[ Well, he dies? He dies. But they're back and he better understands why the setting kept falling back into place. Frowning deeply, he looks at the surroundings and they're a lot more familiar. This is what he's used to... And he should be used to seeing people bloody and in tatters, but his pulse quickens to see both of them come in, anyway. Dokja is a complicated case, the young girl he hasn't seen since his arrival to the Starlight Hotel.
It doesn't cross his mind that this is the trial. His impulse just tells him to help both and he snatches Lup's offered potion to do that. He shoves his own at Dokja's face, making sure spout goes into the idiot's mouth first, but then kneels down to the girl. ]
Mia—take this.
[ With her, he's careful much like an older brother would be, like a father would be. He helps her sit up on the stool and gently helps her take sips.
[the girls let joonghyuk have his moment, obviously having realized this was the trial long before he did. dokja's hands tremble a little as he takes the bottle and drinks from it, but when joonghyuk reaches mia the girl leans against him just slightly for support. for comfort, maybe, knowing that her brother's here and doing his best to help her.
but the potion...doesn't seem to work. even as they both drink from the bottles, their injuries continue to drip onto the floor, cuts and tears in their flesh visible and growing worse with time. it seems like maybe they require something else.
the sign flips again.]
One customer only.
[as they look around, the silence is heavy and the lights flicker again as a lightbulb pops and shatters above them. their ingredients are suddenly sparse. there's only enough for one plate of food, one meal for one person. it's enough for one chance to help someone.
the kitchen timer ticks. soon, only joonghyuk hears the same voice as before inside his head.]
"You have been given a responsibility to fulfill. But you must choose your path to pave the way back."
[dokja leans heavily on the bar, head drooping just slightly as his hand covers a bloody patch in his chest. tears well up in mia's eyes as she attempts to leans further into joonghyuk's hold.]
""You must choose what is most important to you, and what you will cast aside. Make your choice."
[ once again, it's a terrible choice of the heart that they shouldn't be witness to but are anyway.
it's terrible and painful to see each and every time, especially when there are two who are bleeding out whom you should be able to help.
she hates it. she hates this. she hates these scenarios for each and every one of them, how their hostages are used against them, how the people they've to care so much for are used against them.
[ Right... They're on this stupid trip and he's being tested between his hostage and someone he and his companions vowed to save. He looks at both of them, solemn and forlorn, while he gently caresses Mia's head and lets her take comfort in him being here.
Instinctively, he weighs choosing one over the other. He can't help it, not with so many years of having to make decisions to survive. Even with something like this, he thinks about it logically despite whatever his heart says.
... His sister, the very first Mia, she's happy in the first worldline where he left her to never return. And Mia now is also alive and well, outside of this trip. They can be happy despite the many times he has failed to save her, even sacrificed her. His thoughts rush through memories of her being left at his doorstep as a baby, how he had to navigate raising a baby when he was only a teenager himself—how they only had each other because their parents were nonexistent. They didn't exist, in the first place.
Kim Dokja is the reason at all that she's alive this long... He gave him a world where they didn't need to sacrifice, but now he's beyond reach. Joonghyuk and his companions have not saved Kim Dokja once, despite the multiple times he has saved them. For his sacrifices, Dokja gave him and his loved ones happiness.
... He has to repay that debt, doesn't he? Quietly, he goes to cook a simple meal and returns only to hold his sister longer. ]
I'll be returning home soon.
[ The plate he leaves not for her, but for Dokja instead. As he makes this decision, he remembers what Mia said to him before he arrived here...
“Orabeoni, you did your very best. No one can do more or better than what you have already done.” ]
[they are on this stupid, stupid trip. the two potatoes watch, but as they let joonghyuk work little by little they start to remember the other iterations of the loops. their injuries also slowly start to come back, inch by inch, tick by tick.
it's best for joonghyuk to cook this meal on his own. this is his choice. he has to be the one to choose who he will save and who he will sacrifice. as he prepares the dish, he'll notice that the world around him shimmers a little. lup and shinobu are still there, but he no longer sees them. it's only him, dokja and mia. the three of them are surrounded by a world that was never meant to be saved. happiness cannot be found here, but maybe someday...maybe someday, joonghyuk will be able to have both of them like he wanted.
the debt is repaid. as dokja bows his head in gratitude and begins to eat, mia stays in joonghyuk's arms for the duration of the meal. it feels like a lifetime and a minute all at once. it isn't long enough. is it ever?
dokja finishes the meal and offers a slight smile. the food seems to have helped stabilize him. he watches joonghyuk and mia as the girl takes her final breath, but then he speaks softly.]
See you back at the hotel.
[and like that, kitchen timer goes off.
this time, the world doesn't rewind. it's lup, shinobu and joonghyuk in the restaurant with its worn down appearance and musty interior. all of their injuries have returned, and though the girls are still missing a large chunk of their memories of the two other loops they remember certain actions that caused these injuries. joonghyuk, unfortunately, remembers everything. dokja and mia are gone, but the empty plate remains on the bar counter. in the kitchen, there are three plates of the same meal. one for each of them.
they can eat and rest for a moment, if they would like.]
this is almost worse, standing here, just waiting, watching as dokja and mia slowly bleed out. she can't do anything to help. all she can do is stand here - slowly get dizzier and dizzier. by the time joonghyuk comes out to slide the plate across to dokja, lup is leaning heavily on her staff, biting her lip.
there's silence, when everything is done. lup stares at the meals left behind, and then looks to joonghyuk.
very cautiously, like approaching a wild animal, lup moves over to rest a hand on his back.]
... Maybe we should take a bit of a break. [she tries. he helped her, before. he helped both of them, her and shinobu. it'll... be okay. they can make it through.]
[ it is worse in a way to see mia slowly die in joonghyuk's arms when at least taako could more quickly go, taako and—
...?
it would be better to mercy kill his sister, kinder, but what can she do when it's not her trial to bear? when her own trial was—
...?
bit and pieces of their memories come back, and it hits shinobu, regaining time and injuries she didn't know she had. it makes her take a single staggering step, but she keeps her eyes on joonghyuk.
he deserves his own moment, too, and she takes a seat in front of one of the plates. ]
[ Generally, he doesn’t like being touched, but he doesn’t feel it in him to react or retaliate. He lets it happen as he stares at the spot Mia used to be… It’s difficult to forget how she felt in his arms when this isn’t the first time he has lost and failed her.
He repeats the words she told him, and other words he has heard… Words he even said himself—to not think of this as failure. All three of them have done all that they could on this trip. They couldn’t have done this better.
His gaze shifts to Lup right beside him, then Shinobu, clearly remembering all they as a group suffered.
But he can’t help and wonder, maybe he could have done something different? Maybe they could have saved one of them? If they could restart, go back to the beginning of this trip, could they have done this a second time and received a different ending?
It may not be real… But saving those you care about, even once, even in some simulation, means something, doesn’t it?
Closing his eyes tightly, he tries to quiet the voices and takes a seat in front of one of the meals. They have to leave. The sooner the better. ]
[the three of them are able to have a seat. the food is before them, and as they begin to eat it warms them and they feel some of the aches and pains subside just a little. the world outside is still falling apart, the occasional crash heard in the street but no one comes to bother them. nothing approaches them. they can enjoy one meal together in silence, a solemn solidarity they may or may not have wished to have.
as they eat the meal, they find their eyelids begin to droop. they feel a little too relaxed...sleepy, even. the adrenaline has worn off and exhaustion settles in their bones with their weapons, items, and injuries all in tact. their movements are slow, and it's the same feeling of suspended freefall despite sitting still.
peacefully, all three of them drift off to sleep...
...when they next awaken, they find themselves in the sorcerer's tower. the room looks to be about the same as they left it, except the world outside is nearly pitch black. the candles burn and flicker, the book on the table still wide open and the tower still empty as before. behind them, the chalkboard has a new message.]
Your hurting will be mended, when they return to end it.
[the tower is eerily silent. on the table next to the book sits a treasure chest.]
[as she eats in silence, she's reminded of sitting in a restaurant on the outskirts of a bustling city, a hole in the wall that taako had dragged her to. she remembers the way it was a relief from the heat outside, remembers absently pressing her ankle to his like always as they chatted, as they ate a meal together, and how good it felt to just... exist. she's reminded of her brother, and how all three of them have lost, how all three of them here had to forsake family to get through.
she hates this solidarity, but. it's there. and then she drifts off to sleep.
... when she wakes up, she coughs a bit, and then:]
What? [oh. treasure chest. neat.] We're here again.
[ shinobu thinks of the butterfly estate, of all the girls she raised and home, of all the quiet but loving meals she's had, of her family that leaves a different kind of ache, separate from any experienced here.
she thinks about all the bullshit they had to go through only to watch people die.
she drifts to sleep, even if there is alarm that the food was drugged. she wakes and her eyes lock on the chalkboard message. she hopes it turns out to be true, or her anger will never stop growing. ]
Is this it?
[ the end of it, she means. she also looks at the treasure chest. ]
[ You are all having nice memories? Joonghyuk is thinking about the thousands of years he couldn't eat something else because of fear of poisoning—how the last nice meal he had was one cooked himself, yes, but it was in the company of his companions... On their alleged Company Picnic where they forced Dokja to finally relax, to stop thinking about the scenarios and how to clear the trials. For a single moment, they were normal people again, with normal dreams of living in a big house. Going to PC cafes. Having BBQ by the Han River.
Simple dreams.
But they're here and his eyes instantly go to the chest. He's going to try to open it. ]
anyway so yes, they are able to open the chest. inside, they find a few items. namely, they find three glow bracelets in the colors of their specific rings. in addition, they also find what appears to be a vhs with the starlight hotel logo on it.
the door to the room opens, stairs unfolding before them to allow them to descend into the dark.
you get the feeling that your journey isn't over yet.]
[she... wanders over to the chest, and takes the glow bracelet that is her color? and she'll also take the vhs if they don't. when the door opens behind them, she just sighs. she's so tired and crispy she wants a nap
but she'll head in that direction, waiting for the other two to come with, holding her staff at the ready.]
[as they exit the tower...the darkness increases. it's silent, and even the light of the stars is barely visible. they walk, disappearing from the tower's premises and finding themselves on the road again. there are multiple paths, but as they approach the crossroads they will see a tall building at the very end over a hill.
the starlight hotel awaits, but the impenetrable darkness looms around it.
don't be afraid to take the first step...even as the voices of friends you've lost begin to call out to you from all directions of the path.]
[wouldn't it be fucked up if i was like no you can't have copies i'm the lore wizard
it's fine they can all have copies. she stays close to yjh and shinobu, heading out of the tower and out to the crossroads. and when she sees the hotel, she does falter, but. the voices encourage her. she breathes in slow, and then starts to make her way forward.
whispers if you had the strength to take another step, could you do it?]
[ And forward they go, leaving behind tales of loss and fire and faith. His grip tightens around his sword especially when he hears the sound of their friends.
Stop using them. Stop ruining their memories of them. ]
they don't look back, moving forward. the ghostly voices soon grow quiet, and as they rise over the hill and begin their way down the slope, the hotel awaits them. the front door is wide open, ready to welcome them back.
there are no more sounds or sights but the lobby ahead of them.
FOR THE PARTICIPANTS: LUP LASTNAME, SHINOBU KOCHO, YOO JOONGHYUK: A GOOD END.
In the purpose of Entertainment as relating to the Hotel, this Excursion is now complete. Participants will return to the hotel in a random location in the condition that they are leaving the Excursion, maintaining all injuries. They will not be permitted to bring any weapons back onto the premise: any weapons embedded in the bodies of the Participants will turn to stardust upon arrival. For your participation in this Excursion, the Participants will receive the following rewards:
★ Two Tickets per Participant to be redeemed in the Hotel's Gift Shop. ★ Their memories of the excursion and all injuries. ★ The clothes upon their backs. ★ Some other trinkets may be kept. Terms and conditions may apply.
[Their trinkets include:
First, the VHS tape that the party obtained obtained.
Second, the clothes you are wearing are team shirts that say Team Fan Favorites. You may decide what these look like. You are probably still covered in milk.
Third, each of you receives a glow bracelet in the color of your specific ring. It does nothing.
Trinkets do not include anything else they picked up on the journey, including any potions they might have used.
Finally, until the end of Saturday, they will find themselves afflicted with certain effects:
Lup will find that she has a splitting headache at the side of her head. On occasion, when she looks in the mirror she sees Taako's face instead of her own. Both of these will come and go.
Shinobu will remember Kanae on and off, not quite recalling details about her or who she is. Sometimes, when she looks, she'll hallucinate her footprints are bloody steps. Both of these will come and go.
Joonghyuk will occasionally feel the warmth of Mia's arms around him like a ghost-hug. He will also find himself with the inability to cook anything fancy until the end of Saturday. Both of these will come and go.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
guestservices) wrote2022-07-17 07:06 pm
no subject
It doesn't cross his mind that this is the trial. His impulse just tells him to help both and he snatches Lup's offered potion to do that. He shoves his own at Dokja's face, making sure spout goes into the idiot's mouth first, but then kneels down to the girl. ]
Mia—take this.
[ With her, he's careful much like an older brother would be, like a father would be. He helps her sit up on the stool and gently helps her take sips.
But he can't choose both can he? ]
no subject
but the potion...doesn't seem to work. even as they both drink from the bottles, their injuries continue to drip onto the floor, cuts and tears in their flesh visible and growing worse with time. it seems like maybe they require something else.
the sign flips again.]
One customer only.
[as they look around, the silence is heavy and the lights flicker again as a lightbulb pops and shatters above them. their ingredients are suddenly sparse. there's only enough for one plate of food, one meal for one person. it's enough for one chance to help someone.
the kitchen timer ticks. soon, only joonghyuk hears the same voice as before inside his head.]
"You have been given a responsibility to fulfill. But you must choose your path to pave the way back."
[dokja leans heavily on the bar, head drooping just slightly as his hand covers a bloody patch in his chest. tears well up in mia's eyes as she attempts to leans further into joonghyuk's hold.]
""You must choose what is most important to you, and what you will cast aside. Make your choice."
[tick. tick. tick.]
no subject
... they saw this one coming. it's up to him. she looks away, though. she wants to give him a little bit of privacy.]
no subject
it's terrible and painful to see each and every time, especially when there are two who are bleeding out whom you should be able to help.
she hates it. she hates this. she hates these scenarios for each and every one of them, how their hostages are used against them, how the people they've to care so much for are used against them.
for everything that has been used against them. ]
no subject
Instinctively, he weighs choosing one over the other. He can't help it, not with so many years of having to make decisions to survive. Even with something like this, he thinks about it logically despite whatever his heart says.
... His sister, the very first Mia, she's happy in the first worldline where he left her to never return. And Mia now is also alive and well, outside of this trip. They can be happy despite the many times he has failed to save her, even sacrificed her. His thoughts rush through memories of her being left at his doorstep as a baby, how he had to navigate raising a baby when he was only a teenager himself—how they only had each other because their parents were nonexistent. They didn't exist, in the first place.
Kim Dokja is the reason at all that she's alive this long... He gave him a world where they didn't need to sacrifice, but now he's beyond reach. Joonghyuk and his companions have not saved Kim Dokja once, despite the multiple times he has saved them. For his sacrifices, Dokja gave him and his loved ones happiness.
... He has to repay that debt, doesn't he? Quietly, he goes to cook a simple meal and returns only to hold his sister longer. ]
I'll be returning home soon.
[ The plate he leaves not for her, but for Dokja instead. As he makes this decision, he remembers what Mia said to him before he arrived here...
“Orabeoni, you did your very best. No one can do more or better than what you have already done.” ]
no subject
it's best for joonghyuk to cook this meal on his own. this is his choice. he has to be the one to choose who he will save and who he will sacrifice. as he prepares the dish, he'll notice that the world around him shimmers a little. lup and shinobu are still there, but he no longer sees them. it's only him, dokja and mia. the three of them are surrounded by a world that was never meant to be saved. happiness cannot be found here, but maybe someday...maybe someday, joonghyuk will be able to have both of them like he wanted.
the debt is repaid. as dokja bows his head in gratitude and begins to eat, mia stays in joonghyuk's arms for the duration of the meal. it feels like a lifetime and a minute all at once. it isn't long enough. is it ever?
dokja finishes the meal and offers a slight smile. the food seems to have helped stabilize him. he watches joonghyuk and mia as the girl takes her final breath, but then he speaks softly.]
See you back at the hotel.
[and like that, kitchen timer goes off.
this time, the world doesn't rewind. it's lup, shinobu and joonghyuk in the restaurant with its worn down appearance and musty interior. all of their injuries have returned, and though the girls are still missing a large chunk of their memories of the two other loops they remember certain actions that caused these injuries. joonghyuk, unfortunately, remembers everything. dokja and mia are gone, but the empty plate remains on the bar counter. in the kitchen, there are three plates of the same meal. one for each of them.
they can eat and rest for a moment, if they would like.]
no subject
this is almost worse, standing here, just waiting, watching as dokja and mia slowly bleed out. she can't do anything to help. all she can do is stand here - slowly get dizzier and dizzier. by the time joonghyuk comes out to slide the plate across to dokja, lup is leaning heavily on her staff, biting her lip.
there's silence, when everything is done. lup stares at the meals left behind, and then looks to joonghyuk.
very cautiously, like approaching a wild animal, lup moves over to rest a hand on his back.]
... Maybe we should take a bit of a break. [she tries. he helped her, before. he helped both of them, her and shinobu. it'll... be okay. they can make it through.]
no subject
...?
it would be better to mercy kill his sister, kinder, but what can she do when it's not her trial to bear? when her own trial was—
...?
bit and pieces of their memories come back, and it hits shinobu, regaining time and injuries she didn't know she had. it makes her take a single staggering step, but she keeps her eyes on joonghyuk.
he deserves his own moment, too, and she takes a seat in front of one of the plates. ]
Let's rest.
no subject
He repeats the words she told him, and other words he has heard… Words he even said himself—to not think of this as failure. All three of them have done all that they could on this trip. They couldn’t have done this better.
His gaze shifts to Lup right beside him, then Shinobu, clearly remembering all they as a group suffered.
But he can’t help and wonder, maybe he could have done something different? Maybe they could have saved one of them? If they could restart, go back to the beginning of this trip, could they have done this a second time and received a different ending?
It may not be real… But saving those you care about, even once, even in some simulation, means something, doesn’t it?
Closing his eyes tightly, he tries to quiet the voices and takes a seat in front of one of the meals. They have to leave. The sooner the better. ]
no subject
as they eat the meal, they find their eyelids begin to droop. they feel a little too relaxed...sleepy, even. the adrenaline has worn off and exhaustion settles in their bones with their weapons, items, and injuries all in tact. their movements are slow, and it's the same feeling of suspended freefall despite sitting still.
peacefully, all three of them drift off to sleep...
...when they next awaken, they find themselves in the sorcerer's tower. the room looks to be about the same as they left it, except the world outside is nearly pitch black. the candles burn and flicker, the book on the table still wide open and the tower still empty as before. behind them, the chalkboard has a new message.]
Your hurting will be mended, when they return to end it.
[the tower is eerily silent. on the table next to the book sits a treasure chest.]
no subject
she hates this solidarity, but. it's there. and then she drifts off to sleep.
... when she wakes up, she coughs a bit, and then:]
What? [oh. treasure chest. neat.] We're here again.
no subject
she thinks about all the bullshit they had to go through only to watch people die.
she drifts to sleep, even if there is alarm that the food was drugged. she wakes and her eyes lock on the chalkboard message. she hopes it turns out to be true, or her anger will never stop growing. ]
Is this it?
[ the end of it, she means. she also looks at the treasure chest. ]
Is it locked?
no subject
Simple dreams.
But they're here and his eyes instantly go to the chest. He's going to try to open it. ]
no subject
anyway so yes, they are able to open the chest. inside, they find a few items. namely, they find three glow bracelets in the colors of their specific rings. in addition, they also find what appears to be a vhs with the starlight hotel logo on it.
the door to the room opens, stairs unfolding before them to allow them to descend into the dark.
you get the feeling that your journey isn't over yet.]
no subject
Guess not.
[she... wanders over to the chest, and takes the glow bracelet that is her color? and she'll also take the vhs if they don't. when the door opens behind them, she just sighs. she's so tired and crispy she wants a nap
but she'll head in that direction, waiting for the other two to come with, holding her staff at the ready.]
no subject
Another tape.
[ lup can have the vhs. shinobu will ask to make a copy, though. she takes her glow bracelet, too, but doesn't slip it over her wrist just yet.
paranoia makes her follow lup with her shield at the ready. ]
no subject
[ He's tired, words venomous, but he takes the last bracelet and follows after them with his sword ready.
Also, yeah, he would want a copy of the tape as well. ]
no subject
the starlight hotel awaits, but the impenetrable darkness looms around it.
don't be afraid to take the first step...even as the voices of friends you've lost begin to call out to you from all directions of the path.]
no subject
it's fine they can all have copies. she stays close to yjh and shinobu, heading out of the tower and out to the crossroads. and when she sees the hotel, she does falter, but. the voices encourage her. she breathes in slow, and then starts to make her way forward.
whispers if you had the strength to take another step, could you do it?]
no subject
the darkness creeps, and shinobu is wary. the sight of the hotel with the darkness around it makes her warier.
she wavers, hearing the voice of friends lost, but there is only one way to go. forward. ]
no subject
Stop using them. Stop ruining their memories of them. ]
1/2
they don't look back, moving forward. the ghostly voices soon grow quiet, and as they rise over the hill and begin their way down the slope, the hotel awaits them. the front door is wide open, ready to welcome them back.
there are no more sounds or sights but the lobby ahead of them.
one more step is all it takes.]
2/2
[Their trinkets include:
First, the VHS tape that the party obtained obtained.
Second, the clothes you are wearing are team shirts that say Team Fan Favorites. You may decide what these look like. You are probably still covered in milk.
Third, each of you receives a glow bracelet in the color of your specific ring. It does nothing.
Trinkets do not include anything else they picked up on the journey, including any potions they might have used.
Finally, until the end of Saturday, they will find themselves afflicted with certain effects:
Lup will find that she has a splitting headache at the side of her head. On occasion, when she looks in the mirror she sees Taako's face instead of her own. Both of these will come and go.
Shinobu will remember Kanae on and off, not quite recalling details about her or who she is. Sometimes, when she looks, she'll hallucinate her footprints are bloody steps. Both of these will come and go.
Joonghyuk will occasionally feel the warmth of Mia's arms around him like a ghost-hug. He will also find himself with the inability to cook anything fancy until the end of Saturday. Both of these will come and go.
Thank you for playing, and congrats!]