(no subject)

[opening_act]

Who: Exael and the Unlucky Contestants
Where: The Game Tower
When: 86, Evening

[ Between one step and the next the walls (or streets, or open air) around you changes. The sight before you is a room inside the game tower, a new pressure at your neck. Reaching up or looking at the people around you reveals it to be a collar, titanium with a small green blinking light set in the center. ]

[ the screen flickers on, on your cellphone. It's a half-second, blink and you miss it— Exael, chewing on a nail, looking uncharacteristically nervous— then the moment's gone and she waves both hands and smiles for the camera. ]

"Ladies, gentlemen, honored guests! Units of all stripes and sizes! I come offering you a game and a few familiar words, rearranged for the occasion!"

Her carnival barker demeanor shifts for a moment as she lowers her head to say: ] "Glory to the highest, and on earth peace—" [ her head snaps up, her pigtails bouncing with it, and she's grinning again, all pomp and energy ] "even if we're not getting much down here! So let's kick up a ruckus, put on a show, and see how much good goodwill alone can manage! If you wish to save your fellows, now is the time speak!"

[ The rules appear on your phones. ]

[ Rules ] [ Rooms ] [ Results ] [ Endgame, Revivals & Winners ]

Comments

[dragonheartedgirl]

Wednesday? It's okay, Wednesday.

[ her voice sounds. really bad. and her hand may have a little bit of blood on it as she reaches out to pet Wednesday's hair. ]

You don't have to be sorry.

[wonderlandgirl]

But...

[She doesn't care about the blood. She doesn't notice. She wipes at her eyes, and swallows.]

I should have tried harder. I just - oh, God. I thought you'd be safe! I - I thought if anyone would it would be you guys and-- and I just let it happen! I'm so sorry!

[dragonheartedgirl]

You don't have to blame yourself. Most times we do come out okay. It was just our turn to have bad luck, that's all.

[ Petting her hair in what is attempting to be a soothing manner. ]

That was your first bad game, wasn't it? I'm very sorry, Wednesday.

[wonderlandgirl]

Mm.

[She nods. Thinks, pull yourself together--

[It's hard, though. It's just so impossibly hard. Wednesday settles for wiping at her eyes, then wiping them again.]

I... I wanted to save you. I really did! It's - Rise has a brother - and I wanted to argue but if it's her brother... oh, why couldn't we have protected you both?!

[dragonheartedgirl]

[ Poor Wednesday. Time to escalate to a hug.

Sorry about all of the blood on the front of her clothing...

She doesn't know who Rise is but, ]

That's okay. There's no way you could have known. You protected Rise's brother, didn't you? You did well.

[wonderlandgirl]

[Maybe she'll worry about it later. Right now--]

I thought you'd be fine! How could nobody - nobody at all--

[She clings to Hiryuu, and it doesn't matter a bit. All that matters is that the other girl is here, inexplicably whole - far from unharmed, but whole. She's shaking: Hiryuu must feel it. She's still crying, and Hiryuu can't not notice that, either.]

I should have known it - if everyone thought like we did...!

[dragonheartedgirl]

[ She's going to keep patting Wednesday's back and petting her hair. ]

No. There's no way to be sure that you know everyone is thinking. Some people made their choices out of love. Some people did it out of alliances. ... Others, I'm sure, out of solidarity for being new, or wanting to protect the new people... we made our choice from a pool of people we wanted to protect on the basis of a roll of the dice. Telling yourself you can predict who other people will choose... is the real way the Producers win, by making us feel like we have the ability to know without a shadow of a doubt what the others will do, and blaming ourselves for what they've put us up to.

[ It hurts her throat to talk that much--but for Wednesday's sake, it's worth it. ]

[wonderlandgirl]

D-dice?

[Wednesday tightens her grasp on Hiryuu; a bubble of laughter rises in her throat, and she can't seem to bite it back.]

I... well, we voted, but - you know, before that? I said that maybe we should have just drawn lots... it was just - just so hard, and I didn't know how else I would decide... so I thought we could have torn up some of the paper. I mean it was already torn, wasn't it...?

[She shakes her head. Hiryuu, she supposes, will feel it.]

You - really don't blame us? Really?

[dragonheartedgirl]

In the past we've voted and debated. This time... dice, or lots... seemed fairest, considering we all had different priorities.

And I really don't blame you. Or anyone else.

[ She's still petting her head, but she also leans back so that Wednesday can see her face if she wants to--it's calm, and there's a small smile on her lips. ]

I promise.

[wonderlandgirl]

[It's a cue, and she takes it: looks up and into Hiryuu's face.

[The look she finds there - it's so calm, so kind, that it makes her tear up again, and bury her face in the girl's shoulder. She smiles, and that smile hurts.]

Thank you--!

[She hugs Hiryuu tight, and steps away, just a little.]

Oh, but your throat--! I'm sorry! I shouldn't have made you talk so much. Could sensitIV - Leviathan. He'll help you, won't he?

[Of course he will.

[He loves you.]

[dragonheartedgirl]

Ah... He would, probably or Loki, I'm sure. But... I'm not sure if it's right to trouble them right now. How did you know that he would?

[ in particular, she means. ]

[wonderlandgirl]

He's your... well, you're friends, aren't you? From before?

[And - well, and then there was the secrets game.]

I met him on my first day. He's been very kind to me, and we're strangers... so of course he'd want to help his oldest friends, as well.

[dragonheartedgirl]

[ She momentarily forgot that literally everyone saw that. But she is now remembering as she says "friends."

And her cheeks... color some. ]

It's true that Hakuryuu and I know each other from back home, but... he's a very kind and generous person. I think he'd help someone in need, regardless of whether or not he knew them prior to arriving here.

... I would like to not trouble him, though.

[wonderlandgirl]

Oh, but you won't be troubling him at all.

[She's not so much jealous as wistful: what would it be like, to matter to someone like that? It must be nice, Wednesday thinks--anywhere but here, it must be...]

I'm sure he must be worrying about you, too... I mean, don't see him if you don't want to. But I'm certain you wouldn't be putting him out.

[dragonheartedgirl]

I suppose it might just worry him more if I avoided him. I'll go see him. Thank you, Wednesday.

[wonderlandgirl]

Oh, you really don't have to thank me! I haven't done much of anything but cry on you...

[Is she blushing as she wipes at her eyes? Perhaps a little.]

I shouldn't keep you, Hiryuu. I, um... well, I hope you feel better soon. I know there's probably not a lot I can do to help, but if you do think of anything...?

[dragonheartedgirl]

Don't say that. You've been very kind and worried for me. Anyone would be grateful for that.

...

If you wouldn't mind, maybe you could stop by my unit and see how they all were? Things were a little tense for us. It would be good for them to have someone who cares come by to check on them.

[wonderlandgirl]

Oh, I'd be glad to! I'd be glad to get to know all of you better, too.

[It seems a reckless thing to want, suddenly--

[She wants it anyway. Wants it more than anything. She can't turn her back to everyone else simply because it would be easier if there was nobody else to worry about but herself: if she herself were the only person here to worry about, Wednesday thinks she'd just stay in bed.]

You've been very kind yourself, Hiryuu. Thank you.