shiptrap || Day 3

[meatery]

When: Day Three
Who: Hinata (hopefragment) and Gi-ne (meatery)
Where: The General's private bathroom

[Gi-ne doesn't stay with the body for long before she heads back to the mansion. She'd wanted to see, wanted to make sure nothing else had been done to Stocking. When it became obvious that something had, she'd been... Surprisingly shocked. She was a saiyan. She'd seen gore before. She'd seen horrible things.

In the end, it took seeing her own final blow to Stocking's neck to calm her down. Gi-ne had killed her. She'd been dead. Shijima hadn't changed that somehow, as if that was even possible. Still, when she reaches the mansion it's only then that she realises her hands are (literally and metaphorically) covered in blood. So are her leggings. She starts to shake and she quickly makes her way to the bathroom, not paying attention to anyone following her. She slams the door shut behind her and turns on the tap.

Suddenly, with a start, she lashes out and slams her fist into the wall, leaving a considerable dent.]

Shit.

Comments

[hopefragment]

[Fortunately the only one following her was Hinata, and that was at a considerable-enough distance that no one should really be able to tell he was following her.

Fortunately the bathroom's not locked, and Hinata lets himself in after her, just in time to witness that punch. Woah there.]

Hey.

[His voice is quiet and slightly hoarse still from screaming earlier, from trying not to cry or vomit in front of everyone. At least he has the presence of mind to lock the door behind him.]

[meatery]

[Gi-ne freezes, only realising Hinata's there when she hears his voice. Then she hurries back to washing her hands.]

That damned cat was taunting me.

[hopefragment]

Kurookano.

[Obviously. Hinata didn't go anywhere near the body itself, so fortunately there's no blood on him.]

It's gonna be really hard to... talk to her normally. Especially after this.

[meatery]

"I wonder why they did this!" "I hope she was already dead!" "Someone strong enough to cut off her head!"

As if we both didn't know!

[Frustrated sigh. She splashes her face with water a few times before turning around.] ... I don't know if I can.

[hopefragment]

H-hey, calm down...

[Woah, this seems dangerous. Hinata almost regrets following her in here, but it's too late now.]

I know how you feel. Believe me, I know. But we've... we've got to beat her. We can't break the damn rules they put in place. Y-you've got to get back, right? So... we can't let her win.

[meatery]

[Gi-ne takes a deep breath. Hinata's right.] Kakarrot... Raditz...

[She has to get back. To warn them about Frieza. To make sure Kakarrot is safe on Earth.]

Okay. Okay, I'm sorry, I just... She just about admitted she did it as a reaction to me- urgh! I thought those two were friends!

[At least she sounds more frustrated than murderous now.]

[hopefragment]

You heard what that other Ivan told us. The "Judge." There's... there's got to be a reason Kurookano is doing this to the bodies. I know there's a meaning to it, and it has to do with her ultimate goal. Killing our Ivan.

[Yes, that's our Ivan, not the Overseer. Apparently(???) he's decided the original Ivan is on their side.]

So it might not have to do with friendship. For Kurookano, if she can break the cycle... that's probably enough for her, don't you think? We can't lose to her.

[meatery]

[Our Ivan, best Ivan.]

I can't think what all this is going to do, besides upset people... But I bet she'll try to get everyone to vote for Ivan tonight. We can't let her do that, if she breaks the cycle then everything will be a waste!

[hopefragment]

There's got to be a pattern to it. The Eye of Providence, or whatever? That's clearly got some significance. The last body, the eyes were closed... a-and then this time, Kurookano went through the effort of cutting her eyelids off. There's no way she was the one who'd closed Detective Skye's eyes. There's...

There's a reason behind it. I think the eyes might be key. I don't... I'm not sure. I... sorry, I can't... I can't look at her body myself. I can't.

[meatery]

[... Gi-ne puts her hands on Hinata's shoulders.]

Are you okay? ... I promise, she was dead when I left. [Like. Super dead.] She didn't feel a thing.

[Well, not once Gi-ne left.]

[hopefragment]

I'm... glad to hear that. I really am.

But I'm...

[He trails off and shakes his head, ahoge bouncing a little bit with the gesture.[

I'm scared, Gi-ne. I'm not... I'm not cut out for this. I'm not a warrior or a soldier o-or anything like that. I told everyone I'm fine, but... I don't know if I can keep doing this.

[meatery]

[She looks at Hinata in silence for a moment, not sure what to say. ]

... I quit being a soldier ten years ago. Watching people die, killing them, seeing people try to fight back when they didn't stand a chance- ... I couldn't take it. I'd be in the middle of battle, crying, and- and I nearly died a few times because of it.

[If Bardock hadn't saved her... If he'd been as disgusted by her as any normal saiyan would be...]

Killing people is hard. It... hurts. It's a difficult thing to get used to and not everyone can do it. Stocking is the first person I've killed in ten years and it wasn't easy. And- I don't think any of the others will be easy either.

[hopefragment]

[He stays quiet while she's speaking, and for several seconds afterward. He just nods now and again, to indicate that yes, he is listening, he just doesn't have anything to contribute. And even when she's stopped talking, he's still not sure if he has anything to contribute at all.]

I... It's not even just that. For this all to mean something... we have to win. Everybody is counting on us. And I'm scared that if Kurookano keeps doing what she's doing, it's going to be that much harder for us to win a game that's already stacked against us.

Remember what Ivan said? About how it should be painless and quick? Kurookano is deliberately going against that, and for what reason? We don't know.

[meatery]

[She was mostly just trying to show that he's not alone feeling like he's not cut out for it okay!! Murdermom is worried too! But they can get through it together!!]

This whole thing is a test, right? It's supposed to be hard- for them and for us. I don't think... This isn't supposed to be easy. It's hard for you, Clarine, me, Orion- [Tsuru and Hijitaka both seem fine, actually, so she won't count them] and the other Ivan doesn't think we can do it. Shijima is going to try to stop us. But all that means is that we have to prove them wrong. I survived everything ten years ago to have a happy life with Bardock and our sons and that's what we'll do here too. To prove to them that we deserve to live.

... But you know, she's not actually going against it. She's just making it look like she is.

[hopefragment]

Yeah. You're right.

[He feels like even the Super High School Level Gamer would find this difficulty level a little too high, though. Hinata just shakes his head and seems to deflate a little, leaning back against the locked door and closing his eyes with an exhale.]

You're right... Sorry, I'm...

A-anyway, are you alright? [She had been in quite a hurry to get into the bathroom to wash her hands, after all, and he'd cut her off a little about Shijima.]

[meatery]

Yeah, I'm fine. [Talking to someone openly, someone who needs her to be strong, helps a bit. She doesn't have to hide her frustration from Hinata.

Her hands are still wet though, so she goes to dry them now. Sorry if your shoulders are wet now, Hinata.]

It's just... I think the reason why Stocking looks so much worse than Ema is because of me.

[hopefragment]

...What do you mean?

[Gi-ne....

His shoulders are definitely wet, but he's going to let that go for now.]

[meatery]

Well, I wanted to kill Stocking quickly, and I remembered you worrying that even slitting someone's throat wasn't fast enough.

[Drying her hands.] So I thought "Why not ruin some of that cat's fun at the same time?" So after I got Stocking on the ground, I cut off her head. [Casual as anything.]

Anyway, I'm pretty sure she saw that as a challenge, so she hid that wound and made everything else like ten times worse. She was talking about getting "reactions" with me just now.

[hopefragment]

You cut off her head!?

[No matter how you look at it, that definitely sounds worse! He doesn't know anything about the scientific bits of killing someone, like precisely how many seconds it takes for someone to die from having their throat cut to having their head cut off, but it sounds really brutal!!

All of this sounds brutal to him. What a weenie.]

I-I see your point, I just...

[He's talking to someone who literally cut off someone else's head. This is. Something.]

[meatery]

After we fought for a while first, of course. I wasn't about to let her die without giving her a chance to defend herself.

[Done drying! Turns back to face Hinata again. She doesn't look happy about the subject, but hey. It was a thing.]

Actually I was planning on just breaking her neck, but she was a lot tougher than I expected. She put up a good fight.

[Smiles a little. See, she fought for her life, that's a good thing, Hinata! Seriously, she expects him to be reassured by that.]