☆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

[blindfoldcode]

"Don't be scared, okay?" Just ignore that Kido's terrified, please. Don't be scared. There's a lot of reasons to be scared, but... don't.

[tigermillionaire]

"You're crying and you told me not to look at you..."

It's said with a sniffle. How is he supposed to be unafraid when she's so upset and he can't even react to it?

[blindfoldcode]

"I'm not allowed to be weak."

It sounds dumb coming out of her mouth. But she's not allowed--she always has to be okay. That's what Tiger and Trucy and Pinkie expect. She brushes off trouble. Fear rolls off her like water off a duck, right? At least that's what she tries to be.

"So you can't see."

God the addition makes it worse. She sounds like a kid.

[tigermillionaire]

Whatever inner world Kido is living, that's not really the impression that Tiger has gotten from knowing her. She never really seemed more impervious than anyone else, she just...expressed it differently.

"...It's still happening even if I'm not looking at you," his tone is a little bit frustrated, and a little bit pleading. Nobody wins with this kind of thing.

[blindfoldcode]

She's living in a slightly delusional one, to be fair. She wants to be strong. She wants to not be afraid. She wants to be the one people can come to--who can get beaten down but still seem okay.

(And she chokes again because that desire... It connects so strongly to the words Mekakushi-danchou, it's almost suffocating.)

"He tried to kill me, Tiger." That's what still happens, too, isn't it? Kido gets stabbed and she just lays there uselessly like everybody she cares about isn't in danger. She is not about that lifestyle.

[tigermillionaire]

He looks up at her, over the edge of the bed. He doesn't really want to keep pretending like this, even if she asked him to.

"Who did?"

He's not really surprised. A lot of people got attacked tonight. It doesn't seem like Kido was the only one who got hurt badly, either.

[blindfoldcode]

It takes her another second to drop her hands, wiping her eyes. She... shrugs, weakly?

"I don't know. I've never met him."

[tigermillionaire]

Tiger is quiet for a moment.

"I don't think they...that they meant anything by it. Really."

He swallows, roughly.

"I guess...maybe you didn't see it because you were hurt but...it sounds like the owner of Virgo made them do it somehow. Through that lady."

[blindfoldcode]

She turns her face away just a little. "I don't care."

She doesn't. He tried to kill her, she doesn't want to feel any reasonable emotions right now. She wants to disappear. Maybe it would've been better if he had just killed her. "I... I'm sorry." She scrubs an eye with a palm.

[tigermillionaire]

He doesn't answer her, immediately. Instead he just stares into space over his knees.

"...I think we're in a lot of trouble, now."

[blindfoldcode]

She... readjusts herself so she can put a hand on his shoulder. She an at least acknowledge she hadn't meant for him to end up on the floor.

"We're not in trouble alone this time." It's the first vaguely acceptable thing she feels has come out of her mouth since she woke up. She's not dodging a laser maze alone, he's not drowning without anyone willing to help, Trucy won't be facing knives and bugs without someone at her back--they're not in this lab alone, this time.

[tigermillionaire]

That's sort of the problem, in a way. They're all in trouble, and he doesn't know what anybody can do to make things better. But it's true...at least they aren't suffering alone.

"...Are you still hurt?" He isn't sure how well the wounds have been treated.

[blindfoldcode]

"I... don't know. I'm still tired, and everything still hurts." But now she's all drawn up into herself, she really just wishes she could tip over.

"... You can come up here again if you want." She's not sure there is anything anyone can do to make this better, but for now at least, she's pretty happy to have an eye on him. Pretty happy none of them are trapped in this creepy ass lab alone.

[tigermillionaire]

It takes a few moments, but he does. Shyly appearing over the edge of the bed again, he lowers himself onto strip of bed space next to her, watching her uncertainly. He can't really think of what to say. Right now, just not being alone feels more important than anything.

[blindfoldcode]

Tiger and shy is still pretty concerning to Kido. She doesn't know what to say at first. Her head is fuzzy and rushing at the same time.

"... Pinkie and I were talking about having a movie night." It's a terrible time to bring it up, but they were both worried about Tiger. And now there's more reason to be worried than ever before.

[tigermillionaire]

It's a pretty weird thing to bring up, yes, but oddly enough Tiger doesn't find himself withdrawing from it. Like, what else are they supposed to do? There's still an immediate future even if things are terrible, and not doing anything is just...worse.

"How many movies?" he asks, buying into the conversation.

[blindfoldcode]

Keep their minds off the things they can't do anything about...

"I don't know yet. A few. But nothing cute." Because most of the band has probably walked in on Kido crying over those cute animal movies at least once.

[tigermillionaire]

"Aw," he breathes without thinking. "Why not?"

But then he remembers himself: "I mean...um..."

[blindfoldcode]

Kido's eyes widen for a second before she smiles a little at him. The smile is a little dissonant with all the... blood all over her and stuff. "Maybe one cute one."

[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.