WEEK 1: CYOA (takeru, sheila, harrow, vira)

[probe]

Comments

[toesies]

[Staring at Harrow incredulously while hauling her chewed up self across the table.]

I appreciate your resilience, and I love that for you. [A deep breath, and then she hisses:] But this is not even remotely close to alright...!

[Jingle earns themselves a worried glance as they begin to stumble, as well. But with all the shit happening right now, she isn't sure what to do besides taking as much of Harrow's weight as possible. Maybe even all of it, if the baby isn't stubborn. Someone, please help their child.]

Just a little further, okay, sweetie?

[That may be a lie. Either way, time to scoot as quickly as possible across this table even as her stomach seriously starts to bother her. Surely, this is fine.]

[dotcom]

[ he gives vira a doubtful look, but considering she's still moving, he'll run to follow after the others, while also not straying too far away from her in case she does need help. ]

Come on, we're almost there...

[ out of the vore and into potentially freezing to death ]

[chevaleros]

[ That's valid, she doesn't look like she's in amazing condition. But at least she wasn't literally vored. It looks like Sheila is managing okay with Harrow, though Vira frowns in concern at Jingle.

Their baby... ]

Make sure you have your lighters ready.

[ She's starving and everything hurts and it's about to get cold. She keeps her eye on the giants as they stumble to the exit. ]

[bonetiddies]

[No, she appreciates the offer of help from Sheila - if baby will let her, she's getting back onto her legs; one of them is quite badly broken and the other is painful, but she can walk with assistance. At least the pain and the sensation that she might vomit any second now is distracting her from the hunger? At least that.]

I've been hurt worse than this, I can stand it. [Just. Usually she can kind of fix it, after.] Are. . . they all right?

[She doesn't want to be responsible for baby getting hurt. Anyway, she will stumble, leaning against Sheila, for the exit.]

[probe]

[jingle lets sheila take more of the weight, and rattles weakly when sheila encourages them. they keep up, though, running with their arms wrapped around themselves. despite being munched on, harrow is perceptive enough to see that as jingle runs, they are just... losing hair? the long, tangled black hair under the paper bag falls out in a couple of chunks, leaving half the amount as before. sheila is also perceptive enough to see this!

the guests towards the end of the table, near the exit, did not see the explosion before, however, and as the four of you rush past them, they squeal and drop their pieces of meat hurriedly. one of them climbs onto the table itself to give chase, knocking plates out of the way with a shatter. pieces of plate fall all around sasazuka - they're pretty jagged, he might get hurt! and by might, i mean he does, you just get to decide how horrible his cuts are.

but the baby speeds up, going to grab both his and vira's hands, and the burst of warmth and adrenaline from the simple act should be enough to get them to the snow without issue.

which is good, because the guest chasing them gets stuck in the door, and prevents other guests from following.]

[toesies]

[With everything else happening, there's little she can do beside gasp as Jingle starts to? Maybe? Fall apart? She does not stop running until they are all safely(?) out in the snow, and even then, she doesn't seem particularly winded once they're able to catch their breath. If Harrow wants to sit down for a bit, she will help her, but either way—]

Are we all in one piece?

[Looks at everyone. Frowns at Jingle with extreme concern. IS THEIR BABY DYING??]

[dotcom]

[ and out they go.

he is definitely bleeding, but he is so full of adrenaline that he is not even sure where the blood is coming from. he'll think to check later. ]

Yeah... what the fuck was all of that?

[ a valid question.

still holding chuck jingle's hand, he's going to glance around their new surroundings. what's out here besides snow. ]

[chevaleros]

[ vira pulls together a small smile when jingle takes her hand, though she sobers up as she checks out their surroundings. they're overall pretty injured, and is their baby okay???? ]

I don't know, but I don't think we're out of danger yet.

[ everything hurts pretty bad, but she looks out into the snow if there's anything that sticks out. ]

[bonetiddies]

[She does see that, and is concerned! She'll pull out her lighter, since they're out in the snow, to see if it helps keep them warm. She doesn't want to sit down, really - better to keep going while she still has adrenaline going than rest and risk not being able to get back up.

But she'll glance at Chuck Jingle, and scold them a little.]

I owe you a debt, but I won't tolerate help that comes at the expense of you overexerting yourself. If you're tired from using your energies to help us, you must rest.

[probe]

[baby is holding takeru and vira's hands. they're shivering, because they're barefoot in the snow, but that's okay, probably. when harrow scolds them, they scrunch down, just for a second, like they're really feeling it, and then they straighten up and rattle furiously in her direction. no!! not the boss of them!!

the wind out here is bitterly cold, but the lighter does seem to help, at least. takeru and vira are completely warm, at the moment.

the area they're in seems to be a connecting alleyway between buildings. there are a few snow piles here and there, as well as a dumpster that looks way too huge for them to climb. trash has been scattered all across the front of the dumpster. across the way from the four of them is that same door they could see earlier, with the green neon EXIT sign above it.]

[toesies]

[JINGLE...]

Come on, don't be like that. [Gently.] You've been a great help, and we're so proud. But we don't want anything bad to happen to you— specially not because of us. We're worried.

[She will keep her own lighter lit, as well, holding it close in hopes it will help a little. She will also try to gleam if there is anything interesting or of use in the trash scattered across the ground, but won't wander in that direction unless Harrow wants to check it out.

What now, gang?]

[dotcom]

[ hmm. time to lift up the baby. ]

We could try the door?

[ he does not sound too convinced that it'll lead somewhere good, but the only other thing to look at here is a dumpster that is too big for them. ]

[chevaleros]

[ jingle........ their reaction only really solidifies the concern. she leaves takeru to pick up and carry the baby because she only has one fully functional arm still. presuming she still has her dinner knife, she'll take a few cautious steps forward, staying close to the group.

are the trash piles moving or anything, are we going to get go wormed again. ]

I am not seeing much other option.

[bonetiddies]

[Honestly, Harrow can only respect the baby more for standing up to her. She crosses her arms, as much as she can with one arm being a little mangled.]

Stubborn. You're powerful, so you've earned the right to be, but power has limits. Don't push them recklessly.

[Anyway, she's going to limp over to one of the snow piles, make sure there's nothing like. . . buried in there?]

[probe]

[sheila looks at the trash, and she can see something very sharp sitting in the middle of a pile of junk. not sharp like a knife, but sharp in like, texture, almost, like it's way more in focus than anything else. the trash piles are not moving.

up jingle goes. they seem to be okay with being held, even though they are made of weird angles and sharp joints. they rest their bag head against sasazuka's shoulder and stay quiet. they're very cold, and are contemplating harrow's lecture.

vira can still have her dinner knife, sure. when harrow heads to one of the snow piles, she sees something shiny sticking out of it.]

[toesies]

[... Well.]

There's something in that pile of junk.

[For the benefit of the others, just in case it turns into another Vira and goo situation. Regardless of how they may respond, she's going to approach the pile to see what the heckie that is.]

[dotcom]

Try not to get eaten by something.

[ that seems to be the uh. theme here, unfortunately.

meanwhile, sasazuka and baby are going to go to inspect the door. what are they dealing with here with this door. ]

[chevaleros]

[ she's going to follow along after sheila in case of any more surprise vore. she'll help overturn any of the trash too, if needed. worms no bully ]

[bonetiddies]

There's something in the snow, too. Be careful.

[She will. Reach for the shiny thing, though.]

[probe]

[sheila and vira head over to the trash! the sharp focused thing is... a plush bear. it's a little dirty, and it's like the size of a normal stuffed animal.

the door is a door! it's very tall, and it's propped open with a rock. it's dark inside the building, but it seems quiet, for now.

harrow reaches for the shiny thing, and finds... a dagger! it's a brilliant white from hilt to blade, and it's extraordinarily well balanced. when she touches it, she gets the same impression as she did when jingle handed her the crystal earlier - it's very important to someone.

and speaking of jingle, they immediately jolt and look up over at harrow when she touches the dagger.]

[toesies]

[Looks at the bear.

Looks at Vira.

Looks at the bear.]

Toys have gotten so weird in the last decade.

[While we all scream NO!!! in our DM, Sheila will turn the bear over to inspect it. Anything of note on any of its sides, including its butt? She will squeeze and pat it down, too, to check if there's anything inside.]

[dotcom]

[ a bear? well, okay, that's normal! sasazuka stupidly is not concerned about this. he does, however, notice that chuck jingle seems restless. ]

Harrowhark, is that a knife? The kid seems interested in it.

[ like, a little worrying.

if he uses his lighter to try to see what's through the door, does he see anything? ]

[chevaleros]

[ what a weird but ultimately not very suspect doll, thinks vira icly, while i scream. ]

I suppose it wasn't a very good toy if someone threw it out.

[ she's just going to keep an eye out for any weird shit trying to sneak up on them while they're all investigating. ]

[bonetiddies]

[Cool teddy bear! That's fine.

She weighs the dagger in her hand, a little fascinated, but starts when she's spoken to and notices jingle.]

. . . Does this belong to you? Would you like it?

[probe]

[there's like 74 spears inside the bear and they all spike out and kill sheila instantly.

no, there's nothing in the bear. it's just a normal bear! a normal, not alarming bear. when she picks it up, she gets the sense that it's important to somebody. i also forgot to mention this earlier because i'm stupid but the cat toy also felt like it was important to someone when vira picked it up.

jingle squirms a little, making a rattle noise when harrow picks up the knife. they reach out their hands - which are unnaturally long - for the dagger.

i almost wrote togami instead of takeru because of you guys. anyway takeru can see that the inside of the room looks like a classroom when he looks in with his lighter. there's a very slow, deliberate clicking sound coming from further in the room.]