??? (Round 3)

[foundationmods]

[Once the trial begins, all of the dead will feel themselves being lifted out of their bodies. For a short while, they are able to watch the proceedings, including their own bodies as they continue to move and act on their own. But eventually the area starts to grow dim, fading into an inky black nothingness.

Then glowing sakura petals will start to trail by. A path in the darkness, perhaps?

If the dead follow the petals to their source, they will eventually find an enormous sakura tree, it's large branches hanging over the area and providing shelter from the darkness outside. Here, under the sakura tree's branches, the dead will feel 'whole' again. It is as if this is where they need to be to be themselves, with no influences from the witch outside. And indeed, the very air feels heavy with magic, a single point of calm in the storm of the void.

And there, at the base of the tree, sits someone familiar.]

Comments

[chaoscontrol]

You're right about that. But he went through a lot with that field mission incident. More stress might have just broken him.

[foundfate]

...ah, true. And if he heard that LambdaDelta was involved again, that would not have gone well.

[chaoscontrol]

[that's right, another friggin witch had her fingers in THAT pie, too! THEY'RE EVERYWHERE]

[Shadow is quiet for a moment. But it's been weighing on his mind and... well.

Watanuki was a Witch, and Shadow was his Furniture. If they were going to have a working relationship...]

... Did you mean it? When you... said you would share your birthday... with me.

[foundfate]

Ah?

[Oh right, birthdays. He had offered that, hadn't he?]

Of course I meant it. I wouldn't say something important like that without meaning it.

[That part of himself is genuine, at least.]

[chaoscontrol]

[Shadow's cheeks flush slightly, but he doesn't say anything else]

[foundfate]

.....ssssso that's a yes?

[He is.

So confused right now.]

[chaoscontrol]

I STILL HAVE TO THINK ABOUT IT!

This is a very important decision!!

[foundfate]

Take your time thinking about it, then.

[...oddly enough, even though he should be smiling in amusement at this conversation, He can't seem to muster up the feelings to do so.]

[chaoscontrol]

[Shadow... does seem to notice that, at least. But Watanuki probably has a lot weighing on his mind. For whatever it's worth, the hedgehog recovers from his moment of embarrassment and adopts a more professional tone]

... So, where do we go from here? How many "rounds" of this nonsense do we have to win before the other witch gives up?

[foundfate]

Enough to make her crack and slip up. The more trials she goes through with a success on our part, the more she will begin to slip. Eventually she will be careless while speaking a Red Truth, and we can use that against her.

[chaoscontrol]

That could take ages. What if you run out of "pieces"?

[foundfate]

Then she wins.

[chaoscontrol]

Shit.

[Shadow does some quick math...]

We only have a month to make her slip up.

[foundfate]

It's closer to two by my count. I'm going to be running interference too, like I did with your execution, which should slow it down.

[chaoscontrol]

[He puts to a hand to his mouth, thinking hard and furrowing his brow] This game is so unnecessarily complex. But I've worked with tighter time frames. [he shakes his head] And then there's the matter of that book, and that girl's sob story. It seems completely unrelated... but I don't think it is.

[foundfate]

There is that too...if I had to guess, I would say it's a previous resident of this island. It's likely a ghost, trying to get us to help her.

We should try to help her too, though. Ghosts don't often reach out for help like that.

[chaoscontrol]

If we have the time and resources to spare. There are still living people here to worry about... what happened to that girl is sad, but she's gone. We need to keep our priorities in order.

[foundfate]

...

[He feels a touch offended by that, since many of his friends are dead. But he also can't argue with it, not in this situation. It's the Pieces that need to be kept alive and well.]

[chaoscontrol]

[Shadow's only real family are all dead, Watanuki. He'd give anything for them.

But the living must come before the dead, even if it hurts]

... So what can I do? You spared me, and I need to make the most of that.

[foundfate]

Your job is to annoy the everloving shit out of her. She can't kill you, because you're my furniture. And since you're not a piece, she can't have you removed from the game. You're the only one in that position currently, so be as annoying as possible. Get on her nerves, and get her to make mistakes in anger.

It does come with a risk, though. While she can't kill you, she can harm you. So if you don't want to take that risk, I'll understand.

[chaoscontrol]

[Shadow actually laughs -- it's a little unhinged] I've already been doing that! But now I can do it with impunity. [he smiles, but it's uh... unpleasant.] Pain doesn't bother me. [here in dreamland, his hand isn't broken, and he cracks his knuckles audibly] So for the next two months, I guess I'll just have to ask myself... What would Sonic do?