Zinnia's Multiverse Madness! (Roleplay, March 4-13)

[Fusion]

The thought of another dare so soon brought an excited glint to Kora's eyes. This could still be really cool, she thought. You didn't need to be all-powerful to impress her, after all.

 

[Sinderella]

She took off her mask as her bangs danced out into curls. They pirouetted away closer to her forehead, but held the stage open for her green eyes to speak her emotions for her. "It's this dress," she declared, shoulders rolled back and chest out as she welled up with pride, "The dress we made. Uh, me and my sisters, I mean." With the mask off, her lack of confidence was far more apparent: eyes darting from one person to another and mouth occasionally puckering with each pause of stutter. "In the spring, we'd spend some nights just going outside and looking at the night sky imagining what it would be like if the stars we could reach out to them."

Her speech became increasingly certain as she weaved her tale, "Solra wanted to try to tie the stars with a string. She said the constellations were so pretty, and it was so sad that you couldn't see them unless you knew exactly what and where they were. Yumi talked about how it all looked like a giant blanket to her that she wanted to wrap around and snuggle in." A nostalgic smile pursued her lips, "Man, they're the coolest; having those kinds of deep thoughts. I didn't have anything like that to say, but I promised I was going to make their wishes come true."

"It was going to be a surprise at first, but they caught on what I was up to pretty quickly when they saw me buying all these blue and purple fabrics and paints." She tugged on the sleeve of it as she continued, "Yumi loved using the glitter paint, and with the right amount of blending, they could actually look little stars. And Solra actually seemed interested in learning how to sew from me. Imagine that - something that wasn't super math-y catching her eye for once!"

She giggled to herself, "Anyways, this one definitely wasn't the first one. I'm pretty sure that one doesn't fit any of us anymore anyways. But with the help of mis hermanas, we kept redoing and redoing it until it was something that we could all at and remember those days we used to just... be together." Her brows drooped as a frown snuck onto her face, "I hope really they're okay. Yumi was about to go college, and Solra was going to get married. I had prepped some of the decorations and—"

As soon as she realized she had not only been rambling, but openly exposed emotions that would make her "undesirable", she immediately placed the mask back and crossed her arms. "Sorry for that," she coughed. Why did I do something so stupid?! Now they're gonna know I'm a fraud! "Anyways, yeah, that's... that's what I'm most proud of." ...Screw it. If I'm going to go down, I will at least have told the world how amazing my sisters are before that.

Dorien slowly clapped his hands together as he sauntered over to the group. Odette, now bandaged, hung more toward the back, watching with narrow eyes and a cautious frown.

Something of an obnoxiously dark grin tugged at Dorien's lips. "Wow. You really have a thing for theatrics don't you?" he asked as he ceased his clapping and crossed his arms. "Really, that was fascinatingly compelling. It almost subtracted from the fact that this game has been an absolute snoozefest," he said in a scoff. "Really, nobody can think of some more compelling questions? We all might as well be in high school."

He opened his mouth to say more, but suddenly cried out and stumbled over in order to rub the back of his left thigh. Behind him, Odette stood with her leg outstretched, as if she'd just completed a kick. Her expression at that point had grown unreadable.

"Odette, c'est quoi ce bordel?" he whined.

"I said I was going to kick you if you kept acting like a prick," she said in a monotone.

"No you didn't."

She was quiet for a moment. "I'm going to kick you if you keep acting like a prick."

Odette set her foot down and walked up next to him, shoving her bandaged hands into the pockets of her stained joggers. She sighed deeply and raised her shoulders. "Sweet story. But let the record show I have absolutely no idea what the fuck is going on."

 

[IFBench]

Gen stared in complete bewilderment. He waddled over towards Kora, and huddled against them.

"Wh-what..." he said, confused.

 

[Sinderella]

He tried to imagine that he was sleep deprived and dancing in a Cardinal Plaza club so he had the guts to dance: swaying his arms and stepping in flowy, elegant circles. He looked like a graceful bird or a fool, maybe both, maybe a fool on the hill.

Odette only barely managed to hold off a chuckle. She brought her numb fingers to her mouth and held them over her twitching lips.

"Solid shot at waltzing," she said. "Although, I'm not much of ballroom dancer, so kudos."

 

[AbraPunk]

Hm... Let's see..." He pointed to Wes. "You. You look somewhat familiar. Have we met, or was that Steven?" He nodded and closed his eyes before stopping. He stood, hips tilted, hand on his side. "Either way, truth or dare?"

Wes had been passively observing everything. Still, he was mildly surprised to see the flamboyant man point to him as the next fool to play this game.

He was silent for several seconds before simply answering, "Truth."

He figured there was nothing to lose. There were no real stakes here.

 

[Venia Silente]

...Oh well.

Wallace took out his Pokénav, occasionally smiling awkwardly at Winona. She had seen him dance. Hell, they had even danced together several times. He was a performer. He knew how to perform in front of an audience. So why was he so embarrassed to be dancing now?

[...]

He tried to imagine that he was sleep deprived and dancing in a Cardinal Plaza club so he had the guts to dance: swaying his arms and stepping in flowy, elegant circles. He looked like a graceful bird or a fool, maybe both, maybe a fool on the hill.

After the little spectacle was over, Tiana was left part surprised, part expectant that there would be some explanation for this. Not that she had never seen humans dance, it'sjust that particular kind of dance was unfamiliar to her.

"That was very rhythmic and absolutely non-unelegant," she said, tapping her talon on the ground as she was unsure how to continue, "...even if I'm unsure what '*that*' actually was."

She could not clap, but she decided that tapping her talons on the ground a few more times would hopefully work.

Kalas meanwhile stood in silence, alternating looks at both Wallace and Winona.

 

[AbraPunk]

"All right then... You win five million dollars on the same day that an evil team says that they're going to destroy the world in two days. What do you do with the money?"

Wes scoffed. "Nothing. I'd rather sit back and watch the world burn."

After some hesitation, he added, "Though, if possible, I would at least try to save as many Pokémon as I reasonably could in that timeframe. Of course, the world will still burn, but..." His sentence trailed off and he shrugged.

...

Oh. Right. This game. He sighed and randomly pointed in a direction, finding that he was pointing at Odette. "You. Truth or dare."

 

[AbraPunk]

"That reveals much about your inner self. You have an inner nobility beneath your facade of aloofness. You except the world as it is, yet you still work to make it better."

Wes snarled at the implication of him being some high and mighty 'hero' that people could look up to.

"I only make the world better for the Pokémon. If any of my own Pokémon wanted me to, I'd personally kill every last human in Orre just to make sure no more Pokémon have to suffer."

 

[Sinderella]

Oh. Right. This game. He sighed and randomly pointed in a direction, finding that he was pointing at Odette. "You. Truth or dare."

She raised a brow at the sudden question, before taking a cautious glance around her. She wasn't really in the mood to be spilling her secrets today, so she supposed the former was the better option.

"Dare."

Dorien pursed his lips in approval. "Si audacieux, si courageux," he purred, leaning his arm on her shoulder. He reached down with his other hand and gingerly grabbed her wrist, holding up her hand as he examined his handiwork on the bandages. "Especially with these, you hothead." He planted a kiss on her hand before letting it drop.

She merely shot him a dangerous look, before huffing and shaking her head.

 

[AbraPunk]

"Dare."

Wes looked around at the atrocious surroundings...

"I dare you to ride on one of these... what are they called?" He said as he gestured to a massive rollercoaster nearby.

Wallace froze. "Understandable... Well, not the killing part. I mean the Pokémon part."

He simply grunted.

 

[IFBench]

"I only make the world better for the Pokémon. If any of my own Pokémon wanted me to, I'd personally kill every last human in Orre just to make sure no more Pokémon have to suffer."

At Wes' words, Gen began trembling, clutching tightly onto his reunion cape. Crap, he needed to make sure this human doesn't find out his secret!

 

[Sinderella]

"I dare you to ride on one of these... what are they called?" He said as he gestured to a massive rollercoaster nearby.

Brow furrowed, she followed Wes's gaze to the roller coaster. She craned her neck upward to stare at it, before side-eyeing him. "Bold of you to assume I'm going to be tall enough for that," she said flatly. She reached down and tightened the jacket around her waist, before walking for the monstrous contraption.

"Do you want me to come with you, Doll?" Dorien called after her affectionately.

With an angrier sigh, she forced a loving grin and looked over her shoulder. "No thanks! I'm a big girl. You can watch~"

Some more guaranteed alone time, even if it was on a roller coaster, was better than none.

Dorien didn't say anything in response. Instead, he simply waved. As he did, his eyes slowly but surely wandered to the operator box that was right next to the ride. Nobody was around to operate it, but it somehow worked anyway.

Say the word, and I'll go. I know what you're thinking.

No, he wasn't thinking that. Well, at first he wasn't. Now...well. His mind was going elsewhere.

This would be an opportunity. But he wasn't sure if it was one he wanted to take. As he watched her get on the ride with ease, he silently fought with himself, and the Envy god in his head.

He had a mission. She had what he wanted. She had everything he wanted. And he fucking loved her so much...as much as he wanted to bash her head in. As much as he wanted to watch the life drain out of her eyes, so he could covet everything she had. It would be so easy.

This would be so easy.

His shoulders deflated, and he inconspicuously reached into his jacket pocket and thumbed the specialty ball he'd had hidden on him. His expression didn't waver, nor was his body language any more telling, as he pressed the release on it.

And he felt Inviderus's presence leave him.

Odette looked bored as she leaned over the safety bar that sat across her lap. These rinky-dink fair rollercoasters were nothing special, although this one was bigger than any others she'd seen. She had to wonder if it was any safer? She supposed this was a multiverse game where nobody was supposed to die, so, hopefully the host took that into account.

The train angled upward for its typical hike toward the first big drop of the ride, which lead into a loop. She almost felt a yawn coming on as she watched the scenery below her. This might have been relaxing if she wasn't still coming down from that earlier fit, or if her knuckles and elbows still didn't sting so ba--

BANG. POP. SKKREEEET.

It all happened in an instant. The noise was deafening, as the operator box next to the rollercoaster exploded into sparks before exploding with a medium sized boom. Odette's eyes widened as she watched it nearly disintegrate, as the cart reached the summit of the drop.

An expletive was barely out of her mouth before the safety bar popped open.

All conscious thought shut off, and as the train threw itself over the edge, Odette tore one of the bandages off her knuckles with such force, the bleeding began again.

"Manifest, Odile!" she screamed as she threw herself out of the cart, and hurdled toward the ground.

The train hit the loop as a blinding flash of maroon light exploded from her pocket, and a grotesque and gargantuan dragon, comprised of what looked to be only jagged branches and sticks, came to form underneath Odette before she could hit the ground. The dragon soared upward toward the sky with a deafening shriek, before looping away from the ride and gliding back down to Earth. As it landed, with Odette clinging for dear life onto it's neck, it roared again.

"S-somebody's fucking dead. I’m gon-na kill somebody," Odette hollered, her voice carrying despite the stammer. Her body shook with a mixture of delayed panic, and anger, as she clung to her Pokemon's neck with every last drop of strength she had left in her body. Her eyes blazed, just like dragon's.

"Do you hear me? DEAD."

 

[IFBench]

Gen screamed, clutching onto his reunion cape as tight as he could. His breaths became rapid, and remained so, even after Odette was safely back on the ground.

Zinnia's eyes narrowed. "That wasn't supposed to happen," the Bagon said, before looking over in the direction of Dorien with a glare.

 

[Venia Silente]

"In that case, I did my duty well."

Tiana blinked a couple of times and shuffled about with an uneasy expression. "Don't mean to disrespect but... that... still doesn't explain any of what '*that*' was...?"

Wes snarled at the implication of him being some high and mighty 'hero' that people could look up to.

"I only make the world better for the Pokémon. If any of my own Pokémon wanted me to, I'd personally kill every last human in Orre just to make sure no more Pokémon have to suffer."

Kalas and Tiana happened to hear as Wes made the comment. The Fearow held a long stare at the human, and then his focus shifted inwards.

Tiana noticed the Fearow lost in focus. "Did that worry you?"

Kalas leaned his neck on Tiana's head, and resumed a brief look at the human. "I am reminded there's people like him everywhere," he said.

"The Mad Mothim?"

"Yeah..."

Tiana sighed and pecked Kalas on the chest. "Listen: fact of life. Much as you like me, I'm bad for you, for example. Besides, the human said this was only for having a good time."

 

[Sinderella]

Odette shakily dismounted Odile, who was glaring daggers at anybody who dared step closer. As she stepped back onto the ground, her wobbly legs failed her, and she fell to her knees. She covered her face as she went down, as if that would somehow stop her jagged breathing. She could barely hear the sound of Odile growling comfortingly over her, or Dorien rushing over to her.

"Odie!" he yelled in alarm as he neared. He kneeled down in front of her and placed his hands on her shoulders, as if that would be enough to alleviate the guilt that was filling his chest. He hated it. "Oh my fuck, are you--"

He couldn't finish before she held the barrel of her gun to his face.

"You-u, you back the hell up," she seethed, picking up her head and standing as smoothly as she could. Odile growled louder with the force of her voice, and Dorien scrambled to his feet at the sight of the weapon. He was not anticipating that. He held his hands up in alarm.

"Hey, hey!" he said. "Don't be rash, I'm just--"

"Just staying away from me," she raged, stepping closer to him, thus causing him to back up more. Odile lowered her head and followed along behind Odette, teeth bared.

"I'll blow your fucking head off; don't test me."

Fuck, fuck, fuck. Dorien's head was going a million miles a second. The guilt, the excitement that Venira was out and powered up right in front of him, the annoyance that his plan hadn't worked, the fear of what this girl was capable of, all of it. Damage control; he needed it.

Zinnia's eyes narrowed. "That wasn't supposed to happen," the human said, before looking over in the direction of Dorien with a glare.

He returned Zinnia's glare with an somewhat snarky look, before his gaze cut to Robin. He narrowed his eyes, before sighing sympathetically.

"Darling, why are you automatically assuming somebody did something to it? It's the multiverse; a multiverse carnival at that. That thing cold have been set to blow up, despite what the Bagon says. And if it wasn't, well...who's the magical god you pissed off earlier?"

Odette didn't falter in her stance. She simply narrowed his eyes, rounding through his words like they were grains of sand. Such a smooth talker, he tried to be. Completely unaware of his tells.

But...she didn't know Robin from Adam. Was she just another person who played nice until they got wronged? Another psycho, like the guy she'd met at the last game?

With a tense frown on her face, she pointed her free hand out toward the group, not taking her eyes or the barrel of her gun off of Dorien. Her pointing finger landed on Dave.

"Truth or dare?"

 

[Dragonfree]

Gen looked back over at Dave. He'd said he went on an adventure with Saltriv, hadn't he?

"Um...wh-what was your adventure with Saltriv l-like?" the Oshawott asked.

Dave glanced over, raising an eyebrow. "I mean, it was pretty fucking ridiculous. Ever-escalating universe-destroying powers, bizarre characters, convoluted twists. But everything went okay in the end, I guess. Even saved all the villains because turns out they're just misunderstood. Real idealistic sort of place."

Soda. How was he by now? How long had it been, even? What a fucked-up situation. He was going to guess if Zinnia couldn't do anything for Gen (fucking Overseers had their paws in everything), he wasn't about to get any answers.

Jean was looking at him in awed fascination. This was going to set him years back on the convincing her not to play superhero, wasn't it. If they remembered any of it, anyway. Probably not.

Dave smirked as Wallace performed an awkward dance routine - hey, he knew that song. What were the fucking odds.

Wes scoffed. "Nothing. I'd rather sit back and watch the world burn."

After some hesitation, he added, "Though, if possible, I would at least try to save as many Pokémon as I reasonably could in that timeframe. Of course, the world will still burn, but..." His sentence trailed off and he shrugged.

Wes snarled at the implication of him being some high and mighty 'hero' that people could look up to.

"I only make the world better for the Pokémon. If any of my own Pokémon wanted me to, I'd personally kill every last human in Orre just to make sure no more Pokémon have to suffer."

Dave rolled his eyes. "Oh, great, we've got an edgy teen."

He glanced at Jean only to find her watching Wes with great admiration, obviously thinking he was the epitome of all that was cool. That... was not at all unexpected, actually. He sighed. "Jean, seriously?"

The short girl with the braids went on a rollercoaster, only for it to fucking explode and then she summoned a goddamn dragon that was no kind of Pokémon he'd ever heard of, and then her smarmy asshole boyfriend ran over and she pulled a fucking gun on him and threatened to blow his head off, and then all of a sudden she was pointing a finger at him.

"Jesus fuck." His heart pounded somewhere in this throat.

"You're supposed to say if you want truth or dare," Jean said, helpfully.

"I know how the game fucking works, Jean. What the fuck was that?"

"Then play!"

He took a deep breath. It didn't help much. "Fine. Truth. Put the gun down, for the love of Christ."

 

[Shiny Phantump]

"No," Lusamine objected, her tone of voice deadpan, "Keep pointing the gun at him. Keep him on his toes."

"What is that?" Mohn murmured, staring at Odile.

 

[Sinderella]

"I know how the game fucking works, Jean. What the fuck was that?"

"Then play!"

He took a deep breath. It didn't help much.

She heard somebody speak, and cut her gaze to Dave. She guessed that’s who was getting the question.

“Don’t tell me what to do,” she said under her breath, eyeing Dorien once more before fully turning to look at Dave.

“Truth? Okay. When’s the last time you really fucking wanted to kill somebody?” she asked, her eyes blazing with the last of her words.

“Odie, you really need to—“ Dorien started to say as he reached out to her.

BANG.

In a swift motion, Odette aimed the gun down at Dorien’s feet and shot. A single bullet discharged into the grass, mere centimeters from his left foot. The more unnerving point was that Dorien didn’t even flinch. He just looked annoyed now.

“Try it again,” Odette warned.

"No," Lusamine objected, her tone of voice deadpan, "Keep pointing the gun at him. Keep him on his toes."

"What is that?" Mohn murmured, staring at Odile.

Dorien exhaled sharply and shot daggers at Lusamine. “Hey look, your chronic bitch is showing again.”

His gaze then turned to Mohn, and he smiled angrily, making a wild gesture to the dragon. “What? You’ve never seen a legendary Pokemon of Wrath before?”

 

[MintyMimix]

He tried to imagine that he was sleep deprived and dancing in a Cardinal Plaza club so he had the guts to dance: swaying his arms and stepping in flowy, elegant circles. He looked like a graceful bird or a fool, maybe both, maybe a fool on the hill.

Well that was certainly something. She wasn't even sure how to react: should she clap? Sure, dance was a talent, but this song...

"I only make the world better for the Pokémon. If any of my own Pokémon wanted me to, I'd personally kill every last human in Orre just to make sure no more Pokémon have to suffer."

Lord have mercy, another lunatic. She took a few steps back from Wes, not ready to have a repeat of previous events.

(Everything)

Spoiler: tw: Anxiety attack

oh my god
Oh my God
OH MY GOD

She froze in place in a panic as everything transpired: an exploding console, giant dragon that was under Odette, Odette pulling out a gun, Dorien trying to pass off blame onto her... To say it was overwhelming to her would be to say that someone would find a building falling on their head to be a bit heavy.

what is that
what is this
what is going on
is that the bug she was talking about
this thing thinks shes a god
these people think im just like that
they're
all
INSANE

The soundscape around her faded into white noise as her anxiousness spiked. The ringing in her ears wouldn't cease as she darted from subject to subject, but always looping between the monster, the gun, and the pointed pair. Parts of her vision were blacking out at she had inadvertently stopped her breathing.

a dragon of sticks and stones that will break my bones
she said she was fine
how is this fine
how am i fine
why did i agree to this
why did i go along with this
why did i go along with what i did before
i feel like im falling
im fa
...........ll
..............i
...............n
................g.
yumi, solra, someone
please

BANG.

In a swift motion, Odette aimed the gun down at Dorien’s feet and shot. A single bullet discharged into the grass, mere centimeters from his left foot. The more unnerving point was that Dorien didn’t even flinch. He just looked annoyed now.

She sharply inhaled at the noise, waking her out of her stupor as she began breathing again. Her sister's names still echoed her mind as she repeated to herself slow it down, slow it down, deeper breaths, calmer breaths, 1..2..3..4. 1...2...3...4. 1....2....3....4.... She exhaled once more as her thoughts quieted and her ears began to listen in on the poignant silence after the gunshot.

His gaze then turned to Mohn, and he smiled angrily, making a wild gesture to the dragon. “What? You’ve never seen a legendary Pokemon of Wrath before?”

A legendary Pokémon...
She mouthed the words beneath her mask as she looked on, still shaking. Her brows furrowed as she looked towards Odette - no longer seeing a threat and a monster, but as someone calling for help beneath it all. But what she could do? She was just a human, just lying beneath the mask. She was...

...She was the Great Sage.

Maybe - just maybe - she could fake it til she made it.

She placed her hands together and looked down as she made the facsimile of a prayer.
"Oh, spirit of the stars, heed my wish..."
Her words turned to muffled gibberish as she lowered her voice. It didn't need to make sense; it just needed to seem convincing enough. If she could make that dragon or one of the pair hesitate - even for just a moment - that could buy someone with true power enough time to de-escalate the situation.

Or get her home. That would be nice, too.

 

[Dragonfree]

“Don’t tell me what to do,” she said under her breath, eyeing Dorien once more before fully turning to look at Dave.

“Truth? Okay. When’s the last time you really fucking wanted to kill somebody?” she asked, her eyes blazing with the last of her words.

“Odie, you really need to—“ Dorien started to say as he reached out to her.

BANG.

In a swift motion, Odette aimed the gun down at Dorien’s feet and shot. A single bullet discharged into the grass, mere centimeters from his left foot. The more unnerving point was that Dorien didn’t even flinch. He just looked annoyed now.

“Try it again,” Odette warned.

A spike of adrenaline shot through Dave at the sound of the gunshot and left an uncomfortable stinging in his limbs. (Brian, crumpling to the ground in front of him.) Good Christ, were these people fucking nuts?

"Maybe normal fucking human beings don't usually particularly want to kill anyone. What a concept."

Zinnia was looking at him. Some strange sense of danger hovered in the air. He'd played otherworldly truth or dare once before - a different game, organized by Diyem, but that one was under threat of some fucked-up black lightning. They hadn't exactly made the same explicit here as far as he could recall, but it was hard not to assume they had something of the sort going on too, wasn't it.

He folded his arms. "Okay, I'll bite. Shithead who shot two kids. Shadow-clone of him in the interdimensional nonsense world had just shot another."

Jean stared at him, eyes round.

"It was a fucking shadow-clone. Wasn't even alive in the first place. Jesus."