GAME OVER (S██'s Palace)

[pointzeropercent]

Comments

[pointzeropercent]

[Both Teal and Magenta are startled by the sudden introduction of the chair, breaking up their argument.

Magenta will respond to Mafuyu, though he's stopped yelling thanks to Interrupting Shalem.]

Tch! If we had really loved her, we would have prevented all of this in the first place. But we were too lax and didn't consider the possibility that Kanna would be acting nervous for reasons beyond getting the Sacrifice card.

[Teal will likewise respond to Atem.]

Well...he probably carries most of our sense of self-preservation, so it makes sense that he's like that.

[Even now, he's being charitable to Magenta.]

[prozaic]

[He'll leave the talking and negotiating to others-- Shalem is just going to stand here where he slammed the chair down, and is drumming his fingers on the backrest. He's just going to be intimidating (12), to keep Magenta from losing it at Teal again.]

[pointzeropercent]

[With a 15+3, Magenta doesn't look that intimidated. But with a 1-3, Teal does. He actually looks so scared that he ducks down to avoid getting hit by anything.

Magenta just looks at Shalem while gesturing at Teal like "you see this shit?"]

[prozaic]

[Just raises an eyebrow at Magenta, unimpressed. His intimidation sucks atp, honestly, what can you do when these people have already seen you die multiple times.]

[pointzeropercent]

[lmao yeah, Magena saw you die already dude.]

[beathollow]

And how would you have done that in a game that is actively stacked against you?

[pointzeropercent]

I would have found a way. That's why I exist: to do the things he couldn't.

['he' being Teal here.]

[beathollow]

But you didn't. You fought a losing battle for two people, and you know it. And now you're torn up about it, literally, or we wouldn't be speaking to two of you right now.

[pointzeropercent]

The only reason I didn't succeed is because he intervened at the end! I can't be blamed for his actions!

[beathollow]

( internally )

It was still you. And what would you have done if she had died, Shin?

[pointzeropercent]

[Magenta seems to react pretty violently to that, flinging a table across the room. Teal flinches away from it too, like he can sense what's coming before it happens.]

That is not my name!

[metagame]

Yet you believe it a lie, do you not? Your guilt was obvious. If you truly embraced your identity as Sou Hiyori... you wouldn't have faltered.

[pointzeropercent]

I'm not the one who faltered! Everything would have been fine if he hadn't intervened! Just look at him!

[Teal is in fact sobbing quietly on the other side of the room. He hates confrontation.]

Do you think he would have survived even a second in there on his own?!

[metagame]

Why must he do it alone?

[He tilts his head.]

I was in your position once... The angry half of a broken whole. I once saw tears as weakness, too...

We are separated now... That better half of me walks on his own legs elsewhere.

But he's capable of much more than you think. Did he not outsmart you until now? Does he not temper your anger toward better goals?

[pointzeropercent]

Oh? You think he was outsmarting me? You didn't think for a second that I knew where all of you were this whole time, or that I could shut this whole thing down if I wanted to?

I let you get this far for a reason, after all.

[metagame]

And what reason is that?

[pointzeropercent]

To get rid of him for me.

[beathollow]

Because being the man who put you in this situation to begin with is better? Is it? Is it really?

( its telling how mad she is that she doesn't flinch and instead steps closer. )

[pointzeropercent]

[Magenta does not react to this. If he notices her resolve, he doesn't show it.]

I wasn't the one who chose that name, you know. He did. I'm just sticking to the name I was given.

[beathollow]

( bluntly: )

And you're both stupid for it.

So I'll ask again: What would you have done if she had died?

[pointzeropercent]

Watched her die, then killed everyone else there myself.

[He seems serious about this answer.]

[finalmix]

And then? What after?

[pointzeropercent]

The game would have ended then, and I could have gone back to living my life.

[beathollow]

...

( she just whacks him upside the head. )

That wouldn't have saved you! It wouldn't have saved anyone! If you could have overpowered and outsmarted all of those people, would that facility let you out? Would they let you walk free? They already manipulated even children, what makes you so sure victory would have helped?

[pointzeropercent]

Because I have what nobody else there had: hacking skills. Everything there was electronic: locks, doors, even our voting panels were done on tablets. I had a computer, and with enough time I could have torn everything down myself.

But no. He spent our time creating that useless AI to make Sara feel better!