeared. This last effort is unconcealed and nearly hysterical. You feel yourself slipping beneath the soundwaves. Power rolls off of her, the energy thick in the air, like something you can taste and smell. You can't do this. "I command-" The fabric of space-time cracks like a peal of thunder. All at once, the spell shatters.

Comments

[tigermillionaire]

"Pinkie would probably like a cute one, too," he says. "And Trucy." Because of course he is suggesting it for them and not himself. Okay, screw it, he likes animals a lot anyway. "Anyway, we need a fantasy/sci-fi one too. Those are my favourite."

[blindfoldcode]

Uh huh, Tiger. Uh huh. "I want at least one action movie." Kido's favorite movies are cute movies about animals and also romcoms.

She will literally never admit this out loud to anyone ever. "I feel like I'm gonna be spending a lot of time on the couch, so we should do it soon."

[tigermillionaire]

"Yeah," he agrees, a little bit wistful. "I...don't really want to do anything else for a while. If...if they don't make us."

And that is certainly a threat.

[blindfoldcode]

"The couch is mine." Kido. Rude. Also Jesus.

[tigermillionaire]

"Kido, there's like four couches," Tiger chides lightly, making a face. There is no shortage of space to lay around in their ridiculously huge penthouse.

[blindfoldcode]

"And there's five of us. I get at least one couch to myself." She nudges him gently.

[tigermillionaire]

"Yeah, well, me too!" he counters, looking at least slightly pleased with himself. Tiger isn't even tall enough to take up an entire couch on his own.

[blindfoldcode]

"Maybe I'll push two together and use them both." Kido chuckles. He's acting more lively at least.

[scalpedsociety]

"I did. But my vision is alright. The Doctors said I should be careful sleeping for somedays though." It's not like she'll have a problem not sleeping.

[sublimelymagnificentblitz]

"Damn it, that's -- " Jecht leaned forward, an inch from finding someone to give a piece of his mind to, but slumped back a moment later with a low growl. Who was he kidding? No one would listen.

"You gotta be careful. That's some serious shit right there. You need someone to look after you?" He'd... be really bothered if something happened to her. More than he could really admit.

[tigermillionaire]

He sticks out his tongue and blows a raspberry at her, soft and playful.

"That's dumb," he says, pushing against her arm.

[blindfoldcode]

She responds by looping an arm around his shoulders--maybe a little too tightly for it to be entirely teasing.

"Maybe. Or maybe I'll have a collection of couches so I can have variety."

[giglio_madonna]

[The momentary quiet is reassuring after the panic that's happened all night, but more reassuring is the weight against her.]

[So when the quiet is broken, a feeling of song reaching her, Luce doesn't think otherwise of it. She just sighs.]

I'm not in the mood for music right now, my dear, I'm sorry.

[giglio_madonna]

I'll...

[put a bullet between her eyes if she thinks about it]

...make sure she doesn't, dear.

[He doesn't need to be scared more. He doesn't need to be scared by how natural that line of thinking seems to be- traditional, sensible somehow, in the context of the image of standing before a corpse...]

Blanche is clearly in for his own interests, but at least he'll be the one she goes after if anyone.

[Just possible at the expense of any of them. She doesn't say that, either.]

You can come to our penthouse anytime you want, you know that, don't you?

[trustme]

[ Doctor lifts an eyebrow. There was no music playing in the room. Only the song being sung in his head. ]

Well that's odd. Is Luce feeling all right?

[ He thinks to himself before asking her aloud. ]

What music?

[panspermia]

"Yep." He strums a low chord. "I'm trusting you on that."

[panspermia]

Greg's returned smile is weary and empty. "Never thought I could be so proud of being an awful liar." The mere idea of trying to pull one over on his friends is absurd, and honestly painful to imagine.

Blanche had to know that, too. He must've been picking on him in a moment of weakness. "I wonder how much of this whole music stuff is some sort of... dog 'n pony show, for whatever else they've got going on." He just can't see how it fits into the big picture, aside from keeping them busy.

[panspermia]

It would be pretty stupid, at this point, to ask what was wrong, or if she was all right. Greg hadn't seen her during the party, but he had no desire to know what she'd gotten up to during the fiasco, and doubtless she had no desire to relive it.

The topic on their minds could only drag them down further, Greg was sure of it. Instead, he kept playing, soft and soothing, and watched his breath rise in the early winter air.

"Strange. It's still a beautiful night, in spite of it all."

[panspermia]

Her question brings a rueful grin to Greg's face. How very Luce.

"Ehh. Better than some."

Well, he figures that has to be the case--even if he's trapped in a truly awful, terrifying, helpless situation, so's everyone else. His head hadn't even gotten screwed with tonight. He has to keep things in perspective; it's a little selfish to complain too much.

"I might ask you the same."

[panspermia]

His eyebrows go up a little. "Brave kid." Just at a glance, Undyne isn't someone you'd want to tangle with outside of pool toys. And barely even then.

...Then again, if a kid's struggling for his life, that sort of reasoning doesn't matter.

[scalpedsociety]

Johanna hits hard yo.

"You have a bandmate in critical condition and you're worried about me?" Granted, both of them care about this bandmate.

[nibelungvalesti]

The words took a moment to sink into Meril's mind, like saturated sponges slowly drifting down through thick, murky water. When they at last registered, she laughed, a bitter sound on the edge of hysteria, but nonetheless with a little humor.

"Never change, Greg."

[sublimelymagnificentblitz]

"Ain't shit I can do for him." Jecht let out a sigh that sounded nothing at all like him, running fingers into his hair out of frustration. "Sitting up with him won't matter. Just gotta... just gotta hope, and trust."

[giglio_madonna]

[Now that's just rude. Straightening up, Luce frowns to him.]

You don't have to speak to me as though I'm not here, you know. And the music- it was playing just a moment ago, you had to have heard it.

[That or she's losing it quicker than she thought she would.]

[giglio_madonna]

'Better than some'. She thinks of Jamie, and Yuffie, and once again her gut twists in desperate hope that they're both alright. Even worse is the strange sense that she's not so much upset about the violence as she is that people she cared about were hurt.

What a mess the night has been.

"Reeling," she says simply, because that's the most apt phrase. "And... more than a little frustrated." Her fingers curl against her dress- she's long since changed out of her bloody clothes. "It was obvious, wasn't it?"