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graveyard

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[He finally starts to stir about twenty minutes or so into dinner. He jumps a little at first, probably because he kind of forgot where he was and was momentarily caught off guard to wake up staring at the ceiling of the afterlife theatre instead of the canopy of his bed. But he recovers quickly, sitting up and rubbing his eye. THEN, he notices the fact that Peko is...still...sitting there.........]

...Please tell me you haven't been sitting there the whole damn time.

[Peko that s really a little excessive if so...]

[Um clearly he doesn't understand that she literally spend the last month and a half just watching him on TV so this is business as usual!!!! But when he stirs, Peko's shoulders ease, because damn bocchan, you were asleep a really long time. Like, a couple more hours and she'd have shaken him awake because seriously now, that's alarming.

But she shakes her head when he looks to her.]

I slept myself, and had something to eat. It's dinner time, for them. {And she nods toward the screen, since without any windows, that screen is literally the only way to know what time it is.]

I... wanted to stay near you. Is... that a problem?

[Look, he told you he was really tired and hadn't slept well all week, okay? And that was also AFTER he hadn't slept all that well the week before thanks to the damn nightmares. In two weeks, he's had like two nights of actual decent and restful sleep. It's really surprising he didn't sleep longer than this, tbh.]

If you really weren't sitting there the whole time then...nnnnno. Not really. [He stretches his arms up over his head as he speaks before lowering them and cracking his neck loudly. Real attractive, Kuzuryuu. Real attractive.] But I'm fine and I obviously wasn't going anywhere and it's not like this theatre is that big.

[So...basically she didn't have to. After what she said last night, she honestly kind of expected her to just go do her own thing. Maybe talk to other people. That's all.]

Shit though, was I really out that long? [Just...staring at the screen. Yup. They sure are eating dinner. Goddamn.]

You needed rest.

[THAT'S. THAT'S THE ONLY THING SHE'S GOING TO ANSWER, APPARENTLY. GG.

She shifts slightly in her seat and points toward the back of the theater.]

If you want anything to eat, there are some things in your bag, [Karintou. How did that get there,] as well as a fully stocked concession stand. [IT'S BETTER THAN NOTHING...]

Often many of us will eat together, with what we have taken from there. It is surprising, what one can find.

Edited 2014-08-03 01:35 (UTC)

[How did that get there? Mysteries.]

You don't say? I'll have to check it out later, I guess. [He's actually not all that hungry right now. Besides, they have island shit to talk about...]

[Which he should probably start doing but...lord how do you bring this back up.]

Right now though...you wanted to talk about the island, right?

[MAY AS WELL JUST...GO FOR IT.]

I...

[It's clear she wasn't expecting him to want to talk about that so soon. A pause, as she looks clearly taken aback, struggling with whether or not to selfishly let him continue, or to insist that he eat something, or perhaps talk to someone else. Or even just. Have more than a couple minutes to stretch and wake up.]

If... you are ready to speak about that now, young master.

[It's pretty obvious that she wants him to be ready, especially how, in spite of herself, her gaze flicks to his eyepatch. But she doesn't expressly say so, either. If he doesn't want to, she'll just leave it. She's... really not going to make him rush into anything.]

[He's dead and probably didn't really NEED to sleep anyway but opted to because of deeply-ingrained instincts. So...yeah, he's good to go, really. Rip it off like a band-aid, basically. He is 100% ready to answer any and all questions she might have.]

Ready as I'll ever be. So what do you want to know?

[WELL OKAY THEN. She just shifts more in her seat to give him her full attention, tucking her legs beneath her body and resting her hands in her lap.

Bluntly,] Everything. The last thing I remember is being dragged away. What was my execution like? You and Nanami and the others, what happened after that? Have you defeated Monobear and escaped?

[Her brows furrow, and she glances away before asking, more quietly,] What... happened to your eye, young master? [AND THE APOLOGY SCAR. HOPEFULLY THAT COMES UP IN THE SAME ANSWER?? AWKWARD.]

...........

[Oh god. Oh god, he lied, he is not 100% ready to answer any question after all. He thought he was. But he also thought that she remembered her fucking execution.]

You...you don't...remember...

[Lord, he doesn't even know where to start here. Goddammit, why don't you remember your execution, Peko.]

[Okay give him a minute here to just...figure out how to address all that. HE WAS NOT PREPARED.]

Fuck, okay... [He takes a deep breath, trying to compose himself to a point where he's not just uselessly staring and boggling over the fact that she DOESN'T REMEMBER SHE WAS THE ONE WHO TOOK OUT HIS EYE.] you were executed. And then seven more died after you... Hinata, Owari, Sonia, Sounda, and I were the only five to survive till the end. And...while we defeated that fucking bear and the hand controlling him...escaping was never an option in the way you're thinking. Because that island wasn't fucking real, the whole thing was a goddamn simulation.

Y'know that bullshit story they tried to feed us during the trial about Nanami? About criminal rehabilitation with virtual reality? And about her bein' an AI? The only part of that that was a lie was the part where she was an evil rogue AI who took over the program and twisted it into a murder game. She really is an AI, and she really is from a memory-altering rehabilitation program. It's just that this [He gestures to the screen and vaguely around the theatre.] isn't that program.

[The island was.]

We shut the program down but...I don't know what happened after that. The last thing I remember was the final courtroom fallin' to pieces around us. I never actually woke up outside the program, which is probably why I still look like this.

[Implying he...should look different normally? He thinks? Maybe? He's really just not sure. Is he even technically human right now he's not fucking sure.]

Edited 2014-08-03 19:49 (UTC)

[Only five survivors. Only five. She'd hoped there'd be all but her, Togami, Hanamura, and Koizumi, but clearly she'd only been among the first third to die.

At least Kuzuryuu got out. If he'd said he was killed after she was, she would have lost everything right there. She didn't miss that he didn't explain about his eye, or that he didn't touch on her execution itself, but the rest of, well, everything demands her attention first.

She's quiet for a long moment after he stops speaking, clearly putting the pieces together before shaking her head.]

When you say criminal rehabilitation program... you mean, something run by the police? They were controlling the bear?

[IS EVERYONE IN THAT PROGRAM ALSO SECRET YAKUZA.....]

[Sorry, Peko. You were not nearly well-liked enough, and you died way too early to be the Sakura of this game. Sorry. They still got their murder on even though you asked them not to.]

...no. The Future Foundation isn't the police, pretty sure the police aren't even a fucking thing anymore. [He sighs, running a hand through his hair and staring at the screen for a few seconds. God why did you have to die so early Peko, there is so much he has to explain here.]

D'you remember when we found those ruins on he second island? And Monobear first told us about the Destroyers of the World? That's the Future Foundation. He was twisting it to make it sound like they were the bad guys all along, but that wasn't the case at all. They actually were the ones that "kidnapped" us, but they weren't the ones behind Monobear and they weren't the ones who destroyed the world, either. They were the ones behind Usami and Nanami. Monobear was a virus, introduced to the program by the group that actually fucked everything up and destroyed the world. Super High School Level Despair. [He hesitates a little before clarifying:] Us.

[Yeah, so that was why they needed rehab.]

Edited 2014-08-03 20:58 (UTC)

...

[Kazoo you can't just drop that on her jesus fuck. Her expression doesn't change much, but it stills, going almost dangerously blank. Kuzuryuu should be fairly familiar with this face as her being actually uncertain what expression is the most natural to make. She almost starts to shake her head with some disbelief, maybe a touch of annoyance that someone would have made Kuzuryuu think that?

But her face just stays still and blank, her eyes the only thing that move as they flick over her young master's face.

Then just one word, not quite a whisper.]

How?

[How did they destroy the world? How did they introduce Monobear to their own program?(???) How did they become SHSL Despair? Maybe you should ask her to qualify, Kazoo. Or just answer every possible how. That's an option, too.]

[Look, he didn't see a point in beating around the bush here and making her drag it out of him. And after the shit the producers pulled, it's not like he could really hide it. Nanami's "bullshit backstory" was surprisingly free of bullshit, really.]

How what?

[Yeah uh...definitely going to have to clarify, he doesn't feel like just taking a stab in the dark as to what the hell she means here.]

Edited 2014-08-05 00:41 (UTC)

[Ah yes. Ty Kazoo.]

Everything.

[Ty Peko. That helps a lot. A pause, then she does clarify,] I want to know how that could be possible.

[He makes a quiet, irritated noise because PEKO THAT CLARIFIES NOTHING.]

How...what could be possible? Where the fuck do you want me to start here?

[Use your goddamn words, girl.]

Super High School Level Despair.

[Okay, apparently we're starting there.]

It doesn't make any sense. Komaeda, perhaps. [THAT ASSHOLE...] But Togami? Mioda? Hinata?

[WHATMAKESYOUHAHA.AVI]

I think you're underestimating how much a person can change in the span of a few years. Monobear didn't tell us till the very end just how much of our memories the program erased, but it wasn't a matter of months. It was years. Our entire time at Hope's Peak. And yeah...save for Nanami, every last one of us was involved in that group. Though, thanks to the damn program, I can't tell you the specifics as far as why. Because obviously I don't fucking remember.

[He has a guess or two as far as he goes, but...he can't really speak to any of the others. Even with his memories, he probably can't.]

Though...since you brought him up, Hinata's kind of a special case. Remember how he forgot his talent? Turns out, he never had one. He wasn't a Super High School Level, he was part of the Reserve Program. And at some point, the school decided to do some freaky-ass talent experiments on him. Only they fucked around with his head so much they ended up completely destroying his personality in the process. The guy we all got to know on the island doesn't actually exist in reality anymore.

I... see...

[Though it's kind of obvious it's just verbal filler and she doesn't see at all as her arms cross, somewhat defensively. She'll come back to the part about Hinata not existing in a second, but--]

The destruction of the world... it's what your premonitions were about that week, was it not?

[Casual reminder that Peko has been watching you bocchan.]

Escape from that program... what is supposed to come next? If it was all a simulation, does that mean all of us escaped, in spite of execution?

Edited 2014-08-05 02:07 (UTC)

[...Peko, that's a little creepy. Just...just a little.]

[In spite of creepiness however, he opts to make no comment on his nightmares. Yes, that's what they were but that's not as important as that last bit.]

...no, it doesn't. You're underestimating just how powerful the program is when it comes to fucking with a person's brain. Like that flyer said, it's therapy...but it's pretty extreme. The whole point of the New World Program is to replace a person's memories. That being said, there's a reason Usami's initial rules had one against violence.

[He sighs. May as well just get to the point here, there's really no point in trying to fully explain this shit.]

The long and the short of it is...everyone who died on the island is comatose at this point. Your bodies are all functional, but your brains aren't. So...only five people will be waking up when the program ends. And it's up to those five to find a way to wake up the other ten.

[Congrats, Peko. You're not wholly dead!! Just braindead.]

...Ah.

[For a few minutes, she'd let herself think that maybe she wasn't dead for real, after her execution on the island. Like maybe it would be something like this place. It might not be impossible, considering the cameras that had been everyone on the island... but somehow, she almost doubts it. This clearly isn't run by the same people.

She looks away from Kuzuryuu and just nods, a muscle in her cheek twitching as she makes a conscious effort not to look disappointed, and when she speaks, it's more rote than anything.]

I was prepared for death. Should we all find a way back to where we came from, please do not be concerned for my sake, young master. If the world is in as poor shape as you have said...

[Yeah she basically figures he won't be able to wake her up, even if was suggests that she isn't as prepared as she thought she was on the island.]

Don't even start that bullshit with me. Fuck. That.

[He says it in a way that makes it plain that there will be No Arguing on this point. He has Put His Foot Down on the matter, and that's all that needs to be said.]

There's no way in hell I'm going to abandon you or anybody else in our class.

Edited 2014-08-05 03:23 (UTC)

[She opens her mouth, but doesn't answer immediately. It's still a struggle to allow herself to speak against anything he says that she almost leaves it. She could just nod, and say 'of course, young master' as she might have in the past.

But she doesn't want to. Her chest hurts with a weird mix of something like elation that the young master doesn't want to give up on her, and fear that there's no point to it.

So when she finally speaks, it's quiet and she's still not looking at him, though tense fingers are curling into her skirt.]

What could possibly be done for -- all ten of us? [She's not SHSL Doctor or anything, but she's pretty sure you don't just get over being braindead on your own.]

[Kuzuryuu frowns. Okay, so that bullshit about her being prepared for death and all pissed him off but he did his best to keep his cool. The fact that she doesn't drop it, however, is making that much harder to do. His voice still has that hard, resolute edge to it but it's more clipped now, a hint of agitation breaking through.]

That's what I aim to figure out once I get back.

[He doesn't have a fucking clue, since he was brought here before he even had a chance to wake up outside the New World Program. But he and the other four survivors agreed that they weren't going to give up. They'll figure something out.]

...Mm.

[She still kind of doubts that anything will come of it, but that's... not what Kuzuryuu needs to hear, especially not from her. Kouha had said that more than anything, a master needed a servant who believed in him, hadn't he? She takes a breath and forces herself to nod, trying to dismiss her concerns.]

I will be looking forward to see what you do, then. When I wake up.

[...An attempt was made. An attempt was definitely made.]

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