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

Acts? Orpheus wasn’t certain he was putting on an act. He was just very aware that this room was dangerous, that anything could be lurking behind the door, that rooms in the House could change on a dime. He wanted to ask L what the likelihood was that this room would turn dangerous, but he had a feeling he wouldn’t like the answer. The odds weren’t good… so it was probably safer to assume that it was going to turn dangerous and do his absolute best to think of what to do before it did. Czeslaw was probably seconds away from attacking, though Orpheus couldn’t see why he thought they were putting on an act… he tried not to let his confusion show on his face, but he wasn’t nearly as practiced as L was. A little bit of the emotion leaked through anyway.
“Only poetry?” Orpheus asked, eyes widening as he looked at L. “It could mean something dangerous, we should probably pay it a little bit more attention before we just… decide it’s not important, right?” Everything felt like it might be important. Everything felt like it might be dangerous, and Orpheus was certain he needed to take everything into account.
“I just… I think we should be being a little more careful,” he added, glancing at Czeslaw. “I don’t see how there’s anything suspicious about deciding that this room could be a lot more dangerous than it seems right now. Would you disagree?”

“Oh,” Wylan replied, a little bit disappointed by that. He had thought a documentary would be something more exciting than a play. Then again… he had never actually been to a play. His father had said he could go to one as soon as he was able to read the script beforehand, so obviously that hadn’t worked out. He made a face at the thought, doing his best to push it away before answering. “So… there are plays… er… documentaries… about pocket dimensions? I dunno what that is, but it sounds a lot more exciting than plays about wealthy merchants. Those are the only kind…” he trailed off, his entire face flushing bright red as he realized what he had been about to say. If they found out who his father was… both of them would try to use him. It was that sort of world. He needed to keep his identity secret so he wasn’t held for ransom. Not that Jan Van Eck would pay it, but better safe than sorry.
“Hm?” he asked, pleased to find another topic of conversation. “Yeah, I can understand you. I mean it’s not like you’re speaking perfect Kerch, but I’ve been around the streets enough to know what you’re saying.”

Orpheus wasn’t thinking too much about the fact that knowing L could change the future. They were just one person… they couldn’t make much of a difference, so anything that changed because they knew L was likely small enough that the timeline would go by unchanged. People would forget Orpheus just as they would if they hadn’t met L, and anything they knew that they weren’t supposed to know would be forgotten with them. They knew that other people likely would have tried to sell knowledge of the future (there were enough false prophets that they had no doubt that was the truth), but they weren’t that sort of person. Anything they found out about how the world might be, if L’s world was their own, they were going to keep to themself. Except, perhaps, Pride. It would be just one more celebration… would anybody even remember it?
“Humans are more wonderful than anyone seems to realize,” Orpheus whispered, no small amount of wonder in their voice. “I think we need more reasons to celebrate that. To celebrate the ways that, though we’re all the same, we’re all different. And… I suppose there is more stigma than I let on. Relationships between men are encouraged until one is of marrying age. At that point if you choose to settle down with a man… well, I doubt you could be hurt like you could in your world, but there would be judgment from your neighbors. I’ve… always been spared that, though. My… Mr. Hermes… has had plenty of male lovers.”
Orpheus’ interest was piqued as L continued on about pictures. The word ‘pictures’ was familiar to them, of course, but really only as paintings or engravings on vases. They were done by artists, and they were rarely realistic enough to give an accurate idea of how something transpired. It was more the inspiration than the realism that was meant to be communicated.
“I think… I’d like to see one of these pictures,” Orpheus decided, a smile teasing at their lips. “I don’t know what… a camera… or a laptop… is…” they frowned, stumbling over the pronunciation. It wasn’t the first time they had tried to learn one of the Japanese words L had said, but they did think these ones were a little more difficult. “I don’t know what they are, but I would like to learn.”

Kelsier | Dreams Room | strider

Kelsler would never have hurt Nico for looking like Hades. He hated Hades for Nico’s sake, not in spite of him. If Nico hadn’t been hurt by him, well…Kel wouldn’t have liked Hades, but he wouldn’t feel so very tempted to punch him, either. Besides, he doubted there was as much of a resemblance as Nico thought there was. Maybe a physical one. But that didn’t matter nearly as much to him as the deeper one. He knew he wouldn’t recognize Nico in Hades, or the other way around, if ever they met.
He blinked, startled as Nico replied. “No?” He repeated, the surprise evident in his voice as he looked down at the kid. He hadn’t once considered that Nico, of all people, might object.
“You’re serious,” he added. There was no anger or betrayal in his voice, just genuine confusion. He held Nico closer, blinking as he tried to process.
“After everything it’s done? To you? To your friends?”
His voice was gentle. He really didn’t understand, but he wanted to. It felt as unexpected as Mare telling him not to go to Kredik Shaw, and look what ignoring her had gotten him. He wasn’t going to do that again.
It didn’t make it any easier to understand what Nico was thinking.
“Why? It’s no better than the Lord Ruler himself. Look what it did. This room was a weapon against the both of us..

Kelsier | Dreams Room | strider

Kelsier was not merciful. He wasn’t kind or forgiving, he wasn’t the sort of person you wanted to anger. He was powerful, and not just because he was Mistborn. He was powerful in that he never quit, in spite of all odds, in that he laughed in the face of an impossible challenge and dared it to question him.
Defeating the House. Defeating the Lord Ruler. Two impossible challenges he had taken upon himself, two things he wouldn’t stop until he accomplished. Both, it seemed, thought themselves gods, above such petty things as consequences.
And it had never occurred to him that Nico would have anything but complete support.
He could see his mistake, now, in hindsight. He could see why Nico had responded so immediately. He, too, believed that if Kelsier wanted the House dead, it was probably going to die sooner rather than later. A deep part of him was warmed by Nico’s belief in him, his belief that he could do the impossible if he chose. But that wasn’t what he was focusing on at the moment.
Was it selfish to want to keep the place that gave you your family? Your friends? The possibility of meeting people who didn’t know of you and were unintimidated by your scars? As a self aware selfish man, Kel couldn’t say for sure, but he didn’t hold it against Nico. And he knew the boy couldn’t be the only one to feel that way, anyway,
He breathed out, then looked down, hazel eyes focusing. “Look at me,” he said quietly. There was no heat to his tone, even the fire that had blazed against the House moments earlier had faded.
“Tell me not to destroy it. Look at me and tell me not to destroy it, and...and I won’t.”

Kelsier | Dreams Room | strider

Their relationship had started in the worst way possible, but it had also started in the best way, if you thought about it. Most people who met Kel didn’t see the darkness in him until later, and then they had to adjust their perspective of him to include it. If you met a smiling man filled with hope, you didn’t assume he killed without regret or that he wanted his enemies to hurt. There was a reason the noblemen feared him. He was a man to be feared.
But Nico had seen his worst qualities first. His darkness had been his first impression. He’d killed him without hesitation. Nico was under no illusion that Kelsier was someone he wasn’t. And somehow...somehow, somehow, he still thought of him as family. Somehow he was willing to accept him, violent, unpredictable, vengeful as that was.
The House deserved to be crushed. Kelsier had no doubt about that whatsoever. But there was something he valued even more than that, now.
He listened. It wasn’t like him, he thought, listening. It wasn’t like him at all.
Then again, he was doing it, so maybe it was exactly like him.
He met Nico’s gaze and held it. This was not a request, he realized, suddenly, searching the boy’s dark eyes.
This was a plea.
Nico do Angelo did not make pleas lightly. Not in the time Kel had known him, anyway.
He bowed his head, placing a hand lightly over his heart.
“Then I swear to you on my vengeance that I will not destroy this place.”

Czeslaw - amp room - Orpheus, L, unconscious Hook

When L suggested he was frightened, something in Czeslaw snapped.
"What the hell are you talking about?" he growled, taking the sword's aim away from Orpheus to point it at the detective. "I'm not scared! You're the ones who should be scared!" He meant that they were mortal, and he wasn't. But it could easily be taken as a threat, especially when he took a step forward.
"When he wakes up, he's not going to help us," he added mockingly. L had been the one to knock Hook out, and for good reason. It was as though he had completely forgotten.

Orpheus was even more confusing. Sure, L was strangely more amiable than usual, but whatever was changing with Orpheus was not good. Czeslaw much preferred him as the friendly one, the non-threat. Apparently he shouldn't have made that assumption when he knew so little about him.
"Well, what do you suggest we do with this wall of words then?" he challenged Orpheus. "Is there some kind of poetry secret that will actually get us out of here?" It wasn't completely out of the question, and Czeslaw would be the least likely of the three to know. He truly did need their help, but it was not a kind or cooperative invitation.

Orpheus’ entire body tensed as the sword was pointed away from him and towards L. That was unacceptable. L was just trying to find a peaceful solution which, though admirable, Orpheus wasn’t sure was possible. There was no need for Czeslaw to threaten him, but he found he wasn’t too surprised. He didn’t trust Czeslaw to do anything other than betray them when it suited his needs. So far, they were on the same side. One strategy was to remain on the same side, but would that allow them to get out of here in one piece? He wasn’t sure, especially given how liberally Czeslaw was waving it around. Was he even trained in swordsmanship? At least Hook had known how to use the weapon. If Hook hurt someone with it, the action would have been on purpose. Orpheus wasn’t convinced that Czes wasn’t going to accidentally hurt someone by waving the weapon around.
“We shouldn’t rely on Hook helping us,” he commented idly, taking a step towards the poetry while making sure that he could still see both Czes and L from his periphery. “In fact, it’s probably better if he stays unconscious. The last thing we need is one more party that might get violent again.” He wasn’t used to being cynical, but he was cynical about this. Hook wasn’t going to be helpful any more than Czes was. At least Czes was trying things.
“I’m not convinced the room hasn’t already become dangerous,” he added wryly, tilting his head towards Hook’s body. “Something is definitely weird here. I don’t like it, but I can’t tell what it is, exactly.”

L Lawliet | Chess Room | strider

L looked up, surprised as Orpheus mentioned how long it had been. He probably should have asked about that, actually. He hadn’t known it had been longer for Orpheus, but he decided it made sense that it had. He didn’t know how long Orpheus planned to sail, but...well, if he planned to sail for a while, that wouldn’t be a good indication of time. Oh well. He’d rather know everything, but since that was impossible, he needed to prioritize, and this didn’t seem to be the most important thing.
He didn’t see why numbers should prove he was smarter. His brain was better at using them, fine, but there were plenty of things he was actually terrible at. Things he suspected Orpheus could easily surpass him if they competed at. He wasn’t being self-deprecating, he had an extremely high IQ and he knew it, he just didn’t think that meant he was smarter.
He glanced up, eyes widening a little as Orpheus admitted to being worried. Worried...L was touched, and he didn’t quite hide it all the way. He didn’t want Orpheus to have to be worried, but it still meant something that he was.
“I’m never safe,” he murmured in reply. “No one is, and I even less so. But, yes, I hope I beat the odds this time. I’d rather not be killed.”
His voice was clinical, like speculating whether it might rain tomorrow. Was he masking how he felt, or did he just not know how to express it?
“This room is ideal so far,” he continued, looking up. “I wish there wasn’t a chance if it going badly, but very room has one. But that’s not very important, since our world’s have that, too. Bad things are always possible.
He couldn’t help that it wasn’t zero. He hadn’t known Orpheus long enough for it to be zero, and he wasn’t even sure it ever could be. True, it was for Watari, but could a second person accomplish that?
His trust wasn’t conditional on a 0% chance of betrayal. It was a decision. Or...maybe not. He wasn’t completely sure how it worked, but he knew he trusted Orpheus completely, and so there it was.
“It’ll go down with time,” he assured Orpheus, noticing his frown. “It doesn’t mean that there’s a part of me that doesn’t trust you. It’s...just acknowledging my ability to be wrong. You can think something and know you might be wrong, without not thinking it.”
He yawned, too surprised by it to try to fight it. The back of his brain was aware that he was exhausted, but he had been doing a good job of pretending he wasn’t, and he didn’t appreciate his body betraying him this way.

Czes - amp room - L, Orpheus, unconscious Hook

It was normally difficult to get Czeslaw to act out. He would only do it if he was really in danger. But there was no immediate threat here, and he was already losing his cool. For him, it was terrible to be called afraid. He was being insulted now, thoroughly insulted.

"Fine! Untie him, do whatever you want," he argued with L, hoping that if he started talking over him then the detective would stop with his insulting and naive comments. He couldn't imagine being oblivious to threats like that--furthermore, he couldn't imagine L being oblivious to threats either. "You'd be the one in trouble if he woke up anyway!"

He sidestepped away from Orpheus and turned their positions into more of an even triangle, avoiding getting too close. They were still quite near to each other in the room and Czeslaw made sure to keep the sword pointed at L.
"Obviously something is weird," he said, almost mockingly, "and it's not me. It's you. Both of you. I wasn't going to say this, but..." Czeslaw narrowed his eyes at Orpheus. He was betting if anyone tried to make a grab for the sword, it would be him.
"I'm quite sure at this point neither of you are really you."
Would that mean he was hallucinating? Czeslaw's mind was moving a mile a minute. He hated to be out of control, and more than anything, he wanted to block the Paradox House from messing with his head. He at least wanted it to know that he was aware of its trickery. Still, if this were a hallucination, there was no way of knowing if he was still around blinkers, but with his perception warped. They could be immortals. He still had not tried to lie about his name here, which was the most surefire way to know.

"Well, is there a code in the poetry? What the hell does it say?" he growled at Orpheus. If there was something, maybe he could get out of here right now. He needed to be out of here.

Vincent - @/hawk

“What else would it be?” He returned lightly with a chuckle. He kept an innocent look on his face for only a few more moments before bringing his index finger to his lip in consideration, a coy smile on his face. “Interested in you?” He echoed, shifting so he could pace in a half circle around the detective, harshly looking him up and down. “…or simply bored, hm?” He quietly laughed to himself again, pausing behind the other blinker so he’d either have to turn to face him or choose to keep his back to him.
He claimed to rarely be on the defensive - so the blond wanted to challenge that. For now he’d explore this interaction with vague optimism that this man could possibly be a creature to later exploit… “What about you could possibly pique my interest?”

Zuko was suddenly very jealous of the fact that normal kids got to have sleepovers. Technically he thought that Azula, Ty Lee, and Mai had participated in sleepovers, but that wasn’t what they called them. That was just Azula’s friends staying overnight and Zuko being forced to spend time with him as they played games in which the main goal was to humiliate him. If he ever had to wear makeup again he thought he might learn how to lightning bend just to get back at whoever put blush on his cheeks. It was a bad feeling, for one. Secondly, they made a point of how ‘pretty’ he was when they finished, and it made Zuko more uncomfortable than he cared to admit. They could keep their makeup. He wanted sleepovers like Sal was describing. With scary movies (though he didn’t know what a movie was), and snacks.
“That sounds really fun,” he whispered, voice conspiratorially low. He didn’t want the other kids to hear what they were planning. Also, he figured the adults might get mad if they found out that they were planning on doing whatever they wanted. Not that Zuko saw any adults, but they had a way of finding things out. Usually that way was named Azula, at least when Zuko did things that were against the rules.
“Oh,” Zuko blushed, eyes wide as Sal called him a great friend. “I don’t… I don’t know. I don’t have a lot of practice with friends, but I’m trying. Besides, you’re nice. It’s really easy to be friends with you, especially because you don’t take nice to the level of… annoying cheerful all the time. And… I don’t really care what random people say about me. If he wants to call me a jerk, fine.” A fire was blazing in Zuko’s eyes, and he didn’t bother to put it out. “I’ll probably be called worse, but he doesn’t know me. What he says doesn’t matter.”

Newt was more than happy to help, even if he didn’t know what the ultimate goal was. He supposed jumping off sounded fun, though he wasn’t really sure what the purpose of it was. If they wanted somewhere high to jump from, couldn’t they climb the walls and jump from there? There were plenty of walls with things on them that would make them fairly easy to climb. Still, he wasn’t going to complain about the table idea. Rei was right, though. It was going to be pretty difficult to lift the table up all the way on top of the other table. And there was room once they did for one more to make it even taller, but he doubted any of them were strong enough for that.
“I think… if we wanna get this table on top of the other one… you and I will have to lift from here, and then… uh…” he looked up, blue gaze catching first on Noah, then on Ronan as he realized he didn’t know either of their names. That would have to be remedied soon, but they didn’t have time at the moment. “You two,” he decided after a moment, hoping that would work for the moment, “lift it up and move it once Rei and I have gotten it high enough.”

Noah was grateful for the two kids who had decided to help, though he didn’t understand why the others hadn’t. Lynch was right. It wasn’t like they couldn’t just continue their conversations while they helped. If they really wanted to jump off, then they would drop what they were doing and come help at least build the thing. Newt and Juuzou were right… they might need more than four people to lift the table up, even if he was strong. His strength wasn’t really in the upper body, unfortunately. You didn’t need to be good at lifting heavy things in order to skateboard well. Not that he skateboarded well yet, but he was getting there! He practiced a lot. He practiced more than his mom said it was okay for him to practice.
“That sounds like an idea that could work,” he told Newt. “Oh… I’m Czerny, by the way. And this is Lynch,” he explained, jabbing his finger in Ronan’s direction. It seemed an introduction had been in order, though he didn’t know how well he had pulled it off. He was doing the best he could, but he wasn’t used to this. He wasn’t used to so many people being interesting and asking adult-y questions.
Speaking of adult-y things, though… Noah turned to look at Ronan and nodded solemnly. “I’m not allowed to say mean things like crap when Adele and Tierra are around. I’ve heard adults say jerk before. And older kids who don’t get in trouble as easy. I wanna say things like that more often, but apparently I’m not scary enough to.”

Nico wasn’t confident, but at least in his world, science was another type of magic. He couldn’t really think of any quantifiable differences, but maybe that was just because he didn’t know too much about science. Varian definitely knew science better than he did. In this case, it was a good thing. There were a lot of things that Nico wanted to learn from Varian, even if he was pretty certain that Varian was wrong about a few things. Somehow, the fact that Varian was capable of being wrong about things made him even more intriguing. It meant that he wasn’t going to be a stuck-up expert who got mad when anyone suggested that they might be wrong. Varian might not have been willing to change his opinions for Nico, but at least Nico had incontrovertible truth that Varian was truly trying to discover things, not just reiterate what everyone already knew.
“I ask too many questions,” Nico murmured, blushing a little at the memory. “They think I distract class with all my questions, but I don’t read super well, so I don’t know how else to get my questions answered. Not that they actually… answer the questions I ask, but…” he blushed, looking away like he was expecting Varian to take the teachers’ side.
“Anyway,” he murmured, swiftly guiding the discussion away, “I promise that I’ll get back right when you tell me to.”

“Lestibournes,” Wylan echoed, trying out the name. It was a little bit odd on his tongue, and he didn’t quite pull the accent off right, but he managed to say it well enough to be understood. “It’s nice to meet you!” He didn’t know if people actually said that or if it was one of those things his father had just taught him to say in polite company, but he figured it didn’t matter. This was polite company as far as Wylan was concerned, because nobody had been rude. Well… there was the boy yelling, but he did have a point. Jumping off tables might be fun, especially without the unwieldy gown on. If he wanted to try that, though, the petticoats would probably need to come off, too.
“And… yeah, I’d like to be friends with you,” Wylan replied, like it was the simplest thing in the world. “I mean… as long as you’d wanna be friends with me. It wouldn’t be very fun if I was friends with you but you weren’t friends with me… I don’t wanna force you to try to be friends with someone you don’t wanna be friends with…” he had a feeling he was worrying too much. Lestibournes didn’t seem like some of the other kids at court who knew exactly what to say at all times. He seemed… genuine. Real. Uncertain like Wylan so very often was.

L Lawliet | Amplifier Room | strider

“I didn’t say I planned to untie him,” L murmured, but he didn’t react otherwise. Czeslaw was definitely scared, he decided, even if he didn’t know he was. He wasn’t lying, he was just...scared enough to think he wasn’t scared at all. L didn’t see the need to argue about Hook, though he was a little surprised that Orpheus was against the idea of him asking Hiok for help, too. That didn’t feel quite right to him, but he wasn’t sure he could say why, exactly.
He blinked, caught off guard as Czes continued. “I’m quite sure I’m me,” he replied, startled at the thought. “I have to be me. Who else could I possibly be?”
He really didn’t think that he could be someone else and not know it. He frowned a little as his brain turned, trying to...what? Explain?
“”You think the House is...doing something,” he tried, tasting the idea like he wasn’t sure he liked the flavor of it. “To us. Wouldn’t I be doing something to you too, then?”
It was so very hard to think about it. He frowned at the sword. “Could you please not point that at me anymore? I’d like to figure this out, but threats aren’t going to help.”
At least Orpheus was doing something that might help. He looked at he other person curiously. “Can you tell what it means?”

Orpheus didn’t like the idea of turning his back to either Czeslaw or the unconscious Hook. The writing was hard to read, but it was there… and in order to give it his full attention, he needed someone at his back. He didn’t think L would be too willing to play that role at the moment… he was oddly trusting, but then again… he had known Czeslaw when they had gotten in here. It was possible that they were friends, that there was a reason to trust him… did Orpheus trust L? The thought passed his mind and his eyes widened as he realized that he really had to think about it. It took a few moments, but eventually he decided that of everyone in the room, he trusted L. He couldn’t explain exactly why, but L didn’t seem like he would try to take the sword and use it against Orpheus. L was the reason Hook was unconscious, after all, and that had been the best possible move to take.
“I’m looking,” he told Czeslaw, eyes narrowing as he realized that the sword was still being pointed at L. The kid really needed to stop that… he didn’t like the way Czeslaw was threatening them both. He was no longer certain that Czeslaw could see reason any more than Hook had been able to.
“And I am myself,” he added, glancing at L to see what the detective thought about that. Of course they were both themselves… right? Except… except L only trusted two people in any universe, and those two people most certainly didn’t include Hook or Czeslaw. So why was he so willing to trust them now? What had happened? Orpheus couldn’t deny that L was acting weird, which meant that… this room had likely already turned dangerous. He didn’t know for sure if there was any change in himself, but he was hyperaware of the fact that something had changed, and L hadn’t noticed it. Was that really L there, or just a version the House had made to try to throw them off? Suddenly, Orpheus wasn’t so certain he trusted the L in this room. But if the House was impacting L… was Czeslaw right that it had impacted Orpheus as well? If so… why was Czes the same?
“We need to get out of here,” he muttered, turning part of his attention back to the poetry. It was harder, now that he had three people to watch out for.