week 1

[airlockedmods]

Week 1

[After the reveal of their handsome and well-dressed but stern-looking Overseer on Sunday, the Champions were left to their own devices in investigating the mall to their hearts' content. At around 10 pm every night the lights in all the shops will go down and the sturdy metal grates over the doors of the restaurants will go down. The stores will remain unlocked, though.

On Monday morning, a buzzing alarm chirps at them again from their PIPs at 7 am on the dot. There's also a pop-up message waiting for them: a notice announcing Xander will be holding office hours

Enjoy your week, Champions.]

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

Comments

[scourgingstars]

I was thinking more with regards to shooting Xander, but that remains a fair point.

[ardyn...]

Never mind. What is it you were considering?

[imnotfat]

[Togami raises his eyebrows. Oh, if only they could shoot Xander]

I wouldn't get in your way if that's your plan.

[Just...make sure not to fail]

Cameras. I'm sure you have seen the security cameras around here. They must be so Xander and the masterminds have a way to watch over us and know who commits the murder, so why not to do the same they do? Set up some sort of cameras in some places?

After all, catching any culprit will be vital for our survival, if this game will be like all the ones I know.

[Video evidence would end the trials immediately and without much room for error.

Boy if only things were so simple in a murdergame, haha]

[burninglight]

...hm. I could figure out how to build something like that, but definitely not with these resources. I’d need materials I’m actually familiar with, along with more components that I haven’t found in any of these.

[imnotfat]

[Of course. Nothing can be nice and easy in a mutual killing game. Togami doesn't hide his disappointment]

Alright, that's fine. What do you think you can make, given all these resources and lots of time?

[If cameras aren't feasible, then nothing else he has in mind will be an option either. So frustrating!]

[burninglight]

As I said, I'm working on determining that. It's going to take more time than we've yet had here to evaluate just what I'm to contend with on a technological scale. And even if 'time' is something we have in abundance, which I suspect is not the case, it's also possible that even I might not be able to produce anything of real use to us.

[imnotfat]

We'll have around...four weeks, at most.

[Hm. Looks like using Ardyn's help isn't much of an option. He's so disappointed in you.

It's good he's not saying that to Ardyn's face]

Fine. Let's leave aside your technological expertise. Is there anything else you're specially good at?

[Yeah, he's trying to see what else he could get people around here to do. Never let it be said Togami doesn't work hard]

[burninglight]

That's a highly specific number. How badly are you expecting this to go by then?

[He frowned, crossing his arms.]

I have a wide and varied range of talents. What do you need?

[imnotfat]

It's the best-case scenario, based on how long it took to the other games I'm aware of to end. If this one goes like those ones, there won't be more than seven survivors.

[So...pretty badly, he thinks this will go]

Anything that could be good for keeping order in this place without them noticing. Do you also have investigative skills?

[burninglight]

Your optimism is astounding.

[and yet he's not arguing]

I've never been an investigator in the professional sense, but I would call myself clever enough to get by. If you want 'keeping order', talk to Noctis.

[imnotfat]

[It's realism!]

...Noctis? What's so special about this Noctis? Don't tell me you're suggesting him simply because he's a king.

[burninglight]

He's become a steadfast leader regardless of his position as monarch. If anyone can maintain some semblance of order, it would need to be one able to remain composed even under immense pressure, and I know better than anyone that he has that capability.

[imnotfat]

[Wow, that's...quite the assesment! It's so unexpectedly detailed Togami is unsure for a moment what to say. To gain time, he chooses what seems to be a phone, fiddling with it and opening the back. What's this nonsense inside, how can he use it]

I'll make sure to talk to him, since you're describing him in such glowing terms...a rather detailed description, despite we all having spent such a short time in here.

Answer me this with honesty: did you know him before we arrived here?

[scourgingstars]

Objective terms. I've no sentimental attachment to him that would warrant compliments.

But yes, we know each other.

[imnotfat]

[The corner of Togami's mouth twitches upwards for a moment, which he tries to hide. He doesn't believe for a moment that was an objective statement, based on five words:

'I know better than anyone']

If you hadn't stated that just now I'd almost think you esteemed him as a friend. How foolish of me to think otherwise.

[He's blissfully unaware of everything, hah]

What do you and him have in common? Besides location and your job, that is.

[He's looking for connections that aren't as obvious, yep]

[burninglight]

Why do you want to know? As I already told Junpei, that's utterly irrelevant to this situation.

[imnotfat]

I'll be the judge of that.

[Well there goes the cordiality]

[scourgingstars]

That's what you think.

[oh so we're playing politics now are we]

Because I find it none of your concern.

[imnotfat]

[Why can't people be cooperative, nobody can work in these conditions, etc. Another bunch of complaints Togami makes in his head]

Am I really expected to think two people from the same place and time, who also know each other well enough to know about each other's traits, got kidnapped and brought to this game just by coincidence, for no reason at all?

[Yep, he's convinced there must be some deeper reason]

[burninglight]

And am I expected to be convinced that I have any reason to come forth with such information? What of yourself and that girl? What's your connection?

[imnotfat]

Of course you're expected to be forthcoming.

[Especially to Byakuya Togami. He deserves aaaall your information. He picks up a similar phone to the first one he had taken, seemingly unafraid of answering without any objections]

She has quite the ill-advised crush on me, much to my chagrin. Besides the fact we were schoolmates years ago and therefore we were in the same killing game before, there's only one reason I can think for her to bringing her and me:

We're leverage against each other. The masterminds must be counting on we being here to spark something that could end with someone dying.

[Well, maybe he isn't wrong. Of course Fukawa and Syo would freak out, to say the least, if anything happened to Togami. Whether Togami would take retaliatory action if anything happened to Fukawa, well...we'll cross that bridge when we get there]

Whether you and Noctis are friends or enemies doesn't matter. What matters is what kind of obligations you have towards him, and what the masterminds think will happen from having you two in the same place.

[scourgingstars]

I have no obligations towards him or any other. It is not my concern what becomes of a single one of you here, especially Noctis. And before you claim not to believe me, do note that I care not for your skepticism or paranoia. He can’t be used against me and that’s all ghere is to it.

[imnotfat]

[Togami smirks unpleasantly, this time not bothering to hide it]

Is that so? We'll see about that.

[Togami has realized some memories are gone. If things are just like he thinks they are, the masterminds will find a way. He almost wants to see how they manage to use Ardyn and Noctis against each other and against them. Almost.

Togami takes the cellphones he claimed]

If you're not going to cooperate, then I have no more time to waste with you.

[Without even a farewell, he turns around and leaves. Well then! That was...it could have gone worse as far as first impressions go]