The main story may be over, but the cast hasn't done their final bows just yet. Don't you know every story continues even after the lights have dimmed?
Welcome to the after math. Please take your seats.
An independent, multi-muse, non-selective roleplay blogâa portrayal of all released protagonists of STUDIO INVESTIGRAVE. Set after one of the endings. The entire cast is available for a chat. Why not go speak with one of them?
ONGOING THREADS: 6
RULES and TAGS below. This blog will explore triggering topics and themes; viewer discretion is advised.
> [ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND RULES]
ABOUT THE MOD: I use they/them pronouns.
RULES: Flirting and suggestive behavior is allowed, but nothing further. Shipping is unavailable for all muses unless they're in a canon relationship except Eddie. (Any and multiple ships for Eddie is allowed, but Eddie and your muse need to have an established relationship first).
All muses are set after one ending unless otherwise stated! This excludes Eddie, who I explore all routes with because itâs funâmore specifically: Angelica is after ED 1: Silent Salvation, Augustine is after the good ending, Protagonist is after ED 12: Hired, Rody is after Ending 3: Best Served Hot, and June is after the ending where she resurfaces.
Anybody can interact at any time; this includes OCs, AUs, crossovers, duplicates, etc! Don't be afraid to interact in and out of characterâall of us are here roleplaying on Tumblr. It's supposed to be fun!
If you're looking to roleplay with me, just send an RP starter my way or you can plot with me! That being saidâI try to mirror length! But you don't have to mirror mine. You also don't have to mirror the way I format. If this small text is difficult to read for you, let me know and I will adjust in our thread!
Remember to specify who you're referring to, unless you'd like me to choose!!
Responses may be slow due to fluctuating activity. You are welcome to get my attention if I haven't responded in a while, but I will get to everyone eventually. Please be patient with me!
> [TAGS]
If there is a triggering topic in a post or thread, it will be tagged as #tw [trigger name] and there will be a warning in bold beforehand.
#in character: protag
#in character: rody lamoree
#in character: bok su go
#in character: angelica
#in character: june
#in character: augustine orlov
#in character: eddie
#ask
#out of character
#ongoing roleplay
#completed roleplay
> [OTHER BLOGS]
@on-camera - An S-01-VER BULLET CCTV Roleplay/Ask blog
@lackadaisical-pest - A Jackpot Crash Course Poppy Roleplay/Ask blog
@trivial-tycoon - A Jackpot Crash Course Vick Roleplay/Ask blog
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Maneki walks out of the stage area, lifting the curtains to make sure they donât get stuck in his hair; completely calm and collected, as if getting practically interrogated in front of a live audience didnât affect him at all. They spot Eddie wandering around aimlessly backstage, Maneki giving him a curt nod and a wave of their fan, but Eddie doesnât seem to notice. Eddieâs earlier interview was quite interesting to watch â theyâre slowly but surely getting a hold on Eddieâs character.
While the man seems nice at first, and very insistent on being nothing like his âBrutal Bullâ title, Maneki has found that he has a fierce temper when it comes to the things he cares about. He seems awfully unprepared for a game like this, but it would be in their best interest to keep up a positive relationship with him â getting on the Brutal Bullâs bad side could prove to be dangerous, after all!
They approach, tapping the top of Eddieâs head with their fan. Eddieâs short enough that they donât even have to stand on their toes to reach him. They open their fan back up after theyâve gotten Eddieâs attention. [interviews?], it reads. It seems heâs asking how Eddie went with his. They were watching, of course, but it could be interesting to hear it from Eddieâs perspective.
â đȘ @tongue-tiedenigma
Eddie was about to head to the bar until something light taps his head and catches him completely off guard. "What-" He whips around, a brief look of fear that shifts into surprise upon realizing it's Maneki. "Where did-" Then he reads the fan. Interviews?
"Uh." He puts a pause on the sentence he was trying to form before, processing the question as he slowly calms down. Seems like Maneki's asking about how Eddie's interview went. His eyes drift to the side. It happened just a few minutes ago, but he already wants to move on. "Went fine," he says, the tinge of angerâor rather bitterness, obvious in his tone. Although to him, fine sums it up pretty well.
It stressed him the fuck out. It's obvious, the way his voice had shook as he responded to the questions (which, Eddie's sure was made to piss him off). The way his hands had clenched into themselves. The way his eyes had darted around, unable to keep contact with Cupid's.
The lights and cameras that pointed on him made him feel on edge the moment he stepped onto the stage, but the live audience. All those eyes on him, judging, mocking, pressuringâmade everything even worse. He rather it be silent, and the cameras hidden from view like in Roulette. But he couldn't freeze up. He had to speak, even when it felt like every word that rose from his throat felt like he was trying to navigate the best way to travel on thin ice, every little thing tipping the scales one way, then another.
Eddie shakes his head, bringing himself to the present. He shoves his hands into his pockets. "You?"
Interesting. Maneki nods in⊠sympathy? Itâs very hard to tell, actually. Differences in their expression is always so subtle that itâs practically impossible to tell what theyâre thinking. While Eddieâs body language tends to give his internal feelings away, Manekiâs is always precise; calculated. Like heâs planned a script of every possible interaction already in his head. He takes note of Eddieâs response. Earlier, he had claimed he didnât get stage fright, but Maneki can see through that. Or was it perhaps not about the stage itself, but the situation?
Maneki gives Eddie a light smile. [fine], their fan reads. The interview didnât seem to have bothered them at all â or not on the outside, at least.
It feels⊠strange to interact with Maneki one-on-one. Itâs easier in a group, especially with Sailor to explain what theyâre talking about. But just the two of themâŠ? Awkward silence fills the room, but Eddie supposes that âawkwardnessâ may just be projecting, because Maneki doesnât seem uncomfortable with it at all. I mean, itâs technically always silent when talking with Maneki, but itâs still eerie when thereâs no other noise surrounding them. Maneki notices how anxious Eddie seems, attempting to calm his nerves by petting him on the back with their fan, as if to say âgood jobâ.
Then silence creeps into the conversation again. He doesn't know what else to talk about, he's usually the one almost absent-mindedly nodding along to whatever the other person is saying. He shifts his weight from one foot to the other. This is really awkward. Doesn't really help that Eddie can't get a read on Maneki, their unmoving stare is more intimidating than comforting.
He doesn't really... have a direction now that interviews are over. So the best question to ask is: "What's your plan now?"
Maneki seems content on letting Eddie squirm under his gaze, taking a moment to think before responding. After a couple of seconds, they take out their fan, [investigate] written on it. It seems theyâre planning on scoping out the area some more.
He turns his fan around, scribbling down a [join?] on the opposite side. Their gaze is unmoving, almost threatening, even â but perhaps that is Eddie just projecting again. Maybe thatâs just what they look like, who knows.
He realizes their group didn't have that much time to investigate, as they were more concerned with finding and obtaining something to help Sandbag. That's something he should do soonâ"Oh." Eddie didn't expect to be invited. "Sure." He'll gladly join.
Eddie starts heading further backstage. "The shop and the bar... might something we could've missed there." Like... ventilation they can maybe squeeze into. There must be some way they're getting air down here. The idea of secret passages rise to his mind. How are they getting the employees into this area? It would be embarrassing to feel the walls, but he doesn't recall seeing any doors they can enter and exit through. Would be a bad idea anyway, letting a passageway like that be seen by a bunch of criminals. Anyway, something to look out for.
Maneki perks up at the mention of the bar. Ah yes, that reminds them â there was something they had their eye on in there. A particular air vent near the booth with the little red booth, with a peculiar smell emanating from it. Itâs very subtle, but noticeable enough that Maneki picked up it, and itâs far from your average dusty air vent smell. It smells much more akin to a hospital, if anything. Maneki starts waking forward to The Hanged Man bar pretty much immediately after itâs brought up, not sparing glance back to see if Eddie is behind him or not, expecting him to follow his lead.
This is like, the third time theyâve done this now. Heâs awfully one-track minded sometimes.
Eddie watches Maneki pick up the pace, overtaking his lead that lasted for about 2 seconds. He's more so confusedâwhat would be hidden in the bar? Guess he'll find out soon, but that's the last place he wanted to double check. Seems like their group really did miss something there. Makes sense. After all, the lighting is fairly dim.
They stop in front of the alcove. The red curtain is pulled and tied to the side. From what he can see, there's nothing here.
"Uh..." He turns to Maneki. "What's here exactly?" He asks.
Maneki wastes no time walking up to and motioning to the vent, tapping their fan against it gently. They unfold their fan after a moment, [smell] written on it in their classic red marker, trying to get Eddie to notice the smell emanating from the vent.
They turn their fan around, revealing the word [hospital?], trying to gauge if thatâs actually what theyâre smelling or not.
Eddie finally notices the vent. It's really not that hard to spot at all. He just had to tilt his head up a little bit more.
Well, that solves his question about air. But... he's confused. He gets closer, knees pressing against the couch, but he doesn't smell anything. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
They should check it out regardless. He could probably get that thing open. "I think it's big enough to squeeze through." Eddie looks around. There's nobody in the bar but them, but he still unties the curtain and pulls it forward. With the cloth now giving him the safety of being hidden, Eddie steps onto the couch and grabs his crowbar from his back pocket. The vent gives way rather quickly, as the screws are strangely already lose. Has someone already been in the vents? "You should go first."
Maneki smiles lightly when the vent cracks open, batting his fan up and down as if to say âthank youâ. They climb into the vent with ease, tall enough to reach it without much trouble. After theyâre in, they offer out his hand to Eddie to take so they can pull him in with him.
After Eddie grabs on, Maneki hoists him up, which seems to hurt their arm a little bit. They rub their lower with their other hand, wincing slightly. Eddieâs quite heavy and Maneki isnât exactly the strongest â more lanky than muscular, but they regain their composure quickly.
He briefly glances at the vent cover before grabbing Maneki's hand. There isn't exactly a way to put it back on without him having to stay behind, but they shouldn't take long in the first place. Their disappearance would cause suspicion. "Thanks." He smiles.
Eddie follows Maneki through the vents. They travel for... a good while before they abruptly come to a stop. He looks over Maneki's shoulder, seeing the opening to some room. "Think you can get it open?"
The smell only gets stronger as they approach, Maneki sniffing it out like some kind of cat. Itâs funny to look at, actually. They nod in response to Eddieâs question. It seems awfully loose, similarly to the other vent. Someoneâs definitely been in here before. The vent has very little resistance, cracking open almost instantly upon impact from the base of their fan.
Maneki steps out of the vent without much hesitation. Itâs a big drop to the floor, but Maneki makes it easily without any injury â as nimble as ever. Cats always land on their feet, after all!
Once in the room, Manekiâs eyes widen as he takes in his surroundings. The disgusting bloody smell has increased tenfold; theyâre clearly in some kind of morgue. Suddenly, everything clicks into place in Manekiâs mind. They immediately start exploring, not giving Eddie much time to adjust, moving to the lockers first. Or perhaps⊠theyâre something else? They are lined up in order of contestants, each one labelled with a different contestants title. Perhaps this will be their coffin one day, if theyâre not careful. A sense of uneasiness washes over him, but they donât let it show on their face.
The first thing he notices is the horrible stench that assaults his noseâhe wrinkles his nose in disgust, fighting the urge to pinch it. He looks around, looking for the source then he processes his surroundings. The table, the lockersâthis is a morgue. Of course, they're prepared.
His fingers dig into his palms to steel himself. Maneki seems preoccupied with the lockers, so he searches the desk in the far corner. Oh. "There's a paper here." His voice is lowered, just loud enough for Maneki to hear. "Round 1; Prelimary Status. All participants passed except 1B, 2A, 2B, 6B, 8A, 10A, and 10B."
Manekiâs eyebrows raise upon hearing Eddie mention contestant 1B, quickly turning around and approaching to get a look at the papers. He closes his fan, motioning at contestant 1Bâs autopsy report with it. They open it back up, revealing [my partner] written on it. It seems thatâs who they went up against during the first round. Although, they donât see all that upset about it.
They bat their fan, confirmation for Eddie to keep reading out the reports.
"Huh." Eddie searches the desk for anything else, but there's nothing of use to them.
He looks around the room again. His eye focuses on the cabinets next to the lockers this timeâthere might be something there. Eddie places the paper back where he found it before moving on.
He opens a few cabinets until he finds a bunch of papers. Eddie takes a few seconds to skim through the contents of each paper, but he doesn't understand most of these medical terms. "That's weird... these files on the contestants contain their medical information." His hand briefly hovers over his right eye before it returns back to his side. Why keep it in the morgue? "Participant 1A has damage to thyroid," Eddie briefly glances at Maneki. If their partner is 1B then...
He keeps reading. "one of them has chronic sciatica whatever that means..." He pauses, squinting at the papers. "Participant... sorry um. Participant 10A history of heart conditions..." He goes silent for a few seconds. Participant 4B... it lists his condition too. He rubs the back of his neck. "... That's all I can really get from it, it's a lot of medical jargon."
Manekiâs eyes widen when Eddie mentions the damaged thyroid, a bead of sweat dripping down their face, despite it actually being quite cold in the morgue. They look away, avoiding eye contact, their usual composure instantly disrupted. For anyone else it wouldnât have been all that noticeable, but because itâs Maneki â the ever-mysterious person that they are, it feels very jarring. He fiddles with his fan anxiously, letting Eddie finish reading off the list.
Eddie sets the papers down, sliding the cabinet closed. He takes a few seconds before turning to look at Maneki. Seeing the look on their face... his eyebrows furrow, but not in frustration. He's worried, and it shows clearly across his face.
He doesn't want to overstep a boundary by mentioning it further or make Maneki feel like they're trapped. "Do you want to get out of here?" He asks. "We can talk about what we found later." He didn't take a good look at the lockers, but he trusts Maneki to tell him what they found.
Maneki simply nods, seeming rather relieved to be able to get out of here. The smell is making them want to gagâŠ
He motions to the door with his fan, wondering if they can get out that way or if theyâll have to crawl through the vent again. After giving it a look and quickly deeming it locked, they shrug and begin climbing back up to the vent, this time leaving Eddie to try and get up himself. They really donât wanna pull a muscle by trying to help him up again⊠they donât seem to notice that the action is actually kind of rude.
Eddie deflates a little when they don't extend a helping hand to him, but he understands why Maneki just wants to get out. He grabs the vent cover and uses the nearby table to give him the necessary boost to grab onto the opening in the ceiling. Then he realizes without two hands, that's not going to work. He places the vent cover between his legs, using both of his hands to hoist himself completely into the vent. Before leaving, Eddie makes sure to secure the cover. There will be no traces of them ever being there.
He sees the bars familiar red lighting and breathes a sigh of relief, quietly exiting the ventilation system and putting the vent cover back into its place as quickly as he can. He pushes the curtain away, stepping onto the floor.
"So," he begins. "did you see anything interesting on the lockers?"
Now that the two of them are back in the bar, Maneki seems to have almost completely regained their composure. They make a so-so motion with their fan â they didnât actually get any chance to look in the lockers, only glance at their outsides momentarily.
In Manekiâs mind, It was most likely that that was where they stored the bodies of contestants. Which they suppose could be of some interest to Eddie, so they open their fan, rather ominously writing down [bodies], proceeding to not elaborate whatsoever.
"Right..." He figures there'd be bodies there. Not all contestants made it past the preliminary round. "What about the clipboards?" He briefly saw them on some of the lockers, but he didn't get a chance to take a good look at what they said.
... He can always come back later, but he wishes he had at least tried to open the lockers. Guess it's... weird. Eddie could've known them. His hand closes into a fist, then opens again. He couldn't have done anything about their deaths, but he still feels... bad.
Maneki notes how Eddieâs fist clenches, taking a moment to consider what he said. They still only got a brief look at the clipboards â they didnât really feel like analysis autopsy reports, in all honesty. However, based on what he did see, it seems like some of the deceased contestants died rather violently. Namely Vega and Eliseâs opponents, they muse. Hm. Theyâll have to question Vega about that later. But what interested him most of all was a blanked out statement in Eliseâs opponents report, one that was rather hard to decipher what it originally wrote. It was too long to be a simple spelling mistake â it was clearly a whole sentence that they redacted.
They open their fan. [Autopsy reports.]
Flipping it to the other side, there is more writing. [Eliseâs partner -> redacted info.]
"Huh." That is interesting information. "Someone tampered with the records, then." What separates Elise from the other contestants? The only possibility is that... "He might have connections." Important ones that allow him to rig the game in his favor. That makes him dangerous.
Eddie puts his hands in his pockets, shifting his weight to one foot. If Elise has that kind of power then... he looks at the ground, eyebrows furrowed. Eddie's worried for the next game.
Maneki nods their head. Theyâre glad Eddie is so perceptive, it makes communicating with him a lot easier.
But before they can go to write anything else, theyâre quickly cut off by a certain @nonsensicalxjokester walking into the bar. Speak of the devil â itâs almost as if he knew they were talking about him. Maneki looks around, quickly realising that his and Eddieâs position is rather⊠suspicious, considering where they just walked out of.
Elise walked into the bar and sat down at one of the stools. They were tapping their foot and drumming their fingers on the counter. Elise seems particularly antsy and high-alert as of the moment, which left two courses of action;
Option 1: Wait for Elise to leave or attempt sneaking out.
Eddie roughly pulled @tongue-tiedenigma back into the alcove the moment he heard footsteps approaching. Which, was a reflex and completely unnecessary. Being in the morgue had put him on high alert.
He glances at Maneki. "Sorry," he whispers.
Well. He put them in a bad spot on accident. He looks at Maneki again, although purposefully avoiding eye contact (he feels bad for practically shoving Maneki into a corner with him). Eddie's expecting the other to take initiative. He doesn't know what to do.
Being shoved back into the alcove by Eddie, Maneki gasps at the sudden contact, his voice broken and strained. He glares at Eddie for a moment, but shakes it off quickly once he spots @nonsensicalxjokester look over at them upon hearing Manekiâs gasp. Their eye twitches in annoyance, bapping Eddie gently but sternly on the back of the head as if to say âyou got us caught!â
Elise raises an eyebrow before a sly grin spreads across it's face. Just what he needed right about now, people to pester were always a good distraction. It was pretty easy to decipher who the silhouettes behind the curtain belonged to. Maneki and @after--math.
"Are the bull and the cat on some sort of stealth mission?"
(//also im logging off for the night pretty soon just thought I'd give you a heads up)
Eddie sighs. He gives @tongue-tiedenigma another glance, as if silently saying sorry again. He pushes the curtain away, emerging from the alcove. "No." There's a slight tinge of annoyance in his voice. He has not forgotten how Elise extorted them along with Bones and Vick. Though, knowing this new information... he feels he should be cautious now.
He stands a little off to the side so he can read Maneki's fan. He's looking at Maneki now, expecting them to lead the conversation. They shouldn't reveal what they knowâthat's a givenâbut they can probably get more information out of Elise.
Maneki sighs slightly, their voice coming out somewhat strained and hoarse. They honestly get a little nervous when they become the center of attention like this, but he doesnât let it show on his face. Deciding they have nothing they could say to make the situation look less suspicious, they pull out their fan with the little smiley face. Dammit, Maneki, interrogate @nonsensicalxjokester and ask them what theyâre doing here, donât just smile ominously! They hear Eddie let out an exasperated sigh beside them.
Seems like he's going to have to lead this conversation for now (which might prove to be a horrible idea, as he can feel nervousness bubbling up inside himâbut this is an opportunity they shouldn't pass up).
"... What are you doing here." His voice comes out a lot more intimidating than he intended it to be.
After giving himself a moment to think, Maneki simply shakes his head, trying to think of their best next course of action. There really is no way to get out of this without seeming suspicious â both possible options on why they were in there are terrible. Either they find out the reality of the situation â that they crawled into the vent and found the morgue (terrible option), or alternatively, they assume that they were⊠hm. You know what, never-mind, that second option is possibly worse. Except no it isnât, because if Elise found out about the morgue, it could only serve to expose their secret, something that someone with as little empathy or human decency as Elise wouldnât hesitate to use against them. Certainly a sticky situation, isnât it? And considering how weird theyâve been acting, no way would @nonsensicalxjokester take âwe were just hanging out!â as a realistic answer.
So instead, Maneki decides to bite the bullet. An unassuming (fake, but thereâs no way for Elise to know that,) smile appears on their face, motioning to Eddie, then back to himself. He opens his fan, flashing a little heart symbol on it. Hopefully Elise will back off if he assumes these gross old men (Eliseâs words, not Manekiâs,) were busy making out in there or something of the like. Well, theyâll very likely get teased, but itâs surely better than the alternative that could lead to their own possible demise. Heâll just have to be very careful to inform Vega about the truth of the matter before Elise starts inevitably spreading rumours. The last think Maneki wants is for her to assume that theyâre cheating on her.
In reality, Maneki is very uncomfortable with the way this conversation is heading, but they donât exactly have much other choice. They donât like Eddie in that way at all â in fact, they donât like anyone in a sexual manner at all. But if Elise finds out about the morgue, then he could find his files â and just because Eddie didnât necessarily correlate patient has thyroid damage = Maneki, doesnât mean that Elise wonât. It could be detrimental to them in the long run. Whereas, this incident will likely just blow over once people get bored of it. Or at the very least thatâs what Maneki hopes will happen.
"That's basically confirmation you guys were up to something worse than being fruity old guys. Because if you were actually doing so, you wouldn't still seem so on edge. If that had really been the case, you guys wouldn't still seem like you're hiding something."
Elise pauses, before adding a little jab, just to make Maneki and @after--math more agitated than they already are.
"You just got outsmarted by someone in high school. Let that sink in."
Eddie's eyes widen at Maneki's fan. He turns his head away, trying to force his expression into a neutral one. Implying theyâdid thatâis certainly one way to get Elise off their back. They will both have to correct the rumors later, but... it's better than letting Elise know the information they obtained recently.
Then his head snaps back to Elise. Shit. Convincing it isn't going to work. Eddie decides to take a step forward, getting almost uncomfortably close. "Back off before I make you." He's switched to intimidation.
ă Benny's amused by Eddie's nonchalance to his overly-familiar actions. Though, his eyebrows raise in disbelief at his words.
Of course they're all criminals here, but this guy managed to break into the host's room? What the hell?
"Woah woah- hold up. You managed to break into Cupid's room??" His hand remains on Eddie's shoulder, but there's a glint of excitement in his expression as he leans in and speaks in a hushed tone. "Find anything juicy?"
Eddie watches Benny's expression change from disbelief to excitement and mischief mixed into one, slightly amused.
He knows what Benny is implying. Unfortunately, he can't satisfy that excitement. "Not really." He says, matching Benny's volume.
"Just found out he has an... interesting taste in clothes. Nudie suits and western wear." It's not exactly dirt. It's also possible that he might've missed something. Eddie didn't get a thorough enough look of the entire room. But none of the others said anything, besides Elise... he shouldn't be trusting their word. Or lack of word.
But something more important is that...
"There's a phone in there though. Might just be for staff, but I havenât tried." Interviews got in the way. He's considering going back there when he can. No harm in at least trying.
ă Yeah, that was just about what he expected. Though, it was clear he was disappointed by the lack of interesting stuff in there.
"Bleh, yeah that sounds like his taste." Benny shook his head, though he wondered if maybe Eddie could have missed something. Personally, he'd love to go digging around in the private rooms here.
His attention was regained, however, at the mention of a phone.
"A phone, huh? What, you got a sweetheart on the outside that you're gonna call up with that thing?" Benny pried, curious. He had no interest in calling anyone himself.
Taken off guard, Eddie straightens his back. "What? No." He says, a little too quickly and very clearly embarrassed.
"I don't have a sweetheart." He reinforces a little more calmly. He can't imagine being with anyone he knows. "I don't have anyone I can call, but..." he trails off for a moment, thinking, "if they can broadcast from down here, maybe phones can reach as well." Two contradictory statements. He really is a bad liar.
ă The visible embarassment in Eddie's expression only serves as fuel to Benny's antics, he's determined to mess with at any given opportunity at this point.
"Nobody at all? That's a real shocker, Eds." Benny is overly familiar with the other contestant, despite only having known him for the better part of a day. Something about Eddie's demeanour makes him just want to poke and prod at him- and his nerves.
"Though I guess the stuffy office worker thing is sorta the dealbreaker." He idly lifts the end of Eddie's red tie, wiggling it in a playful manner.
Eddie grabs his tie, pulling it back to him carefully. "What does that mean."
He realizes now that Benny hasn't answered his first question. Where has the other man even been? There isn't that many places to hide (if that was his intention, though Eddie doubts it). Missing someone is difficult unless he's always just managed to, somehow by pure chance, missed himâwould that be considered terrible luck as well? Either way, it's possible Benny has a way to get into the vents too.
Eddie shakes his head, dismissing his previous question. "Nevermind that." He leans on the concrete wall, eyes drifting towards their surroundings. Seems like everyone has gone further backstage. He didn't even notice, and he's getting distracted again. Eddie brings his focus back on the man in front of him. "What were you up to before interviews?"
ă "It means.. well," Benny starts, a smirk already forming on his lips as he tilts his head to one side, regarding Eddie with an amused expression. "Well, you're pretty handsome, don't get me wrong- but your whole.." He waves a hand vaguely towards his suit. "Thing you've got going on- you seem a little stiff. Uptight." Though of course Benny knows otherwise, apparently Eddie does know how to break a few rules.
Benny chuckles softly and leans against the wall next to Eddie, his tone light and amused, he's enjoying annoying his companion. "Just exploring the place, looking for something entertaining, annoying the staff, stealing from the snack stand.." He muses, his eyes flickering around the backstage area as he speaks, noticing how everyone has seemingly dispersed once again backstage, leaving the two of them alone. Maybe Eddie would be willing to get into some trouble with him this time, maybe even take him to have a peek at the host's room himself.
He turns his gaze back to Eddie and raises an eyebrow playfully at his focused stare. "Why? Missing me already, big guy?" He was fully aware that he was just pushing the other's buttons at this point, but it sure was entertaining seeing his reactions.
Eddie's gaze turns away from Benny, focusing on literally anything else. Like a wall. "No," he lies; too quickly and with a slight tremble in his voice. He missed the friendly banter from the other manâit's almost like a breath of fresh air (almost, because he's certain he won't get any down hereâliterally and metaphorically); he doesn't feel like he's walking on thin ice around Benny. Though he does feel like his heart is working faster than it normally would.
But, uh, ignoring that. He's surprised; he expected something moreâthough thinking about it now... it is entirely in Benny's nature to mess around.
"Well," he starts without a plan. Eddie clears his throat, using the short pause to find a way to steer the conversation in a different direction. "I was planning on doing a second sweep of the place if you wanna join." He offers. It was something he was going to do anyway; either on his own, or preferablyâwith someone he can trust in his presence (which is a convoluted way of saying Benny, there's noone else he can think of at the moment) while he feels like he's doing something productive with his time. He gets antsy too easily nowâit might be the environment.
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Maneki walks out of the stage area, lifting the curtains to make sure they donât get stuck in his hair; completely calm and collected, as if getting practically interrogated in front of a live audience didnât affect him at all. They spot Eddie wandering around aimlessly backstage, Maneki giving him a curt nod and a wave of their fan, but Eddie doesnât seem to notice. Eddieâs earlier interview was quite interesting to watch â theyâre slowly but surely getting a hold on Eddieâs character.
While the man seems nice at first, and very insistent on being nothing like his âBrutal Bullâ title, Maneki has found that he has a fierce temper when it comes to the things he cares about. He seems awfully unprepared for a game like this, but it would be in their best interest to keep up a positive relationship with him â getting on the Brutal Bullâs bad side could prove to be dangerous, after all!
They approach, tapping the top of Eddieâs head with their fan. Eddieâs short enough that they donât even have to stand on their toes to reach him. They open their fan back up after theyâve gotten Eddieâs attention. [interviews?], it reads. It seems heâs asking how Eddie went with his. They were watching, of course, but it could be interesting to hear it from Eddieâs perspective.
â đȘ @tongue-tiedenigma
Eddie was about to head to the bar until something light taps his head and catches him completely off guard. "What-" He whips around, a brief look of fear that shifts into surprise upon realizing it's Maneki. "Where did-" Then he reads the fan. Interviews?
"Uh." He puts a pause on the sentence he was trying to form before, processing the question as he slowly calms down. Seems like Maneki's asking about how Eddie's interview went. His eyes drift to the side. It happened just a few minutes ago, but he already wants to move on. "Went fine," he says, the tinge of angerâor rather bitterness, obvious in his tone. Although to him, fine sums it up pretty well.
It stressed him the fuck out. It's obvious, the way his voice had shook as he responded to the questions (which, Eddie's sure was made to piss him off). The way his hands had clenched into themselves. The way his eyes had darted around, unable to keep contact with Cupid's.
The lights and cameras that pointed on him made him feel on edge the moment he stepped onto the stage, but the live audience. All those eyes on him, judging, mocking, pressuringâmade everything even worse. He rather it be silent, and the cameras hidden from view like in Roulette. But he couldn't freeze up. He had to speak, even when it felt like every word that rose from his throat felt like he was trying to navigate the best way to travel on thin ice, every little thing tipping the scales one way, then another.
Eddie shakes his head, bringing himself to the present. He shoves his hands into his pockets. "You?"
Interesting. Maneki nods in⊠sympathy? Itâs very hard to tell, actually. Differences in their expression is always so subtle that itâs practically impossible to tell what theyâre thinking. While Eddieâs body language tends to give his internal feelings away, Manekiâs is always precise; calculated. Like heâs planned a script of every possible interaction already in his head. He takes note of Eddieâs response. Earlier, he had claimed he didnât get stage fright, but Maneki can see through that. Or was it perhaps not about the stage itself, but the situation?
Maneki gives Eddie a light smile. [fine], their fan reads. The interview didnât seem to have bothered them at all â or not on the outside, at least.
It feels⊠strange to interact with Maneki one-on-one. Itâs easier in a group, especially with Sailor to explain what theyâre talking about. But just the two of themâŠ? Awkward silence fills the room, but Eddie supposes that âawkwardnessâ may just be projecting, because Maneki doesnât seem uncomfortable with it at all. I mean, itâs technically always silent when talking with Maneki, but itâs still eerie when thereâs no other noise surrounding them. Maneki notices how anxious Eddie seems, attempting to calm his nerves by petting him on the back with their fan, as if to say âgood jobâ.
Then silence creeps into the conversation again. He doesn't know what else to talk about, he's usually the one almost absent-mindedly nodding along to whatever the other person is saying. He shifts his weight from one foot to the other. This is really awkward. Doesn't really help that Eddie can't get a read on Maneki, their unmoving stare is more intimidating than comforting.
He doesn't really... have a direction now that interviews are over. So the best question to ask is: "What's your plan now?"
Maneki seems content on letting Eddie squirm under his gaze, taking a moment to think before responding. After a couple of seconds, they take out their fan, [investigate] written on it. It seems theyâre planning on scoping out the area some more.
He turns his fan around, scribbling down a [join?] on the opposite side. Their gaze is unmoving, almost threatening, even â but perhaps that is Eddie just projecting again. Maybe thatâs just what they look like, who knows.
He realizes their group didn't have that much time to investigate, as they were more concerned with finding and obtaining something to help Sandbag. That's something he should do soonâ"Oh." Eddie didn't expect to be invited. "Sure." He'll gladly join.
Eddie starts heading further backstage. "The shop and the bar... might something we could've missed there." Like... ventilation they can maybe squeeze into. There must be some way they're getting air down here. The idea of secret passages rise to his mind. How are they getting the employees into this area? It would be embarrassing to feel the walls, but he doesn't recall seeing any doors they can enter and exit through. Would be a bad idea anyway, letting a passageway like that be seen by a bunch of criminals. Anyway, something to look out for.
Maneki perks up at the mention of the bar. Ah yes, that reminds them â there was something they had their eye on in there. A particular air vent near the booth with the little red booth, with a peculiar smell emanating from it. Itâs very subtle, but noticeable enough that Maneki picked up it, and itâs far from your average dusty air vent smell. It smells much more akin to a hospital, if anything. Maneki starts waking forward to The Hanged Man bar pretty much immediately after itâs brought up, not sparing glance back to see if Eddie is behind him or not, expecting him to follow his lead.
This is like, the third time theyâve done this now. Heâs awfully one-track minded sometimes.
Eddie watches Maneki pick up the pace, overtaking his lead that lasted for about 2 seconds. He's more so confusedâwhat would be hidden in the bar? Guess he'll find out soon, but that's the last place he wanted to double check. Seems like their group really did miss something there. Makes sense. After all, the lighting is fairly dim.
They stop in front of the alcove. The red curtain is pulled and tied to the side. From what he can see, there's nothing here.
"Uh..." He turns to Maneki. "What's here exactly?" He asks.
Maneki wastes no time walking up to and motioning to the vent, tapping their fan against it gently. They unfold their fan after a moment, [smell] written on it in their classic red marker, trying to get Eddie to notice the smell emanating from the vent.
They turn their fan around, revealing the word [hospital?], trying to gauge if thatâs actually what theyâre smelling or not.
Eddie finally notices the vent. It's really not that hard to spot at all. He just had to tilt his head up a little bit more.
Well, that solves his question about air. But... he's confused. He gets closer, knees pressing against the couch, but he doesn't smell anything. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
They should check it out regardless. He could probably get that thing open. "I think it's big enough to squeeze through." Eddie looks around. There's nobody in the bar but them, but he still unties the curtain and pulls it forward. With the cloth now giving him the safety of being hidden, Eddie steps onto the couch and grabs his crowbar from his back pocket. The vent gives way rather quickly, as the screws are strangely already lose. Has someone already been in the vents? "You should go first."
Maneki smiles lightly when the vent cracks open, batting his fan up and down as if to say âthank youâ. They climb into the vent with ease, tall enough to reach it without much trouble. After theyâre in, they offer out his hand to Eddie to take so they can pull him in with him.
After Eddie grabs on, Maneki hoists him up, which seems to hurt their arm a little bit. They rub their lower with their other hand, wincing slightly. Eddieâs quite heavy and Maneki isnât exactly the strongest â more lanky than muscular, but they regain their composure quickly.
He briefly glances at the vent cover before grabbing Maneki's hand. There isn't exactly a way to put it back on without him having to stay behind, but they shouldn't take long in the first place. Their disappearance would cause suspicion. "Thanks." He smiles.
Eddie follows Maneki through the vents. They travel for... a good while before they abruptly come to a stop. He looks over Maneki's shoulder, seeing the opening to some room. "Think you can get it open?"
The smell only gets stronger as they approach, Maneki sniffing it out like some kind of cat. Itâs funny to look at, actually. They nod in response to Eddieâs question. It seems awfully loose, similarly to the other vent. Someoneâs definitely been in here before. The vent has very little resistance, cracking open almost instantly upon impact from the base of their fan.
Maneki steps out of the vent without much hesitation. Itâs a big drop to the floor, but Maneki makes it easily without any injury â as nimble as ever. Cats always land on their feet, after all!
Once in the room, Manekiâs eyes widen as he takes in his surroundings. The disgusting bloody smell has increased tenfold; theyâre clearly in some kind of morgue. Suddenly, everything clicks into place in Manekiâs mind. They immediately start exploring, not giving Eddie much time to adjust, moving to the lockers first. Or perhaps⊠theyâre something else? They are lined up in order of contestants, each one labelled with a different contestants title. Perhaps this will be their coffin one day, if theyâre not careful. A sense of uneasiness washes over him, but they donât let it show on their face.
The first thing he notices is the horrible stench that assaults his noseâhe wrinkles his nose in disgust, fighting the urge to pinch it. He looks around, looking for the source then he processes his surroundings. The table, the lockersâthis is a morgue. Of course, they're prepared.
His fingers dig into his palms to steel himself. Maneki seems preoccupied with the lockers, so he searches the desk in the far corner. Oh. "There's a paper here." His voice is lowered, just loud enough for Maneki to hear. "Round 1; Prelimary Status. All participants passed except 1B, 2A, 2B, 6B, 8A, 10A, and 10B."
Manekiâs eyebrows raise upon hearing Eddie mention contestant 1B, quickly turning around and approaching to get a look at the papers. He closes his fan, motioning at contestant 1Bâs autopsy report with it. They open it back up, revealing [my partner] written on it. It seems thatâs who they went up against during the first round. Although, they donât see all that upset about it.
They bat their fan, confirmation for Eddie to keep reading out the reports.
"Huh." Eddie searches the desk for anything else, but there's nothing of use to them.
He looks around the room again. His eye focuses on the cabinets next to the lockers this timeâthere might be something there. Eddie places the paper back where he found it before moving on.
He opens a few cabinets until he finds a bunch of papers. Eddie takes a few seconds to skim through the contents of each paper, but he doesn't understand most of these medical terms. "That's weird... these files on the contestants contain their medical information." His hand briefly hovers over his right eye before it returns back to his side. Why keep it in the morgue? "Participant 1A has damage to thyroid," Eddie briefly glances at Maneki. If their partner is 1B then...
He keeps reading. "one of them has chronic sciatica whatever that means..." He pauses, squinting at the papers. "Participant... sorry um. Participant 10A history of heart conditions..." He goes silent for a few seconds. Participant 4B... it lists his condition too. He rubs the back of his neck. "... That's all I can really get from it, it's a lot of medical jargon."
Manekiâs eyes widen when Eddie mentions the damaged thyroid, a bead of sweat dripping down their face, despite it actually being quite cold in the morgue. They look away, avoiding eye contact, their usual composure instantly disrupted. For anyone else it wouldnât have been all that noticeable, but because itâs Maneki â the ever-mysterious person that they are, it feels very jarring. He fiddles with his fan anxiously, letting Eddie finish reading off the list.
Eddie sets the papers down, sliding the cabinet closed. He takes a few seconds before turning to look at Maneki. Seeing the look on their face... his eyebrows furrow, but not in frustration. He's worried, and it shows clearly across his face.
He doesn't want to overstep a boundary by mentioning it further or make Maneki feel like they're trapped. "Do you want to get out of here?" He asks. "We can talk about what we found later." He didn't take a good look at the lockers, but he trusts Maneki to tell him what they found.
Maneki simply nods, seeming rather relieved to be able to get out of here. The smell is making them want to gagâŠ
He motions to the door with his fan, wondering if they can get out that way or if theyâll have to crawl through the vent again. After giving it a look and quickly deeming it locked, they shrug and begin climbing back up to the vent, this time leaving Eddie to try and get up himself. They really donât wanna pull a muscle by trying to help him up again⊠they donât seem to notice that the action is actually kind of rude.
Eddie deflates a little when they don't extend a helping hand to him, but he understands why Maneki just wants to get out. He grabs the vent cover and uses the nearby table to give him the necessary boost to grab onto the opening in the ceiling. Then he realizes without two hands, that's not going to work. He places the vent cover between his legs, using both of his hands to hoist himself completely into the vent. Before leaving, Eddie makes sure to secure the cover. There will be no traces of them ever being there.
He sees the bars familiar red lighting and breathes a sigh of relief, quietly exiting the ventilation system and putting the vent cover back into its place as quickly as he can. He pushes the curtain away, stepping onto the floor.
"So," he begins. "did you see anything interesting on the lockers?"
Now that the two of them are back in the bar, Maneki seems to have almost completely regained their composure. They make a so-so motion with their fan â they didnât actually get any chance to look in the lockers, only glance at their outsides momentarily.
In Manekiâs mind, It was most likely that that was where they stored the bodies of contestants. Which they suppose could be of some interest to Eddie, so they open their fan, rather ominously writing down [bodies], proceeding to not elaborate whatsoever.
"Right..." He figures there'd be bodies there. Not all contestants made it past the preliminary round. "What about the clipboards?" He briefly saw them on some of the lockers, but he didn't get a chance to take a good look at what they said.
... He can always come back later, but he wishes he had at least tried to open the lockers. Guess it's... weird. Eddie could've known them. His hand closes into a fist, then opens again. He couldn't have done anything about their deaths, but he still feels... bad.
Maneki notes how Eddieâs fist clenches, taking a moment to consider what he said. They still only got a brief look at the clipboards â they didnât really feel like analysis autopsy reports, in all honesty. However, based on what he did see, it seems like some of the deceased contestants died rather violently. Namely Vega and Eliseâs opponents, they muse. Hm. Theyâll have to question Vega about that later. But what interested him most of all was a blanked out statement in Eliseâs opponents report, one that was rather hard to decipher what it originally wrote. It was too long to be a simple spelling mistake â it was clearly a whole sentence that they redacted.
They open their fan. [Autopsy reports.]
Flipping it to the other side, there is more writing. [Eliseâs partner -> redacted info.]
"Huh." That is interesting information. "Someone tampered with the records, then." What separates Elise from the other contestants? The only possibility is that... "He might have connections." Important ones that allow him to rig the game in his favor. That makes him dangerous.
Eddie puts his hands in his pockets, shifting his weight to one foot. If Elise has that kind of power then... he looks at the ground, eyebrows furrowed. Eddie's worried for the next game.
Maneki nods their head. Theyâre glad Eddie is so perceptive, it makes communicating with him a lot easier.
But before they can go to write anything else, theyâre quickly cut off by a certain @nonsensicalxjokester walking into the bar. Speak of the devil â itâs almost as if he knew they were talking about him. Maneki looks around, quickly realising that his and Eddieâs position is rather⊠suspicious, considering where they just walked out of.
Elise walked into the bar and sat down at one of the stools. They were tapping their foot and drumming their fingers on the counter. Elise seems particularly antsy and high-alert as of the moment, which left two courses of action;
Option 1: Wait for Elise to leave or attempt sneaking out.
Eddie roughly pulled @tongue-tiedenigma back into the alcove the moment he heard footsteps approaching. Which, was a reflex and completely unnecessary. Being in the morgue had put him on high alert.
He glances at Maneki. "Sorry," he whispers.
Well. He put them in a bad spot on accident. He looks at Maneki again, although purposefully avoiding eye contact (he feels bad for practically shoving Maneki into a corner with him). Eddie's expecting the other to take initiative. He doesn't know what to do.
Being shoved back into the alcove by Eddie, Maneki gasps at the sudden contact, his voice broken and strained. He glares at Eddie for a moment, but shakes it off quickly once he spots @nonsensicalxjokester look over at them upon hearing Manekiâs gasp. Their eye twitches in annoyance, bapping Eddie gently but sternly on the back of the head as if to say âyou got us caught!â
Elise raises an eyebrow before a sly grin spreads across it's face. Just what he needed right about now, people to pester were always a good distraction. It was pretty easy to decipher who the silhouettes behind the curtain belonged to. Maneki and @after--math.
"Are the bull and the cat on some sort of stealth mission?"
(//also im logging off for the night pretty soon just thought I'd give you a heads up)
Eddie sighs. He gives @tongue-tiedenigma another glance, as if silently saying sorry again. He pushes the curtain away, emerging from the alcove. "No." There's a slight tinge of annoyance in his voice. He has not forgotten how Elise extorted them along with Bones and Vick. Though, knowing this new information... he feels he should be cautious now.
He stands a little off to the side so he can read Maneki's fan. He's looking at Maneki now, expecting them to lead the conversation. They shouldn't reveal what they knowâthat's a givenâbut they can probably get more information out of Elise.
Maneki sighs slightly, their voice coming out somewhat strained and hoarse. They honestly get a little nervous when they become the center of attention like this, but he doesnât let it show on his face. Deciding they have nothing they could say to make the situation look less suspicious, they pull out their fan with the little smiley face. Dammit, Maneki, interrogate @nonsensicalxjokester and ask them what theyâre doing here, donât just smile ominously! They hear Eddie let out an exasperated sigh beside them.
Seems like he's going to have to lead this conversation for now (which might prove to be a horrible idea, as he can feel nervousness bubbling up inside himâbut this is an opportunity they shouldn't pass up).
"... What are you doing here." His voice comes out a lot more intimidating than he intended it to be.
Sailor is stood at Eddieâs side, tapping repeatedly against his arm. His eyes are wide, almost wonder-filled, and the pace of his tapping is getting quicker. His sleeves are bouncing because he canât keep himself steady.
âOrca man!!! OrcaâŠ. Orca, we should go on an adventure. Ye and I, off on an expedition!!! Could be fun, and Seahorse wonât remind us of any rules!â
-@dappygoon (hi :âą> I lowkey dunno if I already sent you an ask but I keep seeing you on my dash and I adore you)
He laughs. "Alright, alright." He folds rather easily. Eddie really has grown fond of the kid in the span of... maybe an hour or two. He lightly takes Sailor's wrist and puts it at his side. It's a conscious action; he doesn't want to accidentally hurt him.
He appreciates the nickname Orca a lot. He can see why Sailor picked it for him; with the white and black Eddie's wearing. It's a lot better than being called a bull, which is used in a derogatory way more often than not. "Where to?" Sailor's the captain, after all.
This is a RP/ask blog based off of (as of 11/5/25) part 1 of chapter 1 of JACKPOT CRASH COURSE by Studio Investigrave. Portrayals of characters may not be accurate to their source material. Rules and other info below the cut!
RULES OF THE SHOW
Of course, no NSFW! However, there may be discussions of canon-typical violence, death, substance use, suggestive content, etc. VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED. The recommended audience for this program is 15+.
Flirting with the showrunner is allowed (although judged). All we ask is that you question your life choices up to this point.
Interaction from all walks of life are encouraged! Anons, RP starters, AUs, OCs, M!As, the like!
CRINGE IS DEAD. KILL THE PART OF YOU THAT CRINGES.
ABOUT THE SHOWRUNNER'S SHOWRUNNER
... oh. uh, what? hey, this wasnt scripted. the hell? hey, HEY-
Mod uses he/them pronouns and is 17+.
Portrayal of Cupid is based off impressions and headcanons and is, once again, not necessarily an accurate portrayal of his canonical character. This blog is meant to be for fun!
Cupid King belongs to ekrixart and is in no way my original character.
I have a pretty full schedule but that doesn't stop me at all. Although that DOES mean my responses may be pretty slow. I promise I'll try to get to everyone!
I also have a really bad memory . If I ever forget about anything PLEASE let me know and also I am SO sorry
My DMs are always open if you have a question or just wanna chat!
Maneki walks out of the stage area, lifting the curtains to make sure they donât get stuck in his hair; completely calm and collected, as if getting practically interrogated in front of a live audience didnât affect him at all. They spot Eddie wandering around aimlessly backstage, Maneki giving him a curt nod and a wave of their fan, but Eddie doesnât seem to notice. Eddieâs earlier interview was quite interesting to watch â theyâre slowly but surely getting a hold on Eddieâs character.
While the man seems nice at first, and very insistent on being nothing like his âBrutal Bullâ title, Maneki has found that he has a fierce temper when it comes to the things he cares about. He seems awfully unprepared for a game like this, but it would be in their best interest to keep up a positive relationship with him â getting on the Brutal Bullâs bad side could prove to be dangerous, after all!
They approach, tapping the top of Eddieâs head with their fan. Eddieâs short enough that they donât even have to stand on their toes to reach him. They open their fan back up after theyâve gotten Eddieâs attention. [interviews?], it reads. It seems heâs asking how Eddie went with his. They were watching, of course, but it could be interesting to hear it from Eddieâs perspective.
â đȘ @tongue-tiedenigma
Eddie was about to head to the bar until something light taps his head and catches him completely off guard. "What-" He whips around, a brief look of fear that shifts into surprise upon realizing it's Maneki. "Where did-" Then he reads the fan. Interviews?
"Uh." He puts a pause on the sentence he was trying to form before, processing the question as he slowly calms down. Seems like Maneki's asking about how Eddie's interview went. His eyes drift to the side. It happened just a few minutes ago, but he already wants to move on. "Went fine," he says, the tinge of angerâor rather bitterness, obvious in his tone. Although to him, fine sums it up pretty well.
It stressed him the fuck out. It's obvious, the way his voice had shook as he responded to the questions (which, Eddie's sure was made to piss him off). The way his hands had clenched into themselves. The way his eyes had darted around, unable to keep contact with Cupid's.
The lights and cameras that pointed on him made him feel on edge the moment he stepped onto the stage, but the live audience. All those eyes on him, judging, mocking, pressuringâmade everything even worse. He rather it be silent, and the cameras hidden from view like in Roulette. But he couldn't freeze up. He had to speak, even when it felt like every word that rose from his throat felt like he was trying to navigate the best way to travel on thin ice, every little thing tipping the scales one way, then another.
Eddie shakes his head, bringing himself to the present. He shoves his hands into his pockets. "You?"
Interesting. Maneki nods in⊠sympathy? Itâs very hard to tell, actually. Differences in their expression is always so subtle that itâs practically impossible to tell what theyâre thinking. While Eddieâs body language tends to give his internal feelings away, Manekiâs is always precise; calculated. Like heâs planned a script of every possible interaction already in his head. He takes note of Eddieâs response. Earlier, he had claimed he didnât get stage fright, but Maneki can see through that. Or was it perhaps not about the stage itself, but the situation?
Maneki gives Eddie a light smile. [fine], their fan reads. The interview didnât seem to have bothered them at all â or not on the outside, at least.
It feels⊠strange to interact with Maneki one-on-one. Itâs easier in a group, especially with Sailor to explain what theyâre talking about. But just the two of themâŠ? Awkward silence fills the room, but Eddie supposes that âawkwardnessâ may just be projecting, because Maneki doesnât seem uncomfortable with it at all. I mean, itâs technically always silent when talking with Maneki, but itâs still eerie when thereâs no other noise surrounding them. Maneki notices how anxious Eddie seems, attempting to calm his nerves by petting him on the back with their fan, as if to say âgood jobâ.
Then silence creeps into the conversation again. He doesn't know what else to talk about, he's usually the one almost absent-mindedly nodding along to whatever the other person is saying. He shifts his weight from one foot to the other. This is really awkward. Doesn't really help that Eddie can't get a read on Maneki, their unmoving stare is more intimidating than comforting.
He doesn't really... have a direction now that interviews are over. So the best question to ask is: "What's your plan now?"
Maneki seems content on letting Eddie squirm under his gaze, taking a moment to think before responding. After a couple of seconds, they take out their fan, [investigate] written on it. It seems theyâre planning on scoping out the area some more.
He turns his fan around, scribbling down a [join?] on the opposite side. Their gaze is unmoving, almost threatening, even â but perhaps that is Eddie just projecting again. Maybe thatâs just what they look like, who knows.
He realizes their group didn't have that much time to investigate, as they were more concerned with finding and obtaining something to help Sandbag. That's something he should do soonâ"Oh." Eddie didn't expect to be invited. "Sure." He'll gladly join.
Eddie starts heading further backstage. "The shop and the bar... might something we could've missed there." Like... ventilation they can maybe squeeze into. There must be some way they're getting air down here. The idea of secret passages rise to his mind. How are they getting the employees into this area? It would be embarrassing to feel the walls, but he doesn't recall seeing any doors they can enter and exit through. Would be a bad idea anyway, letting a passageway like that be seen by a bunch of criminals. Anyway, something to look out for.
Maneki perks up at the mention of the bar. Ah yes, that reminds them â there was something they had their eye on in there. A particular air vent near the booth with the little red booth, with a peculiar smell emanating from it. Itâs very subtle, but noticeable enough that Maneki picked up it, and itâs far from your average dusty air vent smell. It smells much more akin to a hospital, if anything. Maneki starts waking forward to The Hanged Man bar pretty much immediately after itâs brought up, not sparing glance back to see if Eddie is behind him or not, expecting him to follow his lead.
This is like, the third time theyâve done this now. Heâs awfully one-track minded sometimes.
Eddie watches Maneki pick up the pace, overtaking his lead that lasted for about 2 seconds. He's more so confusedâwhat would be hidden in the bar? Guess he'll find out soon, but that's the last place he wanted to double check. Seems like their group really did miss something there. Makes sense. After all, the lighting is fairly dim.
They stop in front of the alcove. The red curtain is pulled and tied to the side. From what he can see, there's nothing here.
"Uh..." He turns to Maneki. "What's here exactly?" He asks.
Maneki wastes no time walking up to and motioning to the vent, tapping their fan against it gently. They unfold their fan after a moment, [smell] written on it in their classic red marker, trying to get Eddie to notice the smell emanating from the vent.
They turn their fan around, revealing the word [hospital?], trying to gauge if thatâs actually what theyâre smelling or not.
Eddie finally notices the vent. It's really not that hard to spot at all. He just had to tilt his head up a little bit more.
Well, that solves his question about air. But... he's confused. He gets closer, knees pressing against the couch, but he doesn't smell anything. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
They should check it out regardless. He could probably get that thing open. "I think it's big enough to squeeze through." Eddie looks around. There's nobody in the bar but them, but he still unties the curtain and pulls it forward. With the cloth now giving him the safety of being hidden, Eddie steps onto the couch and grabs his crowbar from his back pocket. The vent gives way rather quickly, as the screws are strangely already lose. Has someone already been in the vents? "You should go first."
Maneki smiles lightly when the vent cracks open, batting his fan up and down as if to say âthank youâ. They climb into the vent with ease, tall enough to reach it without much trouble. After theyâre in, they offer out his hand to Eddie to take so they can pull him in with him.
After Eddie grabs on, Maneki hoists him up, which seems to hurt their arm a little bit. They rub their lower with their other hand, wincing slightly. Eddieâs quite heavy and Maneki isnât exactly the strongest â more lanky than muscular, but they regain their composure quickly.
He briefly glances at the vent cover before grabbing Maneki's hand. There isn't exactly a way to put it back on without him having to stay behind, but they shouldn't take long in the first place. Their disappearance would cause suspicion. "Thanks." He smiles.
Eddie follows Maneki through the vents. They travel for... a good while before they abruptly come to a stop. He looks over Maneki's shoulder, seeing the opening to some room. "Think you can get it open?"
The smell only gets stronger as they approach, Maneki sniffing it out like some kind of cat. Itâs funny to look at, actually. They nod in response to Eddieâs question. It seems awfully loose, similarly to the other vent. Someoneâs definitely been in here before. The vent has very little resistance, cracking open almost instantly upon impact from the base of their fan.
Maneki steps out of the vent without much hesitation. Itâs a big drop to the floor, but Maneki makes it easily without any injury â as nimble as ever. Cats always land on their feet, after all!
Once in the room, Manekiâs eyes widen as he takes in his surroundings. The disgusting bloody smell has increased tenfold; theyâre clearly in some kind of morgue. Suddenly, everything clicks into place in Manekiâs mind. They immediately start exploring, not giving Eddie much time to adjust, moving to the lockers first. Or perhaps⊠theyâre something else? They are lined up in order of contestants, each one labelled with a different contestants title. Perhaps this will be their coffin one day, if theyâre not careful. A sense of uneasiness washes over him, but they donât let it show on their face.
The first thing he notices is the horrible stench that assaults his noseâhe wrinkles his nose in disgust, fighting the urge to pinch it. He looks around, looking for the source then he processes his surroundings. The table, the lockersâthis is a morgue. Of course, they're prepared.
His fingers dig into his palms to steel himself. Maneki seems preoccupied with the lockers, so he searches the desk in the far corner. Oh. "There's a paper here." His voice is lowered, just loud enough for Maneki to hear. "Round 1; Prelimary Status. All participants passed except 1B, 2A, 2B, 6B, 8A, 10A, and 10B."
Manekiâs eyebrows raise upon hearing Eddie mention contestant 1B, quickly turning around and approaching to get a look at the papers. He closes his fan, motioning at contestant 1Bâs autopsy report with it. They open it back up, revealing [my partner] written on it. It seems thatâs who they went up against during the first round. Although, they donât see all that upset about it.
They bat their fan, confirmation for Eddie to keep reading out the reports.
"Huh." Eddie searches the desk for anything else, but there's nothing of use to them.
He looks around the room again. His eye focuses on the cabinets next to the lockers this timeâthere might be something there. Eddie places the paper back where he found it before moving on.
He opens a few cabinets until he finds a bunch of papers. Eddie takes a few seconds to skim through the contents of each paper, but he doesn't understand most of these medical terms. "That's weird... these files on the contestants contain their medical information." His hand briefly hovers over his right eye before it returns back to his side. Why keep it in the morgue? "Participant 1A has damage to thyroid," Eddie briefly glances at Maneki. If their partner is 1B then...
He keeps reading. "one of them has chronic sciatica whatever that means..." He pauses, squinting at the papers. "Participant... sorry um. Participant 10A history of heart conditions..." He goes silent for a few seconds. Participant 4B... it lists his condition too. He rubs the back of his neck. "... That's all I can really get from it, it's a lot of medical jargon."
Manekiâs eyes widen when Eddie mentions the damaged thyroid, a bead of sweat dripping down their face, despite it actually being quite cold in the morgue. They look away, avoiding eye contact, their usual composure instantly disrupted. For anyone else it wouldnât have been all that noticeable, but because itâs Maneki â the ever-mysterious person that they are, it feels very jarring. He fiddles with his fan anxiously, letting Eddie finish reading off the list.
Eddie sets the papers down, sliding the cabinet closed. He takes a few seconds before turning to look at Maneki. Seeing the look on their face... his eyebrows furrow, but not in frustration. He's worried, and it shows clearly across his face.
He doesn't want to overstep a boundary by mentioning it further or make Maneki feel like they're trapped. "Do you want to get out of here?" He asks. "We can talk about what we found later." He didn't take a good look at the lockers, but he trusts Maneki to tell him what they found.
Maneki simply nods, seeming rather relieved to be able to get out of here. The smell is making them want to gagâŠ
He motions to the door with his fan, wondering if they can get out that way or if theyâll have to crawl through the vent again. After giving it a look and quickly deeming it locked, they shrug and begin climbing back up to the vent, this time leaving Eddie to try and get up himself. They really donât wanna pull a muscle by trying to help him up again⊠they donât seem to notice that the action is actually kind of rude.
Eddie deflates a little when they don't extend a helping hand to him, but he understands why Maneki just wants to get out. He grabs the vent cover and uses the nearby table to give him the necessary boost to grab onto the opening in the ceiling. Then he realizes without two hands, that's not going to work. He places the vent cover between his legs, using both of his hands to hoist himself completely into the vent. Before leaving, Eddie makes sure to secure the cover. There will be no traces of them ever being there.
He sees the bars familiar red lighting and breathes a sigh of relief, quietly exiting the ventilation system and putting the vent cover back into its place as quickly as he can. He pushes the curtain away, stepping onto the floor.
"So," he begins. "did you see anything interesting on the lockers?"
Now that the two of them are back in the bar, Maneki seems to have almost completely regained their composure. They make a so-so motion with their fan â they didnât actually get any chance to look in the lockers, only glance at their outsides momentarily.
In Manekiâs mind, It was most likely that that was where they stored the bodies of contestants. Which they suppose could be of some interest to Eddie, so they open their fan, rather ominously writing down [bodies], proceeding to not elaborate whatsoever.
"Right..." He figures there'd be bodies there. Not all contestants made it past the preliminary round. "What about the clipboards?" He briefly saw them on some of the lockers, but he didn't get a chance to take a good look at what they said.
... He can always come back later, but he wishes he had at least tried to open the lockers. Guess it's... weird. Eddie could've known them. His hand closes into a fist, then opens again. He couldn't have done anything about their deaths, but he still feels... bad.
Maneki notes how Eddieâs fist clenches, taking a moment to consider what he said. They still only got a brief look at the clipboards â they didnât really feel like analysis autopsy reports, in all honesty. However, based on what he did see, it seems like some of the deceased contestants died rather violently. Namely Vega and Eliseâs opponents, they muse. Hm. Theyâll have to question Vega about that later. But what interested him most of all was a blanked out statement in Eliseâs opponents report, one that was rather hard to decipher what it originally wrote. It was too long to be a simple spelling mistake â it was clearly a whole sentence that they redacted.
They open their fan. [Autopsy reports.]
Flipping it to the other side, there is more writing. [Eliseâs partner -> redacted info.]
"Huh." That is interesting information. "Someone tampered with the records, then." What separates Elise from the other contestants? The only possibility is that... "He might have connections." Important ones that allow him to rig the game in his favor. That makes him dangerous.
Eddie puts his hands in his pockets, shifting his weight to one foot. If Elise has that kind of power then... he looks at the ground, eyebrows furrowed. Eddie's worried for the next game.
Maneki nods their head. Theyâre glad Eddie is so perceptive, it makes communicating with him a lot easier.
But before they can go to write anything else, theyâre quickly cut off by a certain @nonsensicalxjokester walking into the bar. Speak of the devil â itâs almost as if he knew they were talking about him. Maneki looks around, quickly realising that his and Eddieâs position is rather⊠suspicious, considering where they just walked out of.
Elise walked into the bar and sat down at one of the stools. They were tapping their foot and drumming their fingers on the counter. Elise seems particularly antsy and high-alert as of the moment, which left two courses of action;
Option 1: Wait for Elise to leave or attempt sneaking out.
Eddie roughly pulled @tongue-tiedenigma back into the alcove the moment he heard footsteps approaching. Which, was a reflex and completely unnecessary. Being in the morgue had put him on high alert.
He glances at Maneki. "Sorry," he whispers.
Well. He put them in a bad spot on accident. He looks at Maneki again, although purposefully avoiding eye contact (he feels bad for practically shoving Maneki into a corner with him). Eddie's expecting the other to take initiative. He doesn't know what to do.
Being shoved back into the alcove by Eddie, Maneki gasps at the sudden contact, his voice broken and strained. He glares at Eddie for a moment, but shakes it off quickly once he spots @nonsensicalxjokester look over at them upon hearing Manekiâs gasp. Their eye twitches in annoyance, bapping Eddie gently but sternly on the back of the head as if to say âyou got us caught!â
Elise raises an eyebrow before a sly grin spreads across it's face. Just what he needed right about now, people to pester were always a good distraction. It was pretty easy to decipher who the silhouettes behind the curtain belonged to. Maneki and @after--math.
"Are the bull and the cat on some sort of stealth mission?"
(//also im logging off for the night pretty soon just thought I'd give you a heads up)
Eddie sighs. He gives @tongue-tiedenigma another glance, as if silently saying sorry again. He pushes the curtain away, emerging from the alcove. "No." There's a slight tinge of annoyance in his voice. He has not forgotten how Elise extorted them along with Bones and Vick. Though, knowing this new information... he feels he should be cautious now.
He stands a little off to the side so he can read Maneki's fan. He's looking at Maneki now, expecting them to lead the conversation. They shouldn't reveal what they knowâthat's a givenâbut they can probably get more information out of Elise.
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//i love eddie so much. i want him to die and i want him to live to see all the death he wants to avoid. i want him to feel miserable. i want guilt to eat at him alive. i want him to feel insane levels of stress that cause him to lash out at even the slightest provocation. i want him to be trapped in a cycle of violence of his own and others making. i want him to get worse. i want him to really become the brutal bull some expect him to be
//anyway all of this can be achieved if eddie chooses to go with vicks group in this essay i (NEED TO EXPLORE MORE OOF THIS IN ROLEPLAY
Maneki walks out of the stage area, lifting the curtains to make sure they donât get stuck in his hair; completely calm and collected, as if getting practically interrogated in front of a live audience didnât affect him at all. They spot Eddie wandering around aimlessly backstage, Maneki giving him a curt nod and a wave of their fan, but Eddie doesnât seem to notice. Eddieâs earlier interview was quite interesting to watch â theyâre slowly but surely getting a hold on Eddieâs character.
While the man seems nice at first, and very insistent on being nothing like his âBrutal Bullâ title, Maneki has found that he has a fierce temper when it comes to the things he cares about. He seems awfully unprepared for a game like this, but it would be in their best interest to keep up a positive relationship with him â getting on the Brutal Bullâs bad side could prove to be dangerous, after all!
They approach, tapping the top of Eddieâs head with their fan. Eddieâs short enough that they donât even have to stand on their toes to reach him. They open their fan back up after theyâve gotten Eddieâs attention. [interviews?], it reads. It seems heâs asking how Eddie went with his. They were watching, of course, but it could be interesting to hear it from Eddieâs perspective.
â đȘ @tongue-tiedenigma
Eddie was about to head to the bar until something light taps his head and catches him completely off guard. "What-" He whips around, a brief look of fear that shifts into surprise upon realizing it's Maneki. "Where did-" Then he reads the fan. Interviews?
"Uh." He puts a pause on the sentence he was trying to form before, processing the question as he slowly calms down. Seems like Maneki's asking about how Eddie's interview went. His eyes drift to the side. It happened just a few minutes ago, but he already wants to move on. "Went fine," he says, the tinge of angerâor rather bitterness, obvious in his tone. Although to him, fine sums it up pretty well.
It stressed him the fuck out. It's obvious, the way his voice had shook as he responded to the questions (which, Eddie's sure was made to piss him off). The way his hands had clenched into themselves. The way his eyes had darted around, unable to keep contact with Cupid's.
The lights and cameras that pointed on him made him feel on edge the moment he stepped onto the stage, but the live audience. All those eyes on him, judging, mocking, pressuringâmade everything even worse. He rather it be silent, and the cameras hidden from view like in Roulette. But he couldn't freeze up. He had to speak, even when it felt like every word that rose from his throat felt like he was trying to navigate the best way to travel on thin ice, every little thing tipping the scales one way, then another.
Eddie shakes his head, bringing himself to the present. He shoves his hands into his pockets. "You?"
Interesting. Maneki nods in⊠sympathy? Itâs very hard to tell, actually. Differences in their expression is always so subtle that itâs practically impossible to tell what theyâre thinking. While Eddieâs body language tends to give his internal feelings away, Manekiâs is always precise; calculated. Like heâs planned a script of every possible interaction already in his head. He takes note of Eddieâs response. Earlier, he had claimed he didnât get stage fright, but Maneki can see through that. Or was it perhaps not about the stage itself, but the situation?
Maneki gives Eddie a light smile. [fine], their fan reads. The interview didnât seem to have bothered them at all â or not on the outside, at least.
It feels⊠strange to interact with Maneki one-on-one. Itâs easier in a group, especially with Sailor to explain what theyâre talking about. But just the two of themâŠ? Awkward silence fills the room, but Eddie supposes that âawkwardnessâ may just be projecting, because Maneki doesnât seem uncomfortable with it at all. I mean, itâs technically always silent when talking with Maneki, but itâs still eerie when thereâs no other noise surrounding them. Maneki notices how anxious Eddie seems, attempting to calm his nerves by petting him on the back with their fan, as if to say âgood jobâ.
Then silence creeps into the conversation again. He doesn't know what else to talk about, he's usually the one almost absent-mindedly nodding along to whatever the other person is saying. He shifts his weight from one foot to the other. This is really awkward. Doesn't really help that Eddie can't get a read on Maneki, their unmoving stare is more intimidating than comforting.
He doesn't really... have a direction now that interviews are over. So the best question to ask is: "What's your plan now?"
Maneki seems content on letting Eddie squirm under his gaze, taking a moment to think before responding. After a couple of seconds, they take out their fan, [investigate] written on it. It seems theyâre planning on scoping out the area some more.
He turns his fan around, scribbling down a [join?] on the opposite side. Their gaze is unmoving, almost threatening, even â but perhaps that is Eddie just projecting again. Maybe thatâs just what they look like, who knows.
He realizes their group didn't have that much time to investigate, as they were more concerned with finding and obtaining something to help Sandbag. That's something he should do soonâ"Oh." Eddie didn't expect to be invited. "Sure." He'll gladly join.
Eddie starts heading further backstage. "The shop and the bar... might something we could've missed there." Like... ventilation they can maybe squeeze into. There must be some way they're getting air down here. The idea of secret passages rise to his mind. How are they getting the employees into this area? It would be embarrassing to feel the walls, but he doesn't recall seeing any doors they can enter and exit through. Would be a bad idea anyway, letting a passageway like that be seen by a bunch of criminals. Anyway, something to look out for.
Maneki perks up at the mention of the bar. Ah yes, that reminds them â there was something they had their eye on in there. A particular air vent near the booth with the little red booth, with a peculiar smell emanating from it. Itâs very subtle, but noticeable enough that Maneki picked up it, and itâs far from your average dusty air vent smell. It smells much more akin to a hospital, if anything. Maneki starts waking forward to The Hanged Man bar pretty much immediately after itâs brought up, not sparing glance back to see if Eddie is behind him or not, expecting him to follow his lead.
This is like, the third time theyâve done this now. Heâs awfully one-track minded sometimes.
Eddie watches Maneki pick up the pace, overtaking his lead that lasted for about 2 seconds. He's more so confusedâwhat would be hidden in the bar? Guess he'll find out soon, but that's the last place he wanted to double check. Seems like their group really did miss something there. Makes sense. After all, the lighting is fairly dim.
They stop in front of the alcove. The red curtain is pulled and tied to the side. From what he can see, there's nothing here.
"Uh..." He turns to Maneki. "What's here exactly?" He asks.
Maneki wastes no time walking up to and motioning to the vent, tapping their fan against it gently. They unfold their fan after a moment, [smell] written on it in their classic red marker, trying to get Eddie to notice the smell emanating from the vent.
They turn their fan around, revealing the word [hospital?], trying to gauge if thatâs actually what theyâre smelling or not.
Eddie finally notices the vent. It's really not that hard to spot at all. He just had to tilt his head up a little bit more.
Well, that solves his question about air. But... he's confused. He gets closer, knees pressing against the couch, but he doesn't smell anything. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
They should check it out regardless. He could probably get that thing open. "I think it's big enough to squeeze through." Eddie looks around. There's nobody in the bar but them, but he still unties the curtain and pulls it forward. With the cloth now giving him the safety of being hidden, Eddie steps onto the couch and grabs his crowbar from his back pocket. The vent gives way rather quickly, as the screws are strangely already lose. Has someone already been in the vents? "You should go first."
Maneki smiles lightly when the vent cracks open, batting his fan up and down as if to say âthank youâ. They climb into the vent with ease, tall enough to reach it without much trouble. After theyâre in, they offer out his hand to Eddie to take so they can pull him in with him.
After Eddie grabs on, Maneki hoists him up, which seems to hurt their arm a little bit. They rub their lower with their other hand, wincing slightly. Eddieâs quite heavy and Maneki isnât exactly the strongest â more lanky than muscular, but they regain their composure quickly.
He briefly glances at the vent cover before grabbing Maneki's hand. There isn't exactly a way to put it back on without him having to stay behind, but they shouldn't take long in the first place. Their disappearance would cause suspicion. "Thanks." He smiles.
Eddie follows Maneki through the vents. They travel for... a good while before they abruptly come to a stop. He looks over Maneki's shoulder, seeing the opening to some room. "Think you can get it open?"
The smell only gets stronger as they approach, Maneki sniffing it out like some kind of cat. Itâs funny to look at, actually. They nod in response to Eddieâs question. It seems awfully loose, similarly to the other vent. Someoneâs definitely been in here before. The vent has very little resistance, cracking open almost instantly upon impact from the base of their fan.
Maneki steps out of the vent without much hesitation. Itâs a big drop to the floor, but Maneki makes it easily without any injury â as nimble as ever. Cats always land on their feet, after all!
Once in the room, Manekiâs eyes widen as he takes in his surroundings. The disgusting bloody smell has increased tenfold; theyâre clearly in some kind of morgue. Suddenly, everything clicks into place in Manekiâs mind. They immediately start exploring, not giving Eddie much time to adjust, moving to the lockers first. Or perhaps⊠theyâre something else? They are lined up in order of contestants, each one labelled with a different contestants title. Perhaps this will be their coffin one day, if theyâre not careful. A sense of uneasiness washes over him, but they donât let it show on their face.
The first thing he notices is the horrible stench that assaults his noseâhe wrinkles his nose in disgust, fighting the urge to pinch it. He looks around, looking for the source then he processes his surroundings. The table, the lockersâthis is a morgue. Of course, they're prepared.
His fingers dig into his palms to steel himself. Maneki seems preoccupied with the lockers, so he searches the desk in the far corner. Oh. "There's a paper here." His voice is lowered, just loud enough for Maneki to hear. "Round 1; Prelimary Status. All participants passed except 1B, 2A, 2B, 6B, 8A, 10A, and 10B."
Manekiâs eyebrows raise upon hearing Eddie mention contestant 1B, quickly turning around and approaching to get a look at the papers. He closes his fan, motioning at contestant 1Bâs autopsy report with it. They open it back up, revealing [my partner] written on it. It seems thatâs who they went up against during the first round. Although, they donât see all that upset about it.
They bat their fan, confirmation for Eddie to keep reading out the reports.
"Huh." Eddie searches the desk for anything else, but there's nothing of use to them.
He looks around the room again. His eye focuses on the cabinets next to the lockers this timeâthere might be something there. Eddie places the paper back where he found it before moving on.
He opens a few cabinets until he finds a bunch of papers. Eddie takes a few seconds to skim through the contents of each paper, but he doesn't understand most of these medical terms. "That's weird... these files on the contestants contain their medical information." His hand briefly hovers over his right eye before it returns back to his side. Why keep it in the morgue? "Participant 1A has damage to thyroid," Eddie briefly glances at Maneki. If their partner is 1B then...
He keeps reading. "one of them has chronic sciatica whatever that means..." He pauses, squinting at the papers. "Participant... sorry um. Participant 10A history of heart conditions..." He goes silent for a few seconds. Participant 4B... it lists his condition too. He rubs the back of his neck. "... That's all I can really get from it, it's a lot of medical jargon."
Manekiâs eyes widen when Eddie mentions the damaged thyroid, a bead of sweat dripping down their face, despite it actually being quite cold in the morgue. They look away, avoiding eye contact, their usual composure instantly disrupted. For anyone else it wouldnât have been all that noticeable, but because itâs Maneki â the ever-mysterious person that they are, it feels very jarring. He fiddles with his fan anxiously, letting Eddie finish reading off the list.
Eddie sets the papers down, sliding the cabinet closed. He takes a few seconds before turning to look at Maneki. Seeing the look on their face... his eyebrows furrow, but not in frustration. He's worried, and it shows clearly across his face.
He doesn't want to overstep a boundary by mentioning it further or make Maneki feel like they're trapped. "Do you want to get out of here?" He asks. "We can talk about what we found later." He didn't take a good look at the lockers, but he trusts Maneki to tell him what they found.
Maneki simply nods, seeming rather relieved to be able to get out of here. The smell is making them want to gagâŠ
He motions to the door with his fan, wondering if they can get out that way or if theyâll have to crawl through the vent again. After giving it a look and quickly deeming it locked, they shrug and begin climbing back up to the vent, this time leaving Eddie to try and get up himself. They really donât wanna pull a muscle by trying to help him up again⊠they donât seem to notice that the action is actually kind of rude.
Eddie deflates a little when they don't extend a helping hand to him, but he understands why Maneki just wants to get out. He grabs the vent cover and uses the nearby table to give him the necessary boost to grab onto the opening in the ceiling. Then he realizes without two hands, that's not going to work. He places the vent cover between his legs, using both of his hands to hoist himself completely into the vent. Before leaving, Eddie makes sure to secure the cover. There will be no traces of them ever being there.
He sees the bars familiar red lighting and breathes a sigh of relief, quietly exiting the ventilation system and putting the vent cover back into its place as quickly as he can. He pushes the curtain away, stepping onto the floor.
"So," he begins. "did you see anything interesting on the lockers?"
Now that the two of them are back in the bar, Maneki seems to have almost completely regained their composure. They make a so-so motion with their fan â they didnât actually get any chance to look in the lockers, only glance at their outsides momentarily.
In Manekiâs mind, It was most likely that that was where they stored the bodies of contestants. Which they suppose could be of some interest to Eddie, so they open their fan, rather ominously writing down [bodies], proceeding to not elaborate whatsoever.
"Right..." He figures there'd be bodies there. Not all contestants made it past the preliminary round. "What about the clipboards?" He briefly saw them on some of the lockers, but he didn't get a chance to take a good look at what they said.
... He can always come back later, but he wishes he had at least tried to open the lockers. Guess it's... weird. Eddie could've known them. His hand closes into a fist, then opens again. He couldn't have done anything about their deaths, but he still feels... bad.
Maneki notes how Eddieâs fist clenches, taking a moment to consider what he said. They still only got a brief look at the clipboards â they didnât really feel like analysis autopsy reports, in all honesty. However, based on what he did see, it seems like some of the deceased contestants died rather violently. Namely Vega and Eliseâs opponents, they muse. Hm. Theyâll have to question Vega about that later. But what interested him most of all was a blanked out statement in Eliseâs opponents report, one that was rather hard to decipher what it originally wrote. It was too long to be a simple spelling mistake â it was clearly a whole sentence that they redacted.
They open their fan. [Autopsy reports.]
Flipping it to the other side, there is more writing. [Eliseâs partner -> redacted info.]
"Huh." That is interesting information. "Someone tampered with the records, then." What separates Elise from the other contestants? The only possibility is that... "He might have connections." Important ones that allow him to rig the game in his favor. That makes him dangerous.
Eddie puts his hands in his pockets, shifting his weight to one foot. If Elise has that kind of power then... he looks at the ground, eyebrows furrowed. Eddie's worried for the next game.
Maneki nods their head. Theyâre glad Eddie is so perceptive, it makes communicating with him a lot easier.
But before they can go to write anything else, theyâre quickly cut off by a certain @nonsensicalxjokester walking into the bar. Speak of the devil â itâs almost as if he knew they were talking about him. Maneki looks around, quickly realising that his and Eddieâs position is rather⊠suspicious, considering where they just walked out of.
Elise walked into the bar and sat down at one of the stools. They were tapping their foot and drumming their fingers on the counter. Elise seems particularly antsy and high-alert as of the moment, which left two courses of action;
Option 1: Wait for Elise to leave or attempt sneaking out.
Eddie roughly pulled @tongue-tiedenigma back into the alcove the moment he heard footsteps approaching. Which, was a reflex and completely unnecessary. Being in the morgue had put him on high alert.
He glances at Maneki. "Sorry," he whispers.
Well. He put them in a bad spot on accident. He looks at Maneki again, although purposefully avoiding eye contact (he feels bad for practically shoving Maneki into a corner with him). Eddie's expecting the other to take initiative. He doesn't know what to do.
Maneki walks out of the stage area, lifting the curtains to make sure they donât get stuck in his hair; completely calm and collected, as if getting practically interrogated in front of a live audience didnât affect him at all. They spot Eddie wandering around aimlessly backstage, Maneki giving him a curt nod and a wave of their fan, but Eddie doesnât seem to notice. Eddieâs earlier interview was quite interesting to watch â theyâre slowly but surely getting a hold on Eddieâs character.
While the man seems nice at first, and very insistent on being nothing like his âBrutal Bullâ title, Maneki has found that he has a fierce temper when it comes to the things he cares about. He seems awfully unprepared for a game like this, but it would be in their best interest to keep up a positive relationship with him â getting on the Brutal Bullâs bad side could prove to be dangerous, after all!
They approach, tapping the top of Eddieâs head with their fan. Eddieâs short enough that they donât even have to stand on their toes to reach him. They open their fan back up after theyâve gotten Eddieâs attention. [interviews?], it reads. It seems heâs asking how Eddie went with his. They were watching, of course, but it could be interesting to hear it from Eddieâs perspective.
â đȘ @tongue-tiedenigma
Eddie was about to head to the bar until something light taps his head and catches him completely off guard. "What-" He whips around, a brief look of fear that shifts into surprise upon realizing it's Maneki. "Where did-" Then he reads the fan. Interviews?
"Uh." He puts a pause on the sentence he was trying to form before, processing the question as he slowly calms down. Seems like Maneki's asking about how Eddie's interview went. His eyes drift to the side. It happened just a few minutes ago, but he already wants to move on. "Went fine," he says, the tinge of angerâor rather bitterness, obvious in his tone. Although to him, fine sums it up pretty well.
It stressed him the fuck out. It's obvious, the way his voice had shook as he responded to the questions (which, Eddie's sure was made to piss him off). The way his hands had clenched into themselves. The way his eyes had darted around, unable to keep contact with Cupid's.
The lights and cameras that pointed on him made him feel on edge the moment he stepped onto the stage, but the live audience. All those eyes on him, judging, mocking, pressuringâmade everything even worse. He rather it be silent, and the cameras hidden from view like in Roulette. But he couldn't freeze up. He had to speak, even when it felt like every word that rose from his throat felt like he was trying to navigate the best way to travel on thin ice, every little thing tipping the scales one way, then another.
Eddie shakes his head, bringing himself to the present. He shoves his hands into his pockets. "You?"
Interesting. Maneki nods in⊠sympathy? Itâs very hard to tell, actually. Differences in their expression is always so subtle that itâs practically impossible to tell what theyâre thinking. While Eddieâs body language tends to give his internal feelings away, Manekiâs is always precise; calculated. Like heâs planned a script of every possible interaction already in his head. He takes note of Eddieâs response. Earlier, he had claimed he didnât get stage fright, but Maneki can see through that. Or was it perhaps not about the stage itself, but the situation?
Maneki gives Eddie a light smile. [fine], their fan reads. The interview didnât seem to have bothered them at all â or not on the outside, at least.
It feels⊠strange to interact with Maneki one-on-one. Itâs easier in a group, especially with Sailor to explain what theyâre talking about. But just the two of themâŠ? Awkward silence fills the room, but Eddie supposes that âawkwardnessâ may just be projecting, because Maneki doesnât seem uncomfortable with it at all. I mean, itâs technically always silent when talking with Maneki, but itâs still eerie when thereâs no other noise surrounding them. Maneki notices how anxious Eddie seems, attempting to calm his nerves by petting him on the back with their fan, as if to say âgood jobâ.
Then silence creeps into the conversation again. He doesn't know what else to talk about, he's usually the one almost absent-mindedly nodding along to whatever the other person is saying. He shifts his weight from one foot to the other. This is really awkward. Doesn't really help that Eddie can't get a read on Maneki, their unmoving stare is more intimidating than comforting.
He doesn't really... have a direction now that interviews are over. So the best question to ask is: "What's your plan now?"
Maneki seems content on letting Eddie squirm under his gaze, taking a moment to think before responding. After a couple of seconds, they take out their fan, [investigate] written on it. It seems theyâre planning on scoping out the area some more.
He turns his fan around, scribbling down a [join?] on the opposite side. Their gaze is unmoving, almost threatening, even â but perhaps that is Eddie just projecting again. Maybe thatâs just what they look like, who knows.
He realizes their group didn't have that much time to investigate, as they were more concerned with finding and obtaining something to help Sandbag. That's something he should do soonâ"Oh." Eddie didn't expect to be invited. "Sure." He'll gladly join.
Eddie starts heading further backstage. "The shop and the bar... might something we could've missed there." Like... ventilation they can maybe squeeze into. There must be some way they're getting air down here. The idea of secret passages rise to his mind. How are they getting the employees into this area? It would be embarrassing to feel the walls, but he doesn't recall seeing any doors they can enter and exit through. Would be a bad idea anyway, letting a passageway like that be seen by a bunch of criminals. Anyway, something to look out for.
Maneki perks up at the mention of the bar. Ah yes, that reminds them â there was something they had their eye on in there. A particular air vent near the booth with the little red booth, with a peculiar smell emanating from it. Itâs very subtle, but noticeable enough that Maneki picked up it, and itâs far from your average dusty air vent smell. It smells much more akin to a hospital, if anything. Maneki starts waking forward to The Hanged Man bar pretty much immediately after itâs brought up, not sparing glance back to see if Eddie is behind him or not, expecting him to follow his lead.
This is like, the third time theyâve done this now. Heâs awfully one-track minded sometimes.
Eddie watches Maneki pick up the pace, overtaking his lead that lasted for about 2 seconds. He's more so confusedâwhat would be hidden in the bar? Guess he'll find out soon, but that's the last place he wanted to double check. Seems like their group really did miss something there. Makes sense. After all, the lighting is fairly dim.
They stop in front of the alcove. The red curtain is pulled and tied to the side. From what he can see, there's nothing here.
"Uh..." He turns to Maneki. "What's here exactly?" He asks.
Maneki wastes no time walking up to and motioning to the vent, tapping their fan against it gently. They unfold their fan after a moment, [smell] written on it in their classic red marker, trying to get Eddie to notice the smell emanating from the vent.
They turn their fan around, revealing the word [hospital?], trying to gauge if thatâs actually what theyâre smelling or not.
Eddie finally notices the vent. It's really not that hard to spot at all. He just had to tilt his head up a little bit more.
Well, that solves his question about air. But... he's confused. He gets closer, knees pressing against the couch, but he doesn't smell anything. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
They should check it out regardless. He could probably get that thing open. "I think it's big enough to squeeze through." Eddie looks around. There's nobody in the bar but them, but he still unties the curtain and pulls it forward. With the cloth now giving him the safety of being hidden, Eddie steps onto the couch and grabs his crowbar from his back pocket. The vent gives way rather quickly, as the screws are strangely already lose. Has someone already been in the vents? "You should go first."
Maneki smiles lightly when the vent cracks open, batting his fan up and down as if to say âthank youâ. They climb into the vent with ease, tall enough to reach it without much trouble. After theyâre in, they offer out his hand to Eddie to take so they can pull him in with him.
After Eddie grabs on, Maneki hoists him up, which seems to hurt their arm a little bit. They rub their lower with their other hand, wincing slightly. Eddieâs quite heavy and Maneki isnât exactly the strongest â more lanky than muscular, but they regain their composure quickly.
He briefly glances at the vent cover before grabbing Maneki's hand. There isn't exactly a way to put it back on without him having to stay behind, but they shouldn't take long in the first place. Their disappearance would cause suspicion. "Thanks." He smiles.
Eddie follows Maneki through the vents. They travel for... a good while before they abruptly come to a stop. He looks over Maneki's shoulder, seeing the opening to some room. "Think you can get it open?"
The smell only gets stronger as they approach, Maneki sniffing it out like some kind of cat. Itâs funny to look at, actually. They nod in response to Eddieâs question. It seems awfully loose, similarly to the other vent. Someoneâs definitely been in here before. The vent has very little resistance, cracking open almost instantly upon impact from the base of their fan.
Maneki steps out of the vent without much hesitation. Itâs a big drop to the floor, but Maneki makes it easily without any injury â as nimble as ever. Cats always land on their feet, after all!
Once in the room, Manekiâs eyes widen as he takes in his surroundings. The disgusting bloody smell has increased tenfold; theyâre clearly in some kind of morgue. Suddenly, everything clicks into place in Manekiâs mind. They immediately start exploring, not giving Eddie much time to adjust, moving to the lockers first. Or perhaps⊠theyâre something else? They are lined up in order of contestants, each one labelled with a different contestants title. Perhaps this will be their coffin one day, if theyâre not careful. A sense of uneasiness washes over him, but they donât let it show on their face.
The first thing he notices is the horrible stench that assaults his noseâhe wrinkles his nose in disgust, fighting the urge to pinch it. He looks around, looking for the source then he processes his surroundings. The table, the lockersâthis is a morgue. Of course, they're prepared.
His fingers dig into his palms to steel himself. Maneki seems preoccupied with the lockers, so he searches the desk in the far corner. Oh. "There's a paper here." His voice is lowered, just loud enough for Maneki to hear. "Round 1; Prelimary Status. All participants passed except 1B, 2A, 2B, 6B, 8A, 10A, and 10B."
Manekiâs eyebrows raise upon hearing Eddie mention contestant 1B, quickly turning around and approaching to get a look at the papers. He closes his fan, motioning at contestant 1Bâs autopsy report with it. They open it back up, revealing [my partner] written on it. It seems thatâs who they went up against during the first round. Although, they donât see all that upset about it.
They bat their fan, confirmation for Eddie to keep reading out the reports.
"Huh." Eddie searches the desk for anything else, but there's nothing of use to them.
He looks around the room again. His eye focuses on the cabinets next to the lockers this timeâthere might be something there. Eddie places the paper back where he found it before moving on.
He opens a few cabinets until he finds a bunch of papers. Eddie takes a few seconds to skim through the contents of each paper, but he doesn't understand most of these medical terms. "That's weird... these files on the contestants contain their medical information." His hand briefly hovers over his right eye before it returns back to his side. Why keep it in the morgue? "Participant 1A has damage to thyroid," Eddie briefly glances at Maneki. If their partner is 1B then...
He keeps reading. "one of them has chronic sciatica whatever that means..." He pauses, squinting at the papers. "Participant... sorry um. Participant 10A history of heart conditions..." He goes silent for a few seconds. Participant 4B... it lists his condition too. He rubs the back of his neck. "... That's all I can really get from it, it's a lot of medical jargon."
Manekiâs eyes widen when Eddie mentions the damaged thyroid, a bead of sweat dripping down their face, despite it actually being quite cold in the morgue. They look away, avoiding eye contact, their usual composure instantly disrupted. For anyone else it wouldnât have been all that noticeable, but because itâs Maneki â the ever-mysterious person that they are, it feels very jarring. He fiddles with his fan anxiously, letting Eddie finish reading off the list.
Eddie sets the papers down, sliding the cabinet closed. He takes a few seconds before turning to look at Maneki. Seeing the look on their face... his eyebrows furrow, but not in frustration. He's worried, and it shows clearly across his face.
He doesn't want to overstep a boundary by mentioning it further or make Maneki feel like they're trapped. "Do you want to get out of here?" He asks. "We can talk about what we found later." He didn't take a good look at the lockers, but he trusts Maneki to tell him what they found.
Maneki simply nods, seeming rather relieved to be able to get out of here. The smell is making them want to gagâŠ
He motions to the door with his fan, wondering if they can get out that way or if theyâll have to crawl through the vent again. After giving it a look and quickly deeming it locked, they shrug and begin climbing back up to the vent, this time leaving Eddie to try and get up himself. They really donât wanna pull a muscle by trying to help him up again⊠they donât seem to notice that the action is actually kind of rude.
Eddie deflates a little when they don't extend a helping hand to him, but he understands why Maneki just wants to get out. He grabs the vent cover and uses the nearby table to give him the necessary boost to grab onto the opening in the ceiling. Then he realizes without two hands, that's not going to work. He places the vent cover between his legs, using both of his hands to hoist himself completely into the vent. Before leaving, Eddie makes sure to secure the cover. There will be no traces of them ever being there.
He sees the bars familiar red lighting and breathes a sigh of relief, quietly exiting the ventilation system and putting the vent cover back into its place as quickly as he can. He pushes the curtain away, stepping onto the floor.
"So," he begins. "did you see anything interesting on the lockers?"
Now that the two of them are back in the bar, Maneki seems to have almost completely regained their composure. They make a so-so motion with their fan â they didnât actually get any chance to look in the lockers, only glance at their outsides momentarily.
In Manekiâs mind, It was most likely that that was where they stored the bodies of contestants. Which they suppose could be of some interest to Eddie, so they open their fan, rather ominously writing down [bodies], proceeding to not elaborate whatsoever.
"Right..." He figures there'd be bodies there. Not all contestants made it past the preliminary round. "What about the clipboards?" He briefly saw them on some of the lockers, but he didn't get a chance to take a good look at what they said.
... He can always come back later, but he wishes he had at least tried to open the lockers. Guess it's... weird. Eddie could've known them. His hand closes into a fist, then opens again. He couldn't have done anything about their deaths, but he still feels... bad.
Maneki notes how Eddieâs fist clenches, taking a moment to consider what he said. They still only got a brief look at the clipboards â they didnât really feel like analysis autopsy reports, in all honesty. However, based on what he did see, it seems like some of the deceased contestants died rather violently. Namely Vega and Eliseâs opponents, they muse. Hm. Theyâll have to question Vega about that later. But what interested him most of all was a blanked out statement in Eliseâs opponents report, one that was rather hard to decipher what it originally wrote. It was too long to be a simple spelling mistake â it was clearly a whole sentence that they redacted.
They open their fan. [Autopsy reports.]
Flipping it to the other side, there is more writing. [Eliseâs partner -> redacted info.]
"Huh." That is interesting information. "Someone tampered with the records, then." What separates Elise from the other contestants? The only possibility is that... "He might have connections." Important ones that allow him to rig the game in his favor. That makes him dangerous.
Eddie puts his hands in his pockets, shifting his weight to one foot. If Elise has that kind of power then... he looks at the ground, eyebrows furrowed. Eddie's worried for the next game.
Maneki walks out of the stage area, lifting the curtains to make sure they donât get stuck in his hair; completely calm and collected, as if getting practically interrogated in front of a live audience didnât affect him at all. They spot Eddie wandering around aimlessly backstage, Maneki giving him a curt nod and a wave of their fan, but Eddie doesnât seem to notice. Eddieâs earlier interview was quite interesting to watch â theyâre slowly but surely getting a hold on Eddieâs character.
While the man seems nice at first, and very insistent on being nothing like his âBrutal Bullâ title, Maneki has found that he has a fierce temper when it comes to the things he cares about. He seems awfully unprepared for a game like this, but it would be in their best interest to keep up a positive relationship with him â getting on the Brutal Bullâs bad side could prove to be dangerous, after all!
They approach, tapping the top of Eddieâs head with their fan. Eddieâs short enough that they donât even have to stand on their toes to reach him. They open their fan back up after theyâve gotten Eddieâs attention. [interviews?], it reads. It seems heâs asking how Eddie went with his. They were watching, of course, but it could be interesting to hear it from Eddieâs perspective.
â đȘ @tongue-tiedenigma
Eddie was about to head to the bar until something light taps his head and catches him completely off guard. "What-" He whips around, a brief look of fear that shifts into surprise upon realizing it's Maneki. "Where did-" Then he reads the fan. Interviews?
"Uh." He puts a pause on the sentence he was trying to form before, processing the question as he slowly calms down. Seems like Maneki's asking about how Eddie's interview went. His eyes drift to the side. It happened just a few minutes ago, but he already wants to move on. "Went fine," he says, the tinge of angerâor rather bitterness, obvious in his tone. Although to him, fine sums it up pretty well.
It stressed him the fuck out. It's obvious, the way his voice had shook as he responded to the questions (which, Eddie's sure was made to piss him off). The way his hands had clenched into themselves. The way his eyes had darted around, unable to keep contact with Cupid's.
The lights and cameras that pointed on him made him feel on edge the moment he stepped onto the stage, but the live audience. All those eyes on him, judging, mocking, pressuringâmade everything even worse. He rather it be silent, and the cameras hidden from view like in Roulette. But he couldn't freeze up. He had to speak, even when it felt like every word that rose from his throat felt like he was trying to navigate the best way to travel on thin ice, every little thing tipping the scales one way, then another.
Eddie shakes his head, bringing himself to the present. He shoves his hands into his pockets. "You?"
Interesting. Maneki nods in⊠sympathy? Itâs very hard to tell, actually. Differences in their expression is always so subtle that itâs practically impossible to tell what theyâre thinking. While Eddieâs body language tends to give his internal feelings away, Manekiâs is always precise; calculated. Like heâs planned a script of every possible interaction already in his head. He takes note of Eddieâs response. Earlier, he had claimed he didnât get stage fright, but Maneki can see through that. Or was it perhaps not about the stage itself, but the situation?
Maneki gives Eddie a light smile. [fine], their fan reads. The interview didnât seem to have bothered them at all â or not on the outside, at least.
It feels⊠strange to interact with Maneki one-on-one. Itâs easier in a group, especially with Sailor to explain what theyâre talking about. But just the two of themâŠ? Awkward silence fills the room, but Eddie supposes that âawkwardnessâ may just be projecting, because Maneki doesnât seem uncomfortable with it at all. I mean, itâs technically always silent when talking with Maneki, but itâs still eerie when thereâs no other noise surrounding them. Maneki notices how anxious Eddie seems, attempting to calm his nerves by petting him on the back with their fan, as if to say âgood jobâ.
Then silence creeps into the conversation again. He doesn't know what else to talk about, he's usually the one almost absent-mindedly nodding along to whatever the other person is saying. He shifts his weight from one foot to the other. This is really awkward. Doesn't really help that Eddie can't get a read on Maneki, their unmoving stare is more intimidating than comforting.
He doesn't really... have a direction now that interviews are over. So the best question to ask is: "What's your plan now?"
Maneki seems content on letting Eddie squirm under his gaze, taking a moment to think before responding. After a couple of seconds, they take out their fan, [investigate] written on it. It seems theyâre planning on scoping out the area some more.
He turns his fan around, scribbling down a [join?] on the opposite side. Their gaze is unmoving, almost threatening, even â but perhaps that is Eddie just projecting again. Maybe thatâs just what they look like, who knows.
He realizes their group didn't have that much time to investigate, as they were more concerned with finding and obtaining something to help Sandbag. That's something he should do soonâ"Oh." Eddie didn't expect to be invited. "Sure." He'll gladly join.
Eddie starts heading further backstage. "The shop and the bar... might something we could've missed there." Like... ventilation they can maybe squeeze into. There must be some way they're getting air down here. The idea of secret passages rise to his mind. How are they getting the employees into this area? It would be embarrassing to feel the walls, but he doesn't recall seeing any doors they can enter and exit through. Would be a bad idea anyway, letting a passageway like that be seen by a bunch of criminals. Anyway, something to look out for.
Maneki perks up at the mention of the bar. Ah yes, that reminds them â there was something they had their eye on in there. A particular air vent near the booth with the little red booth, with a peculiar smell emanating from it. Itâs very subtle, but noticeable enough that Maneki picked up it, and itâs far from your average dusty air vent smell. It smells much more akin to a hospital, if anything. Maneki starts waking forward to The Hanged Man bar pretty much immediately after itâs brought up, not sparing glance back to see if Eddie is behind him or not, expecting him to follow his lead.
This is like, the third time theyâve done this now. Heâs awfully one-track minded sometimes.
Eddie watches Maneki pick up the pace, overtaking his lead that lasted for about 2 seconds. He's more so confusedâwhat would be hidden in the bar? Guess he'll find out soon, but that's the last place he wanted to double check. Seems like their group really did miss something there. Makes sense. After all, the lighting is fairly dim.
They stop in front of the alcove. The red curtain is pulled and tied to the side. From what he can see, there's nothing here.
"Uh..." He turns to Maneki. "What's here exactly?" He asks.
Maneki wastes no time walking up to and motioning to the vent, tapping their fan against it gently. They unfold their fan after a moment, [smell] written on it in their classic red marker, trying to get Eddie to notice the smell emanating from the vent.
They turn their fan around, revealing the word [hospital?], trying to gauge if thatâs actually what theyâre smelling or not.
Eddie finally notices the vent. It's really not that hard to spot at all. He just had to tilt his head up a little bit more.
Well, that solves his question about air. But... he's confused. He gets closer, knees pressing against the couch, but he doesn't smell anything. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
They should check it out regardless. He could probably get that thing open. "I think it's big enough to squeeze through." Eddie looks around. There's nobody in the bar but them, but he still unties the curtain and pulls it forward. With the cloth now giving him the safety of being hidden, Eddie steps onto the couch and grabs his crowbar from his back pocket. The vent gives way rather quickly, as the screws are strangely already lose. Has someone already been in the vents? "You should go first."
Maneki smiles lightly when the vent cracks open, batting his fan up and down as if to say âthank youâ. They climb into the vent with ease, tall enough to reach it without much trouble. After theyâre in, they offer out his hand to Eddie to take so they can pull him in with him.
After Eddie grabs on, Maneki hoists him up, which seems to hurt their arm a little bit. They rub their lower with their other hand, wincing slightly. Eddieâs quite heavy and Maneki isnât exactly the strongest â more lanky than muscular, but they regain their composure quickly.
He briefly glances at the vent cover before grabbing Maneki's hand. There isn't exactly a way to put it back on without him having to stay behind, but they shouldn't take long in the first place. Their disappearance would cause suspicion. "Thanks." He smiles.
Eddie follows Maneki through the vents. They travel for... a good while before they abruptly come to a stop. He looks over Maneki's shoulder, seeing the opening to some room. "Think you can get it open?"
The smell only gets stronger as they approach, Maneki sniffing it out like some kind of cat. Itâs funny to look at, actually. They nod in response to Eddieâs question. It seems awfully loose, similarly to the other vent. Someoneâs definitely been in here before. The vent has very little resistance, cracking open almost instantly upon impact from the base of their fan.
Maneki steps out of the vent without much hesitation. Itâs a big drop to the floor, but Maneki makes it easily without any injury â as nimble as ever. Cats always land on their feet, after all!
Once in the room, Manekiâs eyes widen as he takes in his surroundings. The disgusting bloody smell has increased tenfold; theyâre clearly in some kind of morgue. Suddenly, everything clicks into place in Manekiâs mind. They immediately start exploring, not giving Eddie much time to adjust, moving to the lockers first. Or perhaps⊠theyâre something else? They are lined up in order of contestants, each one labelled with a different contestants title. Perhaps this will be their coffin one day, if theyâre not careful. A sense of uneasiness washes over him, but they donât let it show on their face.
The first thing he notices is the horrible stench that assaults his noseâhe wrinkles his nose in disgust, fighting the urge to pinch it. He looks around, looking for the source then he processes his surroundings. The table, the lockersâthis is a morgue. Of course, they're prepared.
His fingers dig into his palms to steel himself. Maneki seems preoccupied with the lockers, so he searches the desk in the far corner. Oh. "There's a paper here." His voice is lowered, just loud enough for Maneki to hear. "Round 1; Prelimary Status. All participants passed except 1B, 2A, 2B, 6B, 8A, 10A, and 10B."
Manekiâs eyebrows raise upon hearing Eddie mention contestant 1B, quickly turning around and approaching to get a look at the papers. He closes his fan, motioning at contestant 1Bâs autopsy report with it. They open it back up, revealing [my partner] written on it. It seems thatâs who they went up against during the first round. Although, they donât see all that upset about it.
They bat their fan, confirmation for Eddie to keep reading out the reports.
"Huh." Eddie searches the desk for anything else, but there's nothing of use to them.
He looks around the room again. His eye focuses on the cabinets next to the lockers this timeâthere might be something there. Eddie places the paper back where he found it before moving on.
He opens a few cabinets until he finds a bunch of papers. Eddie takes a few seconds to skim through the contents of each paper, but he doesn't understand most of these medical terms. "That's weird... these files on the contestants contain their medical information." His hand briefly hovers over his right eye before it returns back to his side. Why keep it in the morgue? "Participant 1A has damage to thyroid," Eddie briefly glances at Maneki. If their partner is 1B then...
He keeps reading. "one of them has chronic sciatica whatever that means..." He pauses, squinting at the papers. "Participant... sorry um. Participant 10A history of heart conditions..." He goes silent for a few seconds. Participant 4B... it lists his condition too. He rubs the back of his neck. "... That's all I can really get from it, it's a lot of medical jargon."
Manekiâs eyes widen when Eddie mentions the damaged thyroid, a bead of sweat dripping down their face, despite it actually being quite cold in the morgue. They look away, avoiding eye contact, their usual composure instantly disrupted. For anyone else it wouldnât have been all that noticeable, but because itâs Maneki â the ever-mysterious person that they are, it feels very jarring. He fiddles with his fan anxiously, letting Eddie finish reading off the list.
Eddie sets the papers down, sliding the cabinet closed. He takes a few seconds before turning to look at Maneki. Seeing the look on their face... his eyebrows furrow, but not in frustration. He's worried, and it shows clearly across his face.
He doesn't want to overstep a boundary by mentioning it further or make Maneki feel like they're trapped. "Do you want to get out of here?" He asks. "We can talk about what we found later." He didn't take a good look at the lockers, but he trusts Maneki to tell him what they found.
Maneki simply nods, seeming rather relieved to be able to get out of here. The smell is making them want to gagâŠ
He motions to the door with his fan, wondering if they can get out that way or if theyâll have to crawl through the vent again. After giving it a look and quickly deeming it locked, they shrug and begin climbing back up to the vent, this time leaving Eddie to try and get up himself. They really donât wanna pull a muscle by trying to help him up again⊠they donât seem to notice that the action is actually kind of rude.
Eddie deflates a little when they don't extend a helping hand to him, but he understands why Maneki just wants to get out. He grabs the vent cover and uses the nearby table to give him the necessary boost to grab onto the opening in the ceiling. Then he realizes without two hands, that's not going to work. He places the vent cover between his legs, using both of his hands to hoist himself completely into the vent. Before leaving, Eddie makes sure to secure the cover. There will be no traces of them ever being there.
He sees the bars familiar red lighting and breathes a sigh of relief, quietly exiting the ventilation system and putting the vent cover back into its place as quickly as he can. He pushes the curtain away, stepping onto the floor.
"So," he begins. "did you see anything interesting on the lockers?"
Now that the two of them are back in the bar, Maneki seems to have almost completely regained their composure. They make a so-so motion with their fan â they didnât actually get any chance to look in the lockers, only glance at their outsides momentarily.
In Manekiâs mind, It was most likely that that was where they stored the bodies of contestants. Which they suppose could be of some interest to Eddie, so they open their fan, rather ominously writing down [bodies], proceeding to not elaborate whatsoever.
"Right..." He figures there'd be bodies there. Not all contestants made it past the preliminary round. "What about the clipboards?" He briefly saw them on some of the lockers, but he didn't get a chance to take a good look at what they said.
... He can always come back later, but he wishes he had at least tried to open the lockers. Guess it's... weird. Eddie could've known them. His hand closes into a fist, then opens again. He couldn't have done anything about their deaths, but he still feels... bad.
Maneki walks out of the stage area, lifting the curtains to make sure they donât get stuck in his hair; completely calm and collected, as if getting practically interrogated in front of a live audience didnât affect him at all. They spot Eddie wandering around aimlessly backstage, Maneki giving him a curt nod and a wave of their fan, but Eddie doesnât seem to notice. Eddieâs earlier interview was quite interesting to watch â theyâre slowly but surely getting a hold on Eddieâs character.
While the man seems nice at first, and very insistent on being nothing like his âBrutal Bullâ title, Maneki has found that he has a fierce temper when it comes to the things he cares about. He seems awfully unprepared for a game like this, but it would be in their best interest to keep up a positive relationship with him â getting on the Brutal Bullâs bad side could prove to be dangerous, after all!
They approach, tapping the top of Eddieâs head with their fan. Eddieâs short enough that they donât even have to stand on their toes to reach him. They open their fan back up after theyâve gotten Eddieâs attention. [interviews?], it reads. It seems heâs asking how Eddie went with his. They were watching, of course, but it could be interesting to hear it from Eddieâs perspective.
â đȘ @tongue-tiedenigma
Eddie was about to head to the bar until something light taps his head and catches him completely off guard. "What-" He whips around, a brief look of fear that shifts into surprise upon realizing it's Maneki. "Where did-" Then he reads the fan. Interviews?
"Uh." He puts a pause on the sentence he was trying to form before, processing the question as he slowly calms down. Seems like Maneki's asking about how Eddie's interview went. His eyes drift to the side. It happened just a few minutes ago, but he already wants to move on. "Went fine," he says, the tinge of angerâor rather bitterness, obvious in his tone. Although to him, fine sums it up pretty well.
It stressed him the fuck out. It's obvious, the way his voice had shook as he responded to the questions (which, Eddie's sure was made to piss him off). The way his hands had clenched into themselves. The way his eyes had darted around, unable to keep contact with Cupid's.
The lights and cameras that pointed on him made him feel on edge the moment he stepped onto the stage, but the live audience. All those eyes on him, judging, mocking, pressuringâmade everything even worse. He rather it be silent, and the cameras hidden from view like in Roulette. But he couldn't freeze up. He had to speak, even when it felt like every word that rose from his throat felt like he was trying to navigate the best way to travel on thin ice, every little thing tipping the scales one way, then another.
Eddie shakes his head, bringing himself to the present. He shoves his hands into his pockets. "You?"
Interesting. Maneki nods in⊠sympathy? Itâs very hard to tell, actually. Differences in their expression is always so subtle that itâs practically impossible to tell what theyâre thinking. While Eddieâs body language tends to give his internal feelings away, Manekiâs is always precise; calculated. Like heâs planned a script of every possible interaction already in his head. He takes note of Eddieâs response. Earlier, he had claimed he didnât get stage fright, but Maneki can see through that. Or was it perhaps not about the stage itself, but the situation?
Maneki gives Eddie a light smile. [fine], their fan reads. The interview didnât seem to have bothered them at all â or not on the outside, at least.
It feels⊠strange to interact with Maneki one-on-one. Itâs easier in a group, especially with Sailor to explain what theyâre talking about. But just the two of themâŠ? Awkward silence fills the room, but Eddie supposes that âawkwardnessâ may just be projecting, because Maneki doesnât seem uncomfortable with it at all. I mean, itâs technically always silent when talking with Maneki, but itâs still eerie when thereâs no other noise surrounding them. Maneki notices how anxious Eddie seems, attempting to calm his nerves by petting him on the back with their fan, as if to say âgood jobâ.
Then silence creeps into the conversation again. He doesn't know what else to talk about, he's usually the one almost absent-mindedly nodding along to whatever the other person is saying. He shifts his weight from one foot to the other. This is really awkward. Doesn't really help that Eddie can't get a read on Maneki, their unmoving stare is more intimidating than comforting.
He doesn't really... have a direction now that interviews are over. So the best question to ask is: "What's your plan now?"
Maneki seems content on letting Eddie squirm under his gaze, taking a moment to think before responding. After a couple of seconds, they take out their fan, [investigate] written on it. It seems theyâre planning on scoping out the area some more.
He turns his fan around, scribbling down a [join?] on the opposite side. Their gaze is unmoving, almost threatening, even â but perhaps that is Eddie just projecting again. Maybe thatâs just what they look like, who knows.
He realizes their group didn't have that much time to investigate, as they were more concerned with finding and obtaining something to help Sandbag. That's something he should do soonâ"Oh." Eddie didn't expect to be invited. "Sure." He'll gladly join.
Eddie starts heading further backstage. "The shop and the bar... might something we could've missed there." Like... ventilation they can maybe squeeze into. There must be some way they're getting air down here. The idea of secret passages rise to his mind. How are they getting the employees into this area? It would be embarrassing to feel the walls, but he doesn't recall seeing any doors they can enter and exit through. Would be a bad idea anyway, letting a passageway like that be seen by a bunch of criminals. Anyway, something to look out for.
Maneki perks up at the mention of the bar. Ah yes, that reminds them â there was something they had their eye on in there. A particular air vent near the booth with the little red booth, with a peculiar smell emanating from it. Itâs very subtle, but noticeable enough that Maneki picked up it, and itâs far from your average dusty air vent smell. It smells much more akin to a hospital, if anything. Maneki starts waking forward to The Hanged Man bar pretty much immediately after itâs brought up, not sparing glance back to see if Eddie is behind him or not, expecting him to follow his lead.
This is like, the third time theyâve done this now. Heâs awfully one-track minded sometimes.
Eddie watches Maneki pick up the pace, overtaking his lead that lasted for about 2 seconds. He's more so confusedâwhat would be hidden in the bar? Guess he'll find out soon, but that's the last place he wanted to double check. Seems like their group really did miss something there. Makes sense. After all, the lighting is fairly dim.
They stop in front of the alcove. The red curtain is pulled and tied to the side. From what he can see, there's nothing here.
"Uh..." He turns to Maneki. "What's here exactly?" He asks.
Maneki wastes no time walking up to and motioning to the vent, tapping their fan against it gently. They unfold their fan after a moment, [smell] written on it in their classic red marker, trying to get Eddie to notice the smell emanating from the vent.
They turn their fan around, revealing the word [hospital?], trying to gauge if thatâs actually what theyâre smelling or not.
Eddie finally notices the vent. It's really not that hard to spot at all. He just had to tilt his head up a little bit more.
Well, that solves his question about air. But... he's confused. He gets closer, knees pressing against the couch, but he doesn't smell anything. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
They should check it out regardless. He could probably get that thing open. "I think it's big enough to squeeze through." Eddie looks around. There's nobody in the bar but them, but he still unties the curtain and pulls it forward. With the cloth now giving him the safety of being hidden, Eddie steps onto the couch and grabs his crowbar from his back pocket. The vent gives way rather quickly, as the screws are strangely already lose. Has someone already been in the vents? "You should go first."
Maneki smiles lightly when the vent cracks open, batting his fan up and down as if to say âthank youâ. They climb into the vent with ease, tall enough to reach it without much trouble. After theyâre in, they offer out his hand to Eddie to take so they can pull him in with him.
After Eddie grabs on, Maneki hoists him up, which seems to hurt their arm a little bit. They rub their lower with their other hand, wincing slightly. Eddieâs quite heavy and Maneki isnât exactly the strongest â more lanky than muscular, but they regain their composure quickly.
He briefly glances at the vent cover before grabbing Maneki's hand. There isn't exactly a way to put it back on without him having to stay behind, but they shouldn't take long in the first place. Their disappearance would cause suspicion. "Thanks." He smiles.
Eddie follows Maneki through the vents. They travel for... a good while before they abruptly come to a stop. He looks over Maneki's shoulder, seeing the opening to some room. "Think you can get it open?"
The smell only gets stronger as they approach, Maneki sniffing it out like some kind of cat. Itâs funny to look at, actually. They nod in response to Eddieâs question. It seems awfully loose, similarly to the other vent. Someoneâs definitely been in here before. The vent has very little resistance, cracking open almost instantly upon impact from the base of their fan.
Maneki steps out of the vent without much hesitation. Itâs a big drop to the floor, but Maneki makes it easily without any injury â as nimble as ever. Cats always land on their feet, after all!
Once in the room, Manekiâs eyes widen as he takes in his surroundings. The disgusting bloody smell has increased tenfold; theyâre clearly in some kind of morgue. Suddenly, everything clicks into place in Manekiâs mind. They immediately start exploring, not giving Eddie much time to adjust, moving to the lockers first. Or perhaps⊠theyâre something else? They are lined up in order of contestants, each one labelled with a different contestants title. Perhaps this will be their coffin one day, if theyâre not careful. A sense of uneasiness washes over him, but they donât let it show on their face.
The first thing he notices is the horrible stench that assaults his noseâhe wrinkles his nose in disgust, fighting the urge to pinch it. He looks around, looking for the source then he processes his surroundings. The table, the lockersâthis is a morgue. Of course, they're prepared.
His fingers dig into his palms to steel himself. Maneki seems preoccupied with the lockers, so he searches the desk in the far corner. Oh. "There's a paper here." His voice is lowered, just loud enough for Maneki to hear. "Round 1; Prelimary Status. All participants passed except 1B, 2A, 2B, 6B, 8A, 10A, and 10B."
Manekiâs eyebrows raise upon hearing Eddie mention contestant 1B, quickly turning around and approaching to get a look at the papers. He closes his fan, motioning at contestant 1Bâs autopsy report with it. They open it back up, revealing [my partner] written on it. It seems thatâs who they went up against during the first round. Although, they donât see all that upset about it.
They bat their fan, confirmation for Eddie to keep reading out the reports.
"Huh." Eddie searches the desk for anything else, but there's nothing of use to them.
He looks around the room again. His eye focuses on the cabinets next to the lockers this timeâthere might be something there. Eddie places the paper back where he found it before moving on.
He opens a few cabinets until he finds a bunch of papers. Eddie takes a few seconds to skim through the contents of each paper, but he doesn't understand most of these medical terms. "That's weird... these files on the contestants contain their medical information." His hand briefly hovers over his right eye before it returns back to his side. Why keep it in the morgue? "Participant 1A has damage to thyroid," Eddie briefly glances at Maneki. If their partner is 1B then...
He keeps reading. "one of them has chronic sciatica whatever that means..." He pauses, squinting at the papers. "Participant... sorry um. Participant 10A history of heart conditions..." He goes silent for a few seconds. Participant 4B... it lists his condition too. He rubs the back of his neck. "... That's all I can really get from it, it's a lot of medical jargon."
Manekiâs eyes widen when Eddie mentions the damaged thyroid, a bead of sweat dripping down their face, despite it actually being quite cold in the morgue. They look away, avoiding eye contact, their usual composure instantly disrupted. For anyone else it wouldnât have been all that noticeable, but because itâs Maneki â the ever-mysterious person that they are, it feels very jarring. He fiddles with his fan anxiously, letting Eddie finish reading off the list.
Eddie sets the papers down, sliding the cabinet closed. He takes a few seconds before turning to look at Maneki. Seeing the look on their face... his eyebrows furrow, but not in frustration. He's worried, and it shows clearly across his face.
He doesn't want to overstep a boundary by mentioning it further or make Maneki feel like they're trapped. "Do you want to get out of here?" He asks. "We can talk about what we found later." He didn't take a good look at the lockers, but he trusts Maneki to tell him what they found.
Maneki simply nods, seeming rather relieved to be able to get out of here. The smell is making them want to gagâŠ
He motions to the door with his fan, wondering if they can get out that way or if theyâll have to crawl through the vent again. After giving it a look and quickly deeming it locked, they shrug and begin climbing back up to the vent, this time leaving Eddie to try and get up himself. They really donât wanna pull a muscle by trying to help him up again⊠they donât seem to notice that the action is actually kind of rude.
Eddie deflates a little when they don't extend a helping hand to him, but he understands why Maneki just wants to get out. He grabs the vent cover and uses the nearby table to give him the necessary boost to grab onto the opening in the ceiling. Then he realizes without two hands, that's not going to work. He places the vent cover between his legs, using both of his hands to hoist himself completely into the vent. Before leaving, Eddie makes sure to secure the cover. There will be no traces of them ever being there.
He sees the bars familiar red lighting and breathes a sigh of relief, quietly exiting the ventilation system and putting the vent cover back into its place as quickly as he can. He pushes the curtain away, stepping onto the floor.
"So," he begins. "did you see anything interesting on the lockers?"
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Maneki walks out of the stage area, lifting the curtains to make sure they donât get stuck in his hair; completely calm and collected, as if getting practically interrogated in front of a live audience didnât affect him at all. They spot Eddie wandering around aimlessly backstage, Maneki giving him a curt nod and a wave of their fan, but Eddie doesnât seem to notice. Eddieâs earlier interview was quite interesting to watch â theyâre slowly but surely getting a hold on Eddieâs character.
While the man seems nice at first, and very insistent on being nothing like his âBrutal Bullâ title, Maneki has found that he has a fierce temper when it comes to the things he cares about. He seems awfully unprepared for a game like this, but it would be in their best interest to keep up a positive relationship with him â getting on the Brutal Bullâs bad side could prove to be dangerous, after all!
They approach, tapping the top of Eddieâs head with their fan. Eddieâs short enough that they donât even have to stand on their toes to reach him. They open their fan back up after theyâve gotten Eddieâs attention. [interviews?], it reads. It seems heâs asking how Eddie went with his. They were watching, of course, but it could be interesting to hear it from Eddieâs perspective.
â đȘ @tongue-tiedenigma
Eddie was about to head to the bar until something light taps his head and catches him completely off guard. "What-" He whips around, a brief look of fear that shifts into surprise upon realizing it's Maneki. "Where did-" Then he reads the fan. Interviews?
"Uh." He puts a pause on the sentence he was trying to form before, processing the question as he slowly calms down. Seems like Maneki's asking about how Eddie's interview went. His eyes drift to the side. It happened just a few minutes ago, but he already wants to move on. "Went fine," he says, the tinge of angerâor rather bitterness, obvious in his tone. Although to him, fine sums it up pretty well.
It stressed him the fuck out. It's obvious, the way his voice had shook as he responded to the questions (which, Eddie's sure was made to piss him off). The way his hands had clenched into themselves. The way his eyes had darted around, unable to keep contact with Cupid's.
The lights and cameras that pointed on him made him feel on edge the moment he stepped onto the stage, but the live audience. All those eyes on him, judging, mocking, pressuringâmade everything even worse. He rather it be silent, and the cameras hidden from view like in Roulette. But he couldn't freeze up. He had to speak, even when it felt like every word that rose from his throat felt like he was trying to navigate the best way to travel on thin ice, every little thing tipping the scales one way, then another.
Eddie shakes his head, bringing himself to the present. He shoves his hands into his pockets. "You?"
Interesting. Maneki nods in⊠sympathy? Itâs very hard to tell, actually. Differences in their expression is always so subtle that itâs practically impossible to tell what theyâre thinking. While Eddieâs body language tends to give his internal feelings away, Manekiâs is always precise; calculated. Like heâs planned a script of every possible interaction already in his head. He takes note of Eddieâs response. Earlier, he had claimed he didnât get stage fright, but Maneki can see through that. Or was it perhaps not about the stage itself, but the situation?
Maneki gives Eddie a light smile. [fine], their fan reads. The interview didnât seem to have bothered them at all â or not on the outside, at least.
It feels⊠strange to interact with Maneki one-on-one. Itâs easier in a group, especially with Sailor to explain what theyâre talking about. But just the two of themâŠ? Awkward silence fills the room, but Eddie supposes that âawkwardnessâ may just be projecting, because Maneki doesnât seem uncomfortable with it at all. I mean, itâs technically always silent when talking with Maneki, but itâs still eerie when thereâs no other noise surrounding them. Maneki notices how anxious Eddie seems, attempting to calm his nerves by petting him on the back with their fan, as if to say âgood jobâ.
Then silence creeps into the conversation again. He doesn't know what else to talk about, he's usually the one almost absent-mindedly nodding along to whatever the other person is saying. He shifts his weight from one foot to the other. This is really awkward. Doesn't really help that Eddie can't get a read on Maneki, their unmoving stare is more intimidating than comforting.
He doesn't really... have a direction now that interviews are over. So the best question to ask is: "What's your plan now?"
Maneki seems content on letting Eddie squirm under his gaze, taking a moment to think before responding. After a couple of seconds, they take out their fan, [investigate] written on it. It seems theyâre planning on scoping out the area some more.
He turns his fan around, scribbling down a [join?] on the opposite side. Their gaze is unmoving, almost threatening, even â but perhaps that is Eddie just projecting again. Maybe thatâs just what they look like, who knows.
He realizes their group didn't have that much time to investigate, as they were more concerned with finding and obtaining something to help Sandbag. That's something he should do soonâ"Oh." Eddie didn't expect to be invited. "Sure." He'll gladly join.
Eddie starts heading further backstage. "The shop and the bar... might something we could've missed there." Like... ventilation they can maybe squeeze into. There must be some way they're getting air down here. The idea of secret passages rise to his mind. How are they getting the employees into this area? It would be embarrassing to feel the walls, but he doesn't recall seeing any doors they can enter and exit through. Would be a bad idea anyway, letting a passageway like that be seen by a bunch of criminals. Anyway, something to look out for.
Maneki perks up at the mention of the bar. Ah yes, that reminds them â there was something they had their eye on in there. A particular air vent near the booth with the little red booth, with a peculiar smell emanating from it. Itâs very subtle, but noticeable enough that Maneki picked up it, and itâs far from your average dusty air vent smell. It smells much more akin to a hospital, if anything. Maneki starts waking forward to The Hanged Man bar pretty much immediately after itâs brought up, not sparing glance back to see if Eddie is behind him or not, expecting him to follow his lead.
This is like, the third time theyâve done this now. Heâs awfully one-track minded sometimes.
Eddie watches Maneki pick up the pace, overtaking his lead that lasted for about 2 seconds. He's more so confusedâwhat would be hidden in the bar? Guess he'll find out soon, but that's the last place he wanted to double check. Seems like their group really did miss something there. Makes sense. After all, the lighting is fairly dim.
They stop in front of the alcove. The red curtain is pulled and tied to the side. From what he can see, there's nothing here.
"Uh..." He turns to Maneki. "What's here exactly?" He asks.
Maneki wastes no time walking up to and motioning to the vent, tapping their fan against it gently. They unfold their fan after a moment, [smell] written on it in their classic red marker, trying to get Eddie to notice the smell emanating from the vent.
They turn their fan around, revealing the word [hospital?], trying to gauge if thatâs actually what theyâre smelling or not.
Eddie finally notices the vent. It's really not that hard to spot at all. He just had to tilt his head up a little bit more.
Well, that solves his question about air. But... he's confused. He gets closer, knees pressing against the couch, but he doesn't smell anything. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
They should check it out regardless. He could probably get that thing open. "I think it's big enough to squeeze through." Eddie looks around. There's nobody in the bar but them, but he still unties the curtain and pulls it forward. With the cloth now giving him the safety of being hidden, Eddie steps onto the couch and grabs his crowbar from his back pocket. The vent gives way rather quickly, as the screws are strangely already lose. Has someone already been in the vents? "You should go first."
Maneki smiles lightly when the vent cracks open, batting his fan up and down as if to say âthank youâ. They climb into the vent with ease, tall enough to reach it without much trouble. After theyâre in, they offer out his hand to Eddie to take so they can pull him in with him.
After Eddie grabs on, Maneki hoists him up, which seems to hurt their arm a little bit. They rub their lower with their other hand, wincing slightly. Eddieâs quite heavy and Maneki isnât exactly the strongest â more lanky than muscular, but they regain their composure quickly.
He briefly glances at the vent cover before grabbing Maneki's hand. There isn't exactly a way to put it back on without him having to stay behind, but they shouldn't take long in the first place. Their disappearance would cause suspicion. "Thanks." He smiles.
Eddie follows Maneki through the vents. They travel for... a good while before they abruptly come to a stop. He looks over Maneki's shoulder, seeing the opening to some room. "Think you can get it open?"
The smell only gets stronger as they approach, Maneki sniffing it out like some kind of cat. Itâs funny to look at, actually. They nod in response to Eddieâs question. It seems awfully loose, similarly to the other vent. Someoneâs definitely been in here before. The vent has very little resistance, cracking open almost instantly upon impact from the base of their fan.
Maneki steps out of the vent without much hesitation. Itâs a big drop to the floor, but Maneki makes it easily without any injury â as nimble as ever. Cats always land on their feet, after all!
Once in the room, Manekiâs eyes widen as he takes in his surroundings. The disgusting bloody smell has increased tenfold; theyâre clearly in some kind of morgue. Suddenly, everything clicks into place in Manekiâs mind. They immediately start exploring, not giving Eddie much time to adjust, moving to the lockers first. Or perhaps⊠theyâre something else? They are lined up in order of contestants, each one labelled with a different contestants title. Perhaps this will be their coffin one day, if theyâre not careful. A sense of uneasiness washes over him, but they donât let it show on their face.
The first thing he notices is the horrible stench that assaults his noseâhe wrinkles his nose in disgust, fighting the urge to pinch it. He looks around, looking for the source then he processes his surroundings. The table, the lockersâthis is a morgue. Of course, they're prepared.
His fingers dig into his palms to steel himself. Maneki seems preoccupied with the lockers, so he searches the desk in the far corner. Oh. "There's a paper here." His voice is lowered, just loud enough for Maneki to hear. "Round 1; Prelimary Status. All participants passed except 1B, 2A, 2B, 6B, 8A, 10A, and 10B."
Manekiâs eyebrows raise upon hearing Eddie mention contestant 1B, quickly turning around and approaching to get a look at the papers. He closes his fan, motioning at contestant 1Bâs autopsy report with it. They open it back up, revealing [my partner] written on it. It seems thatâs who they went up against during the first round. Although, they donât see all that upset about it.
They bat their fan, confirmation for Eddie to keep reading out the reports.
"Huh." Eddie searches the desk for anything else, but there's nothing of use to them.
He looks around the room again. His eye focuses on the cabinets next to the lockers this timeâthere might be something there. Eddie places the paper back where he found it before moving on.
He opens a few cabinets until he finds a bunch of papers. Eddie takes a few seconds to skim through the contents of each paper, but he doesn't understand most of these medical terms. "That's weird... these files on the contestants contain their medical information." His hand briefly hovers over his right eye before it returns back to his side. Why keep it in the morgue? "Participant 1A has damage to thyroid," Eddie briefly glances at Maneki. If their partner is 1B then...
He keeps reading. "one of them has chronic sciatica whatever that means..." He pauses, squinting at the papers. "Participant... sorry um. Participant 10A history of heart conditions..." He goes silent for a few seconds. Participant 4B... it lists his condition too. He rubs the back of his neck. "... That's all I can really get from it, it's a lot of medical jargon."
Manekiâs eyes widen when Eddie mentions the damaged thyroid, a bead of sweat dripping down their face, despite it actually being quite cold in the morgue. They look away, avoiding eye contact, their usual composure instantly disrupted. For anyone else it wouldnât have been all that noticeable, but because itâs Maneki â the ever-mysterious person that they are, it feels very jarring. He fiddles with his fan anxiously, letting Eddie finish reading off the list.
Eddie sets the papers down, sliding the cabinet closed. He takes a few seconds before turning to look at Maneki. Seeing the look on their face... his eyebrows furrow, but not in frustration. He's worried, and it shows clearly across his face.
He doesn't want to overstep a boundary by mentioning it further or make Maneki feel like they're trapped. "Do you want to get out of here?" He asks. "We can talk about what we found later." He didn't take a good look at the lockers, but he trusts Maneki to tell him what they found.
Maneki walks out of the stage area, lifting the curtains to make sure they donât get stuck in his hair; completely calm and collected, as if getting practically interrogated in front of a live audience didnât affect him at all. They spot Eddie wandering around aimlessly backstage, Maneki giving him a curt nod and a wave of their fan, but Eddie doesnât seem to notice. Eddieâs earlier interview was quite interesting to watch â theyâre slowly but surely getting a hold on Eddieâs character.
While the man seems nice at first, and very insistent on being nothing like his âBrutal Bullâ title, Maneki has found that he has a fierce temper when it comes to the things he cares about. He seems awfully unprepared for a game like this, but it would be in their best interest to keep up a positive relationship with him â getting on the Brutal Bullâs bad side could prove to be dangerous, after all!
They approach, tapping the top of Eddieâs head with their fan. Eddieâs short enough that they donât even have to stand on their toes to reach him. They open their fan back up after theyâve gotten Eddieâs attention. [interviews?], it reads. It seems heâs asking how Eddie went with his. They were watching, of course, but it could be interesting to hear it from Eddieâs perspective.
â đȘ @tongue-tiedenigma
Eddie was about to head to the bar until something light taps his head and catches him completely off guard. "What-" He whips around, a brief look of fear that shifts into surprise upon realizing it's Maneki. "Where did-" Then he reads the fan. Interviews?
"Uh." He puts a pause on the sentence he was trying to form before, processing the question as he slowly calms down. Seems like Maneki's asking about how Eddie's interview went. His eyes drift to the side. It happened just a few minutes ago, but he already wants to move on. "Went fine," he says, the tinge of angerâor rather bitterness, obvious in his tone. Although to him, fine sums it up pretty well.
It stressed him the fuck out. It's obvious, the way his voice had shook as he responded to the questions (which, Eddie's sure was made to piss him off). The way his hands had clenched into themselves. The way his eyes had darted around, unable to keep contact with Cupid's.
The lights and cameras that pointed on him made him feel on edge the moment he stepped onto the stage, but the live audience. All those eyes on him, judging, mocking, pressuringâmade everything even worse. He rather it be silent, and the cameras hidden from view like in Roulette. But he couldn't freeze up. He had to speak, even when it felt like every word that rose from his throat felt like he was trying to navigate the best way to travel on thin ice, every little thing tipping the scales one way, then another.
Eddie shakes his head, bringing himself to the present. He shoves his hands into his pockets. "You?"
Interesting. Maneki nods in⊠sympathy? Itâs very hard to tell, actually. Differences in their expression is always so subtle that itâs practically impossible to tell what theyâre thinking. While Eddieâs body language tends to give his internal feelings away, Manekiâs is always precise; calculated. Like heâs planned a script of every possible interaction already in his head. He takes note of Eddieâs response. Earlier, he had claimed he didnât get stage fright, but Maneki can see through that. Or was it perhaps not about the stage itself, but the situation?
Maneki gives Eddie a light smile. [fine], their fan reads. The interview didnât seem to have bothered them at all â or not on the outside, at least.
It feels⊠strange to interact with Maneki one-on-one. Itâs easier in a group, especially with Sailor to explain what theyâre talking about. But just the two of themâŠ? Awkward silence fills the room, but Eddie supposes that âawkwardnessâ may just be projecting, because Maneki doesnât seem uncomfortable with it at all. I mean, itâs technically always silent when talking with Maneki, but itâs still eerie when thereâs no other noise surrounding them. Maneki notices how anxious Eddie seems, attempting to calm his nerves by petting him on the back with their fan, as if to say âgood jobâ.
Then silence creeps into the conversation again. He doesn't know what else to talk about, he's usually the one almost absent-mindedly nodding along to whatever the other person is saying. He shifts his weight from one foot to the other. This is really awkward. Doesn't really help that Eddie can't get a read on Maneki, their unmoving stare is more intimidating than comforting.
He doesn't really... have a direction now that interviews are over. So the best question to ask is: "What's your plan now?"
Maneki seems content on letting Eddie squirm under his gaze, taking a moment to think before responding. After a couple of seconds, they take out their fan, [investigate] written on it. It seems theyâre planning on scoping out the area some more.
He turns his fan around, scribbling down a [join?] on the opposite side. Their gaze is unmoving, almost threatening, even â but perhaps that is Eddie just projecting again. Maybe thatâs just what they look like, who knows.
He realizes their group didn't have that much time to investigate, as they were more concerned with finding and obtaining something to help Sandbag. That's something he should do soonâ"Oh." Eddie didn't expect to be invited. "Sure." He'll gladly join.
Eddie starts heading further backstage. "The shop and the bar... might something we could've missed there." Like... ventilation they can maybe squeeze into. There must be some way they're getting air down here. The idea of secret passages rise to his mind. How are they getting the employees into this area? It would be embarrassing to feel the walls, but he doesn't recall seeing any doors they can enter and exit through. Would be a bad idea anyway, letting a passageway like that be seen by a bunch of criminals. Anyway, something to look out for.
Maneki perks up at the mention of the bar. Ah yes, that reminds them â there was something they had their eye on in there. A particular air vent near the booth with the little red booth, with a peculiar smell emanating from it. Itâs very subtle, but noticeable enough that Maneki picked up it, and itâs far from your average dusty air vent smell. It smells much more akin to a hospital, if anything. Maneki starts waking forward to The Hanged Man bar pretty much immediately after itâs brought up, not sparing glance back to see if Eddie is behind him or not, expecting him to follow his lead.
This is like, the third time theyâve done this now. Heâs awfully one-track minded sometimes.
Eddie watches Maneki pick up the pace, overtaking his lead that lasted for about 2 seconds. He's more so confusedâwhat would be hidden in the bar? Guess he'll find out soon, but that's the last place he wanted to double check. Seems like their group really did miss something there. Makes sense. After all, the lighting is fairly dim.
They stop in front of the alcove. The red curtain is pulled and tied to the side. From what he can see, there's nothing here.
"Uh..." He turns to Maneki. "What's here exactly?" He asks.
Maneki wastes no time walking up to and motioning to the vent, tapping their fan against it gently. They unfold their fan after a moment, [smell] written on it in their classic red marker, trying to get Eddie to notice the smell emanating from the vent.
They turn their fan around, revealing the word [hospital?], trying to gauge if thatâs actually what theyâre smelling or not.
Eddie finally notices the vent. It's really not that hard to spot at all. He just had to tilt his head up a little bit more.
Well, that solves his question about air. But... he's confused. He gets closer, knees pressing against the couch, but he doesn't smell anything. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
They should check it out regardless. He could probably get that thing open. "I think it's big enough to squeeze through." Eddie looks around. There's nobody in the bar but them, but he still unties the curtain and pulls it forward. With the cloth now giving him the safety of being hidden, Eddie steps onto the couch and grabs his crowbar from his back pocket. The vent gives way rather quickly, as the screws are strangely already lose. Has someone already been in the vents? "You should go first."
Maneki smiles lightly when the vent cracks open, batting his fan up and down as if to say âthank youâ. They climb into the vent with ease, tall enough to reach it without much trouble. After theyâre in, they offer out his hand to Eddie to take so they can pull him in with him.
After Eddie grabs on, Maneki hoists him up, which seems to hurt their arm a little bit. They rub their lower with their other hand, wincing slightly. Eddieâs quite heavy and Maneki isnât exactly the strongest â more lanky than muscular, but they regain their composure quickly.
He briefly glances at the vent cover before grabbing Maneki's hand. There isn't exactly a way to put it back on without him having to stay behind, but they shouldn't take long in the first place. Their disappearance would cause suspicion. "Thanks." He smiles.
Eddie follows Maneki through the vents. They travel for... a good while before they abruptly come to a stop. He looks over Maneki's shoulder, seeing the opening to some room. "Think you can get it open?"
The smell only gets stronger as they approach, Maneki sniffing it out like some kind of cat. Itâs funny to look at, actually. They nod in response to Eddieâs question. It seems awfully loose, similarly to the other vent. Someoneâs definitely been in here before. The vent has very little resistance, cracking open almost instantly upon impact from the base of their fan.
Maneki steps out of the vent without much hesitation. Itâs a big drop to the floor, but Maneki makes it easily without any injury â as nimble as ever. Cats always land on their feet, after all!
Once in the room, Manekiâs eyes widen as he takes in his surroundings. The disgusting bloody smell has increased tenfold; theyâre clearly in some kind of morgue. Suddenly, everything clicks into place in Manekiâs mind. They immediately start exploring, not giving Eddie much time to adjust, moving to the lockers first. Or perhaps⊠theyâre something else? They are lined up in order of contestants, each one labelled with a different contestants title. Perhaps this will be their coffin one day, if theyâre not careful. A sense of uneasiness washes over him, but they donât let it show on their face.
The first thing he notices is the horrible stench that assaults his noseâhe wrinkles his nose in disgust, fighting the urge to pinch it. He looks around, looking for the source then he processes his surroundings. The table, the lockersâthis is a morgue. Of course, they're prepared.
His fingers dig into his palms to steel himself. Maneki seems preoccupied with the lockers, so he searches the desk in the far corner. Oh. "There's a paper here." His voice is lowered, just loud enough for Maneki to hear. "Round 1; Prelimary Status. All participants passed except 1B, 2A, 2B, 6B, 8A, 10A, and 10B."
Manekiâs eyebrows raise upon hearing Eddie mention contestant 1B, quickly turning around and approaching to get a look at the papers. He closes his fan, motioning at contestant 1Bâs autopsy report with it. They open it back up, revealing [my partner] written on it. It seems thatâs who they went up against during the first round. Although, they donât see all that upset about it.
They bat their fan, confirmation for Eddie to keep reading out the reports.
"Huh." Eddie searches the desk for anything else, but there's nothing of use to them.
He looks around the room again. His eye focuses on the cabinets next to the lockers this timeâthere might be something there. Eddie places the paper back where he found it before moving on.
He opens a few cabinets until he finds a bunch of papers. Eddie takes a few seconds to skim through the contents of each paper, but he doesn't understand most of these medical terms. "That's weird... these files on the contestants contain their medical information." His hand briefly hovers over his right eye before it returns back to his side. Why keep it in the morgue? "Participant 1A has damage to thyroid," Eddie briefly glances at Maneki. If their partner is 1B then...
He keeps reading. "one of them has chronic sciatica whatever that means..." He pauses, squinting at the papers. "Participant... sorry um. Participant 10A history of heart conditions..." He goes silent for a few seconds. Participant 4B... it lists his condition too. He rubs the back of his neck. "... That's all I can really get from it, it's a lot of medical jargon."