BRADLEY, YOU'RE DIVORCED BTW

[malewife]

Comments

PRE-W0: SUNDAY.

[malewife]

[ I don't know how this is going to work. I guess Joonghyuk is going to stand in front of the door to Bradley's?? From their shared bathroom.

I think. ]

[battling]

[ Bradley doesn't expect these to be shared bathrooms so he just opens up the door.

Suddenly confronted with A Guy. ]

Why are ya in here?

[malewife]

Why didn't you knock?

[ Joonghyuk didn't knock on his side either, but that isn't the point. Anyway, his question first. ]

[battling]

Did ya?

[malewife]

You didn't answer my question.

W0 : MONDAY

[malewife]

[ We got door 6...!

You open a door and find yourself at a funeral service of the type you would expect to see in the world you came from. There are shadowy figures that look like the silhouettes of people who care about you, both from your world and from your previous game. They are mourning in whichever way is most natural to them, their mannerisms just the way you remember. You can't hear them speak, but you feel their grief. When the ceremony comes to an end, you realize they are mourning you. Upon making that realization you find yourself back in the hall, disoriented and with a deep sense of loss. Only four minutes have passed.

We can start with Bradley's funeral? Joonghyuk looks around to see if he recognizes anyone here, the silhouettes, then looks down at himself to see he's wearing whatever is natural for wizards to wear for funerals.

Bradley may get the feeling of paranoia. ]

Looks like we're caught in something.

[battling]

[The vibe is unsettled.

Bradley knows those figures, Nero, Mitile, Chloe, Mandricardo, the other Sage's Wizards that care about him even a little bit. Of course, there's a lot of them missing. They keep their distances, they keep their walls. The sage himself is there, crying. Mitile and Chloe, sobbing, and Nero's shadow just seems stiff. The Nero figure looks like he's just barely holding back from screaming.

The outfits are almost robe-like.]

Figures. Startin' with the mind games early.

[malewife]

They think this can weaken us.

[ They come from murdergames where people died and came back? But also, he watches all these people he doesn't recognize mourn how they do aside from Nero. He doesn't look directly at him, only from the corner of his eye.

Frowns... ]

This is how they do funerals for wizards?

[battling]

We don't really do funerals. [Usually they barely even have community. Why would they have something like that?]

Wizards become mana stones when we die. There's nothing left of us once somebody eats it. [He says it as a matter of fact, because that's all it is to him. Whatever they're showing, it isn't real.]

W1 : MONDAY

[malewife]

[ Hello, suitemate...

You open the door and find yourself seated in a chair, your arms bound behind you. You feel someone's presence behind you, though you can't see them - they are also seated in a chair. You can speak, but you cannot recognize the voice of the other person, even if it is someone you would normally know just by hearing them. You must play a game of twenty questions to guess who they are. Once you have correctly identified each other, you will find yourselves back in the hallway, perfectly fine; however, if you hit twenty questions without both of you correctly guessing the other's identity, you will both feel a sharp pain in your neck, as if something has been injected into you. You will then find ourselves back in the hallway, disoriented and as though you've been sedated for the next thirty minutes, and you will have a puncture wound that matches a syringe and needle in your neck. Only four minutes have passed.

TWENTY QUESTOINS SEEMS FUN! ]

Why.

[battling]

All these doors are cursed.

[He tugs his arms away, but he's not going anywhere.]

Whatever, if we play along enough we'll get outta it.

[malewife]

... Fine.

[ Joonghyuk still struggles. Niah isn't here cause I'm sure that will just give him away. ]

Describe the premise of your game.

[battling]

We were accepted, or forcibly kidnapped, into a school where people were killed every week.

What was your last "round" like?

W2 : MONDAY

[malewife]

[ WHAT ARE THEY DOING, MIRA? Joonghyuk bumps into him, this time sharper than he was in trial onward. ]

Bradley Bain.

[ Niah, as usual, is always beside Joonghyuk and looks at the Wizard. For the effect, his figure is made up of Korean characters on white. They flow down like someone is scrolling through text. ]

[battling]

Yeah.

[For the effect, Bradley has seagull wings tucked against his back, like the world's worst angel.

He has opened up the lighthouse room:

You open the door and find yourself at the base of a weather-worn lighthouse. Inside, it looks about the way you would expect a lighthouse to look - albeit a bit dusty, as if it has been abandoned for some time. The lighthouse is currently unlit, which would not be a problem except for the fact that you can make out the vague form of a ship out at sea on the horizon. Perhaps you should climb the lighthouse and attempt to stoke the fires? Shadowy figures attempt to stop you, interfering in whatever way they can - blowing the fire out, flickering the lights on and off to scare you, throwing things around, and other such poltergeist-ish shenanigans. Should you manage to keep the lighthouse lit, the ship will dock safely and you will see someone you care about, safe and well, disembark - before finding yourself back in the hallway, unharmed. Conversely, if the shadows prevent you from keeping it lit, you will see the ship dash itself against the rocks and sink, only to see the dead body of someone you care about wash ashore - before finding yourself back in the hallway with the sense that you failed them. Only four minutes have passed.

He starts moving up to the lighthouse. ]

[malewife]

[ Seagulls are assholes, so fair. The scrolling words pause, though they're all gibberish and difficult to read. ]

This is familiar.

[battling]

You been here before?

[He keeps walking up.]

W3: Sunday

[battling]

[I promised you a thread and then I didn't give you a thread so here's a memory in the void.

A blue haired man stands before you, dressed warmly. "After that, Boss, about our upcoming preparations..."

You look at him, amused grin at your lips, "Hey, just call me Brad. We don’t have that kind of relationship anymore, right? You're like a partner to me." The two of you have been together for years and years at this point. He hasn't gone anywhere.

Immediately, the blue haired man is flustered. " I-I can't possibly do that. You’re the boss. I’m just your underling..."

You stride across the cavern, looping an arm around his shoulders, "Don't be so distant now, Nero. I only got this far because of you. How many times do you think your advice saved me from a close call with death? I would have turned into stone a long time ago without ya. Our enemies and allies both know that you're number two. Just call me Brad. Go on, try saying it."

Nero's shaking and red but slowly, "... Br... Brad......"

"Yeah. ...Ahaha! What are you getting embarrassed for!" You ruffle Nero's hair, voice full of warmth. Heart just as war.

Nero pouts for a moment, but his face is bright red and he's smiling. "Shut up...

...I'm happy, Boss...... No...... Brad.

I’ll make sure I’m someone worthy of your acknowledgement — a man you won’t be ashamed to call your partner. You can count on it."]

[malewife]

[ Well... Upon seeing this, Joonghyuk's lips twitch because gross but also damn it really is sad how these wizards got divorced. It's hard to think about the execution when memories keep sharing like this.

In comparison to this Nero memory, Bradley gets this one. ]

[battling]

[Good, sweet, exhausted Nero... why did you agree to this.

This is so much.

"ex something" indeed.]

[malewife]

[ He really wants to say how did you screw up so badly, but Aikawa is dead and he remembers how Bradley reacted to that.

... ]

We don't need to talk about it. [ ... ] Aikawa. Today would be the day that those memories disappear.

W5: MONDAY

[malewife]

[ Where is Bradley? They are bumping into each other with Niah, the wolf daemon, sniffing him. ]

[battling]

[Bradley is right at the doorway to the mountains. It's not quite his preferred level of chilly, but it's approaching it.]

[malewife]

[ Niah, seeing the mountain, runs through the doorway while Joonghyuk simply stays here to stare at Bradley. ]

Bradley Bain.

[ Usual greeting. ]

[battling]

[He is so Oz shaped, but he is not Oz.]

Lookin' around at the new places?