Week 2

[airlockedmods]

Week 2

[The Champions have now been here for one week, and while the dud of a first incentive didn't tempt anybody, the fact remains obvious: a lack of murder isn't going to be the thing that gets you out of here.

Blaze Dudely and Rox have not made a reappearance since Tuesday, leaving you to your own devices for the moment. That door they entered and exited through remains locked, and there is no new area to access this week. Are you sure they're even still back there? Despite their absence, you all wake up on Sunday morning from strange dreams. What to make of it?

You can only hope it's not a bad omen for the rest of the week.]

Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday

(( Don't forget to turn in your AC for Week 1, submit your memory regain, and turn in your Benefactor threads! ))

Comments

[immaculacies]

Eh? Is it odd that it took so long? [She's still pouting, but it seems less...offended, at least.] We couldn't meet just any time, you know... Certain conditions had to be met before it was possible.

[Because he's the long dead spirit of a famous king. You know, just normal couple issues.]

[playthedamncard]

[Stop stealing his plotlines??? He's gonna sue???]

What, did you have to spend years and years putting together and ancient puzzle to unlock his shadowy spirit living inside it?

[immaculacies]

[That rhetorical question makes her pause. The scenario sounds far too specific to be something he invented on the spot, honestly. Her eyebrows raise, and then she smiles again, that little hint of playfulness returning to her expression.]

No. I merely had to wait for the small window of time where I would be able to summon him. [She might not have said as much so easily to someone else, but given the turn this conversation has taken...] But that sounds hard, Kaiba-san. Is it going well for you?

[DO YOU ALSO HAVE A SPIRIT BOYFRIEND. DO THEY GET TO HAVE GIRL TALK.]

[playthedamncard]

Not me, you love-sick buffoon. But supposedly that's what happened to an acquaintance of mine. [Pretty sure that also sounds like 'totally happened to a friend and not to me', depending on the person.] And not love.

That I know of. [what yuugi and the pharaoh get up to in their own time is best left for puzzleshipping fics]

More of a symbiotic relationship. [That...is now split? He doesn't want to acknowledge any of the bullshit, but if the whole soul-losing thing is real, and Yuugi lost, and the other Yuugi is in his place, then...]

...I'm sorry, we're getting off track here--you summoned your boyfriend? Like a monster card?

[immaculacies]

[Manaka just...giggles at his response, even when he calls her a "love-sick buffoon." It's true, isn't it? That's what she is. Sick with love, foolish for the sake of her feelings. If anything, it makes her happy to be called something like that. She's in love, just like any other girl her age might be.]

As part of a once-in-a-lifetime magic ritual. He's a Heroic Spirit of great power. Ah— Though of course, what I like about him most has nothing to do with that.

[Her cheeks flush again. She isn't making any great effort to hide the identity of her supposed-paramour, if anyone cares to take note of the books she's collected.]

But... Hm. Are you sure it has nothing to do with you? It seems like an awfully specific example. I wonder why that'd be the first thing that came to your mind...?

[She isn't being entirely sincere, but really, it's Kaiba's fault for giving her a vehicle she can use to give him shit.]

[playthedamncard]

[Manaka you are 14 you should be concerned about celebrity gossip and roleplaying on the internet.]

The...heroic spirit of...a Knight of the Round Table? [This just gets stupider and stupider.] You summoned an Arthurian legend in a magical ritual that you were fated to take part in. [The disdain just drips from every word.] Do you realize how ridiculous you sound right now?

[HEY HEY HO HO GUESS WHAT WE'RE NOT TALKING ABOUT WE ARE NOT TALKING ABOUT HIS SPECIFIC EXAMPLE watch the Champion of Denial ignore it completely. He will not tolerate this dunking on. Ixnay on the unkingday. He is not a basketball.]

[immaculacies]

But it isn't ridiculous at all. At least, not any more so than shadowy spirits trapped in ancient puzzles.

[You can't a.) call her circumstances ridiculous, or b.) ignore the issue after you set yourself up like that.]

[playthedamncard]

[Yes he can, he can absolutely do that. You know why?] Shadowy pharonic spirits trapped in ancient puzzles is one of the more ridiculous things I've heard of. Your situation happens to be much more ridiculous.

[Because fuck you, that's why.]

[immaculacies]

Eh, you think so...? [She touches a finger to her chin and tilts her head in an exaggerated gesture of thought.] But it sounds just about the same, to me.

[playthedamncard]

Why does it sound fine to you? How do you see this person, if you did summon him with magic, and suddenly think, yes, this is a man that I love? What were you even doing playing around with magic? Aren't you in school?

[immaculacies]

[Manaka blinks, and this time, her confusion seems genuine. Her whole posture deflates from bubbly and playful into something much more plain.]

But, Kaiba-san... I come from a family of magi that goes back for generations. I've been trained in magecraft since I was old enough to walk. [Not that she needed the training.] In fact, my father pulled me out of school so that I could participate in the ritual...

[playthedamncard]

[God damn other worlds with normal god damn magic like it's an everyday god damn thing...]

So you knew? And your family knew? What...was this ritual for? Besides to summon this man, what was he summoned for?

[immaculacies]

To be my weapon. The summoning ritual is only one small ritual nested inside a much larger one. I could explain the mechanics of it, but... That isn't really necessary for you to get the gist of it, right?

[playthedamncard]

Why do you need a weapon?

Why is it someone from Arthurian legend?

...Why is someone from Arthurian legend named Saber?

[immaculacies]

That isn't his name. It's a title, or... A template. Giving away the name of your weapon would be dangerous, under the terms of the game, so it's important to have something to hide their identity behind.

All of us, us seven Masters, have a weapon. A Servant. Each one is some figure of note. Belief is power. Fame is power. The more people know of your summoned spirit, the more powerful they are in the modern world.

A weapon is necessary, because the goal of the ritual is to kill all six of your competitors. Only then, and only through the act of killing, can you receive the promised prize.

[There's more to it than that. She's left details missing, and included misleading ones. But... That's as much as she cares to explain, right now.]

[playthedamncard]

...You're part of some kind of battle royale killing game? This is allowed? That is unacceptable.

[immaculacies]

It isn't allowed. It isn't common knowledge.

[That's what he means, right? In any case, her sunny demeanor hasn't faltered at all throughout her explanation, and now, she lets out an airy giggle, apparently amused by something he had said.]

Why? Are you worried about me, Kaiba-san?

[Like it's some joke. Something to tease him about.]

[playthedamncard]

You're fourteen. You should be busy with school. Friends. Games. Not dealing with murder in secret magic games.

If this is how you are with any semblance of emotion, then you were better off before the ritual.

[immaculacies]

[That makes her expression change. It's stung, offended... Incredulous? She doesn't know how to put the feeling into words. Her lips part, but for a moment, all she does is struggle to speak.]

—You're wrong.

[Finally, those words come out, so soft that they're nearly a whisper.]

Anything is better than that.

[playthedamncard]

You think that now, struck with this bizarre facsimile of love, but you'll either grow out of it or get dragged into a hole of obsession.

[immaculacies]

You're wrong!

[THE JOKES ON YOU, KAIBA, SHE'S ALREADY OBSESSED]

Saber is the one who changed me from just a thing into a person! I would never... I would never forget that!

[There's some heat to her voice now.]

[playthedamncard]

You were always a person, by definition. It sounds like all this Saber did was twist your world into something with only one point, one destination--what's the prize?

[immaculacies]

An empty shell isn't a person.

[She sets her jaw tightly. It isn't wrong, to say that Saber is the center of her world, but—

Isn't that better than a world that's entirely barren?]

...In a sense, the prize is a wish. It's a means to an end. The ritual is meant to collect enough mana to actualize feats impossible through normal magecraft.

[playthedamncard]

A wish. You and others go through all that for the hope of a miracle.

[immaculacies]

No. It isn't the hope of one, to the people who fight for it.

But... To tell you the truth, you're right to feel skepticism and disdain. I told you that the goal is to make the impossible possible, and that's true. You haven't asked the right question in reply, though. What you should ask instead is, whose wish will it grant?

You don't have to worry that I'll accept a poisoned feast.