the theater - part ii

[productions]

the theatre



You awaken in a darkened theatre.

In front of you is an enormous cinema screen. On it plays everything that's currently happening in the mansion, accompanied by appropriate sound effects and background instrumentals when fitting. The seat you're sitting on is large and plush, and while there's many of them, there's enough room in the theatre for you to fully recline the seat into a comfortable bed if you wish. Under each seat is a sleeping mask and noise-cancelling headphones, in case you'd like to take a break from watching the show.

Follow the stairs up and you'll reach what should be the projection room. There are no projectors in here, however; it is simply a large and well-lit room above the main seating area, and a good place to hang out with your fellow eliminated contestants if shouting at each other across the aisles proves too much to handle.

If you leave the theatre through the door in the back, you'll find yourself in a hall. On one end is a concession stand. It's stocked with standard movie snacks - popcorn, candy and the like - but if you're feeling the urge for something else, you'll be able to find it stocked somewhere in the back. On the other end is a table with thirty wrapped bags and a placard reading 'A star for our stars! Please accept these lovely giftbags as a token of appreciation for your hard work, sponsored by [illegible smudge]'. Each bag has a tag bearing the name of someone in the mansion; you will only be able to open the bag with your name on it. As soon as you open it, any memories that have been taken from you, including those of the other people in the mansion that you may have forgotten, will be returned in their entirety. Within the bag are also objects from your home that you may want for your stay here, though you will find no weapons.

There are no other doors in the hall save for the one leading back into the theatre room. There are also no windows; it is impossible to tell where you are and what is going on in the outside world. Any attempts to break out will fail. So in the meantime, why not sit back and enjoy the show?

Comments

[speakveryclearly]

[Felicia Marlow, what the actual fuck.

Kanaya stares at the space the living girl just vacated for several seconds, processing the sound of Lithuania's voice coming through the speakers indicating his location. Still disoriented, she speaks like in a foreign language:]

If she is ultimately executed, won't we have ten?

[notyetlost]

What are you worried you don't think you're gonna be picked?

Liet's guilt complex over you guys is the size of the moon.

[speakveryclearly]

I think we've been over how little value I place on personal continued existence. If you will recall, this route was intended for victims of execution anyway. I just would like as many of us to go back as possible.

[notyetlost]

[Poland gestures at the screen] Yeah well. Your self preservation complex aside, Liet wants you back anyways.

[speakveryclearly]

He does???

[Oh em gee... he really cares... she is actually surprised by this, having expected Ukraine and Latvia to be of higher priority.]

[notyetlost]

[They're probably just an easier argument by comparison. The 'hey lets bring back the four people who were extra coerced but still collectively killed five people' argument sounds harder to make.

But Poland won't say that.]

Yeah!

[speakveryclearly]

[Touko doesn't care if she lives or dies - then again, Kanaya allegedly doesn't either.]

I... [Don't know how to feel. There was a period of time when she felt a warped loyalty to their alleged benefactor; and she may not have smiled, but her stomach did not clencb as her fist did around the poker.]

[souredsweet]

It's still leaving eight behind, which some will no doubt pitch a fuss over, and I doubt she is going to bring any more back until her own life is secured.

[he's bitter... SO BITTER... not even Lithuania's vouching is enough for him to get his hopes up.] They might as well just execute her anyway, though. That smug face she wears is going to wind up killing everyone twice-over.

[speakveryclearly]

On the one hand. Executions are more generally painful. On the other hand. That deprives us all of the pleasure from personally strangling her.

[souredsweet]

If she's executed, she would wind up here, right? [it's like a two-for-one!]

[speakveryclearly]

Are you suggesting we might finally be allowed to beat someone up upon arrival?

[souredsweet]

I don't think anyone would have any objections if we did. None whatsoever.

[speakveryclearly]

[Kanaya looks so fucking happy she could just hug Kaoru right now. She doesn't but certainly comes close.]

[souredsweet]

[there there Kanaya he reaches out to pat the back of her hand]

I know you've been repressing the urge since Lithuania arrived.

[speakveryclearly]

Is it that obvious.

[Even Kanaya herself cannot ask this question without a hint of human irony.]

[souredsweet]

I had a little inkling.

[why yes, Kanaya. yes it was.]

[speakveryclearly]

[The knowledge that Kaoru is not very high on the list of those to be saved forms a heavy weight in the back of her mind. She can already see the chalk outline around Touko's body on the road as the Earth police investigate a hit and run accident. The shadows they cast weren't an entirely bad place to be; they shroud her face now, around the gaps in the supernatural light.]

We could break all of her bones... it would be a fun anatomical lesson...

[souredsweet]

[it's part of the reason he's so keen on seeing Felicia dead. as selfish as he claims humans are, he's a selfish being, too; if he can't get a satisfactory end (and he highly, highly doubts he can), then he at least wants Felicia to suffer, too.

so it's with an alarming amount of geniality and ease that he hums along with what she's saying, nodding in agreement.]

I think I would like to see something like that. Even if we can't kill her twice, we can at least make her stay here as miserable as possible.

[speakveryclearly]

They might not send her here if she actually has the power claimed... [And she can't stand that. Being impossibly fast and strong has done nothing to benefit her in this game.]

Maybe if they all get to leave, though, somebody will sneak in a literal parting shot.

[souredsweet]

She would be beyond the constraints of the game by that point, presumably. If you make it back, take one for all of us.

[speakveryclearly]

[She nods, really emotional though trying not to show it, because at this point she sincerely thinks Kaoru might not get chosen CASUALLY DROPS THIS THREAD BECAUSE LOOK WHAT HAPPENED LATER...]