[EFFECT ROOM] The Red Thread of Not-Quite-Fate

[hyperhero]

[This room is definitely one that you wouldn't expect to find in a school, considering that it appears to be a gigantic cafe. Plush carpets, cushioned chairs, a whole bunch of fancy drinks and snacks...

Someone put a dating cafe in the school!]

((OOC: Here's how it works! The room is based off the idea of the red string of fate from Japanese/Chinese legend. On stepping into the room, your character will find a thin but completely unbreakable red string tied to their pinkie, with the other end tied to someone else who's come into the room. The red string persists even if you try to leave, and won't disappear until a full day later. The thread itself will lengthen or shorten depending on the proximity of the two characters, but it won't let you get more than a room's length away from each other.

Here's the complication: the Gods are kind of sort of drunk off their asses, which means that the red string could tie you to literally anyone. Your worst enemy, your brother, your father, Old Man Jenkins... it's one of those things where you're lucky if you get your soulmate! Furthermore, the strings can (by player choice) actually swap around repeatedly, so your character could end up tied to one person all day or have to deal with being tied to five different ones through it!

For characters who don't know about the legend, there's a paper pinned to the wall by the door that explains it (at least, the actual legend, not the drunk-gods part). While the paper can be ripped up, it'll just regenerate a minute or two later.

And yes I purposefully picked the most inappropriate journal for this))

Comments

[whiterosefoes]

[Regarding the legend dubiously]

I am so not sorry unless you decide to hit me for this

[fluffydeathdealer]

[Wait a minute. Who is this string tied to?]

Oh hell no!

DO NOT BE SORRY

[whiterosefoes]

[Just as she'd finished reading, this happens. Harriet turns at that outburst and squints at the string tying her pinky to Bakura's. Her face seizes up in fury for a split second, before she grins bitterly and taps the sign with the back of her palm.]

Thank you! Now I know this is bullshit.

Awwww yeah~

[fluffydeathdealer]

[That reaction is almost offensive to him. He's the one meant to be disgusted now, dammit! How dare you be more offended than him?!]

Kh-! I couldn't have said it better myself!

[whiterosefoes]

[Of course she's more offended! It's him! .... Though his ire toward her seems a bit random. They never directly interacted, except...that one time...]

Oy, I'm tied to a bitchy spirit that leeches off a sweet teenage boy. What's your problem? Don't tell me you're still annoyed about the manicure. You brought that on yourself!

[fluffydeathdealer]

I don't care about the manicure, but I don't exactly want to be tied to you. Malik may like you, but I don't even know you beyond your boring love of makeup!

[...says the man wearing eyeliner.]

Besides, I don't 'leech'. My landlord knows I'll help him out if he just asks... heh.

[whiterosefoes]

Hm, no, you know me! You've just about got me pegged, I am an incredible bore. I guess you'll just have to sleep and let your [airquotes] "landlord" suffer through it.

[not like she wants his interest anyway.]

[fluffydeathdealer]

Heh...

Woman, you've made a mistake, there.

[His smile only grows.]

It's obvious you don't want me around... so I'm going to stay in control.

[A sharp tug on the thread.]

So I guess we should get better acquainted, huh? GYAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

[whiterosefoes]

[Ow! Her arm jerks out with the pinky extended painfully, but she digs in the heels of her metal boots so as not to be pulled along. Her other arm swings out to grip the thread in the middle so he can't do that again.]

Oh, simmer down! Heaven forbid I try to solve our problem with common sense.

[unimpressed with your cackling.]

[fluffydeathdealer]

"Our problem"? I don't have a problem at all, somehow. Unless you count the dead weight tied to my finger.

[Despite his words, there's obvious annoyance in his eyes. To be tied to someone he barely knows... keh! He might have enjoyed it in a different situation, but this was just boring.]

[whiterosefoes]

That is indeed what I was counting. What else would it be? Though if you're saying you don't have a problem with being tied to me, then you're directly contradicting yourself from five seconds ago. You're trying to turn my rejection into a challenge, is that it?

[fluffydeathdealer]

Maybe I'm reconsidering my stance. Or didn't that cross your pea-sized mind?

[whiterosefoes]

I've done nothing to change your mind except to imply I don't want you around - which should have been a given - so I think my assumption is better. Unless you're the one with a pea sized brain.

[fluffydeathdealer]

The part where you implied it was better to have my host around than me was all I needed to change my mind.

I'm no longer bothered by your presence if it makes you unhappy, heh... I like it when people that annoy me are annoyed.

[whiterosefoes]

What are you even talking about? I was annoyed from the very beginning - before I brought him into it!

[he is so full of shit. What is he, jealous of Ryou?

... If he is, she doesn't want to go down that road. It's too stupid to handle.]

Oh, forget it.

[fluffydeathdealer]

...you're kind of stupid, aren't you?

I was annoyed from the start too. And I was all set to retreat into my host. Then you made the mistake of saying you wanted me to do it. So now I'm staying out thanks to pure spite and acting like I don't care.

Did that summary help at all?

[whiterosefoes]

So you admit you're full of shit, then. That was all I wanted.

[fluffydeathdealer]

S-shut up! I don't care what you think!

[whiterosefoes]

Good, then you shouldn't care about spiting me. So go away!

[fluffydeathdealer]

Like hell. We're 'soulmates', after all! According to this.

[Tug, tug.]

[whiterosefoes]

[Still holding onto the middle of that string, so she's not going anywhere]

We're really gonna do this, huh? Seriously...

[Driest tone ever. Well, it's not like she has a choice - she doesn't have the luxury of another soul to foist onto unpleasant people.]

[fluffydeathdealer]

Heh heh...

Of course, if you're so unhappy, you could persuade me to leave you alone.

[whiterosefoes]

[you'd like that wouldn't you. If "I was going to retreat before" wasn't compelling enough evidence, then she figures he'll just laugh at whatever she says.]

Nah. I'm gonna get a snack...

[thankfully she was on that side of the room so she doesn't have to awkwardly circle around him. If he wants to spite her, then she can spite him right back by being a killjoy.]

[fluffydeathdealer]

[Jeez. What a bitch. He scoffs, wandering off as far as he can to grab a drink, not caring for the snacks. There wasn't enough blood for him anyway.]

At any rate, I know it's all a joke. There's no way my soul mate exists in this time. Let alone it being one of your group.

[whiterosefoes]

[the snack is just an excuse, she's not even that hungry. And drinking in this situation just sounds like the worst possible idea. She's kind of side eying him for going for those, actually.

But she'll focus on her creme brulee.]

Please. What would you even do with a soul mate? You don't really seem like the romantic type.