Week 4

[airlockedmods]

[After everything that this case was, you probably don't want to deal with anything else. But you wake up on Sunday, just like before, with some new memories, and some new stores to check out.

Let's see what this week brings.]

Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday

(( Don't forget to check in, and check your memory regains! You can also stop by the gacha machine and Xander's office hours. ))

Comments

[kingshaming]

It was... sentimental and foolish.

[cyan_maid]

...Until actual Dracula turned up, it was kinder than what happened to Thomasin.

[She says it while looking away and up at the landscapes, but not really looking at them. More...to look at something that wasn't him.]

Did you see a lot of executions before this? In that other life of yours?

[kingshaming]

A few.

['A lot']

[cyan_maid]

...I guess a goth prince guy who wears a sword around on the regular ends up seeing a lot of death even before being coerced into this line of work.

[She lets out a soft breath, shaking out the now-wrinkled cardigan and putting it on. She's not cold, but...it feels better when she has it on. Like it won't soon be soaked with blood.]

Might I...ask you something, Mister Xander?

[kingshaming]

[He mumbles 'goth...?' but is distracted by her next words]

You are free to ask.

[cyan_maid]

Like the Spot Spopic.

[She explains it almost automatically, which...well, another thing to chalk up to the "weird shit about Xander" situation.]

...You have profiles on all of us. You know what can hurt us. How to hurt us. [A pause.] As a God Tier, you know I can't die unless it's in a heroic or just way.

[Jane swallows, hard. Her mind is dipping back to when she first woke up in this mall, being confused and weary and uneasy, wanting nothing more than to return to Jake and talk things out once and for all. To rest.]

...If I'm the one being executed...would you do me that same kindness and fight me as well? It'd be just, but...I could pretend, for a moment, it was heroic.

[kingshaming]

...

[Something about that makes an unpleasant feeling roll in his gut, and his head throb. Must be the low blood sugar]

If that is what you wish.

[cyan_maid]

[She closes her eyes, and nods once.]

I can't say I know what will happen in the future. If I'll do anything - if anything will be done to me, or if I'll be passed over again and again. But if I have to go, for once...let it be on my own terms. [Jane's arms come up to wrap around her.] And who knows? Maybe if I'm gone, I'll just...go back to Jake again. And maybe I'll remember what happened in the experiment before. Maybe I'll even remember the Champion Mystery. But I'm tired of not having any agency in death.

[kingshaming]

[He tilts his head at the Champion Mystery... but well, it's not like he knew the titles of the previous champions. He wonders who it was.]

I see. Then yes, be assured. If you fulfill rule 7, then I shall take care of you.

[cyan_maid]

[She really ought to actually bring it up with the others - she thinks Xander knows what she's talking about, that he'd be aware there are holes in the already cavernous gaps in the Champions' memories.]

...Thank you. It's...there's no place for me to go back to without ending up in her clutches again. I...I would much rather be dead. [She takes in a sharp breath and looks at him, then, and her eyes are bright and defiant.] But that doesn't mean you're going to get me to play along so easily.

[kingshaming]

No, I would expect no less.

[This is what he wanted, right? To inspire them to act on the rules? Then why does he feel like something awful is about to happen?]

Your life is not a simple thing to throw away. It should be for a reason.

[cyan_maid]

...

[Then why condemn them all to this game, Jane wants to ask - what true reason is there beyond the motives and the esoteric promise of the "Ultimate Champion"?

She already believes Xander had no choice in throwing his life away to do this, or she'd ask him.]

A lot of people here would argue that you don't sincerely feel that way.

[kingshaming]

That doesn't surprise me. This exercise goes against a lot of that ideal.

[cyan_maid]

["No, really?" she wants to say, but...he's injured. Jane bites it back.]

...When this is over - if you end up with what you want - where will you even go?

[kingshaming]

... I don't know.

[He could go home, claim Corrin had only hurt him, not killed him. Take his place as King assuming the Hoshidans didn't simply absorb their lands completely.

But could he really bare to see his family after all he's done? He's not sure.]

[cyan_maid]

...Maybe you ought to make plans for that. You know...in case this cockamamie game actually gets you what you want. Sure, you can have this...set goal, right? But then once you reach it, what do you go towards next? If you don't know, then...what's the point of that first goal?