Also, whoever archived the last thread? Thank you!

>>34114545
First to fight fire with fire.

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The White Desert spreads out around you, the white canvas for the angonized sketches of a tormented psyche. No wind stirs. Only the crunch of your sneakers and Madotsuki's Mary-Janes on the sharp, gritty sand accompany your journey. You glance over your shoulder to watch the tips of the burnt poplar trees vanish behind another chalk outcropping, leaving you, once again, entirely in a wasteland of Mado's making.

You trek through sketchy white cacti, skirting a long, twisting wall made of piled sand, almost like a maze. Mado knows her way through, leading you unerringly through the switchbacks and through narrow gaps hidden in apparent dead-ends, her small hand gripping your callused paw firmly the whole way through. The black expanse above – one needn't call it a “sky” - is occasionally disrupted by another spinning, flying head, zipping past at high speed, like the bright speck of a satellite in its orbit. Sometimes you see a wild pinwheel of what can only be arms, or legs, slowly tumbling through the air above. You almost jump out of your skin when one *lands* behind you, the scrunching sound of compacted sand punctuating every skip and bounce as it skips across the desert floor, but Mado just squeezes your hand a little tighter and drags you forward.

You finally emerge from the maze, and in the distance, you see something moving. Near a little square structure, something is slowly scuffling to and fro with no apparent aim.

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As Mado changes direction, heading towards the creature, a faint “futfutfutfut” sound comes from above. Looking up in surprise, you see something drifting through the sky, little flaps on its body undulating slightly as it breezes along. Its bigger than a commuter bus, with two little atrophied legs dangling below a bloated, swollen, *wrong* body where fleshy folds compress two small, squinty eyes. It glances at you with disinterest and keeps moving, futfutfut'ing into the distance.

You shake your head and break into a trot to keep up with Mado. You're growing numb to the horrors in this desert, they don't threaten life and limb at least down here what about up there something's happening something's coming and you're not safe time you're out of-

You loosen your grip on Mado's hand, hoping it'll still the trembling. She glances askance at you, and for a moment you're tempted to ask about everything, her life, her world, everything... but you know its pointless. If she can even remember them, down here.

Memories are like hand grenades with a pulled pin; easy to carry, but dangerous to drop. And if you're going to throw them away, you'd best throw hard. Mado can't remember what she's doing down here, or why she needs the Effects, but you suspect she's winding up.

Your musings are interrupted by the creature patrolling around the hut. Mado reluctantly releases your hand and readies her kitchen knife, already leaning forward into her trademark double-handed lunge, the terrible charge that gives the slender girl maximum striking power.

The creature before you is three-fourths head, vaguely humanoid. It pauses its backward stagger to eyeball you with a pleading look.

>Why do you have to stab everything?
>Wait up a second...
>Let me do it.

>>34115683
>Why do you have to stab everything?

>>34115683
>Why do you have to stab everything?

Just wait a a sec

>>34115683
>>Why do you have to stab everything?

>>34115683
>>Wait up a second...

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Mado launches into her attack, moving like a bolt of vengeful lightning, her knife blade glinting wickedly as her feet slip uselessly in the sand. Without lowering her weapon, she slooooowly turns her head to glare at you.

“What the fuck.”

You're holding her by the scruff of her sweatshirt, still suspended in her foward-lunge. “Why do you have to stab everything?”

She glowers at you, wiggling around until you release her. Pocketing her knife, she advances on the odd humanoid creature, which immediately shuffles backwards to block the entrance. She moves towards the other side, sending the bobble-head thing scurrying to block.

“Why do the torinigen chase me, but only sometimes?” Mado says, crossing her arms and glaring at you. “Why does your face look so funny? IN E.T., why was the alien brown? Who fucking *knows?*”

You contemplate that for a moment, then walk up to the creature. It turns to stare over its gigantic nose at you, looking... well, rather stupid.

“You chat much, pal?”

It stares at you, disconcerted and silent... and after a long second, it shuffles out of your way. As Madotsuki approaches, it fidgets, as if contemplating moving back in, but you hold up a palm to indicate its okay.

“How did you do that?” Mado asks as you both step into the dark doorway.

“Why can I kill Torinigen? Why do they sell hot dogs in packs of six and buns in packs of eight? Who fucking knows?”

Mado smacks your shoulder obligingly and takes your hand once more before you walk together into the dark.

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>theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9XMd2eAy_4

And dark.

And more dark.

The interior of the hut is infinite. Sand still crunches beneath your feet, invisible, as the bowels of the earth themselves seem to hum and sing, loud, long tones sounding notes too sustained and slow for human minds to process. Mado strikes out into the darkness, fairly dragging you along, her head swiveling as she searches for something.

You glance behind you at the rapidly-diminishing entryway, the only point of natural light in this void – and swallow.

Mado stops so suddenly you bump into her back. She releases your hand and wields her blade in a double grip, poised before her like a small sword.

“I'm here,” she growls. You notice the tip of her weapon is quavering slightly, and the shakes are getting worse with each passing minute. “I'm back. And this time, I'm not afraid of you.”

Between one heartbeat and the next, something appears before her.

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She snaps into existence, momentarily fuzzing at the edges like an old movie projector was just switched on. A perfect monochrome image, her edges sharpening even as you look at her, stands not eight feet away from Mado. Long, dark hair, a shirt, a skirt – and a nasty, thin little smirk as she tilts her head and sneers at Mado.

“If it isn't little weepy again,” it whispers.

Mado visibly starts, a tremor shooting through her body. “shshs-ut up,” she stammers, barely understandable. “y-yyyohou d-dun't t-talk-”

“Are you deaf, weepy?” it says, smirking more. “Are you fucking deaf, you needy little bitch?” It advances on her, fingers drumming eagerly on its skirt. “Or did you come to... oh, you know-”

Mado's shaking so hard now she can barely stand, the knifepoint quavering wildly as she keeps it pointed at the – the image. “SHHHUT UP-”

“Never would've made it here without him carrying you,” it whispers, the voice seeming to emenate from all around and then some, the faint sound inexplicably echoing in your head. “So what makes you think-”

“SHUT UP, YOU CUNT!” Mado screams, the beginnings of rage creeping into her voice.
>Attack
>Defend
>Stay out of this
>Speak (write-in)

>>34116912
>Defend
Watch Mado's back

>>34116912
>Defend

>>34116912
>>Defend

Speak, “You're pretty mouthy for a dream, but can you talk without insults? "

>>34116912
>Speak, “You're pretty mouthy for a dream, but can you talk without insults? "

Wow, what a bitch.

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>theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNkvfeRXaHk

With every slimy syllable that slithers from the apparitions noisemaker your desire to apply your axe directly to its forehead grows – but this is Mado's fight, you suspect.

But if it never talked before, it shouldn't be talking now. And there's something down here with you that doesn't like to fight fair.

You heft the axe and begin scanning to each side. If Mado can't get “fair,” you'll make sure she at least gets “even.”

“Or whaaaaat?” the apparition croons mockingly. “You'll call Mister Piano Man? He doesn't believe you. He believes *me.*”

“I told you to shut up,” Mado says, her voice dropping low and feral. “Nobody can listen to a corpse.”

“Except you, apparently,” it sneers. “Why don't yo-”

You barely see Mado move as she lunges into the attack lightning-swift, but the apparition vanishes as her knifepoint approaches, starting in the middle and spreading outward in a quarter-second. Something moves in your peripheral vision, readily apparent against the dark void, and you turn to see 'it' standing some distance away.

Mado seems to be expecting it, already turning her lunge into a dead sprint, leaning into it hard as she wheels about to charge down her target. As she leans into her next attack, something small and roundish comes streaking out of the dark trailing red -

Coming here late due to having to run some errands, but I'd just like to say I'm glad we didn't have to kill Dave Spector. Though I sure want to kill Monoe. Don't you talk about Mado like that.

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- to meet your axe, whistling through the air itself. The severed head just misses the blade, bouncing off the hard hickory handle with a nasty CLANK! of skull on wood. You come sprinting after it, the heavy metal wrench in one hand, crowbar in the other. The apparition is vanishing away from another of Mado's attacks, jumping about the void as the brown-haired girl does her damnedest to pin it down. You chase after her as a pair of severed heads begin making repeated attacks; one balding male, the other a woman's with long, flowing hair that streams behind it, betraying its trajectory as it literally screams in for each attack, horrendous, screeching maws of razored teeth meeting the hard iron of your Effects each time. Every blow sends satisfying vibrations through the tools, the dented, bleeding skulls flying away like home runs every time, only to come curving back, their screams growing more awful and distorted.

The apparition is sniggering and laughing and mocking, but Mado seems to be deaf to it, simply launching into each new attack with a swift lunge. You're not going to tire anytime soon – if at all – but you don't know how long Mado can keep this up.

>Pin it down personally.
>Tag-team with Madotsuki.
>Call out the apparition.

>>34118244
>>Call out the apparition.
Hey, ugly one! Yes, you!

>>34118244

>Call out the apparition.

She likes to talk? So can we. And Stark is much better at snark.

>>34118244
>Call out the apparition.
Gettin' real tired of your shit, Monoe.

>>34118244
>Call out the apparition.
"What's wrong, is your master running out of ideas? Starting to get desperate, are we? This is nothing compared to what we've been through. Mado's tougher than this. If you think this is going to break her you're even stupider than you look."

>>34118244
>Call out the apparition.
"Let's see... only showing up to throw insults, disappearing when consequences come and only turning back up to rub in that none of it stuck on you? Gee, where have I seen that before?"

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You tune into the voices for a moment as you smash one of the incoming heads into the ground with a brutal short-arc blow from the wrench, then slam your sneaker-heel into the screaming maw to pin it down.

“-OUCH ME CAN'T TOUCH ME CAN'T TOUCH ME YOU HELPLESS LITTLE NEEDY BITCH CRY WEEPY CRY-”

“Mado!” you cry out. “Does it have an effect!”

“NO!” she screams. “I JUST HATE IT, I HATE IT SO MUCH-”

“SO WHY ARE WE BOTHERING WITH THIS CUNT?” you scream back as you catch the female head in the mouth with the curved end of the crowbar, like a gigantic fishhook, and smash it into the ground as well, stepping on the hair to keep it still.

The thin, mocking voice that's been shrieking from all around cuts out instantly. Mado swipes her hand through the air as she shakes her head violently, her braids flying about.

“Mado,” you say with exhaustion as you reach out and find the shaft of your axe waiting for you, the blade embedded in the earth, “I'm running out of time up there.”

She stares at you, the fire still smouldering behind her warm brown eyes, uncertainty on her face.

“If there's no point to this,” you say, “I'd rather get moving.” You bring the axe down on the female head, popping the skull open with a horrible, awful CRACK!, fluid and brains spurting everywhere as the pressure inside the cranium is released. The male head begins squealing horribly, until you dispatch it as well. Mado flinches visibly as the awful, final CCRACK! echoes through the void.

“But-”

“Mado, I don't even know where to GO down here,” you point out, yanking your axe free of the thick bone and resting it on your shoulder. “I need you.”

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>>34119111
(firefox pls)

Mado's expression grows inscrutable, and the tension leaves her features as she seems to find herself again. “I... right. I... we should stay focused.”

“Can we get the hell out of here, please?” you say, a slight pleading note creeping into your voice that you can't suppress, pride be damned. Madotsuki nods, and turns, beckoning you to follow her towards the distant doorway, the speck of light in the black.

coward the everything whispers with slithering sibilance. weepy little coward, cunt little cunt my little runtcunt my little crybaby toy you'll never stop me you'll never be heard he carried you here you never came back after the first time you're scared you're always scared you'll never reach it make it escape it

You reach Mado, and extend your hand to her. She takes it, and leads you on. The apparition appears to one side, an awful sharp-toothed grin spreading across her face as she lays into Madotsuki.

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>>34119179
“What happens when you get out of here, Mado?”
She doesn't look at the creature, just keeps her eyes fixed on the exit, one hand dragging you along, the other gripping her knife white-knuckled. It winks out and back in to your right, still talking.

“You think this'll give you the guts?”

This close, you can see a vein in Mado's neck pulsing strong enough to make the fine silver chain wink in the light, but she makes no sound.

The apparition moves again, behind you, and much closer – closing in. “You'll never tell him what you're planning,” it whispers in slick tones, every syllable seeming to slide out on slimy undertones.

Your hand creaks as Mado does her damnedest to crush it, but otherwise she betrays no sign, simply slogs towards the exit. You squeeze her back, once, to let her know she's headed the right way. The dark lies, and you both know it – she's proved it countless times since you met her.

Since you've come to rely on her.

The apparition finally appears directly before her, almost in front of her, where Madotsuki can't ignore it. It leans in, the mouth spitting at the corners to grow ragged and wicked across half the face. “Because you didn't want anyone to know how wea...” a faint line of black liquid drips from its mouth. It twitches and coughs, a few more specks of black fluid escaping. It looks down, shock evident on its face, as it stares at the kitchen knife buried to the hilt in its sternum.

“I told you to shut the fuck up,” Madotsuki says quietly, and twists the blade.

>>34119271
Yes. Nicely done, Mado. Don't chase after your nightmares in a rage, wait for them to show themselves and calmly destroy them. I'm proud of you, girl.

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>>34119271

You reel away as the apparition screeches like a banshee, an awful keening shriek that punches through your eardrums and into your skull with such awful, needle-like pain that you barely keep your feet. It skirls and echoes through the black for thrice as long as any merciful god would allow, but when Mado shoves the knife another inch deeper it gurgles away instantly.

“Shut up, you fucking animal,” Mado whispers like steel over a whetstone. “You shouldn't be talking at *all.*”

The apparition gurgles as a flood of black ichor begins flowing down Mado's sleeve to drip on the ground.

“Especially about Stark. Because you made a new friend too, didn't you?” Mado twists the knife again and rips it sideways across the creature's torso, then yanks it out. The dark hint of stomach and vicerea spill over Madotsuki's sensible Mary Janes, but the apparition only sags to its knees, Mado's hand twisted in its long, dark hair.

“You don't know how to swear in English,” Mado whispers, turning her knife around thoughtfully. “Or how to be polite. See this knife? I'm going to teach you how to speak English with this fucking knife, bitch.”

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>>34119552

You stare at Madotsuki, a strange trembling sneaking through your spine to infect your body. You should tell her to stop, tell her to leave, do *something,*but you can only stare as Madotsuki shoves her blade into the creature's teeth and pries them open. With two quick slashes she sends black blood flying through the air as she severs the jaw muscles. The apparition can only gurlge miserably as Mado deftly thrusts into the mouth, then violently shakes it around by the hair till the severed tongue falls out.

Then, and only then, does she drop the thing, and kick it violently, entrails flying off her instep as she does.

She turns to you, her cheerful pink sweater covered with smears of dark blood. She closes her eyes, takes a deep breath, then blows it out.

“... thanks.”

You weren't expecting that.

You weren't expecting that at all.

>>34119607
"No problem. Uh...you've got a spot of blood right there. No, other side. Yeah, there you go."

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>theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzTrFtieclc

The path is narrow, so you've got to follow behind Madotsuki single-file. The darkness is still singing, soft and sonorous and strange. From ahead, however, come the faint, unmistakable cadence of singing, though you can't comprehend the words. As you advance, they become more clearer, obviously high-pitched, and at last you can decipher the tune -

“-the 'frigerator, there lay a piece of glass...”

Over Mado's head you espy two figures sitting on each side of the path, their hands moving and meeting over the narrow strip of white sand.

“-and cut her little- Ask me no more questions, give me no more lies...”

They're both monochrome, of course, sketchy and indistinct – the leftmost one with long pigtails, the right one with short, shoulder-length hair that seems to drift about her face on unseen breezes. They continue their cadence, paying you little to no attention.

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“... who are they?” you ask quietly.

“The one on the left is mine,” Madotsuki whispers. “I've never seen the other one before.”

“What do they...”

“Just wait,” Mado says softly, and catches your hand. “Just... just wait.”

When you draw right up to them, the girls stop their game, and turn to look at you. They look quizzical for a moment – but then the left-most girl smiles and jumps up to embrace Madotsuki, who releases your hand and shies away.

“Wenny,” she calls out, almost bouncing with joy. “Wenny!” Mado has turned pale, her eyes brimming with tears as she backs away from the girl slowly.

You look down at the other one; the pencil-lines of her features blurry and indistinct. She cocks her head, then reaches out -

toom toom

- and hits an invisible wall between you. She starts to rise, slowly, as she slaps against the invisible barrier, more and more frantic, her eyes resolving into well-detailed, pleading orbs as a scream bubbles away from her mouth and climbs -

- behind you, Mado *screams.*

>Mado!
>The girl!

>>34120733
>Mado!

>>34120733
>Mado!
I think I know what's going to happen, and if I'm right it's not something we can stop. So let's just make sure Mado's alright.

>>34120733
>Mado!

>>34120733
>Mado!

>>34120733
>>Mado!

M-miss Susie?

>>34120733
Hitting against a wall, desperate to get out? "Toom toom"? That's disturbingly reminiscent of the trapped car door. So this must be Stark's trauma. What happened? I was assuming the person trapped in the car was him when he was younger or something like that, but if it's this girl...I don't know what it means or how it fits to the rest of the imagery we've seen. I'm sure I will soon, though. And then when I do I'll be hitting myself for not getting it sooner.

>>34120733
>Mado!

We can't save someone who's already dead.
Madotsuki can't either.

>>34120933
>"Toom toom"? That's disturbingly reminiscent of the trapped car door.
Nah, it's "woot woot" spelled upside-down.

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You watch the little girl float off the floor, her legs kicking madly as she hammers at the invisible plane, calling, crying for you. Your soul squeals like a strained piano-wire as a mad, irrational rage swells within you, a desire to finally smash that *fucking* barrier, to punch through and grab her hand and never ever ever hear that fucking toomtoom noise again. You wind up a swing, twisting as you put your hips behind it, and spin full around to bury the axe-blade into the other girl.

“WWWWWWWWWWWWWEEEEEEEEEEEEENNNNNNYYYYYYYY-” it screeches, spinning around so fast the axeshaft is torn from your grip. The little pigtailed girl has been warped, twisted into something unnatural, extra limbs branching from her arm, a grasping hand thrusting from her skull. A pulsing, indented vortex on her abdomen squelches organically as it sucks in the axehead, sending a vibration through the creature.

“wennnyyyyyyy-” it screams. You seize the axehandle and kick the thing in the chest as hard as possible.

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It continues to swipe and scratch at you as you kick it violently. Madotsuki hits you from the side like a missile, putting all her weight behind the shoulder-check, but she bounces right off your muscular shoulder as you finally kick the creature free. With a single, violent thrust of the axe you shove it off the narrow sandy path and send it careening down into the black, still reaching for you with too many hands, still keening sadly-

“wennnyyyyyyyyyyy....”

You turn just in time to catch a fist to the mouth from Mado, the blow strong enough to move your jaw a bit. You tuck your chin into your chest as she keeps swinging at you, no feeble blows but well-aimed punches, her little fists stinging when the connect.

“FUCK YOU 'UCK YOO UUCK YOU FUHK,” she's squealing between ragged breaths. “SHE DIN', SHE DIN'T DO, NOTHING, SHE, SHE-”

>weather the assault
>slap some sense into her

>>34121942
>weather the assault

>>34121942
>>weather the assault

>>34121942
>weather the assault

>>34121942
>weather the assault
What was she doing, then? Mado, we were just trying to protect you.

>>34121942
Mado, a horrifyingly deformed creature was reaching out for you, to which you responded by screaming. Given all that we've been through, did you expect a reaction that wasn't "oh god oh god kill it"? I get that this clearly had some emotional significance to you, but every other thing in this place that's had emotional significance has tried to kill us. Think rationally about it.

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You fall to your knees and press your hands to your ears, to make sure the only sound is Madotsuki's sharp little fists pounding into your chest and face, the meaty THWAK! THWAK! THWAK! vibrating through your jaw and up to your ears in time with your racing heartbeat. It hurts, and hurts, and hurts and HURTS but it always does hurt, and if its Mado, if it's for Mado then it *means* something, something more than just more fucking pain.

At last she tires, and pitches over on hands and knees, sobs escaping her with huge, heaving expansions of her ribcage. She pounds the sandy path with her bloody fist, too spent to keep beating on you, but finally stops that too, her breathing slowing down.

KOOMPH.

But the hammering doesn't stop.

KOOMPH.

You keep your hands pressed to your ears, pressing so hard your skull begins to ache. You keep pressing while Madotsuki recovers fully from her outburst of rage, while she looks around, confused, while she peers over the edge of the path. You keep pressing right until she comes and taps on your hand, gently.

But if you move your hands KOOMPH. you'll hear it.

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>>34122249

>move them
>you dare not

>>34122281
>move them

>>34122281
>move them
Horrible trauma time?

>>34122281
>>move them

>>34122281
>move them

It's time to face your traumas, Stark.

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You feel Mado's dainty fingers slipping between your palms and skull, and with reluctance you let her peel them off your ears. She's talking, apologizing, but all

KOOPMH.

you can hear is

KOOMPH.
the blows, once every two seconds, as steady as

KOOMPH.

a ticking clock or your

KOOMPH.

beating heart.

“What is it, Stark, what-”

“I'm sorry,” you whisper. “I'm sorry I-”

KOOMPH.

“-did that, Mado, I shouldn't have, it-”

KOOMPH.

“-was your memory, your friend, but-”

KOOMPH.

“-I'm weak, Mado, and scared and-”

KOOMPH.

“-I couldn't break the glass so I-”

KOOMPH.

“-had to do something and it-”

KOOMPH.

“-was right there and-”

KOOMPH.

She silences you by clapping a hand over your mouth, and leans in close to stare you down from three inches away.

“Stark. What. Are. You. Talking. About,” she says, her eyes piercing and serious.

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>>34122663
She releases your mouth. You want to leave this place, to bolt down that sandy white path and never look back so you'll never have to admit what you know now, the truth you can't escape anymore, not after seeing that girl behind that car door so many times in this shared nightmare -

- but it's Madotsuki, and you've seen things from *her* dreams so awful that she might, she might-

KOOMPH.

You peer over the edge of the sandy path, and far below you see the ghostly outline of a car, its side staved in by some terrific blow. As you look, another wraith forms, indistinct to the brink of invisibility. It's grasping the car door in one hand, and the other is drawing back before surging forward, pathetically slow in the turgid dark water.

KOOMPH.

You and Mado sit there for another long minute, watching the ghostly figure's futile struggle. Then the car sinks deeper into the dark, fading from view, and the limp figure of the boy floats upwards and shimmers into nothingness.

“How old were you?” she asks you after a silence.

“Don't remember, aside from...” you shake your head with a sigh. “Being small. Weak. Too weak to bust that glass.”

“You were underwater.”

“So what!?” you snap, slamming your fist into the sand. “SO WHAT? So I just shrug and give up? So its okay that that girl drowned two fucking inches away from me because I was too weak, too slow, to fucking *afraid* to take action when she still had a fucking chance-”

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>>34123188
(tripcode pls)

“She never had a chance,” Mado says softly.

“HOW THE FUCK DO YOU KNOW!?” you scream, leaping to your feet and stepping back from her. “I don't even remember most of what happened, not down here, so where the fuck do you get off-”

She clamps her hand over your mouth again, fingers and thumb squeezing your jaw tight as her palm stifles you.

“Because I *know,* Stark. I know there's doors you can't open, no matter what you do, or how hard you try. My sister's down here, and...” she releases your mouth and looks away from you, down into the darkness. “She always will be. She's dead, and she died... she died in a bad way.”

A heavy silence stretches between you for a pregnant moment.

“Thank you,” she says at last. “I'm sorry I hit you. She was my sister, but... that wasn't my sister,” she says awkwardly. “Not the thing you kicked away. That wasn't her, but I've never had the courage to... I just couldn't bear to-”

“To not try,” you reply. “To let her sink into the dark and die alone.”

You sit together for another minute, dangling your legs over the side of the sandy path, saying nothing.

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This seems like a good place to call it, if I press ahead tonight I'm going to end up half-assing some of the most important scenes in the story. We will almost certainly be running on Friday, unless something explodes. Watch Twitter!

Okay, then. That's...most things explained. Now we just need to face the Dancer and figure out what it is. That's still bugging me.

>>34123277
Thanks for running. This was good. I worry sometimes that we're giving you the impression there's no one interested due to lack of posting, but if the rest of the people here are like me they're just too caught up anticipating your next post to interrupt. Seriously, you're doing a great job here. See you next time.

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>>34123352

I got that feeling occasionally, but I always remember that people don't always post unless its a very interesting or compelling vote, and there's a lot of people who don't follow quests actively but read through them on the archive. And I'll always keep updating for those one or two dedicated readers who always seem to be here no matter how late I start.

I love writing this quest, and I'm just fortunate other people are enjoying it as well.