The Fifteen Strangers Mods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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15strangers2017-12-02 11:56 am
strangerpeople) wrote in 15strangers2017-12-02 11:56 am
Entry tags:
THE FIRST TRIAL
[Almost as soon as the investigation is over, a loud DING echoes through the mall.
The elevator doors in the food court, before completely inaccessible, have now opened for the Titled. It will not close until every last Titled has gotten in. Nor will everyone have to wait long for potential stragglers; a thought comes to everyone's mind, a realization that they need to get into the elevator. They need to go.
They need to find out who did this.
The elevator is a small freight elevator inside, and its just big enough to fit everyone in it. After a short ride, the elevator opens...
And they are on the roof. Despite it clearly not being that late in the day, the roof seems to be surrounded by an air of cool, perpetual sunset. Beyond that, good luck making out what's beyond the roof - there seems to be a city, but it's utterly unidentifiable. Not that anyone can jump off the roof to try and get closer - there is a translucent barrier surrounding the roof that is utterly impenetrable.
The main attraction of the roof, however, is not the fuzzy landscape beyond. It's the large, stepped circular platform which is a mere ten paces from the elevator. On this platform are 15 podiums, surrounding a large, empty, circular floor. Instantly every phone pings, giving everyone their platform assignment based on their bedroom number. And - upon arriving at their designated podium - they will find a dock for their phone to slide into. As soon as they do so the XAMINE app will pop up, revealing everyone's findings regarding the murder.
Not Wake, though. His podium is lower, and bare save for a white cloth.
Still, everyone - including Ren, who will find that whoever arranged this whole deal has given him a chair to sit in - will need their strength. Which is why each Stranger also has a bento box lunch, carefully prepared, waiting for them at their podium. Each meal is tailored to every Stranger's specific tastes and allergies, as best as a bent box meal can be. It even comes with a cup of their favorite drink.
So, take a few bites, take a few breaths, and get ready, Titled.
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[ God, she hates this. ]
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I won't need this where I'm going.
[He throws the coat across the circle, trying to get the soft impact straight across her chest so it's naturally caught with both arms, like in the movies.]
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She looks up a little too late because there is a lot going on in her head right now and none of it is particularly contributory to a good and alert move, so the catch winds up more scrambled and significantly less elegant than it should have. It's still a catch though. ]
... oh my god.
[ Her voice is flat and yet extremely incredulous. ]
This is the most tacky thing.
[ She means the cliched farewell gift, not the coat itself, but to be fair, it is applicable to either.
He really has a way to distract from his fuck-ups right away, but not a lot can distract from murder. She breathes out with force and shakes her head, then she manages to actually look at him properly. ]
You still won't tell me 'why' though, will you?
VLR spoilers
[He's given out a lot of hints, and she's really smart.]
I'd never understood before why some of the false religions say that everyone believes in the same God. You did it, though; you separated yourself from the material world, even ["even"] more than me. No clouded judgment from the absence or presence by other members of society... You really wouldn't even stab someone for your own gain if you had the chance, huh? I wouldn't have minded, but I've got to thank you for showing me that. I never thought I'd get to see the beauty of a noncombatant believer outside the printed pages of scripture.
[It's at this point that the philosophical tone falls away into something the others will find more familiar.] So, seriously, don't get a cold! [He points forcefully at her torso.] You don't have to wear that, but try to do something to make sure you don't get unclean! Your purity alone can protect you from the holy plague, but not the other pestilences! Prove you were right about how you were going to survive! Alright?
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'Dio is in a cult' and 'Dio appreciates her detachment from material goods' are individually not all that shocking. But then there's.... the beauty of a nomcombatant believer and that throws her off, trips her up and catapults her two steps backwards.
Being admired to strangely religious levels isn't new, but usually those people are fanatic fashion followers, shallow victims of an empty unsatisfactory lifestyle yearning to fill their lives with meaning by appropriating someone else's style for themselves. Those are not people Helena can take seriously. Those are not people Helena ever wants to see again.
Dio is... She'd like to think his conviction isn't empty and his hate for greed isn't just founded on brainwashing by some all powerful leader. It's not something she can be sure of and she doesn't feel comfortable making assumptions when she had been so wrong about him before, but...
It's a mess, a big big mess.
They don't have time to talk this out, she doesn't have time to ask questions, so this... It's something she can mull over later. On her one, she'll have all the time in the world. ]
I've sworn to never put anything so hollow and impermanent as 'fashion' on my body again, so maybe this [ a raise of the jacket ] isn't so bad.
[ It's just a possibility, she can't phrase anything as an absolute when she can't tell right from left within her own head. She won't make actual promises if she doesn't know she can keep them. This is as far as she can go. ]