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

[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.

[souredsweet]

[Rapture is basically secretly the embodiment of everything he eventually hopes to be when it comes to confidence! even though his own posture is very straight, he's taking up as little room as possible with a stiff stance and his arms folded in front of his chest.

he hums in thoughtfulness at that before nodding once.] It was surprising. I mean— It wasn't surprising that people disliked it being false, but that they would look at me after and say "this is better". [which he actually heard from at least one or two people. he's still a little shocked...]

[throe]

Chalk it up to learning something from all of this I suppose. [ She shrugs, briefly raising her hand, palm faced upward as she does so. ] It's more likely to be the unassuming one than the one without any regrets, I think Felicia's a good enough example of that. I did always think she would have fit in perfectly with the Holograms.

The fact of the matter is you're well and alive now. Live your life the way you want to and you're bound to find that fate is on your side!

[souredsweet]

These are weird lessons to learn. [bluntly... but he does hold some appreciation for several of them, even if he doesn't recognize it yet.

he doesn't have much to say in reply to her declaration of living life as he wants; it's pretty much the exact opposite thing Gundam had told him. he likes it better, in some respects, but he'll work out what he'll really do once this mess is completely over. for now:]

What happened to her, anyway?

[throe]

If it's anything like what happened to Doris after winning the previous game, then something tells me she isn't exactly going to be perfectly fine with it.

[ She can't help but grin. A primadonna hostess! Oh, doesn't that sound familiar...? ]

Something tells me she's the diva type.

[souredsweet]

[that gets a bit of a dry scoff, but he nods in agreement.]

She was talking during trial about moving on to bigger and better things, wasn't she? [he hadn't been paying close attention though, given what else was going on at the time.]

I would like to think that she won't.

[throe]

That's the ultimate blow to a performer's career and ego, which is a much better outcome than an execution could ever serve!

[souredsweet]

Then maybe letting her go was the best outcome, after all.

[if not, he'll just think of it as such, because imagining her getting away completely free with what she had helped do seems infinitely worse.]

[throe]

Something tells me that she'll be looking for work for a very long time.

[souredsweet]

I would be satisfied if we got at least that much.