(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

[worthathousand]

Really?

[ her voice is quiet, still, but she sounds a bit genuinely surprised ]

[forgottenmercy]

Yes. [note that he said the previous sentence with as much emotion as he usually does, which is '...what emotion'.]

[worthathousand]

[ a long pause where she just... considers him, expression almost pained ]

I have... been meaning to talk to you, you know.

[forgottenmercy]

[hm, maybe he should be somewhere else.] I'm, ah, sorry, but I'm not certain that this is a good time.

[worthathousand]

[ gods damn it son— trying to stay calm, but the anxiety bleeds into her voice a bit ]

Is there such a thing as a good time in this place?

[forgottenmercy]

Maybe, ah, not right after a game like this.

[worthathousand]

[ a hand goes to her temple; drags slightly down her face ]

...No, you're right. [ eyes closed with some combination of shame, frustration, exhaustion ]

You should... [ opening her eyes only to look away ] ...go to Taisho.

[forgottenmercy]

I will, ah, speak with you later, then.

[worthathousand]

[ meeting his eyes once more ] Please.



[ ...and then she is the one to turn to leave. ]

[forgottenmercy]

I, ah, will. [and going to let her go, obviously.

note he did not say when later.]

[worthathousand]

[ Oh, she noticed well enough—not for nothing, that subtle urgency around the word "please."

But... there is nothing else for her to do, except perhaps to pin him in place like butterfly in a nobleman's collection. If her choices are between patience and that—

The idea of having to force him to tolerate her is unbearably ugly, set in relief against his memories of his husband. ]