overflow;

[evidentiary]

Comments

[evidentiary]

[ continued from here ]

[ the handcuffs do seem pretty secure! oops. and the chair is pretty heavy...

and the smell of gasoline is suddenly very there. ]

I - [ this seems familiar, but she isn't sure how. however - ] We might be able to lift the chair together.

[thesettingsun]

[That is not at all a good smell. Shuji goes pale.]

We should try. On the count of three?

[evidentiary]

[ kyouko nods, gripping her side of the chair. ]

One, two -

[ and on three, they should be able to lift the chair! ] If we use it as a battering ram -

[thesettingsun]

First priority is getting out of this room, getting out of the school can come later.

[What doors are in this gasoline trap room that they can wallop?]

[evidentiary]

[ there are five doors! one on every side. one leads to the hall they came from but the others probably lead into other dreams - kyouko doesn’t remember what is behind them. possibly one leads somewhere shuji remembers? ]

- that door! [ she picks at random. ]

[thesettingsun]

[Maybe one does - maybe it even leads into a pleasant dream of his. But probably not.

Shuji nods. That door's as good as any.]

On three again-

[evidentiary]

One, two -

[ AND ON THREE THEY BUST OUT INTO where do they bust out into, shuji. please be not murder school. ]

[thesettingsun]

[They bust out into the fucking ocean, that's where they bust out into. At least it's not deep enough to put their heads under water, but there's definitely bobbing involved.]

-At least it's outside?

[And not likely to be full of gasoline??]

[evidentiary]

[ AND OKAY we are definitely kind of bobbing and treading. ]

- An ocean? I don't suppose you have recurring nightmares about sharks...

[thesettingsun]

Not sharks...

[But he has suddenly gone a lot more pale.]

[evidentiary]

...What is it.

[ NOW SHE'S WORRIED. ]

[thesettingsun]

[For a moment he considers not saying, in case that makes it more real, but he wouldn't feel right withholding that information when she's in this mess with him.]

Drowning.

[evidentiary]

...We don't have to put up with that, I shouldn't think. Let's swim to shore - steady.

[thesettingsun]

I don't know if you can just dismiss it...

[Is the water level raising? It's the ocean, and sure, global warming, but it shouldn't be noticeably raising this quickly.]

[evidentiary]

[ wELP ]

- we may want to lose our shoes and anything else that makes it hard to tread water.

[thesettingsun]

You don't have to tell me twice!

[At least they're only dream shoes, and not even dream Gucci or something. Shuji unlaces his shoes as quickly as is humanly possible and lets them float away. Bye.]

[evidentiary]

[ and there go kyouko's boots and jacket! it was getting heavy. ]

How does this dream usually end?

[thesettingsun]

I wake up after the water starts filling up my lungs.

[That's a reassuring answer... But it's the true answer, what else is he supposed to say?]

[evidentiary]

...Let's try to find a different way. Perhaps we can get out of this and into yet another dream?

[thesettingsun]

What are the odds we're going to run into - swim into a dream that isn't a nightmare?

[It's looking pretty doubtful to him right now.]

[evidentiary]

Slim to none. But we can keep rotating until we find something we can defeat!

[ apparently she isn't into drowning? ]

[thesettingsun]

[That's fair.]

It's better than staying here. Which direction?

[Since if there was sight of land, or anything but more ocean, it wouldn't be much of a nightmare about inevitable drowning...]

[evidentiary]

This way. And...think land-ish thoughts, I suppose.

[ she just picks a direction and starts swimming? ]

[thesettingsun]

[the hell are land-ish thoughts

Shuji follows after her, trying to come up with something that will make land suddenly appear. She can hear him mumbling to himself.]

Continents... Coastline... Rocks... Bigger rocks...

[evidentiary]

Trees, reefs, a beach -

[ she's helping. ]

Palm trees.