four paintings burned

[thehangedrose]

[It's a (mostly) peaceful day in Paradisa. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and some guy is shrieking at the top of his lungs in absolute terror over the journals.]

[Wait, what?]

HHHYYYEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKK!!!! NO! NO NO NO NO NO no no no nooooooo...

No, I don't want this! I don't want you! I never wanted you! So, if you please, just go bug someone else...really, that would be the best thing!

[There's the sound of running, and then it stops and there is a slight gasp.]

Oh! Oh. Why won't...just leave me alone, okay?! I don't want to take you! Nor play your games...just go. Go! Oh...this has to be a dream. I'm dreaming, right? First the rose, now this...

[And now, Garry sounds annoyed- annoyed that the gallery is coming back to haunt him (or is it the castle's doing...? he doesn't want to think about it), annoyed that he has to be reminded of everything that he went through, especially that room...]

I don't think this is doing well at all for my mental state at all...

[He lets out a shuddering sigh and then realizes that he's been holding the journal open the entire time. Welp, that is kind of embarrassing- he moves and turns away from the doll that has been following him everywhere, and speaks in a rather horrified whisper, as if he's afraid the thing can hear him, somehow.]

Um. Sorry. About that...though I have a quick question.

If...you had a specific problem that came back to bother you, what would you do about it? And this isn't a problem that I can get rid of that easily...

[ooc: Garry's first loss! And he'll be found all over the castle in a hysterical state, if you want to run into him. YAY FOR CREEPY DOLLS.]

Comments

[thehangedrose]

...What.

[A...bunny. To be fair, Ib never told him what she saw (only that it was cute and she wanted to pet it), so this comes as quite the surprise.]

[He's just going to stare at Mabel for a minute, before shaking his head as he looks back at the doll. Nope, still a doll. It leers at him, as if it knows exactly how much torture it is putting him through and is delighting over it forever. YEAH, SCREW YOU TOO, DOLL.]

Its...not a bunny. No! No, it's messing with your mind somehow! I swear! That thing is trying to trick you!

It's a doll, and it knows it! Put it down!

[bezazzled]

[She looks down at the bunny.

Then back at him.

Then at the bunny again.

...]

Are you sure you're just not seeing things?

[thehangedrose]

[He shakes his shaggy purple head quite vehemently trying to show that he's telling the truth.]

No, I'm really sure about this! I mean...when I was trapped in the art gallery back home, there was a young girl who also got trapped in there with me, and she saw them as cute bunnies too.

But then later, when we went deeper into the interior of the gallery, she saw them for what they really were...they play tricks on your mind somehow.

[bezazzled]

[...squint]

Okay. I think I see what's going on here.

[thehangedrose]

...

You're...not going to say I'm out of my mind, are you?

[bezazzled]

Nope!

[Worse than that.]

You have a deeply rooted fear of bunnies.

[thehangedrose]

[CUE FACEPALM.]

No! That's not it at all! Look...do you have a piece of paper? I'll draw the thing that I'm seeing for you, and you'll see clearly that it isn't a bunny!

Or just wish for a bunny right now, and see how I react. The thing you're holding isn't one. I'd bet my life on it.

[bezazzled]

[He does seem to be telling the truth, even if she doesn't quite understand it.]

Okay, here. [She sets the bunny down for a moment and pulls out a piece of paper.] I'll draw what I see, and you can draw what you see. Then we'll compare notes.

[When she's finished, she hands the paper over to him with a purple glitter gel pen.]

[thehangedrose]

[He takes the drawing (ah, of course, it looked exactly like the cute bunny she describes) and then the pen (but not before giving the pen a funny look- really, Mabel? Really?) and then proceeding on sketching the thing with hurried little strokes.]

[He hands the paper and pen back, and on the paper should be something similar to this.]

[That...is definitely nothing like a bunny.]

[bezazzled]

[...Yeesh. That's definitely not a bunny he's drawn.]

Really? That's what you see? Now I see why you were freaked out so much.

[thehangedrose]

[He nods again, hoping she's understood.]

Yeah...I encountered a whole bunch of them back in that art gallery.

...Let's just say they weren't the nicest bunch to be around.

[bezazzled]

[Things look grim for Purple here, but she's got an idea.]

Welp! There's only one way to deal with a demonic, shape-shifting, mind-manipulating, stalker doll!

[thehangedrose]

...

And what might that be?

[TELL ME, OH WISE MABEL PINES.]

[bezazzled]

Let's chop it in pieces!

[WHERE DID SHE GET THAT AXE]

1/2 MABEL NO

[thehangedrose]

[Oh hey, let's chop it into-]

[WAIT WHAT WHAT IS THAT OH MY GOD IS SHE HOLDING AN AXE AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH]

2/2

[thehangedrose]

Oh my goodness, miss, put that down before you hurt yourself!!!

[HE IS GOING TO TRY TO WRANGLE IT OUT OF YOUR HANDS BECAUSE OH MY GOD, POINTY WEAPONS SHOULD NOT BE IN THE HANDS OF LITTLE GIRLS.]

[bezazzled]

[OKAY FINE GEEZ. She doesn't put up much of a fight since that would end kind of messily. She does make a face, though. She's more mature than he's giving her credit for.]

I guess if you want to deal the first blow you can, but you could have asked.

[thehangedrose]

Oh, well...um...

[This is really awkward. Why does she even have an axe, anyways? IS SHE LIKE MARY WITH THE PALETTE KNIFE BACK IN THAT ART GALLERY are you going to murder him, Mabel. >8I Cue slightly suspicious look!]

Where in the world did you even get this?

[bezazzled]

[Suspicious look returned! He's not wimping out again, is he?]

I wished for it. [Slowly raising a finger to her temple] With my mind.

[thehangedrose]

[WHY DO LITTLE GIRLS CONSTANTLY JUDGE HIM, WHAT IS HIS LIFE.]

[And a slight quirk of the eyebrow.]

You can do that...? I thought you could only make things appear by wishing for them out loud...

This place is really weird...

[bezazzled]

Who knows how anything works in this place, am I right?

[She gives him a friendly elbow nudge]

But if we're not going to chop it into pieces, I guess the only other option is to run away.

[thehangedrose]

Right...

[Just going to glance down at the place where she elbow-nudged him with a slightly confused look before turning back to her.]

Oh! Oh, we...we could definitely chop it into pieces. Because running away doesn't really work. It appears on its own, no matter where you go...

[He hefts the axe in his hands with a determined sort of look.]

Do...do you think this will do the job?

[bezazzled]

I could always distract it while you got a head start on running--

[OH YAY, he's decided to axe the doll. That poor, sweet bunny who is secretly not a bunny at all. It's almost sad to think about.]

That is definitely a quality axe. I've only seen one other axe before, but this one looks better than that one by far. So get to chopping!

1/3 DOLLS WERE HARMED IN THE MAKING OF THESE COMMENTS

[thehangedrose]

...

[He looks at the doll with a nervous sort of expression. Axing things, even living dolls, isn't something he's at all used to, and he can feel his hands trembling as he turns to face it.]

[Is...is this right? Chopping up something like a common murderer?]

2/3

[thehangedrose]

[But then he remembers. He remembers how much he hates these dolls, these abominations of nature who made him go mad in that place.]

[Why did he need to suffer at their expense? Who were they to invade his mind and make him question his own sanity? No. No, no, they didn't deserve to live. They were the demonic creations of a tortured man, and Garry wants nothing of them.]

[They're his pain, his hauntings, and as he stares more and more at that evil little face, he grits his teeth, anger rising up like bile in his throat.]

[It needed to die.]