(no subject)

[featherduster]

Who: LiliS and associates
Where: LiliS dorm
When: Day 482

[ Oh boy, the door is LOCKED. What could this mean!! ]

Comments

[at_heart]

Some more than others, yeah.

[ Beat. ]

I'm guessing you didn't do a lot of reading on your phone — that device you woke up with?

[stoneandstave]

[ so much in that sentence needs explaining ]

The metal rectangular object? I left it where it was. [ said with the slightest hint of distaste, that thing gave him the creeps ]

...There's no getting around this, even if it'll make me look ridiculous. What's a phone?

1/

[at_heart]

[ the metal ] [ rectangular ] [ object ]

[at_heart]

Hey, don't worry, they don't have them on my world, either. Probably.

[ Holding his own phone up demonstratively. ]

But. You're gonna need yours. Sorry.

[stoneandstave]

It's a relief not to be the only one in that particular boat. Probably.

What does it do that's so important? [ He'll get it eventually, but making a case for why he needs it couldn't hurt. ]

[at_heart]

It does a ton of stuff.

[ Pulling up the point store. ]

Like, it lets you keep track of the points you're earning, which you'll need to buy stuff, which you'll probably mostly be spending through this store...

[stoneandstave]

Ah, that explains how my fellow newcomer was able to use it to buy drinks. Do things always get delivered to the front door?

[ Probably don't leave the newbs alone together again, this sort of thing seems inevitable. ]

[at_heart]

[ oh no ]

—Uhhh. Well, if you pay the 500 points for delivery, then yeah, Everything gets delivered to wherever you are.

[ Pushes a hand through his hair. ]

Who gave you guys points?

[stoneandstave]

Persicaria. She said they were for buying memories, but I figured that unit bonding might be a worthy use of it. My companion is quite adept at using the phone.

[ Since Gentiana hasn't any idea how to use his phone, it's pretty clear what went down here. Vash is a menace! ]

[at_heart]

[ Tiniest noise of amusement. Transferring over another thousand points. ]

Of course it was Persi. Why did I even ask. Did she also go through how we earn points?

[stoneandstave]

[ Fondly, ]

She said she was a witch granting me the power to get memories. It was cute, but not very informative. She did give me a name, though: Gentiana.

1/

[at_heart]

[ Gentiana. Gent? Genty? ]

Ha! That sounds like her. She'll answer anything you ask to the best of her ability, but. Let me see if I can give you the rundown...

[at_heart]

Okay. Points. We get those from doing lives or counterlives, and playing games — more points for lives if there're more units participating, more points for games if we win 'em.

[ Beat. Then he slows down a little. ]

Games first. There're three kinds — social games, where the idea is to do stuff together. You'll usually have a list of activities to check off, where you might need to braid someone's hair, or tell a joke, or confess a secret...

[stoneandstave]

Based on Persicaria's flair for the dramatic, I assume Lives mean some sort of performance. Easy enough.

[ Nodding along with the first game description, waiting for the other shoe to drop but not at all concerned about it proverbially knocking something loose in his head ]

[at_heart]

I mean, they can be, but they don't have to be. Did one once that was just giving away coats.

[ Rubbing the back of his neck slowly. ]

Second kind of game's puzzles. You might have to explore a place, solve riddles, or maybe play a giant board game. All the puzzle games I've done have been on teams, some of 'em unit-only and some of 'em mixed.

[ Shuts his eyes. ]

And then there's, uh, trauma games. Where we've gotta fight each other, or just... get hurt.

[stoneandstave]

[ Gentiana skips over looking surprised at the last piece and goes straight to sympathy which softens his demeanor considerably. ]

Ah. I won't ask you to expound on that. [ It's a very clear way of saying he's sorry without having to actually say it. ]

[at_heart]

[ Immediately shakes his head. ]

Don't be ridiculous. You need to know. Games can happy any time, with no warning, and if you don't know — then you get blindsided.

[stoneandstave]

Mm? [ This sound is more of a courtesy than a question, a very 'if you're sure' type thing ]

If I need to know, then go right ahead.

cw: cannibalism mention

[at_heart]

[ And yet Lupine still draws a breath, bracing himself a tiny bit, before murmuring, ]

Which games are worse for you... that's gonna depend, of course. Some people probably prefer the straightforward kill-or-be-killed games to the ones where we're hooked up to each other, feeling each other's feelings.

[ Beat. ]

And some games are gonna mess with your head. Like — we had that one game where we, uh. ...Ate each other?

Re: cw: cannibalism mention

[stoneandstave]

[ Just taking all that in, with more aplomb than one might expect but not nearly so much that he's nonchalant. ]

All right.

And what happens after those? [ Anything that her the power to lock away their memories for purchase doubtless has the power to heal any injuries or even revive a death, but would they? Do they? ]

Re: cw: cannibalism mention

[at_heart]

[ Noted. ]

Well... that depends. If we won the game, then we get healed back up by the production itself. [ Airy little gesture to take in... all of Imeeji, ] And if we didn't, then pep and sIV'll help us out.

Re: cw: cannibalism mention

[stoneandstave]

[ He figures he'll learn about who pep and sIV are, and indeed a visitor will explain as much so no need to get into that. ]

Some winners get healed up, some less lucky people get treated, everyone parts as friends? [ He's not thinking it's quite that simple, but sort of hoping it is. ]

1/

[at_heart]

That definitely depends.

[ Rubbing the back of his neck while he tries to think of how to put it. ]

The way I look at it, this place? It takes away a lot of our choices. Most of the time just figuratively, but sometimes very literally — there're games here that'll really mess with your head.

[ Hand through his hair. ]

So, they can coerce us into killing each other. They can even force us into killing each other.

2/

[at_heart]

But you know what they can't do? The one thing they can never control?

[ Smallest beat. ]

How we handle things afterward.

3/

[at_heart]

It was one of the first things I decided when I woke up here, eighty days ago.

That I wasn't gonna let the production decide who I could be friends with.