Chapter 6
"Grandpa's visitor is a real pain."
"You went to go see Miss Goodwitch yesterday? What for?"
"It was for stuff."
"Stuff," Weiss repeated, sounding bemused. "I'd expect that kind of response from Ruby and Yang, but certainly not you."
"It's a little personal," she said back, checking her hair one more time to make sure not even a single pink streak remained. Fortunately, black hair didn't have a tendency to absorb colours, much to her relief. She did not want to walk around being a bright neon pink. "So we went to consult Miss Goodwitch for her opinion."
"Is that so? Very well. Then I'll let it drop there. No doubt it had to be important enough that you had to speak to Miss Goodwitch about it."
"Something like that. Thanks for your understanding."
"Of course. I wouldn't be so bullish as to keep on trying to probe into your personal matters. Unlike a certain someone."
From where she was laying atop her bed, stomach-down and playing with her scroll, Yang responded by blowing a raspberry. The Schnee heiress huffed and took it as an opportunity to use the bathroom next, arguing with Ruby over who got 'first dibs' and whatnot. Somehow, she allowed herself to partake in the silly nonsense, which was enough to make the faunus grin.
And man, did the good feeling in her chest refuse to go away. She had to admit, she didn't think the process of getting a room for their sessions was going to be easy, but things had been solved in an instant sweep. Talk about worrying for nothing.
Nevertheless, the idea of joining a club was an odd notion, but not an unwelcome one. It just made it feel more official, for a lack of a better term, and nailed in the idea that they were in a school. Made her feel less like a huntress and more like a student, which wasn't necessarily bad.
'Then again, were there any other clubs in this academy?'
Thinking as such, she drew out her scroll and navigated to Beacon's website. And, much to her surprise, she discovered quite the number of clubs available; one devoted to studying literature, one about hands-on observation of Grimm, one about Dust… Well, shoot. There's a whole lot here, actually.
However, as far as she noticed, though Beacon did employ a great number of professors, many of them were delegated to different classes of different years, which was their class was only a few. And each professor had to handle a club as an advisor.
Huh. Guess there were a lot more instructors than she knew. Then again, this place is massive, so it would make sense if she missed them
Thankfully, she didn't see anything related to their unofficial club. Or maybe not yet? Hopefully it won't be added to this list. It'd be silly for people to see their club name, and it would be a lot worse if people actually signed up to join them.
'I'm more than happy to have this club all to ourselves. It's like our own escape.'
And the deities know how much she needs that.
Blake felt excited, and she hated that she did. Because now she also felt like she was being a kid, and because that in itself was uncommon for her.
The reason for her apparent excitement was, later today, they'd get to check out their new clubroom. Miss Goodwitch hadn't said anything yet, though she had a feeling that she might call for either her or Jaune to notify them later after combat class, which was scheduled to be the last one for their timetable today. And man, did she want to check it out already.
Lost in thoughts as she may have been, Blake was still able to duck her head to avoid a flying grape, which Yang caught with her mouth. Opposite of her, Nora pumped her fist with a satisfied grin.
"Seriously? Playing with your food?"
"Uh-uh. That was fine motor skill training."
"You don't know what that is," she sweat-dropped. "And I don't think that counts here. Fine motor skills are more like… you know, the little things. Writing with a pencil, tying a ribbon."
"Cool. You're so smart, Blake."
The girl in question rolled her eyes. It was incredible how a person could be genuine and sarcastic all at the same time, and she opted to just ignore her, instead focusing on finishing her grilled fish fillet. And goodness, was it fantastic. The cooks in the academies are just phenomenal.
After breakfast, everyone moved out for their next class, which was history with Doctor Oobleck. And that was accompanied with the normal things; whining from Ruby, Yang and Nora, introspective discussions between Ren and Weiss, Pyrrha and Jaune chatting about upcoming plans… Yep. Normal school days.
After history class was weapons class with Professor Mulberry, and then lunch. And finally, combat class. And just because she was in a pretty good mood, she offered herself for the first match, going up against some gal in their class whom she didn't know the name of.
Mattered little, though. Blake made quick work of her, and her friends cheered for her from the seats. Her opponent in question sulked all the way back to her team, complaining about how she 'cheated'. Oh, sure, using her Semblance was apparently cheating. Not like she hadn't used hers to almost blind her with smoke.
"The next match shall be between Sky Lark," the boy in question, coming from the same team as Cardin, stood up with a nod. "And Jaune Arc. Please make your way to the stage."
"Ah, shoot. Well, here I go."
"You got this, Fearless Leader! Break his legs for us!"
The blond chuckled, shaking his head as he stepped down and went to procure his weapons. Blake knew he probably didn't want their pity, but it was a little bit of a shame that he was the weakest in their class. Still, he'd been putting in work to improve himself, so maybe the results may show in the upcoming matches.
Yang poked her in the shoulder. "You'd better cheer for him, ya' hear?"
"What?" Amber eyes blinked in confusion. "Why?"
"Oh, come on. Ain't that what friends should be doing for each other?" She scoffed, as if that was just basic logic. "Besides, at this point, you guys are buddy-buddy with one another. It won't hurt to at least shout for him, or something."
"I still find it rather strange that you somehow ended up becoming friends with him," Weiss commented. "But who am I to say? Our teams frequently interact, so anything was bound to happen. Plus, you two apparently have a shared interest over horror stories. Having something to bond over certainly allows friendship to bloom between two individuals."
"Well, that's just how it is," hummed Blake.
"Blake, I want to ask… and I need you to understand that I'm not trying to sound doubtful or anything, but I do need to know," the girl looked back to the stage, then back at her. "Has there ever been an occasion that Jaune ever spoke about me?"
"Nope."
"Wait, really?"
"Not at all," she shrugged back at her friend's surprised expression. "We just hang out, talk about a story or two that caught our eyes. That's it."
"Really? I'm surprised. I mean, I'm not trying to be too harsh towards him," she sounded genuine there, Blake could tell. "But I worried that he was going to try and ask for tips on how to woo me. And let me tell you, I'd prefer not having to deal with that."
"Oh, no worries. He'd never asked anything like that. Seriously, all we ever do is discuss the stories. Plot, themes, styles…"
Honestly, the moment they had their sessions, it was always Jaune entering his nerd mode and her being creeped out of her mind. And, at the times they watched those vids and played that one game, she'd always been screaming out of fear, and Jaune the prick would be laughing. She'll give him a punch for that one.
There hadn't been anything else outside of that. He'd never asked about Weiss, nor did he bring anything else up. Their sessions were for horror, and that's it.
"Aw, what's wrong, Weiss-cream? Worried that your boyfriend ain't paying you enough attention?"
"On the contrast, I appreciate that he doesn't bring up his infatuation towards me while he's with others. I can only imagine how annoying it would be."
"It would be. But don't worry. Jaune doesn't talk about you."
"Good," she sighed. "Now then, let's see just how that dunce will perform."
"I'm sure he can do it this time," Pyrrha, ever the steadfast loyal girl that she is, was determined to protect her partner's standing. Her emerald eyes shone with wholehearted belief, making all of them lean away from her. "Just watch! He can win!"
In contrast to her words, Jaune didn't win in the end. Still, he'd performed much better than he ever did before, able to bring down Sky's aura down to half, while his had only lost a quarter. The only reason he'd lost was because Sky had managed to knock him out of the arena.
That was pretty close, but hey? Maybe the next fight would end up being his win, if he fought a little smarter. All of his training with Pyrrha was beginning to show results, that's for sure.
Blake perked up when she noticed Miss Goodwitch call up Jaune after the match, telling him something. From this distance, she wouldn't be able to hear anything, but she had an inkling as to what it was. And, judging by the way he visibly brightened up, it was all the confirmation that she needed.
When he returned to them, it was to the bombastic cheering of Nora and soft congratulatory words from Pyrrha. He smiled back sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "Still got improvements to make, huh?"
"Don't worry about it. You held your ground well," Ren nodded, smiling softly. "Keep at it."
"Yeah! This is just one extra loss, but someday, I know I can win!"
Where that optimism came from, she wasn't sure, though it was probably from having all of his friends around him. They were supportive, she could tell, and they cared for each other the same way Team RWBY did.
That was good. Team camaraderie was important, and something she'd come to appreciate since her time in Beacon. Sure, she had worked together with other White Fang members back in the day, but she simply felt closer to her teammates here than with the other members prior.
"In any case, I'ma go back and get changed for a bit. I'll see you in a bit."
"Sure thing, Jaune."
Now to just wait for this class to be over with, and then they could be on their merry way.
Okay, so the discussion rooms in the library were pretty cool. Spacious enough and with a television screen to connect their scrolls to, but not much else. But it was still practical in use, and Blake thought that room was comfortable enough on its own.
That set a certain standard that she felt difficult to beat, but getting their own personal room certainly made things promising. Then again, she wasn't going to complain no matter how it turned out. Professor Goodwitch had been kind enough to get them the room to begin with, after all.
So after classes were over, she met up with Jaune at the cafeteria. At this point, the rest of the team were probably used to them hanging out, Ruby especially being so pleased that she was good friends with her best guy friend. Ruby being sweet as always.
Afterwards, they headed to Miss Goodwitch's office. Apparently, their new place was apparently the one right beside hers, just as she told them the day prior. It felt a little awkward, though hopefully they'd be able to get over it with time.
"Here is the key for the room. It's an old one, so it wasn't purposed with a scroll scanner," she handed Jaune a key attached to a ring, with a Beowulf keychain attached to it. When they looked at her, she tilted her head. "Yes?"
"Uh. Is this yours, ma'am?"
"Hmm? What is—Ah, yes. That," she sighed. "I keep a collection of keychains that I either purchased or earned as gifts from others over the years, though I feel it would be a waste not to use them. So, I thought it would be fine if I give them away to others."
"So, can we keep this one?"
"It would please me if you do."
Well, Blake wasn't against it. The keychain in itself looked cute, and the idea that the Glynda Goodwitch, Deputy Headmistress of Beacon Academy, was apparently keeping all these keychains was such a delightful surprise. Not sure if she wanted to call the woman cute, though; just thinking it alone made her feel as if she was going to sign her death warrant.
"Well then, go ahead. Let's take a look. Ah, although…"
Jaune paused, key just inserted in the doorknob. "What's wrong?"
"It's nothing wrong, per se, but the furnishing isn't complete. I had to inform the headmaster of the matter, and he thought to… in simple words, intervene," at their confused gazes, she shook her head. "You'll see for yourselves later."
Well, that wasn't worrying. Or was it? The fact that apparently even Professor Ozpin now knew about their activities was a strange thing, but the fact that he wasn't making a big deal out of it meant that things were fine. But Miss Goodwitch's words had her wondering just what was it she meant.
Jaune twisted the key, clicking twice before he finally drew the key back out. He met her gaze, and the two nodded, pushing the door open and stepping inside…
And into a spacious, barren room.
"Whoa," Jaune was the first to say, looking around with wide eyes. "It's like a hotel room!"
"Minus the furniture, as I said," sighed the teacher.
Sure, it didn't have anything inside, but that wasn't too bad. The room itself was pretty good; it must have been a board meeting room before this, judging by the size of it. It was split off into two portions—the one near the entrance was a small area, likely a kitchenette of sorts. There was a sink and a couple of cabinets, all of which were empty. Then there was the main room, consisting of beige walls and a dark ceiling, the large television fitted on the wall to the left. The wall furthest back had a window that provided a view of the CCT tower.
Empty, but overall pretty great. And man, once this place gets all the furniture, she'd doubt this was a room in an academy building. It would probably end up looking like an actual hotel room.
Seriously, she could smell how fresh this room was. Maybe some cleaned this place up yesterday?
"In case you're curious, after I forwarded your request to the headmaster, he had a few movers empty out this room and cleaned. Everything was done earlier in the morning today."
"Wow. Talk about fast."
"No kidding… So, um, should we buy the furniture ourselves?"
"Don't be ridiculous. While there are certainly affordable furniture, there's no denying that they're well outside of your allowance's budget," no kidding. Even if they pooled their money, she doubted they could buy anything beyond some cheap plastic chairs. "On that front, we actually had a small discussion, and came to a fairly simple decision."
Just as she finished her statement, there was a knock on the door, drawing their gazes to it. Immediately, Miss Goodwitch walked over to it and opened it.
The jovial expression on Professor Port's face greeted her in turn. "Good day, Glynda! I assume the students have already arrived?"
"They have, yes. Are the furniture here?"
"Indeed they are! Best we get to assembling them now, aye?"
"Indeed we should," afterwards, she turned her attention to the both of them, making them perk up. "Come now. You should help with this."
Blake and Jaune blinked at first, but were quick to stare in surprise when Professor Port pushed a couch through the door. Jaune moved to help, and Blake was quick to join the effort afterwards.
As it turned out, Professor Port had carted over some furniture—and by that, she meant a lot of them. There was even a fridge! There was much arranging done, with the most effort done between him and Jaune. Miss Goodwitch directed them where to put things, and Blake had to admit, the woman had a decent sense of decorating.
Once they were done, the two teenagers stepped back to take in the sight, and were absolutely taken aback. Beside them, Professor Port chuckled heartily while the blonde had a lithe smile on her features.
The room, initially devoid, was now dressed comfortably. A shoe rack was put to the left side near the door, with a black floor mat nearby. The kitchenette now had a fridge and a coffee machines, and the cabinets were filled with some sachets of sugar, tea bags and the like. The main room had the biggest change, with a cream roll-arm couch pushed to the wall to their right, and a little coffee table sat in the centre, with a tiny potted succulent plant and a remote on it.
Once her brain was done analysing the entire room, it practically shut down, surmising everything as being so overly fancy that she couldn't believe she was still in school. All of this was just so… amazing.
"There you go, children! Your very own club room!" Port laughed. "What do you think?"
"It… It's perfect," Jaune muttered. She wordlessly nodded. It's way more than what she expected. "But is this okay? Didn't all of this cost a lot?"
"Believe it or not, but the things in this room were just taken from our own possessions," the admission had them surprised. "Glynda brought a used coffee maker and kettle from her apartment. The fridge, I brought over from his old home. Bart offered to give away his couch and coffee table. As for the television, that's actually new."
"Ozpin bought it himself. And I'll admit, I'm surprised by how quickly that got delivered to us," Miss Goodwitch hummed. "We set that up earlier today too, because it would have been quite the hassle to do it now. And before you worry, you don't need to. Ozpin didn't mind spending his own money. It usually goes into his coffee supply anyways."
"Whoa… Really?"
"Honestly, it was surprising that we all ended up doing the same thing of taking the things we had in our homes. Plus, as teachers, we do all that we can to help our students, even in extracurricular activities, which this technically counts as. So you needn't feel bad for anything."
"Wow… That's just…" Jaune shook his head. "Thank you. This means a lot to us."
"Don't worry about it. Besides, it's as I said; this room would have gone unused were it not for your request. It will be your responsibility to look after it, however."
Oh, they were definitely going to take good care of this room. It was practically perfect, no matter however she looked at it. Nothing could convince her to settle for anything else ever again.
Port nodded, satisfied. "Well, I'll leave you three to it. I've got some Grimm to cull in the Emerald Forest. Enjoy yourselves!"
He left with a hearty laughter, booming in the corridor as he took away the carts. Jaune and Blake were quick to thank him for his help, before they then focused on Miss Goodwitch once more, who met their gaze with a nod.
"Now then, if there's nothing left, I'll leave you two to it. Just the usual things; make sure you turn off the power if you're using nothing in here, but leave the fridge as it is. And call for me if there are any issues, since I am technically responsible for you."
"Thank you, Miss Goodwitch. We appreciate all of this."
Those green eyes moved towards him, and a rare smile surfaced upon her expression. She nodded once more, then shut the door behind her, returning to her office.
She wasn't sure how long the both of them had just been there, standing in the centre of the room and feeling lost. Like wild animals that found themselves in completely unfamiliar territory. Everything looked way too amazing.
Usually, there had to be a catch to things, but Miss Goodwitch hadn't even asked them for anything. And even the other teachers were in on this. They were literally giving them this?
"Well," he finally said, with a voice that had 'Wow' ringing out loud. "This is officially the clubroom of the Little Horror Club. Thoughts?"
"Unreal. Unbelievable. Unexpected."
He gave her a grin. "Too many un's there, but you're not wrong. This room is sick! I mean, it ain't like those kind of fancy chilling rooms you see online where people fully furnish everything, but this is still pretty great."
"Yeah. Oh, don't forget to put your shoes away first."
"Oh, good thinking. Plus, the floors are actually carpeted. I'll brush the carpet later, then."
Shoes off, Blake slowly walked forwards, almost afraid that she was going to knock something over and destroy this beautiful place. She then deposited herself on the left edge of the couch, feeling how comfy it was. Not as soft as their beds, sure, but she could find herself dozing off on it without any complaint, let alone sleeping on top of it. There were two pillows close to each arm of the couch, so she took one and hugged it to herself. Thankfully, it didn't smell musty.
"So. What's next?"
"Obviously, we gotta' celebrate it!" The excitement was bleeding through his voice and his movements. It was enough to draw out a smile from her. "Let's have like a little snack party. I'll go grab some chocolates and maybe a couple of drinks. Fruit juice?"
"That would be great. Then I'll go get some popcorn."
"You have popcorn?"
"Yang's the one who buys popcorn whenever our teams have a joint movie night. We probably have some spare."
"Neat. Then let's go!"
They split off from there, both to head to their respective rooms to grab the necessary supplies. It was a little hard to explain to her friends why she needed popcorn, but seeing that the pack was nearing its expiration day, Weiss decided it would be better if she just took it with her. Ruby also suggested that she also bring along some chicken sandwiches—weird, but she wasn't going to complain. More food was always good.
She also brought along an extra blanket (hey, you never know when you'll need it), a couple of tea bags, and some canned drinks. Stuffing what she could into a bag and carrying the rest, she left her room and made her way back to the clubroom.
It was a good thing that the clubroom wasn't that far. Two floors up, and then down a corridor until the very end. It might have felt a little annoying to keep going up and down, but she didn't really care. She'd take it as extra bits of exercise.
'Like our spars don't count as strenuous work-out sessions already.'
Stepping into the room, she stored the sandwiches, popcorn and canned drinks into the fridge. She left the tea bags atop the countertop near the kettle, and took her place on the couch once more.
It was just a bit of time before Jaune, too, got back. He walked over to her and set down two apple juice boxes on the coffee table, along with a small bag of dark chocolates. Ooh. Good choice. She wondered where he got that from. From his own room like her, perhaps?
"Looks like there isn't any trash cans in this room. We might need to get one soon, eh?"
"We should. Cleanliness is a-must. And I'm thinking there's definitely a lot more things we can decorate this room with," he pointed over to a corner. "Maybe a potted plant. And a framed picture."
"Geez. Really thinking it through, eh?"
"I mean, doesn't the idea sound fun?"
It did. This was their own clubroom, and knowing they could do whatever they wanted sounded pretty nice. While all the furnishing their teachers had donated were pretty good, there was definitely a lot more they could do to improve this place.
"So, what's our first agenda, mister president?"
"That role is just for decoration, you know. It's not like we'd be recruiting more members."
"Hoping that's the case. But I'll admit, I quite like having the vice president title."
" 'Course you do," he chuckled. "Well, since we're gonna' celebrate, how about we just take it easy today?" He sat down on the couch and away from her, bringing up his scroll with a grin. "And I do mean we do something simple. No games."
"So we watch something?"
"Sure. What'cha wanna' watch?"
"Well… Considering this is the Little Horror Club, we might as well stick to the theme and watch something appropriate," which was probably not the way to 'chill', per se, but she'd prefer that over sitcoms. In no way was she going to celebrate their clubroom by sitting through cringe comedy. "So? Any suggestions?"
"Uhh… Well, what would you prefer? Feeling in the mood for something light?"
"Something light, huh? I guess that's okay," she hummed.
"Or you could just be a passenger and watch me play something. Up to you."
Oh? Now that was interesting. The last time she'd ever played a game, it had been The House 2, and that ended up with her scaring herself from start to finish. To be on the other side of the coin and act simply as a spectator sounded fun, actually.
"You know what? Sure, I'm down for that. It'd be interesting to shake things up. Been way too long since we gamed."
"Cool. But again, it'll just be me who's playing, so you'll be fine."
"Uh, excuse you. I may be watching, but I have a good feeling that I'll be the one screaming the most," she bristled at the thought, but knew it was true. Jaune was simply unshakable, while she would be running on high nerves. Damn him and his years of experience. "Now come on. Let's get to it."
While Jaune set up her scroll to the TV and his scroll as the controller, Blake prepared the juice boxes on the table while she wrapped herself in her blanket. It helped that there was air-conditioning too, so this room would definitely be a great room to escape to for relaxation.
Well, outside of all the moments of watching all the scariest, mind-breaking things that Jaune possibly had in store for her.
And it certainly looked like their first day in their room was no different, because the game that Jaune pulled up looked… janky. Old. The room in the background of the starting screen certainly lacked any bright colours, and the dim lighting was a concerning prospect. And there was a warning for loud noises and jumpscares at the top screen of the TV.
Yeah. She knew there would be a lot of screaming—from her, in particular.
"Sophie's Curse," she read the name. "How scary is this?"
"Uhh. Hard to say. It's probably six? But the first time playing it would be a nine for most people. Taking everything into consideration, it's just a six."
Oh, good! Just the perfect game to start things off. Really though, couldn't he have just chosen something a little milder? Be a bit kind on her for a change?
'Then again, I did say we should stick to the theme. Could've watched something else, but this was my choice,' you reap what you sow, as everyone usually says. Ah well. Too late to back out. "So, what makes this one particularly scary?"
"Hmm… I think you'll understand when I start playing. Don't want to spoil the surprise too soon."
"Fine, fine."
"I will warn you, though. Just as the warnings indicate, the jumpscares can get really loud. I mean, I'll obviously lower the volumes, but they'll come fast."
"Oh? Well, it'll be a change from what we had before. All the things we've watched thus far have only ever been slow-burns and creepy atmosphere. Is it like The House 2?"
"Sort of? But obviously, this is a little more dynamic than the traditional point-and-click sequences that you played before. That one was pretty old. Not to say this one isn't… I think? I can't remember. But I think this one will be much more different. Good thing you aren't playing, huh?"
"Yup. Good thing."
"Alright then, no better time to start things than now."
Straight into the game they go, then. Jaune clicked on 'New game', and that prompted a sound cue that lead right into a black loading screen. After a while, they were presented with what looked to be a yellow piece of paper, with a lot of text on it.
Blake skimmed through it. It was a note by some guy, apparently thanking the player for accepting the job of watching after their grandfather. Lots of others had turned the offer down (gee. She wondered why), citing that they thought the place was 'haunted'. Hah. Yeah, sure. Let's go with that.
The few bits of paragraphs further below then delved into explaining the mechanics of the game, though she didn't understand them fully. There were… four lights, okay. Four lights in four different rooms, all apparently prototypes designed by the guy, and the player's job was to keep them functioning throughout the night? There was also something a computer; go to it to fix any faulty systems.
"So basically… Make sure the lights don't die, and if something goes wrong, use the computer?"
"That's basically it, yeah."
"What? Seriously?" She let out a breathy exhale. "That sounds so simple. What's so bad about this one?"
"Oh, you'll see," shit.
When Jaune put down the letter, they were standing behind a counter and looking at the living room. On the top right of the GUI was the time—it was seven o' clock now—while there were four alphabets listed at the bottom left, with white horizontal bars to the side.
Using the scroll, he moved the character forwards, prompting him to jog forwards until he stood in the centre of the space, whereby there were a couple of couches, a box with a light piece affixed to it, and some other basic decorations like curtains, paintings and books.
"So this is the light device, which we have to keep alive at all time," Jaune said. "And when we press on it, we crank it up."
He demonstrated the action, of which the player leaned forwards to grab a crank on the side of the box and winded it clockwise. Loud crunk-crunk resounded as that recharged the device.
"This first one is 'A', and there are three others; one more on this floor, and two more on the second floor. In the kitchen is the computer," he pressed there, and the player character moved in that direction. He flipped open the computer, which brought up a light-grey schematic of the house's floors, with four light devices arranged here and there. "And we have six checkpoints we need to reach, with two hours in between each mark."
"Huh. That's rather straightforward."
"Mmhm. And when a light device malfunctions, we can use the computer to remotely fix the device—that's the only way we can do that."
When he put down the computer, one of the bars began to steadily dwindle, indicating that the light device was losing power. It was 'B', so Jaune moved to the stairs to wind the box, filling the bar back up.
"Hmm… I don't see why this is scary."
"Well, that's because this is the introductory portion. Until eight o' clock, the game is set in safe mode, so there's no risk of getting attacked until then. Also, there's another thing you must have missed earlier."
There was? Jaune didn't explain further, but he proceeded to return to the laptop. Turning it on, he pointed at the TV screen, towards 'D'. Below it, an icon of a lock flashed periodically.
"What does that mean?"
"Basically, that's the safe zone. It means that, if you stay there, there's no risk of you getting attacked at all."
Wait, for real? That sounds amazing, then! "Then you can just stay there and wait until you reach the checkpoint. Easy."
"Aha. See, that's what we all want. But you immediately forgot about this one," his finger pointed at the bars. And they were already decreasing. It didn't take long for her to realize what that meant, and she groaned in understanding. "Yep. This game is basically all about having a safe zone, but you're forced to leave it to fix the devices. Otherwise, you lose the game."
Wow. That sucks. The game is so generous to give away a confirmed safe spot, but the player is forced to leave it regardless? What a scam!
Just as Jaune said, the remaining time is spent with him just running around the house to wind up the boxes to refill their power. At times, they were stable, while some would slowly drain away without any warning. That meant that complete awareness was necessary to not let a device drop to the zero all of a sudden.
Just as Jaune climbed the stairs to go to the safe zone, which was apparently outside of the grandpa's house (man, the letter was not lying about him being a deep sleeper, if he managed to sleep with that bright-as-hell light in his room), a deep sigh boomed from the speakers as the screen blinked black.
"…That got you, didn't it?"
"It did…" She facepalmed at that. "Seriously, what was that? That sigh came out of nowhere!" She ended up sighing herself. "And apparently, our sigh of relief recharged all the devices to full. What are, magic?"
"Heh. Videogame logic."
So this was the rest of the game, then. Not much to it besides moving up and down the house and taking care of any devices that were losing power. The laptop was the only way to keep note of which device was the safe zone, and when Jaune checked it, it turned out to be 'A', which was right in front of them. So Jaune moved there.
And then, a ping sounded. The bar besides 'B' was completely gone, replaced with a blinking red 'ERROR'.
Blake perked up. "Hold up. What's wrong? Why did the light there show an error?"
"When this happens, you have to go to the laptop and perform rebooting there to fix them," he said calmly, moving to the laptop and pressing on the 'B'. That brought up four portions; flick all switches to ON, fine tune until the red lights turned green, type in the code given, and change all red squares to green.
"What the hell? That's so many!"
"Yeah. So you'd better do it quickly, because the power of other devices will drain in the background too if you're unaware."
"That's terrible!"
Fortunately, this wasn't the first time he'd played this game, evidenced by how swiftly he performed each task. Once that was done, the screen went back to the laptop, and he moved to recharge the devices on the second floor before hastening back downstairs—
A body stood in front of the living area, heartbeats playing in the background as the lights flickered on and off.
"Oh, shit! That's Sophie!"
"Wait, what?! Wait, do something! Jaune, do something!"
"Uhh! Running!" He cried out, just as he turned his character around and sprinted up the stairs. Blake practically vibrated right beside him all the way, clapping his shoulder multiple times as if that could make him run faster. "Stop it! We'll be fine!"
The character's heartbeat drummed in her ears like the beatings of a drum, the rushing up the stairs causing the wood to creak loudly. He turned left and sprinted down the corridor, only coming to an eventual stop right outside of the grandfather's room. The lights continued to flicker.
"Jaauune! It's not going away! Go inside grandpa's room!"
"I can't go inside his room!"
"That's the crappiest game design ever! Do something!"
"Hang on, hang on! It'll go away with time!" It sure as hell didn't seem like it!
Eventually, however, the lights went back to normal, and the dreadful music came to an end. That didn't make things any better, however, because now she was made acutely aware of the background sounds; the rain, the howling winds, and the unsettling music that maintained the sense of danger.
"No way. How did you escape that?"
"Basically run to 'D' or 'A' and wait for the ghost to stop being a pain," he answered quickly, heading back downstairs to the laptop to check the next safe zone. It was back to 'A'. "Okay, okay. Yeah, just keep doing this. Easy, right?"
"Right. Uh-huh."
"Yeah! So, wanna' give it a try?"
Blake glowered at her friend. "Don't even think about it."
"That's a no, then."
The in-game character must have been a real go-getter if he really was determined to stick with this job and get the pay, despite the risks of a ghost haunting this place. Hell, he'd practically seen her up-close, so the fact that he didn't choose to get away spoke of sheer insanity—as befitting every protagonist in horror games and movies.
And she can only imagine how fit he would have to be in order to run all around the house to fix the lights. Plus the fact that he has to last until six in the morning was just ridiculous. Even trying to get to the next checkpoint feels so long; they're only at nine!
Blake gulped, mind already weaving threads to fit her within that world. And man, did she despise the mental imagery; the drab decorations, the tension in the air, the constant hum of the devices, the dim thundering and rain—everything worked to provide an atmosphere that didn't fail to leave a chill down her spine, even when she knew it wasn't her hands on the controller.
She looked into the cramped bathroom, which was far too claustrophobic for her tastes. The shattered mirror and the dark colours made it feel as if something was hiding around the corner, and wasn't that a fun thought?
Eventually, however, she could sense it. The time ticking down more and more. And then, a deep sigh overwhelmed her, and they'd reached the next checkpoint.
"Oh, nice… You did great juggling all that work."
"Thanks. It's not too bad if you've got good reaction. So long as you can avoid Sophie, then you're fine. Some people tend to misclick in Sophie's direction when she shows up, and that's an instant loss."
"Huh… Good thing you react fast, then."
"Yep. Say, are you sure you don't want to try?" Her eyes met Jaune's, and he gave a little shrug as he paused the game. "I'm just saying, it would be a shame if you don't give it a try. Plus, this is celebrating our new clubroom, sooo…"
Bruh. He was so obviously trying to tempt her. The tone and the excited grin on his face were dead giveaways of the fact. Hadn't she told him already that she wasn't going to touch the controller?
…Uuurgh!
"Fine!" She groaned out, taking the scroll out of his hands with a pout. "I'm only doing it for the sake of the celebration. But you'd better not laugh if I die."
"You know I won't," what a load of bull. "Do you need me to teach you the mechanics?"
"I'm good. I already watched you play. I'll be fine."
She was not going to be fine.
She was in the previous safe zone, and knowing it might have switched locations filled her with dread. That realization spurred her to move downstairs to wind up the light device near the front door. Just the feel of its cold, metal handle in her hand was a discomfort of its own.
"Uuurgh… Alright, done!" Device winded, she immediately rushed to the laptop, certain that she would have broken it with how quickly she threw it wide open. Her eyes frantically scanned the layout, and saw that the safe zone was upstairs. "Alright! Let's get out of—"
She was ripped away from the screen, the haunting hymn preceded with blinking lights and the haunted expression of Sophie directly into her soul.
Blake was caught off-guard in that moment, screaming 'no no no' over and over, and her finger accidentally pushed her forwards—
"Ģ̵̪͑̾͝ÿ̶̖̦̈͘ẙ̸̩͐Y̸̧̮͔͛͝Ÿ̵͙́͂H̵̢͍̤̄Ȧ̵̠͘͠a̸̪̣̼̽ȃ̸͈̕͠Ă̸̡̪͙̄͝!"
"GAAAAH!"
The scroll practically flew out of her hands as she threw herself into the arm of the couch, the ghost's scream dying away as she was kicked back to the starting screen. Blake didn't care, however, because she was now busy breathing like she'd just run through a goddamned marathon.
The moment she felt ready to look back at the TV screen, it was in a state of utter breathlessness and beads of sweat on her face. She continued to pant, left in utter disbelief at how sudden that jumpscare had been.
And then, she screamed again. "Why?!" It hit an octave all the singers would be piss jealous of. "That was so fast! How the hell did I die already?"
"You walked into her."
"I did?!"
"Yeah," Jaune nodded, smiling sheepishly. "The thing is, when she shows up in your face, you just turn the other way and leave for the opposite end of the house. So if you saw her at 'B', for example, just run up the stairs and head for 'D' instead."
"Whuh… So you're telling me I died because I literally walked right into Sophie's stupid face like a moron?"
The face he made was the kind of expression that a person makes when they're clearly struggling to say something without being insulting. "It's not… moronic. Just, uh, you didn't know better."
…That was actually a lot kinder than she would have expected, but still!
"Okay, we're doing this again," she snarled, looking back at the TV and glowering at it with full determination. "I'm gonna' reach the next checkpoint no matter what. Just you watch."
"Uhh… Yeah. You got this."
Blake did not, in fact, got it. Their first day in their brand new clubroom ended up being filled with a lot of screaming, and a whole lot of punching the furniture. Rest in peace, couch pillow.
Author's Notes:
I only saw Sophie's Curse played by GTLive, and I was genuinely surprised by how the jumpscares could be so quick and sudden that they really catch you off-guard. Yes, it isn't lore-deep in the slightest, but hey, this is the best place for all you readers to discover new games and movies to add to your list for when you have time.
Really though, there are plenty of simple horror games out there that can be a whole lot scarier than you might initially think. In my opinion, it's all the old, janky-styled games that can be especially scary.
