# 6 6

 ❝ If you want to ʟɪᴠᴇ,                  then you must sᴜʀᴠɪᴠᴇ. ❞ [ semi-selective & independent PostManga Lal Mirch ]

[lalmiirch-blog]

     “ ... I have something of an idea. ” Lal still appears exhausted, despite her impromptu nap — a few precious hours of rest, in exchange for two petals. She ignores the lack for now, however, resolving to visit a vase later; bandages wrapped around her limbs conceal the worst of the damage for now.

     “ If you take as many sleeping pills as safely possible and let yourself pass out, you’ll lose two petals, but on the other hand you’d only lose those two petals and be able to sleep enough to regain some ground. ”

     It’s an insane idea, likely powered by sleep deprivation. Do they even have sleeping pills and such, here? She’s never checked.

[lalmiirch-blog]

     A cup filled with cold water slips from her limp grasp and spills across the floor — she registers the motion with a slow blink, as several seconds pass and she struggles to pull her thoughts together. Given a minute, she’ll lean over to pick up the cup—

     — And Lal promptly crumples in a heap, dead asleep.

     The painting appears and reaches for her rose ( slipped out of its pocket ) with gnashing teeth at the ready. Fortunately, however, with how exhausted Lal is, the pain only causes her to twitch and cringe in her sleep instead of actually rousing her. ( It might’ve even sparked nightmares, if she hadn’t been too tired to dream. )

[[ 2 petals lost ! ]]

[childrenswar-archived-blog]

The child’s expression went flat as she looked downwards.

“Monaka can’t go down there… You have to jump to get in… and take stairs to get out… No elevators at all.”

Her hands tightened around the armrests of her wheelchair.

“But if Monaka’s friends are really down there…”

[lalmiirch-blog]

     It takes a moment for Lal to register the words and their meaning; she’s mildly alien to the idea of fear being a dissuader, but — she supposes it makes sense. The other has only the stature of a child ( though of course that means nothing, in the long run ), and the painting is a touch intimidating.

     ... Lal sighs. She’s too tired for all of this — but whatever.

     “ I’ve been contemplating going down, to at least see for myself the setup down there, ” she says. “ You can come with, if you’d rather not do so alone. ”

[colonelloldier]

“Who the hell would ever be prepared for you?…” At least, as long as it were anyone who was not Colonello, who had had plenty of experiences with Lal’s demonic training in the past, he thought. And here his own lackeys claimed that he was a Spartan teacher—–they obviously had not known that there existed the Spartan teacher.

“You could at least use less strength, ordinary people can’t take you easily, kora.” He squatted by a body and lifted a hand to see if there was any ounce of life left in it. “What did they even do to you?”

[lalmiirch-blog]

     “ Anyone who decides to run their mouths should be prepared for the repercussions. ” Although Lal does debate — for a scarce moment — of whether or not to attack Colonello for that remark, in the end she decides it’s not worth the effort. ( No doubt it would somehow erupt into a full-blown, proper spar, and while stepping between falling bodies would surely be good practice, she figures it’d only be messy in the long run. )

     Eyes narrow quickly and her features twist with displeasure. “ Nobody here should be considered ‘ ordinary ’ enough for that. ” Only civilians, and even then, there are of course exceptions. People who are simply new ( and very, very naïve ) do not get such benefits. “ ... They challenged my authority, so I showed them exactly why they should listen. ”

[lalmiirch-blog]

     If anyone would bother to listen closely, hissed swears in muted Italian echo from Lal’s lips with every step she takes. Her sight fades in an out of focus, occasionally fading to near-blackness before abruptly crashing back into color.

     ... The auditory hallucinations don’t help, either. Every nonexistent whisper jerks her head to the side as she struggles to locate its source ( a threat? ), and it gradually takes longer and longer to force herself to continue.

     This won’t last much longer.

[childrenswar-archived-blog]

@lalmiirch

Time to ask someone able-bodied what she had been dying to know…

“… Do you know if Mary was telling the truth? About everyone’s loved ones? If they’re down there?”

[lalmiirch-blog]

     “ ... I can’t say for sure, but I — for one — believe it. ” Exhaustion loosens her nerves ( for now; beware, to all who dare approach Lal in later days ), but her gaze is still pinched. “ ... Not that I’ve gone myself and checked... Are you thinking of going down and looking? ”

[detectiveofmysteries-archive]

“I’m keeping active as well, though I don’t know how long I’m going to hold out if this goes on.” Sure, she’d pulled all nighters before, but she always got sleep afterwards. Already her reactions seemed a bit slower, which wouldn’t be good if something happened. 

“I want this to end, but…” 

[lalmiirch-blog]

     “ Try to take notice of where there are vases. It’s better to be knocked out somewhere near them, just in case your flower gets eaten — though, optimally, it’s best to avoid passing out at all. ” Lal watches her fingers for a moment ( they don’t tremble quite yet, but sometimes they twitch against her will ) before gazing back to the other.

     “ ... It doesn’t help that the end requires either relying on ‘ Mary ’ or on someone’s death, right? ”

[lalmiirch-blog]

     “ The only thing this noise is doing is giving me a headache. ” Which means it’s time to leave and start traversing the halls again. Maybe she would’ve enjoyed the music some more if she hadn’t been so irritable from lack of sleep, but. Nothing much could be done about that.

[lalmiirch-blog]

     Due to past experiences, Lal knows how the lack of sleep gets to her — unfortunately, those thoughts keep escaping her grasp, flickering in and out of reach. ( Which. Seems about par for the course. ) It takes far too long to finally recall those memories.

     ... Well. Time for another cup of coffee it is. And then a continuum of walking, to stay moving and — most importantly — awake.

[lalmiirch-blog]

@colonelloldier

     “ I did not harass or ‘ pick on ’ them, they annoyed me and I retaliated. It’s their own faults for not being prepared. ” Additionally, of course, was the damage to the training room — and to the aforementioned people’s bodies — but Lal appears distinctly not regretful. ( In fact, her gaze flatly demands to know who sparked such ludicrous accusations. )

[detectiveofmysteries-archive]

“No, I’m not…” Sera yawned as she spoke, her exhaustion showing in her larger than normal eye bags and the cup of coffee she was clinging to. “Why, are you falling asleep?”

[lalmiirch-blog]

     “ It’ll take more than a single day to tire me out that much, ” Lal replied, though she was keenly aware that it would — inevitably — come at some point. “ And I’m just making sure. Personally, I’ve gone with less sleep before. ” Not none, for an undefined stretch of days, however. “ Have any plans beyond relying on caffeine? ”

[lalmiirch-blog]

     “ You’re not falling asleep, are you? ” Actually, did the paintings know the difference between letting eyes rest and being completely asleep...?

[lalmiirch-blog]

     Alright, logically speaking — if things continue on for long enough — it’s strictly impossible for most people ( assuming a regular human constitution ) to remain awake throughout the entire... ‘ game. ’

     “ ... It might be a good idea to locate all vases and distribute a map of them, ” she remarks. “ There’s bound to be someone who falls asleep, so better to be safe than sorry, if these paintings have a taste for flowers. ”

[lalmiirch-blog]

asdFGHJKL I’M SORRY FOR VANISHING FOR A WHILE, life and other muses kinda got in the way. I will be participating in this chapter of FW, however I’m dropping all current threads because things have progressed a ton and most of ‘em are kinda outdated. sorry! I’ll be poking around starter calls in the meantime, however.

( additionally I will be tweaking my formatting again to be less complicated, because I’m tired ri p )

[lalmiirch-blog]

     “And that’s not disturbing at all.” It sounds like sarcasm, but it’s actually just a completely deadpan observation.

[lalmiirch-blog]

     She doesn’t look away. Lal has seen the most gruesome deaths before, and she hadn’t looked away from any of  t h o s e  , either — a long history of death has  numbed  her from the nausea,  but that  isn’t  to say that she’s  O K A Y  with such a thing. In fact, considering that  this  execution would rank as one of the WORST things she’s seen in over 50 years’ worth of memories...

     And so things begin, so do they continue to happen. She expects this will not be the last time a trial is held and an execution carried out — the latter  SUPPOSING  that people put together the facts in time. Looking between  horrified  faces, however... This is quite a  familiar  situation. ( How many times has she witnessed a first brush with a brutal death? Too many to count. )

     “Maybe,” she says, voice stiffer than usual, “this will help drive home the fact that we’re in  less  of a  game  and  more  of a DEATH  match.” Arcobaleno, her mind supplies, and the  t r i a l s  they had to go through. The battles. Her lips twist in distaste.

[lalmiirch-blog]

     Nope. Clothes are staying on. Excuse.