WEEK ONE: EXECUTION

[hellscapes]

Hello, deadlings.

Ha. Ha ha.

Yesterday was a wild chain of events, wasn't it? Nine hours is a long time to work, but you solved the case and voted for the correct culprit. Lucky you. But the weekend "fun" isn't over just yet.

On Sunday morning, you'll soon hear a sound coming from the dock. There's a large ferry waiting for you, and even if you resist you'll eventually find yourself compelled to climb aboard and set off on a short voyage. The islands around you look fairly blurry, but you don't go very far before you stop at a slab of land with two large buildings stationed. You won't be able to look at the one on the right now, the one you've come to know as the trial bar. Instead, your feet navigate you to the building on the left as the door creaks open. On your way in, you notice some posters hung beside the door, advertising today's event.

Inside is a bar. It's pretty swanky in comparison to the others you've seen, tables and chairs arranged comfortably for everyone to have a seat and spread out however they'd like. The bar is fully stocked with all kinds of alcohol along with an arrangement of bar food for anyone who's feeling a bit peckish. At the head of the room, there appears to be a stage washed in red lights with a wide area for performances.

At a table in the corner all six demons are gathered around.

-Bloody Mary and Midori are seated together, staring intensely at the stage.
-Blue Hawaiian and Malibu Sunset are draped over each other, phones in hand and slightly covered by Cosmopolitan.
-Rosé is seated nearby, looking impatient.

As you find your seats and get yourself something to drink, darkness begins to fill the bar and a banner unfurls over the stage.

TODAY'S PERFORMER:
FOUR
10AM
Enjoy the show

No matter where you look, you will find that Four is not amongst you. But there isn't time to look further before the lights dim and the curtains draw.

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Comments

[astika]

I have mine. Mostly unused.

[awol]

[ he does not answer this is HIS glass fist! and he needs it as he keeps his eyes glued on what the fuck is happening on stage right now. ]

Move, you idiot... don't...

[reignite]

[ everyone is surprised, as they should be because damd... our four! our science man!! Uriel is still in her more formal uniform, and while last week she observed with a similar frown and careful eye, she certainly looks a lot more worried this time.

she is sitting more at the edge of the seat, shifting a little as if wanting to get up and just.. move. but being aware enough that she cannot interfere. ]

Lu Bixing...

[refate]

[ thanks, chandra. ]

We'll see how badly we're going to need it.

[astika]

[he glances at uriel, and as four makes her guilttripping speech—]

Probably one of the worst match-ups possible here for him.

[awol]

The kit... [ the medical kit ] we'll have it ready for him.

[ he will return. he must return.

this is what it feels like. he knows it is. it's just a fraction of it and his heart is in his throat. ]

[eleusinia]

[ sardonically: ] Welcome to hell.

[awol]

[ he won't he knows u already have fun in the bathroom (help) ]

[engineers]

[ it's to be expected, really.

there's something about four that reminded lu bixing of something familiar. maybe it's the students he's worked with across the starry sea academy - children of gangsters or gangsters themselves, rambunctious, ill-behaved, often violent for no reason or another. children of the eighth galaxy. children who were cast out of paradise and told to crawl, to figure out their way forward without the same rails that every member of society got.

or maybe it's something else. maybe it's what he saw yesterday - the hatred and misery buried under the surface, teeming like a pressure cooker, locked down by the circumstances of a life of cruelty. maybe there's a version of himself in another life that could've been this way. if it wasn't -

you said you cared about me, didn't you-?

the question comes with the second kick. he manages to push backwards again, missing the abilities to fight that so many of their hellish little cadre have. he brings his forearms up to stop her kick from connecting, but his body is not nearly strong enough to take the entirety of the force - the hit connects with his arm and the reverberation of the strength of it sends him reeling backwards, making a cut off kch- noise as he stumbles. he doesn't fall, to his credit, instead stumbling backwards, even if he tastes blood in the back of his mouth with the hit.

the shadows roil across the stage, under the lights. ] Of course I - [ care, he starts, but behind them and around, a voice echoes, reverberating, rough. i picked you up from the trash, it says, gruffly, huffy, and it's a voice that lu bixing hasn't heard in so long that he doesn't even have time to process it.

his shadows coalesce behind him, and it's the shape of a hand. just one, at first, a single hand reaching directly upwards, but it grabs onto four's ankle. then, another - another, behind lu bixing, grabbing onto his foot. another. onto his pant leg. another, another, pressing against the back of four's calves, starting to claw for purchase and leaving no marks. just hands, trembling shadowy hands that are more startling than they are strong.

he tries to shake it off, mind calculating only a few feet to the edge of the stage running out of room how can i catch her how do i stop this quickly why would this place do this to her how do i how do i how do i-- ]

[eleusinia]

Asshole.

[ is she talking about four or lbx... yes ]

[awol]

[ oh thank you this is much better. ]

Every week.

[refate]

[ after fussing in jingheng's proximity, yelling with gideon: ]

DON'T LET HER GET AT YOU, FIGHT! LIN JINGHENG IS WAITING FOR YOU, DAMNIT!

[cavaliered]

[hello persephone gideon is lost in the anger sauce

she can hear people shouting all around her but it's just buzzing. it's bees buzzing in her ears. maybe she can get on stage. she didn't try last week, but this time --

she's already moving forward.]

[greatvalue]

[also shouting because what the fuck four]

DON'T LET HER MANIPULATE YOU, LU BIXING!

[except the shadows are here now and this is worse, actually? welcome to hell! welcome to hell!]

[reignite]

[ she turns her worried eye onto chandra, frowning deeply. ]

...In the end, it is all meant for punishment, right? Why send someone capable of handling execution- when you can have someone else suffer in it.

[ a hand gripping at her seat is knuckle white, body tense as the execution dance continues. ]

[selfdestructs]

[ her eyes widen as the shadows creep in ]

What is that...

[ spooky scary. hateful. ]

[cavaliered]

[she's moving towards the stage! haha!

it's just that like, obviously there's a wall. there's the impact of her hitting it, but there's nothing there, and she lets out a feral sort of sound and beats at it with her fist.]

[bookpapers]

[Lavi grits his teeth, sometimes you arrive at an execution and tell yourself you won't have any feelings, and then you immediately fck it up.]

...He's gonna do this the only way he knows how.

[and as much as he hates that, he can't really. he watches bixing's shadow curl up around them both,]

[cavaliered]

[welcome to hell! welcome to hell! she's just beating the shit out of this barrier.]

[eleusinia]

[ sometimes you've had enough of being nice and want to be angy

instead of, you know, worrying about that injury like everyone else is—though to be fair, it seems like it's being taken care of already—persephone simply walks behind the bar and pours a new glass of whiskey, then pushes it toward ljh. ]

[awol]

[ he is Silent. that voice. and then... ]

Go back to hell, you old Persian cat...

[astika]

[watching, as lu bixing tries to do just about anything but fight—]

It might almost be better, in his case, for the shadows to take control. Compassion and mercy may be admirable at times, but they won't do him good now.

[awol]

[ oh miss percy...

he looks at the glass and... will carefully take it with his other hand, knocking it back quickly.

(she will see something no one else does.) ]

[forefall]

[ he can't finish what he begins, so she takes that with all the bitterness that makes her what she is. the new voice takes her by surprise, and that's how the shadow hand easily grabs onto her. she screams, alarmed and frightened, and she tries to pull away, but her efforts are stilled when her own shadow starts to morph.

it grows and morphs until it becomes a shadowy figure holding a sword that's been brought to trial. it's not four's sword. it has never been four's sword, but it has always been the sword that killed her.

it tells her, just lay down and die already!

how can lu bixing stop this? how can lu bixing end this quickly?

because it's not like this shadow will be kind and make this end quickly or peacefully. oh, no, zero is violence incarnate, and the sword swings down, not caring who it cuts.

four screams like the shitty little scared baby she is, shocked and frozen where she is. ]

[eleusinia]

[ mood but persephone knows her fists are tiny and useless so she hangs back and watches gideon go at the barrier. she just watches for a few moments before she walks over. ]

Save your energy for him later.