[ video - thursday morning ] [ exaclan warning mini-event ]

[stoppedhiding]

[ He really doesn't want to do this. But if he doesn't, he knows it's not his head it will be on. There's really nothing he can do, and it will happen anyway -- all Golbez is doing is acting as a mouthpiece.

At 8AM on Thursday, the announcement happens. ]

Somebody in Rakuen has fallen below zero raks. The penalty will now commence.


[ The first victim is Sis Strider. From there, once every hour a different person will be selected for a five-minute warning penalty until America has zero or more raks. In order, the following victims include Dave Strider at 9AM, John Peixes at 10AM, Nunnally vi Britannia at 11AM, Jade Harley at noon, Dirk Strider at 1PM, Jake English at 2PM, and Bubblecup at 3PM.

As each victim is affected, they will appear on the Exaclan viewing screens and on computers connected to the network. Feel free to thread that out here, or in a new post if you would prefer.

There is no IC indication of who the culprit is unless he confesses to it himself. ]

Comments

[fracturedsoul]

[ oh god someone is grabbing him and-- he glances up and it's Jake. Okay. That's okay. This is humiliating, but he doesn't really care right now. His head is splitting and it apparently hurts so bad it's rending spacetime asunder, so he's okay with this right now.

He clenches his teeth and hesitates only a moment before clutching onto Jake's arm with one hand. Damn it. In the antiquated vernacular of a particularly ignorant era, this is so fucking gay. ]

[goodboybestshot]

[Fuck. Fuck this is terrible look what its doing to Dirk. This is so wrong he couldn't even put it to words okay.]

[But Jake bit his tongue for now and just focused on trying to be comforting the best he could. He wasn't the best at this but at least he could reenact his movies and make a few guesses on what to do.

So that might be him rubbing his back or running his fingers through his hair, which ever one got the better reaction.]

[fracturedsoul]

[ They both help, if only because for some reason they make Dirk's brain go all staticky. He doesn't know how he should react to such a simple gesture and there's only pain and confusion and wow he looks like such a girly tool right now, in front of Dave too maybe and he just wants to go off and be alone and pretend none of this is happening. Oh, but he can't even do that because his other self is dead.

But he does at least breathe a bit more evenly with Jake there. Helping. "Helping". He relaxes for the most part, minus his hand gripping Jake's arm tightly enough to possibly leave a bruise. Once the five minutes are up, he lets up on that as well. ]

[goodboybestshot]

[There, was it over? Jake sort of pulled back his arms and looked at him worriedly to see if he was okay. His arm was kind of throbbing from the grip but he couldn't give fuck all more about that.]

...Dirk?

[fracturedsoul]

[ He nods dully, lifting his hand to hold up a finger as if to say Give me a minute.

Shit, that was intense. Sis's and Dave's reactions earlier suddenly seem a hell of a lot more justified.

He kind of doesn't want to move from this spot. The foggy confusion he's feeling from just sitting there with Jake feels oddly refreshing after all of that. But even through the disorientation, he knows he's got an image to uphold. So he tries to push himself up, but stumbles slightly and has to rest an arm on Jake's shoulder to keep from collapsing again. ]

[goodboybestshot]

[Gonna definitely help him stand straight and catch him if he stumbles like that again. Geez. But he has him, no worries.]

[But he is giving you such a face, right now.]

[fracturedsoul]

[ And he's up. Eyes closed behind his shades, keeping the rest of his face blank. ]

You came running all this way just for me? Shit, bro, I knew shacking up with you was a good idea. Match made in goddamn heaven right here.

[goodboybestshot]

Of course I did you great buffoon. You're my best bro, there was no way I would have left you here. [Best bro. Was that all? But no, he wasn't dredging up that right then. He had plans of talking to Dirk eventually but he would have liked to be able to consult someone else first. Argh, this city and its inconvenient timing.]

Are you alright?

[fracturedsoul]

Yeah, I'm good. [ He even manages a slight smile, just to keep Jake from worrying. ] That's some weak-ass torture. I can think of a dozen better ways to break a person right off the top of my head.

[goodboybestshot]

Let's not give them any ideas. [He gave a careful glance behind him. He wouldn't put it passed this place to have cameras everywhere.]

Come on, let's mosey on back to the dorm.

[fracturedsoul]

[ Deep breath, and he nods to Jake and starts walking. He doesn't really want to go to the library anymore anyway.

He's just way too confused for some inexplicable reason. ]

[goodboybestshot]

[Good because he is pretty sure Dirk needs to lay down.]

[Jake doesn't say much on the way back though. Its probably not long before they make it back to the dorms.]

Here we are.

[fracturedsoul]

Hallelujah. [ It's empty. Fuck yes. He loves when it's empty. He collapses into a chair -- he's pretty sure it's Dave's chair, oops, oh well.

Now that they're in private, it's okay to be a little uncool. ] Thanks, man. That shit felt like someone decided to pry my skull open with a jackhammer, cut my brain apart with a rusty kitchen knife, then staple-gun it all back together.

[goodboybestshot]

[Jake takes a seat at the end of one of the beds and just kind of watches him. He's still worried okay.]

It certainly didn't look pleasant. Is that what always happens when we run out of raks? Do we even know who it is?

[fracturedsoul]

S'only happened once before as far as I've seen, but yeah, that's what happens. And no. The prefect who announces the penalty doesn't even seem to know. Apparently it's supposed to be some kind of pity party for whoever's responsible, make them grow a pair and come forward. Last time there were only three victims.

[ He's good. He leans over, resting one elbow on a table and propping his head up in his hand. He might look a little tired, but he's otherwise fine. ]

[goodboybestshot]

Goodness gravy. [Ugh. He runs his hands through his hair for a second.]

This is absolute hogwash. Something needs to be done, who would let innocent people suffer like this?

[fracturedsoul]

Heh. You mean aside from the people jerking us around in the first place? Well, there's a few possibilities.

First: A victim of perpetual sociological constipation. No shits are obviously being given over what's happening to us. Second: Someone who actually likes seeing this happen. I can think of a couple suspects of that condition.

Third: Someone who just hasn't noticed their balance, which is pretty unlikely since I doubt a single person didn't check their wallet after Conan the Barbarian gave his little announcement earlier. [ Yeah, Golbez, he saw you going around town in that topless kilt-and-cape getup last Saturday. ] So it could be someone who fell under and then just so happened to get dragged off to one of this city's convenient little coma parties, in which case this could last a few days, maybe as much as a couple weeks.

[goodboybestshot]

[Jake looked pretty pale at that. He didn't like the idea of this dragging on longer at all. Especially if people he fucking cared about were getting hurt. No way. He was going to go find a computer later.]

Capital. [Completely sarcastic.] This place keeps getting better with each new day.

[He sighed and fiddled a bit with his uniform. Which of course reminded him of what he was doing just before all this started happening. Brb digging in his pockets.]

[fracturedsoul]

The main problem's with the people who don't want to play by the rules. I mean, understandable and all, but shit like this is the result.

[ He tilts his head in curiosity when Jake rifles through his pockets. ]

[goodboybestshot]

Or, perhaps they could just not have this rule at all. I don't see how that would be so difficult. Maybe I'm just simple. [Said with a bit of venom. Towards the city of course, not Dirk. He's still pretty unhappy about all this.]

Blast, where is it. I just-- Ah! [He pulls his hand out of his pocket and holds it out to him.]

I picked up a little something earlier.

[fracturedsoul]

Yeah, but that's the easy answer, and we can't have any of that logic BS around here.

--ah. Thanks. [ He takes the ring and looks it over. One more... Only two to go and then shit, he'll be in the same position as Yor, Hunter from the Future over there at Conquest. ]

[goodboybestshot]

Heaven forbid.

[Rubs at the back of his neck and manages to look a little apologetic.]

That's um. That's for losing our first big tussle there. I made a right fool of us with all my boasting only to have your brother hand our asses to us. Sorry.

[fracturedsoul]

[ He slips it on, and a symbol resembling footprints appears on it. Ah, so it's the Stealth ability. He'd been suspecting he'd have that one. ]

Yeah, you got served like it was Asserole Surprise night on Butler Island. [ A pause. ] Not that I have any room to talk. We have to step our game up.

[goodboybestshot]

My grandmother certainly showed you what for. [He grins a bit but he nods.]

I agree. You'd do much better as a player in any case, what with your ninja prowess and bananas swordsmanship.

[fracturedsoul]

Gonna be eating crow over here for the next week.

Be nice if we could influence the decision. Both of us need to get some practice in. Chances are good at some point we'll both wind up as Players, and when that happens you better put up a good fight.