Endgame

[idolpro]

Who: You lot
Where: Game Tower
When: Day 155, sunset

[ The house is silent; you awaken in your starter rooms, with injuries healed and the gripping hold of possession released as though it were all a dream.

It wasn't though, was it? The scars that remain, whether physical or emotional, are proof of that. If you need more proof, well - when the elevator opens for you once more, to take you back down to ground level, you'll find you can carry whatever is on your person back down with you as souvenirs, although their effects don't carry over.

Once you take the elevator down, you'll find most everyone else there too - most everyone, anyway. Some are missing, and . . . well, the doors to the outside aren't opening to let anyone out, although non-participants may enter to fret over their loved ones.

Soon enough, once the last elevators go down, the doors will unlock and you'll be free to hurry home, as the last rays of the sun disappear behind the skyline. Night is coming once more. ]

Comments

[justpure]

[All at once, that ghost disappears.

Medusa's mask has a large hole busted open, and through this hole you can see the scars on his face and the look of utter shock in his eyes. Why did he do that? What was he thinking? Sure, he barely knew the man he attacked, but... Was he truly a...

Although she had vanished without a trace, her motives remain fresh in his mind. That was a reasonable response to a terrible fate... But...

But...

There's too much on his mind. He spends the first few minutes of Endgame curled up in a wingback chair, clutching to the book from the library in his arms and trying to rest his chin on the edge of the cover. Shivering. Whimpering.

He has completely forgotten about the locket still hanging off his neck.]

[bluescreenwhitedragon]

[Comes over to stand beside him]

Medusa...

[justpure]

[There's a small squeak of suprise, but he quickly realizes it's Intensity soon enough.

It's a weird mix of relief and shame that trickles through Medusa's blood.]

... Yes?

[bluescreenwhitedragon]

I never ran into you.

Were you alone?

[justpure]

... Y-yes. Twice. The last time, I was with Kharg.

[bluescreenwhitedragon]

I see.

So they stuck our newest together.

Which means there wasn't anyone to tell you about the House.

[justpure]

No... Other than what was on our phones and what we experienced, that is.

... Have you played this game before?

[bluescreenwhitedragon]

Yes. This is the House of Betrayal and Mirth. Azzy's summer home.

They rig it up like a haunted house, full of ghosts. And then send the idols to run through it again and again until they start going crazy and killing each other.

In very oddly specific ways.

[justpure]

[Medusa turns his head to stare wide eyed at Intensity here.]

Asmo... [Ah, yes. Names have power, especially demonic ones.] Oh dear...

And the ghosts? Are those...? Who or what were they, really?

[bluescreenwhitedragon]

Damned. Previous idols. The dead who were too resentful to fade into nothingness.

Who knows for sure?

[justpure]

... But you imply they were real people, once.

[Trusting Intensity's word, per usual. He's a reckless person, but he has knowledge and experience. Plus, he's a unitmate. Family and friend, in a way.

But the revelation opens a new can of worms. Medusa swore he heard a woman's voice in his head, but was that all in his head or a hint of something...

No, he won't admit it. Not here. Not now. And yet speaking with Intensity did distract him from his thoughts.]

It must have been horrible for those ghosts as well. Reduced to their fates and inflicted on many unsuspecting idols... Do you think those spirits were still conscious when they were used for the game?

[bluescreenwhitedragon]

Perhaps.

Or perhaps they've been wore down to just their anger and bitterness at the cards that life dealt them.

You'd have to ask them. If you ever get the chance.

[justpure]

. . .

[He thought they spoke. She spoke. But he could have just imagined it.]

... You know, I did remember preforming a ritual to speak with the dead. It might be a bit riskier to preform it here in Hell, but perhaps we could give it a shot later on?

[bluescreenwhitedragon]

If you want to roll those dice, how can I say no to that?

[justpure]

[He's getting permission?]

... Very well, but it will be some time before we'll be ready to take that risk.

[bluescreenwhitedragon]

Yes.

Might make the locals jumpy if you tried something like that now.

[justpure]

Of course... Of course.