#ds ch2

The last motive period had been absolutely terrible for Emilia (well, the first two and a half days, at least), so she went to the wheel room with an emotion similar to what she felt last time; relieved yet simultaneously nervous. By now though, she knew exactly what she was expecting, which gave her just a little comfort in such a stressful situation. At least two people would get hurt, she'd probably find a way into the infirmary early to cheer them up, and then things would start to return to normal until the next game

It didn't start out on a good note though. She didn't blame Archie at all for choosing to skip; he had proven himself to be a decent guy so far, and she couldn't imagine losing something so important. Still, the alternate punishment got a fairly large cringe out of her. It wasn't messy or gruesome by any means, but she knew how it felt to lose blood, and it was a feeling she couldn't imagine ever experiencing again

Seeing Benoit go up next only made her eyes go wide, especially after the punishment in question. She liked him too, and was slowly starting to realize that wow she really shouldn't have called his sister hot what was she thinking-

That thought was cut off immediately when it was Honey's turn to go up. The traveler held her cane tightly, to the point where her now ungloved hands were turning as white as paper. She had to use the card, please. She wouldn't have judged Honey, she wouldn't have thought of her as selfish like Honey feared, she just wanted the girl to be safe. Was that too much to ask for?

Apparently, cause Honey spun anyway. It was at that point that her foot tapped nervously, a rather uncharacteristic move that still managed to understate the nerves coursing through her body. Alright, it was hair. That wasn't...bad. No, she wasn't hurt, that was a good thing!...She was still upset though. Emilia started to remember their talk about the pastry chef's hair, and how much she cherished it. There might have been one part about getting it cut she wasn't quite remembering, but either way, she knew for certain this shouldn't have been the way it happened. All she could do was look at the ground as it happened though, simply imagining if she could try and take the punishment, much like Teddi tried to

She was so lost in this fantasy, in fact, that the only thing that snapped her back to reality was the sound of Romeo's voice. She stared at him blankly for a second as she watched him approach Beniot, and decided to do the same thing with Honey. She mustered up a small grin and went to put an arm around the crying girl

"....I take it this is a bad time to say that short hair looks really good on you?"

She sighed and dropped the smile not a moment after. Yes, yes it was a bad time.

"...I have...some hats back in the room. You can use any of them you want; I think I'll be fine with just this bad boy. Did you wanna go there? Maybe be carried back too?" she mumbled, tilting her usual brown bowler hat with her cane. 

Well, Romeo won’t lie that the thought of returning to that room…. Hmmm….. It isn’t a good one. It feels cold, even if it may not actually be. Cold in a familiar way. And he’s always really liked warm summer days the best.

Regardless of the feeling in his throat and his stomach and his empty eye socket though, he is, outwardly, calm. He would say he is inwardly calm as well. Watching, waiting, taking things in. It is unlikely he will get called again so soon. So he simply stands, one hand in his pocket, casually, carefully posed with a neutral expression, that thoughtful little smile on his face.

When Teddie speaks up, he exhales slowly- good, let him do it, let him spin- but of course it isn’t that easy, and he should really be less relieved about it being Arlechenno, his dear friend, being called, but he isn’t. In a part of himself, and it’s not an insignificant part, all that counts is that it isn’t himself that has to go up there again.

He would stay still and silent, and get this over with a passive participant, no more. Just as he had before. But consciously, now.

That’s what he thought.

But then something happens.

Benoit Lowell, his Benoit Lowell- that tiny figure going up there, and Romeo twitches, eye widening, heart quickening as he realizes that the thumping pain in his eye means to keep him away, remind him not to do as he wants, step up and gently pull him back and expect that to go through, because of course it would. He’s Romeo Gallo.

But he’s afraid.

And then Benoit looks to him so helplessly, with those big eyes, and automatically he takes a step forward, raises his hand slightly, and his voice sounds a little thin and less sure when he speaks.

“Now, wait a minute- Benoit…”

What, what next? His eye darts to Kazuya, to Sorrel.

The wheel spins, and Romeo watches, and puts his hand down.

What follows is an equally harrowing and enlightening experience.

One that he cannot really describe, but that makes him freeze to the core in his spot, and forget to breathe or look at anything but Benoit standing there, crying silently. He can’t breathe, or focus on anything but that, until he hears the whirring of androids, and the world begins to come back.

Honey- Honey is….. His eye follows the hair falling, and he can’t really understand, but he also does. For different reasons, perhaps. He understands tears, and he understands what’s next, though. Honey is a friend. A good one.

But Benoit is- Benoit-

As soon as the end of the game is annouced, Romeo can move again, and he does so immediately, not even slowing down next to Emilia when he turns a little to hiss “Take care of Honey.”

Because he wants to, but he can’t. No, he has to go to Benoit, and put his hands on his shoulders softly, and bend down a little to catch his eye, just to make sure he’s responsive.

He doesn’t say anything. What is there to say?

Mariko watched the display in front of her, growing less and less amused and more frustrated. Okay, he lost some blood, that guy got a secret revealed, she had to cut her hair? After all the bullshit they've went through in the past few days? That's what all of this led to? How unfair. She wanted entertainment. She wanted something better than this, and like hell will she let it slip through her fingers.

She scoffed seeing Benoit and Honey rendered to tears by something so mundane. Seeing that Arlech-something kid crying because he decided to be a little selfish? Kinda fun, but still lacked the emotional punch she needed.

If this is the way that this story ends, she's going to be sorely disappointed.

When the game concluded, when it seemed like a good bookend, someone needed to shake up the end of this tale.

"God, that had to be the most sorry display I've seen in ages." Looks like she didn't read the book. Making herself loud enough to be heard by anyone willing to stick around, she continued to speak.

"I'm so tired. Of a lot of things, really, but especially of this stupid routine. So, I'm gonna make a generous offer to anyone willing to listen. Obviously, you're all a bunch of cowards that would rather throw each other under the bus than accept what's coming to them." A quick glance to Archie while saying that, one to Romeo too while she's on that subject. "So, I'll make things easier for you."

"If anyone wants to kill to escape, knock on my door. I'll work something out with you. If you wanna come kill me? I might even help. I love a little excitement sometimes."

It's not like she had much to return to outside. Trapped here, trapped outside, what's the difference? She just wants to live a little.

"Maybe someone will take my offer. Who knows. If you're sick of this and want an easy way out, just come bother me whenever."

Just like that, it’s over. The results may strike many of you as anticlimactic, but seeing the reactions of those who had to spin makes it clear that while this round wasn’t nearly as bloody or graphic as the last, it still caused its share of pain and discomfort. Archie is still standing, but looks like he could well collapse at any moment, and the guilt he feels for having Passed is easily read in his expression. Benoit’s tears speak for themselves, and Honey… hair may grow back, but fear and trauma leave invisible scars that don’t fade so easily.

“Th-that’s… all for now. I’m… I’m sorry, ah… y-you can all go now. The Third Ring should open up tomorrow morning.” Kazuya is finding it difficult, impossible even, to look at any of the victims, especially Benoit, though they’re at least somewhat steadier than they have been in past games. And they’re right - the metal plate on the wall that covers the exit has slid open, and you’re all free to return to the Second Ring of the Dome.

And that’s it. Horrible as it is for something so personal to be revealed so callously, perhaps it seems better than witnessing another mutilation. But wait, there’s still one more person… and Kazuya looks just as horrified as many of you may feel when they say the next name.

“H-Honey McCormick… you’re th-the… the next person. Because of the Pass, I… I’m sorry, please…”

The moment her name leaves Kazuya’s lips, Honey blanches. She can’t help but feel that she should have been expecting this, at least half the class has gone by now after all. Still, even when faced with the possibility of death, she can’t help but feel somewhat relieved. If she was spinning, at least that meant her friends were safe.

“Don’t worry everyone, it’s okay… I’ll be fine.” A small smile tugs at the corners of her lips, but it doesn’t quite reach her eyes. With shaky hands, she smoothes out the front of her dress and begins making her way toward the wheel.

More and more anxious thoughts fill her head as she approaches, but one in particular sticks out.

No one’s had a major injury during this round.

With this in mind, she makes a promise to herself: No matter what I get, I won’t pass. I’m not going to make anyone else do this.

Finally standing before the wheel, Honey places a hand on it and spins.

The Wheel spins and spins, it always seems to go so fast, no matter how light the touch. Or maybe that’s the beating of your heart. Even without the monitors on the rings, it’s easy to tell that most people’s hearts are racing. The last time someone had to spin third because of a Pass, it was Hidehisa, and that may still be fresh in your memories… it’s a difficult thing to forget, after all.

But once again as the Wheel slows it clicks past the White wedge, thankfully, and lands instead on Cyan. When the light glows, it illuminates a curling shape topped by a bow. Is that… a ponytail? Hair?

When the icon lights up, Honey knows exactly what it means. Unconsciously reaching a hand up, she buries her fingers in one of her pigtails. Considering some of the other punishments, this one wasn’t bad at all. She should be grateful.

Instead, all she feels is a sense of dread.

No matter how she feels about it though, Honey made a promise to herself, and she intends to keep it. Turning to Kazuya, she nods her head, “Yes, this is fine… let’s do it.”

Perhaps this is one of the better possible outcomes, but that doesn’t make it pleasant. While there’s no blood or physical pain, it’s hard to see Honey’s impressively long and glorious locks and not feel a pang of dismay for her. That must have taken years to grow, and it’s so well cared for there can be no question that it matters to her.

But she had accepted, of course, and so the androids roll forward. Over by where Archie is still leaning on a podium, Sorrel has turned away, very deliberately facing the opposite direction, and he has his hands pressed over his face. It’s a level of reactiveness that hasn’t been seen from him since he left the room during Romeo’s punishment.

[CW: Forced Haircut]

It happens very quickly - two androids take hold of Honey’s arms on either side, and a third rolls around to come to a stop in front of her. It reaches out to seize one of her beautiful pigtails in one metal hand, then raises the other, blades sliding out of its fingers to form a crude pair of scissors.

Snip!

One long, glossy bundle of hair comes away and flutters to a loose heap on the floor. The movement is repeated on the other side of her head.

Snip!

And there goes the rest of it. What remains is too short to stay in the hair ties, and the newly short, uneven strands brush around Honey’s cheeks and neck. The androids release her and roll away again, towards the back of the room where the metal plate covers the wall, their job here complete.

[CW: Emetophobia Mention]

Honey’s eyes are glued to the floor. All of her hair just… left in huge piles at her feet. It makes her want to vomit. Both of her hands reach up, and part of her expects to still find her long locks hanging down from her head. Instead, all that’s left is a raggedy bob.

Suddenly, her fists clench in her hair and pull. It almost seems like she’s trying to rip the rest out. This doesn’t last long though. Soon realizing that she’s too weak to do any damage, Honey lets her arms fall limp by her side.

There it is, just like that. The preamble seems to be getting shorter, which makes sense. There’s less to say now that you’re all familiar with how this works.

The towering magician had been standing at the back of the crowd, having just tugged his left glove back on after pulling it off to remove the ring. He was still looking down at the inert piece of jewelry between his fingers when he heard Kazuya say his name. His head snapped up immediately, his lips pressed together in a thin, worried line. Had he heard her correctly? With a name like his, there was very little doubt, as much as he wished there was.

“Cazzo…” Archie swears under his breath. With the number of people here, it really was only a matter of time before he was called up.

He steps forward, around the rest of the group, and approaches the wheel, trying to imbue some sense of confidence in what he was doing. Maybe then the others would ignore the shaking in his hands as he grabs ahold of the wheel to spin.

Just as every other time before it, the wheel spins easily and quickly, lights flashing, pegs clicking. It’s still hard to get a sense for where it’s going to stop, until it does… on Magenta. And when the wedge lights up, it shows a crescent with a little oval shape extending out - despite the vague description, it’s actually not that hard to see it and recognize it as being a symbol of a mouth and tongue.

Archie watches in trepidation, eyes following the swirl of colors as they spin around and around. They finally settle on magenta and he stiffens before the symbol even lights up. What would he have to lose? A leg, like Lily? Or an arm, like Teddi had passed on? He swallows nervously, already preparing himself to accept--

But then it lights up. The moment he registers what it is, he claps both of his hands over his mouth in horror. His tongue?! Arlechenno blanches and he looks over his shoulder at the rest of the group standing there. Could he--? He didn’t want--

Tears beading at the corners of his eyes, he finally pulls his hands away enough to give his answer.

“I--... I cannot… I am so, so terribly sorry…” He replies, half to Kazuya, half to the assembled.

Kazuya nods, they look sad but not upset, they don’t feel like it’s their place to judge these decisions. And besides, a tongue is a pretty serious thing to lose. And so Archie goes again, and again the wheel spins and spins…

[CW: Syringes, Needles, Blood, Medical Content, Scars]

This time it lands on Cyan. The wedge lights up, and shows… a syringe. The sight is somewhat alarming without more context, which thankfully Kazuya is here to provide.

“It, um… it just means they’re going to take some blood. 2 pints. Th-that sounds like a lot, but it won’t kill you. It’s…” They want to say he got lucky here, because he really did, but again that’s not really their place to say. What might be easy for most people could still be hard or frightening for a specific person. Lots of people have phobias of needles, after all. Fear doesn’t have to be rational.

Two pints of blood? He frowns, nervously running his fingers through his ponytail. He opens his mouth to ask something, but the question dies in his throat. It didn’t really matter.

“I accept. J-Just take it…” Arlechenno mumbles, ashamed and defeated. He squeezes his eyes shut, not wanting to see anyone else’s expressions.

As usual the androids surround Archie to hold him in place, and one of them holds his left arm out taut. Another pushes the sleeve of his coat and shirt up, rolling it up as close to his shoulder as possible. Old burn scars encircle his forearm in a few places, but don’t obscure the crook of his elbow, where the android proceeds to insert a needle that extends from one of its fingers.

Arlechenno doesn’t fight back as the machines grab him, just letting them do whatever it is that they’re going to do. When they push up his sleeve far enough to reveal the three thick bands of scarring, he makes a noise of alarm and his eyes widen in fear. He glances between his arm and the other students before biting the inside of his lip and forcing himself to stay silent while the android drains him of his lifeblood.

The whole thing is awkward and looks very uncomfortable, but likely isn’t much more painful than a standard blood drawing, and is over almost as quickly. No blood splatters onto the floor, it seems like it was all collected in the android’s arm somehow. As soon as Archie is released, Sorrel steps forward, drawing a few things from the pockets of his doctor’s coat to treat him with. This, too, is a relatively quick and anticlimactic process. A few swipes with an antiseptic wipe, a little cotton swab pressed into place and a bandaid pasted on, and Archie is able to roll his sleeves down again and lean against a podium for stability. Sorrel produces a snack bar and a small bottle of water from somewhere in his coat.

The fifth day of the motive comes, crawling on into the afternoon, and despite some heavy tensions… hopes are rising. It seems like everyone has made it through. None of you have felt any sharp, alarming stabs. Many of you were even able to find your matched partner - albeit some in rather less than ideal or pleasant circumstances. The prospect of another Suffering Game isn’t exactly encouraging, but maybe the fact that despite everything none of you has resorted to murder is.

Although as the short video summons you once again to the hall between Rooms F and G in the second ring, there’s still a lot of trepidation. Kazuya is there to greet you, and lead you through to the Wheel Room. They don’t seem to feel the need for any extended greetings or explanations - this is the fourth time you’ve all been here, and a routine is starting to form.

“You can all take your rings off, now. The motive is over, and they’ve been disabled.” Should you look down at your ring, you’ll find that the little screens on them have indeed gone dark. They feel a little looser as well, and slide off relatively easily with some tugging. The relief this may grant is short-lived, however. But as Kazuya shifts uncomfortably and opens their mouth to speak again, someone else interrupts.

"Wait."

It was Teddi Tatsumi who stepped forward. His face set in a forced neutral expression. Shoulders square as he moved forward out of the crowd.

"I'll spin the wheel. I volunteer, none of them need to get hurt. I'll even spin it both times. We have to do it twice right? I'll take both punishments." It might be noble. The way he's offering himself like a lamb to the slaughter. If it weren’t so stupid. Still through force of will Teddi kept his voice calm and level throughout his request.

For a moment Kazuya just looks taken aback - and then their expression falls again.

“I-I’m sorry, it doesn’t… work like that. Unless you have one of the special cards, you can’t have any say in who’s chosen. They’ll just ignore you or restrain you or something.”

"Fuck…"

Teddi slinks back into the crowd. If he wants to help mitigate the damage to his classmates he'd have to get lucky. Teddi was so tired.

Kazuya looks pretty tired as well, and sad at having to disappoint yet another person. But they have a job to do, and a terrible price to pay if they don’t do it.

He's forced out of the comfort of hiding in a shower stall to instead join everyone. Is it normal to show up to a suffering game dripping slightly from the waist up? No. Dose he show up like this? Yes, yes he dose. People can't ask if you were crying if they can't tell you were crying right? It's a silent affair, moving to the wheel room, trepidation and dread building. 

He can't help but think of intruding on a quiet moment in the theatre, and a stone drops in his stomach. He elects to still watch, because it is an important reminder, he's not sure if it's suppose to motivate him or make him feel worse though. The sound is uncomfortable, the ordeal in it's entirety is even more so though. Glancing towards Kazuya doesn't help any either. Still it passes, as it always does. Always?

The edge of discomfort is still there when Yuri steps up, ever so calm and collected as always. He's ready to leave before the wheel even stops spinning, anxious energy waiting to be released into something more productive, a hatred of standing still. Leg. It's leg. He waits, expect her to pass, of course she would pass wouldn't she? Nobody would blame for for it.

Only she doesn't pass.

Maybe it's luck he seldom has that causes him not to freeze up, that lets him pivot so quickly and keep his back to what's happening. Maybe it's just his desire to avoid the situation. Whatever it is, it won't keep his heart rate down, and won't stop his breaths from becoming faster, but it keeps the sight away from him and that's enough. Leg. He doesn't want to think about it, can't let himself think about it for a second already there is a prickling sensation in his legs. He tries to drown out the sounds and thoughts with inventory instead, pressing his hands over his head. A list of albums and their songs, categories unnecessary past that. He presses harder and it's strange to not feel his ear under his left hand.

He should stay to check on Kazuya but in a panic bid to be out as fast as possible he doesn't think of it. He just keeps repeating his list, running through the albums and songs quicker each time. As soon as an escape route his present he's taking brisk stilted steps out of it. 

Despite how awake he feels that night, sitting awake in his bed petting Mytho, sleep still finds him. He wakes on top of his covers, Mytho in his arms, blinking and bleary. 

There aren't really words he can put to the strange rapid fire of thoughts he has when the motive is explained. The energy building up in his body. There are things he hates about the motive, the conditions running through his mind well he tries to put together potential, watching the ring on his finger with trepidation. There are things about this motive that are favourable as well, at least currently. On the whole he knows rationally the cons outweigh the pros, but it's hard to glimpse past the strange feeling of relief.

Nobody could, so long as they weren't his match.

For once he lets himself relax. He puts Drifters Gold on before he tucks back into his bed, easing himself back into the cozy safe feeling it brought. He was tired, so tired, more than usual it weighed in his bones. Strangely he felt light despite that. Lately people had been, too much, it was overwhelming. This would be a break, nobody could. He pressed gently into Mytho, holding him close still.