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

[reignite]

[ and now the shadows are coming into play! no longer time for a swift and or peaceful end to execution. ]

Oh, motherf■■■■.

[ and she gasps when the weapon makes contact onto lu bixing, fuck fuck fuck. ]

[forefall]

[ are we just animals to you?!

yes. at the end of the day, that's what everyone is to her, so four pays no minds to these ailing children. she gathers her wits to try and break free, to get away from these hands, to get away from her sister. to get away, to run and run and run because all she can think of is fleeing or killing, and when zero's sword cuts into lu bixing, she doesn't stop to worry because she's not immune to this virus.

she falls onto the stage, desperate, as her flesh beings to rot, and she shrieks because isn't it already enough that she's the ugliest of all her sisters? isn't it enough that she'll never be pretty or lovable or wise or smart or strong? does she have to die even uglier and even more unlovable?

zero's sword manages to slice into her leg before the shadow is dragged back by those hands, and even as zero is pulled away, four continues to sob and cry in pain, because as the zero's shadow starts to fall to pieces, so does four.

it's almost as if that's how it was always meant to be. ]

Stop it! Please stop it!

[ hey, lavi, can you record the history of someone who's never known her own history? ]

[voidshift]

[no we Should say science it's what he'd want. 'he's still alive' not if sisi has her way with us, it's what he'd want-]

Not certain yet. They're not the shadows I know. But they hurt more than just whoever they're attached to.

[his arms are folded, fingers digging tight into his arms.]

[astika]

[chandra listens to the voice calling out to lu bixing, his expression more contemplative than impassive now at least.

he doesn't react in any particular way when the sword cuts into lu bixing, or into four, but quietly—]

... An even more grotesque display of sadism than last week.

[terrible either way, but at least there was some dignity to be had in bucky and hunter's match, as two people willing to fight and channel their fears into anger rather than despair and grief.]

[awol]

[ and then four begins to scream as she starts to rot.

and jingheng is standing! he is just. standing and then he is

running. towards whatever invisible barrier is keeping them from interfering with the stage, going as far as he can and just pressing himself right there, he's useless. he's useless—

he's watching the virus overtake four for all of a second before his eyes once more lock onto lu bixing, a fist beating against the barrier despite it all.

please don't leave me. please not like this.

not in hell. ]

[eleusinia]

[ yeah, that's a mood. she always feels bad about mortals dying, even though she knows it's the natural order of life, but for these to be children, who haven't even gotten the chance to live a full and fulfilling life before succumbing to the cold embrace of death—

...ultimately, though, she knows she can't do anything about it can't do anything about the fact that lu bixing and four are both experiencing very real suffering at the hands of these illusions.

she touches gideon's arm and steels her voice. ]

Want to know what I like to do when it feels like everything is going to shit?

[refate]

[ he catches it, after a few moments of not-quite listening, realizing that there's a shape to the sound. and then he's quiet, fist firm against the barrier as he practically radiates out of his skin. a virus that consumes.

and, then, he reaches his right hand up to grab her bicep, having to force the grip to come, voice low. ]

[bookpapers]

[tsundere]

[selfdestructs]

[ i didn't reply fast enough, damb. so long ljh. dva just watches him sprint off, looks back to the stage, then to the barrier party. and after a moment goes to join them. ]

[cavaliered]

[she just - her eyes are still closed, and her expression is screwed up, and she thuds her head against the barrier and listens to the screaming, to four wailing, to a thousand kids rotting and the sound of swords slicing through flesh. it weighs as it should.]

What. [she manages, strangled.]

[birdeater]

[ the trauma you’re going to have after this won’t be comforted by him ]

[preordain]

[ he looks up, notices how many people are blocking the view, and looks back down ]

[greatvalue]

[She is incredibly valid even though beating the barrier will do absolutely nothing.]

[engineers]

[ the voices in a chorus continue, crying out for help. desperate. four's voice mixes in, too - begging. sobbing, begging it to stop.

it's the eighth galaxy and the milky way city again. it's the way the hands that grab onto his shirt and pull him down start sloughing off, shadow melting into shadow into shadow, melting into hands that look like bones. a smell starts to leak into the air - the smell of rot and sickness, the smell of death.

another voice, on top of them all - almost monotone. it sounds like someone reading from a textbook, boring.

The 'Rainbow Virus' is a self-replicating, highly contagious virus that destroys the structure of the body from its cellular base. Side effects include episodes of mania and high fever, violent outbursts, the rotting of the flesh and musculature system...In the Eighth Galaxy, the virus ran rampant as treatment on vaccuocereberals was difficult... 3.8 billion people passed away...eradicated...

but lu bixing is not rotting. the voice of lin jingheng is correct.

distantly, he hears it - he hears gideon, kon, he hears them all screaming for him to get up. he has to get up. he has to get up he has to get up. lu bixing pushes himself to his feet as the hands claw at him, puts his own hand on his shoulder, and with a herculean force of effort, starts trying to break through the sea of the shadowy hands to get up and across the stage.

four's voice echoes in reverberation, above it all. again, like she screamed again, as the flesh rends away and rots, stop it! please stop it! and the textbook voice continues,

But from the ashes of humanity, can come life. From the wreckage of the Eighth, vaccinations were finally made, and burning the body down to its core means just that you can rebuild it again. Stronger and better. Faster. Invincible.

he takes a dragging step forward, dropping blood, trying to get to four. amidst the chaos, something sounds like music, the faintest tings of bells, as the cacophony of voices gets louder, and louder. he's almost there, pulling on the hands like a conductor, grabbing one that clutches over his shirt and pulling it off of himself, trying to take the shadow in his hands. ]

Work with me. [ he hisses, as the hands shiver and melt apart and come back together, still grabbing at anything they can reach - dispersing away from zero's ankles and trying to find four, instead, specifically, ] Work with me. I need a syringe. Come on.

[bookpapers]

[ARA GUNNING FOR ME I HATE IT HERE

Childe's reaction doesn't go unnoticed, not when the only thing lavi can do right now is see. everything and everyone, the performers on stage and the audience watching. jingheng running to the barrier, everyone shouting, four's scream as it rises above the noise.

this is a part of history too, he thinks. four who had been vicious and full of rage, and now four choked with fear and despair. they'll go down on the pages as easy as anything, as long as he's here. only what my eye can see.]

[bookpapers]

[astika]

[okay chandra has been pretty calm throughout this entire thing because sometimes two people just have to fight it out in horrible ways, but.

when the voice of lu bixing's shadow continues, what comes after speaking about the virus—something about those lines makes chandra freeze, just for a moment.]

[greatvalue]

[A small sigh of relief, as he tries to get a glimpse of the damage.]

... Thanks.

[Except now everything is just getting worse forever? Ryo's view of the stage sure isn't about to improve any time soon. Holy shit.]

[bookpapers]

[if bixing dies he's getting zero science forever

Lavi continues to watch, even as all emotions rise up like a giant wave, on this week of our emotions overload week. He watches Bixing struggle with his, pulling it towards him with purpose.]

...And they can be manipulated. [...] Is he trying to save her?

[greatvalue]

[... he closes his eyes briefly, when the idea of a mercy kill comes up.]

Yeah. Maybe. [...] What is he doing...?

[syringe????]

[astika]

Trying to "cure" her, perhaps. [...] From your own experience, do you know how much these shadows and the environment can be manipulated?

[awol]

[ o h

o h

he is watching, he's watching and his fingers curl against the barrier. you see it too, you see it, you know what to do—lu bixing, please. lin jingheng is not a man to beg for the things that he wants, he has never knelt in the face of adversity, rather, he has let him strike him down like lightning, on his feet.

lu bixing begins to pull.

and lin jingheng stands his ground. he raises his voice. ]

Prime Minister Lu! Don't you dare leave me here! After I came all that way to find you! Two-thousand failed attempts, do you hear me? Two-thousand!

[awol]

[ we will let timey wimey magic take care of us. jingheng will have allowed hunter to at least look him over and slap a bandaid on it before u know. he disappears but yeah. we sure are. pressed up to the barrier :( ]

[forefall]

[ four is barely listening to the textbook voice, to the audience, to the children, to anything. all she can focus on is herself because if she doesn't, who will? she chokes on her own sobs, as the rot gets to her.

she can't let it end like this. how could this happen to her? lu bixing is coming over to help her, the textbook a narration of his intent, but all she can think is, he's coming to kill me. he's going to kill me. he never meant anything he said to me. he could never love me. he would never love me. no one would!

through the pain, she stands up. her resentment seethes and empowers her. her shadow writhes and grows with every ting of a bell. with every beat, it grows and grows and grows. amidst this desolate city scene, the shadow blooms before it swathes the entire stage in darkness.

nothing can be seen, but bells can still be heard.

let's sing to the world's end. ]

[toyska]

[The new voice--that's better. It's a familiar sort of cruelty, the apathy of a scientist. It makes it easy to latch onto, and with one steadying breath, slow and shallow enough to be unnoticeable to most, he looks back at the stage. At Lu Bixing fighting to save a girl--a crazed murderer--he barely knows. At the small but growing crowd, furious and frightened, an emulation of the entire theme of this place: misery and suffering.

He'll watch the rest quietly, regardless of what's to come. (It's a good reminder, if nothing else. Warmth alone can't defeat the winter.)]