(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

[stakesthesame]

... yeah.

[ she doesn't know what else to say to that. gesturing him over, though. ]

[iamverybadass]

[ words are hard!! he only hesitates a second or two before stepping within arm's reach ]

[stakesthesame]

[ cool. ruffles his hair. ]

... usually they're not like this. Usually it's just choosing who dies. I'm sorry, dude.

[iamverybadass]

[ laughs roughly ]

I don't know which one would be easier.

[stakesthesame]

... it's easier to rely on-- who won't want to hurt you, instead of who would save you above all others.

People who want to hurt you make it more obvious.

[iamverybadass]

...Yes. Yes, I can—understand that. I had been preparing for something like that, but this...

[ he shrugs ]

It seems no one was prepared for this.

[stakesthesame]

Nah. I think this was... a weird one. Even for the people who've been here a long time.

[iamverybadass]

I hope that it is the last one like this.

[stakesthesame]

[ nervous laugh ]

Don't jinx us, buddy. ... y'wanna go home? C'mon.

[iamverybadass]

Superstition has no bearing on the future.

[ probably ]

...Yes. I cannot— I do not wish to remain here.

[ too many hurt people ]