pregame | i really hope we actually planned to have a cemetery and i didn't just imagine this

[feminitis]

Comments

[resumed]

I don't know about getting in touch with the other two, but we can try. Do you think Shinnosuke would actually tell us if we asked?

[shinnosuke seems rude but maybe he can still be useful.]

[feminitis]

Oh, he'll act like he's not going to tell us, but with him, you just have to listen carefully and read between the lines.

[see, she's smiling when she talks about it with nico, but if she was talking to shinnosuke directly about this, she'd be grumbling.]

[resumed]

[ah, yes, he's familiar with this brand of friendship because this is how he engages with like 90% of the people he knows.]

Sort of sounds like you've had plenty of practice. You must have spoken to him a lot.

[feminitis]

We were in the same game, so that certainly helps.

[going through murder together will give you plenty of chances to practice!]

[resumed]

[so nico needs to strangle shinnosuke for not mentioning percy sooner, too. good to know.]

What were the participants like in your game? Anyone else noticeable?

[moving on to another gravestone, though there seems to be a few things sticking out of the dirt that are gathering his attention as he starts shifting things around.]

[feminitis]

Well... that would depend on what you mean by noticeable...

[weeding... weeding... she reaches for one of the things sticking out of the dirt, kind of on autopilot. i imagine it is not a weed, though.]

There were a lot of very... strong personalities there.

[resumed]

[congratulations on your new femur, sei. this is yours now.]

There were plenty of strong personalities in ours, too. But there were also people who came from the same place before the game started. I don't know if it was like that for you.

[and he may not get an answer because bones.]

[feminitis]

[wHY BONES



sei doesn't answer - at least not right away. once she realizes she's holding a femur, she's just going to... gently... try to push it back into the earth. go. begone. go back to your resting place, femur.

when she does speak up, her voice is a little shaky, but she's trying very hard not to freak out since she did say earlier that she's not scared of anything.]

Ah... yes, we had a few people like that. Percy-san and Annabeth-san came together, and so did Jason-san and Damian-san... [damian is young enough that he should probably be getting "-kun" but he's also Intense so. he gets an upgrade.] Oh, and Chane-san came with her... husband...? [she's pretty sure they were married??] ...Lecter-sensei and Graham-san were from the same place too...

[resumed]

[goodbye bone! nico's casting a glance at the femur and soon the earth gently consumes it while nico himself suddenly frowns. hm.

hm!]

So there were a lot of them that weren't alone. [...he can offer the same information, at least.] I was there with Reyna...Magnus was from our world, too, but we had never met him before. The "detective" and Ann were from the same place and not exactly friends. Varian and Rapunzel, I think Sousei and Shirasu might have been, Jae-ha, Soo-won and Princess Yona but Princess Yona was already dead by the time we arrived, and...both of the Ions were because they were clones. I think. Something like that.

[you know! as you do! he's busy reburying a few finger bones as he goes and trying not to kill a few budding flowers, but...ah.]

Percy and Annabeth staying together doesn't surprise me. It's more unusual for them to be apart.

[feminitis]

That seems to be pretty common... I was alone in mine, but I think that's preferable. If I'd had to watch Okita-sensei die, I...

[her voice trails off, and her grip goes tight on the weed she's pulling.

well, it would have been bad! very bad. on the other hand, maybe if okita had died early, sei would have tpked and robowest would have ended early, too.]

...it sounds like a lot of people you know have been brought into things like this. [the two he was with, and... percy and annabeth too. yikes. her brow furrows.] I'm sorry. That must be hard.

[resumed]

We're used to it. People like us usually get called away on quests with a 50/50 chance of survival. At least those two were together this time. [...] Reyna died in the middle of ours. Magnus and I made it to the end, but we were able to revive everyone.

[feminitis]

I'm glad to hear you were able to bring them back... especially your friend.

[she smiles faintly, tugs the weed free, and then gives the ground a little pat to settle the dislodged earth back in place.]

...we'll just have to do what we can to make sure the people who end up here get a chance at a happy ending, too.

[resumed]

You're right. That starts with understanding more about the Nightman. We know why he's bringing people here, but there has to be more to it than that. There usually is. We were brought to the castle to help settle a war.

[feminitis]

A war?

[...]

But you had murders and trials, didn't you? What sort of war can be settled that way?

[resumed]

It was a little complicated. [clean up, clean up...] When we got there, we were split into three different factions. Depending on who was left at the end, it would determine the outcome of the war between Dragon and Tiger. The Crafters. It all depended how much ink was spilled and who was left.

[feminitis]

So they... had you fight as their proxies?

Is that it?

[resumed]

Something like that. We were split into heroes, civilians and villains. In order to get the best ending we needed three from each faction still alive, but they also chose two of us each week to enact a kill on their behalf. It became a game of trying to make sure we kept the right numbers alive.

[feminitis]

...did you all know each others' factions? Because if not, that sounds like a really easy way to accidentally mess up your numbers...

[resumed]

[there's a thin, annoyed smile.]

That would have been too easy. We had to find out by asking around and hoping it didn't turn out to be a bad decision.

[feminitis]

...well. That hardly seems fair!

[she huffs]

I'm glad it worked out for you.

[resumed]

I'm not so sure any of these games were ever meant to be fair, Seizaburo. ...but you, too.

[he's digging a few holes to rehome some flowers.]

I've been thinking of ways we can level the playing field here at least. But we still run into the same problem of the Nightman.

[feminitis]

Hmph. I'd like to kill him, if we can get our hands on him.

[sei you are a normie you don't stand a chance of that. but it's fine.]

...but our priority is to get as many people out of this as we can, so...

[she'll try to quell her stabbing urges... until they figure out a way to do that...]

[resumed]

It would be too simple. [would it.] If we were in a state that we could kill him just by confronting him we wouldn't be here. More than likely he has defenses in place that we'll have to tear down first.

And...there's the people. We still don't know who'll show up, or if they'll be people we know. Getting them to trust us should also be our priority if this is going to work.

[feminitis]

[she grumbles.]

Shady bastard...

[but, hmm. she frowns, because she came from a game where the npc was like, the opposite of sympathetic.]

...getting them to trust us might be easier said than done. I agree that we'll need to, though.

[resumed]

[there's a huff of agreement. this grave seems to be done, so nico moves on to the next.]

We need to, and we need to do it in a way that doesn't draw suspicion from the Nightman himself. That's the bigger issue. How do you trust someone without knowing their motivations?