RATATOSKR

[soulping]

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ROUND 1

[soulping]

[You find yourselves standing in a very small, very white room. Your clothes are dry, you are dry, but you swear you can feel the heavy sway of water weighing upon your limbs. At least the temperature is normal, and you’re breathing just fine.

In the middle of the room is a white pedestal, on top of which you find two glass spheres: one large, and one small. There are no exits.]

What will you choose, my darling dears? If you’d like to earn two keys, destroy the larger. If you’d like to earn one, destroy the smaller. You cannot earn three.

Or perhaps you’d prefer that another team to undergo the trial in your place …? If so, merely speak the team’s name, clearly and purposefully, before destroying your sphere of choice. Ah! Unfortunately, the Cats are not an option.

[3g]

[ okay trauma and terror and shit is all very horrible and shit but give him a second

is this a body

a real body

REAL??? SKIN??? ARMS???????????? he's pinching himself. literally. on the face. ]

Ouch! [ OH MY GOD. ]

[dontcallmedarling]

Epsilon?

[Hoooly crap you're in a real body. ]

ahhh sorry about that ; n ;

[3g]

[ okay he's breaking the small one! ]

I don't want to fucking wreck everything immediately, so I'm picking this one.

IT'S OKAY

[soulping]

[Amongst the broken shards of glass, you find a small crystal vial full of a clear, thick liquid. There’s barely enough for a single mouthful ...]

Drink, and earn your key.

ROUND 2

[soulping]

[You find yourself standing in another very small, very white room. The heaviness lingers … and is it just you, or can you feel a niggling tightness in your chest? A difficulty drawing breath? Maybe, just maybe, just for a second here and there, you feel water in your mouth and nose ... But there's nothing there.

Once again, there’s a pedestal in the middle of the room, but now there are three spheres upon it: one large, one small — and another small one, this one featuring frosted glass whiskers.

A member of the Cat team is leashed to the pedestal, by a long, deceptively-delicate looking silver chain. The chain is attached to a silver collar; it doesn’t look like there’s a way to remove it.]

This time, my doves, you may choose to undertake either one trial … or two! What will you do? And who will reap the benefit of your arduous labours …? There are three keys available to you here.

You may, of course — if you have not already done so — choose to pass one trial along to another team.

((In this round, you may do one of the following:
- Break one of the regular spheres, either the large or the small.
- Break one of the regular spheres, and the whiskered sphere.
- Break only the whiskered sphere.

If you break the whiskered sphere, you may choose to donate that key to the Cat. You can also choose to keep it for yourself! No other keys can be donated to the Cat. The Cat can choose to help with the trial … or you could try to force them ;D))

Re: ROUND 2

[3g]

[ ... this isn't what it feels like to be human all of the time, is it??? this is annoying. ]

You think we can help that guy?

[ Epsilon says guy even if it's not... an actual guy. ]

Re: ROUND 2

[dontcallmedarling]

...Probably.

Though I just noticed - we're the only ones here, other than our friend.

[He's... kind of starting to get a little worried. HE HAS FELT DOWNING BEFORE. THIS FEELS A LOT LIKE DROWNING.]

...Is it getting harder to uh - breathe, for you?

Re: ROUND 2

[nodo]

[ Ugh... the drowning sensation... one does that have had to have drown to understand the unsettling feeling of it.

also where is he exactly? ]

Re: ROUND 2

[dontcallmedarling]

Panther!?

[Aw, dammit. This again. NOT THIS AGAIN.]

Re: ROUND 2

[dontcallmedarling]

[Knight's turn to head to the pedestal, walking forward.]

Alright, we're burning daylight.

[He's gonna grab both the whiskered sphere and the large, regular sphere and smash them open.]

Re: ROUND 2

[soulping]

[Amongst the shattered glass, you find a small, delicate box. Inside the box is a tiny sliver of raw flesh.]

There are sayings about blood and water, aren’t there, darlings? Eat, and earn your key. And ...

[You also find a small, delicate box. Inside the box is … the horrifying love child of a centipede and a mirror spider? Right now it’s curled into a tight ball, but stretched out, it would be as long as a pencil and half an inch thick.]

Hold the creature against your skin, and earn your keys.

ROUND 3

[soulping]

[Welcome to yet another very small, very white room. You’re wracked by icy shivers, even though you know — you know — that it’s pleasantly warm in here. You know that you can’t breathe, that there’s water in your mouth, nose, ears, in your throat, choking you; that the water is weighing you down —

You’re in a very small, very white room, with a pedestal bearing two spheres: one large, one small. You can breathe. You’re not drowning. You’re okay. Right?]

Just like the first round, my darlings! You may earn two keys, or one — make your choices wisely.

Re: ROUND 3

[3g]

[ OH MY GOD HE IS GOING TO DIE he's so tired already and sick and god he wants to puke even though he's never eaten anything in his physical life. ]

I am... taking this one. Don't fucking eat me.

[ deciding which thoughhhhh. ]

[dontcallmedarling]

[He's trying to not gnaw off his arm but he's got his teeth sunk into it - after the bit with Panther, he isn't taking any chances with anyone other than himself.]

...W-was an accident... didn't mean to.

[He's getting hungry, the bite on his arm sort of tightens a bit as he winces in pain.]

Re: ROUND 3

[nodo]

[ AS MUCH AS HE WOULD LIKE TO PROTEST.... he's definitely down for a prolonged count right now. ]

Re: ROUND 3

[3g]

[ OKAY go big or go home time.

he is dramatically kicking the big sphere, but it's kinda lame because he's sick and kinda drowning, but he wants to go out in a blaze of... the lowest form of glory. ]

Re: ROUND 3

[soulping]

[Amongst the broken shards of glass, you find a small crystal vial full of inky black liquid. There’s barely enough for a single mouthful …]

Drink, and earn your keys.

ROUND 4

[soulping]

♬

[You’re going to run out of air. You know that, now, though the sensations come and go. You need to get out; there’s not long left until you drown.

Not long left until before you drown, in a very small, very white room, with a pedestal standing in the center. Set atop of it are two spheres: one large, and one small.]

You know what to do ♥

A surprise for you ...

[soulping]

[One of you feels something strange: paranoia building slowly, subtly, twisting the words and intentions of those around you, no matter how much you care about them. Fear, too, begins to rise — you see flickers in the corner of your eyes, and you know they’re there, you know they’re real, no matter what anybody tries to tell you.

You'll also find yourself suffering hyperrealistic hallucinations of your worst fears. It looks like another team targeted you ...]

Re: ROUND 4

[3g]

[ with what little energy he has left

he's flipping the bird at the room ]

Re: ROUND 4

[dontcallmedarling]

[he knows this feeling. He knows it very well - in Nafuna's game, he felt the sting of lack of air before, the burning in his brain. Though now there are new sensations.

There's Axe, telling him he's too weak to be trained. Gloss and Sek mocking him for being so useless. Sol isn't meeting his eye, Roxy just looking at him sad and pathetically. And then there's all the others.

Ochre, Citrine, Comet, Belt - the people he's met out of team, all of them have the same opinion, he can feel it.

Crushing worthlessness.

His limbs feel heavy - one of them because of how heavy the lack of oxygen feels, the other because of... well, probable blood loss. The hunger is still nagging at him, but he's torn his arm open enough, savored the delights of his own flesh. He can feel it weighing him down, every move is hazy, painful, and forced.

It's the worst he's ever felt.

Re: ROUND 4

[3g]

[ Also you know what

fuck this whole thing

shoving his broken pieces out of the way, he crawls over to the large sphere and angrily (with so little energy... so little...) pushes it off.

and then collapses on the floor. ]

Re: ROUND 4

[soulping]

[Amongst the shards of glass, you find a sharp dagger — the blade looks to be about six inches long.]

Bury the knife to the hilt, and earn your keys. [ … ] Somewhere on the torso should do nicely.

...

[soulping]

[Your final keys—or key, singular—appear, leaving you with a total of: 7]

[Head to ENDGAME]