randangonpa | Trash Squad Day 11

Trash Squad Day 11 - SECRETS

Are you ready for it?! It's the long awaited final event! This is your last chance to get close before your final dates and the final bonus event!

And, back by popular demand, it's the motive vi—wait, no, not that. Well, I guess you're motivated to build your relationships? That's better anyway.

...Anyway! Check your tablets! You will find you have a few interesting video files! They should be familiar to you! The catch is... if you don't share each one with a different person by nighttime today, they will all be shown to everyone here! We'll have a fun midnight viewing party!

This may seem a bit cruel, but... love is cruel sometimes. Take it as an opportunity to get a bit closer to the people you care about, or everyone will learn a bit more about you! It's win-win when you think about it that way!

[ On your tablets are a minimum of 3 video files! There is no maximum; it's however many you OOCly want to deal with. Each video contains some sort of secret your character has—'secret' loosely defined as anything they would be uncomfortable being thrown up on a big screen in the auditorium in front of everyone. The presentation can be as simple as lines of text with embarrassing facts (Alice wet the bed until she was in junior high!) or as involved as a dramatically edited montage of the murders they committed through their whole life. Your choice!

Each file should be shown to a different person to count as 'shared'. If there is anything they do not manage to, or choose not to, share with someone in particular, comment with a brief description of it over here. These will all be shared publicly in a post which goes up on Thursday before the date announcement post. ]

Game navigation
SUBMIT YOUR HOT OR NOTS AND DATE RATINGS by 6PM PST THURSDAY.
SUBMIT YOUR UNSHARED SECRETS ALSO by 6PM PST THURSDAY.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[She obviously didn't think they would get out of it scot-free, and was more interested in seeing if the punishment would be worth eating (or tricking other people into eating, because at this rate her best chance at winning this might just be the random cruelties of disqualifications.) But he doesn't seem to want to talk about it, so she'll shrug and drop it.]

Ahaha, yeah. It was worth asking, anyway... for everyone's sake.

[Niwatori lies a bit. As much as she's not actively clutching her tablet to her chest to hide her past from him, she knows the potential for it to serve more to push others away rather than bring them closer. Better to play the concerned citizen to start with.]

... S-So does that mean yours was, too? Unkind?

Ah, well... it's a mix of things which are always unhappy to deal with, and some which are just embarrassing... There's nothing that would be... precisely bad to have to share. So I'm probably better off than some people...

Nothing anyone could hold against you, huh? I-I'm not even sure how that's possible... what are you, a superhero?

[It would technically be a possible secret topic.

Anyway, it's only because of the stakes, but she's feeling pretty jealous of him right now.]

More like... they didn't have a lot to work with, I think...

[ Which reminds him of one of them in particular. ]

Um, would you like to watch one? Or, ah, would you mind watching one...

Hm? [That's an odd segue into it... but she's not going to turn down ~information~]

Uh, sure. Let me see!

[ He cues it up and hands it over.

It's a short video, just Shuichi toppling out of a locker onto the floor of a classroom and looking up at a girl in a music note-patterned skirt. Then it cuts to dramatic text: Shuichi Saihara fell out of a locker four months ago! Before that, that person didn't exist! All his memories up to that point are false! ]

What, what? [She tilts her head as he falls out of the locker at this girl. Is this an ambush? Or an embarrassing one, like he's gonna see her panties? NOPE APPARENTLY NOT, it's suddenly text, though it pops in so dramatically that she almost drops the tablet in surprise and has to pause to read it. She's skittish, okay.]

...Eh.... w-well, I definitely wasn't expecting that. [She hands the tablet back, looking at his face and not at their hands exchanging it.]

Was that locker The Matrix or something?

N-No, I... I think I was just stuck in there unconscious after they altered my memories. Waking up in there is the first thing I remember that I can be sure is real.

That's right... it said that they were false. S-so you have no idea what you were doing in your life before then...

[Her face goes a bit blank. It's also a softer expression than she normally has, more thoughtful than the simpering smiles she often wears.]

...Yeah, basically. So, there are really only so many secrets I could possibly have.

F-Four months isn't a long time, no... although life can move very fast.

[How far along in her training had she been in four months...? Enough to stop counting bodies? But if the Niwa clan had given her false memories, she wouldn't have even needed mental training to get to where she was.]

...

...Yeah. And the first month or so of that was two killing games... so. It's actually nice that the last few have been relatively calm.

Ah, so it's like I guessed... You were given those memories so you'd be better at the killing game, most likely.

[Niwatori considers this for a moment. She could give him some platitudes about that, but it seems like a waste, when she's got this video burning a hole in her potential reputation.]

... Shuichi-san ... I'm sorry I didn't tell you on our date, but, um. How to put it? I suddenly think we have more in common than I realized.

Ah, really? ...It sounds strange to say "I'm sorry to hear that," but really I'd prefer people didn't have similar experiences...

Yeah... umm, it's stuff in common, but... We're not that similar. I mean, I just plain don't remember anything that happened to me before I was 15. But on that blank slate was written with everything needed to be part of the Niwa clan, and fight in the Juuni Taisen.

To be honest, I thought the games you were in sounded more winnable than mine. You weren't even killing down to one... the skills you need to survive are totally different. You could even say that making friends was one of them, right? But to win the Taisen.... Making allies is basically asking to be stabbed in the back.

[She turns her tablet over, to a thumbnail showing Niwatori hanging around a man with a dog-like appearance.]

It may change your opinion of me... since here it's been better for me to play nice.

...It's fine. I promise... I've seen a lot of terrible things, and I won't judge you solely on what happened in the past.

That's nice... Although, um, what I mostly care about is that you just don't exercise a judgment to tell others. But you probably figured that since I'm showing you at all... pretending to be a regular sweet girl got me this far.

[She presses play, and even stands next to Shuichi to show him the tablet clearly.

The video doesn't start at the scene in the thumbnail. Instead, it opens in a garage... the man in the photo is hiding out in there, until he suddenly hears a noise. Looking up, though, there's nothing but a pigeon staring at him from the rafter... he stays still, sniffing the air slightly and twitching his ears, but thinking that no one will find him - until Niwatori pops out from behind a car, trilling "I found you!" He jumps back several feet and claws the ground, as she very nervously tries to explain that she means him no harm, even putting down her weapon and raising her hands. She explains that she wants to team up against the warrior of the Rabbit, whose necromancy gives him an advantage, using her power to see through the eyes of birds. Despite the Dog warrior's obvious disdain for her, she desperately pleads her case until he begrudgingly agrees. She's so pleased she jumps around, practically dancing.

Later on, though, her birds have lost sight of the Rabbit, all except for one of his zombies that stalks around in plain sight, and she apologizes to Dog. He silently assesses the situation, while Niwa merely smiles at him... Eventually, he heads back to her and she hurries to meet him halfway, when he smirks and tells her to let him see her arm. Seemingly confused, she holds it out, and he suddenly pulls her in to bite with sharp teeth, deep enough to draw blood. Though she cries out softly, she stays still when told, until he lets go. "How's that feel?" he asks.

She doesn't respond, instead looking herself over and questioning him. "Why would you do that? Wait, what did you do to me?"

"I drugged you, and you're welcome. I call it the One Man Army. It unlocks the full potential of your combat abilities," and he goes on about that for a while. Meanwhile, the doping is taking effect - first her face flushes a deep red, each breath a gasp as it spreads through her body. As she doubles over in pain, veins bulge in her legs, her pupils dilate temporarily as her eyes become bloodshot. She holds herself, wheezing, and the Dog tells her to relax, control her power, and get a grip.

"Okay... okay," she mutters, stumbling closer. "Get a grip... like... this?"

As she speaks, her hand raises meekly, until she suddenly reaches up, puts her hand on his face, and crushes his head. Once he slumps to the ground, she kneels down, digging around in the corpse. The meekness is gone from her personality, although the cheerfulness is not.

"Boy, that took forever... but I'm so happy! I got him to give me the drug." She pulls out a dark purple gem from his body, shoving his body all the way over as she stands back up with it.

"Dotsuku-san, I told you I didn't know about anyone, but I did know about you. I knew you were a poisoner, and I knew about your secret drug, One Man Army. You can't hide anything from my Eye of the Cormorant."

Pleased, she walks over to a nearby metal railing, and promptly crushes it in her hand, letting out a happy sound. "Aah! It's like maxing out your stats in a video game!"

Immediately she turns, bowing thankfully to the crumpled body. "Thank you very much, Dotsuku-san. Thanks to you, I just might win this thing! When I do, I promise to have them build a statue of you!"

As she walks away, she pauses. "Wait... what did his face look like again? Oh well, they say the looks don't make the man. As long as it has fangs, it's good enough."]

Oh, I said that and all, so I guess that's one way it's nice that I have a video now.

[She nervously babbles in the middle of the viewing. There's a brief text interlude:

"Other people are just components of a situation. Good people can fall into darkness. Villains can reform. I've tricked so many people, betrayed so many people, I can't actually tell anymore who's my enemy and who's my friend."

A crow lands on the shoulder of the Niwatori in the video as she walks through the streets, after the walking dead. "Take it away, birds!" She says with a sweep of her giant pitchfork. Ominous chirping fills the distant air, as an enormous number of birds come flying down to assail the zombie as a flock. It unloads a literally infinite amount of bullets at them, but there's too many for it to win.

"Killing by pecking. Sky burial!"]

R-Really, I think they just included this part for shock value... they'll only eat something for me if it's already dead, you know?

[This goes on until the birds are carrying her bones away, and Niwatori is relieved she didn't try to test the ability on the zombie like a dummy. Noting they've eaten her fill, she waves at them as they fly away, telling them to work up an appetite and help her again. The video ends there.]

Whew. That was so much longer than yours...! I'm sorry.

[There are probably other things she should be sorry about, but she'll deal with that if and when they come...]

Edited 2018-03-28 07:47 (UTC)

[ In a way it does feel a little familiar—like watching an execution. At least this time the victim isn't one of his friends. Still, that's a terrible thing to get used to, and it has actually been a while since he saw that level of violence committed by someone he knows, and his stomach drops a little as he takes it all in. ]

...That was a game too, then? Just a free-for-all of killing each other?

[Niwatori pulls the tablet back in to fidget with it... but her expression goes a bit serious.]

Yes... until one is left. It's a little different each time, but the basic rules for this one require the winner to obtain all of the gems, like the one I pulled from Dotsuku. They're a slowly dissolving poison. Of course, I had taken it too. You saw that I want to win....

[She trails off a bit. Want is present tense. As long as she still has this crystal, the war is still happening as far as she's concerned.]

Poison?!

[ Immediately concerned. ]

Are you... okay? Is there something...

[It feels a bit odd to have someone concerned for her, so she holds up her hands a little defensively.]

T-There's nothing to worry about at the moment. They seem to have stopped it from dissolving when they brought me here. After that, what happens happens...

[Though realistically, it would have passed through her body by now, like people who smuggle diamonds by eating them.]

Not "what happens happens"! If it's still a danger, there has to be some way to get it out safely... especially if you can go anywhere in any world. Een here, Tsumiki-san might be able to figure out something...

S-Shuichi... [That expression he's making is throwing her off, and she forgets to use the honorific.]

I'm not going to die from poison. No one's that stupid... it's just a time limit, okay? I promise I'll take care of it. Actually, getting it out early is a significant advantage, so I definitely would...

...Are you still... planning to go back to the game?

Yeah. It can't end without me... I'm really not sure what would happen if I tried to run away. I don't think it would be good, though.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

cw violence? drugs? scary birds?

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject