𝓡𝓲𝓵𝓮𝔂 𝓦𝓲𝓵𝓵𝓲𝓪𝓶𝓼 (
isawallflower) wrote2020-11-01 10:20 pm
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Entry tags:
RYSLIG; ic inbox
WELCOME TO YOUR PRIVATE CHANNEL, CHEERYCHERRY. FOR SECURE COMMUNICATION, USE 019.46.820.17 *** CHEERYCHERRY has joined 019.46.820.17 <CHEERYCHERRY> It's Riley! <CHEERYCHERRY> Please leave a message! <CHEERYCHERRY> Please be someone with their priorities sorted out properly! | ||||
main: CheeryCherry
anonymous: panthera, aed
retired: gflynn (anon)
We Are The Bears
She even flies, to save time and also because the bus system is disgusting. She doesn’t try to be coy about it either, breaking one of the skylights with the same bat she’d gotten from her arrival at the mall.
The place is quiet and dark. Falling through the skylight, she enters into a basement that’s very dimly lit with security lights. Celeste takes a moment to look around the display, and faintly wonders who it could belong t-
There’s a cheerleading uniform, hanging benignly in a flat, glass case.
---------
It’s been several days since Celeste discovered her own exhibit, and Riley’s as well. She had the opportunity to look around at her classmates but… had walked away instead. Somehow, she finds herself wanting to know less and less about the secrets they were keeping. Or maybe it’s because she knows it won’t… change anything. Will it?
Either way. Riley’s exhibit had been… enlightening, and had given her own suspicions some purchase. This was something she felt less willing to let go of, goodness knows why. So one day, when she’s fairly certain Riley is home, she sends her a message over the network:
|Private Message:|
< VersaillesWitch >
We still have your cookie tin, Williams-san. Would there be a time I could bring it over today?
no subject
In a strange, horrible twist, Celestia may be the best one to send this message from apartment 807. Komaeda is too unpredictable for her to feel comfortable, and Riley doesn't know how she's going to begin to talk to Mukuro again, or if she even wants— no, no she wants to. It gnaws at her and she hates it.
That's neither here nor there. She doesn't have to think about it right now. Out of sight, out of mind.
Overall, she doesn't think anything of it, when she replies. ]
|Private Message:|
Whenever.
You can just leave it outside if you want to!
[ She kind of hopes Celestia will do that, which is why she suggested it; less chance for a conversation. ]
no subject
Should she actually answer it, there's Celeste, done up in her usual makeup and heels for added height, smiling benignly and holding the little tin in her hands.]
Good evening, Williams-san. I know you mentioned I could leave this outside, but I had the strangest thing happen the other day and was wondering if we could chat?
[A pause.]
I won't take up too much of your time.
no subject
The knock, therefore, is incredibly welcome. To avoid the problem of Maple the escape artist, she places him in his soft carrier, before he can start causing trouble. She answers the door with a smile, one that stays on her face even after her hopes of a quick encounter are dashed. ]
Strange? Oh, uhm... I suppose so. I'm probably not the best person to ask, but, sure~
[ She doesn't move from the doorway, still, hoping to cut this short as she takes the cookie tin. ]
no subject
Thank you! But it's a rather, ah, private. I hate to impose, but may I come in?
[Hate to impose? Yeah fuckin' right, they both know that's bullshit. Still, she's not so cruel as to grill Riley about a murder in the hallway. And. Well she doesn't want to risk the harpy slamming the door in her face if she gets nervous.]
no subject
Um... Sure~ Come on in, make yourself...comfy.
[ She spins around to take the tin to the kitchen, that smile falling the moment she's sure Celeste can't see her face. It's going to be one of those days, isn't it? ]
no subject
Game Start!]
How gracious of you.
[Everything Celeste is not, as waits until Riley has fully turned back around to start her gambit. Nor is she the type to waste time, so no fucking around with small talk, lest Riley get up any sort of guard.]
I was speaking to Atem, and he told me about the strangest place the other day. Williams-san. Have you heard of Multiversal Museum?
no subject
Oh, god.
No, he—
He promised—
Riley's gone very still. Her face is frozen in that oh-so-face smile. ]
Heard of it, yes. I'm surprised you hadn't before.
[ Perky. Just sound upbeat and perky. It's fine. It's fine, it's fine, it's fine, he didn't figure it out from just walking in, so— ]
no subject
She crosses her legs with a flourish, and reaches for a hidden pocket in the side of her hoop-skirt]
Yes, it seemed very important! So I endeavored to visit it a few days ago, and a certain exhibit happened to catch my eye.
[She takes out a prop-knife in a little plastic bag.]
Do you remember when I told you about my classmate, the Ultimate Idol?
no subject
Why do you have that?
no subject
She laughs.
Turning the jittering nerves into something more practiced and cruel. Then the smile finally fades, and they look at each other head on.]
Well, you’re rather intelligent, why do you think I have it?
no subject
Riley's heart beats in her throat.
She's aware that Maple's in the other room still, in his carrier, and he's quietly crying through the wall. She's aware that she's frozen up entirely. But she can't do anything. Can't. ]
Stop it. St- stop. [ Not now. ]
no subject
No.
[Her more serious demeanor hasn't dropped. In gambling, she's usually playful, vindictive, cruel. Now, in the face of Riley's tears, she's just a scorching cold.]
My classmate, Sayaka Maizono. The Ultimate Idol. Do you recall when I said you reminded me of her, Williams-san?
no subject
D- don't- jus- just— get out. [ What's she talking about? What does she mean?
She doesn't move. Not an inch. ]
no subject
The Killing Game is exactly as you would expect. Not terribly creatively named: we were locked in, and told we had to kill each other to escape. Do you know what Maizono-san did, Williams-san?
[Her gaze drops, momentarily, to the knife. So, so similar it was.]
Well, I think you can guess. I suppose I was more accurate to name her than I realized. The same empty smile, the same weapon, it even took place in a bathroom.
no subject
Don't!!
[ —and she charges forward, as though she doesn't really know what she's going to do. To take the knife away? To physically force her out of her apartment? To teach her a lesson—
Oh god. Oh, god, oh god, Riley shakes and trembles and her charge stops abruptly as she goes to her knees, grips her head with both hands. ]
St- st-stop...! Stop- stop it, sh- shut up!
no subject
But Riley stops herself, gracelessly curling inward like she's trying to protect herself physically from Celeste's words.]
Tell me what happened, and I will.
cw: unintentional self-harm
How is she this bad at hiding it now? How is it this hard to keep from cracking? (Isn't she supposed to be better now—?)
Eyes shut tight, she practically spits out: ]
Why— why do all of you care?!
no subject
Other people had figured it out. Of course, that's not too surprising, Riley isn't a good liar unfortunately. Hm, she wonders who else had. But it is most certainly not the time to ask.]
Because in the end we aren't nearly as different as you like to pretend, Williams-san. [And she's not angry, not yet, but there's a vindictiveness to her words that speaks to the flirtation of temper.]
Because I have seen even the most seemingly innocent person turn on everyone for the slightest motivation. And because your false sunniness irritates me.
[Because if they ARE both murderers, why the fuck should Riley get away with it?]
cw: intentional self-harm, implied parental abuse
Fuck you! [ ...That part she doesn't mean to let slip. No, she's crumbling. Everyone's going to see, everyone's going to know that she's a liar. That she's wrong. They're all going to hate her, they're all going to hurt her, don't- don't, please, she'll be better—
Riley's body shakes. ]
No- no, y- y- you- I'm nn- not- I don't w-wanna be like that anymore!! It sh-sh- shouldn't- matter!! [ Liar. Why's she doing this? Why? Chess, Farrah, are they punishing her? ]
CW: some fucked up feelings about self harm
It does matter. Of course it fucking matters! [And out of her control, her voice is rising, raw and real to match Riley's own torment. People must be able to hear them-]
Because why the fuck do you act like you're better than any of us? Why would you deserve to pretend like you're fucking normal!?
cw: self-harm, therapy abuse/malpractice
You hypocrite, you’re all h- h- hypocrites!! You’re lect- lecturing me, about pretending, the fucking gambler?! [ One of her hands comes detached, like she’s unhinging herself. Bloodstained claws tap against the floor, once again dripping into her hardwood. The snarl that leaves her lips is downright animalistic. ] What’s wrong with— with trying to be better?!
[ Little comments from sessions with Danny swim through her mind. They wrap around her, about this being engrained in her (no, he said, what he meant was it’s something she’s been dealing with for a long while), about the other girls placing their trust in her (no, no, of course he didn’t mean she broke it on purpose), little things she keeps— misinterpreting, of course, but things that sink into her like knifes nevertheless. She knows, she knows, she—
Pushes up from one of her knees, the left side limp and loose like a puppet with its string a cut. Her hair fans out into a crest, making herself bigger, angrier. ]
I’m not l-l-l- like him!!
cw: vague abuse implications
The yelling sets her teeth on edge, makes her fur spike up - old instincts deeper than the wolf's, alarmed and anxious from the noise alone. She almost wants to hide - but those voices are familiar, she realizes, both of them are recognizable as soon as she tunes in. Celeste and Riley - they're fighting.
She's up and making her way over within seconds. It doesn't sound like either of them are going to back down, and she can't handle it if either of them get hurt. So she does what she always has - she gets in the middle, ready to redirect. She slips in like a shadow, gently putting herself between the two other girls, paws up peaceably as she looks down at her roommate first.]
Celeste, stop.
This isn't - helping.
[Her voice is low and soft. She's trying her best to soothe Celeste rather than make it seem like she's being judged.]
oops all screaming
She tries to lean around Mukuro's body to point in Riley's face, blind and deaf with rage-]
I'm a hypocrite? I'm a fucking hypocrite?? At least I don't spend all my goddamn time trying to convince people I'm a helpless child!
[She spits out a harsh not-laugh at the phrase 'be better.']
Yeah, be better because god forbid you're just as fucking bad as the rest of us! No, you have to be better!
the self-harm is just gonna continue
"She is harmless and shy, and will never speak up, 'cause—"
The hesitation, the moment where she looks at Mukuro in concern, it passes as Celeste laughs. As she calls her— ]
You wanna- wanna s-s- see- see who's helpless—?! [ The hand still digging into her arm, it goes deeper, harder, as blood drips down her arm. She lurches forward, still on one knee, one foot. Tries to go around Mukuro. ] This- this- this hasn't ever be- been about- you, but fine, fine, fine—
[ If girls don't have your back, you've got to—
She sees red, the same red that drips from her claws, as she tries to pounce. ]
cw: more of the same, abuse implications
cw: abuse reference - aha-haaaaaa
cw: dissociation, panic attacks, intrusive thoughts, homicidal ideation, just in general bad
(no subject)
cw: gore, intrusive thoughts
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
cw: drugging, parasite talk
(no subject)
cw: self-harm mentions
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
cw: self-harm discussions, this thread is a nightmare
cw: self harm and abusive homes, hooray
cw: self harm and abusive homes, continued!
cw: hoo boy, see above
cw: hoo boy, see above
cw: Very Bad Parents!!
cw: Parents SO Bad!!
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
cw: therapy malpractice mention
(no subject)