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

[15unknowns]

[Another path of destruction has found its way among the mansion. The cauldron in the game room is kicked over, in direct disrespect of blob-sealing efforts. A parlor ottoman is bisected. The bat flowers are shredded. The scrolls in the library are unchained and thrown at the walls. And now, Giriko is in the tavern, just day drinking like a crazy fool. His anger has obviously not abated given the state of things, but he looks uncharacteristically calm as he downs his bottle. Or bottles.]

((ooc: proceed with caution, these threads are likely to get dark))

[joinhands]

[Down this path, Krone and Eric are straight up walking around, hand in hand or not depending on the whim of the moment. They're still on team beer. It's a bit surprising the team's leader is right here, but—their allegiance is open, now.]

Hi, Giriko! [Just greeting him. Like a civilized person.] Oh, I've got chocolate. [She decaptchalogues a sort of basket, where the giant toblerone has been broken into individually rewrapped chunks.] Have you ever had chocolate?

[He's got great reason to be mad, of course, but he IS just sitting there drinking...]

[yonosoymaria]

[Eric knows that kind of flat "calm" well, or thinks he does.

There is a great deal he doesn't know about this place, even with all the cards on the table.

But he knows the quiet that comes after rage, and he knows the quiet that comes from grief - whether at plans destroyed or a life lost, he can't begin to guess - and he thinks this is one of the two. Krone can be the "good cop", he'll be nothing but business....]

I fear I've fallen short of our bargain, lately.

[15unknowns]

[Wow, they're just like a couple on Easter Sunday, except Giriko has absolutely no basis to contextualize it that way and so he is squinting down at the basket from where he's sitting with his booze.]

Huh? What... nah... [And he gets distracted away from that by Eric, staring at him for a moment.] Have a seat. [He thumps his hand on the stool next to him and then goes back to drinking.]

[joinhands]

Oh, sure...

[This is already getting pretty creepy but it's not like they're in a position to disobey what are technically orders. Since Giriko was addressing Eric when he touched the stool next to him, Krone puts down the basket on the table by the stool next to that one.] I'll just get us drinks real quick. [She's going over to pick out two different bottles of beer, apparently already having specific varieties in mind.]

[yonosoymaria]

[Dazed, barely reacting, drinking in mid-day... oh, God damn it, he does know this kind of false quiet. They weren't lying about the grief. That raises all sorts of questions about the Lady he's sworn fealty to....

Eric sits where he was directed to, and looks nervously over at Krone before turning his full attention to Giriko.]

I can't see the whole of what's happened, but... what can we do? To help, or at least to try to help.

cw death wishes

[15unknowns]

It's like Mosquito said. She needed - we have to replace something like - fuck. Even when it was him, so many lifetimes, argh...

[his eyes look through the two of them, then at them. His calm is still eerie.]

You know, knowing what happens? It fucking sucks. But I do know what you can do. It's...shit. Right now you might be the only one who can.

[He just looks at Krone.] You can kill me. [Then Eric.] Eat my soul. Maybe that would be enough madness to satisfy Big Sis!!

[his eyes light up, unhinged, but not laughing at all.]

[joinhands]

[Krone is awkwardly relieved to hear Mosquito's name, but everything after that is increasingly serious, and finally she's emotional.]

H-Hey. How are we supposed to go on double dates like that?! You're... You're right that it's shit, you're my friend! I was stupid enough to think this part of my life was finally over...!

[She puts her hand to her chin, deeply frustrated. She hasn't quite sat down.]

Can't we just eat its soul...??? No, you would have said that first... Ugh, think, Krone, think!!

[yonosoymaria]

And... why would it have to be that way around? Unless -

[It hits him like a bolt of lightning from a clear sky. The way that announcement was said - his mind had become less his own after that first "meal", before Zelda - before QuinceyThanatos - before the crocodile -

His expression shifts from an awkward placating smile to the frozen mask he's always put on in the face of despair. Never mind that he can see tattered curtains beyond the bar, now, and the floor looks like age-destroyed marble. Never mind that, never ever mind that....]

She needs us to go mad, doesn't she?

[15unknowns]

[He makes a weird face at 'double dates', as the idea that him and the lady are 'dating' isn't quite accurate, but there's something even more unsettling about that that makes him put his face in his palm.] That's not....

[He listens to the rest. Thinking at the same time Krone's thinking. Being unsurprised at Eric's despair.]

Big Sis researched it. The way madness spreads and its effects. One of you would be enough. Eating his soul though... hell, can't even imagine how much strength and madness you'd get out of that. Or what it'd do to your own soul. He was fear incarnate, you know? I don't even know how the hell that little glasses punk got so lucky.

[Giriko tosses his bottle aside recklessly, still frustrated with this development.]

I just want a better way to protect her... better than centuries of uselessness! If there is no one who can embody madness, if I fail her, we could never be together anyway.

[He does seem to be thinking very seriously about their ideas though. This is not a man who honestly wants to die, just a very drunk zealot with dramatic solutions.]

[joinhands]

[Giriko might not be dating the lady now, but they need to have aspirations for when they get out of this place! Like a first date!!!!!!!!! That is roughly the look Krone gives "that's not", as opposed to true incredulity. Incredulity is reserved for when Giriko genuinely seems to give up. Krone opens her bottle and slams it back down on the table.]

That's what I thought before you saved me...! [And now she and Eric are like???? This?? She gives him this little smile that obviously contains only 1% of her capacity for lovey-dovey feelings because for the most part they're on an even higher wavelength of worrying about their mutual friend?] So don't give up! We're stronger than Death!

[They will keep!!! Thinking!!!]

Then. You need some one to embody madness...? [This isn't good or bad, she just wants to be sure of the fact. Though Eric is the closest which could be kind of bad. She gives him a glance. Hang in there either way, buddy.] And obviously, before we got reborn as weapons, processing the magical energy of souls was totally beyond us, so his soul is on a higher level where it could be pointless...

[yonosoymaria]

I wouldn't want to waste a chance with that, no.

[Eric isn't hasty to agree with Krone's last statement, exactly, but he's certainly not slow about it either. This is all passing swiftly by the conversations he'd had with the steward... but Krone knows more than him, and she seems almost taken aback, too. He meets her glance, and slowly raises his eyebrows, as if in lieu of an expressive shrug.]

If it's a case of madness refining souls, then couldn't his soul have been used directly?

[All this talk of souls... he can understand on a very deep level - soul-deep, as it were - why Mr. Renfield scoffed at talk of souls, now.]

[15unknowns]

Well APPARENTLY he was way weaker than we fucking thought at first...! And now it sure as hell ain't an option.

[He grumps. He grumps very hard.]

Whatever we come up with is just gonna have to be even stronger. That must be why the old bat wanted to do it in the first place.

tavern

[relieable]

[it's probably not a good idea to poke the bear. but Osomatsu looks around at the destruction in the mansion, and he can't help but think that the remaining guests are going to be next. if he's going to die in this awful place, he might as well die trying to save the others.

...okay, he's not that heroic. but he cares about Arthur, at least. the others, too, but Arthur is just a kid. Arthur needs to get back to his home. he also wants to know if it's possible to bring people back once they are gone here.

so he strolls into the tavern, eyeing Giriko before sitting down]

You having fun today, nutsack?

[15unknowns]

Loads. Makes you the kinda guy that opens his mouth up when he sees a nutsack, huh? Fuckin' look like you eat bananas sideways....

[He takes another swig. Normally he's grinning like crazy when he makes wisecracks like these but he doesn't seem like he's in the mood right now.]

[relieable]

[you know, that's pretty good, considering, well, never mind... Osomatsu will let him have the laugh, especially since he looks like he's been kicked in the teeth. not that Osomatsu cares if Giriko is sad, but...]

Did something happen?

[15unknowns]

[He glares at first, figuring he knows what they did. But he's also pretty sure Osomatsu had nothing to do with it, so there's no reason to kill HIM on sight, when he's drunk and stupid. So he just grumbles his response.]

Nothing. Nowhere, no one and so much fucking goddamn nothing it could drive you nuts...

[He clunks his bottle down on the table, tilting his head at Osomatsu.]

Hey, would you wanna live 800 years? 800 years of it, your stinkin' ordinary life. Tell me.

[relieable]

[he's pretty sure that the tantrum being thrown here wasn't caused by nothing. Osomatsu knows tantrums, okay?

but then, Giriko shifts the topic to something else. Osomatsu listens, getting up to grab his own bottle of beer before coming back over to join him.

he thinks about it, long and hard, rubbing his chin. then he finally answers]

...Man, no way. The only way I'd wanna live 800 years is if I were, like, insanely happy and rich. Ooh, and famous!

[15unknowns]

I said it was ordinary. But maybe at the end of it you'd get all that. You think. You're right, no way you could ever be patient enough. No human being could even if it's for happiness. Then what if it's for family? Seeing all those dumbass brothers of yours again. I bet you'd rather just die.

[relieable]

[ah. hm. what is he getting at?]

You're askin' if I'd live 800 years to see my family again? How would that even be possible?

[he has an idea, but he's not going to say it out loud]

[15unknowns]

[Giriko's face stiffens and he returns to his drink.]

Doesn't matter! I'm just asking for shits and giggles. Cause you're probably gonna die without that ever happening, ya know. You didn't side with Big Sis... so you can just rot here........ heh heh heheh.

cw self-deprecation

[relieable]

[tch. Osomatsu snarls into his beer]

Yeah, well, joke's on you, pal. I may rot here, but that's fine. I wasn't doin' anything worthwhile back in that little town anyway. I'm worth exactly zero dollars. I'm not even a freaking human!

[he pauses to chug. then slams his bottle down and points at the Younger Steward]

But that's not me givin' up. I know there's a bunch of secrets you and your Lady are hidin' here, and I'm not gonna rest until I find 'em. Even if it takes the rest of my life. If I can't get home, at least maybe someone else will!

[15unknowns]

[He just huffs and rolls his eyes at the point. Very mature like.]

I betcha think you're real gutsy saying that, huh? Do you even give a shit about the people who're left? Any of em' help you after Scorch-boy got iced? If you're trying to fake up some worth by being useful to fuckin' strangers, you might as well have just listened to us from the start. She would've loved you all...

[There's a hint of sadness in this past tense. Giriko hastens to cover it up.]

If you weren't a bunch of traitors!

[relieable]

[well, Giriko has a point. Osomatsu may be fighting for the strangers, but are any of them fighting for him? he thinks he's on okay terms with Arthur and Ambrosine. but his relationship with Krone is rocky, at best. and Eric... well, Eric.

Osomatsu's no hero. he used to be only into saving his own hide. but things have changed quite a bit. he looks away for a second, before fixing his eyes on him again]

How are we traitors? You took us all from our homes and forced us to kill each other! Does that sound very loving?

[15unknowns]

Hey, get it fucking straight, jackass. We offered rewards for you killing each other. Your fellows took em'. It's a cruel, rotten world and the ones you're from ain't any different, are they? Wasn't the original Osomatsu even more of a piece of shit, out there taking his family for granted?

But you need strength to protect anything. She gave you power. She let you see people as they really are. We're all selfish assholes, pretending to have noble fuckin' intentions... follow in madness and destruction, that's the closest you can possibly get to truth...

[yeah, this is really getting into drunken rambling right now.]