[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

[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.]

[nailedthelook]

Then prioritize the team! Saying one thing and doing a totally different thing is chasing two birds and catching none!

You either play to survive or play to minimize damage. I wasn't kidding when I said it was two options!

[heartlands]

I didn't think I wasn't prioritizing us! I didn't think this would happen, or I would have tried to lower us last round.

[which is honest, but definitely naive! oops.]

1/3

[nailedthelook]

If you wait until 'it looks bad' then this is exactly the kind of thing that happens! It's like saying you don't need a helmet until you see a rock flying at your head! You wear the helmet at the start to protect against the rock just in case!

wait I lied 2/4

[nailedthelook]

[ TURNS HER HEAD AND JUST. ]

[ YELLS OUT THE BARS IN FRUSTATION FOR A HOT MOMENT. ]

[nailedthelook]

[ DEEP BREATHS. ]

done

[nailedthelook]

Okay.

Do you want yourself and the people in this cage to live, or do you want to help others?

In this game, you can't decide to do both.

[heartlands]

[he barely pauses this time, considering where they are. baby steps!! (are they)]

I want you guys to live.

[nailedthelook]

Then remember this exact moment in every game or trial or whatever like this from now on.

That's all I want. Not apologies.

[heartlands]

[he nods after a moment]

Okay. No apologies.

[...]

How do we decide who to raise, if we're lowering ourselves?

[nailedthelook]

Same as we did before.

[heartlands]

Decide who we can live with and then pick randomly?

[nailedthelook]

Yeah. All the unit we were trying to protect are fine right now.

[heartlands]

Alright. Then... If there's a team someone really doesn't want to target, say so now, okay? I think Phoenix and Yatagarasu are okay, so I'm fine.

[hijinked]

[ just. waves a hand. it's whatever, he really doesn't care. ]

[heartlands]

...I kind of hate to say this, but it might be hard to reach a majority if nobody has a preference and we're picking between all nine.

[trueholy]

The teams I am concerned with seem fine right now. I...will not object.

[fanstheflames]

[ also kind of miserably waves a hand ]

[nailedthelook]

Let's do Sphinx then. They're the lowest of the four teams we said earlier we're okay with targeting. We shouldn't just change our minds, otherwise some other team we do care about can end up in the same situation we are right now and you'll all feel like even more shit.

[heartlands]

I'm fine with raising Sphinx if everyone else is.

[hijinked]

[ a shrug. ]

I see no issue with that logic.