PC: Sylvain

[mustbepurged]

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Week 0, Monday

[mustbepurged]

[Welcome to RNG Room #16! Estelle's found herself on one side of a confessional booth. The door closes behind her, leaving her trapped inside. She just stands there for a bit, considering what her options could be... when she hears a movement from the other side of the latticed divider.]

Hello? Is someone there?

[She bends down and brings her face close to the divider, trying to see through.]

[philandery]

[ please accept my default icons while dw continues to break on me sobbu

anyway before she speaks up, estelle might be able to catch sylvain grumbling in the darkness, ] This better not be—

—Someone here?

[ he peers through the divider too, and catches a glimpse of pink hair ]

Estelle, that you?

[mustbepurged]

Yes, it's me! You're... Sylvain?

[She can't see him very well, but... no, she's pretty sure it's him.]

The door won't open...

[philandery]

Heh, hope you weren't waiting for someone else.

[ he's teasing... he tests the door on his side, too. ]

No luck here, either. ...Didn't realize there was a cathedral in this place.

[ or just a singular confessional booth. hard to tell from the inside... ]

[mustbepurged]

A cathedral... like a church? I've never seen one like this before.

W1 / Monday / Doors

[philandery]

10. You open the door and find yourself standing on a seemingly endless road of rainbow loops around in dazzling colors with no barriers in sight. It’s live and die gloriously on the Rainbow Road out here, binches. A huge variety of vehicles are lined up: go-karts, bikes, pick-up trucks, a very confused horse, motorcycles, etc. It seems like someone making this might not be super familiar with your concept here, but is trying hard. As you start driving around it, you can race your fellows in good sport (or bad sport) - there’s friendly signage posted to see how many laps you’ve done, and countdown timers, all the things you’d expect. Unfortunately you’ll find each one of these vehicles is increasingly hard to control, and it might just send you careening off the edge and into endless space … and down … and down … it seems there’s no one to fish you out of it. You get the feeling that you will have to race to get out of here. If you fall, you will fall for an exceedingly long time, feeling as though someone is laughing at you, before you find yourself back in the hallway, disoriented and sore, as if you've just been in an accident - although there is no physical injury on you. If you somehow manage to win your race without falling, you will find yourself out in the hallway again, a little disoriented but vaguely prideful. If you lose your race without falling, you find yourself out in the hallway again, disoriented and motion sick. Only four minutes have passed.

[ it's time for go-kart racing... on Rainbow Road... sylvain looks extremely unsettled by their surroundings, and also by the contraption he's in. is this... space...???? ]

We're seriously supposed to follow this track...?

[ UNSURE HOW THEY'RE SUPPOSED TO DO ANY OF THOSE LOOP?? what the hell is that super improbable gap in the middle of the track with a ramp leading into nothing??? ]

Uh, have you got any idea how this thing even works?

[ he tentatively tests the steering wheel and pedals, and yelps when the go-kart immediately lurches backwards ]

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[Estelle finds herself in a very pink and princess-y go-kart. She looks around in a panic.]

W, we're in space!?

[Oh. Hi Sylvain. It took a moment to notice him amidst the (gestures at everything).]

I don't know... I've never-- Aaah! [His vehicle lurches, and she just yelps in surprise at the same time he does.]

[philandery]

[ it's true he probably blends right into the chaos of color. the rainbow road is starting to make his eyes water with how obnoxiously bright it is. ]

Sorry-!

[ he manages to find the brakes, and slams them on. very gingerly, he releases it, and tests the foot pedal again. he slowly... so slowly... embarrassingly slowly... inches back to the starting line...........

with half-serious solemness, ] I don't think I'll make it, Estelle. You should go on without me.

[ (unfortunately, it does not seem like either of them know how 2 drive) ]

[mustbepurged]

Y-you'll make it! Hang in there...

[A flying koopa signals the beginning of the race.

3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . . START!

In that instant, Estelle finds the gas pedal. Her go-kart jolts forward, accelerating suddenly. She drives right into some mushroom-man in front of her, and sends him and his vehicle flying off the edge.]

-- I'm sorry!! Oh no...

W1 / Saturday / Post-Trial

[philandery]

[ he'll try to catch her after the trial! possibly somewhere in the hallway ]

Hey... How're you holdin' up...?

[ it was an upsetting trial all around, but there's something else he wants to ask about... ]

[mustbepurged]

I... I'm okay. I feel terrible about what happened today, but...

[She shakes her head. Her eyes are a little red, and it sure looks like she was crying earlier. But her voice is steady now.]

... I know it would have ended terribly no matter what.

How about you?

[philandery]

Yeah. ...There's really no winning in this place.

[ oh sweet estelle... :( ]

I'm all right. I was wondering, though...

[ he looks sheepish if not sorry to be bringing this up ] —And you don't have to talk about it if you don't wanna.

But I noticed, during certain parts of trial... You seemed pretty anxious. Did something happen to you before?

[ his posture goes a little rigid, like he's expecting to get slapped for asking ]

[mustbepurged]

Oh, um...

[Yeah, she does look a little uncomfortable. But she doesn't want to just brush him off, either.]

... The last place I was in, we didn't just have one or two deaths each week. People would die suddenly... any day of the week, but also during the trial... while they were out investigating, or even while we were gathered together to talk and examine one another.

W3 / Monday

[philandery]

[ the memory estelle will receive:

You've been sent with your classmates to apprehend your disowned brother, who has stolen and fled with the relic of House Gautier. The chase leads you up the spiraling steps of Conand Tower, a grueling path through no small number of hostile bandits and brigands.

What awaits you at the top is a (CW: mild body horror/transformation) living nightmare. You watch as your brother is consumed by the power of the relic, his body twisted into that of a monster. The Lance of Ruin was never his to bear, and despite everything he's done to you, every hell he has put you through, you can only watch in horror.

And then you take his life. And you don't feel relief, or even vindication—just self-loathing.

... ]

[mustbepurged]

[The vision ends, and Estelle looks horrified.]

Sylvain...

I don't know what kind of brother he was, but... I'm sorry...

[philandery]

...Sorry, Estelle. You shouldn't have had to see that.

[ he looks slightly abashed ]

He's wasn't a very good brother. But he's gone now, and I'm all right.

[mustbepurged]

I... if you say so...

[She looks concerned, though.]

That relic... your family had it? Did it always have such power...?

Week 4, Friday

[mustbepurged]

[Estelle's been in her room since the announcement, but at some point, she'll step out into the hallway -- just as Sylvain happens to be there. Her eyes are red -- it's clear that she's been crying.]

Sylvain, um...

[She looks like she's considering what kind of greeting to use at a time like this, but her eyes just drift to the door next to hers -- Rupert's. Her voice fails her.]

[philandery]

[ he wants to walk over and give her a tight hug, but... she looks so fragile to him right now. and he's not feeling particularly durable himself. ]

...I'm sorry.

[mustbepurged]

I... I just can't believe it. Rupert's one of my dearest friends here, and Kaeya... he's done so much for me, too...

[She looks a bit pale.]

[philandery]

[ he nods, and steps a little closer to her. reaches out touch her cheek—just a brief brush. ]

I'm having trouble accepting it myself.

Kaeya's... [ he has to stop and clear his throat. ] ...He's been there for me ever since I stepped foot in this hotel.

W5 / Thursday / Pre-Curfew

[philandery]

[ after they've made a copy of the VHS to share, he'll escort estelle back to her room, lingering by her door ]

...Do you want to talk about it? What happened...?

[ he doesn't want to leave her alone like this, left with what has to be so much bottled up guilt and pain ]

[mustbepurged]

[She stops at the door, her gaze downward.]

I... I hurt someone again.

[philandery]

...It wasn't real, and it wasn't you. If it really was, you wouldn't be mourning your actions. You wouldn't have bothered shedding any tears.

[ ... ]

The only one you hurt was yourself. Because that's what... that's what that thing wanted. To tear you down in a way that would hurt you the most.

[mustbepurged]

I... I want to believe that...

It's just... everywhere I go, no matter what I do, people get hurt because of me. Last time... it was you, wasn't it?