week 3

[airlockedmods]

Week 3

[Come week 3 of the Champion Excellence Program the high-flying feelings that came with the dodgeball game last week has dissipated, especially after the...everything that was that trial. Satan Mask sure was a thing that happened.

Just like last week, right on the dot at 7 am, the mechanical woman's voice chimes to awaken the remaining champions on Sunday morning. After the initial wake-up call though there's a new message tacked on:]

Congratulations, Champions! By surviving your second trial, you have unlocked the third floor of the ship. A new mini map has been added to your P.I.P.! To access the second floor please stand on the teleporter and select the floor you wish to be teleported to.

[And again the Champions are awakened they have regained one new memory from the ones they've lost. Starting again on Sunday, as well, Jamie and Bolton will be back to their usual office hours in their usual locations.]

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday


[ooc: welcome to week 3, everyone! Check-in has begun and don't forget to submit your memory regains!]

Comments

[imnotfat]

Can't you bring yourself to make a guess, if you're so sure it means anything? I suppose the 'clever' trait your profile had was no more than a typing error.

[Sorry for him being uncooperative, Jane, it's not your fault. He has been in bad mood for a couple days already]

[cyan_maid]

[No, that's fine - that was the kick in the pants she needed. Jane reddens a bit, her eyes flashing with indignation, and she puts her hands on her hips. Want it spelled out for you, Togami? Fine.]

The pairs of letters are initials - not of the people here, or else they'd match up with everyone's names. 'V' and 'K' stand for 'Victim' and 'Killer' - and the numbers would be the order in which each was a victim or killer. 'Traitor' and 'Suicide' are self-explanatory; someone betrayed the people there and killed themselves. 'Miss' is...is 'Missing', those people were supposed to be there but weren't, for some reason. 'Punished' is...some kind of punishment.

[Yeah she isn't sure what sort of context to glean from that yet, but we're not done yet.]

And the initials with nothing next to them did not come to bodily harm and were present - wherever they were, they survived, as did you. So then...

[Actually, saying it all aloud sort of gives her an idea. Jane looks back to Togami.]

...Then, you...you were required to fight quite a few people, but refused in your own stubborn way, or...if there really was an order to it, you...were you part of something...similar to what we're stuck going through here?

[It feels like such a stretch to her to say it, but what will her wild guess do, make Togami think she's an idiot? Clearly he already does.]

[imnotfat]

[Yes, Togami took part of the Hope's Peak Fight Club. He can't talk about it verbally and that's why he's writing nonsense on the whiteboard. Nailed it, Jane!

His expression doesn't change when Jane manages to guess the correct answer]

Such lack of confidence in your own reasoning.

[...]

But it's correct, even if the right answer clearly was your second guess. Yes, I survived a game like this one before. Congratulations.

[It's the less enthusiastic and sincere congratulations anyone must have heard. But you nailed it!]

[cyan_maid]

[She'd assumed more of a Battle Royale type of situation, but those kinds of murdergames never quite get off the ground, do they?

Part of her wants to be snippy in return for his brushing off of her guesses. Can you really blame her for being hesitant in assuming something like that? She doesn't have much context for this being the right answer, so why would she be inclined to think it was likely? Weird situations like this can't be normal by anyone's circumstances.

But she doesn't get snippy. Instead, she's just quiet, contemplative. Perhaps even a little unsure to believe him immediately. Her profile wasn't a typo with "skeptical", after all. Still, her tone isn't biting or sarcastic when she responds to him.]

Is that why you seem so...enthused, I suppose, to root out a killer? To add another day of survival to your record?

[imnotfat]

Is it so wrong to enjoy a battle of wits like these trials? If a culprit is going to play along these games, the least they should do is make it a decent challenge.

[And to add more days of survival to his record, too, but that's not important to him]

aw shucks I derped on that last icon, sorry

[cyan_maid]

...It's kind of cold, Mister Togami. I mean...I certainly don't peg you as the type to go around and make nice with everybody, but to think of it as a bit of fun when there are real lives at stake...[She shakes her head.] None of it is a game. It's not fun. It's terrible.

that happens sometimes, no big deal

[imnotfat]

I don't have any particular attachments to anyone in this place. Besides, that's how life is. For some people to win, others have to lose, and when it truly matters, the stakes are very high. It's all a zero-sum game.

[He shrugs]

That's how it has always been. Everything is about besting other people and proving your worth, and that's how it'll always be. There's nothing wrong with enjoying it when one knows one has what's needed to overcome it.

[cyan_maid]

[Jane can't even argue with that. Even if she doesn't agree with applying such a philosophy to people, it's a fundamental part of business. To win, others must lose. To succeed, your competition must fail. In this tin can floating out in the aether of space, the stakes are at their highest.]

Well...I certainly can't stop you from living your life that way - I don't like it, but I can't make you change your mind. I just have to live what remains of my life on my own terms as well.

[She can't help but get attached.]

...In the end, though...in the game you played at home. You survived, but you didn't kill anyone either, did you? And you weren't alone.

[imnotfat]

It's not a matter of changing my mind. That's how I have been all my life. That's how I claimed the title of heir, it's what works.

[Togami crosses his arms and looks away]

I didn't kill anyone and my latest memory is me declaring my intent to not play the game anymore...at the end of the fourth trial. No, it wasn't out of sentimentality. It was out of defiance to the mastermind.

[cyan_maid]

So long as it works for you, then.

[At least she never had to do anything like that to get her position.]

So you didn't feel anything for the group of people you weathered all those trials with at all?

[imnotfat]

[It actually takes him a moment to reply]

Not at the time beyond mild respect for a couple of them. We all had our memories erased before the game started. We were made to forget we had been classmates for two years. I was under the delusion they were no more than strangers to me.

If I had known they were the people I had grown to respect during that time it's possible I wouldn't have considered winning the game by fooling them all in a trial. Not that I even attempted to murder anyone, either.

[cyan_maid]

[...So the great Byakuya Togami has people he cares about. It's a little touching, really. Just a little. Jane just smiles a quiet smile, privately, for a brief moment, before what Togami didn't say pings something in her head.]

...But then...you don't know any of us very well, either. And I highly doubt we're all going to wake up one of these days and remember that we were all classmates. So...hypothetically...here, if you had to do it...

[Does she need to fill in the blanks this time?]

[imnotfat]

[Togami isn't an idiot either. He realizes what she's thinking. It may be a little concerning that he doesn't deny it immediately, but after a moment...]

I'd be more than capable to win this game, you can be sure of that. It'd be unbecoming of the heir of the Togami family to hesitate.

[...and he sounds completely serious]

But committing murder is not my priority. There are many factors I'm not aware of and I'd need to make a decision. And by the time I have the answers killing someone may not be the best option, for a number of reasons.

[If he changed his mind in the Hope's Peak game...it's possible he'd change his mind in this game too. Togami hasn't gotten the possibility of murder off the table yet, that's for sure, but he needs information about where they are and how to get back home.

And also his memories. Those are important too]

[cyan_maid]

[Concerning? Yes, of course, always. But the fact that he took the time to think about it, and acknowledged it...and then said he has other priorities? It's a better answer than "No, of course not" or "Yes, I'm plotting a murder now".

Jane takes a moment before she nods, once.]

Alright. Thank you...for being honest.

[imnotfat]

[Togami didn't really expect to be thanked for his honesty. He isn't sure how to reply to that, so he chooses to olympically ignore it instead of dealing with it]

Besides, if my group in the other game I was at managed to escape without someone having to win, it should mean that's a possibility here too. There's no way whatever events transpired that time will work here too, but it should give an idea of what needs to be done.

[cyan_maid]

[Not surprised by that reaction.]

Maybe not, but...if there's another way to get out of here, I want to find it, too.

[She'll concede with you on that, buster.]

[imnotfat]

I'm more concerned about a way to return to my world.

[cyan_maid]

If getting out and going home are synonymous, then that works just fine, but shouldn't we cross the bridges we come to first?