☆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

[magic_to_do]

Okay...

[She does her best to keep the quaver out of her voice. What else can she tell them? Think, Trucy, think!]

Um, it's too dark to see anything. But I can hear the machines and... and the bugs. There's a lot of bugs.

[So many gross bugs.]

The room I'm in must be pretty small, or I th-think they'd spread out more.

[She tries to shift the chair, just to see whether it's bolted down or something.]

[sailorlaughter]

Well duh, we're not LEAVING! [She didn't even turn to pay attention to the mirror tbh] You should keep talking as loud as you can! Maybe we'll hear you when we get closer - like, through the walls and not just this!

Yosuke's here! And so's this guy! What's your name?

[interdimanagers]

[The chair isn't bolted down, it seems. It shifts when Trucy does, and sort of smushes against a bug or two. Nice. Or maybe not nice, depending on how you feel about smushed bugs.

There's the soft whir of more panels moving nearby, to anybody listening. Too far away for Trucy to hear them through anything but the speakers.]

[sailorlaughter]

[Is that a good sound? Well, it's a better indicator than anything ELSE. Pinkie reaches out for the hand of whoever's nearest her.]

C'mon, this way!

[punchesyu]

[This is screwed up. So screwed up. Yosuke listens intently for other footsteps that aren't their own, still wary of the writing on the wall from earlier. There's someone else in here. He just hopes it's a prank. He follows Pinkie, keeping an eye out to no avail-]

Let's just find her and get the hell out of here.

[The whirring noises make sense now, seeing the panel open up previously.]

I wonder if everything in here moves. You guys saw that door move, right?

[He presses a hand up against a mirror to check to see if it would move...maybe they'd get lucky?]

[traumatizing]

[There are few things in life Terry wants less right now than to be holding hands with anyone, but Pinkie has him and he's too focused on this to fight her about it.]

[Yosuke's idea isn't bad, and he follows to one of the mirrors. He's not careful about it at all, roughly shoving at one of the edges to see if it feels at all like something they can budge.]

[magic_to_do]

Guys! Guys, my chair isn't bolted down or anything! I can move it!

[Excited, she slides it over a little more, heedless of the bugs for now. At least she can feel like she's doing something productive.]

I'm gonna slide over till I find the wall.

[sailorlaughter]

Oh yeah! Do that and then bang on it some!

[The guys seem to have the shoving the mirror thing covered, so Pinkie turns to keep an eye out. Or, well, an ear at least.]

[interstellarnpcs]

[That actually works! As it turns out, the wall is really close by - if Trucy rocks around a little bit, she'll find that the room is very enclosed and shaped like a triangle. With this information, the guys on the outside could probably figure out that it's very likely a section of the maze, but with the mirror shifted to cover all three sides.

The only way to really bang into it is to just sort of throw her body and the chair against it or to knock on it with her head - depending on how loud she manages to make it, the others will get a sense of direction, though the microphones and speaker business sort of confuses things.]

[traumatizing]

This isn't gonna work.

[He's still pushing at the mirror, but if it's even possible to move it he doubts he and Yosuke are strong enough. Terry sighs and brushes a hand through his hair, trying to keep his head on right.]

["We're wasting time," he hears his own voice, and for a moment he has a memory of sitting at a table with a bunch of people in costumes? They're talking about a plan of attack- a rescue? And he couldn't want to be there any less. Not unlike the current situation, but it's not a useful thought right now so he shakes his head and pushes it aside; whatever the hell that was it can wait. For now he pushes off the mirror and starts walking again, hopefully they'll be able to hear Trucy and figure out which way to go from here.]

We don't have time to waste trying every mirror in this place, we need to get moving.

figure now would be a good time for THE MURDERER to show up

[punchesyu]

[He slams his own fist against a mirror, not too hard but hard enough to know his frustration with this entire situation.]

This is stupid, I don't even understand why this is happening anyway... [He complains, trying to squint through the dark. There's a scuffle of footsteps, a little distant. Like someone was running and took a sharp turn.]

What was that?! [He cries out, head jerking back and forth.]

[magic_to_do]

[She's a little surprised that she finds the wall so easily. Her instinct about the size of the room had been right.]

I found the wall! This room is weird, you guys. It's really small. And like, a triangle?

[She braces herself and pushes with her feet to smack the chair into the wall.]

[traumatizing]

What? [He squints at Yosuke-- obviously not hearing their impending doom.] It's probably just the mics picking up Trucy moving the chair.

[That has to be all it is, right? He hears the thump of the chair against the wall over the speakers and assumes he's been proven correct. And if they move quick, whoever left that note won't have a chance to find them. He assumes anyway. It's not like the psycho has control over the revolving panels so that they get lost and run straight into them right.]

Trucy, can you keep doing that?

[punchesyu]

[Yosuke quiets down to listen more while Terrance talks to Trucy. He's barely listening to any of them, trying to focus on what he swore he heard as footsteps. Trucy moving the chair? That does register at least, and he thinks on it.]

Y-Yeah, maybe you're right...Trucy, you seriously gave me a scare there...

[He hears it again, however. Closer.]

Ooooooorrrr not!!! Shhhh, you guys, listen for a second!

Well, since you ASKED, Yosuke...

[interstellarnpcs]

[One of the panels next to them starts shifting closed - right at the same moment that something else comes tearing down a nearby path of mirrors. Before the panel can close all the way, a humanoid figure will blow its way through the group - seizing Yosuke as they pass.

Yosuke will feel a hand clamp over his mouth before whoever the figure is whips him through the gap between panels, just in time for it close behind them.]

cries laughing forever and ever amen

[punchesyu]

Mmmmmmmrrrffffffff!!!!!

[Is all he gets when hands grab him and he feels himself being drug off. Panic fills his mind and he struggles, but there's nothing he can do about it- it's so fast, and it's clear this person is stronger than him. He'll try to figure out what's going on and who's captured him but...

Poof. He's gone!]

[sailorlaughter]

Yeah, it's totally working! C'mon!

[Unfortunately, it WAS Terry's hand she's holding. But Pinkie still hears the sound of him mmmmmmmffff-ing and turns.]

Uh...Yosuke? [She waves a hand in the air, looking for him. Maybe it's just too dark to see still!] Yosuke?

[magic_to_do]

[Trucy pauses in her assault on the wall to yell in concern.]

Guys? Are you okay? What happened?

[traumatizing]

What the--

[It takes him a moment to even process what just happened, and he freezes, looking at where the figure just... Did they just drag Yosuke through there? He's torn on what to do, but Trucy's tied up and defenceless. Yosuke, at the very least, stands a fighting chance.]

[He grabs Pinkie's hand again, tightly this time, and starts moving at a faster clip through the maze. They really don't have time.]

Just keep banging on that wall, alright?

[punchesyu]

[Yosuke is going to continue to try to get free, punching and kicking as he can, depending on how tightly his captor has a hold of him. He also continues to try to make as much noise as possible, so the others know where he is behind the mirrors.]

[sailorlaughter]

Eeeep!

[okay okay now she's being dragged!

Pinkie doesn't like to leave Yosuke behind, but she doesn't want to stop to pull away from Terry either. They DO need to go get Trucy. And he can probably take care of himself, right? It's not like he's tied to a chair or anything.

It still doesn't feel right though.]

C'mon, Yosuke! You can do it! Um, what if you went back to help him and I can go find Trucy?

[traumatizing]

If we split up now, we may as well just sit down and wait for this psycho to come get us too.

[He stops, letting go of Pinkie's hand and he looks her dead in the eyes to make sure she's listening to him. Though by the expression on Terry's face, it's clear he's anguished by this; coming apart at the seams almost. He doesn't want to leave Yosuke behind, but it's the smarter choice. Best way to save as many people as possible, right?]

[He knows Yosuke's still close enough to hear them through the mirrors rather than over the speakers though, so he speaks up a little.]

We don't know where Trucy is yet, and we don't know where they're taking Yosuke either, and whoever this asshole is-- they obviously have control of the paths in this place. What I do know is we're not getting out of here until we find Trucy. [He sighs and drags a hand through his hair. He's tired and his feet hurt and he's angry and worried all at the same time.] I'll come back for him once you guys are out.

[magic_to_do]

Okay!

[Trucy goes back to banging the wall as loudly as she can. As such, she misses most of the conversation between Pinkie and Terrance. Until Terrance raises his voice at the end.]

Wa- wait! What happened to Yosuke??

[sailorlaughter]

Uh...o-okay.

[Pinkie's obviously frightened, but she nods. If Yosuke's behind the mirror, they can't get him now anyway. They have to keep going forward.]

He's - he's fine! We're coming!

[traumatizing]

We're gonna get out of here, okay?

[Attempt to be reassuring: Successful?]

[He feels bad, but this isn't his fault. He can't shoulder that guilt, even if he feels responsible somehow. Just gotta stay focused; the sooner they find Trucy, the sooner they can leave, the sooner he can come back to find Yosuke. If horror movies have taught Terry anything, it's that killers don't typically cart people off to kill them. They're more opportunistic than that. So Yosuke's probably gonna be fine for a while. Probably. Hopefully.]

[Terry's thinking over all this when he realises he's walked them into a dead end and swears. Not good, not good. They're boxed in and this guy could come from anywhere. Fuck./i>]

... Shit.