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

[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!]

[strangerpeople]

[Her soul is still there, where it had ended up in the fracas.

What is Arthur trying to do?]

[incendiarize]

[HE HAS NO IDEA, HONESTLY and he realizes that once he's in arm's reach. He has no idea what to do.

For all his nyoom he's suddenly tiptoeing like a scared little kid....and just. Gently places her soul on her chest.]

....Please go back in...

[strangerpeople]

[The soul sits on Emma's still chest, glowing a gentle blue as its tail wiggles.

But...nothing happens. It doesn't get magically reabsorbed into her body. In this world, it appears that when this is taken out of the body, it can't be put back in. The damage was already done, and as the minutes go by, there is no change.


Emma Millstein, the Overboard, is dead.

And yet, despite that, her face is a mask of serenity and relief, without a shadow of regret, even in death. Though the others couldn't save her from dying, they still saved her, nevertheless. They still gave her something to bring with her.

Maybe that alone may be a comfort.]

[relieable]

[Osomatsu has been standing in the hallway, watching through the doorway this entire time. he sees the head get... eaten? he sees Arthur pick up Emma's soul and put it on her chest. he sees Emma breathe her last.

he doesn't even know what to do, other than to slump to his knees, eyes wide, jaw slack. what the hell? he still doesn't know what happened, or if Arthur or Eric is responsible for it. he doesn't think they are, though, because there is that other red soul sitting there.

something else hurt Emma. and even as he waits for her to respond, nothing happens. she lies there motionless. he wants to ask what happened but maybe now is... not the time. he looks at the others helplessly]

[yonosoymaria]

[it's helpless look o'clock, apparently!]

[incendiarize]

[He waits for several tense seconds, eyes wide and glued to the soul, expecting something to happen. Any moment now. It's just taking a little while. Like in books, when the narration builds up dramatic tension, right?

It's just....taking a little while. She's stopped breathing, but she'll start again. Right? She has to. Arthur holds his own breath, like that'll make the seconds tick by more slowly.

It...really is taking awhile, haha.... Any moment now. Just a second or two more... It'll be fine. Just watch. In two seconds she'll open her eyes and chide him for his recklessness. And then snipe at Eric, and he'll snipe back, and it'll be business as usual around here again.

Soon.

Just a little longer.

Any... Any moment now...



...



Arthur's knees hit the floor. His eyes are watering, whether from being open for too long or because nothing has happened yet, he doesn't know. She's not... She's not breathing. She'd already stopped by the time he got it to her, hadn't she? If he'd been a little faster, or had focused on the important thing instead of her attacker...


Damn it. Just....]

Damn it!!!

[yonosoymaria]

[The Pan is -

The boy is -

"Damn it, you know his name's Arthur. Get over there, you wouldn't've been able to take bein' alone...."

That painfully familiar voice is not accompanied by a body, thank God for small mercies. Eric groans, trying to fit together what feels like at least three different selves into a semblance of composure, of control - his balance is all wrong, even with the room closer to normal.

Is his shadow still animate? It's his shadow, and it might be able to reach the boy - to reach Arthur before he can get his legs to cooperate. It's his shadow, so he thinks he can get it to try and be a comforting support, rather than attack....

Miracle of miracles, it does cooperate, beating him to Arthur's - and Emma's, God, no, why did this - side by a fair bit. It's now a cartoonish parody of his silhouette, but that doesn't matter to it or to Eric; it settles down beside where Arthur kneels, and an arm of solid darkness gently settles around his shoulders.]

You tried your best.

[incendiarize]

[How long has it been now? He doesn't know. His eyes are burning. Tears are streaming down his face.... When was the last time he cried...?

There's an arm (not quite an arm?) around him, and Eric is speaking. He sounds so far away. Tried his best... Yeah, he did. But trying his best doesn't do a lot of good, does it? And it doesn't mean a lot when things still end badly.

He swallows, thick and heavy.]

I messed up again...

[yonosoymaria]

[Eric looks over his shoulder, silently begging Osomatsu to come out from the place he stands and help him.

With someone in distress to focus on, it's a bit easier to make himself move. He was far away, comparatively speaking. (He couldn't do this for Jun.) He kneels so he almost overlaps the shadow, and sets his hand on Arthur's shoulder, an offer of support should he want it. (He didn't have the chance, then, but like him, Jun had been... like him, bitter and angry and stubborn.)]

I don't know if... no, it doesn't help, to say "she knew you tried", but... she must have known. She didn't die afraid, not with such a look on her face.

[If he looks too long, the features blur. If he looks too long she starts to look like Miss Lucy laid out with her cross already stolen. He cannot find it in himself to weep - the walls are doing that, in something he can't describe, something that vanishes when he tries to see it straight on. Better they do it, then. He has to be as his father was, once, a long time ago.]

[relieable]

[he sits up a bit, still on his knees when Eric looks at him. after a moment, Osomatsu swallows thickly and crawls into the room. it's tight, but he manages, coming over to comfort Arthur as well.

now that he's closer, he can see Emma's face, see how she looks so serene. he thought she'd been spared for a reason at the trial, but here she is. here they all are. he reaches out to put his hand on Arthur's other shoulder, but he doesn't know what to say yet. Arthur's blaming himself again, so he must say something]

...It's not your fault, Arthur. What happened to her... [he only caught the tail-end of the struggle] What's happening to all of us isn't your fault.

[incendiarize]

[It's debatable just how aware of his surroundings he is. Osomatsu's touch and words bring him back to earth. Since when...]

Osomatsu....? When did you....?

[...]

I was just....telling her yesterday... I'm not-- I don't know if I've been doing enough...

[relieable]

[he's been here for a while. not a long while, but a little while. he still has no idea what happened]

Truthfully, I dunno if I've been doin' enough either. I think... it's hard t'know what to do in... this type of situation.

[another glance towards Emma... ah, she really is... he steels himself, holding back tears, but he's shaking a bit]