Urghhgghhgggggg please just give me another hulk, please please please
"But what if, JUST WHAT IF! What if the doors were like curses of-!" Malfoy interumpt annie crazy worrying "there is litterally no proof of it being a strange curse, what even is a curse, does curses exist?"
She throw her blanket up and ignore everyone to stand on her bed.
What even is happening? I just managed to ready myself to go fight! Again! While risking getting mindblended into a Homocidal monster.
And instead of a badass reveal of the next door.
Or anything crazy badass and emotional.
Just greeted by a mouse that jump on her bed!?
Oh and she point at malfoy too.
Just like phoenix wright.
"OBJECTION!"
I fucking knew it. I KNEW IT!
"YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT CURSES! HOW CAN YOU PROVE IT'S NOT ONE IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT MAKE ONE!"
What!? That makes no sense!
Malfoy blink at her, like he's in another reality right now. Arms crossed over his chest as he look up at her, mouth coming up and down, no words coming out.
I get him, I understand him so much right now.
Is this how people feel when I go crazy? My head turn at the lawyer mouse. No, that's not. It can't be.
Jenna voice resonate in the room though "I know this reference!"
Good jenna. I'm proud of ya.
Shifting around in my bed like a caterpillar, cause I wanna be a caterpillar, transform myself into a butterfly and fly into the fake sun above to burn my ears.
Please, it's been hours of this.
My eyes come up to look at the fight between malfoy and the mouse.
"Objection?"
Malfoy start first! His attack weak, will the mouse gain without any struggle!? Oh, wait here! It looks like the arrogant player is pulling himself together!
"What do you mean no proof of curses? You don't have any proof of curses. I can't prove it's not a curse, but you can't prove it's one too."
WHAT AN ATTACK FROM THE BLOND PLAYER WHO WAS AT A DISADVANTAGE A SECOND AGO!
Annie! Mousie! The mouse between the closest! The one that eat your breadcrumbs! Nickname gainzd after being fucking crazy and small! Twitch!
Yes she twitch! Kt looks like the rodent player have a problem fighting back this logic!
"Uh...and?"
Everyone look at annie for a second, just, trying to understand if that's really her best justification for what she said.
And it looks like it is.
Balrow shake his head slowly.
Jenna play with her nails.
Malfoy raise an eyebrow and mutter "what the...?
Her reasoning is just like if I said this fake sun are invisible dwarves who can make sun illusions.
"It's...it..."
Urgh why are they making crazy ass theories, it's been hours, they won't find any hidden meaning about the doors like tha-!
Theories?
Hidden meaning?
Doors?
Fuck I got it.
"ALRIGHT VICTORY FOR THE BLONDE PLAYER!" Everyone jump at my random involvement.
"Blonde player?"
Before balrow can speak again I jump up out of my bed, to stand up and point a big thumb at me.
"LUDGER JOIN THE BATTLE!"
Jenna perk up at my words, muttering again "I know this reference too!"
Good job jenna, I'm proud of you.
Annie look at me with dread in her eyes, seeing her new opponent.
Malfoy is still wondering what the fuck is happening.
But I don't care, I slide on the ground, turning and sliding until I stand in front of them both, on the middle of the circle. Arms crossed.
Can't believe I forgot this. It's so obvious though.
I litterally had the epiphany days earlier for real.
"What is the primary goal of a tutorial?"
Malfoy don't answer, just looking at me like I sprouted wings.
And annie stumble over an answer "uh, game? Uh, what?"
My arm come up, fast. High. Violent! HARD! Point straight at the sun, before descending to jenna.
"Me!?"
I nod.
"Uh, a tutorial is like. No no, not like. What's the goal. Teaching players the basic rules and mechanics of a game so they can enjoy it?"
I clap my hands hard and turn around fast, staring down at balrow "heard that?"
He look up at me and nod.
"GREAT!"
I turn around fast and look at my opponents again!
"A tutorial! Is a place of learning!" I take a big step forward and do some grand ass gesture that have no sense but makes me look badass.
"A place of teaching!" My fist, raised high in the air clench hard as my own face take a pensive expression.
"And we forgot that, this simple, extraordinary simple fact."
Letting my hand come down to rest on the side of my waist, I turn to look at the next door.
"Those doors aren't harder than the others" jenna gasp high, clearly enjoying my little performance. She's even clapping a bit.
Damn right!
"Those doors aren't a curse!" Annie shake her head and sit down on her bed. Finally.
Finalllllly!
All while malfoy mutter "obviously!?"
"Those doors are a place for us to learn. To learn about the real game, which isn't here"
Which is....
Real life I guess?
My hand come up to point straight at the sword door.
"THOSE DOORS! Are simply challenges, designed for all of us! They are of the same difficulty."
"But by using the tools given at our disposal, and pure smart we can TRIUMPH over those DOORS! DO NOT FEAR! LAST TIME, WE GOT HURT CAUSE WE WERE DUMB!"
Annie look really curious about what I mean when I said dumb but I ignore her to continue.
My finger come up "what is a guardian goal?"
Balrow answer before I can even point at him "guarding"
PERFECT ANSWER! "Yes! It's guarding."
I look around, left, right, up, down "why is he looking at the ground?"
Shush annie, shush.
"So tell me. Why did we rushed in?"
Did you ever felt a change of mood? A realization? When braincells align with each other, at the same time, with multiples people.
Just a realization, one that run into all of their mind, at a single time, a collective understanding from an explanation?
Because that's what happening around me right now.
Malfoy words pierce the silence "is this why we didn't got the sidequest?"
Oh wait maybe.
Jenna look at him before continuing, bow beside her. "Maybe? Maybe we didn't accomplish the condition necessary to get it?"
Balrow hum "make sense."
It kinda does.
Annie add her part too "also, it's true that everything became way easier when we started" she stop before insisting on the word "guarding the hole"
Right, it did didn't it? The last one couldn't even enter because there was a body in the way.
And the one that tried to remove one of the body almost died because of it.
The strategy was simple. Stay inside, guard with your guardian. And the others need to kill them while the guardian support as much as they could.
In the cave we had no chance.
But while defending a position? Everything was way easier.
FUUUUUCK IT MAKE SENSE!
"And the archer challenge was technically harder, or like, the same difficulty. But only because we thought about it. Hulk was stronger yes, but he was a side quest. And all those goblins together would be harder to fight compared to one of those boars, just by sheer amount of number."
Also they all had small weapons. If one of them with the sling was here on the first room.
The very first one.
The hearth room.
I would be dead. Literally. When one of them threw the rock at my head, if it was helped by a sling I would just be dead.
I stop, and snap my finger "But they weren't together. They could sleep. We abused that. And even if we didn't, the goal was for an archer to kill them all from a safe place above. They could come up, but they only had a small entry to come in"
At my words, the silence come up again, slowly but surely.
Don't really know why I didn't figured that out earlier.
Well I did, but, I only connected it with the inspect moment, not with the whole tutorial, which is kinda fucking dumb.
A tutorial is here to teach.
We have things to learn, and we'll learn. Difficulty shouldn't spike up.
Just be constantly as hard, in different forms.
"So normally, the next door will be hard. But in some kind of swordman twist."
Silence, again.
"Sooooo, does that mean the doors aren't a curse?"
...Annie are you real?