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

[speakveryclearly]

[She can feel Annie's body melting into hers again; it's an accelerated version of the process that overtook them before. Is she at the same place, then? Cradling her cheek in one hand as Annie's hair brushes against the back of her hand, she makes a little test.]

I know you told me to be more greedy but I should have figured this would only go so far.

[hollowheart]

[Annie hates waiting. She's never been fond of uncertainty and hesitation, and beyond this rooms was very little space for certainty. And yet, this is the safest she's felt since her arrival. She hardly protests at the light fingers against her skin but she remembers snapping at Poland for getting too close.]

Sometimes you have to be greedy because no one else can be greedy on your behalf.

[she tilts her head so that the top of it brushes along the underside of Kanaya's chin.] but maybe you like me fighting for you.

[speakveryclearly]

A little. [Now that there's no confusion, can she hide the thrill she felt watching Annie and Minatsuki duke it out? Probably not.]

It's not as if either of us suffers from a lack of advocacy, anymore. [Though outside there are still questions - how viable is an Alternitan master race plan? - she can share this small measure of certainty.]

[hollowheart]

Don't be dense; as if there was ever any doubt. [it is the closest she comes to a sappy love confession, following Annie's school of awkward flirting. The girl who's holed herself literally and figuratively away for weeks is still able to place and separate her anger from her relief, always he saving grace and her downfall.]

I think I can finally rest, now. I've been chasing something for so long but now I can finally give up. [whether it's struggling with what awaits her at home or in the past of her mind, she doesn't.]

It's a perfect fall.

[speakveryclearly]

[She lets her fingers linger on Annie's skin; no matter how warm she is Kanaya can't feel the ground underneath her legs.]

You would understand that theory of muscle control better than me. I never understood the evolutionary advantage of registering relaxation as a relief.

[hollowheart]

[She's given up on correcting Kanaya's quite literal understanding of their conversation at this point. Spreading Kanaya's legs further, Annie settles on the floor in between, instead.]

I've been fighting someone else's war and following someone else's ideals for the longest. I was just thinking I should start fighting my own and following mine, now.

Unless you want me to keep fighting for you.