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 wonder~ But not everyone here is a demon, right? I just got here, so I must have been summoned!

...Did you want to be here?

Do demons always want to be wherever they're summoned? In the movies it always seems to go like, "and NOW YOU ARE BOUND TO ME! MUAHAHAHA!!" And then the demon does the summoner's bidding. But is that really the demon's choice? If a demon gets summoned and bound to someone who wants to wield it for evil, doesn't that make it a weapon?

...I don't know. That's why I asked.

[Pause.]

...Sorry, was that an insensitive question?

Not really! I was just thinking "a weapon is happiest when it's used, right?" So I guess the answer would be yes, I want to be here!

But you're different, right? We voted for you, you know. LiliS. My unit wanted to protect yours.

...If weapons have hearts, then I think it would be okay for one to find happiness in not being used. But I'm glad you're not here unwillingly.

[But anyway. Hellebore looks a little surprised. He thinks back to that one person he met from Avante waaay back at the beginning... he doesn't remember her face, but he does remember some of what she said.]

...We didn't think anyone would want to protect us most.

I didn't want to! But I was outvoted~ I thought it was a useless choice, but what do I know? I just got here.

Hey, you didn't vote for us back right? If you had, we would have actually won.

...You aren't wrong. [Said in an even tone.] We didn't. We voted among ourselves between BARiTONES, sensitIV, Heart Soldier Senshi, and Avante. BARiTONES won, not Avante.

[ .... HUH!! ]

That's surprising! Out of all those four, BARiTONES won? Really? It must have been by a narrow margin, right? Why did you pick BARiTONES in the end?

...That's right. We just tried to pick units that weren't likely to be protected. BARiTONES is new and not as useful, like us, so...

So we really aren't popular, are we?

...We haven't been here long, so we're not a good source.

[Someone on LiliS thought Avante was unpopular, but they could easily be wrong.]

Everyone on my unit already said we were unpopular. I'm sure we all expected to die just now! It's really a rush, expecting to die but then, against all odds, your life is saved...! That's why I was curious about who would actually vote for us.

...I see.

...I don't know who voted for you. But I'm glad you didn't die.

I would say the same, but... to be honest I didn't want to vote for you! Still, I guess this outcome is good too. I don't actually want to see you get hurt either. Most likely our "Leader" isn't expecting any kind of thanks for sparing your lives, but you should consider thanking him.

[Still doesn't seem particularly offended that Leo didn't want to vote for them.]

...I will. If I see him.

[He'll....... do his best....... to remember.........]