[elevator] [kraken]

[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

Re: DISCUSSION

[nailedthelook]

[ THE SLOWEST TURN TO LOOK AT THE REST OF THE CAGE. ]

Re: DISCUSSION

[trueholy]

[ I FEEL LIKE NOBARA COULD STARE A HOLE IN MY BODY HELP. ]

Re: DISCUSSION

[nailedthelook]

[ SHE'S FINE. ]

[ THIS IS FINE. ]

[ LOOK HOW FINE SHE IS. ]

Re: DISCUSSION

[trueholy]

Nobara...

[ she's being cautious. ]

[nailedthelook]

It only takes one team to take us out, and I bet there's at least one team willing to do that to protect the people they care about.

[trueholy]

That goes for us as well, does it not?

We can lower ourselves but we still have significant risk now.

[nailedthelook]

At this point, voting ourselves is probably pointless. If someone wants us dead, we'll die.

[hijinked]

[ biggest mood, except he's just slapping his face with a hand. ]

[nailedthelook]

Three raises and not a single lower.

[hijinked]

We were too convenient a target. Of course.

... If one team votes for us, and others do not lower us, it's over.

If two teams vote for us...

[ ... they're toast no matter what. ]

[nailedthelook]

If I were any other team, I'd take us out so that's one less spot in the loser bracket to have to fight to get out of.

[hijinked]

That's exactly what I was thinking.

[ ............ we're fucked aren't we ]

[nailedthelook]

[ Absolutely, she has zero trust for all the other teams. ]

I liked this jacket too.

[heartlands]

[THE MOST GUILT RIDDEN EXPRESSION POSSIBLE]

Nobara, I...

[nailedthelook]

Three teams saw us as acceptable targets.

Zero teams saw us worth helping.

It only takes one more team's vote to kill us.

What do you think are the odds of a team not taking that choice, in order to save themselves and some other team they care about from being in the top half of teams?

[heartlands]

[he's silent for a moment.]

I don't know. But even if that doesn't happen...

[it's still not going to be fun! so.]

You were right. I'm sorry.

[nailedthelook]

Of course I was right. If your priority is to protect the people on this team, you should always put this team first.

Always.

But that doesn't matter right now because we dug a hole and now we've been kicked into it.

Do you want to make an attempt at staying alive or do you want to accept the consequences of your decisions but stick by them?

[heartlands]

...It's like I said last time. I don't want any of you to get hurt. If there's a chance we can stop that from happening, I'll take it.

[they are almost certainly going to get hurt, but they might have a say in the degree.]

[cosplayed_out]

I think it's time we accept our death.

[nailedthelook]

Ugh, I finally got this outfit the way I like it too.

[cosplayed_out]

I'll make you a new one!

[nailedthelook]

Cuter this time?

[cosplayed_out]

...Sweet lolita?

[heartlands]

...We might not die.

[they will almost certainly get horribly injured, though.]

[cosplayed_out]

Right. We could "come back wrong."