hiding my ferocity with smiles, calm down, this is torture;

[recrypt]

i've literally been just using RAS lyrics for all of these

Comments

FRIDAY, w1 post-invests evening i guess this is breakin+death+execution now;

[recrypt]

[ or it's late enough that the execution is playing instead of the trial, at least. let's assume 45 found shinobu and pulled her aside for a slightly overdue casual chat, considering that yesterday shinobu had injuries that needed treating first and then ... flayn happened.

the theater will give them relative privacy, anyway, if only because the sound of things playing means that anyone who wanted to listen in would have to actually approach or interrupt. ]

... Hm. I do wonder what the purpose is of making us relive these, but I suppose that's beside the point right now.

If it isn't a bad time, would you mind if I asked about your excursion to the cabin yesterday, Shinobu?

[wisterin]

There's little humor to be found in rewatching what you all have lived through. I'm sorry.

[ Even if it's not the point 45 wants to make, Shinobu can still address it. ]

I don't mind. The biggest thing would be the room with the fifteen screens in it. They showed our cabins and the bonfire.

[recrypt]

If nothing else, this one isn't quite so bad.

[ Even if something Galo says does make her want to retreat to Level II on the spot. But she doesn't elaborate, sighing and settling back in her seat. ]

Don't be sorry, in any case. It'll be someone else once our turn is done, I'm sure. But that room ... Surveillance?

[wisterin]

[ "It's like 45 said - if I believe in myself enough, I can do it!"

She glances over at 45 as that's said. Her expression is placid, but a smile is playing on her lips. ]

That's what others have thought, too. CCTV, they said, had that kind of meaning, and that was written on one of the screens.

[recrypt]

[ In the present her smile is very blankly frozen in place; the 45 from then, on the other hand, seemed a little more disturbed. ]

Do you think the house was burned, then, to keep you from finding anything else of the sort?

[ Are they watching even now... ]

[wisterin]

[ They're half-watching, or at least that's what Shinobu is doing. What's a mech? Or whatever it is that Galo's wearing? Using?

Why is it that bad to show that you care? Shinobu can't relate. ]

The fire started after I tried to remove the computer.

[ There is a lilt of uncertainty when she says computer. ]

But I do think so.

[recrypt]

[ Why does she not let people realize she cares? Hm. A mystery. One that isn't going to be touched on if no one comments on it, so talking shop it is. The dragon crashes through the barrier and she smooths her expression. ]

... Spontaneously, or was there a spark?

[ Did they... short something out by accident. ]

No one else was there, I assume, but did it look recently used?

[ and or vacated? ]

[wisterin]

[ Shinobu is polite enough that she won't ask about issues until the second conversation. ]

There was a spark, but it was behind the desk and not near where I disconnected the wires.

[ She doesn't know modern technology, 45. Help a girl out. ]

Yes, it looked recently used. There were no cobwebs or anything of the sort, but it did need to be cleaned. There were things left around.

[ She holds out a piece of paper but doesn't hand it over yet. ]

Anyone who looks at this has gotten dizzy or had their vision blur form looking at it too long.

[ By mod decree. ]

[recrypt]

[ A quirk of the brow. ]

Without having seen it myself I can't say what might or might not have happened... "Magic" is an answer I dislike relying on unless there's no other explanation. It's possible that the entire setup was rigged somehow to self-destruct if the power was ever cut or interrupted, just to make sure no one could bring anything out of the building, but that's just speculation. I apologize I cannot do more to clarify what occurred.

[ or it could have been not-deliberately but still poorly rigged electrical wiring. malice or incompetence? the eternal question. ]

But our voyeur is a messy sort, hm? Does it seem they left in a hurry? And... That dizziness, is that inclusive of our Directors, actually?

[ because leaving a piece of paper seems... careless. she won't reach for it immediately because she's polite, but it's definitely got her curiosity piqued. ]

FRIDAY, w2 post-invests;

[recrypt]

[ 45 might be a bit hard to find for a while, but if shinobu's looking, eventually she'll find her out by the lake, in the camp gatonina shirt and booty shorts. the clothing she was wearing is a bit of a mess at the moment, and all things considered, might still not be in perfectly wearable condition even after washing the blood and miscellanea out of it. ]

You were looking for me, I assume?

[wisterin]

[ Everybody being a little hard to find today is going to kill Shinobu for more than one reason, but it's fine!! She's squinting a little when she finds 45. ]

Yes. Are you all right?

[ She sounds mildly concerned. ]

[recrypt]

Physically? I am fine. Cosmetic damage, more than anything.

[ surprisingly enough, considering what they went through? she still doesn't look 100%, but whatever it is roomba skin is made of, it's decently resilient. ]

But that ... was an experience that dragged on much longer than it had to, in my opinion.

[ she's tired, fam. ]

[wisterin]

[ Do her injuries hint toward her roombaness? Shinobu, a 1920s or something girl, might want to know if she can tell someone is a robot or a human. ]

Was it taxing on your mind or on your heart?

[ It sounds more like a question asked for science than for concern. ]

[recrypt]

[ It might depend on how closely Shinobu is looking. At a passing glance, they look all right. Slightly closer, and things like- lack of actual scabbing, or blood, for the lighter abrasions. The texture of the scratched and damaged skin, not looking quite right. ]

Straight to the point, hm? ♪ A woman after my own heart... not that everyone's convinced I have one.

But you are correct. It was the latter.

[wisterin]

[ She is looking closely but perhaps not as closely as she would usually. There's something a bit more detached about her tonight.

Her usual smile isn't present, but it's not like she looks unhappy either. ]

Do you care if others think you have one? [ It's a mild curiosity. ] What did you have to endure?

[recrypt]

I care in that it's an appearance I need to maintain with some. Otherwise, it's hardly my concern.

[ people can think what they want of her.

the flat affect (apathy?) is something she notes, but doesn't much comment on. she's done similar without being cursed. far be it for her to mention it if shinobu won't. ]

Scenarios tailored individually for the three of us, less to do with whatever games it was that each of us was from, and more based on our personal experiences and old wounds.

I won't speak much about the others, but the very, very short of mine was that I was made to kill my sister.

[ blandly, like delivering a situation report. if it's clinical and is based only on the actual events, then it doesn't mean anything. ]

[wisterin]

[ She notes that, and she can understand that 45 is likely distancing herself in a way. It is and is not how she would handle it in different circumstances, but she will respect it tonight.

That 45 she wants to be removed. She doesn't care enough to probe too much right now, but it makes her feel enough that she visibly reacts, her eyes widening. ]

Even if you do not wish to hear it, I am sorry. No one should have been put through that.

[ And as clinical as 45 sounds, she knows it was something significant. ]

TUESDAY, w3

[wisterin]

[ Or it can be another day, if you want!

Wherever 45 be, Shinobu is just somehow there, too? Shinobu can be anywhere even if it's raining outside. She has her customary smile, so everything is more or less back to normal, discounting how her hands are even more bandaged now. ]

Hello, 45-san. I—

[ Have a memory. Shinobu finds her sister dying at dawn, and she's overcome with grief and a sense of vengeance. It's something that persists when she meets the demon who killed her sister.

Her anger and her hatred for this demon is all-consuming, especially after she tries to save someone and fails. ]

[recrypt]

[ they're probably indoors, and 45 is in the middle of raising a hand to greet shinobu back, when, well.

i'm crying ara because you going so hard has made me shuffle the memory i'm giving shinobu.

so now it's this one. (until 18:51) it's a broken memory, fragmented and staticky- details flickering every now and then as if corrupted somehow, but the most important portions vividly intact. your sister and yourself in the middle of a ruined factory, smoke in the air and blood on the walls, signs and sounds of recent fighting obvious both in the near vicinity and in the distance, after one final duel she forced you into, a duel you never wanted.

and yet... you're completely unharmed. you realize this is the ending she intended from the beginning. the virus affecting both of you, that would erode away at your being until there was nothing of you left, she took that entirely on herself, just to give you the chance to live.

you didn't know anything. you didn't know any of this until it was too late. too late to do anything but grant the final thing she asked for, to die as herself and not as some red-eyed (her eyes were gold) hollow shell, here in this damned building that's already become the final resting place of so many others.

your sister steadies your gun for you. the memory cuts off abruptly into static after you fire. it picks up again, just as staticky, with this. (until 0:40)

you realize that no one sent on that mission was intended to survive, least of all you. you will. you have to. this will be swept under the rug, they'll cover it up. it will never have happened, be written down as a tragic accident at best when it was anything but.

you have to find out who was responsible for this, and see that they get exactly what they deserve.

so it turns out grief and vengeance is a mood today. ]

[wisterin]

[ listen after 45 said she had to kill her sister in the break in, i had to give this memory.

Ah. These feelings are so familiar it's hard to distinguish them from her own at first. There is one distinct difference, and that's what makes her come back to herself.

She considers herself fortunate that she didn't have to mercy kill her own sister, but there is no real luck in having to see your sister die no matter how it's done. It's heart-wrenching, what 45 had to do, but she understands those feelings. Deeply.

It's why she smiles. ]

Did you take down whoever it was that did that to you and your sister?

[recrypt]

[ it takes her a moment to shake off the sympathetic feelings she's also experiencing, near-twin to her own save for the fact that shinobu can put a face to what it is she needs to destroy.

but when she does, she smiles thinly. ]

Not yet, but that's a problem I'm actively working on.

The problem, it turns out, is that they're hiding behind some very powerful people. Luring them out won't work when there's nothing I can offer them they'd be interested in, so.

Instead, I'm left with following the trail of corruption and conspiracy as far as it'll take me.

[ to whatever end that will be. ]

[wisterin]

[ Shinobu nods. She can understand in a way. After all, that's more or less what the demon progenitor is like. ]

Hopefully, you're sweeping it clean as you go.

[ At least, it seems like 45 is that type in her own way. ]

[recrypt]

As much as someone in my position can, at least. I can't say much for filling in whatever gaps are left behind.

[ dolls aren't people, and they're ghosts to all but a very select few. ]

... What about you?

[wisterin]

He's finished. I made sure of it.

[ Shinobu says that with a deadly certainty. ]

[recrypt]

Good.

[ there's nothing but the same sort of certainty reflected in her tone. dolls might not have the same concept of family, but all models of UMP understand.

... ]

Ah, but before I forget. What was it you were looking for me for, today?