GAME OVER (S██'s Palace)

[pointzeropercent]

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[pointzeropercent]

[The attack on the barrier does succeed, and with the barrier down the big attack is stopped and the pair are stunned for a round.

But even though they are stunned, Magenta is still fuming after being lectured by so many people. He just can't accept that his viewpoint isn't the correct one.]

Shut up! You talk like you know me, but until today you never even tried!

[everyone's actions seem to be bringing Teal around though. He's still anxious, but for the first time he is speaking to Magenta instead of to the party.]

How could she even try if we didn't give her the chance?

SHUT UP!

[It seems like you're pushing them closer to the edge of realization. Keep going.]

[beathollow]

You aren't in that place anymore! You've lost that chance, but you're free to keep living here, or somewhere else! You never had to lie to us!

[moodwrecker]

...There's still time to change that, you know.

Besides - you saw my Palace. Looks like it's my turn to learn all about you instead.

[finalmix]

[ the confuse is over thankfully but: ]

To be fair, neither of you existed obviously in actual corporeal forms until today.

[ also: ] And you both seemed to be doing a perfectly fine job coexisting for the most part before all this.

[ palace. god of conflict shit. ]

[metagame]

And we're trying now, aren't we? I've already said my piece... You know I'm sorry that I never truly reached out to you. True connection requires more than one person! It doesn't have to just come from you! It has to come from us, too!

We can do this together!

[destage]

[Sayaka doesn't bring out her weapon. If anything, she's taking a risk by walking closer without one at the ready and in hand, but she seems determined.]

...And I'm sorry for that, Sou-kun. I really am. We haven't had the opportunity to get to know one another at all, and it is something of a failing on me. On us. But you were trying to keep yourself safe, right? You were trying to keep both of yourselves safe. You don't trust us.

[She is assuming here, but Sayaka walks closer.]

And I don't blame you for it. It's the way I've had to be to adapt to the world, too, at one point. To be cruel and calculating, to never trust anyone because they could hurt you if given even half a chance. Because the world is full of unkind people who do want to hurt you...

But it's just as full of people who are willing to be kind. To listen to you, to look at everything you are and still care. Not even because they want anything, but because they want to see you happy.

[...]

I'd...I would like to try to get to know you, if you'd let me. Because I really do believe that there's nothing wrong with being realistic and looking out for yourself. Because nobody's going to do it besides you, sometimes.

[Sayaka reaches a hand up toward Magenta, holding it out gently.]

...Would you be willing to let us try to get to know you, Sou-kun? Because I think there is plenty of good to you, even if you don't believe it. It's just...

Everything in life needs a balance, of that protection, and being willing to let people in...to let yourself show and be shown kindness.

[prozaic]

[Staying his blade because apparently everyone is just dedicated to yapping--]

[metagame]

[This isn't the time or place, but at some point Shalem may catch Atem radiating knife cat energy at him when they're both back in the dorm.]

[pointzeropercent]

[He wanted a fight. He wanted to intimidate them, to force them to bend to his will. Only with complete control would Magenta have been satisfied.

He just wanted to survive. He wanted to be left alone, safe by himself, with nobody to harm him or bring him down anymore. Only with complete isolation would Teal have been satisfied.

But neither of them are getting what they want today. And, in one last attempt to refuse, the desks and chairs start flying at the party but will largely miss due to the frenzied nature of the attack (and also that 6 that I rolled).

In one last attempt to refute everyone's words, they both back away from Sayaka's hand and let out an anguished scream in unison, showing how close they are to realizing the truth about themselves.

Give them that last push. Save them from themselves.]

[beathollow]

...

Someone help me up.

[metagame]

I've got you.

[If someone helps him anyway. She does still weigh more than him.]

[beathollow]

( considering her eating habits that is actually very concerning. )

[metagame]

[somehow he escaped joshua's wild ride without anyone shoving food in his face after dragon group found out he weighs so little]

[beathollow]

( to be fair, the one most likely to do that was focused on her, and she (the second most likely to do that, hypocrite that she is) was mad at him. )

[metagame]

[heh heh heh]

[destage]

Please, let me.

[Sayaka will gladly help hoist Atem up!! Her sword swinging has at least ensured she's a little stronger than she would be normally, her arms aren't entirely noodles!

...

If we need to roll for it, granted, it'll take a couple of tries because her first try is a 6, but she'll be able to get it by the second-- (12)]

[beathollow]

( with their help, mafuyu gets to the fractured halves. she wants to smack them both.

she wants to cry and scream and tell them exactly how much they've hurt her, tonight.

instead, she just pulls them over, an arm around each of them. )

You're both so stupid. But I needed my own personified compassion to invite others into my heart for me, so I am, too.

It's over now. It didn't end the way you wanted it. But that just means you can find yourself a new path, in someplace kinder. But neither of you can do it alone.

[metagame]

[Atem follows shortly after her.]

I meant what I said... I was broken in half once, too. In some ways, I still am. If you remember how you fractured and anything else that happened here once we leave... I'll listen. I'll listen regardless, because I want to be your friend.

MAJORITY VOTE

[pointzeropercent]

[Scruffed and hugged, Teal and Magenta feel the fight leave them. The chains slip away, the desks slowly fall back to the ground, and Teal and Magenta welcome the embrace they had been avoiding.]

A kinder place...that doesn't sound too bad, right?

...mmm.

[A person isn't stagnant. Everything they experience throughout their lives shapes them in unpredictable ways. Nobody can deny the pain and suffering they went through in the death game, those scars will be carried with them for the rest of their lives. But at the same time, they cannot forget who they were before all of that suffering.

A shy yet kind person, one who doesn't forget his traumas, but is able to accept them as a part of him.

Teal and Magenta, while hugging Mafuyu, close their eyes as two halves of a person.

And then he opens his eyes again as one person, made whole by the efforts of a group who chose to care even when they didn't have to.]

[There's still one choice left to be made though. What will we call this person?]

Discussion

[pointzeropercent]

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[pointzeropercent]

[prozaic]

[Shalem manages to scruff both Teal and Magenta (17) like stray kittens.

Here. Yap more at them, they're going nowhere.]

[metagame]

[Despite knife cat energy in Shalem's future...]

Thank you for staying your hand.

[moodwrecker]

[It's okay she can still get hit with a soft "oof" (4).]

Come on... How long are you gonna stay up there?

[She tries to find a convenient handhold to climb up to them, but sadly she is blind (4).]

[destage]

[That scream is agonizing, and the chairs and the like even moreso. Sayaka almost flinches from it, but she tries her best to persist nonetheless.]

Sou-kun. Shin-kun. You've both been trying so hard to protect yourselves for so long, and I get it. I tried to do the same thing for a long time, even when I was here, because of everything I experienced in my own game and outside of it.

But there is so much out there still. People to meet, friends to make. People who are going to try and understand you, no matter what, and want to try for you. It's a lesson I've had to get drilled in my own head too, but...

You're not alone. You don't have to be, anymore. We want to help you both find a path that can make you both happy, if you'll let us.