thelastdanse | (no subject)

[ You wake to a comfortable silence, warmth and softness surrounding you. The room is dim, but a little light comes into the room. Should you check, the room has an ornate clock that tells you it is still early-- only a few minutes after seven in the morning. Although it should be no difficult task to assess that this room is unfamiliar to you in every way; your last memories will be a bit herder to focus in on. But the haze will gradually lift and you will be left with a few simple facts.

This bed-- this room is not your own. Nor is it the last place you were.

You are not alone. There are at least two other people sleeping in beds like yours in this room.

Now that you are awake it is time to explore. As you do you will realize just how many others there are in this building. Meet with them and you will probably soon realize none of them know any more than you do. Still-- considering the situation it may benefit you greatly to work together.

It is likely that you will see portraits of some familiarity positioned throughout the building as well as some confusing writing posted in each of your rooms as well as just outside of the Ballroom.

Looking around you will notice that you have practically full reign of the house-- with one exception. It would appear that right now the office is locked. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

You mean compared to the courtyard? [It's a logical progression, judging from what she knows about what courtyards are supposed to be like.]

Exactly.

[Good job, Eliza.]

Our living quarters were out there in their own little building, as well as some of the other facilities. One might even be able to run laps in there if they were so inclined.

[Eliza sighs a little.] I don't think you could do that here. You'd probably just bump into a lot of people... [There's a pause as she reminisces.] I didn't really run laps there, but I enjoyed leaping across the rooftops... [She just says that casually.]

[He glances over at Eliza, a look of surprise in his eyes.]

You could leap across the rooftops?

[He sounds enchanted.] Do you practice parkour in your spare time?

Well...not quite. [She looks a bit awkward about it.] That place...did give us all the ability to transform into magical girls, and we could do a lot more powerful stuff in those forms. I'd show you, but they took my transformation device.

... Magical girls?

[Well! That threw him off a bit!]

That place made you a magical girl? Like in various Anime and Manga?

[She smiles a little. That part was a good memory.] Yeah...I really like magical girls, which is why I was so eager to accept their invitation. [There's a pause.] It turns out that way too many people like dark magical girl shows that end horribly though, and they wanted it to be like one of those.

["Likes: Magical girl shows. Dislikes: Magical girl shows."]

[Not so redundant anymore, eh?]

I see... So it was a trap in disguise...

[He wonders what it would have been like if everyone in his class became magical girls. He can already imagine some of his classmates who wouldn't quite fit...]

[Gonta would be the most beautiful magical girl and you know it.] Yeah...I know if they tried sending me an invitation to this fancy dance I would have rejected it. [She leans a bit against the bars as she speaks.]

[Probably. Not sure about Hoshi or Iruma, though.]

Of course you would have. You have prior experience with this sort of situation. Do you think you would have accepted the invitation if you hadn't been invited to the magical Killing Game? For lack of a better term?

[She shrugs.] ...maybe? I like reading about ballroom dancing and stuff, but I don't know if I would have wanted to go to that kind of event myself. But if they said they'd provide dresses I probably would... [Fancy outfits are her weakness.]

[He appreciates the fancy, as she could probably tell by his uniform.]

You see how experiences and events can change us? I find this fascinating, myself.

[She nods.] Yeah, a lot of the friends I made in Town A weren't people I'd normally have been friends with. I used to judge by appearances way more.

I see...

[The time he recalls spending in the Ultimate Academy is brief... Was that enough to change people?]

So that experience somehow changed you for the better... You must be missing your dear friends, lost forever to the bloodshed, but you somehow survived...

[Kiyo doesn't realize that not all murdergame deaths were permanent. Sorry.]

Oh, um, actually, we all survived. Kind of. [There's a pause as she tries to figure out how to explain things.] The person running the game...Zange...it turned out that the one we thought was her servant was really the one in control. She killed the last gamerunner and became forced to keep running those games for a really long time...but she was also a goddess, so she finally figured out a ritual that could bring everyone back!

[There's a pause as she looks uncertain.] I don't know if the person running this game is like that though...

[... Kiyo stares at her for a moment.]

... So you were saved by devine intervention.

[He can't believe his ears.]

Yeah...I guess you could put it that way. There were some other people who were pretty powerful too, but I don't know if they would have been able to revive everyone...or willing. [Fuck you, Seraphina.]

... Right. I suppose that might come with the magical girl territory.

It wasn't just because they were magical girls...they also had knowledge about rituals and stuff like that from before.

... Interesting. Did they keep that knowledge during your ordeal?

Seraphina said she did...but I guess she could have been lying. She tried to kill someone and frame my big brother for it too, and then she denied it even though her helper already revealed her.

Hm... I suppose it didn't work. Was she caught and punished for her crime?

[For curiosity's sake.]

She wasn't the one who dealt the final blow, so no. [Eliza does not sound happy about that at all.]