WEEK 3 CYOA: HANAKO, RITA, RYUKI

[becomemod]

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[foreverphantom]

[ the monitors Rita looks at contains a radar screen of pac-man ghost blips, and then another one tracking ambient ectoplasm readings in the air. The pronged device that Rita tries to poke is turned off. Which is lucky for her because if it were on she would've gotten seriously fucking fried by it. lol

At the computer, Ryuki will find--well, first of all, the desktop is littered with photos of a woman with red hair cut in a bob. But BEYOND that, some of the open windows include articles on the effect of trauma on memory, how emotions affect brain chemistry and hormones and vice versa, and studies on the ties between emotion, memory, and ectoplasm in the formation and stability of ghosts.

The box does nothing, currently. But one of the papers around it, now that Hanako is closer, has "RECTIFYING THE PAST? PERCEPTUAL TIMELINE ADJUSTMENT" scribbled over top and circled repeatedly. ]

[unsync]

Please don't say that.

[ It might be knock on wood, etc. Ryuki sighs as he starts moving redhead photos out of the way or minimising them. That's fucking weird. I say, as I look her up to rate whether Ryuki would find her attractive (the answer is no but none of it is Maddie's fault, she just looks a bit like an actual mom he also knows).

Anyway, he is smart unbelievably so he does glance over these documents in a flash. ]

It's not math, it's psychological studies about trauma and its effects on a person's physical and mental well-being. [ Ryuki could really take a lot of lessons out of this but he thinks none of this applies to him? ] And... something about the formation and stability of ghosts.

[ That last bit is creepy. He's clicking through and typing in Command-R prompts in anyway if he must to pull extra stuff up. What else can be find regarding the PTSD-To-Ghost pipeline studies? Rita can also read over his shoulder. ]

[rizomata]

[ Rita is a little offended Hanako would ask Ryuki and not her about math. What, just because he wasn't freaking out as much as the rest of them during that test!? Whatever. (Putting aside the fact that it would be literally pointless to ask the person who can't talk to them. And also, it's not math.)

Anyway, she unfortunately didn't double-die in a freak ghost-taser accident, so she's looking over Ryuki's shoulder as he goes through the documents. They might see her pull away and make a face when Ryuki relays the part about ghosts, but otherwise, she's following along. ]

[hanaban]

[ Hanako rolls his eyes because he already knows how ghosts are formed- you just have to jam in as much trauma as you can, easy. It's really no wonder to him why Rita is the way she is. ]

"Rectifying the past"... "time line adjustment"... Hey, take a look at this.

[ He picks up the papers and plops it down on top of Ryuki's hands, presumably he can type without seeing ]

[foreverphantom]

[ Ryuki will find no more studies, but rather haphazard notes that Vlad wrote himself! Disjointed snippets about the removal and isolation of emotionally imprinted ectoplasm, altering the perception of time, and if human therapy techniques would have any effect on ghosts.

which i guess the other two can also see because now they've all congregated around Ryuki ]

[unsync]

[ He has to stop typing to catch the cube in his hands so it doesn't just like, I dunno, fall and explode on them all. ]

The... past... time adjustment...?

[ Huh... what... he turns this cube around in his hands. Is there anything else on it? ]

[rizomata]

[ Rita moves her mouth as if to say something about what they're seeing, then realizes they do not hear a goddamn word she's saying and just glowers at all of this. ]

[hanaban]

Yeah. We could turn back time and ace that test for real.

[ what about saving Rita? no, clearly none of this would have happened if they knew the test answers ]

[foreverphantom]

[ congrats! ryuki has managed to partially activate it!

the cube grows much larger, suddenly, large enough to reach up to rita's neck. And it's covered in green circuitry patterns, albeit not glowing.

meanwhile, rita will feel somewhat suspicious of the giant cube, and will instead feel herself getting drawn to the giant portal in the wall...which appears only to her to be open now. ]

[unsync]

Turn back time? That's not possible.

[ Even as the green cube starts glowing all ominous-like. Yikes. ]

Um. I-I'm going to put this down.

[ BECAUSE IT'S MCLARGE NOW. ]

Do you see anything that could help us understand this, Hanako?... Rita?

[rizomata]

[ When that cube expands, Rita jumps back with a start, giving it a distinctly sketched-out look. Yeah, okay. She's not touching that.

Besides, that portal is looking a lot more interesting. She starts walking over towards it... and glances back at the others, wondering why it hasn't gotten their attention. It's pretty damn conspicuous!

She comes up close to the portal, so close she can almost touch it, and stares into it. Can she see anything through it?

If not, she'll try extending a hand towards it, experimentally. ]

[hanaban]

It's possible.

[ Hanako says this with the utmost confidence. He knows because he's seen it, because he's hung up all his hopes on it being real. ]

I don't really understand these papers, but I know that—- Rita?

[ She was hovering RIGHT here, where'd she get off to? He takes a quick look around before abandoning Ryuki to follow her towards the suspicious portal on the other side of the room, head forgetting but hands still itching to grab her if the portal suddenly sucks her inside or something. ]

[foreverphantom]

[ well to the boys the portal is still closed so all rita is doing is staring at some giant metal doors

but for rita, nothing other than the green swirl is visible to her from here. when she puts her hand into the portal, she will find that it feels...comfortable. natural. and she has the sudden sense that the answers they want are beyond the portal, rather than in the lab.

also don't worry ryuki the cube isn't glowing right now, the image was just for circuitry pattern ref. ]

[unsync]

[ Help what's up to Rita's neck then. Sorry I'm walking into office right now as we speak this is my tag semi-skip me. ]

[rizomata]

[ The Rita is here for scale I think. Only she's not, because she's going through this portal.

Well. She'll stop and look back to the others, first, meeting their eyes so she doesn't just vanish while they're looking at other things. She points to the wall that she's about to go through.

And then she steps through the portal. It didn't burn her or chew up her hand or anything, so... it's worth giving this a shot. ]

[hanaban]

[ stands there like a fool while Rita fucking disappears, ig!!!




whips his head around ]

Ryuki!!

[ like he has all the answers ]

[foreverphantom]

[ byeeeee, rita's going on her own cool thread now, with blackjack! and hookers!

Meanwhile, the boys are still in the lab with the big ol' cube. ]

[unsync]

U-um, well, she pointed and looked at us before walking in, so I think she knows what she's doing.

[ She clearly signaled to them beforehand so it wasn't like... she just fell into the wall. He hopes she knows what she's doing. Please stay away from the hookers Rita you are our only real high-school age person.

Ryuki will come over to the wall and inspect it though, just to follow up on Rita and make sure she wasn't actually being like 'look at this wall you stupid nerds' and he's not just ignoring her about it. ]

[hanaban]

[ "I think she knows what she's doing" #doubt

Hanako hovers behind Ryuki, fist clenching the back of Ryuki's shirt as an anchor to keep them together. ]

Now would've been a good time for laser eyes...

[ Alas.

Looking around, is there any keypad or other conspicuous thing that might open the door for them? ]

[foreverphantom]

[ nothing of note on this wall other than the giant shut portal! but nothing appears to be malfunctioning or out of place with it. There is a keypad, but it is shut off. ]

[unsync]

. . .

It really would've been a good time for laser eyes.

[ God fucking damn it. Of course the one week he DOESN'T have laser eyes is the one time he actually finds a valid use-case for them. Christ, what is his life.

I guess he's still lacking his outer jacket because it burned in the fire so have a fistful of delightfully soft orange sweater.

Well, is there anything else they can find in this room. He's going to pick up one of the ghost tasers and maybe keep it with him just in case. ANYTHING ELSE ABOUT THIS CUBE. Any operating controls for the big ominous thingamajig over their heads. ]

[hanaban]

[ That orange sweater's going to get anxiously stretched out at this rate, because Hanako keeps a hold of it while at the same time reaching to the other side of him to poke at the keyboard, the cube, anything he can get his grubby little paws on, nothing bad will happen to him because he's got Ryuki here ]

[foreverphantom]

[ nothing about the cube is immediately apparent, and there don't appear to be controls for the doomsday device over their heads. There are, however, some instructions for the cube amid all that paper on the lab bench where they first found the cube in its baby form! ]

[unsync]

[ USES HIS NON-LASER EYES FOR MAXIMUM READING COMPREHENSION ]

[hanaban]

[ Reading's for chumps. Hanako goes to fiddle with the ray lasers while Ryuki does responsible adult things. If they can get these working, they won't have to bother getting the door open the normal way. ]