murder manor - reunion

[productions]

murder manor reunion



[You are in a darkened theater.

In front of you is an enormous cinema screen. On it plays video of the manor, accompanied by appropriate sound effects and background instrumentals when fitting. The seat you're sitting on is large and plush, and while there's many of them, there's enough room in the theatre for you to fully recline the seat into a comfortable bed if you wish.

Follow the stairs up and you'll reach what should be the projection room. There are no projectors in here, however; it is simply a large and well-lit room above the main seating area, and a good place to hang out with your fellow eliminated contestants if shouting at each other across the aisles proves too much to handle.

If you leave the theatre through the door in the back, you'll find yourself in a hall. On one end is a concession stand. It's stocked with standard movie snacks - popcorn, candy and the like - but if you're feeling the urge for something else, you'll be able to find it stocked somewhere in the back. On the other end is a table with thirty wrapped bags and a placard reading 'A star for our stars! Please accept these lovely giftbags as a token of appreciation for your hard work, sponsored by [illegible smudge]'. Each bag has a tag bearing the name of someone in the mansion; you will only be able to open the bag with your name on it. As soon as you open it, any memories that have been taken from you, including those of the other people in the mansion that you may have forgotten, will be returned in their entirety. Within the bag are also objects from your home that you may want for your stay here, though you will find no weapons.

There are no other doors in the hall save for the one leading back into the theatre room. There are also no windows; it is impossible to tell where you are and what is going on in the outside world. Any attempts to break out will fail. So in the meantime, why not sit back and enjoy the show?]

Murder Manor reunion week has begun! The next week will take place outside the game (and will not be remembered by the living characters). Once the week is over, the living characters will be right back where they left off, Sunday night in the manor.

All the dead characters and eventually all living characters will participate in this week, through Belarus and Yuzu will just be empty shells who cannot interact with the others. Dead characters (except Lithuania, who never arrived) will all be in the theater from the beginning, whereas living characters will only be brought in once specifically introduced, and will be given their memories at that time.

During the times when Doris is taking questions, characters will not be able to talk about things that are 'off topic.' They can talk and reunite with one another, but need to focus on things relevant to that week or topic of discussion. Any time they get off topic, they will find themselves stuck trying to make the words come out of their mouth and will simply trail off. There will be breaks where characters can talk without this restriction, but the same will happen to anyone who, at any time, starts trying to talk about anything to do with there being a Mastermind or player to benefit from the game or planted player who isn't Lithuania. Codes and other attempts to get around this rule will still result in trailing off.

Comments

[hollowheart]

[Wait, what. Annie's cleaned up to the best of her ability (meaning the blood is wiped out of her hair and eyelashes, at least. She stares at the screen dazedly for a long moment, before slumping down in her chair.]

[speakveryclearly]

[Getting up and sitting next to her very casually. Sorry, Kaoru. The baby bird is out of the nest now. Probably some blood already has transferred from Annie's arm over to Kanaya's just from their armrests alone.]

I would have jumped in if I weren't so sure you could handle yourself. That was impressive, if in other ways unfortunate.

[hollowheart]

I didn't mind. [She was going to smell of blood for hours.] We both needed to do that, Minatsuki moreso than myself, but I had to defend myself, too.

[And a while back she would have answered with something curt, like fighting her own battle. Instead, she looks down at her lap.]

I missed you.

[speakveryclearly]

I missed you too. [She can't look her in the eye; the stains on her arms have all her attention. She's trying to fix this, apologetically--]

I'm sorry, you look really--[Delicious. Don't say delicious.

Well, she doesn't say delicious but she can't think of another adjective either.]

I'm sorry...

[hollowheart]

I look like a mess. [She holds her knuckles up to examine the scratches and blood on them.] Just like the old days.

[speakveryclearly]

[Must not reach out and take her hand and kiss it. Must... not... Maybe if she just gingerly encircles her wrist...]

This is probably not much comfort, but you look great to me.

[hollowheart]

[okay she really has missed Kanaya and she goes quiet at that, not pulling her hand away. Very quietly, she reaches with her other hand to tuck her hair behind an ear, like she usually does when nervous or anticipating something.]

[speakveryclearly]

[Kanaya can tell that she does not seem to be interested in stopping her, so... she does draw Annie's hand to her mouth very slowly, and proceeds to gently suck off all the blood that is there. When the immediate area is clean Kanaya looks up at her - too much hand in her mouth to speak, but asking with her eyes for permission to keep going.]

[hollowheart]

[None of the talk provided by That Really Loud and Annoying Guy Who She Can't Remember at the Moment has prepared her for this. When she finally meets Kanaya's eyes, she only nods, because none of this feels bad at all and the intimacy is rather pleasant.]

[speakveryclearly]

[Shit Kanaya should tell her to open her bag. That can happen later. When she is not using her mouth for other, more enjoyable things. Though Kanaya is coming up with some rather convincing lie about how very necessary it is to run her tongue along Annie's wrist and then press her lips as far as possible underneath her sleeve before giving up and rolling it up to expose her entire arm... if that was really all that's going on here, she would be much more diligently sucking on the soaked fabric.

At least she's not stripping her right here in the theater in front of everybody. But she is too quick to move onto Annie's other hand, forgetting her intention to ask again beforehand - this time Kanaya putting her mouth onto her palm seems a lot less disguised as not-a-kiss.]

[hollowheart]

[It's... Ticklish. Annie certainly has not seen that coming, and the feathery lightness takes her mind off the oddness of it all, lowering her inhibitions. She chuckles, a light sound between a giggle and a laugh even as her shoulders tremble at the decisive trail of teeth and tongue on her skin. In a few moments, any hint of discretion will be blown away.]

[speakveryclearly]

[Hearing a laugh like that makes her feel really, really happy - more than it should. Her eyes don't stay closed, but they gain a lidded quality as she once again goes as far as she can on this arm. This time shoulder territory occurs to Kanaya as well, and she pushes back the collar of Annie's shirt to expose.... She doesn't trust herself to not puncture her neck right now.

This is not a very efficient mode of investigation; with a jacket on, exposing shoulder is hard. Kanaya finds herself, after a little more mouthing over what skin she was able to reach, staring very diligently at Annie's collarbone like it is the one acceptable object in her line of sight. She is not able to speak again yet.]

[hollowheart]

[The rest of the blood is splattered on her temple and the front of her shirt, but she indulges Kanaya for now. This will be pretty awkward to explain to Minatsuki later if they ever have to. The soft hair brushing along her chin is still ticklish, and there is a quaint sense of peace in this action she has yet to find a name for. She is more capable of speech, though.]

Minatsuki will get angry if she sees you licking her blood like that.

[speakveryclearly]

She didn't seem to be completely upset about it before. [She's looking up at Annie now - she would have to straighten up more to be higher than her again - and bites her own lip, hard, when she thinks seriously about the prospect. She blinks it away. They've played this whole game in front of cameras, a prospect that is less than thrilling for more reasons than one... but for now she has something important, though not strictly speaking true, to say.]

You've got. Um. You've got just a little more. On your lips.

[hollowheart]

On my lips now, really? [All she's been able to taste after the fight was the tangy blood in her mouth and throat. It's the closest she's been to death so far, and it makes her feel alive, so she takes Kanaya's words lightly.] What should I do about that?

[speakveryclearly]

It's okay. You don't need to worry. I can handle that too.

[She says very seriously before softening just a little bit and then leaning forward to gently kiss Annie on the mouth. If she didn't have this excuse she would not have been nearly brave enough for an open-lipped first kiss.]

[hollowheart]

[Annie's hands cup Kanaya's face only because there are other people watching, and it may cow her into darting away like the first day or Rin's murder trial, and she'll have nothing of that. Of course, it's only what Annie's pretending to keep herself from being the one to run away this time. This one kiss is hardly ticklish, but it warm and fervent and sorely needed.]

[notyetlost]

[Some extra salty popcorn is sailing at your heads.] Get a room!

And I literally mean a room!

[This popcorn should taste salty for one reason and one reason only.]

[speakveryclearly]

[Kanaya was going to stop soon, if Annie didn't have her hands on her face. Really she was. This was her earnest and true maiden-hearted plan. But no, Poland. You (and she knows it is him, briefly shooting a glare in his direction) asked for this. Now she is staying right where she is and putting both her arms around Annie.

And if anything her mouth is opening wider. She is not sure how exactly to transition into a troll French kiss but she's gradually getting there if her osculatory partner goes along with it.]

[hollowheart]

[The only thing wanting to tear her away from this very pleasant predicament is an intense urge to get up and flatten Poland with the nearest object. But there are fangs on her lips and a rather hot alien pulling her close, so Annie retaliates with throwing her arms around Kanaya's neck, and pressing harder out of sheer spite. And perhaps a bit of lust. But spite, really.]

[notyetlost]

[Wow finally.

Poland's just gonna get more candy from the concession stand before they have the opportunity to taint it with blood and girly spit.]

[speakveryclearly]

[Thank you. She keeps sucking face for a while longer because she is enjoying it a lot, spiteful intensification or no, and she doesn't really need air, but there is only so much she is ready to do - with this unfamiliar feeling rocking her bones - and a little more she is ready to say. Still very close, to the extent her fangs almost graze the skin just around Annie's mouth, and sotto voce:]

I really am so happy to see you again.

[hollowheart]

[Surprisingly, Annie pulls away, chest heaving and aching for air and shoulders hunched, as if she's avoiding looking at anything but Kanaya's face. It could the light headedness, or simply the exhaustion from her fight with Minatsuki catching up to her, but she feels dazed.

Before she knows it, her hands are covering her mouth as her shoulders tremble. For the firs time in the game--in public, at least--Annie's crying.]

[speakveryclearly]

Shh. [She starts a desperate, supernaturally rushed attempt to kiss the tears off Annie's face. The salt may be pale and colorless but Kanaya nominally got into physical expressions of affection in the name of keeping her unsullied in the first place.]

I didn't think it could happen like this. You kept your promise, though, and here you are anyway. It's the best thing that's ever happened to me. Everything's going to be alright.

[hollowheart]

[it's hard for Annie to bear the tears with dignity, with no hands to hide her face from Kanaya's eyes and lips, so she lets her shower her with gentle affection. Weeks of putting on a cold, indifferent face have taken her toll on her, and taking on the resentment and loathing has worn her down to the sixteen year old girl she is.]

I've given up on seeing you again. And now I don't know what to do.