FINAL WEEK

[strangerpeople]

FINAL WEEK

[There are no new floors that open today.

No food, if you didn't bring any with you. No way to figure out how much more anyone can take of this. There's just no way to know. Half of your number are gone. Half of your number either betrayed, or were betrayed. It is overwhelming and terrible-and who knows what more is to come.

You can feel the shift in the air. The fear, the strain, the tension, between everyone who is left. What can anyone do? Is there any way out of this? Is everyone truly condemned, after all? Who will betray whom?

What will happen next?


There are seven strangers left in this place.]

((OOC NOTE: This post is your last chance to have your characters explore the Mansion and all of its corners for possible clues. After the Final Investigation is open on Thursday, the Mansion will still be accessible, but the Strangers will be unable to uncover any new clues-or alter their Nightmare levels-in Investigations or Encounters.

You have been warned.))

Comments

[strangerpeople]

[Arthur manages to tackle the figure to the ground, but the figure opens its mouth, wide, revealing a dagger that pops out and starts to charge up energy--

just as Eric's shadow gets a hold of it, and the attack's black that would have eviscerated Arthur, instead is redirected elsewhere, leaving a very large hole in the wall of the Mansion, out towards the garden.

A moment later, a loud cracking noise echoes from the garden, but...first things first, the figure lets out a screech that seems to make the hallucinations evermore vivid.]

AHhahAhaHA!! Ah, you humans, you gnats! Do you really think...you can destroy fear...!?

[incendiarize]

[Arthur notices the beam of energy that very nearly hit him. How much he processes it is a different question. He cracks up - loud, breathless, wild laughter. Something manic and far from happy.]

You don't scare me!

[And he's going to try to punch the thing in the face with his noodly alchemist arms.]

[strangerpeople]

[The punch causes the head to twist nearly a full circle. It snaps back into position in seconds.]

hUmanS arE always sCareD!! fEar is inVeitabLe. dEspAir iN feAr is truth. MADnesS is...aLL yOu have!!

[yonosoymaria]

[There is a boy laughing. If that's the Pan, then he isn't Hook. The thing the boy is fighting must be. Which leaves - ]

I'm the crocodile.

[Eric laughs, though it's more of an hysterical giggle. How's his shadow doing? Does it now have teeth?]

[strangerpeople]

[It does.

The crocodile is not evil, nor is it good. It is not a monster, but nor is it a saint. To condemn it for it's nature would be cruel, but to deny that it is dangerous is just as cruel.

So. Eric has a choice.

Will the crocodile help Pan, or Hook?

...perhaps that isn't even really a choice. After all, Pan never made an enemy of the crocodile. Pan had only ever given the crocodile their favorite food.]

[incendiarize]

What's there even to fear?! Stupid moron!

[It's not 'codfish' but eh, details. He keeps punching. He doesn't know if it's doing anything. But hey, it's some much-needed venting and it keeps the thing's focus on him.

He has to count on the others to back him up. Like Eric's doing. It's only two of them against the FOE, they'll need support, but they have to hold out til support gets here. Arthur isn't a front line fighter but by Yggdrasil, here he is.

He is done with moral questions. He is tired of people dying. He is sick of everyone gradually losing their minds.

It's just like he said to Osomatsu - the only thing he knows is right anymore is making sure there won't be a 'next time'.]

cw: decapitation

[strangerpeople]

[Arthur is perhaps reckless. But he is definitely brave to keep punching. Maybe it's that, or it's his determination and conviction or 'no more'.

Or maybe it's just because Arthur was so sick and tired, that there was nothing left to fear. Not from this madness. Not from this figure.

The figure just laughs, and after the sixth laugh, the mouth opens, revealing the dagger. But the seventh-the seventh actually does something completely unexpected.

Arthur's seventh punch actually causes the figure's head to pop off his neck like a doll.

Maybe it's not real. Maybe it's just another hallucination.

But by the way the figure's eyes suddenly bulge out-all three of them-and how its face contorts so, it's clear that this was not what the figure had expected.]

what is this...this isn't...fear...is this...another type of madness...

[The rest of the body looks ready to try and reunite with it.


Perhaps it's now time to end this.]

[yonosoymaria]

[The boy is a part of reddened, tooth-and-claw nature far more than the man - and make no mistake, that's what Eric sees where once there were too many eyes, eyes within eyes, staring -

We all know what happens to Hook. He is struck. He falls. "Bad form!" and then the jaws and then -

This is not a pantomime. This is not a stage.

This is worse. This is -

would he be Pan were he not innocent and cruel, as the world itself is? Does a beast that too knows nothing of fright and wrong any longer have any other choice but to take his side?]

[incendiarize]

[Arthur is still grinning madly, far from happy but running on adrenaline and determination and sheer force of done. Is he hurt? Bleeding? He feels he could have lost a limb in the chaos and not noticed a thing.

Nothing hurts.

But there's still enough to him to look, to search - his eyes fall on Emma's soul, safe on the floor, out of the way, out of the thing's reach. Good. Eric, too, steady and insane at once, but standing steady at his back. Good.]

I dunno about madness. [He rises to his knees, keeping most of his weight on the thing's body. And one hand reaches for the head.] There's two kinds of mad, you know? I dunno where I'm going with this.

I just don't like you!

[Are we near the stairs? He'll keep his weight, it's not much but it's still the weight of a smallish human, pinning the body and throw the head - whether it's down the stairs or into the crocodile's eager, gaping maw, he doesn't care.]

[strangerpeople]

[At this, the head is thrown.


The figure's head stares at Arthur, before it starts to laugh again, almost defeated. The body stars to slump.]

ahaha...I wish I could cower. Whatever you're showing me here...it's not hatred, it's not fright...I'm afraid of it...I can only imagine what will happen next...!!

[Well, it's going towards the maw as it keeps laughing...]

[relieable]

[Osomatsu comes up the stairs just in time to see... a head. um. yikes. considering what happened to Franciscus, he feels like his own nightmare level is raised by a hundred.

he looks up into the room, seeing Eric, and Arthur and... what's wrong with Emma? he shakes a bit]

What...?

[they're not... they couldn't be... that scream he heard...]

Miss Emma...!

[yonosoymaria]

That's... that's not your line.

[He is speaking to Hook the head, not Osomatsu, though that may be unclear. If nothing else -

Perhaps he's got it wrong after all, perhaps -

If nothing is real,anything can happen. If nothing is real, if nothing is real - his shadow has teeth, his shadow has jaws, and what are those for but devouring what is thrown their way?]

[strangerpeople]

[Several things happen at once.

First, the shadow eats the head, even as it laughs. There is a swallow, and then, it is gone.

Second, the body of the figure glows brightly, before it explodes, revealing a dark red soul with writhing red eyes that falls to the floor, not moving, its tail barely even wriggling.

??? is dead.

Third, there is...a change. A weight suddenly seems to lift off of everyone. Perhaps it's because the hallucinations of the eyes and blood disappear. Perhaps it's because there is an instinct in all of them that seems to feel the relief of having destroyed this figure, whoever they were.

Somehow, they know their Nightmares will not be so troubled anymore. Whatever was causing them to go mad is gone-even if the madness it engendered remains in them. Killing the villain doesn't simply make what happened disappear.

And lastly. Emma is still where she was dropped. Her breathing is starting to become halted as her eyes look around, going in and out of focus.

She doesn't have long to live.]

[hexposition]

[Unfortunately for Emma, she's playing a role in a different fairy tale than everyone else. Clapping hands to prove their belief isn't going to be nearly enough to bring Emma back from the brink. There will be no rescuing the princess.

Emma is, after all, a witch, and witches are always punished.

But...

At least now, with her final gasping breaths, she can see the faces of people she recognizes. People who put themselves at risk for her sake, despite everything. And knowing that... it's not happiness, she's beyond the ability to feel that, but it's a relief.

As her eyes slip closed and she exhales her last, it's with something nearing a smile.

Witches don't get rescued, but it's enough for her to go out knowing she was, in some small way, loved.]

[incendiarize]

[Poof goes the body, after all of that. The head's consumed. The soul's on the floor. Arthur instinctively scoops it up, some vague, habitual part of him wondering what Shilleka will make out of it.

The haze of battle and the edge of madness is clearing away. Right...the house. Eric. Emma. Osomatsu there, pale, oh god when did he get here-

Emma.]

--Emma! Her soul- we gotta hurry! [He's heading for where her soul got left on the floor, with no idea how long they have, they just- They can't lose her!]

[relieable]

[hey guys what's going on.

actually, Osomatsu is down near the garden during this. at the loud cracking sound, he jumps to his feet, looking for the source of the noise]

[strangerpeople]

[Well, Oso, have fun seeing the giant frickin laser fly by him and destroy everything in its path. Including flowers. And the wall. And any bat and spider not fast enough to dodge.

Oh, and the very loud cracking sound, akin to a mirror or glass breaking. All above him, the sky starts to form cracks all the way down to the hole in the wall from the impact.]

[relieable]

[uh.

his hair and clothes whoosh from the laser and he jumps to get further away from it. now that he's on the ground, he tips his head back, gasping at the sight of the sky cracking. that... doesn't look normal. for a moment, all he can do is watch in awe, and horror]

[strangerpeople]

[The cracks become more pronounced as the moments go by, forming into little fractured bits and pieces. A few pieces even start to fall to the ground, though for some reason, the pieces seem to fade and disappear before they touch the ground.

The sky, however, holds. Mostly. A blast of cool, not cold, air starts to blow in from the hole in the wall after a few moments, amidst the stench of burnt flowers.

Investigate?]

[relieable]

[HE DOESN'T WANT TO INVESTIGATE.

but. for the sake of the people here, he'll do it. he's terrified, crawling on his hands and knees very slowly towards the hole. he examines the hole itself before peeking in past it]

[strangerpeople]

[Beyond the hole is another hole in what looks like glass. Since the wall seems to have taken the brunt of the laser, the hole beyond the wall is only small enough for Oso to look through with his eye, what with all the jagged, glass-like edges still jutting from it. Beyond that--

grass, with a burn line in the center of it. But still, it's grass, and mountains. The sky is a clear blue, and above the sun is--uh.

Anyways.

That's what's out there.]

cw mild claustrophobia

[relieable]

[...........that sure is some sun, isn't it? it has a face.

but aside from that, Osomatsu sees the grass, the mountains. escape is just beyond his reach! he starts feeling emotional, suddenly. or maybe he's just claustrophobic. he's breathing quickly, panicking. it seems like it's been ages since he's seen color like that.

anything else he should look at around here? where did that laser even come from?]

[strangerpeople]

[Probably from the gaping hole that is now in the mansion, up near where the bedrooms are.

...

oh dear.]

[relieable]

[oh, right...

slowly, he gets to his feet, as though on auto-drive, mechanical almost. he leaves the garden, heading up the stairs towards the bedrooms]

[strangerpeople]

[Hey Troy brought some pizza-]