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

[probe]

Comments

[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.]

[toesies]

[Boo...]

Yeah, I can see why. Maybe the kid will be into it?

[Shrugs!! And picks the bear up, taking it with her to regroup with the rest of the gang.]

[dotcom]

This looks like a classroom.

[ he doesn't trust it even a tiny bit considering literally everything they just went through, but they must go forward. ]

Come on. We might as well go see what bullshit is going to jump at us next.

[ but he'll wait to see if harrow will give baby the knife or not, but if no one has any objections he'd go inside?? he will wait if they don't want to go in yet tho. ]

[chevaleros]

[ maybe their child will appreciate monokuma more than they do, but hopefully not.

there's no use standing out in the alleyway forever—they need to progress, even if they don't know what's waiting for them. she'll walk over to the others as well—she has no issues walking a few steps inside the room with sasazuka, provided no one objects. ]

A bedroom, a dining room, a classroom... what is the significance of all these places?

[bonetiddies]

[She will immediately hand the dagger over to baby, because she trusts the baby and also learned about good parenting from skeletons.

And she'll stagger towards the door and follow Sassafras into the classroom. They may as well. But first she'll check the other snow piles to make sure there's not anything else cool in there.]

[probe]

[nothing is in the snow! just that one shiny knife. they can all go into the classroom - all of them can hear the clicking sounds, which are more like footsteps, now that they're closer. someone is just wandering around close by. the classroom is similar in function to all the other furniture in past rooms they've gotten through - about twice their size, and very rusty.

but first, before that: harrow hands jingle the knife, and for takeru, there's a second where the world stops.

it's a gutpunch of sad. lost, terrified despair, the sense of being out in the snow and running with only the sound your own ragged breath to accompany you. you run and run and you can hear a horse behind you and you're crying, the tears freezing to your face, your mother won't come to see you anymore and you don't understand why, and you don't even know what your father looks like, or if he's alive, and you trip because you're so exhausted that you can't keep running --

the baby drops the knife, and it thuds into the ground.]

[toesies]

[Sheila, oblivious to Takeru having an existential crisis:]

Whoa. Guess the kid does not like knives.

[Following the others into the classroom. She will glance around to catalogue what furniture is in here. Maybe someone else should pick up the knife, because she will not. Oops.]

But how about [presenting Monobear to Jingle, wiggling it a bit and imitating a showman:] a teddy bear? Huh? Huh?

[Sorry, Takeru.]

[dotcom]

[ he freezes in place, only making it a few steps into the room.

there isn't much of an outwardly reaction otherwise, other than his eyes widening in surprise as the foreign feeling hits him. when the knife drops and it stops, he continues to remain in place. it isn't until sheila offers the to jingle that sasazuka takes a reflexive step back, almost protective. ]

What the hell was that?

[ his tone is bewildered, and he's looking down at the knife and then at the baby. ]

[chevaleros]

[ she narrows her eyes in the direction of the noise. is the person closeby? can they see who it is? otherwise she's just going to take a look around the room before she glances over at takeru, hearing the echo of the knife clattering against the ground. ]

—Are you all right?

[bonetiddies]

What happened?

[She's concerned, but also, the footsteps are worrying, given the other people they saw. She'll pick up the knife off the floor, hopefully not triggering more trauma, and try to hide behind some furniture.]

Come quickly. We ought to make sure we aren't seen before we see them.

[probe]

[the clicking footsteps stop.

jingle looks at the bear, and then at sheila, and then at takeru - the bag on their head is... damp? around the eyes. they don't say anything, as usual, but they're holding onto takeru pretty tightly.

across the room, a door opens, and slowly, a grotesque face peers out from behind it. it's distorted and baggy in places, but it's easy to tell that there are something like stitching marks, or scars? across the face. it slides out from behind the door sideways, eyes wide and unblinking, followed by a heavy length of white-blue hair, and then... keeps peeking, keeps going, a long, long neck that just keeps extending further and further. it whips around like a snake, looking for the source of the noise.

harrow is hiding behind some furniture... what are the rest of you doing?]

[toesies]

[EXTREME DISLIKE...

Between the background noise stopping and Harrow offering some sensible advise, Sheila will follow her lead and move behind whatever piece of furniture is closest to where they entered the room. She opens her mouth as if to say something to the others — but quickly thinks better of it when the other door opens. Hm. Time to stay, uh, very still?]

[dotcom]

[ he was going to answer harrow's question, except now the worst thing ever just steps into the room.

he'll also follow behind the others, although admittedly probably slower than the rest since he's still kind of distracted by whatever the fuck that knife thing was. it's fine. ]