(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

[dragonheartedgirl]

[ Well.... maybe sometimes you just... need to have a bit of a breakdown? She's been there herself, about equally silly things. probably. ]

I don't know. We don't have any either. Do you want me to help you home?

[sonof]

You should be crying, too.

[dragonheartedgirl]

[ that




is in fact a really weird thing to say. ]

... I'm sorry. It's not that I'm not sad or worried about what happened to you all, but... if I'm crying then I can't be of any use to you.

[sonof]

That’s not right, you know? It should be fine to weep and mourn and feel terribly sad in the face of a tragedy. It should be fine for everyone to share in their grief...

[dragonheartedgirl]

I know. But somehow... I can't seem to find the tears right now.

[ Everything feels--kind of surreal. She's pretty sure the books call that shock? But she's not a doctor, what does she know. ]

I'm sorry. They'll come later, I'm sure...