the end

[productions]

murder manor end



servants' wing

20 players alive.

[The walls of the servants' wing shudder and groan, but do not give out. Inside, the servants' wing is pitch dark, lit only by the glow of Kanaya's skin. Very slowly, the energy field flickers and vanishes, the great machine stops humming, the keypad goes dark, until it is simply a cold piece of metal.

It's difficult to tell what is going on; outside, it sounds as though a powerful storm is raging. The sound of heavy winds and crashes that could be thunder can be heard, and sometimes the walls themselves tremble as though in danger of giving out. Occasionally, bright flashes of light seem to light up the building for a moment, seeping in between cracks in the wall. It certainly sounds like a storm powerful enough to destroy the shack everyone is huddled in, but the building remains standing.

Inside, it is incredibly crowded. Twenty people, two dogs, a horse, and a dove are all sharing the space, not to mention the rodents, miniature panda, and Rin's lifeless body, and the space is only one room half taken up by a large machine. It is also gradually growing bitterly cold.

Gradually, the lost abilities and memories (including reunion memories) will return to everyone inside. The storm continues on for about a day; you'll have to wait it out.]

Comments

[motheringnation]

....it should be...harder then this....

[There's something close to hope in her voice.]

And if her people are fine....then maybe...

[notyetlost]

[Poland can feel his cheeks flushing, it's especially noticeable with how cold it seems to be growing the longer they spend in here.

That he was able to do anything worthwhile for Lithuania, even if it didn't seem like anything at the time, is something that makes him happy.

The warmth spreads through him like a wild fire.]

I'm glad that I could like. Keep that part of you intact, because that side you let me see was what made me convinced that you could never have done the things you did of your own volition.

[notyetlost]

He shouldn't blame you. It's not your fault.

If he needs to hate someone, it's just easier if it's me.

[souredsweet]

[he seems to consider that for a few seconds, not really looking satisfied or dissatisfied. he hadn't entirely been expecting an answer at all, so that alone is more than he thought he might here.

very much like Rapture in the end, though. there's a barely-there smile that comes and goes with fleeting quickness; he folds his arms over his chest, leaning back against the wall that rattles and shakes from the force of the storm raging outside.]

No one is walking out of here with clean hands, then. Is that it?

[souredsweet]

[he's silent for a few long seconds after that, staring at the sparkling dust of the tiara left in a smear on the ground. what a bizarre situation to be in... if he had more time to think beyond what just happened he would realize the irony in the situation, too; of Rin being left behind for what she was when he was so used to being targeted for the same thing. his own prejudices being proven wrong had ended in someone else's being proven legitimate. what a vicious cycle.

but those thoughts are for another time. the here and now is too large for him to shove away in its entirety; his attention eventually drifts away and forward again.]

Then that's that.

[souredsweet]

[that isn't something he had considered before, but hearing it now... he thinks back on the moment he had stepped out of the theater, turning one last time to search for both Clyde and Touko among those remaining. he had been brought back over two, but Clyde was the person he was most directly replacing; a human whose company he hadn't even minded by the end. there really is a debt - not only to people like Sonia and May, but to the one (ones?) left behind.

he still can't fully understand it, these notions of mercy and debt and being grateful for anything at all, but Gundam's words seem to have had some sort of impact.]

A reason like that... [he had never felt any sort of pressure to be a good person at any point in his life, but more than one saw something that he believes isn't there, and even his incredibly broken sense of guilt stirs a little.]

A burden like that is something I never thought I would have to carry. Not once in my life did I think such a thing... [not graceful acceptance, but not denial, either.]

[speakveryclearly]

I did think we had a sort of common experience there. And yet can't it be said there are different degrees of sight? From what I understand, we have two ocular globes for a reason: To grant us a full field of vision. So having the clarity to see the end of your path hundreds of meters off doesn't guarantee you know what's right beside you.

[throe]

Exactly, though I think many aren't readily willing to admit that as some of us would. [ She lips finally curl into their usual smirk, she shrugs. ] Maybe they eventually will, maybe they won't. I certainly don't have any regrets over what I've done to win.

The point of this game was to never make anyone look innocent, it was always just a fight for survival.

[notyetlost]

[Poland offers his pinky to Kaoru.]

Promise?

[souredsweet]

[after a few seconds he raises his hand, locking pinkies.]

...It's a promise. [it's a weird experience to say something like that and actually want to mean it.]

[vytis]

Her people must be fine. [He can't imagine any other circumstance.] The Republic of Belarus still exists.

[Therefore, so must Belarus herself.]

[hollowheart]

Just the people in my village. Others out there might possess it, but who knows? [She did know, but it was neither here nor there, a rarity on the margin of careful calculations.] The rest of them, they don't like us shifting, either. They can tell we're different even when we're all lumbering around like hulking beasts. It's like having a target on our back. [And for some reason this doesn't seem to bother Annie, as if she's come to terms with it.

She digs her heel into the dirty floor at Kaoru's mirth, seeing if she can wear out the sole of the finest boots she's worn in her life.]

You were obnoxious. I couldn't wait for you to get out of the kitchen whenever you monopolized it.

[vytis]

[Lithuania presses closer, ostensibly against the cold but mostly just for the closeness.]

There was so much blackmailing going on. They had me tell the designated killers I was the producer. ...I started to believe that I was really being as terrible as they insisted, a little bit.

[How many times had he told Poland he thought he was a terrible person during the game?]

But you always insisted I wasn't.

[souredsweet]

Hoh... Scorn from both sides? [he knows how that feels, but his expression lacks empathy by virtue of him not really knowing how the whole empathy thing works.] What an unpleasant way to live.

[he hadn't actually expected that Annie found him that obnoxious, though, and he laughs again.] Really? Did you? I could never really tell what you were thinking, always wearing that face... I'm a little surprised.

[souredsweet]

[he looks a little bitter for a second, since it's not like he needed a game show to tell him what a struggle for survival life is. just barely making it out has humbled him rather than riled him further though, so the bitterness fades after a few seconds.]

I wonder if there is anything at all that you regret in your life, or if you have made it to where you are now because you don't hold any.

[throe]

Once you let the throes of destiny guide you, regrets simply have no meaning.

[ But, she recognizes his bitterness simply because she's felt it too — the world has always been against her in some way. She places both hands on his shoulders, it comes off as strangely businesslike. Almost like she's a mentor. ]

People were so inclined to pin me as a murderer just because I have no issue taking what I deserve. There's no reason for me to justify any of the actions I've pulled here when I've been willingly winning for the Stingers all along.

Others will revel in trying to stop you to make themselves feel better, but the worst thing you can become is mundane... ordinary... just like everyone else! Why do you think we were chosen for this game in the first place? It's because an average person wouldn't have survived a single second here.

[souredsweet]

[he actually jumps a little when she places her hands on his shoulders, looking vaguely discomforted. what she actually says seems to put him at ease to at least some extent, though. it... isn't really how he had been looking at things, but it fits with what he knows of Rapture so well that he can't help but to smile just a little.]

I think it's that attitude of yours that kept you alive for the duration of the game. Believing that you would be one of the first to die was definitely a mistake... [which he seems more amused by than sorry for, because she didn't die so as far as he's concerned, he has no reason to feel bad for suggesting her as a target so often.]

I do not think that anyone in this room could be called that, though, you're right. "Average"...

[throe]

It's not all that a surprise to me. [ She shrugs, letting her hands fall back to her sides. Her smirk turns into a grin. Now knowing that Minx is alright and the Stingers are still on top more than ever before... her charisma seems to radiate the room more than usual. ] When you're a performer, you learn to ignore those kinds of things. I know perfectly well I'm good at what I do and I don't need anyone else telling me otherwise.

You, at the reunion, right now... [ She motions a hand toward him; him in appearance and him as a being in whole. ] This feels right to you, doesn't it? This is you, not what you were pretending to be for the majority of these past few months. You're... interesting, invigorating, completely different and you're here now because of that. Revel in knowing you have such a power!

[souredsweet]

[under normal circumstances, he might roll his eyes and label this as just another human preening arrogantly. actually knowing Rapture now, though, to some extent... and being one tiny step closer to understanding humans on a whole, he only feels a vague sense of admiration and a little trademark envy. that is the kind of self-confidence he wishes he could have.]

It's served you well here, anyway. [as for the compliment (a pretty high one, at that), he glances down at himself. he'd argue that he's here because of compassion rather than because he's interesting but he doesn't exactly understand the concept of it enough to articulate anything of the sort. instead:]

It does feel right. It feels like I've been waiting a long time for this. ...It's a little strange, though; I never thought that anyone would prefer the real me.

[throe]

[ The girl you saw before that's not the real me— no wait, wrong band. Rapture crosses her arms and casually shifts her wait to one leg. As someone who is so used to being in and around crowds of fans, she seems to treat this like it's a conversation that would be had in a single room at the manor. ]

I think you'll be surprised to learn that people find a lack of false niceness very comforting. There's something... enthralling about knowing you have a presence because you play by your rules and don't adhere to someone else's delusions. Riot was the one who taught me that.

[hollowheart]

You mean this delicate, concerned face of an angel? [Of course, Annie doesn't mean a word of that, but old habits die hard. It's good to hear laughter here again after weeks of terror.]

I did keep my distance from everyone, if you can blame me for that. We all try to survive in our different ways.

[hollowheart]

[It's one of the few times Annie extracts herself from the warmth she doesn't really need to make her way over to someone.]

Thank you, for sticking up for Stiles.

[balzams]

[Latvia can't bring himself to say anything, even though the subject hands heavy in the air.

It was odd, in all the years he'd known her he'd found her intimidating and kept his distance from her but in just a few short weeks they'd grown surprisingly close. On waking up in the theatre and regaining his memories he'd been eager to talk to her about the things that had happened but Belarus was no where to be found. Seeing her lifeless body was more painful than he would have liked to admit.

So he can't even imagine how hard this must be for Ukraine who had been close to her all these centuries. He sits next to her and something comes falling out with the rest of his tears]

I-I'm so sorry...

I wish [sob] I wish I could have done something for her.

[balzams]

A-Are you really sure?

[And he flinches as there's another crash of lightning. By now Latvia has pretty much cried all he can and all that's left is to be overly sensitive to the sounds outside. It really didn't seem like a shack like this should be able to withstand that kind of weather. With a slight lull in the wind hammering on the walls Latvia seems to calm a little too]

So what do you think will happen now...? You've always had good intuition.

[throe]

I wouldn't have said it if I wasn't absolutely sure. [ Her tone is light though and there's a hint of her usual grin when she says it. ] Thunder is a symbol of being rid of the serpents, clearing the divine evils that have upset the Gods themselves! I don't think we're the ones being punished either, seeing as our shelter is our aide.

I have a feeling once this dissipates... then our exit will be much clearer.