~ Tнє Pαяα∂σχ Hσυѕє ~ now back to regularly scheduled chaos

Ravohyr || Pillow Room || --cato phoenix & Razzle Dazzle

He had to admit, it was pretty funny hearing someone trying to figure out his name. She must not be any kind of local, then, he decided. Unless she was, in which case he was just being rude to think otherwise. Well, it was nice to hear someone say his name without malice, even if it was a might-or-might-not-be local he'd dreamed up. That feeling lasted only until she called him "demon boy" and then he was absolutely lost. Where did that come from? Did he really look that sh*tty? He'd have to do something about that- Oh god she was pulling his hair.
In a nearly frantic effort to save himself from getting all his hair ripped out, he gripped hard onto the edge of the moat and used pretty much the only useful skill he had; he was absolutely shredded. His shoulders flexed hard and he hauled himself up, using the tugging on his scalp as motivation to get up faster than she could pull. It was actually really effective, and he was on his feet in seconds. "Thanks," he said in a rush, trying not to sound too quippy or agitated that his hair had been pulled. "...Next time, it'd be a little more welcome and less painful if you just grabbed my hand," he suggested stiffly, reaching back to tidy up his hair, pulling it out of the ponytail and brushing his fingers through it.
His vanity only proved to worsen his luck it seemed, since keeping his hands busy and his face totally exposed left Eliyen all the openings she could ask for.
The hit was solid, or as solid as it could be when they were dancing around on soft fuzzy things, while wearing soft fuzzy things. Speaking of, why was he wearing soft fuzzy things? Weird- Oh yeah, he had just been hit. "Ack!" he grunted, his hands dropping out of his long hair to stabilize him as he stumbled back, desperate in his efforts to not fall into the moat again. "Hey, hey! Look, listen- I didn't mean it! I'm new here okay- Lords, why the dung do dreams hurt so bad lately? Eugh.." He lifted his hands to actually protect his face from his attacker, although his stance was sloppy enough to still leave him open. In addition to this, he ducked his head to protect his precious face. He really, really, didn't want a broken nose. "If I offended you I'm so sorry, I just got out of jail and I'm still readjusting-" he explained to the ground, still wobbling a bit.

L | Jenga Room | mintedstar/fur

L watched Myrnin closely, his wide dark eyes never leaving the vampire’s face, his expression. Myrnin was nothing if not difficult to read, he mused, and he thought back to his own actions in the Arena Room.
Because that, really, was what he was talking about. The Murder Mystery Room had come second, and even then he knew it had stemmed from what happened in the Arena. Not that the Murder Room hadn’t had its own issues to be resolved, of course it had, and L still wanted nothing more than to know who had been responsible for that man’s death. But maybe it was better to tackle one seemingly insurmountable problem at a time.
I’m truth, L hadn’t done much other than die in that room. He had blinked in after most of the mayhem had occurred. He wondered, sometimes, whether the House had blinked him in merely to give Myrnin someone else to kill.
It would make sense. The House had probably been thrilled to see the vampire do so much damage so quickly.
He listened, careful not to miss a single word, as Myrnin began to speak. He was right, of course. The House was not something that was easy to anticipate, any more than any other killer was easy to guess at. The problem with the House was that it was as powerful as it was clever, and it usually had a pretty good idea of how to hit you where it hurt the most. The problem, he thought, gazing into Myrnin’s green eyes, was that it was smarter than them.
More specifically, smarter than him.
“No one can predict the House’s actions completely.” He conceded. “Not you, and not me. But that’s all the more reason to do the best we can to minimize damage. I thought you were guilty in the Murder Mystery Room because I knew you were guilty in the Arena. I suppose that was a flaw in my reasoning. I apologize for my mistake.”
And now they were talking about good. It was an odd concept to discuss, the detective mused, still staring at Myrnin with unblinking dark eyes. As someone who believed in justice, and therefore injustice, L knew he was at odds with plenty of other people who thought those concepts were mere human imagination at work, but he still wasn’t used to discussing those topics. The people who came to him generally believed in justice enough to think he had a chance in making it happen, and those who didn’t agree didn’t typically have a say in the matter. Criminals, for example, who didn’t think they’d done anything wrong, were not consulted.
Myrnin wasn’t a criminal, though.
Was he?
“There are two kinds of rooms.” L answered, voice steady. His feet rubbed together slowly as he spoke, as though trying to get warm. “The ones that take over your mind, and the ones that don’t. The ones that take over your mind are inescapable as far as I can tell, or rather, we don’t know how to escape them. Those ones are the House’s fault.”
He didn’t blink. “But the Arena Room wasn’t like that. It didn’t take over your mind, Myrnin. It tricked you, and it tried to manipulate you, and it succeeded. You have to take responsibility for your actions, even if your choices were extremely limited.”
He flinched as the block flew past him, expecting it to hit him. It didn’t, and he didn’t turn, didn’t glance behind him to see where it had landed. All he could see was a Myrnin, sitting in front of him. Crouched where he was, and talking faster.
He didn’t say anything as the vampire continued, and he could feel his whole body, tense and ready like he expected a fight.
He didn’t, though. He didn’t think Myrnin was going to do anything. The only reason his heart was beating rapidly now was the things Myrnin was saying.
He wanted to say something, but for the first time since they’d entered this room, he didn’t know what. His eyes finally flicked away from Myrnin’s, resting on the block tower as though it might hold the answers he was looking for.
“I know why you did it.” He said finally, choosing his words with meticulous care. “And I know you were trying to do the right thing in a situation with no good answer. I know that. But it’s like you said. You can’t predict the House like that. You decided that the only way out was to kill the weakest blinkers before they could kill anyone themselves, and you took a risk, gambling that they would come back. I can’t tell you you did the right thing, Myrnin.”
He reached out for a block on the tower, then stopped, fingers hovering less than an inch from the wood. Then he pulled back without touching it.
“But I can’t tell you you did the wrong thing either. The House has, once again, created a situation with little to no solutions.”
He breathed out. Flashes of the bodies he’d seen shot through his mind like light on water. How could he say that slaughtering the weak and defenseless could ever be the right thing to do? How could he say it was right to let them become killers?
Damn you, House.
Myrnin’s voice as he continued was nearly enough to shatter L. He sounded so lost, so alone, and the detective couldn’t look away from him, even if he’d wanted to. He couldn’t stop looking at those green eyes, and when Myrnin closed them, L closed his, too. For only a second.
Then they snapped open and he stared at the vampire, face gone even paler than usual, leaving him paper white. Twenty? A thousand? More? What was he talking about? It was true that L had killed people, indirectly. He had caught criminals who’d died because of it, and he’d failed to catch others, causing more victims to fall. He’d failed A, one of the first children in Wammy’s after himself, and that had caused a death. BB was more than enough to be on that list. So he understood that killing was more complicated than it might seem.
But thousands? He stared at Myrnin, trying to scan him and break open his thoughts. Trying to see what he meant, because there was the distinct sense that the vampire was leaving something out of the equation.
“Tell me why.” He said softly, and leaned forward, not back. As though he was trying to prove to himself that the much older blinker wasn’t a monster, that he couldn’t be a monster. “Tell me why you killed them. Because I’ve killed before, too. Maybe not thousands. But it’s possible - no, likely - that I’ve indirectly caused the deaths of hundreds.”
He reached for the block again. The same one as before. But he still didn’t touch it. His fingers were close enough to lightly brush the edges, but that was all.
“You don’t know that for sure.” He told Myrnin, settling back into his usual crouch. “I’ve heard that sometimes, people here do stay dead. You can’t say you knew they would come back. You thought they would, and you were right as far as I know, but you didn’t know.”
He hadn’t known the child would come back. L didn’t even know the boy’s name, but he had seen the way Myrnin had looked at the small body, and he knew the vampire had killed him.
A child learning to kill.
Memories rose behind L’s eyes unbidden, flashes he didn’t want to see. He knew all too well what a child who knew how to kill looked like. He knew a small, desperate face when he saw it, and he never wanted to see it again. Maybe if he’d seen more of the Arena, his perspective would have been different. Maybe he would have had a different opinion.
He didn’t know, he didn’t know, he just didn’t know.
“The House is the culprit. But that doesn’t make our choices go away.” He answered, and his voice wasn’t calm anymore. It shook slightly. He didn’t like thinking about this, and not because he had died. No, it was more than that, far more.
“A crime scene.” He answered, almost distractedly. “I would have treated it as a crime scene, from start to finish. That’s my job, that’s who I am. I can’t just turn it off.”
He sounded like he wished he could.
His pale fingers closed around the block, and he slid it free.
And the tower came crashing down.
L watched it fall. Then, still staring at the remains of the game, he said softly, “you were the more selfless of the two of us. You still killed innocent people. I can see that that tortures you more than you can say.”
And then he looked up and his dark eyes were bright with something difficult to read. “I wanted to blame you, just like you wanted me to blame you. But I can’t, Myrnin. Because in your position...I may have made the same decision.”

(Speaking of extremely long posts...)

L | Living Room | strider

L blinked into the living room, standing with his hands in his pockets, his left foot prodding the floor as though he were trying to pry something off of it.
He looked up as he realized where he was, and his eyes immediately landed on Orpheus. The other man looked a bit anxious, he thought, like maybe he didn’t really want to be there. Which was understandable. L didn’t really want to be there either.
“Hello.” He said, raising a hand in greeting. It was nice to see a familiar face, as he hadn’t blinked in a few days and hadn’t left his apartment in that time either. In fact, he’d only seen Watari, and solved several cases. It would be nice to have a break from work.
He glanced around the room. “It’s been a while since I’ve been in the living room.” He noted. “The House seems to have taken to blinking us straight into rooms. Not that I’m complaining.”

"H-Hi, I...thanks?" The young boy croaked out on the border, regardless of not knowing the person it was a house habit. His gaze locked onto the swift hand placed upon the dark man.his face was an open book for a startled glint in his eyes turned into panic. Dipper deposited in his pocket the thin, clear crystal into one of the many inner pockets of his blue vest. A part of him was glad he was far away from the hot mess everyone seemed to be watching, waiting to unfold, " Wait! Wait I can explain." Parts of his words sounded a bit rough on ears capturing the frantic race of emotions in the air all the while his arms were outstretched motioning them up and down.
Whomever started the ruckus he would soon discover although it was hard to take a child with fuzzy socks seriously as he lowered his arms down to his thin sides. "Hey, sorry not sorry I don't know what beef you two have but cut it out." He brazenly stepped between them if there was any space but he continued his rushed speech. Given how many fantastical people die or get injured in the house his first thought was to help, it was only logical, at least that's what the boy's thoughts reasoned."We're gonna talk this out before you go into a full blown beat down. I don't see how beating up people is going to get us out and for all we know he's just as lost as uh, the rest of us? There's like a buh-zillion chances he's not even from your reality." He figured his spiel would get her tired but it was better to get his foot in the door then never.

Hook - Pillow Fort Room - literally everyone

Hook sighed, seeing that, although the physical conflict seemed to have ended as quickly as it had begun, a pitiable amount of confusion was surrounding the scene now. While he suspected it be fun to sit back and watch the poor, inexperienced blinkers squabble and gawk at each other, there was actually a progressive alternative if he rallied the group now.
With an annoyed grunt, the man began to approach just as Dipper starting speaking in defense of the dark elf - an interjection the pirate immediately cut into. “Hey, [/i]hey,” he snapped at the kid, “no one wants to hear that from you a’ight?” He informed him sharply, then turned back to the others, a serious look on his face. “We’re fine here, right? We’re done with that?” He turned to Eliyen now, visibility agitated with her and inpatient in his words, though he seemed expectant that everyone would calmly agree the dispute was over. “The hell did I just f****** say to you, huh?” He muttered to Eliyen crossly, lowering his voice slightly as he looked at her. As humorous as it was to watch others destroy their reputation in the house, there was a level of disrespect he wasn’t fond of seeing when someone deliberately ignored what he’d just told them. Despite all his irritation, he lifted up her blade and held the handle to her expectantly - his grip temporarily holding firm while he muttered to her once more. “Don’t kill anyone with it, but it ain’t smart to leave it behind,” he paused, then begrudging allowed himself to pass it over to her.
The pirate then diverted his attention to the bruised and bleeding dark elf, noticing he seemed to be spewing any random information that had any possible degree of potentially helping him out of his situation. With a severe roll of his eyes, the man removed his flask and passed it to the stranger harshly, welcoming him to the House with his typical charm; “A’ight mate, quit your babbling and drink. I take it your new around here and I don’t need your ass going hysterical - ‘cause I’ll plant another one on you. Aye?” He gave a curt nod, expecting a confirmation from the individual.
He then took a moment to pause, seeming to search out any kind of objections to his assertive way of handling things. It was similar to how he handled his crew on good days, and it was his damn best to handle the residents of this place as anything other than pest. If it blew up in his face...hell...he’d have a story for Shade at least.

Gin | Statue room | ®Hawkpath® mintedstar/fur Razzle Dazzle @ whoever else is in the statue room |

(sorry for the delay!)

Gin was getting a lot of instructions from a lot of different sources. 'Don't attack them no matter what', from the blonde woman, 'don't try to reason with them' from the little Amanto girl. He wasn't about to admit it, but he was rather far out of his depth here, seeing as he knew nothing about these statues or what they were capable of.

Well, it wouldn't be the first time. And like always, decisions had to be made, and they had to be made quickly. And the statues, though they were closing in, hadn't yet shown any signs of violence.

"Ahhhh, what a pain," he groaned, with an exaggerated sigh. Then, he drew his sword, and in one swift, downward motion, cut straight through the hem of his kimono, freeing himself from the statue's grip.

"Alright, everyone in a circle," he said flatly, scrambling away from the statue and pushing Rue closer to his side. "Fighters on the outside, everyone else on the inside. No one break anything unless they're ready to break you. Got it?"

Kelsier | Trust Exercise Room | strider

“Sounds like it.” Kelsier had to agree. He could only imagine the chaos that would cause, the children of those particular gods against each other sounded like madness. On the other hand, though, if they were anything like Nico, they might not be much like their parents at all. He half glanced at Nico, wondering whether the boy had thought of that. He probably had, knowing him.
“Not that often.” Kelsier had to laugh at that, an incredulous sound that meant everything from oh it’s perfectly fine then to I can unfortunately relate. And he could relate, because like Nico, nowhere was actually safe for him. He was a well known criminal, a thief and much, much worse, and he had brought most of it on himself if you counted the bits where he hadn’t had a choice. Which he personality counted everything but the stealing as less than a choice. He acknowledged his actions and he took responsibility for them, but who could say he’d had all the options he could have wanted? No one would have dared suggest he hadn’t acted under duress.
Of course, he was still slaughtering noblemen, so maybe that wasn’t the best example.
He was a lot more of an open person than Nico was, he knew that much. Nico was secretive, careful with his heart, and Kelsier thought it was likely he would never have known all those secrets if it hadn’t been for the House. He wasn’t grateful, because he would never have wanted anyone’s thoughts to be torn from their skull like that, but he had to admit that he was glad he had gotten to know Nico even a little bit. He was glad he hadn’t stayed only an enemy, even if he didn’t think he would ever be a friend. Nico was a lot more than met the eye, and Kelsker was in the uncomfortable position of knowing he would never have met him without the House.
It didn’t matter, or so he told himself. He could hate the House anyway.
If he’d known what Nico was thinking, he might have told him he was wrong. Kelsier may have come out on top of his demons, but Nico had survived, and that meant he too had won. Sometimes, the mere fact that you were still breathing was more of a victory than than winning a war ever could be.
Nico wasn’t broken. He was bent. And Kelsier knew without a shadow of a doubt that he would heal.
If only he knew whether the House had wanted them to succeed. Because he hoped it had wanted them to drop each other. That would make their success taste even sweeter, for having foiled its plans.
He shuddered, remembering his little shadow trip. It had not been fun. It had been something like he imagined falling was for people who were afraid of heights. He wasn’t, personally, but he imagined it would be as disorienting and unnerving as traveling through shadows with Nico had been. Not that he would be totally opposed to going again...it had felt like the kind of thing he might be able to get used to. Maybe. Either way, he could tell Nico was joking, and that made him smile a little wider, because he got the sense that wasn’t something Nico normally did, and he was oddly glad the boy felt comfortable enough to do it here and now, with the man who had killed him once.
“It actually does seem like something I could get used to.” He admitted, turning his attention back to the building as they approached it. “A bit like flying. I guess I just don’t know how to fly as well as I thought.”
Maybe if he’d known how much shadow travel took from Nico, he wouldn’t have talked about it so favorably, but all he knew was that it was a part of Nico’s powers. His own abilities were so close, so central to him, that it was hard to imagine someone not enjoying their own. Even though he had Snapped relatively recently, he could barely imagine life without Allomancy. Wasn’t it the same with Nico’s powers?
The moment Kelsier walked through the door, he stumbled, startled as two odd contraptions appeared, one stuck to each foot. He threw his arms out to catch his balance, still careful not to hit Nico even by accident, and managed to right himself before he face planted on...whatever the floor was made of. He had no idea what that was. At least it seemed to make it a little easier to walk in these things.
“These are the knives we’re supposed to balance on?” He asked, glancing at Nico curiously. The boy had his own balance-knives stuck to his feet, so it seemed reasonable to assume that was what they were for.
He glanced over at the place where the warm, unfamiliarity smell was coming from, but he couldn’t see anything. Which was probably for the best, because as soon as he knew what hot chocolate was, good luck prying him away from it. Instead he looked down at Nico and smiled.
He looked surprisingly adorable in a beanie and gloves. His dark hair was sticking out in places, and he looked...well. Not unhappy. Maybe this would actually be a good room for once, he mused, and though he hated the House, he was glad.
He took a few steps forward, following the signs as best as one could when they didn’t know where they were going. Then he noticed what he was wearing.
Scarlet gloves, very warm and fitted perfectly to his hands. He reached up and felt his hat, then took it off to get a look at it.
Half pink and half blue, with a thin violet stripe between them. Pretty. He put the hat back on and grinned at Nico, then turned and headed for...wherever they were going...calling over his shoulder as he went. “Race you!”

Dipper found himself at a standstill residing both Eliyen and the dark elf? Who knew some parts of D,D & D turned out to be slightly factual, if close enough he could see if the elf was sparkly like the ones in the monster manual! Woah, wait, a reality check incoming, of course. Thoughts of both excitement and apprehension flooded him once that smelly fellow opened his mouth causing Dipper's brain to short circuit. He opened his mouth a retort coming in to make Hook rethink his scolding but the flash of the silver hook made him close his mouth. They needed help! They needed some kind of guidance, he couldn't just leave them in the dark like that but it was not his place to speak, not by age or seniority in the house. He reminded himself he was only a kid, right? What did he know. Awkwardly he looked at Eliyen, a pale flush of red swarmed his cheeks, she kinda looked like Wendy and then Hook was the authority which was a change from the hot mess spilling his ale out on stage during the speech room.
Well, the kid wanted to come back home to Mable, and maybe Grunkle Stan alive so he backed away from the both of them. In his viewpoint now that the other man was - had been conversing to the woman who'd by his assumptions and her drawn fist, he turned to his left spotting Ononoki already abashed that he'd shoved past her like she didn't exist. "Hey, I'm..." Before he can talk to the girl, maybe around his age, she was already paying mind to their newbie friend. In his mind he felt twice as guilty for making it all about his stupid feelings. "I'm Dipper." The red flush remained in his face, he stated his name curtly, the hooked man seemed to be easily angered. Knowing this Dipper turns to full face Ravohyr and Ononoki not fully aware of the other two's placements.
His eyes blinked looking at the now drying blood in the elf's face but its not like he hasn't seen gnarlier things inside the house. As nice as the man had been, perhaps he should have been paying better attention, "This is wild, like you already gut punched - sorry that happened. You said you knew nothing about the house, yeah?" Speaking to newbie made him feel important and the man's charming comments solidified his trust of this stranger. "Basically this is the Paradox House, congrats that you're a blinker," The young lad waved his arms to represent the room and those around it, quickly realizing his naive intro was maybe too strong. "Basically the House pulled you into your world but you don't stay here forever. Its dangerous like I said, don't make enemies plus the places the house sends you are pretty dangerous too. About the world thing? You can go home later but remember going back time stops until you blink back. This is something beyong magic, no one but you will know about this place which is why everyone doesn't know each other and we get situations like this happening. S-sorry if I wasted your time..."

Thirteen | Living Room | strider Cloverleaf Lark Sησω

Besides the rather obvious fact that Stormcatcher was the first non-Doctor in the room, there was also the fact that just about any version of The Doctor who remained in the room still wanted to go somewhere. Thirteen wiggled her eyebrows a bit. Well, it wasn't like she could do much to stop herself, now could she?
"The hallway over there," she said brightly, unable to help it. Even the caution had faded from her voice.
"It's got ... places which I have little doubt will be interesting to any face of mine. Plus dragon."
She nodded in the direction of the hall. "If one of you would like to lead, feel free." It was a matter of stomping down her instinct to jump ahead, but this face really was a touch more interested in seeing what her younger selves or the dragon would do.

Adrian was unlucky enough to blink in during one of Archie's little fake death routines. The small dhampire had been decked out in the same outfit that seemed to be the requirement of the room and a smaller version of the paintball gun had appeared in his hands. Unaware exactly what it was, he tossed it aside and hurried over to Archie.

"Are you well?" he asked, unsure how much concern he actually had in his voice. There should probably have been less, considering the situation of who Archie was and what not. Or the strange location they were in. Either one of those.

"What happened?" he asked, teeth clacking together awkwardly in his concern. He couldn't see any harm to the god, at least off hand. And he couldn't smell blood either, though that was assuming Archie bled anything resembling blood.
"You're not hurt?" he tried instead, shifting from foot to foot. "What has hit you?" His eyelids blinked rapidly.

(I'll update that thing called a character form ASAP. But it's 4:10AM right now, so not now. XP )

Archie || Paintball Arena || mintedstar/fur

It startled him quite a bit when someone else did actually blink in, least of all his newest dhampire friend. "Adrian!" he gasped, immediately halting his frantic rolling about the ground and grinning at him. It was very kind of him to worry, he noticed, even though it was generally misplaced since he was basically impenetrable. Mostly. 
He lifted a hand to set on his shoulder, giving him a few pats and shaking his head. "Oh no, I'm quite alright. Just messing around a bit until someone else blinked in to play," he explained, moving his hand from his shoulder to the ground and pushing himself up into a sitting position. 

He noticed just then that Adrian didn't appear to have a gun and tilted his head, frowning curiously. How the devil could you play paint ball without a gun? Adrian was far too small to be used as a meat shield, and he wasn't even dead yet! So logically he couldn't properly be one. It was immediately following this thought that he insisted he clarify he would not use Adrian as a meat shield, in any case. Absolutely not. He didn't use friends as meat shields.... especially the kid ones. 

But, all of this might be solved with a question; "Wheres your gun? This is a game room, you see. Generally, you need a gun to be able to play right," he explained to him, grinning happily and already thrilled over the fun they might have. If he didn't have a gun, perhaps they could find one. Or the house might manifest him one. Either way. 

Ononoki - pillow fort room - everyone

Ononoki allowed Ravohyr to go without her help, but then held one hand out to Eliyen, offering it for the sword.
"I'll take it," she said, interested in taking the artifact back to her own world. Her reasons were similar to Eliyen's reasons for giving it up; it would be amusing to see her master's face when Ononoki gave her a random sword. All that, even though the doll girl really didn't show emotion enough to look amused. But in addition, it could be used in experiments to evaluate how the Paradox House works in time and space.

At the mention of continuing into the pillow castle, as it were, she turned her head up to examine the architecture. It all seemed to be cushy, so no harm could be done to her companions. She was not invincible or immune to pain, but she functioned in a way that put all others before herself. Those in the room with her were simply more important, no matter who they were or how she knew them.
"Yes... let's go inside. That way we can go back to the main part of the house and never go into another room again," she said begrudgingly. Begrudgingly, with no emotion.