Private/Closed Cold Steel

[Generation Sect]

Jason completed his usual walk from his room to the common room. Their new mechanical bear overlord had called them there, and he for one, did not welcome it. From the way he had spoke, this could in no way mean anything good.
However, he was prepared, and he had finally managed to get a little bit of sleep in, a task he had struggled with far more than he should.
As Jason entered, the Therapist noted how the common room was more populated than usual. It did seem as if the bear’s announcement had served it’s purpose.

 

[RhythmThief]

Arata sat in his room, his oak wood desk in front of him, along with his favourite notebook, and pen in hand. He soon put down his pen, stood up, and jumped onto his soft bed, laying flat.

For the past day or so, he hadn't done much. While he didn't like to admit it, Arata was a bit of a procrastinator. He'd planned to explore the rec room for the past day, but had barely left his dorm at all. The most he did was slip in and out of the kitchen, for a quick snack to-go.

The lost little sheep roams the grassy fields, searching for belonging. For safety. For family. But instead, what does it find....? He thought, now being cut off by what sounded like an announcement by the dastardly mastermind responsible for their situation.

The axe of a butcher. That is all it finds. He finished, now gritting his teeth, and making his way to the Common Room.

 

[Riverrunner]

Ryuu turned towards the screen as the monochromatic bear made his announcement, a look of dread befalling his expression. "Not… again, already?" He mumbled, following Ralphie to the common room with some reluctance. He wasn't about to just ignore the announcements—they had to be important somehow, but then again, they could be pretty much anything.

Taking a deep breath, Ryuu entered through the Common Room's open doors, joining the other students.
————

For the past few days, Honoka hadn't done much of… anything, really. She'd almost finished her book—it was nice to see a book focusing upon pirates that wasn't the ever-quoted Treasure Island—but the fact that it had come from the library in the Stronghold had sapped away any refreshing feelings its pages may have provided. She'd intended to talk to the Hoshi on multiple occasions, but never seemed to be able to find the Linguist in the halls (bar for during the first day's meal that she had prepared). Perhaps she was doing the smart thing and staying in her room. Honoka had to admit that she'd had much the same thought, but instead chose to toss that aside in lieu of exploration. There had to be something that'd reveal a way out after all, wouldn't there?

She'd stumbled across a potential clue, but hadn't gotten a chance to share it with much of anyone. Unfortunately, it seemed her chance wouldn't arise anytime soon, especially after Monokuma's announcement rang throughout the speakers.

"What the hell does he want now." Honoka quickly shoved the piece of paper she'd been using as a bookmark in the pages of Stranger Tides, slamming the cover shut. She left the comfort of her dorm, making a beeline towards the common room wherein it seemed everyone had already gathered. "This'd better be good," she muttered, crossing her arms.
————

Monokuma, as promised, stood in the centre of the Common Room, making the circular shelf where the tablets had formerly been stored into an impromptu stage. He tapped twice on his microphone (which appeared to be plugged into a speaker at the shelf's base) surveying the group to make sure everyone had congregated as planned.

"It seems we're all here. First things first, the morning and nighttime announcements are gone. Absent. Kaput. Out the window!" He snapped his fingers and the digital time displayed on the monitors disappeared, instead replaced by a haze of grey static. "You guys aren't doing much of anything. Apparently, you kids are too chicken to go out at night, so we're stuck in an endless cycle of absolutely nothing! We can't have that happening, so I've prepared a little surprise for you to put a bit of a pep in your step. That being said, that brings us to the next bit of news." He pulled a similar remote to the one that had controlled the monitor from behind his back, holding it up in the air.

"Now, if you haven't noticed, the heater in here was broken for a while. You guys probably didn't, actually, now that I think about it. Those anaesthetics tend to keep you warm for a while. Well, the bad news is, it's still around thirty degrees in here. The good news is, it won't be for long!" He pushed one of the remote's three buttons, this one marked with an up arrow, and the temperature immediately began to rise. The monitors flickers to reflect this, each displaying a glowing red 35.

"There we go, how's that. A little bit toastier in here? Well, it's about to get a whole lot hotter!" He pressed the centre button on the remote, which… didn't seem to do much of anything. Not yet, anyway.

"Until a murder occurs, this thermostat will be bumping itself up five degrees Fahrenheit every three hours. Of course, that won't be bad for a while—it might even be more comfortable in here—but then again, what will it be like in twenty-four hours… thirty-six hours… forty-eight hours…"

Monokuma abruptly smashed the remote to the floor, stomping on it multiple times for good measure. He threw back his head in a maniacal cackle, sweeping the remote's pulverised fragments in an arc across the room.

"The preset is now locked in, there's no way for you kids to shut it off! The best part is, you guys won't even know what time it is! This place'll just keep warming, and warming, and warming until you're all burnt to a crisp! Want to save your own skin? Protect everyone else in here in an oh-so-noble goal? I expect to see someone pushing up daisies with a knife through their chest!"

The elevator arrived once more with a cheery ding, Monokuma stepping inside. "Alright, students. Remember: if you want to avoid baking alive, you've got to kill one of your peers! Or don't, it's not my problem if you guys can't take the heat, I'll be watching this all unfold from a distance. Have fun!"

The elevator doors meshed together once more, the screen continuing to ominously display the student roster.

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

Ralph was disturbed by the news. If the temperature kept rising that would mean certain death. He couldn’t let that happen, not on his watch. With a determined look on his face he looked at ryuu and nodded, bringing himself
In the middle of the room to Address everyone in it.

“It seems our host wants to kill us all his way.” He said to everyone. “Since he is already doing that, nothing worse can happen. We can disobey each and everyone of these rules. We must dismantle and destroy these heater board by board and scrap from scrap.”

“But isn’t tampering with the equipment a worse thing?” Percy tapped nervously. “I mean...he could kill us faster.”

“If you haven’t noticed, he’s trying to murder us already. We no longer need to obey him whatsoever. If we all rebel against him then he will have no fun, along with us being able to rip apart his facility and get out of this hell hole.
Let’s tear this place to shreds.”

 

[Fire Mana]

Parker hadn't done much in the time it took the others to explore most of the first floor. He had concluded that he didn't much care for the other people he was stuck with and remained in his room for a while, at least until Monokuma forced everyone into the common room for an announcement. Apparently he was going to make the heat continue to rise until someone was killed. That was when Ralph spoke up once again.

"Are you daft? Do you want us to die faster? Listen man, go ahead and get yourself killed. However, I'm not rebelling against Mr. Monokuma. Be my guest and die though, one less person I have to worry about."

The boy in black whipped his knife out and flipped it open, passing it over his thumb and throwing it into the air before catching it and snapping it shut again. He waved by to the others as he retreated back to his room.

"I'll be in my room if anyone wants to try and kill me, can't guarantee you'll survive though."

 

[Generation Sect]

Inconcievable... so the Bear wanted to motivate them to murder by giving them no other choice. Jason surveyed the room calmly. It seemed as if the Archer was once again trying not to play along... although, Jason felt his solution was too simple. No, there was more to it. Their new morbid Headmaster would definitely have planned around that.

He gave a curt nod to his only “Ally” in the stronghold, a relatively hard to translate signal. He then got back out his notepad, clearly making a few changes to what he had planned. Adapt or die.

 

[Crimson Sun]

Jane and Nathan both went to the common room as everyone else. They both heard the 'motive' for a possible killing. It was a weird motive sure, but the bear did a solid plan flowing. The thermostat would eventually move up to an un-bear-able tempurature, that someone may be desperate enough to murder within the domain of the killing game. Some started panicking, some wasn't as fazed, and some felt threatened by their surroundings. The heat of the room can be felt going up minimally, for now.

Nathan wasn't fazed by the temperature change. He could withstand the hottest summers and the coldest winters. Especially during mountain climbing, depending on the season, the temperature may bet unpredictable and wearisome for most, but not for Nathan. Having climbed mountains during summer and winter, he was able to adapt himself for different temperature. It was a momentary advantage for Nathan, as he won't be fazed by the increasing heat until much while later.

What did worry him though, was the most likely murder that can occur soon enough. The people of the killing game were in a predicament. Nathan was worried someone may go after him. Hence he needed to devise a plan. Going solo is the best choice, group would be second best, and pairs would be the worst. Being in pairs would be the most probable murders. Nathan's head filled with thoughts of what would happen now. A murder is going to happen soon. he can feel it in his gut. He just hoped he wasn't the victim.

Jane, on the other hand, was also unfazed by this. War treated hr badly, especially through weather conditions. Her body was made to survive the freezing nights and blistering days. She had to work day in and day out during war. She can survive the heat for a while, perhaps longer than most in the killing game. Talk about killing for survival thought, literally. One has to kill, to survive the heat. Jane mentally laughed at her horrendous, maybe not even a joke, joke and carried on towards her team.

"What now," Jane asked as she approached Ralph and Ryuu. "There's going to be a murder soon. Someone's going to break from the constant rise in temperature," Jane should know. Many people broke during war and left the camp because of the un-bear-able conditions. However Jane wasn't one of them, she was a trooper. "We need to prevent that murder, or at least defend ourselves from a possible target from our backs at least."

 

[Generation Sect]

Jason finally looked up from his notepad, scratching his chin.
He had a solid plan formed...
But it would have to wait until a good time.
He knew tearing up the stronghold looking for a solution was exactly what the bear expected, and had most likely planned for, but the Archer seemed too strong-willed to convince otherwise...
It seemed as if he would just have to look out for himself, and try and keep as many people safe as he could with him.

 

[_obsequious]

If screaming and crying was a suitable reaction, Ophelia was not the girl for the job, and it didn’t seem anyone else so far was either. She stood there, her expression unreadable, sighing deeply. Admittedly she hadn’t been able to feel the cold; apparently the drug in her system had done a sustainable job of keeping her warm. But with this news now lingering in the air, it seemed all the cold seeped into her, a chill running through her spine.

Fuck.
She looked up, roughly pulling her jacket on, glancing around. Her lip curled up in a grimace as Ralph, yet again, tried to take the lead and get them to rebel.
Muscles twitching in annoyance, the girl huffed her disagreement and looked around until her eyes caught on Jason.
She approached him swiftly, grabbing him by the hand and takig him aside.

“Listen,” she muttered, keeping her voice down, “don’t follow him into that mess. You’ll only get yourself killed and quite frankly you’re one of the only bearable people in this hellhole and i’d really not prefer for you to get yourself killed chasing nobility.” She took a sharp breath, studying his face. As an authoritative figure, she really didn’t enjoy having to look up at someone, but her height put her in a position that she sort of had to. “Just.. ignore him.” She tried to add please, but a stubborn lump in her throat didn’t allow her to. Ophelia Morales didn’t say please.

Her stomach rumbled once again, another sign of her practically purging, but she loudly cleared her throat to mask the noise.

“We can’t trust anyone here. If that means you don’t listen to me then fine, but if you decide to stick with me I promise I’ll actually try and keep you alive.”
Whether or not this was true, she seriously didn’t know- she was being genuine, but there was a solemn look in her eyes. Doubt, fear, something. But she didn’t let it show past her eyes.
She really would do her best to keep the Therapist alive, but when it came down to it... promises were made to be broken, so would she really be able to set aside her selfishness..?

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

Ralph simply rolled his eyes at the others who were all too willing to burn and die slowly in their comfortable cages of uncertainty. But him? No. He was a fighter. He would protect them even if they didn’t want to protect themselves. That was the burden he was to bear. He looked to Jane, nodding to her question.

“Quite right. I will protect us from any tactical assaults. Nothing will escape my watch. Meanwhile I’d suggest you come up with some sort of drug to keep me awake longer so I won’t fall asleep with this task.”

He looked over to ryu, who seemed disturbed by the situation to the very least. He gave a smirk, which was strange for his blank expression.

“And you. Your a pyrotechnic correct? What are the material we would need to create a big boom? We are blasting out of here.”

 

[Generation Sect]

Jason suddenly jerked the hand she had grabbed up into the air, holding it just above the height of his shoulder, palm outstretched, the entire movement unreadable, possibly a flinch or for dramatic effect. Despite that, he let out a soft, almost relieved sigh, a half smirk forming on his lips.

“I wasn’t intending to help them. In fact... I believe what they’re doing will be... counter-productive.”
He held up his notepad with his other hand, now extending a finger upwards on his raised hand.
“It’s just a hunch... but between you and me, I believe our “host” is lying to us about this “Motive” of his.”
He quickly stuttered a little, breaking his cold, serious tone into something far more befitting for him.
“O-of course, it’s just a working theory. It’s just... he explained how it was going to work to us with relative detail. Knowing our prior behaviour, that just seems... wrong.”

 

[Riverrunner]

Honoka's eyes darted back and fourth from the bear to the monitors' changing screens.

35°

Five degrees every three hours.

Forty degrees a day.

If the bear was telling the truth, they'd all be dead or dying within forty-eight hours. That'd be the opposite of what he'd want, right?

Evidentially, the anaesthetic was still doing its work, as it certainly didn't feel like just above freezing temperature. But it certainly seemed that would be changing soon. Or maybe it wouldn't. Truthfully, there wasn't any way to tell without investigating the issue themselves

"Ralph. That's a terrible idea, especially considering the fact that we don't know if our quote-on-quote 'headmaster' is bluffing or not. You already tried to kill him once, and what did that get you? A nasty gash across the cheek." She glanced over to Hoshi and Paeon for support, desperately hoping her expression read back me up on this and not we're all going to get baked alive by a heating system. "If we're going to resort to a breakout, we need to evaluate our other options first—three hours isn't a long time, but it's far better than immediately jumping from point A to point Z with little regard for other alternatives. Just look at… Jason is your name, right? He seems to have some kind of plan to get more information first, information that we might already have if you hadn't shot Monokuma to death after he first showed his two-toned face."

She paused, jerking a thumb in Ryuu's general direction. "And if you're so hellbent on enacting your great escape, would you leave him out of this? Just look at him, he's shaking like an overstimulated chihuahua."

Unfortunately, Honoka wasn't wrong. Ryuu stood frozen next to the bear's abandoned microphone, trembling like a leaf.

"We're… we're doing what?" Ralphie's request had managed put him even more off-guard, a difficult feat considering that a robotic bear had just told the entire group that someone had to die if they didn't want everyone there to be unceremoniously baked alive. "Explosives, well, I'd need, um, uh… bad idea… er… well… I um…" he stammered in a panic, hands quivering as he tried to (unsuccessfully) count compounds on his fingers. "Rapidly igniting fuel… magnesium… potassium nitrate could-no… or um… too many fumes… well… that'd probably poison all of us… but… uhh… no, I…" His train of thought was well-nigh impossible to follow, considering he hadn't yet managed to get out a single complete sentence. "I-I don't know! I work to make fireworks burn more slowly so they go off at specific times, not just… explode everywhere! W-why are you looking at me like that?" Ryuu shouted rather abruptly. Evidentially, he either had no idea what he was doing or simply couldn't operate given the circumstances.

Honoka glanced back over to Ryuu before looking down at her feet. "This is going to be a really long few hours, isn't it."

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

Ralph looked to ryuu and then back to Honoka. He wasn’t the best at judging human emotions, always making it a goal to try and rid of them altogether. Judging by ryuu they were a weakness, one that Monokuma or a future killer may further exploit to their advantage. He then looked back to her.

“What’s your point?”

Walking over to ryuu, looking over to the trembling boy. He listened to the list carefully and nodded his head.

“I can get you magnesium and potassium nitrate. Fuel may be tricky, but I might be able to do that. If you want everyone in here to live, I’d suggest you get on with this bomb plan.” He said, putting his hand on his shoulder. “If you don’t, The blood of everyone in this room will be on your hands, and yours alone. Bear that in mind.”

Meanwhile Percy kept calm, tuning it everything and everyone while he kept drawing, using the sphere he found earlier from Monokuma as a drawing piece.

 

[Paeon Kanetsu]

Paeon watched from the side as everyone discovered their own way to deal with the motive. He sighed as he entered his own thoughts. 'I knew this was coming... now the question that I wish didn't occur is... who's going to act first? Obviously, there are two possibilities for someone to kill. The first is because they couldn't deal with the temperature, resulting in them taking the risk. The other one is... a selfless sacrifice. Someone may have another kill them to stop it or... they... would take their own life.'

Paeon pondered until a thought occurred. Paeon walked away to the kitchen grabbed a can of juice and... *click* a loud click echoed. "Oh don't mind me. I'm just wondering how long this will go on. Currently, we've split into two groups again... those who want to break the rules again and those who want to follow the rules. The problem is this... neither is the best choice. Breaking the rules leads to Monokuma killing everyone for the violations while those who follow the rules end up in a killing game. My question is more of this... what can we do to reverse this without killing." Paeon sighed. "To be honest, I don't know. Hell, most of you might ignore me because I was the annoying ass day one. Let me tell you all this, I don't care what happens to me right now. You all have reasons to get out of here... So work together dammit!!"

Paeon sighed as he pulled out his bottle of Clozapine and took a pill while he washed it down with his juice. "We have less than 48 hours... Who knows what's going to happen."

 

[Retro Master]

Now that the bear mentioned it, Joseph had began to feel the cold temperature. The clothing he had on didn’t help the actor’s predicament as he began to grow colder. A t-shirt and cargo shorts were not meant to be worn when the temperature were as low as it was. “Y-yeah, I don’t about you guys but it’s actually freezing. Maybe waiting for things to heat up a little isn’t such a bad idea.” Joseph spoke up to no one in particular before he began to head to the kitchen. Some coffee or anything warm would be enough to keep Joseph from freezing.

It probably sounded cowardly to do nothing right now. However, going along with ‘Robin Hood’ would get him killed. To Joseph, it seemed ‘Robin Hood’ would rather them all die by disobeying Monokuma than playing its game. Stubbornness at its highest. Joseph wasn’t going to take part in that suicide squad.

“Nice speech Paeon but working with ‘Robin Hood’ and his squad will probably lead to someone dying unnecessarily.” The actor responded to Paeon as he walked through the kitchen, looking for the coffee maker. Luckily for Joseph, Monokuma was generous enough to give them that. It came with all the necessary items as well. Once he had what was needed, Joseph began making his coffee. “Also, I would save the cold drinks for later. We’re definitely going to need them.”

 

[Riverrunner]

Ryuu took a couple of deep breaths before he spoke again, "No, no! None of that works. Magnesium and potassium nitrate as fuel would burn too slowly and… it'd just fill up… smoke. Everyone would suffocate. Don't know… indoors… not a demolitionist!" His coherency trailed off at the end as he rapidly twitched his thumbs. "I-I can't… in charge… a lot of pressure… everyone's lives…!" He ran a gloved hand through his hair, somehow managing to mess it up even more than it already was. Ryuu breathed deeply again, desperately grasping at some semblance of composure. "The only, uh, the only thing I can think of that this place might have is, well, gunpowder. It's not the best when it comes to power and would need some kind of, uh, what's the word… um… container—sure, that works—to keep it from dispersing too far apart to be useful. We'd have to get a decent amount of it and clear the area… I'd imagine. Even then, these walls seem really solid. Multiple layers, bolts and, er, stuff. I'm not sure we'd be actually, um, able to break out. Wouldn't that be… way too easy? I-I mean, think about it, would you, uh, trap people and then just…" he trailed off at the end, biting his tongue as he saw Ralphie's dead serious expression. "I guess… um… I…"

Honoka, attempting to focus herself on a different matter, watched as Paeon and Joseph both left the room to grab refreshments. Quite honestly, that wasn't a bad idea. After all, how long had she been awake now? Hours, days? With the fluorescent lights on in the Stronghold at all times, it was well-nigh impossible to tell.

Walking into the kitchen, she stopped after hearing Joseph's proposal, reluctantly placing her soda back into the kitchen storage. Regardless, she had come in to drink something caffeinated, and the coffee machine appeared to be available. For now, drinking something warm would probably be fine, right? At least, it'd be fine according to the biting chill sinking into her bones.

Grabbing one of the mugs from the kitchen as well as a plastic container of creamer, Honoka made herself a cup of coffee before turning to address Paeon. "I agree completely, although as of now I see no alternate solutions," she noticed as Paeon took… was that some kind of pill? Hopefully it was just medication and not… well…

She decided to not comment, instead finishing her initial train of thought. "Our best option would be to see if there's any way to avert the problem first, but it seems that someone has already decided against that," she took a sip of her coffee, turning towards the common room. "Speaking of which, I should probably head back and make sure no one gets any brilliant ideas. Otherwise, we're going to die as a result of their stupidity before this thermostat even hits room temperature. You're welcome to come, unless you have other business to attend to. If not, I'm going to have to, ah, defuse the situation on my own." Honestly, it was probably the wrong time to make jokes. Unfortunately, she'd realised that too late as she attempted to stifle a giggle. "Anyway, I'll be there."

Desperately trying to retain her serious composure, she headed back to the common room. Hopefully no one has blown anything up yet, she thought, beginning to survey the damage.

 

[_obsequious]

Ophi shifted her weight to her other foot, casting her temporary partner a puzzled look as he flinched away from her. She blinked at him, her gaze flickering, before brushing it off, deciding it wouldn’t be wise of her to bring it up.
She listened quietly as he explained his theory, as he gestured to the notebook in his hand. Her vision trailed to the book, a notable curiosity in her eye.
“Is that all you have written down there?” She prompted, dismissing another rumble of her stomach, this one a little louder. “Because if you have more I highly suggest we talk about it.”

She looked over at Ralph, groaning loudly at him. She didn’t even bother trying to make it inaudible, pressing a finger to her temple to contain the nauseating headache coming from her annoyance and also lack of food as of late.

“Listen, moron,” she barked hardly, “I get that you’re trying to be chaotically good and whatever, but you’re doing a real shitty job of it. I can guarantee that trying to be noble and blowing everything up after it’s been made very obvious that this place has more traps than some weird Japanese TV show is not the way to do it.”
Her tone was harsh, laced with venom, although it seemed she still had the slightest bit of humor left in her.

“And now you’re freaking that kid out like crazy, he’s liferally about to have an asthma attack! There’s obviously nothing you can do to fix this. My point is, you’re just gonna get us all killed so you should stop being such an idiot and just accept the fact that the majority of us are going to end up dead. Alright?”
She briskly left the room, crossing into the kitchen for a glass of water, drinking quietly (as it seemed that her outburst left her throat rather dry).

 

[Generation Sect]

Jason followed his new “partner” into the kitchen. It seemed everyone else had decided to actually hydrate, ironic considering how much they’d need hydration if what Monokuma said was true. Yet, something prevented Jason from doing so, as if it’d be some weird show of weakness towards everyone there if he was seen doing, God forbid, something human. Instead he went back to the topic of the notepad.
“Oh, I have far more in there. I don’t just lug this thing around for style points do I?”
He had a slight tone of sarcasm in his voice, something very unnatural for him.
“And anyway, I have a solution that could gather evidence to end their little Resistance for now. But... it’s a risk. A calculated one, but still a risk.”

 

[RhythmThief]

As much as I despise this bear....his creativity amazes me. Arata thought, now starting to feel a bit chilly. Luckily, his clothes were suited for winter, so it wasn't much of a problem. Besides, it'd be something he would come to regret in the passing hours.
5 degrees every 3 hours. That gives me about 2 days.

Seeing everyone now converse about the issue at hand, he took the opportunity to slither out of the room, and venture back into the rec room. He wanted to cover as much ground as he could, before he...

"Pool table here, television over there, and a laptop on the desk. That can't be it." He mumbled, stroking his chin, now beginning to notice a large cabinet at the back of the room. He began to walk toward it, his hand reaching out, before he quickly withdrew it.
"I may find something in this cabinet I do not wish to see. Something dangerous, that could put all our lives in even more danger." He said. talking to himself, and pondering whether he should really look inside or not. His indecisiveness and talking to himself were bad habits of Arata's he never managed to let go of.

"...But now is not the time for hesitation. I cannot simply stand idle and do nothing. Within the span of a few hours, one...no, ALL of us could die. It's now or never." He continued, pacing back and forth, trying to raise his morale. He sat on the floor.

"I need to do this. I'll explore all that I can, and make sure I leave as much info as possible for them. Then, when the heat becomes unbearable, I'll ask somebody to..." He trailed off, looking down at the blue carpeted floor.

I'll ask somebody to off me. Then the bear will have to stop. Or perhaps it'd be best to do it myself...

He silently rose up, and reached for the cabinet, this time with complete and utter resolve in his body language.

 

[Crimson Sun]

"Isn't that peer pressure," Jane mumbled to herself as Ralph 'encouraged' Ryuu to continue on with his bomb plan. Although she agreed with Ralph to find a way to save everyone in the room, she doesn't completely agree with his tactics. there's too many factors that can possibly go wrong with the bomb plan. Aftermath, demolition, possible fugitives, they don't even know where they are right now. She felt as though they should gather more information first before making such a hasty move. She decided to stay on the back line though, to see where Ralph would go with this anyways.

"If Magnesium and Potassium Nitrate won't work, then how about gasoline. We have a kitchen with a stove, there's bound to be some gasoline in there," Jane suggested to the duo. "If we have a bunch of gasoline in a container, that'll explode easily." Plus it'll give them some progress at least if they are wandering around and trying to find some, whatever elements the pyrotechnic needed for a solid explosion.

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

“Listen, moron,” she barked hardly, “I get that you’re trying to be chaotically good and whatever, but you’re doing a real shitty job of it. I can guarantee that trying to be noble and blowing everything up after it’s been made very obvious that this place has more traps than some weird Japanese TV show is not the way to do it.”

“No. You listen.” Ralph stood up straight, a look of killing intent in his eyes. “While all of you want to burn to death in your metal coffins, *I* actually want to see the light of day once again. At least I am doing something about it. Don’t start a fire and expect to be burnt, mrs detective.”

With that, he turned over to ryuu and Jane, his trio that he could trust. He nodded, listening to her suggestion. She had a point with gasoline, however he didn’t see any in the storage room. Given their limited locations of rooms here gasoline would be hard to find. The bathrooms, storage rooms, library, kitchen....wait....kitchen.

“The kitchen. If we are lucky, their stove could run of gas. We can remove the gas tank after some tinkering and have the gas we would need. The prime ingredient. We want to make the biggest explosion possible. I will be on my way. Jane, you and ryuu could scan for a structural weakspot you would want to place the bomb. I will look out for myself in the meantime getting the gas needed.”


Meanwhile Percy was controlling his shaking, his drawing hand starting to make mistakes in his art, something that rarely happened. Even with his circular drawing device he had found. Ralph’s decision to blow some of the place sky high had greatly alarmed him. But he didn’t want to escalate it even further. He shuddered, getting up and silently walking away

 

[_obsequious]

Ophelia had reached her boiling point, and it was only thirty-something degrees. She closed her eyes for a moment, exhaling a sharp breath, setting her glass down and stalking back into the room. She cast a look at Jason on her way out, with an unreadable look in her eye.
She approached Ralph swiftly, getting incredibly close to his face, not bothering to even try and be polite, looking up at him with an enraged look. “Don’t tell me to listen, dickwad.”
Her eyes were blazing, her fists clenched. “You think I’d rather stay and here and die? You think you’re the only one who wants to get out of this shithole? News flash, Sherlock, we all want to get out of here! You have a family! I have a family!”
Her voice seemed to break slightly at the “I”, a flicker of hurt in her eyes. She cleared her throat and carried on.
“But you seriously think that you can just sneak around and save the day? You- honest to god- think Monokuma isn’t listening to every single thing we do? There’s absolutely no way we can plot against him! No amount of leadership and chivalry is going to change that! What you’re doing is making dumbass decisions and setting us up for disaster.”

She took a breath, and it became evident that she was shaking slightly. She cast a look behind him, her eyes catching on Ryuu and Jane, and for a moment she looked solemn, almost apologetic. As soon as she directed her eyes back to Ralph, any trace of that was gone, her gaze hardening again, before she turned away and merely left, gesturing for Jason to follow her.

As she walked to her room, a million thoughts ran through her head. She knew she didn’t address the situation right, she knew that as a leader she had to be calm. And, to put it simply, she wasn’t. She wasn’t at all, but Ophelia was never good at biting her tongue.

She stopped at the door to her room, turning to Jason and gesturing to his notebook. Her voice was quiet when she spoke, the faintest tremble in her bottom lip; it seemed she was overwhelmed, and rather surprised with herself, hardly letting it show past the expressionless look on her face.
“Can you tell me what you have written down so far?”

 

[Generation Sect]

Jason just blinked as he stared at her, evidently confused by her outburst, before quickly returning to his usual manner.
He tapped his chin with his pen. "Okay how do i explain this... Y'know the film Minority Report? Tom Cruise, the Police use this thing to predict murders before they happen?" He took a deep breath. "It's along the lines of that. I spent a sleepless night compiling an assessment of each person here, weaknesses, and most importantly, who I thought would be most likely to murder someone." He slipped the notepad between his left arm and his side protectively.
"Of course, considering the new 'Motive', I'll most likely have to change it slightly. Therapy might seem like a useless talent for this, but that and Psychology go hand in hand. So I'll just have to find more... diversified uses of my skillset."
Even as he spoke simply and straightforwardly, there was a tone of apprehension in his voice.

 

[Riverrunner]

Arata pulled open the oak stained double-doors to reveal a plethora of assorted commodities.

The leftmost part of the cabinet was home to what appeared to be several folding chairs and a folding table. Not necessarily dangerous, unless someone were to snag their finger opening them or hit someone across the back of the head. A trio of pool cues were placed among the collapsible furniture. Again, not necessarily dangerous unless someone decided to deliberately sharpen it.

However, that seemed to be the extent of potential dangers. The rest of the cabinet's contents were odd, but fairly benign. The centre of the cabinet was stocked with various board games (including, among others: chess, checkers, multiple decks of cards, and several different iterations of monopoly). The vast majority are marked 'Property of: ███' in black sharpie, the previous owner having been scribbled out or torn off in some way.

To the right of the board games are several video game cases for the Xbox 360—a bit dated, definitely, but that appears to be the only gaming system the rec room has. Interestingly enough, on each and every one it appears the cover art has been changed to reflect the 'Headmaster's' likeness, the bear plastered practically everywhere. Whoever did this must've been really narcissistic… or just incredibly bored.

Unfortunately, there are only two controllers in the cabinet, so any class-wide Minecraft sessions are probably out of the question.

The rest of the cabinet is completely empty bar for a few spare pool balls and a glass jar filled with miscellaneous chess pieces.
————

Honoka arrived back in the common room, cup of coffee in her hand. Quite frankly, the scene hadn't changed much. Ralphie was still trying to destroy the place, Jason and Ophelia seemed to be plotting something, Ryuu was flipping out, the artist was still doodling on the floor with some kind of weird tool, Jane was doing… whatever she was doing. Holding the group together, probably.

She took a lengthy sip of the beverage, frowning. She opened her mouth to say something before realising that such was probably a fruitless effort. Those three were still going to try to blow a hole in the wall regardless of what she did. At this rate, it was probably better to just get out of the blast range than to lock horns with the most stubborn mule on the planet.

As such, she returned to dorm 13. If nothing else, it had a locking door and gave her a chance to finish the final pages of her book. Plus, who's to say Monokuma hadn't taken the liberty of hiding something in their rooms?

Her search quickly ended as she opened her closet to find only a single set of clothes hanging there. "No one's bothered to do laundry, have they," she muttered to herself, gathering up her own clothes and heading towards the room marked "Laundry" on the Student Handbook's map.

Sure enough, the room was pretty much exactly what one would expect. Tile flooring that was probably riddled with cables and blades, Monokuma's screen/speaker/camera setup in the corner, and two washers and dryers set up along the back wall, a stack of laundry baskets positioned in between. Honoka grabbed one of the baskets, tossing in her own clothes.

The laundry room's closet was stocked to the brim with detergent, bleach, dryer sheets, and towels, all perched upon flimsy wire shelving. This closet was almost identical to the one in the clinic setup-wise, the only differences being the contents and the forest green striped wallpaper plastered everywhere but the floor and ceiling.

She grabbed a bottle of detergent, setting it on the washing machine before stopping herself. Doing an entire load of wash for one person, regardless of how much detergent had been supplied, was fairly impractical. Instead, she pulled a piece of paper out of her apron pocket, writing a message and leaving it out on the washing machine next to the detergent for anyone to see:

Just leave your stuff here in the basket. I'm washing everyone's clothes later. Don't bother trying to be nice and throwing it in yourself, that'll just end up being a waste of soap.
- Honoka
————

Ryuu could only watch as the argument between Ophelia and Ralphie unfolded before him. Before, he'd been too freaked out by Monokuma's threats to do much to accomplish much of anything. Now, both the rising temperature and the words of his friends seemed to weigh down on his shoulders. He stood silently on the sidelines, waiting to see exactly what would unfold after Ophelia's leave.

 

[Paeon Kanetsu]

Paeon sighed as he watched the argument progress even further. In his mind, he knew that their group was doomed. So Paeon, in his wisdom, decided on the only thing he could do. Paeon stood up and walked over to Ralph... before punching him across the face.

As others looked on, Paeon yelled while filled with rage. "I hope you're fu*king happy!! You may think that you know what to do, but you are the biggest dumbass I've ever seen!! Even when people tell you it's a dumb idea, you still f*cking decide that you're right and they're wrong!! Do you remember what I said? We have to work together! But every single time, you decide that we need to put everyone at risk! We all want to leave... But you act as if we think this is a f*cking vacation!! THINK FOR A SECOND!! The damn rules are going to kill you because you're the idea who can't be patient and wait for a f*cking minute before shooting something!!! But here's the kicker... YOU'LL BE KILLING OTHERS ALONGSIDE YOU!!! IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT!? FOR YOU, JANE AND RYU TO ALL F*CKING DIE!!!"

Paeon sighed as he gave a tired glare. "I give up... you are by the most arrogant person I've ever met. You've so far have split everyone apart while this damn situation gets worse. You purposely believe you are right while putting others in danger. Hell, I'm pretty sure Ryu doesn't want to do this but sticks around by being forced. There's a reason I called you Robin Hood... because while you're an archer with courage... you're also very rebellious and do acts similar to a criminal. You think that you're a leader... but this is the wrong situation for you. Your arrogance has separated everyone to the point where we'll never work together."

As Paeon walked towards the door he stopped. "Hell, shoot me if you want. Get mad at me. As long as your arrogance is stopped then it's fine. So guess what..." Paeon turned to look at Ralph. "I. Don't. Care." He then turned to the nurse and pyrotechnics. "I hope you guys made the right choice... because you're on a one-way street. You're going to die this way no matter what. And most likely... Monokuma's gonna keep the killing motive going. So here's my only piece of advice... get away from the psycho archer while you still have a chance."

And with that Paeon walked away.

 

[Generation Sect]

Jason, after delivering his little explanation to Ophelia, then seemed to suddenly change, speaking in a more solemn, dead serious tone despite what he was saying. He turned away from her.

“... I’m about to go do something very, very stupid for the sake of something very important. So if I die from this, and you somehow make it out of this alive??? Track down my mom and remind her to fucking feed my cat for me.”
He turned back around and looked at her dead on for the last part, swearing for the first time in the stronghold as well, his tone and expression making it extremely hard to determine if he was joking or serious. And with that, he stormed off into the common room...

Made his way over to the Monokuma themed circular table...

And proceeded to flip it directly over in one swift motion.
He let out a shout, as he raised his voice, like a lion roaring, commanding much more attention and respect than his usual tone of voice.
“MONOKUMA!”
What was he hoping to achieve with this???

 

[_obsequious]

Ophi’s brow furrowed as she tried to remember the movie the Therapist mentioned, snapping her fingers as she remembered.
“Oh, right!- my Dad and I watched that one,” she commented quickly, nodding. She tuned in to what he said about his notebook, and immediately a new curiosity filled her, but he seemed defensive of it. She desperately wanted to know what he had written there, but she knew she had to gain his trust, and that was not the way to go.

She blinked at him as his face went solemn, insisting she hunt down his mother to tell her to feed his cat in case he died.
Watching as he stomped into the common room, she briskly followed, a string of “woah woah woah”’s and “wait” and “what?”’s tumbling from her dry mouth.

She watched, sort of stunned, as he threw the table over, roaring out for Monokuma.

What the hell is he up to?

 

[Generation Sect]

Jason left a piece of paper from his notepad on one of the couches, waiting for their new “Headmaster”
“Now... we wait to see if he shows up.”
He furrowed his brow, steepling his fingers together like a trapper who had just set the bait.

 

[Riverrunner]

Ding

The elevator doors slowly opened to reveal a positively fuming Monokuma. The monochromatic bear stomped out into the middle of the room where the shelf-table had once stood. He addressed the therapist directly, red eye glowing unusually bright as the elevator doors closed once more behind him.

"What the hell do you want? I was only gone for a few hours! See, lookit, the thermostat has barely increased in temperature at all! Is that how long it takes for you kids to completely wreck the place!" He pushed against the table with full force, scrabbling at the metal floor in an attempt to set it back upright. "These things aren't—ugh—cheap, y'know!" The bear kicked at the lopsided table, frustrated that his efforts had yielded nothing in terms of success. "Ah, forget it," he grumbled, snapping his fingers.

Almost instantaneously, the floor began to separate, the cables winding like adders out of the formerly imperceptible gaps. However, instead of latching themselves around the limbs of the therapist, they coiled around the base of the table shelf, setting it back in its original position before slithering back to their nest below the floor.

"Ahem, as I was saying…" Monokuma began, oblivious to the momentary second of panic he may have caused. "That's one hell of a way to get my attention, slamming around the furniture and screaming at the top of your lungs! Haven't you heard of knocking! How about first trying to contact me through your Monopad, is that such a foreign concept! What's next, you bash in my cameras? Blow this whole place to smithereens? This kinda animalistic behaviour'd better have a good diagnosis, Dr Phil!"

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

“Words are the weapons of cowards.” He said without flinching at ophelia’s words. “As a gang leader I would have figured you would have known this. If you actually had guts I would be dead by now, actions speak louder than words.”

Watching her huff off, he nodded as he had won this game of tounges in his mind. I that is when it happens. He was sucker punched. His eyes were hidden by the shadows of his face and hair. As paeon kept speaking, a red glint in his eyes were seen. He took his hood and put it over his head.

“Jane....” He said with cyanide. “Prep your medical supplies.”

With that, he took and arrow and drives it into Paeon’s shoulder. Blood spewed from the wound immediately as he pinned him against a wall. He growled, bloodlust fueling his eyes as he glared directly at himself

“You think I am someone to mess around with? Hm?” He said, twisting his arrow inside the shoulder. “The moment you harm me, you become the enemy. Remember that next time you decide to attack. I will consider it a mutiliation worthy offense.”

 

[The Kitsune]

Like a heavy stone in a river's path, Hoshi merely watched as the brief calm that had settled amongst the stronghold inhabitants was shattered once again by their malevolent headmaster. Playful banter, his the threat of death, then the rush of emotion that followed; it was predictable, violeny and...wholly inconcequenial. In reality, nothing had changed. They all still had targets on their back, trapped with no known means of escape, and plenty of time to let both of those facts weight on their psyches. All Monokuna had really done was remove the leisure time and add a deadline.

Hoshi's eyes followed everything in relative silence, leaving just long enough to finish drying her hair and grab her usual jacket. The brief quiet gave her a moment to reflect. She been tempted to speak up against Ralphie's plan, to explain exactly why damaging the stronghold, by any means, was tantamount to suicide. Hook herself had looked to her for support and yet doing so would have meant devulging everything she'd uncovered in the coding so far, revealing far more than tile response system data... And she didn't want that information in anyone else's hands, she didn't even like the feel of it in her own. Giving a last check of her glum reflection in the mirror, Hoshi returned to the common room.

She returned to find tempers had risen faster than the temperature, the echo of shouts finding her in the hall before she emerged into the common room. In only those few short minutes her had literally come to blows over their new motive, walking in just in time to catch Paeon's ambitious attack on Ralphie and Jason (yep, that was definitely Jason, the therapist) flipping the central table before their collective eyes.

Thought her lips were dry with lack of speech, she could only bring herself to watch and wait...again. Surprisingly Monomania's appearance wasn't the most astonishing development as Ralphie stabbed a ready arrow into his attacker, seemingly unconcerned with their headmaster's audience or any of theirs for that matter. It looked like they wouldn't have to wait that 48 hours for a death after all.

 

[Paeon Kanetsu]

As Paeon gripped his shoulder in pain and kneeled down, he never faced the archer... but rather the two near him. "I hope THIS is worth following... Someone who attacks when countered. Someone who tortures one who speaks his voice. Someone... who's a monster."

Paeon lifted himself up as he faced the archer again before he cracked him across the face again. "I hope your f*cking happy. You just proved my point. So far... you've been in every single argument. Not only that, you're attitude always progresses them further. After all... what if this hit my head? Or my heart? ...You would have been a murderer. But then again... if dictator and asshole are on your resume, why not add another. All I've done was speak my voice to stop you so we can work together... but you separate everyone. And now... two innocent people are stuck as your lackies..."

Paeon then pulled the arrow out of his shoulder, he grabbed the archers bow and snapped it in half before walking out to the common room. "Hey, Doctor Mumbles! I need a little help!! I spoke my word out to Robin Hood and punched him. But as you can see..." Paeon pointed to his bleeding shoulder. "The crazy bastard decided I need an arrow shot and twisted into my shoulder. Since the nurse is stuck as the psycho's minion... I need some help..."

However, as Paeon walked further into the common room, he fell to his knee as he started to feel even weaker. As blood seeped out of his shoulder, his bottle fell out of his pocket and Paeon raised his head to the others. "Can I please get some help? It's... getting very difficult to stay awake..."

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

The archer, upon his bow being snapped, swerved over at Paeon, who still seemed to grow resilient to him. Out of his wrist’s sleeve, he reavled a previously hidden folded crossbow, albeit slightly smaller than his bow, but would do the job just fine. Since Paeon hadn’t learned his lesson, he fired another arrow directly into his hip.

“I. Never. miss.” He said, in response to what Paeon said before. He grabbed him by the collar again. “You kick the lion and call monster when you get mawed. Your predicament is nothing but your own choices becoming your downfall. You don’t have to like me, but to strike me is an offense that must always. ALWAYS. He answered for.”

He prepped another arrow, aiming it at his neck, watching his movements, ready to counter if he were ever to come into close range. Paeon now has two wounds. This would defiently need the ultimate combat medic’s help.

“My allies go along my side not out of fear, but out of mutual survival and respect. I rely on them and they rely on me. I WILL get you and everyone out of here, even as you are too ungrateful to see past your own nose. This is my promise I make to you.”

 

[Paeon Kanetsu]

As Paeon was on the ground, he glared at the archer. "Answer me this... would you have listened to me if I just said my words? No. Would you listen to me if I tried to point out you were being an idiot? No... because it's like with everyone else. I tried a different approach. And with it... I showed your true colors. A man who's corrupted by power."

Paeon then slammed his hand on the ground before he glared at the archer once more. "I know you're gonna go on some tangent while IGNORING WHAT I F*CKING SAY AGAIN! Well, guess what... LISTEN FOR ONCE IN YOUR GOD DAMN LIFE!! Here you are with a f*cking weapon and some power. You ignore everyone while focusing only on how to do things your way. Look at Ryu... he constantly told you how an explosion would put us all at risk. But did you listen? NO! Instead, you pushed him towards your ideas and goals.1"

Paeon then gave a weak chuckle. "You know why I was able to do something others won't? You know why I was able to take action and say no to you? ...It's because I have nothing left in life. You all may have family, friends, hell... even pets waiting for you. However... I have nothing. I've lived my life being ignored by all, insulted by my siblings, forgotten by my mother, was told to f*cking jump off a bridge by my father..."

Paeon laid his head back on the floor as blood pooled out. "I was left to starve, left to freeze, left to be by myself. The only person who cared about me is dead! And then there's my f*cking schizophrenia... But you know that already. Or maybe you don't? You were in the f*cking room and probably ignored it because I don't f*cking matter in your eyes because my perspective is different."

Suddenly, Paeon did something that shocked some. He grabbed Ralph's arm and pointed the crossbow at his head. "So... What's your choice? To actually listen for once? Or... to kill a f*cked up broken teen who simply wanted everyone to help each other instead of you being the god damn ruler over everyone else. So guess what... you either stop your plan to blow sh*t up and risk everyone or... You. Kill. Me."

Paeon stared the archer straight in the eye. Would the archer kill Paeon or would he finally stop and listen or would he take his life. "Your choice. Cooperate or Control? Teamwork or Murder? Your f*cking choice."

 

[The Kitsune]

The warm, metallic smell of blood perfumed the air and it brought a momentary stillness to all gathered as if death himself stood in their midst, his fresh arrows finding home in Paeon's flesh. Just as it had happened before, Hoshi was moving before her better judgement could tell her not to. "やめて!" The Japanese word rang from her lips with far more courage than she felt as her steps landed her next to Paeon and the archer's drawn crossbow. "それとも、あなたが直面するすべての人を殺すつもりですか"

The language was second nature to her, being one of her first, so it took a moment to recognize the look of incomprehension that met her words. She blinked, her eyes losing a bit of the certainty her native tongue had brought her as she forced herself to switch back to an understandable dialect. "Do you really intent to kill a man over a bloodied lip and a broken bow?" Shaking with a mix of conviction and fear, she touched Paeon's hand on Ralphie's arm and put gentle pressure to push the aim away from his head. "Getting yourself killed won't help anyone, Paeon," she added, though her soothingly attempt was lessened by the shake in her own voice.

She knew was a trigger pull away from her own bloodshed by attempting to intervene, she knew that much. But she couldn't stand by and watch Paeon loose his life, even if irrationally offered. It took digging her own fingernails into her palm just to maintain her stance, eyeing the ready tension in Ralphie's weapon. "You're dangerously close to giving Monokuna exactly what he wants..." Her eyes moved to the bear standing in the room with them, before moving between to Ralphie and Paeon, who was now collecting a puddle of blood around his shoes. It was a wonder how he could still stand...

 

[Crimson Sun]

"Stop, back away," Jane calmly said, not wanting to escalate the predicament they were put in. Right now, she has a patient to tend to. Jane put her hands on the crossbow and pointed it towards another direction, not aiming it towards a living organism. She stood between Ralph and Paeon. "Ralph, I'm going to need you to stay away from Paeon for a bit. Paeon, I'm going to need you to lay down, you're losing a lot of blood." Jane gestured towards the flor in front of her feet, not caring where the latter lays down. He needs medical help. "Ryuu, if you can get a blood bag, preferably Blood Type O."

Jane took out her medical supplies, putting pressure on the wound to slow down the blood loss. Her other hand digging through her medical kit, she pulled out some white bandages, anesthetics, thread, and a needle. "I'm going to need to sew your wound close, with your consent of course." Jane said towards Paeon, not caring the surrounding people. Her job is to aid people, and that's what she's planning to do.

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

“Did any of you think I would bow to the wishes of a stuffed bear? No, murder would be counter productive. This was simply retaliation, blow for a blow so to speak. That is my way. Every action has consequences, although words do not. That is why make actions heavy and mean something. Besides, if I wanted to kill him I would have done so already.”

Calming everyone down and assuring him he didn’t actually have any killing on the agenda, he bent an ear toward the bleeding Paeon, who tried to make conversation with him, trying to prove his point. He arched and eyebrow, not concerned with his pain.

“You should have considered your own problems and illnesses before you decided to pick a fight you couldn’t win. You threw that punch. You can’t hide behind your disorder for that.” He shrugged without remorse. “And you speak as if all of us have family to go back to, like that’s something we all have. That would be impossible. As you see, I’m an orphan. I care only about those around me and those I must protect with my life, even if it means tough love. Don’t lecture me on caring and compassion. Your platitudes have already been told several times.”

 

[Paeon Kanetsu]

Paeon chuckled as he heard the archer's voice. "You really are a piece of sh*t. Here we are with the same attitude. Here's where you miss the point again. Do you call this tough love? Blow to blow? If it was blow for blow, it would be a punch for a punch and not shooting someone. This is where you ignore what I say again. But right now, I'm pretty sure you have a superiority complex. But then again, I should probably shut up now considering that my word is pointless to you. After all, I get shot for speaking out."

As he pushed himself up minus the protests, he walked over to his bottle of Clozapine and placed it back in his pocket. While he staggered and wobbled towards the dorms Paeon stopped as he pulls the arrow out of his hip. "...I'm tired of this. No one listens. No one cares. No one notices that some jackass who's started every argument has too much control... F*ck it, I'm going to my dorm for some sleep." Paeon continued his way to his room while a trail of blood followed him. But before he could make it, he collapsed in the hallway. "F*ck... I'm... almost..." However, after that, Paeon blacked out.

 

[The Kitsune]

The tight tension between Hoshi's shoulders eased a bit as Jane took charge, shifting her gaze reluctantly from Ralphie to watch her work. Fists twitching unconsciously in suspense, she took one careful step back and moved her hand gratefully away from Ralphie and the weapon. Watching him carefully while Jane directed her patient, her gaze drifted back to the archer, who was still trying to explain his extreme actions. His words were beginning to leave a bad taste in her mouth.

She was startled to see Paeon's stubbornness still very much alive, moving away from the medics help despite his heavy blood loss. She moved immediately to go after him, but stopped mid step, knowing Jane would work more effectively without interference. Instead she choose to look back at Ralphie, her gaze almost pitying despite her apprenhension. "...have you ever heard the fable 'The Lions and the Tigers', Ralph?" She gestured at Monokuna without looking, "Tiger," and then to Ralphie with her other hand. "Lion." She let her hands fall and shook her head halfheartedly. "The lesser of two evils is still evil..."

...and murder in the name of protection is still murder. Her courage failed her before she could add the last words out loud, but her actions spoke for themselves as she put a further few feet of distance between herself and the archer. It didn't matter anyway, she doubted her words would have any more profound effect than anyone elses had. At least his actions should make it abundantly clear to the others the inherent danger of placing your protection in the hands of a lion...

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

Ralphie watched Paeon fall to the ground after practically just hurling insults to him. He didn’t seem visually affected by it however, as if seemed like he had heard every insult and curse in the book before. He had gotten what he bargained for. He turned to talk to ryuu before he was stopped by none other than Hoshi.

She explained the first half of the lion and tiger story, to which he priced together what she wa saying fairly fast. She caught his intrigue and attention, along with confusion.

“Evil? I don’t kill or want murder like the bear. What I did was set an example and follow up. He struck me and I struck back harder. It is hownone wins wars as well as disputes. I did not strike the first blow, I put down an attacker, no fatalities involved. I fail to see the problem here.”