the_newlydead_game

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game 02

ENDGAME

[A wall panel in the green room slides out of view, revealing an elevator. Get in it and it will take you down to the hotel (description here), where your fellow contestants - alive and ghostly - await.

You may spend as long as you want here, ordering up as much room service as you like, but when you're read to go home, you'll find that one floor (new to the current hotel occupants) has nothing but doors with your names on them. Exit, and you'll show up exactly where you were when you left.]

((THANK YOU FOR PLAYING EVERYONE. Ghosts, feel free to materialize and talk to people. You may now speak about your prizes.))

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[ A nod. ]

If I put it in water, the petals it lost would grow back. But it was hard finding vases.

[ She clenches her fists, arms trembling a little bit. ]

More puzzles, I had to keep solving puzzles...I went into this room called the Liar's Room, where every painting except one told me lies. I found the clue I needed, b-but...when I left I heard banging and ripping. I went back in and th...they killed her. The other paintings tore her up and killed her just for telling the truth! There was paint everywhere and it looked like blood.

What the fuck?

[ Santa's eyes widen. ]

That's horrible!

I didn't want to be there any more, so I ran out, but I had to look through these...dolls hanging from the ceiling by their feet.

[ She grips her skirt hard, knuckles turning white. ]

I went down another hallway that had paintings of...those head-choppy things that are used to kill people. When I went down the stairs one almost...f-fell on me, it cut off a little bit of my hair as I was running. It was so heavy it left cracks in the floor.

[ ... ]

I had to grab another key from one of the Ladies in Red. Guertena painted them because a lot of ladies tried to marry him for his money, so they're really greedy and want to take everything from you. One of them took Garry's rose from him, and left him on the floor. That's where I found him. He was hurt so badly he couldn't move.

Garry's your friend?

[ Santa is breathing a little too rapidly because of this story, but trying to keep his cool because it's not the adult's job to freak out around the child okay. He offers his good arm to her in case she needs a hug or something because of all this. ]

That's him. I miss him a lot...

[ She takes a deep breath, and continues. ]

I went to go get his rose back. One of the Ladies had taken it into another room and was pulling all the petals off, in He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not. [ And Santa should know that...pretty much means death. ] I got it from her but since she couldn't open the door, she...b-broke the window and crawled through it, and chased me down the hallway.

[ She shakes her head, more to reassure herself than anything. Chasing, why was there so much chasing? ]

I found a vase for his rose and he was able to get up, so we talked for a bit. He was stuck there too. He went to go see the gallery, and was all alone and couldn't leave. So we walked together for a long time, and he read me the names of the paintings that I couldn't say. He's kind of a scaredy cat...there was a painting that was just of a big tongue, and when it tried to slobber all over him, he screamed and jumped away. [ which was kind of funny, evidenced by her slight smile

It fades as she goes on. ]

But--then we got to a really big room with a bunch of hallways and locked doors. I felt better then, because I had someone with me, but the more and more puzzles we solved in that room, the more paintings would jump off the wall and come after us. The mannequins started chasing us too, and when we went into a room and came back there were c-ceramic heads everywhere, looking right at us.

One of the doors led to a room where there...was a painting of my mother and father. [ Her voice gets faster, more desperate. ] I didn't want to stay in there, with their picture, but the door was locked. W-We heard pounding. They knew we were in there and they were coming to get us. They cracked a hole in the wall and started coming in, surrounding us, and I've never been so scared in my life, I thought I was going to fall down and it would all be over, and they could claw at me and rip me up until there wasn't anything left...!

[ Santa stares at her, his spine tense and feeling nervous shivers. He's not sure what to say and so he doesn't say anything. He does reach out and pat her back a few times, hoping that helps her with a gentle gesture - but he's not sure what else he's supposed to do here. ]

[ If anything, she just seems content that he's listening. This is really the first time she's talked about what happened in that long, long room. She didn't even tell Mary. ]

...but we found the right door. [ quietly, in more of a squeak than a whisper ] I remember walking in, and Garry locking the door behind us, and then...I fell over and went to sleep.

I had a nightmare. I had nightmares about that room even here, and I wake up, and Mary's sleeping next to me and no one's chasing me.

[ ........ ]

I woke up this tiny room with a bunch of books....he kept me safe. He made sure nothing came to get me while I was asleep, and gave me his coat because the floor was hard.

[ So, you know, real bummer when some of the adults in the game turned out to be assholes because her lone experience with adults in a tense situation was "gain extra big brother." ]

Garry sounds really nice.

[ Wow Santa clearly should learn some things from him. ]

Is he... is he still okay, do you know?

I don't know. After I woke up, we walked a little bit more, and found Mary a few hours later. The three of us didn't get to walk together long, because these...these vines, from a painting, came up between Garry, and Mary and me. We tried to get back together, but we couldn't break the stones.

We didn't know what else to do, so...me and Mary left to try to find another way around. We were alone for a bit, and in the middle of solving another puzzle, and...we woke up here.

...shit.

[ He gapes at her. ]

I wish I'd known all of this earlier.

Huh? Why?

[ would he have changed his scheming, or something ]

I would have tried to understand more.

Which isn't an excuse. I should have tried anyway.

I think you did your best. You were upset, and trying to protect your friends, and you still were worried about what would happen to June, back home, right?

Thanks for listening, by the way.

Yeah, that's exactly it. But in the end there, I was scared of June, too.

Thanks for telling me.

[ For a second, Ib contemplates asking what she did that made him so afraid of his own sister. But her opinion of so many people is spoiled, already, she doesn't want to suddenly hear that June's evil, too. So, she just nods instead. ]

I just hope Garry believes us, even if no one else does.

[ ... ]

What are you going to do now? [ now that they've discussed her plans, what are his ]

I'm going home with Niles and Corrin. I'm going to help them fight their war and then we'll see what comes next.

[ He has a strange look on his face as he says that, like he can't really believe that's what he's actually doing. ]

Not sure how to fight a war, but I guess I'll have to learn.

Fight a war? Like...with guns? That doesn't sound very safe.

More like swords. I don't think they have guns yet.

Oh.

[ oh that's right, Corrin has a sword and is also a dragon.

....why are all of her big brothers such fuckin weirdos. ]

You'd better stay safe, okay? If you end up getting really hurt after all of this, [ after SURVIVING A MURDER GAMESHOW ] I'm gonna be mad at you.

[ angrily puffs out her cheeks. the most irritated hamster. ]

I promise I'll stay safe. I'll live to be a really old man and name a kid after you and Mary, okay?

[ He'll do it, too. ]

Pinky promise me, then. Make it of...official. [ on the first try. upside of this game: she has learned so many nice new words.

Ib holds out her pinky finger. ]

[ He hooks his pinky finger around hers and smiles. ]

I pinky promise.

Okay!

[ Ib smiles, and for the first time in this conversation, it's pretty genuine. Truthfully, she still feels a little frustrated with him about Mary, but Mary's coming home with her so there's no real use staying mad about it.

She's tempted to say something like "see you soon" or "I hope we can meet again", but that might imply coming back here, which...no thanks. Instead, she'll give him a quick hug, gentle as she can in mind of his injuries. ]

Goodbye, Aoi.

[ He gives her a hug in return and nods. ]

Goodbye, Ib.

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ENDGAME

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