[elevator] [cerberus]

[guillotineroom]

[ When you open your eyes again the first thing that you, and your teammates, may notice is that you are confined within an iron cage, rectangle in shape. Further inspection will reveal that outside of the cage is a large structure of sorts, reaching far above you. It kind of looks like an unfinished clock tower, really... there are spots that look finished and bolted tightly, and others that look like they had been left once and the work never thought of again.

Also, it's pretty chilly. You might get to notice that.

It's foggy and windy—the kind of wind that howls and roars, jostling your cage against the tall shaft, and every so often you feel as though you might have had the ghost of a raindrop on you. The tower-like build creaks horribly ominously in the wind, and you can see the rusted metals swaying slightly. But if you decide to look around...

Flapping above you (and not helping with the wind) is a harpy-like creature, iron chains wrapped around their talons. Though, maybe it's more like a lion? The chains are bolted to the top of your cage. There are also little indicators on the structure, the same distance apart, that seem to be declaring different levels or heights. They look horribly unhappy to be here, but they're also impressive at ignoring any call you might have for them.

There's a door to the cage, but it won't open, even if it's just a simple-looking locking mechanism. If you peer out, it's too foggy on the ground to make out very much, but you can make out nine other, tower-like structures with similarly flapping harpies. Each one, including your own, has an emblazoned emblem of every team's patron monster, so that you can see where everyone is—it's just difficult to make out exactly who may be in each one. Even more difficult to try and communicate like this.

Attached to the door is an aged metal panel with a screen and four buttons; two to choose between the team names that appear on the dark green and black screen, and two to choose whether you wish for that team to go up or down.

After a moment, a little speaker in the corner starts playing an incredibly bad quality version of this.]

Comments

[fujimaru]

[ She leans quietly, letting her head thunk on his shoulder for a moment. ]

With bad taste in music.

[cultfavorite]

[This is one small, nice thing in all this.]

We need to win Piers over to our team. I'd love to hear him drown out this music with some choice lyrics about the Warden.

[fujimaru]

[ This Is Fine For Now. ]

Yeah. Even if it was just leaning into the screaming part of metal, I'd take that over this.

[cultfavorite]

It'd be cathartic. That's why I like that kind of music myself.

[HE IS A METAL FAN.]

[fujimaru]

Yeah?

[ That's cute. She smiles a little, quiet, at the thought. ]

Maybe you can just scream along with him, next time he performs.

[cultfavorite]

Haha. I think he'd like that. So might I, as long as I'm not expected to sound good doing it. I'm no musical talent.

. . . How are you feeling?

[fujimaru]

I think the important thing is that you're having fun.

[ At his question, she sighs, leaning a little harder on him. ]

I don't like this. I don't like that we're basically going into this blind--even if we win, it's not going to feel like a win. I don't want to just hope that we make the right choices and still survive.

But... it's not just me who has to make these choices. So in that sense, I'm already a step up from where I could be.

[cultfavorite]

That isn't a bad way of looking at it at all.

[He rubs his hand against her side where his arm is curled there, idly.]

This is another game of trying to predict moves. In a way, it isn't quite as bad as the last one. We have more than one round to evaluate what other people are doing, rather than having to bet everything on one shot.

[fujimaru]

[ That feels nice, and as tense as she is, she does relax a little when he does that. ]

It's still pretty blind, which I don't like. I don't like knowing my choice could directly affect someone's life... but I'm going to believe that no one is going to be so unlucky that everyone targets just one group.

I still want to register a complaint, though.

[cultfavorite]

Well then, go ahead. I'll listen to it. . . . I think you're right, anyway. Things will be more complicated in future rounds, but for now, the odds of all of us picking one team and condemning them are very low.

[fujimaru]

Low, but not impossible.

[ She sighs, deep enough to rock her whole body, then lets it out slowly. ]

I'm sure my complaints aren't a surprise. This is just needlessly cruel. If what she wants to draw our ridealongs out, then why is she making us do it? Why do we have to do this at all? After this, I think I wanna sleep for a week.

[cultfavorite]

. . . Has Minato told you anything about what happened when he made a purchase from the prison shop?

[He squeezes his arm around her snugly, comforting.]

[fujimaru]

No?

[ She lifts her head a little at that, just enough to look up at his face. ]

[cultfavorite]

Well. I think the whole story is his to tell, not mine. But we did learn a little more about the Warden. I believe her goal is to make our bodies into permanent hosts for our possessions, and to do that, she needs to break our wills.

[He looks down at her, solemn, but not overly dramatic. It's not the kind of thing he thinks she'll be surprised to hear.]

[fujimaru]

[ She isn't; instead, she nods slowly. ]

I think she's looking for someone. Maybe more than one someone? But for whatever reason, she thinks that she'll find who she's looking for in one of our possessions. And maybe she will--not in someone like you or me, where we know exactly who we've got with us... but say, someone like Minato-kun. He's just got a ghost of some sort, right?

But if she finds them, and she lost them before... I think she'd be willing to do whatever she could to make sure that person could stay with her.

[cultfavorite]

. . . That's possible, yes. I—there are theories. I don't know if this is a good place to go into them. She's surely listening in right now if she's ever listening in at all. But you seem to have come to nearly the same conclusions on your own. She is looking for someone.

[fujimaru]

It's just a guess--I talked to her briefly. After I woke up from all of-- [ she makes a vague gesture at her chest, at her heart ] --and she was there. It really sounded like she was hoping to find someone.

[cultfavorite]

What did she say to you? I think she must have said similar to some others. I wasn't able to get to her in time myself.

[fujimaru]

Not much that was really coherent. Just, saying that she was so close, and when she talked to me, it was pretty obvious she wasn't talking to me.

[cultfavorite]

Ha . . . it's almost enough to pity her. Only almost.

[fujimaru]

...I feel bad for her.

[ Of course she does. ]

It's not an excuse for anything she's done, but... she just seems to be really, really lonely, to me.

[cultfavorite]

. . . You're a kind-hearted woman. In a just world, she would reward that . . . you could offer her your sympathy and understanding, and she would respond. Things would change. Maybe someday. As it stands now—even if she's capable of that, she isn't ready for it.

[fujimaru]

Probably not. But that's fine. I'm used to waiting that sort of thing out.

But even if she doesn't want to listen to me, I'd like to think someone can get through to her eventually.

[cultfavorite]

Perhaps. Though the question is whether that will happen before someone less sympathetic than you are gets to her first.

[fujimaru]

Gets to her first... as in, someone who might try to kill her?