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

[perfectstrike]

[Apollo you'd better not...]

For killing someone last week. By doing so, you must have prevented the young master from doing so in some way.

I cannot thank you enough for that.

[mightiswright]

[ Oops Apollo definitely did the thing wow, he never realized Kristoph's apprentice was that insane... maybe he shouldn't have picked him to defend him after all......

For a moment, Phoenix just stares at her, not quite comprehending. ]

Kuzuryuu?

[perfectstrike]

[She can't answer immediately what the hell is Feferi doing...

Most of her attention is actually still on that, even as she answers,]

Young master Fuyuhiko, yes. He is... too gentle to be a killer. I had not wanted him to be forced by them using his sister as bait.

[mightiswright]

[ He's also been distracted by Feferi's leap into action but for different reasons completely. His heart is breaking for how scared she looks. ] Feferi...

[ And then Peko's words register in his mind and he turns to look at her with a carefully neutral expression. ]

... Not even if it's to save her?

[perfectstrike]

Do not misunderstand. He has the ability, to do so for revenge. Which is what I had feared for that week.

[She does look (mostly) away from the screen to glance toward him, then bow her head and close her eyes for a brief moment.]

But he... [Quick how to phrase this so she doesn't sound like she's knocking the bocchan.] Does not have the temperament... to easily let someone else take the fall for him.

[BASICALLY SHE WAS AFRAID HE'D EITHER TRY TO KILL SOMEONE AND GET KILLED IN SELF-DEFENSE, OR WOULD END UP GETTING EXECUTED. Speaking from personal experience about not letting someone else be scapegoated though. whatmakesyouhaha.avi]

[mightiswright]

[ That's not the impression he had from Kuzuryuu. So determined and confident... then again, he might be able to see where she's coming from when he thinks back on how evasive Kuzuryuu was on the topic.

But for someone like her, who obviously cares so much about Kuzuryuu, Phoenix is inclined to keep his mouth shut about her young master's special incentive. Maybe he should've learned his lesson about keeping secrets by now, but it seems too cruel... ]

Even so... if he does go, I'm sure he'll be able to get away with it. The way things are here, it can make people do things they normally wouldn't. Or couldn't.

[perfectstrike]

He won't.

[She sounds completely certain of that.]

If he did not go this week, he will not kill two people and then attempt to have a third be executed in his place. He will not.

It is not our first time in a situation like this one. I know he will not allow someone to be killed for him. It has happened before.

[mightiswright]

[ Ugh, she sounds so sure of herself that he feels responsible for telling her before she has to find out the hard way. ]

There's something you should know about Kuzuryuu's situation. That girl this week... she's his sister, isn't she?

[perfectstrike]

Something I should know?

[Whatever's going on in the background is ignored completely as she looks to him, brow furrowing as red eyes search his face.]

Yes, she is. He has made no secret of that fact.

[mightiswright]

[ He'll make sure no one else is in earshot before he continues. Even if they're all 'dead', he wouldn't have revealed any of their identities if not for it being, well, Peko. ]

He's going to try to kill, to save her. Maybe not this week, or the next... but some time before this all ends.

[perfectstrike]

[She'll appreciate it. Pro...bably. Once she actually understands what he means.

She just shakes her head again, lips curving into a deep frown.]

Were you listening? He will not. The only way he could would be if he were to kill two people.

Am I wrong?

[mightiswright]

[ Vaguely implying and bullshitting everything is a tough habit to break out of.

The struggle is real here... ]

Unfortunately, yes. In this game, there's more than just the mastermind and the players. There's another group within the players, who've all been given a little... additional incentive to kill. [ Well, not so much a 'group' anymore. ]

[perfectstrike]

[It is so real. Peko has no patience for your vague bullshit hobo dad.

So you'd think she'd appreciate the straight-talk now but nope.jpg. She just stares at him for a moment, noncomprehending. But she can put pieces together, and that indifferent frown is starting to crack at the edges.]

An additional incentive, [she repeats, quietly, her arms crossing as she breathes through her nose.] You and the young master...?

What is it? [And then she fires to life, reaching back as if she might grab her shinai. But she didn't take it with her when she died, and she just grasps at empty air.] What are you saying?

[mightiswright]

[ He never thought anyone would call him hobo dad again...

Unlike with Yuyuko, he takes a step back when she reaches behind her until it's apparently that her weapon isn't here. Seeing her reaction makes him feel terrible as the bearer of bad news, but he keeps going. ]

We were part of that group together. I saw his additional incentive... it was that girl. His sister.

[perfectstrike]

[She'd given her shinai and its case to Apollo, who'd then passed them on to Kuzuryuu. The most exciting thing in her regain bag was an antique doll. For once, the SHSL Swordsman is completely weaponless.]

What additional incentive? What more could they offer him? His younger sister is dead. Murdered years ago. Unless they are saying they will bring her back...

Does he believe it? What are they making your group do?

[She feels like she already knows the answer to that, but she wants to hear it. Wants to be sure.]

[mightiswright]

[ That part he didn't know. ]

We all believed it. [ How could they not? ] 'To change what is fated to occur', she said. Maybe she meant they would stop his sister from ever having being killed.

[ As for her last question... ] Some of you wondered, didn't you? How the producers could be so sure that people would play along each week. That's what we were there for. If none of the 'regular' players stepped up to get their incentive, then one of us... would have to.

[perfectstrike]

[She's just shaking her head. This is probably the most emotion Phoenix -- or anyone, for that matter -- has seen on her face since her actual execution. She looks horrified and frustrated, as if she might cry but can't actually find the tears to do so.]

So you are to kill someone in the case someone like myself is not tempted by the incentive, [she clarifies finally after several deep breaths, once she trusts her voice. It's a little ragged, but she can handle this. She's fine.]

Who is 'she'?

[mightiswright]

[ He nods in the affirmative to the first, but then noticeably hesitates with responding to her question. It's one thing to tell Peko about her young master, because she deserved to know. Her, on the other hand...

But then, he'd be a hypocrite if he urged Rapture to spill, but withheld details himself. (Besides, she wouldn't be in danger, right?) ]

... Nanami. It was Nanami.

[perfectstrike]

Wha...?

[And this time, she's completely speechless. Her classmate? The Super High School Level Gamer? The one forcing them all to do this?]

No. You're mistaken. She would never...

[Except... it would explain the weirdness to Nanami and Kuzuryuu's relationship Peko had been picking up on. Things she'd first trying to ascribe to them both being SHSLs, then chalk it up to just her own jealousy. But Kuzuryuu following Nanami's orders without protest is just so strange, enough that she wouldn't have believed it if she didn't see it on screen herself.]

Why?

[mightiswright]

... I'm not sure.

[ He's only like 90% sure about what she even is, but there's no way of confirming it now. ] We talked briefly before I took my turn. She mentioned... that she was an NPC. And that she was designed by her 'father'.

[perfectstrike]

That doesn't make sense.

[At least Peko's firm on that as she shakes her head. Whatmakesyouhaha.avi]

Nanami is my classmate. Not an NPC of any kind.

[mightiswright]

[ So she knew Nanami from before, huh? ]

Then she might not be the Nanami you know. The way she talked about herself made it sound like she might not even be human... Maybe she was created for the purpose of this game.

[perfectstrike]

Absurd. Why would they choose a random classmate of the young master's for this purpose?

[Even Peko isn't Kuzuryuu-centered enough to think that he's the protag here and the whole castle was just a set-up for him. If it were Hinata instead of Nanami, then the protag game would be stronger, but...]

It makes no sense to have a copy of the Super High School Level Gamer in such a position. Even less so than for the actual girl herself to be there saying such things. I would expect the Super High School Level Princess or the Super High School Level Team Manager before Nanami. Or the Super High School Level Heir, if he hadn't already been killed.

[Peko are you really just rattling off these weird titles as if it's completely normal. 0k.]

[mightiswright]

[ About 90% of that just flew right over his head, including all of the 'Super High School Level' titles.

So

He just gives her a blank look in the hopes that maybe she'll continue in plain language or explain... ]

...

[perfectstrike]

[Phoenix... did Kuzuryuu and/or Nanami really not explain. That's rude and inconsiderate of them. She exhales through her nose and glances toward the screen for a moment before returning her attention to him.]

The high school we attended, Hope's Peak. It's known throughout Japan as the most elite in the nation. One is invited to be a student there by matching two criteria: one, one must be a high school student. Two, he or she must be the top in their given field. After acceptance, they are known as Super High School Level. [It's supposed to sound ostentatious and weird, don't worry, but Peko seems to be taking it extremely seriously.] I am the Super High School Level Swordswoman. The young master is the Super High School Level Yakuza. Nanami is the Super High School Level Gamer.

I was with my classmates before arriving here, and I can say with certainty that there are several others more suited to this kind of position than Nanami is.