Week 5

[airlockedmods]

Week 5

[In a tragic yet seemingly inevitable turn of fate, the Champions have lost Zombina this week. OsoKaramatsu and Korra, too, are gone, both having fallen in their attempts to help their fellow Champions out of terrible circumstances.

Again, the Champions will find themselves experiencing strange dreams on Sunday night, until they're awakened by C.E.C.E.'s announcement. This is all starting to become routine.]

Congratulations, Champions! By surviving your third trial, you have unlocked the fourth floor of the ship. A new mini map has been added to your P.I.P.!

[The trash compactor is completely shiny and new again. In addition, the profiles on the P.I.P.s still inticate that Karamatsu is dead. Because of course he is, right?

Fuck you.]


Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday



(( Welcome to Week 5! Don't forget to check in and submit your memory regains! Turn in your benefactor threads for sweet loot, too! ))

Comments

[karappo]

[Why are you boys like this. Seriously, we could have gone all week without doing this.

But Karamatsu is here visiting both Kaiba and Akira, and when he's through talking to one he slips quietly over to the other.]

I would ask how you are feeling, but I am sure it is in no way good.

[playthedamncard]

[You know who else could have gone all week without doing this, Yuri could've, BUT NO COCO YOU HAD TO KILL ICEBOY]

Better than yesterday. [Has anyone ever seen Kaiba smile here? It's probably slightly terrifying. It's soft and pained but it's not a sassy smirk this time so.] Hard not to be.

[karappo]

[We don't need iceboy, dragonboy, AND crimeboy dead, Karamatsu's heart couldn't have taken that much in one day.

He exhales slowly, his shoulders relaxing a little when he sees that smile. It definitely is strange, but it's better than how he saw him before.]

I cannot say I understand exactly what happened, but...you both are either very stupid, or very brave.

[playthedamncard]

Experience says they're not mutually exclusive.

Yuri told us. [He exhales slow, closing his good eye.] Got himself killed and gave us time. Stupid. Stupid.

[karappo]

[Karamatsu's heart flutters in his chest at the mere mention of Yuri, but he doesn't say anything right away, deciding to choose his words carefully.]

He was at the end of his fuse. You saw how he was at the trial.

[playthedamncard]

Said he made a promise. Korra. I get it, I get it, but if he'd waited...

[karappo]

[Karamatsu grits his teeth, closing his eyes.]

He would still be alive. But...Yuri-kun told me that he was afraid of being a target. That someone would see him as a child and try to focus on him if things got desperate.

He went out swinging, and I know that is what he wanted.

[playthedamncard]

If he'd waited he'd have been part of the plan. I told him, I told him Monday we'd work something out, he knew that. [A potential plus? side of painkillers is he's a little looser with his grip on his emotions.]

Did you--did you see his face? Dudely. Was it a skate? Tell me Yuri got him with a skate.

[karappo]

[Hoo boy...]

That is just it, though. He may not have wanted to be part of that plan, in the end...

[Yuri was an impulsive boy, from the start to the finish.]

I...did not get a close look. He had it covered, but...I would not have been surprised if he did.

[Could have been a knife? But he doesn't think Yuri could have gotten that close.]

[playthedamncard]

Plan might've gotten him killed just like he wanted anyway. Listen. Os...Karamatsu. [Right? Right.] Don't make promises here. Don't write letters. If there's letters, don't ask people to do the impossible. I won't write any. Haven't and won't. I won't do that to people.

[karappo]

[Karamatsu flinches, but it's easily missed.]

...no, I do not plan on making any more promises that I cannot keep.

[But there is one he won't let go.

"I promise to do nothing else to jeopardize our safety as a group."]

[playthedamncard]

Prompto wanted me to look out for him. And then Zombina, too. And now this? Why'd I listen? They're dead. Why should I care? He's not my brother, none of them are my brother. [He makes a move to his chest, but there's nothing there, because dumbass took everything off. There's a half-second of panic.] I didn't make any promises to them.

[karappo]

Kaiba-san.

[Karamatsu stresses, gently, when he sees him starting to get a little panicked. He leans a little closer.]

Just because they are gone does not make you caring invalid. And it does not mean that it is at all your fault, or that what happened to them could have been prevented.

[Even what happened to Zombina...how much longer would she have lived?]

[playthedamncard]

[He presses his hand to his eye and takes a couple breaths.] What's the point of caring and opening up when it just hurts you in the end?

[karappo]

It does hurt, yes...but would you not rather have cared than not had the chance to build that relationship in the first place? Otherwise...you would have had nothing at all.

[playthedamncard]

I care about my brother and I care about me. I...can't care about anyone else. I don't want to.

...I-I left my things in the cafe--stuff I wore I didn't want getting us caught or caught in anything. Don't let anyone take my things.

[karappo]

[Karamatsu knows better than to argue with Kaiba on that front. The boy is hurting, even if he doesn't want to say as much.]

I can collect them for you, if you would like. I will make sure no one takes them.

[playthedamncard]

Please? That would...I'd like that. Yeah.

...Hey, I'm--I'm sorry. For the vote. I know it didn't mean anything in the end, but I shouldn't have pushed it.

[karappo]

[Karamatsu shakes his head no.]

It is alright, Kaiba-san. I did not expect different from you, or any of you. ...if anything, you were just trying to help.

[He looks elsewhere for a moment.]

I believe you would have understood what that felt like more than anyone else.

[playthedamncard]

My brother's been kidnapped more than I wanna say. You wouldn't think--you wouldn't think I'm that important, but he and I get threatened a lot. If I ever lost him--

...It's what big brothers do.

[karappo]

[That gets his expression to soften.]

He is very lucky to have you, Kaiba-san.

[playthedamncard]

You think so? I try. I've been trying for a long time. But if I don't make it back, he should be...set up for life.

[karappo]

Of course I do. Not many children out there can say the same about their brothers. It is obvious that you care about him quite a lot.

[playthedamncard]

I've had to do things I'm not always proud of. Had things done to me. So he'd have a good life. But I regret very little of it.

...Do you think-- [He mulls whatever he's about to say over, staring up at the ceiling.] Do you think when we vote, the executions. That counts as taking a life, doesn't it? To have a hand in killing someone.

Sometimes people deserve it. But this is different. I don't want him to see me as a murderer. I don't know what I'll tell him.

[karappo]

Oh...non non, that...I would not say that makes you a murderer. There is a difference when you intend it, and when you are being forced to choose between your life and someone else's.

I think your brother would understand. This is not a situation most would have to suffer through, after all.