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

MOTIVE: The More the Merrier

[theoverseeing]

[Maybe you expected this, but early in the day on Tuesday, an automated-sounding announcement goes out over the speakers:]

Champions, please gather in the cafeteria at noon for an announcement from your Overseers.

[Once again, Blaze and Rox make their entrance from the opposite side of the space station. Blaze is dressed in a black button-up, folding and unfolding his arms, and Rox taps out a few more things on her phone before glancing up over it at the assembled Champions.]

Good afternoon, Champions. [Rox smiles at them or at least makes an attempt at it.] Seeing as none of you were interested in a fantastic free trip to the Vegas Quadrant, we’ve come up with a new incentive for this week. [She pauses, and glances at Blaze after a second of silence with a quirked eyebrow.]

Yeah, yeah. [He turns his gaze back from the window to look first at Rox, then the Champions. Reaching into his pocket, he pulls out a stack of small envelopes and hands them to the nearest Champion. Each has a Champion’s title written on it] Open ‘em at your own risk. [To which Rox frowns.

Inside the envelopes is a small device, about the size of a cell phone. Once the Champion it was given to touches it the screen immediately lights up and begins to play a video:

It’s a short clip, under a minute long, of someone each Champion holds dear. It might be a romantic partner, a sibling, a parent, a friend or even a pet. Whoever they are the videos all start similarly, with them going about their lives as they normally do. It lasts about thirty seconds before abruptly glitching out and going dark for a few seconds. When it comes back the location is the same as before but it has been thoroughly trashed and there is no sign of the person who was there previously.

Blaze continues to look out at the stars while this goes on, jaw set, so Rox is the one who speaks up.]

We can alway use more Champions for other iterations of the program. If one of you carries out Rule Seven by the end of the week, we’ll reconsider - in your case only, of course. I do hope you all find this week a little more engaging.

[hellahighwater]

[ These last two days, Chloe's been making her peace, or...at least trying to. She's accepting that going back to Arcadia Bay in...any capacity is probably not something she can do, not unless she wants to blink right out of existence. She's accepting that she shouldn't be alive right now, and she'll never see her mom or Max again.

...That second one, it turns out, wasn't true...and God does she wish she were wrong right now. ]

No... N-no, she's... She's fucking safe, you motherfucking bastard ass-- [ She's seeing red. ] I- I swear, if you lay- a single hand on any part of her--

[theoverseeing]

[Rox is, as usual, unmoved by Chloe's anger and calmly brushes a section of hair behind her ear.]

Then follow the rules. You are supposed to be her Champion, aren't you?

[quadjumps]

[ no. no no no no no. yuri's hands begin to tremble as his grandfather disappears into the darkness and replaced with trash-- ]

Fuck you--fuck you! You're bluffing, you goddamn pieces of shit, you wouldn't!

[ this is sick.

he looks around frantically before retreating to his room. ]

[lmafo]

Other iter-

[ Pauses. P a u s e s.

Looks at that fucking picture. ]

Who the fuck do you people think you are? You leave Janey the hell out of this.

[keepmeinyourheart]

[Seeing those two, after the absence, puts Lunafreya on edge. The device adds to this as she watches the screen intently, her heart jumping into her throat, eyes going wide. With a great deal of force, she calms herself, tossing the screen onto the ground.]

I refuse to believe you have Noctis.

[Ever wanted to see a pissed off Oracle. Well here you have it.]

[photoshooter]

[The clatter startles Prompto, who's gone pale as bone under his freckles and his still-unstyled hair. His fingers shake around his own screen. Where Lunafreya's found anger to buoy her up, Prompto's only got fear.

And fear has no voice with which to speak.

Prompto doesn't have the luxury of refusing to believe they could.]

[challengesfate]

[Lucina had expected a portrait to be in the envelope, not...another strange device. But after a moment of watching the others use theirs, horror dawning on their faces, she isn't sure she wants to tap the screen.

But she does.

Anyone nearby can make out the likeness of the man at the start of the video as being related to Lucina - her brother, perhaps, judging by how young he looks? They share the same hair, the same determined stance to how they carry themselves. Her eyes widen considerably, and her jaw drops at the image. He looks exactly as he did in her dream, not the two years younger he had been when she'd first emerged in the past.

And then the video glitches. And he's gone.

But it's not until Rox speaks her last that she drops the device, glaring at the woman as it clatters to the ground.]

That's - no, you can't - not my father, I - you can't take him away! You can't - I won't let you-

[Please someone grab onto this girl before she does a stupid and tries to throttle Shark-chan.]

[quadjumps]

[ yuri is weak as fuck but he is going to try anyway. ]

Hey! Don't you dare, Lucina!

Re: MOTIVE: The More the Merrier

[newcycle]

[mako???

literally any of her friends would make her angry, but out of all of them... she's pretty sure he's the one that could handle this the best.

BUT SHE'S STILL ANGRY, AND SOMEONE BETTER HOLD HER BACK.]

Are you kidding me?! Don't you dare...!

[quadjumps]

[ YOU KNOW IT'S BAD WHEN YURI IS THE ONE TRYING TO STOP YOU ]

Korra! Don't be an idiot--you can't--you can't die here, got it?!

[keepmeinyourheart]

Korra.

[She can't physically hold you back, but how would you like Lunafreya getting in your way with a rather stern look.]

Stop it. Please.

[le_mat]

Korra, no!

[he does it in his practiced Leader voice: he knows she doesn't take orders well, but if he can just redirect her, that's fine]

[karappo]

[Karamatsu is standing with Osomatsu when they're called out for yet another announcement, and honestly he doesn't expect it to be much more than it was before. Maybe another offer for something similar to the trip...possibly a huge sum of money? He figures that would be more incentive than anything.

They get their envelopes and open them, Karamatsu pulling out the device of his which presumably shows the same sight as his brother's, should he dare to pull it out as well.

It's not pretty.

Choromatsu, Ichimatsu, Jyushimatsu, and Todomatsu are pictured lounging upstairs the same as they normally do. They're even sharing snacks (because with four, the split has no choice but to be a bit more even). Everything is just...normal.

But then they're gone. He's not unused to seeing any one room in their house trashed, but this is just...trashed. The kind of trashed that was done on purpose and with malicious intent.

...and despite the anger of many around him, Karamatsu says nothing. All he can do is stand there and stare at the destroyed bedroom, his ability to speak stripped away from him.]

[stillstands]

[It's bad enough seeing both of the Overseers at once, after so long of nothing from them, but when she opens the envelope and sees what's on the device inside...

well.

It takes only a moment for Miki to go as pale as a sheet and the device to hit the ground out of her trembling hands.]No.

[They have been through enough, all of them have. How dare they--??

They've fought and survived and lived and some soulless, manipulative woman can't take what little family she's been able to find at the end of the world from her as well.]

You-- you can't---

[keepmeinyourheart]

[All these people panicking and there's only one Luna, so as soon as one crisis is "averted", she comes over to Miki.]

Please, Miki, calm down. [Luna gently takes the girls hands.] This has to be false. Please, do not let them goad you.

[discalibur]

Misaki--!

[No... No, absolutely not. He just had that dream of her, she'd already been on his mind. And now to see her in this video, with the threat of...

No.]

You... If you bastards do anything to her, I'll--!

[Yeah, go right ahead and put him in the too angry to think category too.]

[playthedamncard]

[Oh no Mokuba's been kidnapped again must be Tuesday. Of course his face contorts with barely controlled anger.

He's trying to stay calm. This place isn't real. There's a glitched cut in the middle. Video editing software exists. They could have just programmed this all up, but that still...that still requires getting close enough, intimate enough to know what Mokuba's bedroom looks like, down to the books on his shelves and the toys at the end of his bed, now scattered everywhere.

The grip he has on the device is enough that the screen (assuming it's a physical screen) creaks with the pressure.]

Why murder? [This is as calmly as he can ask it, because they still need information. (And they need the Overseers. They need her phone. They need to get through the door. They need to stay calm. But he is not calm. Not by a long shot.]

1/2

[batfortheprincess]

[There's nothing to fear. That's what he tells himself when he enters the cafeteria that morning, convincing himself the motive will be as banal as last week's. Either that, or they will promise something so outrageously impossible and desperate in their attempts to get them to kill that he doesn't even need to think to dismiss it outright. It will be all right. But he still can't quite keep the nervousness off his face, nor can he hide the slight tremor in his hand after he hears Blaze's warning.

When the device turns on, he feels his breath catch as he sees her on the screen. He recognizes that as the bridge of the battleship she was on, and the image of her just chatting cheerfully with the crew on board... he's not sure if he should feel reassured that she seems to be faring so well or if he should fear for her because the point of this whole thing wasn't to comfort them about their homes.

So when everything cuts out to show the wreckage, he can only choke out one thing:]

Princess Asseylum...

[It's a believable threat, isn't it.]

2/2

[gullseyeview]

[His heart is pounding in his ears, and his breathing comes out short and choppy. For maybe a few seconds, he might look like he's succumbing to panic, but there's a few deep breaths coming from him. In and out. In and out. In and out, and then he looks almost back to normal again, albeit paler than usual.

...They were serious, weren't they.

So he takes a step over to a table, picks up a stray utensil and turns to where Blaze and Rox are standing. Perhaps it would be pointless, and maybe it would only end horribly but that's not on his mind right now as he strides over to them, footfalls quickening as he moves closer and closer. From the glint of the knife in his hand, his intent's probably clear.

Someone should probably stop him.]

[in4apounding]

Ruby-?

[There's about a second of delighted smile as the video plays, quickly faltering and disappearing as it reaches conclusion. Penny is still as Rox speaks, almost supernaturally, her grip on the small video player tight.]

[There's just a second of stillness after the announcement, as she processes the threat-]

No.

[With a swift movement, Penny drops the video player, grabbing one of the loose cafeteria chairs. A quick toss shifts her grip to its legs, smoothly bringing it back to throw.]

[Someone might want to get on that.]

[le_mat]

[he moves without thinking- he can't stop the throw, she's too fast and he's too far away. But he can stop the blow hitting. Akira pounces like a cat, colliding with the chair midair and collapsing in a heap, tangled with it a few feet away.]

[immaculacies]

[There's no question about who it can be, is there? But Manaka looks anyway. She can recognize the interior of her own home, and the way the sun streams through its kitchen windows behind Saber's seat at the table. He looks peaceful and at home, like a husband might be while he waits for his wife to bring him breakfast. It seems so idyllic that for a moment, she forgets just who handed her this video, and her heart swells with adoration all over again.

Then the footage darkens.

A strange feelings unfurls in her gut—unfamiliar, hot and icy all at once. It spreads through her body until she can feel it in her bones, down to the tips of her fingers, numbing away everything else with its burn.]

How dare you.

[In contrast to some of the other reactions, Manaka's voice is very quiet.]

If you want someone to die, I'll kill you myself.

why the fuck don't i have any mad faces

[andjerry]

[Thomas doesn't know what to expect, so as that video of the bar's back room starts to play he's lost for a moment, then staring in wide-eyed horror when he realizes these people were watching him the whole time. As it cuts to the chaos, everything trashed as if it's been tossed by someone looking for somebody they want to find very much-

-it cuts, and he drops the device, looking up from it still afraid, but this time with conviction, his stance almost a new person.]

No. Don't you dare, you bitch. How long have you been following us?! [He doesn't go, not yet, but the strain, the tension, faces out, not in like it always does.]

before chloegate 2k17.......

[lovecolored]

[ Marisa walked into the room feeling cocky, and then she actually sees who's in her video.

There's a blonde-haired girl walking around a tiny cottage filled to the brim will antique dolls and sewing supplies. She arranges something on a shelf before sitting down to have tea. And then she's gone. Candles snuffed, dolls broken, box of thread and needles strewn all over the floor.

Marisa shakes the screen. ]

Don't touch her! You goddamn cowards! You lay a hand on her and you're dead!

[ Must be a touchy motive because someone might wanna hold her back, too. ]