GM Game

[idolpro]

Who: You!
Where: the Game Tower
When: Day 176, evening

[ And so, the other shoe has dropped.

Exael's voice over the intercom is rarely one that heralds anything good, despite her perky showmanship. She calls out: ]

Ladies and Gentlemen! The sky is alight with stars, and down here under earth, our very own are shining brightly~! Who will outshine the rest, and who will be extinguished?

Over the coming nights, keep your eyes not only on the heavens, but also stay tuned in right here! Because we have got a show for you!

[ That was not actually helpful in terms of explanation. Your phone has rules, though, and those help more than the pit of dread she probably just helpfully installed in your stomach. ]

RULES | ROOMS | ROUND 1 MINGLE | ROUND 2 MINGLE | ROUND 3 MINGLE | ROUND 4 MINGLE | ROUND 5 MINGLE

Comments

Re: ROUND 3 MINGLE

[bluescreenspiritdragon]

Seto!

[ oh thank goodness. ]

Re: ROUND 3 MINGLE

[bluescreenwhitedragon]

[Flatly:]

I got your text.

Re: ROUND 3 MINGLE

[bluescreenspiritdragon]

[ opens his mouth, but then just closes it. ]

Re: ROUND 3 MINGLE

[bluescreenwhitedragon]

Did your unit do okay?

Re: ROUND 3 MINGLE

[bluescreenspiritdragon]

We didn't do bad.

Re: ROUND 3 MINGLE

[bluescreenwhitedragon]

Mokuba.

Now is not the time.

Straight answers.

Re: ROUND 3 MINGLE

[bluescreenspiritdragon]

No one is missing arms and legs on our team! a- and no one came back dead and half eaten! I'd say that's a step up! Nothing could be as bad as that! [ what kind of straight answer is he looking for?! ]

No one's in the room. Everybody left. If someone wasn't okay I think I'd know. We did fine this round, Seto. We're fine. It's everybody else who isn't fine.

Re: ROUND 3 MINGLE

[bluescreenwhitedragon]

[But what if Intensity doesn't care about everyone else---]

That's better.

...

I'm going to take ZRAEL home. Do you want to come?

Re: ROUND 3 MINGLE

[bluescreenspiritdragon]

[ without missing a beat, ]

Yes.

[ he's not letting you out of his sight, because it seems like one minute someone's fine and then the next they're not and there's not way he's going to let that happen to you, of all people, seto. ]

Re: ROUND 3 MINGLE

[bluescreenwhitedragon]

[Wow, look. He's fine. Not a scratch on him. No need to fuss.

But yeah, sure.

In the car with you. You get front middle seat since the other three are probably occupied with the injured]

Re: ROUND 3 MINGLE

[bluescreenspiritdragon]

[ he's going to fuss!... to himself. ]

[ mokuba's mostly just going to keep quiet and let seto and man★eater handle zrael. he's just along for the ride. literally. ]

Re: ROUND 3 MINGLE

[bluescreenwhitedragon]

[One bystander and one chauffer coming up.

But after everyone has been treated and sent on their respective ways, and they are back inside the Tenshi dorm.]

Mokuba.

[Pats an office chair next to him]

Sit. I want to tell you something.

Re: ROUND 3 MINGLE

[bluescreenspiritdragon]

[ climbs into the office chair beside his brother. ]

...

Yeah Seto?

Re: ROUND 3 MINGLE

[bluescreenwhitedragon]

A few months into this whole mess, there was a... game. A bad one. Not like this one -- this is a ratings grab to meet their blood or gore quota or something.

But a game that happened because the idols weren't doing a good enough job of performing. And the whole production was starting to collapse at the seams.

[Is having this entire conversation while not looking at Mokuba, by the way]

Re: ROUND 3 MINGLE

[bluescreenspiritdragon]

[ ... this can't be good. ]

[ listens, nodding along. since seto's not looking at him he might just be moving a liiiitle bit closer to him. he won't notice right? good. ]

Re: ROUND 3 MINGLE

[bluescreenwhitedragon]

Our unit lost. And all of us that attended the game lost a part of our memories permanently as a result. Something that you can't buy back at the point shop. It's just... gone.

Re: ROUND 3 MINGLE

[bluescreenspiritdragon]

...oh. [ don't mind him reaching out toward his brother. ]

Even if you take down the production you don't think you'll be able to get it back? How do you know that it's gone forever? Just because some demonic jerk who ran some dumb bad game said so?

[ grabs his brother's shirt and tugs him over. also, come on seto, look at him. ]

1/2

[bluescreenwhitedragon]

[Finally turns to look at Mokuba]

Because demons can sense true names, and they knew I was a liar when I tried to use something that wasn't mine anymore.

Re: ROUND 3 MINGLE

[bluescreenwhitedragon]

[But after the brief bout of anger passes, he just sighs and the screen lights up over his arm again. He opens up a file named the_trial.txt. Which only has a single word written in it.

KAIBA

]

That was his name, wasn't it?

Re: ROUND 3 MINGLE

[bluescreenspiritdragon]

[ he opens his mouth, but then stills, the emphasis on his shutting him up for a couple of moments. his. he closes his mouth and nods, humming his response instead: ] ...mm.

Our stepfather's. Kaiba Gozaburo. [ his own gaze falls aside. ]

B- But then you took it from him, [ his eyes flicker back to seto. ] fair and square. [ "fair and square". HMMM! ] And made it ours, Seto! [ though, it doesn't mean much anymore, at least to his brother, since the demons made it meaningless. ] ... [ he settles back down. ]

Re: ROUND 3 MINGLE

[bluescreenwhitedragon]

And Seto...

That's also the name of that washed up, lazy stunt double.

Re: ROUND 3 MINGLE

[bluescreenspiritdragon]

[ he balls a fist. ]

I don't care about him! He can... He can just go away!

[ mokuba gets the feeling he knows where this is going and he doesn't like it. ]

Re: ROUND 3 MINGLE

[bluescreenwhitedragon]

[Sorry, Mokuba. It seems your brother still sucks at being a person!]

Intensity is my name now. Gifted to me by someone I trust. And respected here through months of hard work.

...

Do you think you could call me that from now on?

Re: ROUND 3 MINGLE

[bluescreenspiritdragon]

[ this sure is hell. ]

[ he keeps his mouth shut tight and bites down on his tongue as he forces all of the emotions he's wrestling with to just... stay put. he'll deal with this later. on his own. everything's fine. ]

Intensity. Sure.

[ ... ]

[ is there even a point to keeping the name kaiba mokuba. their name is what tethered them together and now that's... gone. ]

I can do that.

1/3

[bluescreenwhitedragon]

[Just like that. His little brother absolutely hates the thought of it, and just like that, he agreed to it.





Even missing 90% of his memories, everything suddenly becomes crystal clear to Intensity in a way that probably never occurred to him in his previous life.]