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

[eventhandler]

...

[He's seen stranger sights, really.]

That's good. That's very good. That you're...helping. The little things, well, it's always the little things, yes?

[chronic]

It's every innocent person's responsibility to stay alive. But we should help each other, too.

[eventhandler]

[He nods.]

Without cooperation...we wouldn't get anywhere, no, we really couldn't get anywhere at all...

[chronic]

Maybe you should try out some games too, then.

[ He waves the whack-a-mole mallet. ]

[eventhandler]

...Me?

[He seems surprised by the offer, but after a pause, he walks up, giving the game a look-over.]

...How do you play?

[chronic]

...You don't know how to play whack-a-mole?

[eventhandler]

I've never...never really had the time to play these sort of games. Too busy, far too busy, building parks and such like this back home...

What is it, youuuu...hit the animals? With the hammer?

[chronic]

That's so sad, dude. [ oh no he can't drop his princess act ] I mean... brave sir.

[ he points to the game display. ] They pop up randomly. You have to be fast enough to hit them before they go back down.

[eventhandler]

[it is so very sad you don't even know]

Oh, so, it's about reaction times? As in, uh, reacting to the animals popping up.

[chronic]

[ DID HE EVEN HAVE A CHILDHOOD ]

Yeah. The faster the better!

[eventhandler]

[what is a childhood again]

Ah. [He reaches over to take the hammer, hefting it in his hands. It's a little...unwieldy.]

Let me...let me give it a try.

[chronic]

[ oh god the poor guy. Kenny just hopes he doesn't wind up dropping the hammer right on his feet. ]

Okay. If you're sure.

[ he presses the 'start' button and... stands back. ]

[eventhandler]

I'm...sure.

[And, oh boy, they're jumping up, this is...well, a little more quicker than he expected. He just stands, frozen, still holding the hammer, his mind trying to figure out just where to hit so he can win this little game.]

[When he finally brings the hammer down, he's far too late, and far too slow - but he's starting to get it. Although he misses or doesn't even hit most of the animals, he finally catches the last three, bringing the hammer down squarely on their heads.]

[He stands back, looking sort of excited, if the glimmer in his eyes is any sort of indication.]

Ah, that was...interesting. Very quick, really very quick! It's a good test of reactions, I do agree...

[chronic]

[ Kenny claps his hands together excitedly as he watches. ]

Fun, huh? You learn pretty quickly! [ He twirls a strand of the wig around his finger. ] Look- you even won some tickets.

[eventhandler]

I did?

[Royce is actually surprised - well now, look what we got here.]

...Tickets? For use for the other games, I suppose?

[chronic]

Those are what you can exchange for prizes. You put the tickets in the machine... It seems sorta random so far what you get. But I'm hoping that something good and useful will pop out eventually.

[eventhandler]

[He nods.] As you said earlier, there must be a very clear reason why the games were mentioned...perhaps we will get something useful at some point, as you just said. It would be quite the boon, quite the boon indeed...

[chronic]

Heheh. Now you get it.

[ Kenny picks up one of his junk prizes, a keychain of a smiling cat, and clips it to the strap of his dress. ]

Let's meet up again sometime tomorrow to play more games. [ so that means don't die tonight ] If two of us are collecting tickets, it increases our chances.

[eventhandler]

[He nods. Deep in the pit of his stomach, there is that squirming , uncomfortable feeling that reminds him that there is a chance he might die. Who knows? Maybe he would be deemed a target, and the next day, his dead body would be found strewn somewhere, exploded or stabbed or bludgeoned...]

[He doesn't want to think about it. Instead, he will think about games, about figuring them out and analyzing their secrets, about winning prizes that may prove useful for them all to escape this dreadful situation. He nods, pocketing the tickets in his lab coat.]

...The statistical likelihood would be higher, yes. [A pause.] I will be here tomorrow. We will...continue doing this. Until we find something useful.