productions | (no subject)

[It's bright and early, but that's okay! Chizuru and Feferi need to pick out a recipe so they can order Kuzuryuu around and make something delicious for Nanami to eat to cheer her up. Chizuru nudges the door to the reading room open with her foot because her hands are full of cookbooks.]

So, I think we should try and find something sweet. She liked the strawberry tarts a lot when we first got here - maybe something with strawberries listed as an ingredient would be good?

Ooh, those are really good! We should definitely make something like that! [Feferi waits until Chizuru is out of the way before dashing in excitedly.]

[And then there's this asshole, hiding behind the door in the reading room. When Chizuru nudges it open, he'll disappear from sight completely unless the girls happen to be looking behind them.]

[He has a fire poker from the game room in his gloved hand, and as the two make their way inside, he starts counting backwards in his mind. There's no turning back at this point, hesitant though he may be. Fuck, he needs to get rid of that by the time he reaches zero in his count down, now's not the time for that sort of thing.]

All right...

[Once they're in, she'll take a seat on one of the couches and set down her armful of books so she can start looking through them. She picks one up and flips a few pages - ah...]

"French Toast with Strawberry Compote"... I didn't realize westerners needed to name a type of food after themselves. [WEIRD... It's not like she calls the rice she makes "Japanese Rice"...]

[Feferi stands next to the couch so as to better lean over and read the cookbook as well.] What's compote? Is that a place? [She knows toast and strawberries aren't places. ...Probably.]

[And in that moment, Kuzuryuu seriously wished he'd been telling the truth when he said he'd meet them in the kitchen this morning. Because he sure did just reach zero. Now or never.]

[Depending on how they're seated and how engrossed in their discussion compote they are, they might just miss the door silently closing. But chances are, they won't miss the click of the lock. And even though he's trying to be quiet, chances are they'll notice the footsteps as Kuzuryuu quickly crosses the room, raising the poker in his hand as he moves.]

[How much do you want to bet he's not here to talk about breakfast, and that he's about to swing that poker at Feferi's head the minute he's close enough?]

[The door slowly swinging shut doesn't tip her off, nor does the lock. But the footsteps and the swing of the poker - she notices those. She sees the metal poker before she sees the person holding it, and lunges forward to try and block it.]

Feferi-san, look out!

[She hasn't managed to draw her sword just yet, but her hair shifts to silver as she brings it up, sheath and all, to block. When she sees who's on the other side of the poker, her eyes - now golden - go wide.]

Kuzuryuu-san...?

[Feferi whips her trident out at an impressive speed and is aiming at Kuzuryuu before she even realizes who he is. But once she does identify him, she gasps and changes her trajectory--it might still hit him, but it would be a superficial scratch on his side.]

[Even with the change in trajectory, Kuzuryuu's caught in an awkward position thanks to Chizuru's parry, and he can't move out of the way of the trident in time. There's a quiet gasp of pain as the trident cuts a thin, shallow line through his side.]

Shit, is that it? Here I thought you weren't gonna let anybody kill you.

[He's smirking, and clearly trying to sound menacing and confident, but it both sounds, and looks, oddly forced. But he doesn't give them much time to gawk and try and parse what he's actually feeling. He pulls back from Chizuru, ducking down as he does so to sweep his right leg out at her feet, attempting to down her. If they both come at him at once, he's screwed, after all. Better to deal with one at a time when he can.]

But you're not--

[Chizuru doesn't have enough time to finish the sentence because Kuzuryuu is simply moving too quickly for her to do so. She gasps as he knocks her feet out from under her and hits the ground hard - she'll need a few moments to get her bearings and recover.]

What are y--Chizuru! [Feferi's train of thought gets cut off as soon as Kuzuryuu knocks Chizuru down, and she leaps in front of the other girl with her trident in a defensive position, still reluctant to attack Kuzuryuu. She feels like she's missing something but it's difficult to focus long enough to think about it.]

[Well this is what happens when the producers close up so many loopholes that you can't just come out and ask a girl if she's okay with you killing her. He gave you both two hints, not his fault if you didn't manage to string them together yet.]

[Or perhaps it's better that way.]

The fuck's it look like?

[Feferi may be hesitating, but Kuzuryuu sure isn't. Or at least, he doesn't seem to be. But as he swings the poker towards Feferi's shoulder, she might notice that the swing isn't going to hit deep enough to cause any serious damage, assuming she doesn't block it. The pointed crook of the poker may be making its way towards her skin, but it's not going to do much more than graze. Assuming it manages to break through her tougher skin at all.]

[Okay, so clearly this isn't an imposter and Kuzuryuu isn't some amazing actor who's had them fooled this whole time. Despite appearances right now, he doesn't want to kill either of them.]

[Doesn't mean he's not going to though.]

Don't touch her!

[Once Chizuru's managed to regain her bearings, she looks up - just in time to see Kuzuryuu swing the poker toward Feferi again. It's hard to believe that this is really happening - that if they were going to get attacked at all, it would be by Kuzuryuu.

They trusted him. They trusted him -

How much do the two of you want to break this game?

The words flash through her mind, unbidden, and it's remembering them that gives her pause. That's exactly what I wanted to hear. The questions had seemed a little odd at the time, but -

How much do the two of you trust me?

...if that's how it is, that's how it is. But they're not allowed to just lay down and die, either. Chizuru draws her sword as she stumbles back up to her feet and lunges for him, as precisely as she can. Precisely, because she doesn't want to accidentally wound him too badly, but she has to try and protect Feferi, too.]

[Feferi realizes when she sees the way Kuzuryuu is attacking--she doesn't block it and it doesn't do more than give her the equivalent of a scraped knee. It hurts, but she can see that Kuzuryuu's heart isn't in it.

And--she trusts him. She wants to break the game. If this breaks the game and saves everyone's hostages, too, then that was more than the producers were ever going to actually give her.]

Come on, can't you do better than that? [It seems like a taunt, and it's accompanied with a stab of her trident, but it's as close to encouragement she can manage in this situation, and the trident is aimed to only draw some blood and not pierce anything that would cause serious damage.]

'Course not. Consider that a warning sho--kggh!

[DAMMIT. OKAY THIS IS WHY HE KNOCKED YOU DOWN, CHIZURU. So that he wouldn't get simulstabbed by both a trident and a sword at the same goddamn time. Even if neither of them are fatal or deep, it still hurts.]

Th...that's more like it!

[He jabs the point of elbow back towards Chizuru, not particularly aiming for any spot in particular, just trying to get her to back off so he can put some distance between himself and the two of them before attacking again.]

Ggk--

[The elbow connects and she stumbles back a few steps, readjusting her grip on the hilt of her sword and narrowing her eyes as she watches Kuzuryuu for another opportunity to strike.]

Feferi-san - keep your guard up!

Chizuru! [Feferi ducks back to defend Chizuru--and maybe to give Kuzuryuu a little time to regain his balance, though certainly that's just incidental and not at all intentional.]