day nine

[guestcontrol]

dreamland day nine 10 players remaining. There are no clocks in your dorm room to help you mark the passing of time, but at a certain point, in the early hours of the morning, a cheerful chime tune plays over the loudspeaker. Whether you're awake or asleep, the door to your dorm room is now unlocked. You'll have about a forty five minutes, in which you can get ready or grab some breakfast, before the door that allows you into the park unlocks. By this time, you may or may not have noticed that one of your number is missing. Oh, there's one other thing this morning - your bracelets are no longer working. Fortunately, your rooms have all been left unlocked, as is the entrance to the park. Oh, and you still might not want to go near the fences; the automatic weapons in the guard towers are still a thing. The chimes play again, to announce that the park is open, and the rides and music begin to come back to life as a voice plays over the loudspeaker. "Congratulations to the tippy top ten! You made it!" You will have until 4 PM to explore the park and talk amongst yourselves. Somewhere in the park, you'll find the body of Oz Vessalius. rulebook character statuses private conversations graveyard

Comments

[perfectstrike]

What did you agree on?!

[She does let go, but only for an instant, only long enough to grab his collar in both hands, shaking him roughly. Is he afraid? Good. Her eyes are more suited to a wild, pained animal than anything else.

Some hitman. She can't even keep it together for a proper interrogation, she's just shaking him, fighting back the urge to hurl him into the walls of the tent. She could snap his neck right now. There's enough confirmation that he's part of this group that she should, she really should. She'd chosen to trust him, and this is how he thanked her.]

Did you kill him? Did you hurt him?!

[ionicwoman]

[TAKE A STUFFED ANIMAL and don't complain, wow]

[foetida]

[She looks surprised and dubious when Ciel says he never had any intention of betraying Oz, like she doesn't know whether to believe him or not. If he's lying, then he's a very good actor - but then again, she's known plenty of good actors who do nothing but lie to everyone around them. It doesn't actually mean anything.

The next part though, that gets her to tense up.]

What does that mean? [Because she knows perfectly well what 'waking up' entails.] You're not planning on killing everyone here, are you? Use your brain! You should know by now they're messing with your head!

[cheats]

[ In that instant, he moves to clearly run, though naturally, he never makes it that far. Peko grabs onto his collar and shakes him, but Ciel only claws at her hands to try and escape. If she's the wild animal, then he's the trapped one, but he's already wounded and out of his mind.

Someone, save him. Mother, father, anyone. He's going to die here. He'll surely be killed if this continues, because that look in her eyes, it's the same. There's a dagger hoisted above his chest (Ciel's chest), and he screams as he continues to struggle. His heart is thundering in his ears, and his consciousness is wavering by now. Peko isn't going to get any kind of answer from Ciel like this, because right now, he's too frightened to even be able to answer. ]

[photoshot]

[ only lamers play with stuffed animals !! ]

[cheats]

I don't know! I don't know anymore...

[ It looks like he might start crying again with how he bows forward as his shoulders tremble, but he doesn't, at least not this time. He had been so certain that Crocs was right until he had found that place where Oz had died. Where Ciel had killed him? It had to have been him, but when he tries to think about it, those memories are even harder to recall. ]

What if we're right? What if you really do wake up? Then everyone here, they're going to die. We always heard from the people we woke up, at least through Crocs, so— So it never seemed strange. But why would I... I wouldn't recreate that day. I would never— But Oz isn't here anymore. How could that be?

[perfectstrike]

[She might not get an answer, but it sure as hell isn't going to stop her from trying.

She'd scoffed at Monokuma's idea of despair. How could someone like her, a mere tool, feel something like that? Absurd.

But then she'd left her young master alone, robbed him of sight in one eye, found him murdered the same way she'd murdered her own classmate, and then, to top everything off, let one of his killers gain her trust.

It's that more than anything else that drives another scream from her lips, fingers tightening in his shirt.]

Why didn't you just kill me?!

[cheats]

There was never—

[ He can focus on that, at least, because he's trying to stay concious, because he feels faint. He can barely hear with how his heartbeat sounds, but he's trying. If he passes out, he won't wake up. He has to stay awake, because if he doesn't then... ]

There was never a reason to...

[ He manages to get that much out, but he starts to wheeze from his screaming and the exertion, so it's about all he manages. ]

[perfectstrike]

[That's it. That's the last straw. Her breathing is almost as harsh as his, for a different reason. Never a reason to. Not enough of a threat to kill, not for all her declarations, not for everything she'd tried to do. Not even when she'd explained her logic to Ciel himself, he still didn't think she was good enough to kill.

Ciel is small. He's just under Kuzuryuu's height.

She's in too close to punch him or slap him, but his head is at the perfect height for her to release his collar with one hand and sharply elbow him across his right cheek, purposefully hitting his blind side with a scream.]

[cheats]

[ The hit of course connects, and Ciel lets out a weak, but sharp cry of pain. He's always been a weak child, prone more to gentle activities suited to a gentleman than anything athletic, and he quite preferred that. What he did know was all practical, skills that Sebastian had taught him as necessary, but... There was nothing he could do. There's a loud crack, and though it doesn't break anything, pain sears across Ciel's face.

But he doesn't make a sound after that. He holds his arms up slightly defensively, but not enough to actually stop Peko if she tries again. It's clear this is far from the first time he's been hit, even so severely, so like before, he's silent and yielding to her. ]

[dotdotdotstare]

[Well that is just plain inefficient! Mori disapproves of not keeping your missiles and your missile launchers in the same place!

But most importantly he guesses he won't try anything that could accidentally get everyone blown up.

So now he'll just guard these weapons from unsavory characters, I guess.]

[foetida]

You're wrong!

[She leans forward, her expression furiously intense.] You're supposed to be intelligent, aren't you? You're always so smug about it! So use your brain for once and ask yourself something - would you normally just take orders from a stupid crocodile without ever questioning it? Are you really stupid enough to think that hearing from people through the crocodile is the same thing as confirming they're alive?

[perfectstrike]

[He's not fighting back. Peko's elbow comes back, as if she might hit him again, but pauses, eyes darting over his face, his body language.

Kuzuryuu would fight back. She's certain of that. Kuzuryuu would never let himself be handled this way, never yield. It's disgusting, and right now, she can't bring herself to even question why Ciel might not. Just that he's not worth her time.]

You'll hang.

[It's a cold promise as she lowers her hand, clenching her fist at her side. And she shoves him with the other, intending to knock him to the ground. But he's not worth risking her own life by killing outside the bounds of the game's rules, not when he won't even struggle.]

Dipper's Room - later in the morning

[ineptus]

[Aya isn't the only one snooping through bedrooms. Okay, maybe she's the only one snooping, but she's not the only one visiting. Perhaps predictably, Mabel can be found in her twin's room. She's not doing much, just sitting on his bed and hugging his pillow. Some of his notes are strewn on the bed, face up, as if she were reading them earlier. But now she's mostly just staring at them.

The door is left slightly open, so you're welcome to enter if you want.]

[royalizing]

[ Natalia will wander in at some point during the day, before the trial, kind of hoping to find a clue or a backup plan or something... Instead, she'll pocket his pocketwatch, because when she hears its tune, it kind of reminds her of the music from home. Hope you don't mind Oz....

Don't worry, it'll find its way to his grave before the day is out, she promises.... Something like that must have some sentimental value. It feels wrong to just let it sit on the desk gathering dust in the absence of its owner. ]

[harepiece]

[He would be happy to know that someone is keeping hold of it!! He would also apologize for not leaving a more detailed back-up plan than the one that would have failed anyway with the bracelets not working, whoops... Tragically candy and a maybe-comforting melody are the only things his room has to offer.]

[royalizing]

[ She stops short when he seems to skitter away from her. Is he... afraid of her? It's so absurd, that he should be afraid of her when the most brutality here has been from the VIPs. But his reaction definitely shoves away the personal comparison, because he's so much younger and so much more frightened than indignant.

So Natalia swallows and tries to lower her voice. ]

I'm not going to hurt you. Please, I just need... [ What does she need? She needs all of this to have been some awful nightmare, and wake up safe and snug in her bed at the castle. ]

... I need to talk to you.

[royalizing]

[ Mm yes the taste of tragedy in the morning

It's better than nothing, so she'll take it! You tried cop friend... ]

[cheats]

[ Were the circumstances leading up to this moment different, Peko would have gotten exactly the reaction that she expected from Ciel. He had been playing with fire the whole game by manipulating her, and he had expected to be burnt by it terribly when he was caught. He had anticipated that and thought it fair, but in his prediction of how that would happen, he would be ever the proud nobleman, even in the face of violence, because it wasn't as if he hadn't faced that before. He had been kidnapped and tortured before, since that was just a work hazard for the Earl of Phantomhive.

But he could have never anticipated this.

This is unlike you, he can almost hear a rational part of his brain say, but not enough. He's too caught up in older wounds and memories, and even the sharp pain on his face isn't enough for him to do much more than tremble silently, because doing anything more than that would mean that you end up dead. He doesn't even know how long he had been in the cage to know that was true. But he'd seen many children trapped in that cage with him die, one by one.

So it's easy to shove him back, and Ciel not only falls to the ground, but crumples as he lays there, eye closed tightly and body postured in a way that says he expects more violence. It truly is sad and pitiful, especially compared to the usual proud, intelligent nobleman that Ciel was, but...

His past, more than other people, had a way of haunting him. ]

[edealistical]

[Edea's room has a few hair ribbons and a very curious journal filled with all sorts of esoteric and highly improbable information. She's already sent all the notes she meant to send but there's scraps of paper on which she penned out her theory for defense during her trial.

Most are unremarkable, but there's one that's crossed out and reads

Gundam Tanaka's motives: an animal enthusiast, he would have chosen Malik on his first day for his threat against Missile. As for the other victims, his classmates were chosen because the game he was taken from requires the death of every participant but the winner regardless. Therefore, there is only one person with a strong motive for all three crimes...

But it's crossed out with a note:

:( Too cruel... I do not know if even I can believe that, though it may well be so. No doubt they will vote for me if only because I was the first name proposed. 'My death will mean the end of millions of worlds' - that, too, is cruel to say. I will see my end with dignity...

Please do not forget the goal and the true enemy, everyone... No matter what might happen.]

[photoshot]

Millions of worlds?... Hm.

[ she leaves the books and ribbons where they are, but rereads the note a few times before leaving. ]

[cheats]

[ That makes his brow furrow deeply, because there's no small part of him that knows what she's saying is right. He's no fool—Even if he had to learn the lessons in the harshest way possible, Ciel had always prided himself on being careful and prudent to a fault. He had to be with Sebastian always waiting for him to falter and give up, so why... Why did he trust a stupid looking thing like Crocs? ]

I—

[ But when he tries to think about why he trusts what Crocs says so much, it's just not there. There's a reason, he knows it, but why does he know that? Ciel hesitates, but trying to grasp at those straws is frustrating, so he continues on. ]

It was... It was a surgery, I think? I don't remember— I don't remember drawing that at all. Crocs said that if I did that, then Mabel... Mabel wouldn't have to kill anyone.

[ Because even now, when it's just the two of them, Ciel is determined to keep to his ideal of keeping Mabel's hands as free of blood as possible. He shakes his head, placing a hand over that wound that they all had now. ]

If Oz woke up first, then we could save everyone, but... I wouldn't. I wouldn't do that, and I wouldn't listen to a damned animal. But— [ There's still hesitation in his voice quite clearly. ]

[cheats]

I can't—

[ He bows forward on his hands and knees after he stops retching, hiding the view before him, because every time he sees the scene before him, it's too hard to distinguish between what's really in front of him and what's long past. Is this the room of the ceremony or a circus tent? Are the cages empty, or is he inside it? Or is it that he's on the altar, or is that Oz?

He can't discern it, or maybe it's that he can't remember it. It's both and neither. And that gets Ciel's shoulders to shake in a way that's immediately obvious that he's starting to cry. ]

Please— Someone save us, anyone...

[ So it should also be clear enough that Natalia won't be able to talk to him here. She'll have to take him outside of the tent. ]

[siggey]

[Sigma's room is dreadfully boring.

The cover of the bed is unmade, but aside from that, while not the picture perfect of tidiness, it's not really messy either. The worst offender may be a plate with a few dried up fries left on the table next to half a dozen empty bottles of water, but otherwise, the whole place conveys nothing more than the feeling of a motel room where one holed up to sleep, but do little more.

It did give the impression that he was planning to come back, though. Or well, the lack of anything like a will, as if he wasn't expecting to die in a game that made no qualms in killing every participant.

...Oh yeah, the box where most would find personal belongings isn't empty: there's a meticulously clean can of kidney beans, obviously from the mess hall.

Apart from that, nothing of interest. ]