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

[hellahighwater]

Just through the first bit. I wanted to see if I recognized anyone, since...I got hella one other thing that's got an owner, so... [ It told to reason something as personal as a graduation album, well. ]

I flipped through 'til I saw your face.

[ There's no embellishment and no heavy-coating of swears, so...it is pretty clear Chloe gets at least some of the importance to that question. ]

[stillstands]

[That's... still a lot of content. Yuki had been keeping this album since long before she'd been rescued and brought back to the school. Her arms clench a little tighter around the album and frowns.]

... You're not going to ask?

[About the pictures, the state of her school?]

[hellahighwater]

You're hella freaked by it. I'd be a high-class shit to push you on it.

[ Also, she's...read the bios. There's a bit that didn't make sense on Miki's. ...It's starting to, now. ]

[stillstands]

[She takes a deep breath, and lets it out just as slowly.]

I'm used to that by now. Being "freaked".

[... Maybe. Maybe having someone here who knows who isn't the freaking zombie might help. She'd... have an out, if she wanted to avoid being alone with Zombina again. But is that fair to dump that kind of thing on Chloe, just because she happened to be the person who found this album in the first place.]

... You can, if you want. I don't have to answer if I don't want to.

[hellahighwater]

[ Well... Chloe studies her over. Maybe...some of the things she'd dismissed as weird, responsible bore make more sense now. ]

Those girls in there. They're your friends?

[ It's probably not the question she's expecting, but...let's start with a softball. Comparatively. ]

[stillstands]

Yes.

[She pulls the book away from herself and opens it a little. There's a picture of the three of them - before? she was there, so it must have been Sakura-sensei who took the picture.]

They were my senpai at school, so I hadn't spoken to them much before but... they're my friends now.

[They're her everything, really.]

[hellahighwater]

Tell me about them?

[ Chloe's got time, after all. Now...she has all the time in the world. ]

[stillstands]

[Miki looks at the album for a moment, before sitting down in the seat opposite and letting it fall open in her lap, the picture of the three girls easily accessible. She ignores the shattered window in the background, or the heavy barrier made of wire, school desks and chairs visible in the corner of the image. It must've been taken after they secured another area of a lower floor...]

Here. This is Kurumi-senpai.

[She points at a girl in the foreground, with long dark hair in pigtails, and a shovel firmly grasped in one hand.] She's... probably the most athletic one of all of us? I think she used to be on the track team. She's very open and friendly, and puts her all into what she does. I can talk to her about anything, any of my worries, and she always listens and tries to help.

[hellahighwater]

[ If Miki's ignoring those, Chloe will too. Her eyes flit to them, but she focusss consciously on the girls. She's so selfish...but if she's here, everything she's learned from Max...it has to mean something. ]

The jock type? Cool jock type, not a total douche. Sounds like a pretty good friend to have. I can already tell I'd have a rough time keeping up with her, though.

[stillstands]

[Maybe they'll get there. Maybe.]

She's not rude, no. And yeah, she's very fast. She can outrun me with that huge shovel on her back... it's a little embarrassing.

[hellahighwater]

Oh, I'm fast. [ what does that mean Chloe..... ] But I meant like...mentally, emotionally, whatever. Energetically? That one.

[stillstands]

Energetic?

[She does actually chuckle at that.]

She's definitely energetic. And... reckless sometimes. [There's a pause, and she looks a little subdued, before moving her hand over to the next girl in the picture - she's very pretty. Tall, with dark hair and a warm smile.]

This is Yuuri-senpai. She's... kind of big-sisterly, and very reliable. She keeps track of supplies and does a lot of the "responsible" things around the school as our club president.

[There's another, longer pause.]

She's probably mad at me right now though. I don't blame her. I'm mad at myself as well.

[hellahighwater]

[ She almost asks about the club, to confirm- what...is a school living club, anyway, but a frown takes over her face, at that last bit. ]

Why would she be mad at you? It's not like you asked to be kidnapped.

[stillstands]

I, uh. I messed up before I came here. Badly.

[She runs her finger down the edge of the album, hooks her finger under the page and flips it.]

It's fine, it was my fault, so... I just have to try my best to not do something that reckless again. [She should've thought things through better, really. Before she showed them those documents.]

[hellahighwater]

[ Ah... Something back there. Well, Chloe, patron disappointment, understands. ]

...If you two're friends, then...you'll fight and bitch, but at the end of the day, you've got each other's backs, right? From just these, she looks like the type who'd...fight a bear for you.

[ It's something in how she looks. This sweet, responsible type... Chloe thinks maybe she might be her own kind of dangerous. ]

What I'm saying is, she'll forgive you.

[stillstands]

... Maybe.

[She hopes. She wants the club to be together for a long time - the thought of being alone again just...

scares her. Deeply.

She survived it beforehand, but it wasn't easy. And the thought of being in that situation is almost more disheartening than the whole zombie thing altogether.]

But I can't turn back what happened, and it was... [life changing? ruining?] it changed things more than I thought it would. Not in the way I'd hoped to at least.

[She'd hoped they'd find something in that basement that would mean they'd be safe, and have less worries. Not something that would infect Kurumi.]

[hellahighwater]

[ She can't turn back what happened... Yeah. Most people can't. And even if they think they can, as it turns out, well--

There's something very somber in Chloe's expression. ]

Are they still waiting for you? Those two, and...this other one. What you last remember, are they there?

[stillstands]

Probably. We couldn't really leave the school... [And maybe it's a little more apparent that the title "School-Living" club name that might be scribbled on the odd page of the album is, in fact, a very literal title.

She points a finger at the last girl in the photos. Small, with pink hair and a cat hat.]

Yuki-senpai. The last I remember we were separate, but we were all still in the school. We wouldn't go anywhere without properly planning everything out first.

[hellahighwater]

[ Still in the school... GOD there's the question she wants to ask but it's kind of...obvious and sucks so should she even...... ]

Then...when we get out of here, you go back and make the best of...whatever thing is going on. And if you have to, kick and scream and punch your way through life with those people at your side. Tell the world to fuck itself, and you deal with whatever shit you fucked up together.

[ This is probably the most inspirational she can sound, but for Chloe, it's pretty inspirational. ]

[stillstands]

[Have you considered a career as a motivational speaking, Chloe? But to be fair it does startle a laugh out of her. ]

I don't know if punching our way to better things is the best way to go about it, but thanks. We just keep going, because each day is a new one and we can't stop living them just because things changed. It's even more important to live than just survive, or that's what Yuki-senpai showed me, in her own way.

[And thing she stops, fingers toying with the edge of the album.]

... Just ask. I feel like it's almost worse just tiptoeing around the subject. [The massive elephant in the room. She knows what Chloe's seen in that album.]

[hellahighwater]

[ >Implying Chloe's considered a career in anything
laugh track

But no, okay, with that genuine permission, Chloe winces and then glances away for a moment...then looks Miki right in the eye. ]

Your school. Why's it like it? Is it... I have a guess, but... Is the world you come from...full of zombies?

[stillstands]

[professional weed smoker?

Well that... direct eye contact lasts for about 0.5 seconds before Miki is looking away again. But she's looking back down at the album again, rather than awkwardly to one side. After a moment, she flips through the pages again, looking for where she starts showing up in the pictures.]

Yes. It wasn't always like that but... something happened, maybe around a year ago? [She stops on one of the pages, and lets it fall open in her lap.]

I wasn't in the school when the outbreak started, but a lot of the school clubs were still in session. A lot of damage was probably done during the initial stages of the outbreak--[that'd been what had happened where she was, after all]-- but some of it would have been damage over time.

They follow patterns, even after they change.

[It feels... almost clinical, telling this to another person. Someone who wasn't there, and doesn't know what it was like. Like she's watching herself explain things through the glass of a tv screen.]

[hellahighwater]

[ Professional disappointment! hey at least that wasn't her Champion title

Chloe listens, a bit at a loss for what to say. It's the answer she expected, but that doesn't make it any easier to wrap her mind around. ]

...Fuck. Miki, I'm so sorry. That... That really blows.

[stillstands]

[That's... a really succinct way of putting it actually. It's enough to get her to laugh, but it's a little forced and hollow.]

It... yeah. I wouldn't recommend it.

[She looks back down at the pictures. They're the first ones where she starts showing up - a lot of the pictures seem to be with Yuki.]

I was at the shopping mall when it happened, so I don't know everything that happened at the school before I ended up there. It must've been tough, though. Apparently my senpai were on the rooftop when everything happened. [It... was probably what saved them.]

[hellahighwater]

[ There's a big amount of "what do you even say?" to Chloe right now. What's she tell Miki? How does she react? At least she's genuine about it. ]

A fucking shopping mall... How'd you make it out? How...did you survive?