[There isn’t anything he can do with his hands or arms, so he just… shoves the hand back into the glove. God.]
I can’t stand psychological warfare unless I’m the one doing it.
[In one fluid motion, he picks himself up to his feet. He hesitates—then offers out a hand to help Cloud up. Which he probably grimaces about because THEIR HANDS!]
Going through another one? I wonder if they’re the same or worse because it’s more than one person.
[ cloud takes the hand by reflex. this is a mistake because it hurts like heck on the little cuts and would've been better to just pull himself up alone, but no one said either of them were smart. ]
Dunno. Sounds to me like psychological warfare number one was the worst one for you. [ this isn't even a quip or judgment, it's just a fact going by how Jason reacted then VS now? ] And I told you, I'll tap out when you do.
[ they are going to do the entire fucking hallway at this rate ]
[them, using their hurt hands: ow why is this happening
He sort of frowns bitterly about what Cloud says. Not at Cloud, just at the circumstance of this place immediately kind of tossing him into his own funeral? It's fucked up.]
Yeah, well. [He doesn't explain.] Maybe nothing can be as bad as that one then.
[He glances down the hallway, then to the door near them.] Actually... I want to try something. Preferably with a not so bad door. [He turns to the door they just went in and came out of, opening it up so they can go inside. If it's the mirrors again, they'll know what to watch out for and what to do to get out. It won't be so bad.
But he wants to see if...
They are greeted by an art gallery full of paintings. It's very Layers of Fear in here. The paintings wrap around the walls of the room and disappear down a little hallway adjacently.] So the doors aren't in any order. [I am godmoding the mods here.
Anyhow, look at these images of people they know from home and other games! Dick is here! And a very elegant looking white woman with brown hair; that's Ivan. There's a man with cat ears and a tail with a shit-eating smirk; that's Auger. Jason audibly sucks his teeth under his breath at this one as he walks.]
Bastard.
[What's funny is about three or so paintings down is Sephiroth. It's a young Sephiroth, about twenty, so it is probably Jason's Sephiroth, but who knows? Considering they both are familiar with this Sephiroth anyway. The psychological horror is that neither of them know who this Sephiroth belongs to actually. Spooky.]
Edited (wait i forgot my other part) 2022-06-08 15:33 (UTC)
There's no telling if there's not an infinite amount of possibilities to them either, then.
[ he'll point it out. he'll be the pessimist again. i hate that i understood the layehrs of fear reference. anyway, cloud follows and looks at the paintings with a kind of frown because he is learning so much about jason today and he is not sure he wanted to, and also because he is keeping an eye out for his own paintings.
he knew sephiroth when he was younger from the news and also from joining the stupid army at fourteen. unfortunately he has one reflex when he sees sephiroth whether it's in a painting, a hallucination, real or any combination of the above. it could be anything. his mental health ain't doing great right now. ]
You--! [ he has a hand on his sword before he realizes it's a painting. he got absolutely jumpscared by a painting and he kind of relaxes, looking stiff and annoyed. he is filled with anger. he is not noticing the painting of emet in the background. i know i have to pick people from the game but i am still too lazy to remember so it starts with emet because that's my running gag ]
[He isn't walking fast through the gallery, but he is also not exactly trying to look very hard at all these damn paintings of people he has met, or people he cares about. Out of the corner of his eye, some of them seem like they've melted, or they have a ghastly face.
But when he turns to look at them head-on, they are as normal as they had been before.
Cloud gets spooked by the Sephiroth paintings, and Jason gets jumpscared by Cloud being spooked. All of the muscles in his body tense in preparation, and he whips around--oh. Emet is just Norted Sephiroth, idk. Same difference.]
[ cloud isn't even looking at the emet painting still, he is too busy having a staring contest with painting sephiroth. a completely sane and normal thing to do ]
[Hm. He looks from Cloud to the painting of Sephiroth. His hamster wheel is turning. He is kind of making a bit of a leap here, but things are adding up. It's--the eyes probably.]
S'that your guy? [The confessional one.] Sephiroth. [Surprise, Jason knows a name.]
Jason looks again at the Sephiroth painting. He really feels like he's missing something here, but after the confessional, he thinks he understands what's happened. Maybe.]
Uh. He... actually... wasn't so bad of a guy. [But Jason immediately holds up both hands in surrender and defense.] You said he was a war hero, right? I think it might have been... before the, you know.
[He twirls a finger by his head.]
He was my age. He was actually our second execution, and he was innocent. We fucked up. Everyone thought he sounded guilty because he was trying to persuade us to look more closely at someone else since their story sounded suspicious.
[ cloud, IMMEDIATELY bristling, but... the explanation makes sense. he's seen for himself some of the weird time junk in places. or even alternate universes (sora kingdom hearts, hi?). so he just looks away with a scoff.
he is bitter though; ]
Too bad it didn't stick. Would've saved me a lot of trouble. [ it's probably not how that works! but also! FUCK sephiroth. all his homies hate sephiroth. etc. ] So he died the second day there?
[HOLD ON, CHILL OUT. Damn. Jason gets taken out for stanning pre-psychotic Sephiroth (no).]
Yeah, he did. Actually, kind of glad he did after our little heart-to-heart in the box. Maybe he would have went off the rails there if he had stayed alive.
[He glances at Cloud. Okay, he feels a little bad for the guy. But he's not sure saying "sorry, buddy, for your trauma" will help in any way. So instead:]
[ i can't wait until jason gets to learn the lore that sephiroth learned about his mom and then went on a rampage. i'm sure that's not relatable.
well. he's not going to lie watching jason step on baby sephiroth is satisfying, and the cool thing with paintings is if you step on it hard enough you go through. because they are canvas.
so cloud joins in ]
This your idea of a good time?
[ he says, having stepped through sephiroth's dumb stupid face <3 ]
Is it really torture if it doesn't try to kill you seven times?
[ but yeah, he'll take point and keep walking. but he will also keep away from looking at the paintings of the ff7 party. and also maybe lup is there, for fun. ]
[HEY FLURRY IF YOU ARE READING THIS LATER ZIA PUT LUP IN CLOUD’S GALLERY PAINTINGS!!!!!!!
Jason follows alongside Cloud. He also isn’t trying to look directly at the paintings still, but he can’t help any glances.
Dislike all the Bat family ones, honestly. But there is also one with a tall and armored woman in it? She is with a kind of ugly, malformed looking buff guy in a blue and red spandex onesie.
Jason sort of slows down to look. But when he does, the two of them are laid out in rubble, broken and blood. Hm.]
[ HOW IS THIS A SECRET!!!! adds bunny and fox to cloud's paintings. friends.
anyway, jason asks and cloud turns to look. wow. what a beautiful painting of people fucking dying. terrible that there is more of that around now that he is actually looking and not deliberately ignoring the gallery.
how come sephiroth is the only one not dyin!!! bitch!!!! ]
... Somehow, I think this is just the start of it. [ he nudges jason lightly ] C'mon, let's keep going.
[ is the feeling maybe guilt at seeing a bunch of people they know dying? maybe. maybe! who can say. cloud resolutely ignores them and keeps walking ]
I'm not getting the same feeling as when we were with those mirrors, though. So maybe they won't crawl out. [ ... but yeah, uh; ] Downside is it might mean we're stuck here a while with just bad art for company.
[If it wasn’t for the carnage, Bruce would look somehow like a regal and well put together man. Jason knows he isn’t. Then again, Bruce may be lying shot to hell and back in Crime Alley, but he’s still in a fancy boy’s club suit.
If you have money, you can always look regal and put together even being murdered.]
Yeah. That’s him.
[Is it weird when a black-haired, blue-eyed man keeps adopting children who look exactly like him?]
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[There isn’t anything he can do with his hands or arms, so he just… shoves the hand back into the glove. God.]
I can’t stand psychological warfare unless I’m the one doing it.
[In one fluid motion, he picks himself up to his feet. He hesitates—then offers out a hand to help Cloud up. Which he probably grimaces about because THEIR HANDS!]
Going through another one? I wonder if they’re the same or worse because it’s more than one person.
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Dunno. Sounds to me like psychological warfare number one was the worst one for you. [ this isn't even a quip or judgment, it's just a fact going by how Jason reacted then VS now? ] And I told you, I'll tap out when you do.
[ they are going to do the entire fucking hallway at this rate ]
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He sort of frowns bitterly about what Cloud says. Not at Cloud, just at the circumstance of this place immediately kind of tossing him into his own funeral? It's fucked up.]
Yeah, well. [He doesn't explain.] Maybe nothing can be as bad as that one then.
[He glances down the hallway, then to the door near them.] Actually... I want to try something. Preferably with a not so bad door. [He turns to the door they just went in and came out of, opening it up so they can go inside. If it's the mirrors again, they'll know what to watch out for and what to do to get out. It won't be so bad.
But he wants to see if...
They are greeted by an art gallery full of paintings. It's very Layers of Fear in here. The paintings wrap around the walls of the room and disappear down a little hallway adjacently.] So the doors aren't in any order. [I am godmoding the mods here.
Anyhow, look at these images of people they know from home and other games! Dick is here! And a very elegant looking white woman with brown hair; that's Ivan. There's a man with cat ears and a tail with a shit-eating smirk; that's Auger. Jason audibly sucks his teeth under his breath at this one as he walks.]
Bastard.
[What's funny is about three or so paintings down is Sephiroth. It's a young Sephiroth, about twenty, so it is probably Jason's Sephiroth, but who knows? Considering they both are familiar with this Sephiroth anyway. The psychological horror is that neither of them know who this Sephiroth belongs to actually. Spooky.]
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[ he'll point it out. he'll be the pessimist again. i hate that i understood the layehrs of fear reference. anyway, cloud follows and looks at the paintings with a kind of frown because he is learning so much about jason today and he is not sure he wanted to, and also because he is keeping an eye out for his own paintings.
he knew sephiroth when he was younger from the news and also from joining the stupid army at fourteen. unfortunately he has one reflex when he sees sephiroth whether it's in a painting, a hallucination, real or any combination of the above. it could be anything. his mental health ain't doing great right now. ]
You--! [ he has a hand on his sword before he realizes it's a painting. he got absolutely jumpscared by a painting and he kind of relaxes, looking stiff and annoyed. he is filled with anger. he is not noticing the painting of emet in the background. i know i have to pick people from the game but i am still too lazy to remember so it starts with emet because that's my running gag ]
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But when he turns to look at them head-on, they are as normal as they had been before.
Cloud gets spooked by the Sephiroth paintings, and Jason gets jumpscared by Cloud being spooked. All of the muscles in his body tense in preparation, and he whips around--oh. Emet is just Norted Sephiroth, idk. Same difference.]
...You good? Know that guy?
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Unfortunately.
[ cloud explain! no. ]
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S'that your guy? [The confessional one.] Sephiroth. [Surprise, Jason knows a name.]
...He was with us on the island.
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Sephiroth? [ yes that's what he said, cloud. ] On your murder purgatory island? And you guys actually made it out?
[ WOW CLOUD ]
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Jason looks again at the Sephiroth painting. He really feels like he's missing something here, but after the confessional, he thinks he understands what's happened. Maybe.]
Uh. He... actually... wasn't so bad of a guy. [But Jason immediately holds up both hands in surrender and defense.] You said he was a war hero, right? I think it might have been... before the, you know.
[He twirls a finger by his head.]
He was my age. He was actually our second execution, and he was innocent. We fucked up. Everyone thought he sounded guilty because he was trying to persuade us to look more closely at someone else since their story sounded suspicious.
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he is bitter though; ]
Too bad it didn't stick. Would've saved me a lot of trouble. [ it's probably not how that works! but also! FUCK sephiroth. all his homies hate sephiroth. etc. ] So he died the second day there?
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Yeah, he did. Actually, kind of glad he did after our little heart-to-heart in the box. Maybe he would have went off the rails there if he had stayed alive.
[He glances at Cloud. Okay, he feels a little bad for the guy. But he's not sure saying "sorry, buddy, for your trauma" will help in any way. So instead:]
...Want to destroy it?
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[ ominous. anyway, he shakes his head and finally looks away from sephiroth ]
Yeah, but twenty gil says we do that and there's ten more that pop up. Not worth the effort.
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Maybe he’s a bit interested in what made this dude go bonkers.]
We’re in this shit hole for who knows how long. Might as well take advantage of what we can in the rooms that keep messing with us, right?
[Jason is an agent of chaos and I, personally, hate it. He steps forward and reaches up to grab the edge of the painting and
yank it down onto the floor. Then he steps on it.]
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well. he's not going to lie watching jason step on baby sephiroth is satisfying, and the cool thing with paintings is if you step on it hard enough you go through. because they are canvas.
so cloud joins in ]
This your idea of a good time?
[ he says, having stepped through sephiroth's dumb stupid face <3 ]
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He gives Cloud opportunity to smush them dumb Sephiroth painting. For what it’s worth, nothing bad seems to happen (right now).]
Nothing brings faster stress relief sometimes than just breaking shit.
[The gives the corner a lil stomp to break the frame.]
It’s something I can fondly think about when we end up getting jumped by paint and brushes in about three minutes when we keep going.
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[ wrong room! but close! ]
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[He lifts his chin to indicate the rest of the gallery.]
Good now? Ready to keep going through Galeria Infernum?
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[ but yeah, he'll take point and keep walking. but he will also keep away from looking at the paintings of the ff7 party. and also maybe lup is there, for fun. ]
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Jason follows alongside Cloud. He also isn’t trying to look directly at the paintings still, but he can’t help any glances.
Dislike all the Bat family ones, honestly. But there is also one with a tall and armored woman in it? She is with a kind of ugly, malformed looking buff guy in a blue and red spandex onesie.
Jason sort of slows down to look. But when he does, the two of them are laid out in rubble, broken and blood. Hm.]
You think they ever get tired of the mind games?
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anyway, jason asks and cloud turns to look. wow. what a beautiful painting of people fucking dying. terrible that there is more of that around now that he is actually looking and not deliberately ignoring the gallery.
how come sephiroth is the only one not dyin!!! bitch!!!! ]
... Somehow, I think this is just the start of it. [ he nudges jason lightly ] C'mon, let's keep going.
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He glances back, refocusing when he's bumped.] Right. [Down the hell hallway. Which just leads... into another room gallery area?
These new pictures he frowns at. A lot of them are the same people that have shown up before, but they are in various terrible instances.]
You feeling watched again? How long have we been in this damn place?
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[ is the feeling maybe guilt at seeing a bunch of people they know dying? maybe. maybe! who can say. cloud resolutely ignores them and keeps walking ]
I'm not getting the same feeling as when we were with those mirrors, though. So maybe they won't crawl out. [ ... but yeah, uh; ] Downside is it might mean we're stuck here a while with just bad art for company.
[ It's Not A Great Time. ]
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He's feeling a smidgen guilty.]
You know, if they did, I wouldn't even be surprised. I'm not surprised by anything anymore, and it's only been a few rooms.
[He glares sourly at the artwork as they keep going. It really is just all very bad now. There is nothing good in this life anymore.
He pointedly looks away from an Alfred one, but he does slow to a stop in front of a Bruce one so he can mean mug it a little.]
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... That your mentor?
[ he's guessing. he's making a mean mug face and it does NOT look like a clown. ]
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If you have money, you can always look regal and put together even being murdered.]
Yeah. That’s him.
[Is it weird when a black-haired, blue-eyed man keeps adopting children who look exactly like him?]
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