"Perhaps you could say I am...[less than Zero]."

Here for a long time, not a good time.

Is sometimes allowed a little happiness, however. As a treat.

Managed to convince her brother to buy stock in some company nobody cared about. Cradle Pharmaceuticals? What dat?

But it was a good idea, so it’s okay.

Co-founded an organization with her brother to help her save the world! … But also to help her save herself nine years in the past.

Does that make sense? The entire situation she was in was the result of a cyclical temporal paradox, so it probably shouldn’t.

Kidnapped eight randos-but-not-really and her childhood crush friend, ingeniously manipulated one of them into killing three of the others, and traumatized the last five to varying degrees.

But the three that died and the one who killed them were terrible people and also directly responsible for this whole gambit being necessary in the first place, and also the gambit worked, so it’s okay.

Ended up in another life-or-death game about a year later. This one actually wasn’t her fault, but she ran into her childhood crush friend whose trauma she’s partly responsible for, so that was awkward.

There are a few things Light notices. First and most prominent is the blaring rumble of what he assumes is a chainsaw. Its growl fills the room, and Light hears the monster falter. For that, he is grateful. Perhaps this is just the distraction he needs in order to get out of this situation.

Second, but not less important, is the sound of the voice that calls out to him. He recognizes it in an instant, even though it has been well over a year since they’d last met. 

How can he forget her voice, after all that happened?

His feelings towards Akane, as they are with Light, are mixed, complicated, and not something he can sum up in such a short amount of time. After all, he sympathizes greatly with their plight. Had he been in a similar situation, he would have done the same to help Clover. But they did expose himself and his sister to great danger, and that is something unforgiveable.

But, that is in the past, and currently the present demands his entire attention.

“Schrödinger’s ally, is it? Well, whether you decide to be friend or foe is up to you. But for now, I will consider you an ally and do as you suggest.”

He can hear the painted monster in front of him, distracted now by the newcomer in the room, so takes the opportunity to run, looping around the sounds of the monster and towards the sound of Akane.

“Good answer,” she announces, nodding though she knows Light can’t see the gesture. “I could use another helping hand. This way!”

And so she leads the way, chainsaw in hand, stopping every now and again in an effort to figure out the path of least resistance. She thinks quickly and acts smart, figuratively and even semi-literally staying on her toes. Every so often, she seems like she’s about to go one way, but then the most vaguely suspicious bump in the night or even a simple sneaking suspicion makes her think better of it and she goes a different way instead. She doesn’t have the aid of the morphogenetic field to help her figure it out, but it’s because of that that now more than ever, it’s better to play it safe when she should and take risks only when she can.

Finally though, she manages to find and lead them both to an area that, at least for the time being, appears to be empty. Safe. She takes in a deep breath, and then lets out a deep sigh.

“If you have a plan that might get us out of here, I’m all ears,” Akane says quietly. “I’m a little out of sorts right now, so... trying to keep us out of danger is about the best I can manage until I can get my bearings a little better.”

It’s a massive comfort to know he’s not alone in ‘patch-up only’ purgatory. Truth be told, he only held up his Wooloo for something to talk about; were it not for his need to fill the silence, he probably would’ve just stayed quiet and hidden it from the light of day forever. Her kind words bring warmth to his cheeks, however, and Hop bashfully ducks his head. “Hehe, y’think so…? I don’t got any research to do here, so maybe I could take up sewin’ as a hobby…” That’s a big maybe, though; and he certainly wouldn’t be practicing in front of others!

He’s not sure why she hesitates, until he sees what she’s making. Hop blinks a few times in surprise. This looks like a prime example of ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’; he didn’t think this nice young lady would sew… a voodoo doll? … Whatever it is, he wasn’t expecting it. Oddly enough, while it does look a bit unsettling, Hop doesn’t find himself too bothered by it.

Hop smiles kindly, eyes lingering on the doll before rising to meet the other’s eyes. “Don’t be ashamed, miss. Might not be sheep-levels o’ cute, but s’got it’s own charm.” He shakes his head. “‘M not sayin’ that to be nice, either - I mean it! Even if ya used the Optimize Tool, I can tell ya put alotta love in there. That’s what really matters, I think.”

“Plus, s’not as scary as y’might think it looks! Well… not to me, anyways. It kinda reminds me of somethin’, actually.” He leans in a bit, thoughtful. Hey, now that I’ve got a closer look at it… “Oh!” He sits up straight again, the lightbulb clearly going off. “I know what it reminds me of! A Banette!” He’s proud he made the connection; the doll seems much less spooky now.

It takes a moment for Hop to remember that most people in Spirale don’t know what a Pokemon is - how does he keep forgetting that, really - and he tries to hide the embarrassment of his slip by turning to work on his plush once more. “A Banette’s somethin’ from my home world,” he explains, “s’got the same sorta… zipper mouth, as yer doll.”

Hop sticks out his tongue for a moment, concentrating on his stitching. Maybe he should practice more, if only to learn to talk while sewing. He lets out a quiet grunt, before looking at his company once more. “… I almost forgot; my name’s Hop! What’s yer name?” He beams. “An’ the name of yer doll, too!”

Akane laughs abashedly. “Well, thank you. That’s very kind of you to say so. Though like I said, it wasn’t supposed to look so frightening. This isn’t the kind of thing that usually comes to mind, honestly!”

It’s only half true. She’s thought of many things much more unsettling than a voodoo doll of her fiancé...  Things that can even be considered heartless and gruesome by many.

... But when it comes to creating arts and crafts, she’s much less likely to come up with something macabre.

“There’s actually a story behind why it looks like this, but it’s a little personal, so you’ll have to forgive me for keeping it to myself.” Having explained that, she continues to listen to her conversational partner speak. He mentions something from his home world called a “Banette”. The way he talks about it makes it seem like this Banette thing is some kind of living creature. And it has a zipper for a mouth? “Sounds like something straight out of a horror movie,” she says with a small smile, perhaps a little blunt but not meant to be rude or otherwise malicious. “Though I guess you could say the same for this little guy here.”

When it seems that the boy has decided to work on his own project again, Akane makes to continue as well, probably thinking harder than she needs to about the details she has yet to finish. Yes, she still has to make a jacket for-

“My name...?” she echoes, the question not having fully processed quite yet. “... Oh. Oh! That’s right! I guess I forgot to introduce myself earlier. I’m sorry.” She smiles and sticks her tongue out a bit, feeling a bit silly for forgetting to do something so basic sooner. “My name’s Akane. It’s nice to meet you, Hop. And this... is Junepei.”

That’s a terrible idea! 

He could have cried that, attempt to get this woman to halt her attempts to create with such a dangerous weapon. He had seen all too clearly before what became of men and women who used weapons they knew not how to use. Bullet holes in arms and legs, if they were lucky. The aftermath of bodies in explosions, people grabbing onto weaponry of soldiers mowing them down in an attempt to save their life, only to end multiple.

Innocent people were always the ones who made their way into war hospitals, and he knew both the bodily and mental harm that could do to someone.

He was one of them, once, after all. 

Even if it was not an attempt to save his life - an accident, he had to say to himself, even though there was not a chance in the world that it was his fault they got stuck in that crash. An accident, he had to say, to rationalize to himself that it was okay he was the only one who survived - he still suffered an attack on the innocent.

This woman did not seem to be one who would harm others with the chainsaw - she was creating art, after all - but he knew the dangers that could come of this regardless. The way he stood off to the side, anxiously watching her hack away at the marble should attest to that enough.

But still, Yotsutsuji needed to say something. Something, that could help this woman not bring harm to herself or to others in creating her masterpiece, whatever that turned out to be.

“I-I wouldn’t say that’s the smartest idea, still-! You could injure yourself that way - maybe a chisel would be better?”

“No!” Determined, she puts more pressure on the block of marble. The tool growls more harshly. “It has to be a chainsaw!” she insists. “It just has to be! That’s the only way this whole thing makes sense...!”

She breathes in, deeply and harshly and puts her all into slicing the marble. But for moment, for just an instant, it’s not marble that she’s cutting, but flesh, arteries and veins. There’s a gruesome gurgling that rumbles in her ears, and before she knows it, Carlos’ head thuds to the floo-

She shrieks. Her eyes wide and shifting frantically. Was that another memory from the morphogenetic field...? No... No, she doesn’t think so. It can’t be. It can’t be... She would have known of it when she received that download in back at Dcom... Her mind is playing tricks on her then... An intermingling of a trauma she oftentimes almost feels she can’t reasonably justify having and a perversion of her alternate self’s intentions at the time, most likely.

... Oh, the chainsaw’s still running.

Maybe this really is too dangerous to be worth the effort... Her mind isn’t as calm and clear as it was at the very start. She should... turn it off then. And she does. Once the hungry growl dies down into silence and the teeth of the metal beast stop gnawing, she pulls it out from the large hunk of stone, then slowly lets it drop from one hand. And then the other. It falls to the floor with a loud, heavy thunk!...

Nothing was created here today. The only result of Akane’s efforts is a deep gash wounding the marble, powder bleeding onto the floor from the otherwise immaculate block. Akane’s gaze rests on that gash, the sight before her reminding her once again of past alternate-history events both real and imagined. Her arms are wrapped around herself in a comforting embrace. For a good minute or two, she simply stares, barely able to recognize the marble as what it really is. Quiet sobs getting caught in her throat and legs trembling, she wrestles with herself. But once those short minutes have passed, she says. “D-Don’t... Don’t worry about me.” with a voice that only slightly wavers. Taking a moment to wipe her face with her sleeves, she continues, finally turning to face the witness to the disaster that just occurred with a determination not present either in her voice or in her smile only seconds ago, “Everything’s okay. I grew used to this a long time ago.”

Aoi was slowly but surely getting used to life here. The library was large and gave him something to do, even if it was just reading whatever crap he could get his hands on that day. He was reading one now, standing at the kitchen counter and scarfing down a sandwich he made in just a pair of sweatpants.  He was just turning the page and taking another bite when something happened that hadn’t since he’d been here- someone talked to him through the field. Not just anyone, either. Akane talked to him.  “Akane? I’m here, I’ll meet you there, give me five minutes.” His desperation creeped through into his message, even though he tried to hide it. Could he even get to the Boardwalk in five minutes? Who knew. But he was going to sprint there like there was Satan himself on his heels.  …With a shirt on. He rushed to his room to throw on the first shirt he saw and then bolted out the door, sprinting to the nearest bus station. He was almost tempted to run straight there, but he knew it would ultimately be faster to take transportation. Even if it didn’t feel faster as he was sitting and hugging his arms as tingles ran up and down them.  Akane was here. His little sister was here, and she sounded safe. He knew what Akane in distress sounded like, usually even when she tried to hide it.  He’s there as soon as he can manage, out of breath and looking around. “Akane?!” he called out. 

... She got a response.

She actually got a response. Aoi’s here. Her big brother is here...

He sounds just as anxious as she thought he’d be, and she’s anxious too. There’s sadness in her heart regarding his misfortune, but an even greater sense of relief that she’s not alone here. The loss of Crash Keys’ various assets and capabilities is a great loss, but at least they still have some level of use of the morphogenetic field... and also one another. Just like when they were kids.

She almost misses her stop while thinking about it.

Paying for her ride, then quickly wishing the driver a pleasant day, she almost trips over her own feet after getting out of the taxi she had taken. She looks frantically from side to side, scanning the area as quickly, yet as thoroughly as she could. It doesn’t take long for her to hear a loud call of her name, from a voice she’s very familiar with. It’s when she turns around to face the direction of the sound that she sees him. “Aoi!!” she calls back, tears pricking at the corners of her eyes. She quickly makes her way over to him, slowing to a stop once only a short distance remains. Her hands are folded in front of her lap and she looks torn between hugging him tight right then and there and waiting for him to really be aware of her presence first before doing it.

Ever since Akane was whisked away to this mysterious place known as Radiale, she’s been doing everything in her power to try to figure things out. Or... at least she’d like to be able to say that, but being in her fiancé’s arms one second and finding herself abruptly and instantaneously torn from them the very next was... a shock, to say the very least. Her life has been difficult, one struggle after another. And finally, finally, when it seemed that she was going to catch a break and actually be allowed an existence where she could live domestically and peacefully with her childhood crush and first love—even if there was still a dangerous religious fanatic standing between her and that happy life she’s longed for—it was stripped from her all over again, like fine sand slipping through her fingers and blowing away in the wind... She can’t help but think about it every so often. Even now, she takes a moment to dwell on it again, subconsciously fidgeting with the engagement ring decorating her left hand as she does.

Akane Kurashiki is resilient. She always has been and even now, that hasn’t changed, but she can’t help but feel frustrated nonetheless. She’s spent much of her time up to this point trying to figure out how to deal with her emotions and stress. She’s not in any immediate danger, and ironically, that only makes it more difficult to deal with the situation than usual. Danger would at least present something to focus on, a distraction... or even, ideally, an opportunity to SHIFT. Wouldn’t that be wonderful? A chance to resume her life that had finally started to calm down and damn a different version of herself to this fate instead. She smiles wryly at the thought. As unfortunate as such a thing would be for her other self, it wouldn’t be her own problem, not any longer.

... But there is no danger to be found. And even if there was... Akane’s noticed that something feels... different. Off, even. Like her access to the morphogenetic field has been severely restricted. SHIFTing is almost certainly off the table with how tenuous her connection feels, and she’s not even entirely sure she’d even be able to use it to communicate. Maybe that’s why she hasn’t tried to see if she could manage to connect with Junpei here, or even Aoi-

Aoi!!!

How could she forget?! How could she not even think of her own brother in a time such as this one?!? Aoi has always been there for her, through thick and thin, trusting as absolutely as one could the unnatural certainty with which she spoke of insane ideas and nonsensical concepts, doing his damnedest to care for her and raise her as a child despite still being a child in his own right at the time after the unfortunate passing of their parents. Yet up to that point, she’d only been concerned about Junpei and about herself.

‘How selfish...’

Guilt consumes her, but so does a newfound determination. Maybe this was the kick in the pants she’s been needing. Sitting up from her bed and giving herself two small simultaneous slaps on each cheek, she heads to the condominium’s bathroom to give her face a quick wash. She wants to present herself as well as she can, after all. Afterwards, she pulls off her scrunchie, grabs a comb, gives the teeth a quick rinse beneath the faucet, and runs it through her hair, just to freshen up a little better and to release any knots that may have found their way in while she was laying down. As she does so, she closes her eyes and focuses, wanting to give herself as much of a chance at success as she can. It’s a crapshoot to begin with, but—assuming that fate, or at least luck, is on her side—hopefully the dice land on all ones again. Figuratively, this time, though. And presumably without the risk of failure resulting in her being “turned into Swiss cheese” as a different version of her fiancé once so eloquently put it...

“Aoi? Can you hear me? It’s me! It’s Akane! If... If you’re somehow here too, I’m getting ready to head to the Boardwalk in the Golden Ward from where I’m living in the Archimedes Ward. Please, meet me there.”

[txt]: oh HELL yeah [txt]: i want banana bread

Wait a minute.

[txt]: WHO TOPLESS???!!

[txt]: banana bread cupcakes

[txt]: danny devito topless

[txt]: danny devito topless compilation

[txt]: best danny devito moments

[txt]: is danny devito married

[txt]: is danny devito divorced

[Note from future Rio: I started working on the answer to this ask around 11:30 PM on meme day. So even though it is definitely no longer meme day by the time I post this, I did start while it still was lmao]

OH, THAT’S SUCH A GOOD QUESTION!!!!! And I do have an answer for you!!!! Several, in fact! For both questions!!

Favorite escape room: The trash disposal room (found in the D-Team fragment entitled “Fire”) in Zero Time Dilemma. There’s a lot of fun banter between Sigma, Phi, and Diana (such as Phi once again insisting that she has a large chest when Sigma asks if she can fit through a chute connecting the incinerator (which Phi is trapped in) to the rest of the room, followed immediately by Sigma telling Diana to take her clothes off in an effort to prove once and for all that Phi is full of shit. Naturally, Diana refuses), and other silliness that ensues. The way the escape begins instills a sense of urgency beyond that of the typical, “Guys, we only have 90 minutes before we’ll be knocked out again.” weighing on the team, and despite the relative silliness of the things like aforementioned argument involving the size of Phi’s chest and even Diana checking Sigma out when he ends up bound to a chair that shows up towards the very end, there’s also this... sense of impending doom you get from the room itself, which is bathed in a deep, red glow, the music which is harsh and makes heavy use of an ominous sort of melody that is accentuated by metallic clanging noises, and the very fact that while Phi doesn’t seem to be in any immediate danger, the fact remains that she is most assuredly locked in an incinerator. Anyway, none of the puzzles are mind-numbingly hard. Though one or two took a fair bit of time to work through, most were the right level of satisfying to figure out and not too hard to begin with.

I have a lot of feelings about the trash disposal room and about Fire as a whole, and I initially typed up a lot more about the aftermath that follows completing the escape room, but I don’t wanna give everything away (for the benefit of everyone else reading this, I’ve been playing ZTD with the nerd that shot me this ask and we haven’t done this room yet)! ;)

But rest assured that the trash disposal room in ZTD is easily my favorite in the entire series.

Least favorite escape room: I would say that my least favorite escape room is probably......... the healing room, also from ZTD. It’s from another D-Team fragment called “Suppression”. I won’t say that I didn’t get through a decent chunk of VLR without a guide because I absolutely did use a guide for a decent chunk of VLR, but the healing room had one of the only puzzles I ultimately required a guide for in ZTD. Believe me, I tried for a good while to do it legit, but wow, that flower puzzle was extremely frustrating, and I didn’t even feel remotely satisfied when I completed it. Only relieved. I also ended up getting stuck because I couldn’t figure out where to find some items I still needed to collect. The room is also very bland and even kinda felt uncomfortably claustrophobic (despite being able to change the scenery in the room, which also ends up being required to solve a number of puzzles within it). Don’t ask me why, but despite also being small, crammed, and extremely white, the Q room in VLR managed to not feel completely claustrophobic. The aftermath of it was also much more satisfying than that of the healing room. Suppression ends up being one of those extremely unfortunate fragments where the team that does it is completely boned no matter how things go in the Decision Game. Really, the only thing that I liked about the healing room was the Decision Game that takes place in it. It’s extremely funny. Otherwise, not really a fan of it.

Other notable escape rooms:

Infirmary [ZTD (Fragment entitled “Poison”)]: Most of my favorite escape rooms involve a lot of silly banter and the characters goofing off, and there’s a good bit of it in this room. Seeing Akane and Junpei making snarky remarks at one another like an old bickering married couple and also Akane playfully threatening generally mild violence at Junpei while Carlos watches on exasperatedly is also pretty damn funny. It also doesn’t hurt that the Decision Game that takes place after this room is one of only I think two (the other being the rec room in the fragment called “Anthropic Principle”) in the entirety of ZTD in which getting a favorable result isn’t up to sheer luck in some fashion, avoiding pissing off the wrong person, or simply not being a dumbass. The solution is obvious if you take the time to think about the information given to you (and I very much like the fact that you have to think about it a bit).

Infirmary [VLR]: Listen, it’s just really funny when Tenmyouji jokes that AED stands for Adult Erotic Doctor. Can you really blame me for wanting to give this one a mention?

Pantry [VLR]: I just think it’s absolutely hilarious that Sigma and Alice constantly make fun of Clover for slipping up and thinking that the room was labeled the “Panty”. It’s pretty great, and also one of the relatively few times that Sigma and Alice actually get along really well. Also, the waaaaarm drawer exists in it and I think that’s just beautiful.

Q room [VLR]: It’s the room that ultimately leads to the answering of just about every question that (almost) everyone trapped on Rhizome 9 has wanted the answer to. The immediate aftermath both piques your curiosity and tugs at your heartstrings. The fact that every puzzle in the room (aside from the very last one) is a somewhat easier version of puzzles you’ve done earlier in the game is also interesting.

2nd Class Cabin [999]: It contains within it the mythical (and much memed) funyarinpa, and I think that’s all that really has to be said on the matter. Well, there’s also some really cute moments where you can clearly see that Akane and Junpei have the hots for each other.