SYLVAIN, say babe once and you die

[malewife]

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W0 : MONDAY.

[malewife]

[ And we have door 10!

10. You open the door and find yourself in a room that contains nothing but a table with a six-barrel revolver on it. You and whoever you entered the room with will not be able to leave until you have played a game of Russian Roulette in which you must re-spin the revolver after each time the trigger is pulled. If you go six pulls without anyone being shot, you find yourselves out in the hall, disoriented and relieved. If someone is shot, you find yourselves out in the hall. If you were shot, you are disoriented and have a headache centered around where you would have been shot, but are otherwise uninjured. If you were not, you are disoriented and relieved. Only four minutes have passed.

So... There is a gun on the table, but his eyes quickly dart around, looking for an exit.

Niah, his wolf daemon of medium dog size now, is here, too. The wolf's ears are pinned back, seemingly nervous. ]

There's no way out.

[philandery]

[ sylvain immediately is enamored with niah. who's a good wolf-daemon-doggo???????

but also WHY THIS ROOM AGAIN ]

Damnit. [ fuck! shit!!! ]

...What's your name again? [ it's you... ]

[malewife]

[ Niah has the aura of a really old dog despite not looking old, so he's very chill and looks up at Sylvain when he internally coos.

Joonghyuk is just frowning cause there's a gun. ]

Yoo Joonghyuk.

[philandery]

[ sylvain is probably making stupid faces at niah. he wants to pet so BADLY? 🥺

but yeah, there is a gun in the room. ]

What? I met Yoo Joonghyuk by the statues the other day?

[ ........? ]

[malewife]

… That was not me.

[ Sylvain he’s so disappointed in you and also offended. ]

[philandery]

...Oh.

[ guess he should DOUBLE CHECK the guestbook. god sylvain, not all asians look the same. ]

...Uh, nice to meet you. Actual Yoo Joonghyuk. [ he's now yjh-prime, and kdj gets to be yjh-wannabe, until sylvain figures out his name. ]

[malewife]

[ you assigning sylvain face blindness with a hint of racism. ]

What did my imposter look like?

[philandery]

[ he actually just tried to narrow down a list of names he'd been given... and simply didn't remember the last one... ]

Short black hair and dark eyes. A bit shorter than you. Wearing a suit, but then again, we all were.

[malewife]

Plain face?

[ Be Nice. ]

W3 : MONDAY

[malewife]

[ Wherever Sylvain is, Joonghyuk happens to be here with Niah! However, at the sight of the other man he looks DISPLEASED. ]

Stay where you are—

[ But the stardust it sure falls and this memory plays. ]

[philandery]

What did I even—

[ and then sylvain does stop, though not entirely on purpose. the weight of the memory that hits him is strong enough to affect a physical recoil—a step taken back, a spike in his pulse as he chokes up with emotion that isn't his. he doesn't even realize he's crying until he blinks the tears away from his eyes.

the memory that he summons in turn is barely an approximation of what he's just experienced, but it is a time he had felt deep grief, despair:

Dimitri has been proclaimed dead. Whether the rumors are true, he is nowhere to be found—you have lost your king and one of your oldest friends.

And yet the war rages on regardless, and there is no time to mourn when your home is under siege. You're stationed at the frontlines to fend off invaders—raiders from beyond the Gautier-Sreng border, Adrestian imperialists, and Kingdom traitors alike—armed with a weapon that itches in your hands and a crest that burns through your blood.

And that's all you know for weeks, months, years. You are drenched in the smell of blood and sweat, grime and viscera and burning corpses.

You cannot afford to lose. Your men die for you, because they understand this—the value of your crest, which even you must rely on. If you fall, so does House Fraldarius, and so does the Kingdom.

You cannot afford to lose. You cannot afford to grieve.

So for years, you kill to protect your home and an empty throne, and the ache of it feels like a rot.

... ]

[malewife]

[ The last thing Joonghyuk wants is to see someone cry because of his memory, but he can't bark at Sylvain when he's forced to watch another. His own reaction is smoothed over by the somber tale of war.

He has never fought in an official war (Joonghyuk also escaped being enlisted in the army). Only a metaphorical one against his own world. against others, against gods. ]

Have you reached peace?

[philandery]

We have.

[ it had been no small feat and no easy victory, but they had eventually won. but joonghyuk... how long has he been fighting? this can't have been the ending he wanted. ]

...Does Dokja already know all this?

[ he supposes it's likely. and he tries to piece together what dokja had told him the past week, with the way joonghyuk had reacted at trial on his behalf.

...it's a little too heartbreaking, though sylvain has to smile, just a little, in realization. ]

I suppose you did meet again.

[malewife]

Good.

[ Political wars are stupid, Joonghyuk thinks. ]

... Yes. This memory was eight years in the past, a regression ago. [ He goes quiet. ] We did meet again.

[ But his tone sounds not quite sad, but... Bitter. Defeated. ]

[philandery]

[ sylvain agrees. war sucks. ]

...How many 'regressions' have you had?

[ he couldn't get a clear number from the memory—and perhaps the regressor himself can't recall, either. (too many times to count.) ]

Are you not happy to see him again...? [ joonghyuk certainly doesn't sound it. ]

[malewife]

1,865.

[ SOMETIMES!!! Sometimes. It's fine. ]

... I'm not unhappy. [ ... ] I just wish it was in better circumstances. And that things were different.

[philandery]

[ 1,865. ]

...I dunno what to say, other than that's way more than I was expecting. [ SIR! ]

Can't blame you. Doesn't make for much of a cozy reunion if it's gonna be alongside a killing game spree.

W5 / Monday / Door

[philandery]

8. You open the door and find yourself inside of what appears to be a bookshop. There are many hand-illustrated copies of classic fairy tales here; strangely, whichever ones you pick up to examine seem to feature yourself and your companion(s) as the main characters. Should you look through any one book for too long, you and your companion(s) will be sucked into the pages of the storybook, and your only way out will be to die or to complete the story and find your happily ever after. Once you have escaped, you will find yourself back in the hallway. Most of the injuries you sustained inside the book will have healed, but one of them will remain.

[ hello! they are suddenly in the middle of the forest, even though this is not door #2. sylvain is wearing a red cloak trimmed with pleats and ribbons, and carrying a basket full of cake and wine.

joonghyuk will find himself wearing... whatever you want him to! and armed with a wood axe in addition to his sword. ]

...I'm not sure what's the meaning of this.

[ sylvain frowns at his outwear, then peeks inside his basket. ]

Huh.

[malewife]

[ because i think it's funny, he's going to be dressed like a wolf. He matches Niah who looks at both of them with a confused expression.

Joonghyuk, though, is frowning deeply. ]

[philandery]

[ HELP WHY DOES DOKJA LOOK SO UKE IN THIS ARTWORK

sylvain glances at joonghyuk's getup, also frowning ]

Wait, if you're the big bad wolf... Then who's waiting inside grandma's house.

[ he looks at niah, and asks (JOKINGLY) ]

...Unless you're the big bad wolf?

[malewife]

[ because it’s dokja as a child omo…

He looks at him. ]

I’m not eating you.

[philandery]

[ closes eyes i'm gomen i genuinely thought the artist just chose to draw him as a moeblob because i've seen it done so many times for diluc in genshit ]

Thank the goddess.

[ he looks down the forest path ]

...Should we keep going?

[malewife]

[ some make dokja extremely twinky so i get you ]

If we run into the huntsman, I can kill him.

[ He still has his sword and Niah exists. Also, why does everything come down to violence? ]

[philandery]

What kind of an ending is that?

[ (actually, it could be the huntsman is secretly the villain of this story. sylvain wouldn't know.) he holds his hand out ]

Let me have the axe, then.

[ he's feeling very unarmed with just his basket... ]

[malewife]

It is an ending.

[ No one said they needed a happy one? Or that it has to go the same exact way? Oh. Right. The axe. Joonghyuk looks at it... Then looks back to Sylvain. ]

Why should I?