CHAPTER SEVEN ; TRIAL

[themodsgrimm]

The Story Continues... CHAPTER 7 - WEEK 711 Narrators Remain ; Wakey wakey, naughty murder children. It's a lovely Saturday, after all. Breakfast is served piping hot at its usual time and all of the evidence has been removed from the scenes of yesterday. No matter how you choose to spent your morning though, the clock will begin to chime the moment both hands reach the large, ornate twelve. Before your eyes materializes a door...but not just any door. Unlike the door leading to the festival, this door sits primly and properly right in front of the foyer. Whether you exit the castle on your own or you feel a friendly, invisible push, you begin to walk under an arc of wisterias. Behind you, the clock continues to chime with every step you take. By the time the time the clock strikes twelve, you've entered a beautiful garden. In front of you is a long table, 19 seats on each side. Around the garden are several glass cases containing evidence collected yesterday. As noon intensifies on the sun-shaped clock, you'll find Dragon at the head of the table, a glass-covered rose near her right hand. Tick tock, Narrators. You have nine hours to deliberate. The garden is strangely silent and there are no snacks today...it seems as though you'll be left to your own devices. Welcome to your trial post! Please see here for the OOC summary of events from yesterday's investigation. In addition, please be sure to vote! Please see the voting page on how to vote, as we will have two special things to vote for. Voting will close at 9pm EST/6pm PST or sooner if the game ICly elects so. If you have any questions, please ask on our Discord server or ping us on plurk. Please direct pings for the NPC to Dana (decals), as she will be taking point for today's NPC, and the moderator team will be on deck for all other questions. full navigation. locations taken (statuses) stories (profiles) info & faq wishing well private conversations

Comments

[cutefaced]

[Here goes nothing, indeed. The elderly women on the other side of the door smile in tandem at Varian, shuffling into the room.]

So sweet of you, dearie...

[They speak in tandem, too. Which is pretty freaky. They extend their hands out to Varian, hoping to grab him by the arms.]

Help a pair of old ladies inside?

[Their teeth are sharp, and their nails are sharper. Yikes.]

[zerotohiro]

[He's going to just kind of shuffle a little to block Varian? Leave him alone? His arms are twisting a little because he's still holding the hands of the girls (Yona's hand, Rapunzel's arm is linked and he has a lamp in his hand) but he looks at the ladies.

He knows that their quest requires them to let them in, but he's tempted to say no.]

...yeah. Come on in out of the rain. [He turns toward his companions.]

Rapunzel, come back this way to give them room. [And be prepared to run. He watches as the ladies begin to step in through the threshold.]

[hairbrain]

Sure thing! [ rapunzel hops back eith hiro in tow, standing juuust a little in front of him. frying pan tucked under an arm, smiling but tense. pascal is up on her head. ]

Come on in, ladies. Watch your step!

[alchemenace]

[ it's a good thing hiro stepped up in front of him (and then rapunzel too i GUESS) because at the first glimpse of those teeth, varian froze like a deer in headlights. this trauma is too recent can we have a do over where we turn into clocks or something. this is hellish.

he's just gonna. hang out in the back with yona absolutely ready to fucking high tail it out of there ]

[cutefaced]

[As soon as the two women cross the threshold - they lunge. With Varian and Yona out of range, one woman goes for Hiro's neck, while the other goes for Rapunzel's waist, aiming to tackle her to the ground.

The women leave bloody footprints in their wake.

Yona lets out a shout and throws a heavy teacup directly at the face of the one going for Hiro.]

Leave him alone!

[zerotohiro]

[Nonononono bad plan bad plan! There's a yelp as one of the women lunge and he bends to try and get out of range of snapping teeth. The teacup hits one woman in the face and Hiro throws the lamp at the other to try and stop her from taking Rapunzel.]

Run! [Preferably now!!!]

[hairbrain]

Not tonight, sister! Say hello to my frying pan! [ don't be a hiro, winks. rapunzel whips out her frying pan and slams it at the woman making a grab for her -- if hiro's lamp hits, she's in for a doozy. ]

[ then, she's doing as hiro says and pulling him back with her. ]

[alchemenace]

[ he regrets not carrying anything on his person this one week because he has nothing to yeet at the ladies. but he does absolutely agree with "move" because wHY ARE THEY TRYING TO BITE HE HATES THIS SO MUCH ]

Way ahead of you.

[ he squeaks out. anyway, he's grabbing yona to make her go with him though since he has no trust that she would do it on her own ]

We have to lose them, come on--

[cutefaced]

--eep!

[Away they go! Yona makes a small noise of surprise as Varian grabs her and tugs her along, and she nearly stumbles, but - into the maze they go! She glances back over her shoulder, worried, and adjusts to grab onto Varian's hand a little more solidly.]

We have to try and lose them in the maze...! Should - should we split up? [Split up two and two, she means - Hiro and Rapunzel headed one way, her and Varian the other...?]

[zerotohiro]

Absolutely not! [And his grip on Yona's hand tightens as he pulls Rapunzel behind. They can maybe let go of hands but he refuses to split them up.] This maze is huge, we can't risk getting too split up. Just keep running and I can probably guess where we can go. Veer right!

[hairbrain]

[ hiro really wants his foursome :/ but rapunzel's hanging on tight as she runs behinds him, veering as instructed, frying pan tight in her hand. ]

We need to figure out how to slow them down. Pascal?

[ pascal squeaks and stares the ladies down, looking around the environment for something they can use...... nothing yet. hm. ]

[alchemenace]

[ varian's still dragging yona along, but he follows hiro's instructions ]

We have to lose them, and make them dance, then-- [ well, they get it. ] If we lose each other, we won't be able to do the rest of it, so--

[ hrm ]

Princess-- [ wait there's two of them ] Rapunzel, the dancing part is all yours when we get to it. [ an... anyway ] Is there anywhere we could-- crawl or squeeze through?

[ all of them are short if they can squeeze through something they might lose the old ladies!! ]

[cutefaced]

There!

[Yona can't point because Varian's got one hand and Hiro's got the other, but she nods aggressively at a space up ahead of them. A low table forms part of one of the maze's "walls," and there's just enough room under it for them to squeeze under.

The old ladies are still a ways behind them - if they move quick, they'll be able to lose them!]

[zerotohiro]

Break! When we get on the other side we can figure out a plan to make them dance and smash them!

[But he says "break" and lets go of the girls' hands, lingering behind to make sure they start crawling through. The old ladies cackle somewhere behind them, footsteps echoing through the warehouse as they approach.]

Come on!

[hairbrain]

[ yeah don't talk about dancing murder, she's triggered. ]

I can handle the dancing. Just --- handle the smashing, okay?

[ she lingers a little close to hiro as they run just in case she needs to grab him and pull him out of harm's way. she's very strong, she could do it!! V]

[alchemenace]

[ ur triggers aren't as bad as his fuck off. varian tries to make sure yona goes first (because she saw it first and because hiro won't go without her in already), though he knows rapunzel's stubborn ass enough to guess he has to follow before she will and this is getting complicated ]

Let's not linger on details-- [ and because he has one feeling: ] Follow quick, okay?

[cutefaced]

[yona doesn't want to go without hiro, though, so uh. complicated indeed. she glances between hiro and the opening and varian and rapunzel and back to the opening before heaving a sigh and crawling through.

once she's clear, she urges them on.]

Come on, come on, come on...!

[the old ladies' cackling is getting louder as they approach]

[zerotohiro]

[He doesn't waste time once Yona's through because he's also a.) taking Varian's hand to drag him forward and push him through the tunnel and b.) doing the same for Rapunzel before diving and army-crawling his way as quickly as possible.]

Please tell me it's clear up ahead!

[hairbrain]

[ yeah whose fault are those triggers, varian!!!!! anyway, rapunzel crawls in second last, because she's holding out for a hiro. ]

[ once she's out on the other side she's pulling hiro through. ]

I think we're okay--!

[alchemenace]

[ the five people who voted "to be continued" on a 14 year old?

they have successfully crawled through, and varian is keeping watch to make sure the old ladies can't like. teleport or something ]

Did we lose them? Is everyone okay?

[cutefaced]

We're clear...!

[So now the old ladies have to dance with them, and get crushed. Yona scans their surroundings and points when she spots a wardrobe perched precariously partway up a "wall" of the maze.]

Two of us should get them to dance with us. The other two can drop that on them! Then we just have to climb out!

[zerotohiro]

[He sighs deeply, standing up and nodding when he sees the wardrobe.]

I agree that Rapunzel should be one of the people handling the dancing. I suck at it so I'm volunteering myself for the wardrobe. Who's going to help me with that?

[hairbrain]

Yona, are you sure about this? [ she can handle death dancing just fine!!!!!!!! she's not so sure about yona. ]

Varian, can you and Hiro figure out how to um... you know, the wardrobe thing?

[ he can't handle the dancing for sure. ]

[alchemenace]

I'm pretty sure we can handle it, but--

[ he's squinting at the wardrobe at first, calculating trajectories and other dumb nerd shit, but he looks at hiro at the "but" because. is hiro gonna be ok with leaving yona down here tbh ]

[cutefaced]

I'm great at dancing, don't worry about me! Just get up there and be ready to get them.

[She can do this! The cackling of the old ladies is getting louder. There's an opening in the maze where they'll have to come through.]

Rapunzel, if we wait on either side of that opening, we can grab their hands and twirl around with them right away!