the theatre

[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?

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

For Old Time's Sake: A Designated Killer Meeting

[speakveryclearly]

[At the end of day 2, three notable appropriations have been made from the concession stand. The first is a box of giant pocky. The second is a case of chocolate truffles. The third is a six-scoop set of red bean, green tea, and strawberry mochi.

When the bulbs of the theater have gone dim, there is no glowing alien present to disrupt the darkness momentarily before availing herself of the blankets the moviegoer den mother made. There is, however, a white light emanating from the projection room.]

[teenspirit]

[ Wandering in, looking... well... just generally distraught. ]

[speakveryclearly]

[The box of pocky itself is not visible, having been discarded along with the foil packets; the giant pocky sticks are lain out on a series of napkins. Kanaya is sitting on the floor cross-legged with her chin in her hand, less distraught than Sonia but that's not exactly saying a lot.

She looks up when she enters in acknowledgement.]

Hey. Do you think Touko and Kaoru are coming too.

[teenspirit]

[ Not even weeaboo snacks are going to cheer her up now. ]

I think so... I hope so...?

[souredsweet]

[SO IT SEEMS. like there's much else to do in the downtime outside of watch people, and where his fellow DKs go clearly he must follow... either way, Kaoru is nowhere near as satisfied with the reveal as he thought he would be. he's subdued in an extremely discontent sort of way and can't seem to decide how best to manifest said discontentment.

it's with an air of detachment that he enters the room, staring at the faces that had become so familiar over the past couple of months.]

...A "what now" must be asked, I suppose.

[teenspirit]

Is this... how it ends? What is going to happen to us?

[souredsweet]

I do not believe even Lithuania will have that answer. This seems to be the first time anyone has bested him. [a wary pause, and then:]

I wonder if ratings have anything to do with it at all, in the end...

[speakveryclearly]

[She raises her head; her nostrils flare, and she nods.]

Kaoru is on his way.

...

You know, the other day when we were having one of our debates, I suddenly recollected... the very first meeting we had. Before we were properly introduced to the mastermind... he pretended to be one of us specially summoned ones and acted just as confused, didn't he...? I'm not sure if that happened anymore...

[teenspirit]

No, I... I am fairly sure it happened.

[aozaki]

Is anyone surprised by more lies, at this point?

[not really feeling the sweets, kanaya. at least touko's not smoking, but she does have with her a very dark cup of coffee.]

[speakveryclearly]

No.

[Then her face flies into her hands.]

What do we do...

[aozaki]

We watch, and speculate if you can handle it. How we're still seeing all this is already unusual, remember. [they should be dead.] Hah, maybe he'll let us go home once his soul is set free.

[souredsweet]

[actually, now that Kanaya's brought it up...]

Possession is what is being hinted at, yes? [he's taken a seat by Touko at this point, holding a green tea mochi delicately in the palm of his hand.]

A lie is more reasonable, but... [a shrug.] He does seem fiercely bound to these "rules" he keeps mentioning, either way. To an unnatural degree.

[aozaki]

It still doesn't explain the setup, nor how we've all been taken out from our respective time and worlds, and that's not getting into how they seem to know everything about us. Besides, possessions don't work that way. What's the host body? I suppose it could be created, but then what's the purpose of this entire theater?

[she looks vaguely annoyed.]

If he wants to be killed, he doesn't have to wait for much longer. The talk of the disease, however...

[speakveryclearly]

[She nods.] I do worry about that. What if our garments are infectious, and we spread the plague to the rest of the multiverse? It wouldn't surprise me if that's what he really wants.

[aozaki]

[the idea is immediately dismissed with a small scoff.]

Don't let your imagination get ahead of yourself. Different places operate under different rules, that plague of his can well be ineffectual if taken somewhere else. It'd surprise me, actually; he could've been a lot more destructive if he wanted, and it takes a special brand of crazy to want to end all life in the universe through illness for one petty grudge.

[...

she shrugs.]

You really think he's the type?

[speakveryclearly]

I don't know anything about his type. He did seem to be very amused when Alice chastised him for involving as few as "twenty-nine" people. I'll stop worrying about infection for now but can we really deny it might be cathartic to burn everything we ever wore in this realm anyway?

[aozaki]

Burn this manor down? Is anyone NOT in favor of that, alive and 'dead' alike?

[she cracks a nasty smile at that, but it is an ironic one.]

[speakveryclearly]

Ahahaheh. I think even Lithuania is an advocate of that, in all candor.

[aozaki]

He can join in once he explains himself.

[and whatever's left of him. THEY WERE JOKING (??) ABOUT BEATING HIM UP

...

BUT THEN STUFF HAPPENED?!]

[souredsweet]

[he opens his mouth, closes it again - the discomfort he feels seems to spike. he takes a bite out of his mochi to keep himself preoccupied, but even that doesn't last long enough. eventually, hesitantly:]

I... don't like this. Nothing is adding up. The disease, the rules that he is made to follow - does he not arrive in the theater when he dies? Surely he would know about the ratings revival, being the Producer...

Or were we correct earlier in assuming that Lithuania is not at the top in terms of power?

[aozaki]

That's my problem with it, the dissonance with everything else we've been told so far. He admitted himself he has connections to make all this possible, I wouldn't be surprised at this point. A deal of some sort must've been struck, the ratings could mean something else.

[but what... she's just idly toying with the handle of her cup, while staring off at nowhere in particular.]

[souredsweet]

Touko... [he's long since dropped the polite way he used to address people, but there's something particularly unsettled in his tone now. the more he thinks this over, the bleaker the picture seems to become.]

To only have the connections to make it possible... but to not be capable of it himself, yes? There is a dissonance here in particular; either he is lying about wishing to die, his own role allows him to bypass the rating system, he truly does not realize that our own lives are apparently tied into said system, or that promise was a lie from the start. Which do you think is more likely?

[aozaki]

[this is her actual face im too lazy to renew] It's a hideous soap opera, actually. I fail to see any point to it that would coherently connect to everything else that's happened so far. ["I don't feel like solving it either since we're supposed to be DEAD" but haaaah]

At this point? I can only say with a bigger grain of certainty that we're still here and watching for a reason. It could be because the promise is still valid, or it could be something else entirely. If they're throwing plague spirit out now, there's absolutely no telling how much lower they can sink.

[souredsweet]

[the room of unamusement...

he, on the other hand, is actually very invested in figuring out what's going on if only because he still wants desperately to continue with his own goals in the land of the living.]

This has all become such a mess. [like it wasn't from the start...]