graveyard part 4

[gamehead]

hunter's game the graveyard You wake up in an unfamiliar cabin. At first, it almost seems like you're in an entirely different place and that everything had been just a dream. The interior of the cabin looks nothing like the run-down, old-timey shacks that you had been living in before. Everything in here is sleek and modern, from the enormous flat-screen TV mounted on the wall to the fridge and mini-bars stocked with all your favorite foods. There aren't any individual rooms in here, just a common area large enough to house everyone comfortably, no matter how many more people join you...and there will be plenty more people joining you before the week is over. Because if you look outside the window, it quickly becomes clear that not only are you still in Prayer's Pass, but that you are no longer among the realm of the living. Judging from the tombstones directly outside, you're now in what had been the abandoned broken-down cabin in the graveyard. The cabin's not all that changed; the world outside has gone completely grey and everything you see appears to be faded and blurry. The only things that remain sharp and in color are what's inside the cabin, including your fellow ghosts. Occasionally, people who are still alive may enter, but it's clear that what they're seeing is completely different from what you're seeing. The door's unlocked; however, a mysterious force prevents you from stepping beyond the threshold, no matter how hard you may try. After all, this cabin is a cage for the dead - a gilded one, perhaps, but a cage nonetheless. On the flat-screen TV plays everything that is currently happening in the town. It will shut off once night starts...and something else will appear instead.

Comments

[encored]

[after this comment, which he finds surprisingly touching, he glances over to Sayaka.]

That girl isn't so bad. I hope she won't make any mistakes that will land her here with us.

[condescent]

Ah, that would be my cabinmate. I have to admit that I'm quite fond of her, even if she's one of the regular abstainers. At least she seems to be doing it for her own reasons rather than simply following along with the pack. [it also helps that she's one of the few who actually feels bad about the way he died...]

[encored]

[and then madoka became an honorary member of the murder posse...]

Yes, I do appreciate that much. She seems like an honest girl, you know? I ought've talked to her more while I had the chance. Before I retired for the night she told me that she was a magical girl. Isn't that something? I can't tell if it's human or not, but she seems like she'd have made much better company than what we kept.

[condescent]

I quite enjoyed talking with her as well. She certainly comes off as genuinely kindhearted instead of holier-than-thou like some of the people here, and at least she realizes that her choice to abstain doesn't erase the fact that people are going to die anyway. If she and Sayaka are the good examples of the people in their world, I'd like to visit it some time. [yes adopting both magical girls into their murder club]

[encored]

The two of them do seem like impressive individuals. Can you imagine how well this game would have gone if we could have replaced the dead weight with others like them?

[WHAT A COMPLIMENT. wow are they going to become the meguca squad]

[condescent]

Sayaka alone has done more for the prey than the good majority of the people in this town, despite not even being sided with us. Still, if we're going to talk about what-ifs, can you imagine how well it would have gone had we been hunters?

[encored]

She was a fine person to have no matter what side she was on. That kind of conviction is difficult to find. [pointed look at clara and the doctor when the screen shows them...]

Ah, the game wouldn't even be a game if that happened. It'd be more enjoyable for us, certainly, but that would truly be a massacre.

[fortissimos]

[ AWKWARD SMILE... ]

Y, yeah, she... she's really great. She's the reason I went after hunters, even after what Critter did.

[encored]

[BRIGHT SMILE IN RETURN... chin up seyiku they'll have the last clues sent out tomorrow and another hunter dead by the end of the day, great success.]

You're quite the impressive one yourself, you know, and I don't hand out compliments to humans very often. [the other mayfield trio members can vouch for that!!] It's a shame you didn't last through the game together; having more sensible people in this mess would have kept this trial from going down such a moronic path.

[fortissimos]

[ IT'LL ONLY BE SUCCESSFUL IF THE LIVING PEOPLE AREN'T IDIOTS... she's not convinced yet. ]

... Thanks, I think. [ Not... really something she wants to be complimented on, but that's beside the point. ] It probably wouldn't have ended well, though. I would have turned on everyone else once I finished off the hunters.

I'm just glad she's using my death as a reason to solve the mystery, instead of staying upset over it. That's more than most people can say.

[encored]

[optimism!!!1]

Ah, right, your role as rabid. [nods... he doesn't look quite sympathetic, but it's something similar.] Well, Critter certainly selected someone interesting for it. Honestly, targeting the wolves first despite all odds... I was told you were even popular among the dead, you know?

I dislike people like her on a whole, actually, but her softheartedness is balanced out by the fact that she takes responsibility for her part in the deaths even through abstaining and by not allowing herself to become useless through grief.

[fortissimos]

Ahaha, well... I'm glad I managed to annoy Critter, at least. I don't think it expected me to act the way I did.

[ Because yeah — if her targets had been random like Critter wanted, this game might have ended a lot sooner. At least that's something. ]

She doesn't want to vote, but she understands what's going on here. It's not the blind hope some others have. [ Even if watching Madoka have to vote makes her feel sick... it might be what's kept her alive this long. ] I won't let her sacrifice herself just to help everyone else, though. She needs to go back home and protect everyone now that I'm gone.

[encored]

I don't think anyone expected you to act the way you did, to be honest. No one even figured out that you were a scavenger until a hunter suggested it.

[which is another impressive thing on the list of impressive things she managed to do... but he nods once at that.] It's good, not having that sort of hope. That's the hope that gets people killed. At any rate, I doubt you have to worry about that. Unless a fluke accident occurs, she'll likely see this game to its end no matter what that end is. [which might actually be a Fate Worse Than Death ending but he will be polite enough to not... say that aloud....]