(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

[inspiteful]

...Yeah, I'll take it.

[worthathousand]

[ She puts a hand on his shoulder, then, offering a squeeze that she hopes is comforting, and keeps the frame of her body open: she's not about to hug him out of nowhere, but... that is here, too, if it is what he needs. ]

Then that is what I will give.

[inspiteful]

[ It is comforting, and he relaxes a little at the shoulder squeeze. He's not really the type to go for hugs, at least not like this -- he's not even sure if it's really okay for him to ask for one? Would that be too weird? ]

...Thanks.

[worthathousand]

[ Her own features relax somewhat too when she sees his relief. ]

It is merely the very least I could do. I— [ but she cuts herself off; he has already said he does not want to hear about "almost"s ]

...I know many of us on LiliS would feel the same.

[inspiteful]

Mmm. Mars wanted to vote for Lilis, too.

...We ended up using a dice.

[worthathousand]

[ she looks... pained, at that ] Lily would be... very touched to hear that.

For us... it came down to a vote. Which unit we thought would would... need our help the most.
[ quieter, but staying resolute ] I input the results myself.

[inspiteful]

That's how most people here played, I think. Either pick a unit they care about to protect, or pick whoever they think needs it most.

...We had a lot of people to care about and it...I guess we reasoned rather than try to force ourselves to pick one to prioritise and hurt each other's feelings we'd leave it up to the dice.

[worthathousand]

[ her lips thin very briefly, but then she nods ]

...I don't think I can fault anyone's choice, here. As much as a game like this seems designed to encourage resentment, our choices were too... limited for that. And all of us wanted to protect— well. Everyone. I cannot find anger in me for anyone except our captors.

[ a pause ] ...And myself, I suppose. [ she shakes her head ] What an awful feeling it is, to know that we were right to be worried for HSS, too.

[inspiteful]

...Please, don't be angry with yourself.

[ He might be a little bitter about the...comedy? Tragedy? Of errors that lead to his unit's death, but the thing is he knows how it turned out it probably wasn't so much due to malice. ]

I feel as if either people assumed someone else would get us, or they just ended up getting outvoted or something, if we crossed their minds to begin with. Which isn't really anyone's fault.

[worthathousand]

[ pitching her voice low but assertive— ]
It is natural to want to be first in someone’s heart. To know that they would throw everything else aside to protect you.I If you are thinking of feeling ashamed of your emotions... [ she shakes her head ]

[ then, a small sigh ] Whatever saved LiliS, I know it was not that passion for us, either.

[inspiteful]

It's natural, but honestly it's kind of...scary.

[ But he has complicated feelings about it right now given what happened in HSS's room. ]

...Did someone choose Lilis for strategic reasosn?

[worthathousand]

If they did, I don't know why. We are almost certainly seen as soft.

[ a pause, then she shakes her head again, and looks back up at him with a small smile, though it is not precisely a happy one ]

And passionate emotions are frightening, yes. But they're what drive us to our greatest heights of nobility. A blade sharpened on both edges, as they say.

[inspiteful]

...Yeah, I guess that's how it goes, huh.

[ Although right now, he feels like he dealt with something frustrating because of it. He shakes his head. ]

Sorry, I just...I had an argument with one of my unitmates involving her beliefs. While inside that room.

[worthathousand]

[ dawning comprehension ] ...Ah.

It's not difficult to imagine why this situation might have brought that out for her, but...

...Do you want to find someplace to talk about what happened?

[inspiteful]

It brought out a lot of things for us in that room, apparently.

[ he sighs, seeming tired and...resigned, in a way.

He isn't sure if he should impose, but at the same time he can count the people he feels he can ask for some advice from or even simply just vent to on one hand. ]

...I-if you don't mind.

i fell off the map bc i am a Mess

[worthathousand]

Let's get away from this crowd, then.

[ She beckons gently, hand at his shoulder again, though not pushing. ]

Shh it's fine

[inspiteful]

...Alright.

[They head over to a quieter part of the game tower, still on the ground floor but where there's less people. Hopefully they won't be overheard, unless there are people looking for them.]

Is here fine?

[worthathousand]

This will do just fine.

[ taking a seat ]

It's really more important that it's a place you're comfortable talking.

[inspiteful]

Then, I think this will do.

[ He takes a seat nice to Amaranth, resting his hands in his lap. ]

Uhm, well...I suppose to start, this argument started over something one of my other unitmates said in the room. It was -- a bad joke, basically. About how maybe we shouldn't have made so many friends. He was trying to...cope with the decision we were going to have to make, and he was making fun of himself since he failed to follow his own advice? Bad timing, perhaps.

But she took it personally and scolded him for it, which I didn't agree with because I don't believe it was wrong of him to express it. So we ended up arguing.

[worthathousand]

[ She listens quietly, nodding every so often in acknowledgement of the events as he recounts them. ]

What did he think about it? Your unitmate who made the joke in the first place, I mean.

[inspiteful]

I...

[He thinks back to the room; where he might have expected Mars to be more defiant or at least put up more resistance, he didn't try to argue back with Hiryuu.]

He tried to explain how he felt about our situation and where he was coming from, but he didn't try to argue back. Personally, I think he's still trying to figure out how he feels about friendship and having bonds here.

...I don't think he was upset that she got angry with him, I just...I was uncomfortable that it seemed like she had already decided that his viewpoint was 'wrong'. And consequently my viewpoint was wrong too since I agreed that our friendships do make situations like this more difficult. It was like she stopped listening or trying to understand us at that point.

[worthathousand]

Hmm. [ she touches a finger to her lip for a few moments of thoughtful silence ]

In some ways, it seems like you were more hurt by it than he was, even. Hurt that she would even consider thinking something like that about him or about you.

[inspiteful]

...Yeah. I mean, Mars isn't exactly a nice person -- he can be pretty abrasive, actually. [ He shrugs, as if to say 'well, but by now we're kind of used to it'. ] It's just...it's not as if his reaction came out of nowhere, nor was it some kind of baseless fear. I don't think he should be shamed or scolded for feeling the way he did. Trying to insist on the value of friendship to someone who's panicking because those friendships are being used against him is just making it worse.

It was frustrating because it felt like she thought we were attacking her beliefs, when I was trying to explain to her where we were coming from.

[worthathousand]

Do you also feel that way? That your friendships have brought you pain here? You're grouping yourself in with him right now.

[ she doesn't sound judgmental— just... trying to make sure she's correctly connecting the dots here with his implication ]

[inspiteful]

I...

[ He's trying to figure out how to word this. When he speaks again, it's carefully neutral, like he's stripped out sentimentality to opt for what he considers to be the material facts. ]

I don't agree with the idea that because they can be...liabilities, we shouldn't try to make friends or form relationships with people here. People don't work like that. It'd just be difficult for us in a different kind of way.

But I do think there's nothing wrong with acknowledging how they can be used as a way to hurt us. Whether it's because they end up having to make decisions that put us on the chopping block, or because we have to make those decisions ourselves and watch the consequences. Denying it or acting as if it's a thought that shouldn't cross our minds is naive, I think.

So...yeah, I have felt that way before. It's hard not to.