imeeji_frontstage | (no subject)

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 ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I'm sure it doesn't help.

You're not the only one who hurt someone in that game. You just happened to hurt one of the most paranoid people here.

I regret it, even still. . .

[ with a little sigh ]

Regardless, what's done is done. Moreover, we aren't on the same unit - so there's not much to say about that. Still, I wish there was something I could do for him. . .

[ exhales ]

I don't really try.

Well - paranoia suits better than naivety, for the sake of survival, right?

Yes. But he's not good at survival either.

. . . Mm, because he is . . . so full of despair.

I want to alleviate that, but how to do so . . .

[ . . . ]

Punching him probably won't work . . .