graveyard

[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 castle, 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.

Past the hall is another door, this one wooden and seemingly decayed. If you go inside, you'll find a fairly simple, wooden room, that is empty except for a very large machine. It is difficult to tell what the machine is for; it has a touch screen that appears to be a control panel, as well as a large open space that seems to be part of the machine, but the machine is dead and won't turn on no matter what you do.

Still, at least you aren't alone here. You have your fellow players, as well as a few guests to keep you company.

Oh, and one more thing. At midnight following each execution, once all those who've died that week have woken up, a video will begin to play on screen.

Comments

[onethirdthesoul]

[Ryou's standing up by now, a look of shock mixed with sickness on his face.]

Somebody...somebody used my room in their murder?! [He's watching this take place, and he's dropped his soda and his popcorn on the floor.]

This can't be happening... [Somehow, he feels personally responsible. It's totally happening.]

[bloomnobly]

[ she stares at the screen in mute horror for a few seconds before setting down her food and putting her hand on his shoulder ]

Bakura-kun, I... [ well, she sure knows how it feels to be used ]

[onethirdthesoul]

[It wasn't hard for Ryou to piece together, he'd just been trying to find a way around it.]

I gave her my keys, Yuyuko-san!

[He pulls away from her and nearly slips and kills himself again on the soda there, but somehow Ryou manages to land himself in a seat instead.]

She... She used me to kill someone...!

[bloomnobly]

[ she's silent for another few moments ]

I'm...I'm sorry. I don't know what else I can say right now.

[onethirdthesoul]

You really can't trust anybody, can you?!

[Ryou's crying, but it's more bitter than anything. He wipes his eyes and tries to suck it up.]

I can't... I can't trust anybody. [He draws his knees up and buries his face into his arms.]

[bloomnobly]

[ she takes a deep breath, and goes to sit next to him ] It's been said time and time again by now, but this place, it...makes us do things we would not normally ever consider doing. [ said with a gentle tone; she isn't scolding him. ]

Were her brother's life not on the line...do you think Rin-chan would betray you so easily? She stood up for you, and tried to petition for your life even when everyone else had already decided.

[ another short pause ] It may not mean much anymore, but if you need to, you may put your trust in me.

[onethirdthesoul]

Rin-chan... [He whines, but keeps his face hidden.] Rin-chan did for her brother what I did for Amane... B-but she still used me! I've hurt enough people without being an accomplice in hurting more. And now Rin-chan's going to die too! !

[So he's still upset about that... Ryou's feeling a lot of things right now.]

I'm starting to think I was better off being alone. I'm sick of seeing people get hurt...by me, or by others... It's too much.

[This is as close to passing the moral even horizon as Ryou will ever get. He doesn't even respond to Yuyuko's offer of trust. Right now he's too distraught.]

[bloomnobly]

You are not better off alone. Stop that. [ ...oh, that really struck a sour, very personal chord. her tone gets a bit firmer, less warm. ] I don't want to see you giving up.

[onethirdthesoul]

I'm already dead. What does it matter? Us staying here...it's just to make sure we keep suffering, isn't it?

[And his friends back home...he's sure they won't miss him for long, if at all. He caused them so much trouble too because of the Millennium Ring.]

[bloomnobly]

Not completely. You're still breathing right now, and so am I, so is Pekoyama-san, so is Kouha-san and...

[ shaking her head ] Didn't you hear what that woman said on the voting tape? Our deaths aren't permanent. We still have a chance of getting home. I've taken a 40% gamble at life before, and it worked. [ SOMEWHAT okay she ended up here instead of going back home, but DETAILS MAN ] So should you.

[onethirdthesoul]

If I have to go home like this...

[With blood on his hands, his trust broken, and all the turmoil that came with it...]

I don't know if I even want to go home anymore.

[bloomnobly]

I said stop it!

[ Yuyuko's voice gets a bit shrill, and she rises to her feet, positioning herself firmly in front of him. Considering how sturdy she is, if Ryou wants to get away, he'll have to climb over the seat backwards. ]

Do you think you're the only one who's ever suffered like this? I understand your pain, firsthand. And I know that sulking like this is going to make it feel worse. It always does.

[speakveryclearly]

[Kanaya had spent much of this trial hanging to the side with Annie, out of the way, and anything overheard of her reactions to the evidence would indicate she'd been fairly confident in Chizuru's guilt given the way Kuzuryuu, Nanami, and Feferi have all been fawning over her. Around the time they try to bust into Ryou's room, Kanaya excuse herself to the concession stand. She has to prepare something for "Ms. Yukimura's imminent arrival", after all.

When she comes back in, an uninformed guest might assume one of the main lamps was just turned on.

The upended cardboard combo box does nothing to contain the bento she had spent the past several minutes preparing; all the careful lines of vegetables and rice and glazed chicken cutlets form a Pollockian mess. Hot green tea flows out through the straw of the capped paper cup, and steam rises up from the resulting puddle. For a few minutes she broods and allows Yuyuko address Ryou's initial concerns. Her hands shred the box into fine pieces while Kanaya grumbles diverse violent invective against the producers. She steps closer around the time he starts openly doubting the virtues of trust in general.]

How can you revoke her friendship when the same investigation revealed her trust in you was equally misplaced? Rin is a better friend than anyone could ask for! You two drew the moral line in the exact same place, what more is possible? The only difference is when the producers thought it would be fitting to qualify a deactivated robot as lacking a soul. [That specific infraction is apparently worse than the upcoming execution itself!] I thought you truly believed in camaraderie between humans and monsters of all kinds. Do not, under any circumstances, let THEM [the MOTHERFUCKING production, she snarls even the pronoun] take that away from you!

[What are those shiny green lines underneath her eyes? Could they be... alien tears???] They can't... get away with that again...

[onethirdthesoul]

Ah-- [Ryou is rendered speechless as Kanaya yells at him. He stammers at first, his eyes wide with shock, but also guilt. It takes a moment for him to really answer her.]

I... It's not that I don't want to be friends with Rin-chan! [He hiccups, wiping his eyes and sucking back his tears before he continues. He was sick of crying instead of explaining himself.]

But I'm... I'm not allowed to be upset? I should be... She still used me. Somebody else died because I trusted her. It doesn't mean I want her to die! I don't know how to feel anymore, okay? Every choice I make is wrong, everybody I try to get close to just gets hurt!

And you're wrong when you say the only difference is how they treated Len-kun! Because Rin-chan... Rin-chan killed one person to save somebody who was still alive. [He lowers his head, mumbling the next part.] I killed two people for somebody who was already dead.

[Despite noticing Kanaya's tears, he can't even bring himself to apologize like he always does. He's not sure why she was getting so upset over Rin in particular.]

[speakveryclearly]

Alright, so are you a victim of her machinations or an even more heinous criminal who has no right to judge her?

[She draws herself in, putting her right hand over her left, the fingers tight with stress, and turns off her skin before continuing with something more closely approximating mercy.]

I assumed you had already... wanted to play more games with her, not like this, but... you even saw her as worth supporting, while the survivors thought she wasn't an "actual person". [Apollo Justice is dead to her, incidentally.

Yuyuko is doing a better job at being supportive and selfless... but her relation to the situation is very different.] It's not that easy, saying "Okay, I won't hold it against you." You don't get to decide when people hurt you. The action is inherently unilateral. The people to whom you open your heart - that's the decision you get to make. Please... [These words are the hardest of all to find, mostly because she is trying to look at him with soft eyes in spite of the alien vampire gaze's inherently intimidating nature.] She believed in you after everything that happened. Can you do the same thing for her? [ I Need To Know ]

1/2

[onethirdthesoul]

Apollo... [His expression twists uncomfortably at the name, and he drops the honorific very intentionally. Of course what Apollo had said had made him angry. Rin may not be human, but she could still feel, she wasn't worth any less than a "real" human... He's sure of that. Rin cried for him, and Rin wanted to save her brother. That was more human than how Apollo had acted.]

I'm sorry... [He leans over, holding his hands over his heart, because it hurt.] I'm still mad at Rin-chan right now. I think I will be for a while, but...

I still believe Rin-chan is a good person. Good people sometimes do...bad things... [He lets out a small sob.] And hurt the people that care about them. Or hurt others for the people they care about.

I...

[onethirdthesoul]

I wanted her to live, but she got herself killed!

[Ryou sucks in a breath, and goes on.]

If she had gotten away with it, even if she had used me... I would have rather that been the outcome! B-because now Len-kun is dead too...

[To say he has mixed feelings on the matter is an understatement.]

[speakveryclearly]

I guess you wanted this outcome more than for her to wait around on the deadweight list for somebody else to attack her, huh?

[She leans closer to give him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. Even though her face is less terrifying, her gentle voice is more... deliberate. Like the sentence is an eggshell.]

I have a feeling she'll understand if you're initially upset. The setup round doesn't always count for points with her. [This doesn't betray any pre-existing knowledge considering Rin was pretty openly unhappy Chihiro "had" to die and all. Right? Deception is hard]

[onethirdthesoul]

[Ryou's a little too distraught to pick up on anything Kanaya is saying that might be off, luckily. He just figures she knows this game really well.]

I would have rather she never had to kill or be killed in the first place! I don't want to say I would have preferred this, but we aren't given many choices... If she stayed on that list, she might have...

[Is he agreeing? He's not even sure. He's a little shaken just by the thought.]

Killing somebody here is as much of a death sentence as being on that list. But for the producers to kill somebody else too...! Haven't enough people died?! The ones they kill... They don't show up here!

[speakveryclearly]

No, they don't. If they really wanted to film those people for so long they probably would have put them into the house with us in the first place. We're their toys, pets, dolls - there have been a lot of variations on that theme, none of which are really pleasant to hear.

It's really sad... that Len had to die like that. I think we all would have liked to meet him when this was over.



There's no such thing as "enough people dying" for this franchise, though.

[onethirdthesoul]

It's disgusting... This show, and everyone who watches it. [His voice shakes. Those were strong words for the usually mild-mannered Ryou.]

People aren't toys! They're people, even if they're not human. If they can feel...

[He shakes his head.]

I know how it feels to lose your only sibling... But I can't imagine losing them like that. I wanted to meet Len-kun to...

[speakveryclearly]

You can't replace people... or make copies... at least it's not a good assumption to make as a general rule.

[Her fingers fidget wildly as she suddenly changes the subject.]

Would you like me to braid your hair. I think... it would make her laugh.

braid it like Peko's they can be twins now

[onethirdthesoul]

[Ryou opens his mouth to respond to that, but then...braids?? He seems to be in disbelief.]

Um... [He generally didn't like people touching his hair.] Okay...

[throe]

[ Rapture doesn't say anything, carefully watching Kanaya from a different part of the theatre. Not once does she chime up to a defense for either of them and instead, turns her back to continue watching the screen. Her own expression disturbed. ]

[speakveryclearly]

[Kanaya lets Rapture turn away with only the slightest of lingering glances in return. She can see the star's shoulders starting to sag - somehow, Kanaya hadn't realized at first just how long these weeks would be to watch atrocities passed off as wacky escapades. Skirting around these secrets they should be keeping to themselves isn't making things any easier...]