imeeji_frontstage | Go Fish: Trauma Edition

Who: Naughty little fishes
Where: Game Tower
When: Day 527

[So there you are, minding your own business on a completely normal day.]

[Then you blink —

[— and find yourself, and many other idols, in an unfamiliar room.]

[The room is large and round and made of glass, like a globe. ...No, like a fish bowl.]

[On the other side of the glass walls, you can see indistinct shapes moving around, but the glass distorts the light so much that anything farther than arm’s length is just vague smears of colors and shadow blending with your own reflection. But something is there. Possibly a lot of somethings. ]

[Two formless shapes approach the glass, and as they do, their images resolve into the shapes of a pair of twins, one grinning while the other pointedly looks away from his brother. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the one who actually looks cheerful about being here is the first to speak up:]

Guess what~? You’ve been chosen to play in our very first game. Isn’t that exciting?

[He throws his arms out theatrically.]

Especially after soooo many boring games. The audience is looking for excitement and thrills here! Why not take the chance to really cement yourself as the fan favorite while you have the chance? Heck, it might even fix your little... “problem.”

[There’s a beat of silence, and he moves to elbow his brother who shoots him a “hey what the hell?” look before reluctantly facing the gathered idols.]

...Make sure you protect yourselves. Otherwise...

[He just lets the thought trail off before looking away again. His brother leans on him, resting an elbow on his shoulder as though waiting for him to continue before finally giving up and shaking his head with a sigh.]

You heard him! Give this game all you’ve got - got it?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

If I truly cannot think of anything else, I will take you in the case and swallow my complaints.

[ the smallest smile ]

Fair enough. At least it'll be robotic somehow, so you wouldn't have to carry or pull anything.

I guess if you don't need it for me, it could hold stuff you want to take with you.

I'll put your plushie collection in it.

For that you really would need a carriage. I'll set aside the most important ones when it's time.

Ah, thank you very much. I'll make sure the rest go to a loving home.

[ It's difficult not to draw parallels to what she just witnessed. In her case, watching Doctor be tortured was over in a few minutes, and she knew she'd get him back in the end. Doctor is going to have to watch her deteriorate over weeks without really knowing when she'll wake, or what will happen when she does. It's enough to dampen her mood again. ]

Mm. It seems like the least I can do is pack for you, or at least make the choices easy.

'Tis simply sensible. We won't be returning for anything you forget, after all.

Right.

...Do you want to go to the hotel and lay down? I could use it.

That sounds like a good idea for both of us.

[He gently helps her to her feet.]

Bomb looked like hell too, so I asked him if he wanted to come and crash a while on the extra futon in that Chinese mountain room we like. I'm assuming he won't, but I tried.

-He had HSS clothes earlier, so - he had Heroes Never Die on?

[even with negative emotions turned on that's a big Yikes]

-- Yeah.

I cut him out of a tree. He was in pieces, but still alive. [ SHE IS TRAUMATIZED ]

Ah. -I had it on before the powers swap happened, so if not for that...

[That would've been him, too.]

[ her stomach lurches ]

Can we not think about that? [ she is like 3000% more mess than usual ]

Right. Quieting now.

[the hotel sounds great]

You should try and get him to come with us to the closer hotel. Caeli is taking Zhongli, so he'd be alone if he went back to the dorm.

Besides, he looked like hell even after healing.

Zhongli is being taken care of then - that's good.

I'll ask him.

Caeli and I were together. [ Meaning they watched all that together. Less than awesome bonding time, even if she's sort of glad someone there understood what she was going through, and vice versa. Someone she's very close to, at that. Made things both better and worse. ]

I'm glad you weren't alone, at least.

[That's something, even if he would've liked to spare both Caeli and Zhongli this experience.]

[ Most of her wants to ramble and sob in post-traumatic reaction, start listing how Causality was with her thankfully and she's so glad Venti wasn't with them and on and on. Instead, she takes a breath. ]

And I'm not alone now. Let's go, the love hotel isn't far. With the mood I'm in, any monsters with run away screaming when they see me coming. [ She's had her Scary Face on a few times now ]

My protector. [He manages a soft smile before starting for the hotel. They could both use the decompression right now.]

[ She gives him a quick kiss before out comes the sword and on go her glowing eyes and her stunningly frightening ass-kicking face. ]

[ Off to rest a while, with perhaps some monsters turned into bloody scraps on the way, like she wanted to do to the game runners ]

[she's extremely valid and can do some monster murder as a treat]

Go Fish: Trauma Edition

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