[ 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. ]
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. ]
[ 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 ]
[ 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! ]
[ 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. ]
[ the rays are all currently disconnected! there are wires, but they're all unplugged and very jumbled.
as for the instructions, they mention a NEURAL TEMPORAL REVERSAL capability. To preserve and reverse effects of trauma and even the trauma itself, all users must stand next to the cube, and press a hidden button on the top, recessed into one of the circles formed by the circuitry. ]
[ It's not like they killed Rita. Okay, yes, maybe it was their fault, but it's not like... it's not...
It's not. ]
...the dead are dead, and you can't take that back. You don't even know how this thing works, or if it will work. Would you throw your life away for such slim a chance?
[ It's their fault, for eating Nasty Burger, and then not leaving a five-star review on Yelp. ]
...
[ His life doesn't mean shit, Hanako, when all he does is cause trouble and hurt people. If it was going to be this way, he should've been the one to die twelve years ago. If he can't fix it when given the chance... ]
And what am I going to do... just move on from it and forget that it never happened? Like I don't have any responsibility anymore?
...If you don't want to, it's okay. I don't want to drag you into trouble either. I know it's dangerous.
[ He does, though, even if he can't see it. As long as he's alive...
Hanako doesn't step back. He clings to Ryuki's arm like a child, not wanting to let him go. If Ryuki's going to do something stupid, he'll have to drag Hanako along with them. ]
[ well. when they press the button, the box begins to unfurl even more, expanding from a fully solid cube to a collection of black-and-green pipes forming the outline of a larger cube. The top layer of the cube alights with a pane of sizzling green energy--ectoplasm--that begins to drop down onto them. It makes quite a lot of sound.
Which is how Vlad knows something is going on. He rushes into the lab. ]
Boys, wait--! That's--it's not complete, I haven't even tested it yet--!!
[ Vlad runs forward to fiddle with some of the piping, trying to cancel the process immediately. But no luck--the ecto-pane lowers further and further, passing over all three of them. It's unimaginably painful. Every muscle locks into place as if electrocuted. It's like being ripped apart atom by atom, molecule by molecule. It feels like what you imagine the Nasty Sauce must have felt like to Rita, to Date and Tama, to Tsukasa and Nene.
When it's over...Ryuki and Hanako will feel just fine! Which is odd, because Vlad is collapsed in a smoking heap on the floor. Looking at each other, and around themselves, though, will show that they are also collapsed on the floor. They are out of their own bodies, looking at their own corpses, and they themselves are just as unnaturally translucent and glowing as Rita.
looks like ryuki did, indeed, fucking die trying. as did hanako. and vlad (but who gives a shit about him).
[ To Hanako, the pain is just like being exorcised, the feeling of the spirit itself being torn asunder, held together only by a scrap of consciousness— and then, all of a sudden, he is free from the agony of a meat prison. He's light now, empty. Only mildly inconvenienced as he looks from Ryuki's body on the ground to his own, then back. ]
Okay... Let's get you back in there.
[ He takes Ryuki's ghost arm, tries to stuff him back into his corpse. ]
[ bitch he's DEAD, you can't just shove him back into the corpse!!! the stuffing simply does not work. ryuki will either end up phasing straight through his body like it's not there, or he'll just bonk into it ]
[ HE FEELS TOO BAD TO LIKE THROW HANAKO'S ARM OFF BUT LIKE. This is harrowing for MULTIPLE reasons even beyond the fact that looking at your own corpse is bad from any angle for a normie.
I guess since we're both dead now as well can we also see that portal Rita went through? ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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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. ]
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as for the instructions, they mention a NEURAL TEMPORAL REVERSAL capability. To preserve and reverse effects of trauma and even the trauma itself, all users must stand next to the cube, and press a hidden button on the top, recessed into one of the circles formed by the circuitry. ]
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Hey, Hanako? I guess if we stand together and hit a button on top of this, we can undo what we did.
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[ the trauma's important, it's what makes him him ]
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We can fix it. We can not screw up this time and not kill Rita.
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It's not. ]
...the dead are dead, and you can't take that back. You don't even know how this thing works, or if it will work. Would you throw your life away for such slim a chance?
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...
[ His life doesn't mean shit, Hanako, when all he does is cause trouble and hurt people. If it was going to be this way, he should've been the one to die twelve years ago. If he can't fix it when given the chance... ]
And what am I going to do... just move on from it and forget that it never happened? Like I don't have any responsibility anymore?
...If you don't want to, it's okay. I don't want to drag you into trouble either. I know it's dangerous.
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[ He doesn't want to. He doesn't want Ryuki to. He likes Ryuki more, so Rita can stay dead for all he cares.
But that's not going to convince Ryuki, is it... ]
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...
No. I don't.
[ It haunts him often, those exact words. He doesn't have a future, not until he can fix it all. ]
Step back, Hanako.
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Hanako doesn't step back. He clings to Ryuki's arm like a child, not wanting to let him go. If Ryuki's going to do something stupid, he'll have to drag Hanako along with them. ]
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[ Or by God, he'll fucking die trying.
Box go beep boop? Wha happen. ]
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Which is how Vlad knows something is going on. He rushes into the lab. ]
Boys, wait--! That's--it's not complete, I haven't even tested it yet--!!
[ Vlad runs forward to fiddle with some of the piping, trying to cancel the process immediately. But no luck--the ecto-pane lowers further and further, passing over all three of them. It's unimaginably painful. Every muscle locks into place as if electrocuted. It's like being ripped apart atom by atom, molecule by molecule. It feels like what you imagine the Nasty Sauce must have felt like to Rita, to Date and Tama, to Tsukasa and Nene.
When it's over...Ryuki and Hanako will feel just fine! Which is odd, because Vlad is collapsed in a smoking heap on the floor. Looking at each other, and around themselves, though, will show that they are also collapsed on the floor. They are out of their own bodies, looking at their own corpses, and they themselves are just as unnaturally translucent and glowing as Rita.
looks like ryuki did, indeed, fucking die trying. as did hanako. and vlad (but who gives a shit about him).
kuruto ryuki is dead.
hanako is dead. (again) ]
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[ As soon as he's like. Conscious again. Wheezing. ]
Oh my God. I'm so sorry.
[ WHAT THE FUCK VLAD YOUR PRODUCT DIDN'T DELIVER. HE LOOKS AT THE OLD MAN'S CORPSE LIKE HOLY SHIT!! ]
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Okay... Let's get you back in there.
[ He takes Ryuki's ghost arm, tries to stuff him back into his corpse. ]
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[ HE FEELS TOO BAD TO LIKE THROW HANAKO'S ARM OFF BUT LIKE. This is harrowing for MULTIPLE reasons even beyond the fact that looking at your own corpse is bad from any angle for a normie.
I guess since we're both dead now as well can we also see that portal Rita went through? ]
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[ bro, it's your own corpse, nothing weird about it ]
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It's not that -- I'm not opposed to living, but it's -- I lost my twin brother in a freak accident and...
[ He REALLY doesn't want to be looking at his own corpse, or be super near it. ]
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I—- ...
[ he what? it wasn't an accident in his case. it was his fault. by his own hand. ]
That's not him... It's not your...
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