Hello Tower.

[thornythaumaturge]

[The video clicks on, showing a clearly worn out Jade Strider, with a small handful of bleeding scratches and some burn marks on her face, and for once completely lacking her "cool kid" composure. She's breathing heavily and obviously panicked, but compared to John Lalonde it looks like she got off easy-- in the background he can be seen leaning over some pile of debris near two chairs, his face reduced to a bloody and battered mess from an explosion. Both of them seem to have an extra collar on under their colored collars, linked by chains to a strange box on the ceiling of the Library.
When she started talking, it was hurried and rushed, and she sounded like she was about to cry.]

H-Hey-- the fucking bomb just-- blew the fuck up in John's f-face and there's metal and shit in his face and it's all fucked up and we ne--!

[Her sentence was cut short with the sound of a "snap," the chain suddenly retracting on both ends, violently pulling John away from the bomb's remains and Jade away from the computer terminal.

Given the way both of their bodies were now hanging limply from the ceiling, that "snap" wasn't just the sound of the mechanisms.

After a minute or so of that image, someone enters the screen. She looks similar to a popular movie icon, if anyone into horror movies are watching, but just a little more terrifying. She smiles, waving a wooden hand at the camera, before switching the feed off.]

i see the network is working properly again!
good, good. that makes this easier.
i want to play a game, my fellow tower mates.
do you think you can survive any better than these two?
it's a shame they couldn't follow the rules, isn't it?
hee hee hee.
i hope you all are ready.
oh, before i go, if anyone needs candy there's plenty to be found in the library!
i'm sure they won't be needing it.
:)

Comments

[heirterosexual]

holy shit, what just happened?

[thornythaumaturge]

they lost!
isn't that obvious?

[heirterosexual]

well somebody's lost something, that's for sure!
like you, and your mind!

[thornythaumaturge]

oh don't worry, my mind is most definitely still intact.
it may seem crazy, but honestly if they had simply listened more carefully, they would have lived!
i don't think they even learned anything from that.
tsk tsk.

[heirterosexual]

oh my god.
what were they even supposed to learn? you just kind of blew john's face off and then hung them! that is not okay!!

[knightime]

shit
jade
john
JADE? JOHN?
what the fuck is going on
what the ever loving fuck are you doing

[thornythaumaturge]

well, i *was* trying to teach them something, but they just weren't open to learning i guess!

[knightime]

so you killed them
holy shit how is that even ok
spoiler
it isnt ok
this is the opposite of ok
theyre your fucking friends
you dont just kill them because they went and fucked up

[thornythaumaturge]

it's completely okay.
i mean, if you think about it, we're a doomed timeline because someone fucked up, and so we had to die.
we may not be friends of the alpha timeline, but we're iterations of them aren't we?

[knightime]

[Oh no. No no no. He doesn't want to think about how they're a Doomed timeline from his timeline. Just no. Stop.]

its not ok
youre alive here
he was alive here
why are you even killing them?

[restitchtime]

[breathe in. breathe out. don't lose your shit, Strider. stop shaking. you're better than her, aren't you? for once, only once, in this horrible horrible moment you're better than her.

don't let her see you're affected by her bullshit.]

If you're trying to outdo the sociopathic killing record Lalonde set in your universe you're off to a pretty fucking pathetic start. You should stop now before you embarrass yourself even further.

[thornythaumaturge]

i'm not trying to outdo anything!
if i were trying to do that, i wouldn't have bothered giving them the chance to live.
i would have just killed them, hee hee.
them and a dave too, since that's what it would take to make it even i think.

[restitchtime]

You wouldn't have just killed them because that would have been too goddamn straightforward and we both know that, so don't even start with your bullshit. Especially when it sure sounds like you're gearing up for a couple more rounds of slasher theater.

[thornythaumaturge]

no no, i really would have.
i mean it wouldn't be that hard.
john has no magical ability to him whatsoever, and while jade is a time player, she's very trusting!
it was easy enough to knock her out with my magic, after all.
and i might be ready to continue my work, yes.
there are plenty of the inhabitants here who deserve it.

[restitchtime]

If you're going on a justice crusade then I'd suggest starting with the most obvious candidate and offing yourself. By the time you come back we'll have had a nice Batman straitjacket made up for you so you can foam at the mouth in peace while the adults do something actually fucking productive with their time.

[tortileghostwriter]

[No. No, no, no, no.

...ok. ok. breathe. stop the freakout. they'll be back. but...]

what the shit
what the FUCKING shit
no
you do not do that egbert

no one is allowed to fucking dream of doing that
not even you

[thornythaumaturge]

really?
because i kind of already did!
oops.

[tortileghostwriter]

believe me i noticed
oh did i notice
and dare i ask what you hoped to achieve with this little debacle

[thornythaumaturge]

well to be quite honest i hadn't planned on publicizing it.
at least not to this extent! it was jade who hit that button.
but i was trying to teach them a lesson.

[tortileghostwriter]

for fucking what
what lesson could this have possibly been meant to impart

Text Reply

[tohko_amano]

While I'm not interested in playing your game, I will thank you for letting me know about the candy! It was hard to find, but I managed to nab it.

Also, please don't get too messy with your games. It would be a pain to clean up afterwards if they did.

Text Reply

[thornythaumaturge]

i can't make any promises, but i suppose i can at least try.
there's no harm in being neat after all.
i'm glad they were useful to someone!
there will likely be more to come hee hee.

Re: Text Reply

[tohko_amano]

That's good! I'm glad to hear that you'll at least try. And if more candies do come out of your games, please hold them for me. It's rather important.

[thornythaumaturge]

well who exactly are you?
it will be a bit difficult to save any if i don't know who i'm saving them for!

[tohko_amano]

Oh, I'm sorry! I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Tohko Amano, the book girl. I'm wearing an embarrassing maid costume, and thanks to that, I have cuts on my body..and my fingers are now sharp blades.

I think you can find me with that information!