(no subject)

[featherduster]

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

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

Comments

[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.

Re: cw: cannibalism mention

[at_heart]

[ A light shrug. ]

But that's me. Other people are gonna feel differently, and that's okay, too.

[ His gaze lingers on the newbie now. ]

Re: cw: cannibalism mention

[stoneandstave]

[ Pushing a hand through his hair, less because he needs a moment to think than because it seems respectful to take a moment before replying. ]

I suppose that's something I won't be able to truly understand until it happens, but despite my ignorance I'm inclined to say that I don't want to let anyone or anything control any more of me than I absolutely must. Holding against people what they have no choice in seems to pile cruelty on top of cruelty.

[ And he has no interest in that. What people choose to do, however, that's fair game. ]

Any other devious little manipulations by "Production" that I should know about? [ like game effects or irremovable earrings that make you horny? ]

Re: cw: cannibalism mention

[at_heart]

[ Relaxing just the tiniest bit. ]

Heh. Probably a million.

[ Hums quietly. ]

Well, let's start with: losing a game doesn't just mean we might still be dead at the end of it.

Re: cw: cannibalism mention

[stoneandstave]

[ 'What more could they take then our lives?' seems the apt question, but he can, unfortunately, imagine quite a lot. ]

Oh?

Re: cw: cannibalism mention

[at_heart]

Yeah.

[ Beat. Again he's thinking. Then: ]

The most mild one I've had was probably the one where I spent the next couple of days struggling to stay warm unless I had someone else's body heat.

Re: cw: cannibalism mention

[stoneandstave]

That could be anywhere from pleasant to bothersome, depending on who was around.

But if that's a minor one, I'm guessing most of them are intense.

1/

[at_heart]

Most is overstating it, but... the trauma games tend to leave a lasting impact on us when we lose, or if we break the rules.

[ Thinking. ]

Worst was probably... [ Hums. ] Well, I didn't like being sick for almost a week. But the thing that killed my sense of taste and smell was probably—

Re: cw: cannibalism mention

[at_heart]

[ Cut off by being abruptly aware that his tail is lashing, and thereby being reminded that it... exists. ] [ Offers up a very crooked smile. ]

Heh. Worst one's technically this, I guess. [ Turning to show off the very demony tail. ] Doesn't bother me most of the time, but it's what they call a corruption. Didn't have it when I came here.

Re: cw: cannibalism mention

[stoneandstave]

...So some of them are permanent.

Re: cw: cannibalism mention

[at_heart]

Yes and no. There's a way to get rid of corruptions, but it sounds like kind of a pain? We've gotta go to this special fountain... or maybe it's any fountain up there, but there's one closer to the stairway than the others?

[ A shrug. ]

Either way, getting there hurts if you're 'corrupted', so you need someone else's help, and this just isn't worth the hassle to me. I'll go if I get something more obnoxious.