Time Oni - An Ao Oni/Hetaoni based rp

(Take the keys)

Peter stuffed the items into his pocket and looked up at Ace again, his mind not wanting to accept the fact that Ace was dead. Seeing the keys, he grimaced and tried to yank the key ring out of his skull.

With a sickening squish and scrapping of metal against bone you retrieve the keys. But, the sound summons the oni

RUN!
FIGHT!

(RUN!)

Peter saw the Oni, "Oh hell no." He muttered and bolted for the closest door. Throwing it open, he dashed through the hall wanting to get away as quickly as possible.

You run to the foyer.

Run upstairs
Run to the bathroom

(Run to the bathroom)

Peter quickly ran for the bathroom before that thing could really catch up to him.

It was quiet outside the bathroom. Suddenly, you hear the door squeak slowly open. Before you have time to react the creature lunges for you--
---------------------------------

Ace stood at the front of the mansion with his friends, having a quick smoke before they went in.

Peter suddenly looked around, they were outside, himself, Ace and Wulfric. Ecstatic, he smiled, thinking it was all a dream.

Suddenly that hope was crushed, he could feel a weight in his pocket, putting his hand in his pocket, his fingers came into contact with the metal keyring. He jerked his hand from his pocket, blood ran cold. It wasn't a dream...

"Uh... Guys? I think it might be better if we not go in..." How could he explain this?

Wulfric smiled gently and said "there's nothing forcing you to go in Peter. You don't have to follow us if you don't want to." Ace, cigarette still in his mouth, walked up to the building and said as he entered "I'm not being scared off by an old house and a dumb rumor." Wulfric chuckled softly as he shook his head and went to follow.

Peter closed his eyes, "We already went in there. You two died. Wulf got his neck snapped and fingers caught in the front door, Ace, I found you on the library wall with sharpened chair legs through you, and these," He pulled the keys from his pocket, "in your fucking skull!"

Wulfric stopped just short of entering when he heard Peter start talking. He went back to Peter, gently took the keys and examined them. He sighed and said "your tale was good until the time traveling, but I think it is a bit too late to scare Ace out of going in." And with that Wulfric returned the keys and went inside.

Stuffing the keys in his pocket, he rolled his eyes and ran in after them, there was no way in hell that he was going to let himself or either of them get killed by that...thing.

"Hey, Ace? What's up with the tally marks on your lighter?"

Ace let out a puff and asked "why so curious?"

"...I noticed them when I took your knife, lighter and lock picking kit from your pocket after I had found you pinned to the library wall and dead. Killed by some blue...thing. Demon, I suppose." At this point, he realized how nuts he sounded.

Pulling out the keys, "I found these embedded in your skill while you hung there. Though I doubt the blood stains are there..."

Ace scoffed and took another puff. He pointed down the left hallway and said "Wulf, you head down that hallway. Me and Pete will head the other way. We meet back here in 10." Wulfric nodded and said as he left "don't do anything dangerous"

As soon as Wulfric was out of earshot Ace pinned Peter against a wall and hissed "how do you know about the tallies? What's all this talk about our deaths? How do you know this? What are you trying to do?"

"I saw both of you fucking dead. When that...demon thing killed me in the first floor bathroom, time rewound itself and I found myself outside exactly where we were when we were about to go in, I could remember everything, but you two had your memories removed. I'm trying to save your's and Wulf's goddamn asses from that thing that haunts this place. That thing's murderous. It doesn't want us here. And now that we're inside, we're screwed!" Peter fought back against him, "What will it bloody take to convince you?"

Ace, still restraining Peter, took out his lighter and held it an inch away from Peter's face, saying "you are not the only one who f*cking remembers." Ace let Peter go, took out his knife, and scratched another tally onto the lighter

Peter stared at the notches in the lighter, his brain finally reaching a conclusion, "You mean... Oh shit... We've all died that many times?"

Then it hit him, hard, "We're caught in a time loop aren't we? Do you know if Wulf remembers any of this?"

"He never remembers," Ace said "and telling him everything kills him faster." Finishing his cigarette, Ace sighed and said sadly "every time I told him about all this and actually convinced him I was telling the truth he... he would secure a way out for us... always stayed back to fight the oni off and buy us time... never did find out how he managed to give us as much time as he did..."

Peter pinched the bridge of his nose, "Okay, either the...uh...oni or the house is broadcasting a time loop that seems to preserve both our memories, but not Wulf's for some reason, probably his behaviour, either by design or something got screwed the first time we came in here and now we're trapped."

Taking a deep breath, "Obviously, my memory has some holes in it. Remind me, how much do we know about the oni and anything about the house outside of the fact that's it's damn ancient?"

"All I've been able to piece together is that the oni is old and angry. I don't know why you've kept your memories this time," Ace handed a journal with the name 'Ryuzuu' written on it to Peter and said "usually to go back in time I would read from that book or shatter a clock" A look or realization crossed Ace's face as he said "That's it! That's how you remembered! There must have been a clock in the room you were attacked in! The oni must have knocked it and it must have touched you just before breaking!"

Peter scrunched up his face, "I don't think there was a clock in the bathroom, but perhaps there was one on the wall behind me where I couldn't see it."

He took the journal from Ace and looked it over, not wanting to open it just in case he triggered a rewind, "So...We go back to the beginning if one of us reads this journal or touches or is touched by a clock before our death and that person's memory is preserved? Am I understanding this right?"

"The book seems attached to me at this point. One of my deaths were caused when you threw the book into the oni's mouth and it swallowed it. I ended up melting like I was in acid or something.
As for clocks you're half right. You only keep your memories via clocks if you are the one to destroy it. I'm taking a wild jab here, but if the oni ended up pushing you against the wall as or before it killed you then that may count as you being the one to break it, hence your memories.
Usually when you break a clock you see all your previous deaths and end up dead again, just to go back in time with just the memory of breaking the clock. My memory is a bit screwy because I've used the book so I've kept every memory.
Since these keys stayed with you they've probably been attached to you in some way. But, we'll figure it out later. For now, since we're the only ones that remember anything, we gotta protect Wulfric and find a way for all of us to get out of here"

Peter handed the book to Ace, "Here, hold on to it. It is bound to you after all."

He looked at the keys, then up at Ace, "Agreed. Something's telling me that Wulf might have a role to play in all of this someho-" It suddenly hit him, "Uh... Ace? Isn't Wulf usually the first to fall at the hands of the oni?"

Ace held up his hands and said "relax, it switches up. I've made mental notes of cues as to what will happen. Since he didn't say 'don't play hero' he should be safe for a while. Besides, the oni never comes before the plate falls"

Peter could feel his blood run cold, "Now I'm wishing I had worn my watch today." He muttered.

"Should we go, or stay away?"