night; caretaker

[gamehead]

With night's fall, you are once again locked in your cabin for the evening. Outside, a blizzard rages. The howl of the wind blocks out the sound of anything happening outside of your small room, and outside your window you can see only the white of frost covering your window and darkness beyond.

At 11 PM exactly, the candle on your desk lights, filling your cabin with a warm, yellow glow. If you are asleep, the light will wake you. You are drawn to your desk.

There, in the center of the desk, is your journal open to a page that was previously blank.

Caretaker, who will you choose?

Ada Vessalius
Akane Kurashiki
America
Aoi Asahina
Arya Stark
Babydoll
Beat
Bonnie Hood
Bruce Wayne
Bucky Barnes
Byakuya Togami
Charles Fei-Ong
Ciel
Clara Oswald
Damian Wayne
Edward Nigma
Eleventh Doctor
Elliot Nightray
Ema Skye
England
Gendry
Gundam Tanaka
Hermione Granger
Hiyoko Saionji
Holden Caulfield
James Sunderland
Joshua Kiryu
Kanaya Maryam
Kyouko Kirigiri
Lithuania
Luke Triton
Madoka Kaname
Makoto Naegi
Mayu
Mondo Oowada
Peggy Carter
Poland
Prussia
Rapunzel
Rikku
Robin
Sam Winchester
Sanae Hanekoma
Sansa Stark
Sayaka Miki
Sharon Carter
Spain
Stephanie Brown
Steve Rogers
Tony Stark
Touko Fukawa
Ukraine
Ukyo Kuonji
Xion

No one

You will have until midnight to make your choice, before the ink on the page vanishes and the candle flickers out.

Comments

night one

[gamehead]

[Tonight, at 11 PM, your candle flickers on.

There is a child standing in your room of indeterminate age and gender. It is wearing a mask that appears to be a rabbit head, and waiting near your desk.]

Hi!

I picked you for something really great!

[asapplepie]

[The atmosphere here has been really creeping him out, especially after all the creepy shit he saw in the museum earlier. Before the blizzard had picked up, he'd been sort of planning an excuse to crash with Lithuania, or even England if he was desperate. Instead he was stuck in this creepy, dark room, and was beginning to freak out a little.

So when a candle turned on by itself and some creepy kid in a mask was suddenly there, he screamed.]

Ahhhhhh!

Don't haunt me! Don't eat my tongue!

[gamehead]

[ The child bursts into giggles. ] Eat your tongue? Why, is it made of ice cream?

[asapplepie]

No! It's not! It's made of tongue!

...Are you a ghost?

[gamehead]

Huh? A ghost...?

[ The cheerful tone drops away slightly, and the child sounds puzzled. ] No, probably not.

[ And then, just as fast, it recovers. ] I'm Critter! That's what most people call me!

[asapplepie]

Oh. Okay.

[...Calming down slightly.]

Ghosts aren't real, just so you know. Also, what the heck are you doing in my bedroom?

[gamehead]

I told you, I picked you for something great. I have to explain all the rules of the game first, though.

[asapplepie]

Neat! I'm kinda planning to leave first thing tomorrow, though, so I dunno if I can play.

[gamehead]

I'm sorry, but that's not going to happen. The blizzard's raging something fierce. And besides, nobody's allowed to leave until the game is over.

[asapplepie]

What, really? Ugh, can I at least get a TV in here?

[gamehead]

I might give you a nice prize later, if you perform well. But first I would like you to listen to the rules, okay?

[asapplepie]

Oh! Okay, sure! I bet I'll win all the prizes.

[gamehead]

This is a pretty complicated game, so listen up! Everyone that showed up in town today is playing. There are hunters, prey, and scavengers. You're prey.

Every night the hunters are going to meet and kill someone! It's the prey's job to find out who's doing the killing. We'll host a new trial every day, and we'll keep playing, and hopefully you'll get all the bad guys!

But if the hunters outnumber the prey... too bad, so sad- you lose!

[asapplepie]

Sounds like fun! I don't wanna be prey, though, that's a sissy role.

[gamehead]

I'm so glad you're enthusiastic about it! You wouldn't believe the trouble I'm getting from some of the others.

But don't worry, you're not just prey! Like I said, I picked something really great for you. You get to be the caretaker!

Wanna know what it does? Ask me! Go on, ask me!

[asapplepie]

Those jerks! If it's a blizzard and there's no TV, who even cares? I bet it was Arthur, right? Arthur would so do that.

Caretaker sounds kind of sissy, too, but okay, fine. What does it do?

[gamehead]

That's a se~cret.

Being the caretaker means you get to guard someone from the hunters every night. It's super important! You can stop them from killing! You can also cure others from poison. Isn't that neat?

[asapplepie]

Oh!

So what you're saying is, I'm the hero. Okay, I'll be the hero. But you should change the name to hero.

[gamehead]

I would, but this has to stay a secret, okay? Don't tell anyone that you're the hero! The hunters will kill you if they learn your identity.

You have to be a secret hero. Like Batman.

[asapplepie]

Right. Got it.

I'll only tell a few people.

[gamehead]

You should keep it a secret unless you're super-sure you can trust them.

[asapplepie]

Right. I'll do that.

Thanks, dude!

[And...still really unclear about the whole PEOPLE ARE GOING TO REALLY DIE thing.]

[gamehead]

You're welcome!

[ Critter trusts that he'll definitely see the truth tomorrow! ] Any other questions?