(no subject)

[rollwithdisadvantage]

Who: Mingle
Where: Hotel and surroundings
When: Day 67, anytime

[For stuff and things and all your catch all needs]

Comments

[bluescreenwhitedragon]

Fucking turn your brightness down. Fuck. The saturation looks hideous at that level.

What is this? Baby's first photoshop?

[puzzlekeeper]

[ he knows some of these words ]

I didn't realize vision problems were a symptom.

[bluescreenwhitedragon]

If only. I wish I could go fucking blind right now.

[Taking a picture of King and his Technicolor Everything]

[puzzlekeeper]

Heh.

[ After Intensity takes the picture, he'll notice King's color saturation does indeed tone down, almost to normal...? Certainly still more colorful than half the things around here, but, y'know. Monochrome.

The picture still remains technicolor, though. It's just reality that's different. ]

Better?

[bluescreenwhitedragon]

[Silver is a great look, okay? No need to rub it in for the RBG impaired]

So they get beheading powers and you get to turn yourself into a glowstick.

Think you made a misstep somewhere.

[puzzlekeeper]

Do you really think that's Heaven's only blessing?

[bluescreenwhitedragon]

Yes. Going to prove me wrong?

[puzzlekeeper]

[ CHALLENGE ACCEPTED

There's a flash of something in his expression, and then the ground around Intensity's feet seems to buckle. Too quick to track, metal chains erupt from the ground and latch themselves onto Intensity's ankles, wrists, and neck, thoroughly anchoring him in place. They pull taut enough to allow him almost no range of movement in any direction, and the metal is warm to the touch.

King takes a few steps forward once he's good and trapped, careful to avoid one of the chains. ]

You should know what they say about the damned and non-believers. Unless you've forgotten that too.

1/3

[bluescreenwhitedragon]

[What is this feeling? Is it regret? Is this what regret feels like?

He tries to take a step back as soon as the first chain clamps down on his ankle but there are just too fucking many of them. How the fuck? What the fuck? THIS IS NOT IN HSS'S ABILITY SET he checked this morning.]

[bluescreenwhitedragon]

[For the love of--- (wait that's how we got here in the first place).

Get it off his neck. GET IT OFF HIS NECK]

[bluescreenwhitedragon]

[Levels King with a glare that is not nearly as confident as it should be]

Teaching a lesson to a double-amnesiac? Sounds more like you just want to dole out fucking punishment.

[So yes. Yes he has completely forgotten the plot by this point]

[puzzlekeeper]

[ Yeah, any other people around... Intensity won't be able to see or hear them. King gets his undivided attention right now tyvm ]

Why do you always seek out things like this, knowing full well what will happen? It seems like you always want to be punished.

[ He runs his fingers along one of the chains as he approaches, then comes to a stop when he's in front of him, craning his head up to look him in the eye. ]

Sorry to disappoint, but this isn't punishment; this is merely me fulfilling your request.

[ The chains get warmer and warmer to the touch the longer they stay in place. It's probably already enough to leave faint red marks where the bindings touch his skin. ]

Yield and I'll let you go.

[bluescreenwhitedragon]

Yield---?

[His laugh is cut off by the scorching chains around his throat. His eyes would be bright in that not-so-sane way of his if he wasn't washed out to the color of dulled metal.

He stops fighting against the chains, realizing that there's no room to give and it'll be a cold day in Hell (. . .) before he gives King any more fucking satisfaction]

Strip me down to a faceless, mindless shell of a person, and there still will be enough of me to refuse to back down.

[puzzlekeeper]

[ Please find Jesus, Intensity. Maybe that's what this is actually about. ]

Lucky for you, we're not about to let that happen.

[ The chains start digging their way deeper into the ground, pulling tighter and tighter until they force Intensity down onto his knees. ]

But you should pick your fights more carefully right now. There are others who may not have any qualms killing you, and could do it without lifting a finger.

[bluescreenwhitedragon]

[Does that mean they're finally at eye level now?

He curses under his breath as his knees hit the pavement, still not able to even move an inch out of the position that King wants him in. fuckyoufuckyoufuck and your god]

Aw, are you worried about me? Is this how you show those beneath you your concern?

Spare me your fucking patronizing. You're more of a puppet on a string than I am right now.

[puzzlekeeper]

[ Where that should normally earn a snarky counter-quip, today he just gives Intensity a cold look. ]

I don't think you're beneath me... I just think you're in need of a reality check. I'm the one who understands what's really going on here.

[bluescreenwhitedragon]

Then enlighten me.

Or are you just all talk, King?

[puzzlekeeper]

I've never been all talk, so I can't imagine why you think I would start now.

[ But then again, maybe Intensity doesn't even remember that. Frankly it's amazing he even remembers the name "King." ]

Our souls aren't made to exist in Hell. We're not demons. The audience is the only thing keeping us ourselves, and the only way we're going to avoid being flattened into nothing is if we fulfill their very specific expectations. As I'm sure you're going to hear from others, one of those is conflict.

[ The chains rattle for a moment, but don't release. ]

But I know if you get yourself killed because you don't know how to pick a fight you can win, and nobody bothers to drag your body out in time, then our chances of leaving this place in one piece have diminished even more.

[bluescreenwhitedragon]

[That's---

His eyes lose focus for a moment as if he were trying to hold onto the threads of a memory. Or a thread that tied some very important pieces together. But--

This file is corrupt and cannot be opened.

What a time to lose the fucking plot?]

Who told you that?

[puzzlekeeper]

God's messenger.

[ Intensity gets to decide if that sounds like bullshit or not right now. ]

[bluescreenwhitedragon]

[Everything sounds like bullshit right now!]

What did you do?

[puzzlekeeper]

I think you'll probably remember that for yourself once we've fixed this.

[ There's a faint chnk, and then the chains shatter into nothing but light particles. Intensity will find his range of movement returned, the only memento being the red marks that linger where the metal dug into his skin. ]

If you want to save yourself, and Angel, and everyone else: stick to your unit. Play your role. And pick all the fights you want, just not with anyone who can kill you with their mind.

1/2

[bluescreenwhitedragon]

Break the other idols but not the powers that be.

Right.

Of fucking course.

[bluescreenwhitedragon]

[Makes a grab for the front of King's shirt and tries to pull him down to his knees]

[puzzlekeeper]

[ IT'S GOOD TO KNOW WE'VE LEARNED NOTHING.

Intensity's attempt is successful - King goes down on his knees so that they're face to face, his hand latching hard around Intensity's wrist...

But then everything around them goes dark, then black, until they're surrounding by nothing and they're nowhere and is that the feeling of falling? It's hard to tell how long it lasts, but then all at once it's replaced by a sensation that's exactly like the penalty game from his last memory. Just Intensity and the void and the demons eating away at him.

You DUMB FUCK. ]