WEEK 4

[strangerpeople]

WEEK 4

[A third of those of you who came here are now dead.

Its a sobering thought as everyone wakes up the next day to find their profiles updated once more, with Rosie and Naoya now added to the list of the discarded. There's an entire empty room, in terms of humans - Rocky, Murray, Elly, and a a strangely new and realistic robot bird are still there, somehow. Someone will need to take care of them now that their owners are gone.

Just like last week, no one has regained their memories, but their powers have evolved. Also like last week, a new floor has opened for those remaining to explore. It's...definitely different from the previous ones, to be sure. Emptier, more militaristic. And very, very large.

Maybe that's where the transport will arrive? Whatever the case, Marie's claim about the universe - if she's telling the truth - means there's less than two weeks left before the universe's destruction. If anyone has not yet thought of a way out that doesn't involve killing, the time to figure something out may be running out for everyone.

Meanwhile, even despite the lack of Naoya to hack the computers, the random computers belting out shittyfluting has, if anything, increased in their frequency. Which is definitely odd, since no one else has tried to hack into the computers...right?

There are ten strangers in this place.]


SUNDAY | MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY

Comments

TUESDAY

[strangerpeople]

MOTIVE: Is There Anybody Out There?

[commandurr]

[Surprisingly, amidst the sea of shittyflute hell, Marie seems to be scant in the morning, though where she might be becomes obvious when access to the mecha repair becomes impossible. No amount of banging on the doors will open them.

In the afternoon, however, Marie's voice echoes loudly on the sound system. Again.]

ATTENTION EVERYONE!! IN LIGHT OF ALL OF THE DEATH, I'VE DECIDED TO REVEAL MY NEXT POWER!

SO I KNOW YOU LOSERS TRIED TO CONTACT THE DEAD, BUT YOU WERE DOING IT ALL WRONG! HOW DO I KNOW? BECAUSE I HAVE THE MEANS OF ACTUALLY DOING IT THROUGH THE BASE! THAT'S THE ADVANTAGE TO BEING THE COMMANDER, YOU KNOW! I KNOW ALL OF THE SECRETS AND POWERS THAT CAN BE HAD HERE!

I BET THERE'S SOMEONE YOU WANT TO TALK TO, HMM? MAYBE IT'S SOMEONE WHOSE DIED HERE - OR MAYBE NOT! MAYBE IT WAS BACK HOME!! BUT GUESS WHAAAAT?? I CAN GET YOU IN TOUCH WITH THEM! IT'S JUST THAT YOU HAVE TO KILL SOMEONE AND GET AWAY WITH IT BY THE END OF THE WEEK IF YOU EVER WANT TO TALK TO YOUR DEAD LOVED ONES AGAIN!

...

OH, DID I FORGET TO REMIND YOU ALL, THE UNIVERSE IS TOTALLY GONNA END IN TWO WEEKS AND I'M THE ONLY ONE LEAVING THIS STINKING JOINT SO FAR~! THERE'S ALWAYS A SEAT OPEN FOR ANYONE WILLING TO DO WHAT'S NECESSARY~! JUST SAYING, THAT'S ALSO SOMETHING TO CONSIDER!

LATER, FOOLS!

AHAHAHAHAHA!!

MEETING?

[fashionfever]

[mass text]

everyone NICE who understands PEOPLE DIE WHEN THEY'RE KILLED please show up in the empty hangar by 1! we're having a meeting!

everyone else CRAZY can show up anyway too! we're all friends here! but I'm not making snacks there's no time

[true to her word, Angela is pacing around Hanger A, wearing her spacesuit miserable about it because she doesn't have anything else that will protect her feet from clanging on the hard metal floor]

[leftthelighton]

[ There may not be time to make snacks, but there is time for tea, or at least Pass feels so, therefore he shows up at the meeting with an armful of teacups and a teapot in hand. He may not have shown up at one of these meetings before, but he feels that it is quite pertinent on this day.

Angela? Are you quite alright?

[fashionfever]

No?

[She takes the teacup and scowls as she realizes she has to support it with her other hand.]

All three people who tried to kill said they believe in life after death. Not just heaven or hell but super literal ghosts and reincarnation and stuff. And they're not the only ones here who liked the idea, either! So, yeah, I'm pretty worried!

[leftthelighton]

[ He somehow manages to pour her tea while balancing all those cups in one hand. This is just the sort of life he's learned to lead. ]

You may count me out of the motive. i wish the dead no ill will, but I have no need to speak to them again, either.

[fashionfever]

[She starts sipping the tea. At least it's good tea.]

See, that's good? That's super mentally healthy! Because even if you get the chance now, you probably wouldn't get the chance before, that's for sure.

[leftthelighton]

The question is how many of the others have a reason to speak to the dead, I suppose.

[fashionfever]

Well, not none of them, people have said as much. So now we're going to put the fear of... something... into them, so that number goes down to zero! Where it belongs!!!

BECAUSE DEAD PEOPLE ARE DEAD AND YOU CAN'T TALK TO THEM.

[losergod]

... Only some, Miss Napoli.

[ Hi, dead person. Right here. Talking to you. Right now. Presently. ]

As long as their soul cube is intact, they can probably be spoken to again quite easily, even reanimated.

[toushiro]

[ should he tell her about how there's an afterlife


nah ]

This isn't a motive worth killing over regardless. They've moved on.

[fashionfever]

[listen she kinda believes in heaven and hell but she certainly doesn't believe in KILLING PEOPLE WHO ARE STILL ALIVE ]

Yeah, like, has anyone had their lights flickering on and off because of these ghosts being right here all real? No!

[toushiro]

That's not how that works, but alright.

[ you humans... how little do you actually know!!! ]

Anyway, even if they were present spiritually, I don't think they'd have any new information to tell us in the first place.

[fashionfever]

[gives him a single "done" look as if to say "do I look like I care how it works". quirks her face back into something more attentive]

Could you explain a little more why you think that? I mean, of course it's what I think. But it's not what Akira thought, he was very clear about that at the end.

CW: sleep-deprivation-induced hallucinations + cognitive distortion

[backuphero]

[Now that he wants to sleep, of course, he can't. Not voluntarily, anyway. Not with the constant shittyflute serenade. (Or, at least, that's what he's telling himself. The thought that maybe he's just broken now and he's going to die out here in space of Not Sleeping, and someone else will hang for it... that's not one he wants to consider, even as it keeps cheerfully popping into his mind.)

Everything's got a trail after it, like a floating gauze veil in the breeze this place doesn't have. That started yesterday, he thinks. Must have been. Sometime after Angela... after that mess he made of things. The text message seems to flicker on the watch screen when he looks at it. His depth perception is shot, so he keeps a hand on the wall as he enters, staring down at his feet and wondering why it doesn't feel like what it looks like, to be walking over steel that curves around his steps. This is such a huge room! How aren't there echoes from his walking through it?

He's wearing the suit he woke up in because as horribly clinging as it is, somehow it feels warmer than his own clothes. Given that they're wet - hopefully drying, spread out over his bunk, he did his best to wash them, he did, they needed it - they'd just make him feel even colder than he does. Somehow this makes sense, to think this, it doesn't feel redundant at all.

There's a flash of blue at the edge of his vision, every so often. The edge of a long coat, maybe, or a hatbrim, but Wind can't be here, much as he wishes he was. Neither can Vita, not that it's her blue anyway.

He's aware that he's a mess right now, but he looks even more of one than he knows. He's very carefully finding someplace to sit out of the way, which is an exercise in tedious futility when you're in a cavernous hangar and can't quite judge distances anymore. He finally just sits down, draws his knees up to his chest, and tries not to shiver too obviously with his arms wrapped around them.

If anyone waves, or acknowledges him, he'll return the greeting of course, but at this point his hands are shaking terribly and his voice is just... shot.]

[theserpentsmiles]

[You, sir, are in no state for a meeting.

Nagisa's gotten better at figuring out what he's looking at, but...he really doesn't need any extra skill to see Jonathan's out of it. Badly. He....hasn't seen anyone look like that since...since Itona. That's not a thought he wants right now, not with....everything linked to the tentacles running through his head at every opportunity.

Nagisa would be lying if he said he'd been sleeping well lately, but that's different. He's been careful about his rest and limits. Jonathan clearly hasn't been.]

Jonathan.

[backuphero]

God hates me. Ask him, when he shows up. I pissed him off crying over myself when Naoya died.

[The worst thing about this is that to Jonathan in his current state, that's not only a perfectly reasonable assessment of the state of his relationship with C, but a perfectly reasonable conversational opener. Why bother with pleasantries or details framing what's on his mind? Communicating directly takes less time.

And there's so little time. If someone dies they'll have someone who can talk to the dead - not just their dead here, the dead anywhere. With that, they could plan -

Blue, again. Not Nagisa's hair, but next to him. A flicker of a coat. He looks up - another flicker - a gaunt face with sad eyes below a ridiculous plumed hat. He knows it's not real. He knows that's not Wind there-and-gone, he knows that's not a real ghost, just one from his mind, but what little control over himself he possesses is gone right now, and he ends up addressing the empty air next to Nagisa.]

Don't look at me like that. I'm not tempted. We tried, it didn't work.

[He knows it's not real, but Wind would look at him like that right now. Maybe somehow he'll hear, far away. John Morris's son is not a murderer. The sonovabitch ain't worth it.

He turns his eyes to Nagisa, next.]

Ange's doin' better than me but not by much. We got in a fight. My fault.

[theserpentsmiles]

[...What... There's clearly something Nagisa isn't getting, but it's even more clear that the thing Jonathan isn't getting is rest. They've all been under serious stress for several weeks now... This isn't good. Is he- He's definitely hallucinating.]

When was the last time you slept?

[backuphero]

Four days, I think? Couldn't really sleep after... couldn't save him, couldn't even do anything. Then Naoya, and...

[He draws in a few shaky breaths, obviously trying not to start hyperventilating, and then abruptly curls up tighter, hiding his face against his knees.]

I don't wanna see it. If I sleep I see it. I don't wanna see it, I don't wanna see it, I didn't wanna touch it and I don't wanna look at it, not when you'll be there too with them and everybody else....

[theserpentsmiles]

"That's the kind of thinking that makes ghosts out of regrets. Literally." Someone important told me that.

[He isn't sure exactly how bad off Jonathan is, but...four days. And they've all been under an unusual amount of stress to begin with. At first he thinks Jonathan means nightmares about the electrocutions, but the stream of consciousness morphs and ... Does Jonathan himself even know what he means?]

What do you mean I'll be there? What is 'it'?

[theserpentsmiles]

[This motive.... She's just mocking him now, isn't she? Just outright. Not even her normal petty insult-flinging, just fully mocking Nagisa for what he's been through both before and during his stay here. Of all the...

He wants to apologize to Kayano. To get Korosensei's advice. To tell Akira the truth. His blood boils.

But Nagisa quietly tucks himself into place at the meeting, as small and resolute as ever. He hasn't....done much investigating, if any, this week - Yurick and Jonathan have had his attention. His brothers need him.]

[vividsins]

[ Baku is sipping his tea. ]

C and I found something in that repair center. Given she's locked us out, I've a feeling she doesn't like what we found.

[fashionfever]

Well, she holed up in the printer room for the first motive, so maybe it's not because of what you found.

[losergod]

Yes, we did. Something on robots, specifically.

[ And he'll basically regurgitate what they found. ]

[losergod]

[ A deep breath. ]

There's really a lot to unpack in what she said, but I think the bigger problem is the whole "two weeks" thing.

[ Vincent is on his mind. And he looks a little paler than usual just thinking about him and Akira, even, but he's not... going to try to go there.

One's soul was never going to be within anyone's grasp, and he knows as much. Akira could possibly still be saved. There's nothing saying they don't have his soul cube somewhere here. ]