productions | the theater

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?

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[the look he gives Sonia is one that's difficult to read. his voice is soft as it always is when he speaks, but this time there's an edge to it.]

You aren't giving up already, are you?

What is the point... when they intend to kill us for certain...

[a moment of silence, and then:]

I don't know about you, but I haven't suffered through this miserable life just to be killed pointlessly for someone's amusement. [sure, his motivations for not giving up might not be the best, but... they're solid, nonetheless.]

It is not over until we die, or until the will to survive is lost. After so many weeks of fighting, is this what it takes for you to lose yours?

[ There's a long pause, and then she looks at her lap, then up at Kaoru, then says calmly: ]

Even if I am allowed to leave this place, there is no future for me, and none for him, either. [ She doesn't have to clarify that the 'him' is Gundam. ]

[well, he knows how that feels. he's never had a future - and so the cool anger directed at her now is really intended for this tangible mirror that Sonia now represents rather than Sonia herself.]

This, from the girl who defied all reason to try bringing the game to an end? The only one of our number who even thought to cut the puppet strings? To me, neither you or he seem the type to lie down and accept bad fate. ...Humans are weak, cowardly, truly despicable things, but haven't you both been working against that very description? Is that not the strength that Sonia and Gundam both possess?

So from you of all people, I hate hearing "there is no future for me".

...He's dead back there, I'm dead over here, and in the future is...

[ She trails off, looking pale and stricken. Kaoru's words hit her at the core, but with her memories returned, it all seems so terribly hopeless. ]

I am not as good of a person as the others continue to say. I cannot become something greater than despair.

No one is a good person in the end. Goodness, kindness... The reality is, people are only "good" and "kind" to those who mean the most to them, if that. Don't measure your worth in something that doesn't even exist. [welcome to happy hour with Kaoru Nagumo...

but really, inept as he is at it, he's doing what he can to dissuade this despair. it may not be for a selfless reason, but he refuses to allow anything but victory for any of them.]

Whether it was good or bad is irrelevant. The fact is, even if it turned out wrong in the end, you gave us hope that the end would come soon. Is that not being greater than despair? And this death - it isn't permanent yet. Who is to say Gundam's is? The future, past or present cannot mean much to a house full of people from all over space and time.

...

[ She manages a quite small smile. ]

...He said much the same thing. Perhaps it is my error... for not being able to trust the words of precious friends.

[ She closes her eyes, briefly. ] I shall try to find something to look forward to. Surely... there must be something.

[he assumes she's talking about Gundam there and wonders briefly who else had voiced similar sentiment, given the plural she had used. that said:]

Stringing up the true Mastermind by their intestines, for one. That's a start. [he's really looking forward to that, at least...]

the theater - part ii

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