day two - aftermath

[guestcontrol]

dreamland day two 38 players remaining. As the voting period comes to an end, a bell goes off from the ticket machine, and the metal bars blocking the tunnel at the end of the Hall of Mirrors lifts. A voice speaks over the loudspeaker: "Attention, guests! Please make your way onto the ride! For your safety, keep your hands and arms inside and do not attempt to leave your seat!" Through the tunnel, single cars on a track stop and wait for each remaining player to step on. Don't dawdle, or your bracelet will begin to beep a warning. Once in a car, the safety bar locks you tightly inside, unable to move. The car trundles along a dark, twisting track, nearly veering into cartoonish obstacles, but veering away at the last moment. Music and cackling laughter echoes loudly through the ride as you drive faster and faster. Suddenly, your car veers off to the left, through a courtroom, where a towering cartoon judge threatens to bang a gavel. Your car jerks and evades, but somewhere, before one car can pass, the gavel comes down and the car spins off to the side, through a dark doorway. Each car comes to the end of the ride, but doesn't stop, and instead jerks into motion and, even faster, veers through the ride a second time. This time, your car does not enter the courtroom, but the doors to your left nonetheless open, showing instead of a courtroom a red room burning with cartoon flames. Above the flames hangs a corpse in a noose. The body of Levi hangs from a white rope noose, as a cackling voices pronounces: Innocent The ride turns away once more, and comes to a stop. A list of votes has been pinned on the wall for your perusal. You now have the rest of the evening to explore the park, before night comes again. character statuses private conversations graveyard This is a general post-vote mingle encompassing the time from the end of the trial (about 5 PM until the fireworks at 11 PM). You are encouraged and welcome to backtag discussions in this post until the next day post, or to have afternoon private conversations.

Comments

Graveyard...

[perfectstrike]

[Peko's just standing there, stock still. She'd have given Usa-chan back to Honey before the ride itself. She fucked up. If this were back on the island, they'd all be dead. And she can't help but think it's her fault.

As soon as they're released, she's turned on her heel and walked away with purpose. Her footsteps are a little shaky, and she's clutching at her chest, but she's moving too quickly to be stopped unless someone runs to catch up with her.

She can be found sitting next to Kuzuryuu's grave with her knees pulled up to her chest, her head in her arms, until the fireworks. And even then, it doesn't look like she plans on moving until she has no choice.]

[poyoyon]

[ yEAH. Even though she knew they weren't on the island, even though he knew Monobear wasn't running this (he couldn't stay quiet this long) Ibuki's reaction to the thought of a failed trial was colored by that first trial, the only one she remembers, and the rules repeated endlessly. They'd failed, and the true killer would graduate, leaving all of them to die...

But the ride lets them all off, and it's...not okay, but the four of them are still in one piece.

Ibuki's idea of comforting people is to make them do crazy thing with her until they forget to be worried, usually. Even so, she hesitates as she goes over to Peko, entirely uncertain of what to do in this particular case. She'd never realized Peko and Kuzuryuu were close. ]

Peko-chan?

[perfectstrike]

Mm.

[There's a quiet sound of acknowledgement, but Peko doesn't look up. Is she just confirming that yes, she is indeed Peko-chan. In case there was some confusion.

It's a couple seconds before she manages a quiet,] Mioda, [in response. Look at you go, Peko. What a conversationalist you are.

She doesn't lift her head.]

[poyoyon]

[ Being still and silent is...not a talent Ibuki possesses. She stands nearby, clearly fidgeting and trying to keep quiet, until finally she can't take it any longer. ]

We're all gonna get out of here, you know? And...

[ She doesn't know what to say. Ibuki's not sure what to say, but after a second she sits down, too, leaning against Peko's side. ]

Hey hey hey, want me to sing you a lullaby?

[perfectstrike]

I will... I will make sure you all get out.

[That... doesn't sound reassuring when you're all curled up like that, Peko, it really doesn't. You need to try harder to be the protag.

She doesn't want to be the protag anymore.

She doesn't move away when Ibuki leans against her; she goes stiff at the unfamiliar warmth, then relaxes by degrees. A lullaby sounds childish, and Peko's first instinct is to refuse -- but then, maybe it would make Ibuki feel better, to sing. And it's not like Peko has heard Ibuki sing yet.]

If... you would like.

[poyoyon]

...Ibuki'll help too! Even though...she knows she wasn't a lot of help when...Byakuya-chan, except for listening. But she'll try even harder for all of you! Everyone...in our class. We have to get back to the others, too. And...Ibuki definitely won't leave any of you behind, ever!

[ Even if Ibuki's not sure what she can do at this point other than what she has been doing. But...surely there's something more? She just has to find it. ]

Um...Ibuki hasn't written any lullabyes herself, and she doesn't have any instruments - well, she could ask Clash-chan to accompany her...so, will something from when she was little do?

[ Oh, Peko lucked out. IF IT'S NOT BY IBUKI HERSELF, and if she doesn't have the proper accompaniment...she has a deceptively sweet voice. Had to get that single somehow. ]

Or does Peko-chan want one of Ibuki's songs?!

[ ......Or not.

CHOOSE WISELY, PEKO. The lullaby would actually be very pretty. You could save yourself, here. :c ]

[perfectstrike]

I know.

[Peko does glance over at her to try to give a bit of a nod, but it's really not all that authoritative and commanding right now, it's really not. The attempt is made, though.

And...]

Whatever you think best.

[Oh no. Peko, no. You should have said lullaby. Do not leave the choice up to Ibuki.]

[poyoyon]

Allllllll right! Forgive Ibuki for not having any instruments! This one can go out to Fuyuhiko-chan, too! She will do her best without them!

[ Sans instruments, basically...wow... ]

[perfectstrike]

[That's.

That's certainly something, Ibuki.

If nothing else, it seems to momentarily shock Peko out of her melancholy.

Though she doesn't know how to react, exactly. Is that... are her ears ringing from that...??]

[poyoyon]

Soooo?! What'd Peko-chan think?!

[ Hanging off of Peko again, tbh. Forever.

Maybe she will go sing you a lullaby tomorrow night???? ]

[photonement]

[So around twenty-five minutes after Peko initially flees, Mahiru catches up. She is holding a roughly shaped plate. There's rice, eggs that unfortunately came from a package, some other stuff. Vegetables, maybe. Basically the kind of simple meal Peko herself eats rather regularly. She puts it down somewhere within reach of Peko, then kneels nearby.

Long silence.]

Libel's... a crime. I'm not a lawyer but libel with intent to incite murder is a worse crime. And... we all agreed... we weren't gonna let a conversion happen today either.

Now...? [She might have been trying to say something else but she pretty much just has to turn that into a question, looking at Peko. Mahiru is really going to have trouble getting used to this whole aggressive group thing.]

[perfectstrike]

[There's just a quiet hum when Koizumi speaks. It's less an affirmative than the kind of filler sound that indicates that she can hear the other girl, and she is listening.

But she isn't speaking, not yet. Not even with Koizumi's question. She hasn't had time to think about the island, not really, but now... with failure and the memories of what failure could have brought hanging over her head, she can't help but dwell on the last person she killed who arguably didn't deserve it. Not completely, anyway.

She doesn't pick up her head, but after another long, few seconds, she manages,] I... will still find a way to protect you all.

[She doesn't know how. Or even where to start. But she still wants to.]

[photonement]

Okay.

[Her assent is still immediate, because all Mahiru thinks about that presumed baseball bat is that it's probably some forced Monokuma-aesthetic style ironic commentary on the way yakuza like to carry out their most brutal teach-a-lesson kills. Peko's confirmed everything Mahiru needs to know if they'll continue; being organized, making the argument that not-completely-deserved murders are an acceptable part of their operations.]

You can do it, Peko-chan. I believe in you. And every one of us. We have... ["tools" might not be the word but] Power, don't we? Not all of it, but if we work hard, it could be enough.

[perfectstrike]

Do you...?

[It's a quiet, barely audible question, and Peko's fingers tighten around her elbows as she stares straight ahead without seeming to see anything.

She'd thought they'd had all the tools at their disposal. She'd checked for evidence. She'd thought she'd done everything right. And then...

But she has to be the protag now. Kuzuryuu wanted to protect their classmates, so that was what she was going to do. Even if she would rather have died in his place than be left with this.]

It will be enough. [She owes them this much already. She can't afford to be weak, not when her classmates need her.] We will gain more information. We will find who did this. And if need be, I will execute them myself to ensure you can all escape freely.

[photonement]

Careful, out-of-turn might not get us MVP or--

[She claps her hand over her mouth. It's been less than 72 hours; why is this reminder already so automatic for her? Mahiru shakes her head.]

Never mind, you already said "If need be."

[She's still not good at this, clinging to her normalcy and domesticity when Peko is the warrior at the head of the team now. Doing things that way gets results of some kind, even if they're as unpleasant as this. Still, Mahiru next nudges the plate awkwardly.]

Lemme know if you really feel so bad you can't eat. I want you to, but... there's eggs in this. It'll go kinda bad in less than an hour.

[perfectstrike]

[She just gives Koizumi a bit of a look, not all that impressed with the start to a warning. But she relaxes when Koizumi reaches the right conclusion anyway, just giving a small nod. That's exactly what Peko had meant. If need be. If it meant that she would die while her classmates were guaranteed their freedom and safety... she would do it without looking back. There's nothing really here for her now except that.]

I... am not hungry. Please eat.

[Thanks for the thought, Koizumi, but Peko's really not going to touch it. Come to think of it, no one would have seen her eat anything all day.]

[photonement]

[Mahiru frowns because at this moment she bascially remembers that fact, yeah. A little self-starvation never hurt anyone; she's had a couple bad busy weekends herself before, and her dad was the same way. (Well. A lot worse.) But this impulse goes beyond Mahiru's mechanical gravitation towards food as comfort, comfort as distraction, distraction as self-treatment. Involuntarily, she thinks of Kuzuryu's injunction against the rides, even though Ibuki's found that self-treatment so effective. Or has she? All four of them ended up more sad about this than they "should" have been.

Mahiru continues looking at Peko's curled form, thinks she sees blueness and shaking in the failing light. All she can imagine is the even weaker moonlight where Peko is fighting those people, not running away, and gets exhausted all the sooner, so Tanak resolves to retrieve her from the afterlife too--]

I ate before. [The small-voiced sentence isn't really a complete thought. Before the trial?] There were some other meals to make, too, you know. I wanted to take care of everything before I found Peko-chan.

[Even herself. Mahiru knows she won't be fine all by herself, of course, not any more than she thinks Peko will be.]

[cheats]

[ Ciel makes his way to the graveyard eventually, just sort of strolling around aimlessly, since he's uncertain of what to do with himself. He sees Peko sitting there, and even not knowing how the graves are laid out, it's easy to guess who she's sitting by. Ciel frowns and considers leaving all together, but...

He approaches, perhaps against his better judgement.

His footsteps are quiet and light, but she'll sure hear him coming. He stands a short distance away from her, since they're little more in strangers in his opinion, so he doesn't want to impose on her personal space. He stands there for a few moments, uncertain of what to say, but he remember when Aunt Ann had died, and he had gone to her funeral... What had he wanted then? More than hollow words, certainly. ]

I hope he rests in peace. I didn't speak to him much, but he will be missed.

[ He was like. The one sane person. ]

[perfectstrike]

[She does hear him coming, but she doesn't lift her head until he speaks. His voice is still unfamiliar enough that she jerks up abruptly, eyes a little wild. It's a little obvious she was lost in thought, and the unfamiliar voice startled her.]

You're--

[At a quick glance, he almost, almost looks like Kuzuryuu. Thank God Alois isn't here and doesn't sport an eyepatch.]

...Yes.

[That was supposed to be a thank-you. But she is so bad at that. Instead, she just kind of vacantly stares straight ahead, not entirely at Ciel, but still keeping him within her vision in case he makes any sudden movements.]

[cheats]

[ He flinches at the intense gaze, because like earlier when he had set the dang kitchen on fire, he finds Peko a little frightening. She's a little intense for him... But he tries to hide that reaction by glancing away, pulling his dignified little hat further down on his head. He'll take a few steps closer, but he looks up at the sky instead. ]

...The fireworks are a bit much.

[ He says it like an idle comment, then digs in his pocket until he pulls out a few sugar candies, which he offers to her. ]

It's not much, but would you like one? They're the best I could find in the candy store, at least...

[ candy always cheers him up ok ]

[perfectstrike]

[She looks at him when he speaks again, not.. quite understanding what he's saying. He's not wrong, though, and she just huffs an unamused breath through her nose and nods. Peko does manage to somewhat uncurl herself; this kid is a stranger, and she's... not comfortable showing weakness around strangers. Even though everyone already saw her earlier today with Kuzuryuu.

It just matters okay.

But she stiffens when he offers her a candy. Peko... doesn't like sweet things. But you know who did?

She reaches up with one hand, pausing and wavering a moment before taking one.]

...Where you are from... is there... a custom for leaving offerings on graves...?

[That seems a little off-topic, Peko. What are you getting at?]

[cheats]

[ He seems a bit relieved when she takes the candy, because this is awkward for him too, wanting to offer some comfort and solace, but also not quite knowing how. He gives the briefest of soft smiles, but it drifts away at her question. Ciel turns the attention to the grave, and since he's a well-educated young man, he's at least familiar with the tradition in passing, so he has a feeling he knows what she's getting at. ]

...Not where I am from, no. We leave flowers and our prayers, but that is about it.

[ He looks back to Peko at this point. ]

Is it where you're from?

[perfectstrike]

I see.

[She rolls the candy around in her fingers and just nods to answer his question. A soft exhale, then she forces herself to her feet. She doesn't stay there long, though; almost immediately, she's shifting to kneel instead, around the place where his feet would be when they had buried him.

She rests the candy on the dirt (wasting perfectly good candy... well done Peko...) and clasps her hands together. She's not looking at Ciel -- her eyes are closed, even, but she explains quietly,] He... would like something like this. Though if he could hear me... he would protest. He did not want people to know, you see.

I don't know if he ever knew that I did...

[Oh. Oh no. There goes her voice cracking again. It sounds like she's going to cry. God damn it Peko.]

[cheats]

[ He hears the crack in her voice and looks uncomfortable again because oh no someone crying, what do, but... Ciel manages to not get himself flustered. He averts his eyes from her, since she seems like a proud person that would prefer he not acknowledge this more than necessary, and God does he know that feeling well.

Still, all the same, he's a gentleman. He reaches into his capelet's pocket to produce a handkerchief, and he offers it to her, though his eyes are on the candy. ]

Then I will keep it a secret as well.

[ A nod, then he adds, ] It may not be much, but may I pray for him?

[perfectstrike]

[Peko has seen more handkerchiefs today than she ever has in her life. She hasn't used any of them, but... maybe it's just because this kid reminds her of Kuzuryuu so much that she actually takes it, once she opens her eyes again. Her hand shakes as her fingers close around it, and though she wipes her nose with her sleeve, she uses the handkerchief to dry her eyes.]

Thank....

[Peko why is this so hard for you to say. Is it because you don't feel like you deserve the kindnesses people have been showing you? Probably. But she just swallows hard and nods, keeping the handkerchief in her hand for now and shifting aside in case Ciel also wants to kneel. Maybe he doesn't. She isn't sure.]

If you would like.