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beewolfwrites · 3 years

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The Oar in the Sand - Chapter Four: Guessing Games

@cheshiya @tenseoyong @szallejhscorner @something-more-original-please @ofsunsetsandpoetries @nek0dzuken @allozaur @serenzippity

I’m sorry if there’s any typos or mistakes in this. Some chapters are just harder to write, and I end up repeating words over and over haha. If you spot any, do let me know!

As always, I’ll leave the AO3 link here. And I hope you like it!

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The Latin alphabet.

The message could be written in any language from English to Spanish, Czech or even Latin itself.

It could mean anything.

Unlike An, Headband or Pigtails, I had the advantage, and I could still save us. Except I had no idea where to start, and the steady pressure of the game was already settling on my shoulders like a thick fog.

The Queen was smiling at me from the other gallows. I understood now, the way her eyes had lingered on me back in the reception. She probably hadn’t accounted for a foreigner to be here – after all, her game was intrinsically designed for native Japanese speakers. And yet that smile, the way the corners of her eyes crinkled ever so slightly; she was still confident.

And she should be. She already knows I can’t read morse code.

‘I don’t mean to rush you,’ said Pigtails, ‘but do you think you’ll be able to decode some of it?’ Her previous hope had wilted away, and she was now watching me with apprehension.

The message glared at me from the screen, nonsensical and confusing. The dots and dashes were swarming, melting into one dotted mass that darkened the room. My arms and legs felt detached, swinging from this noose like a doll. So many people had died. The teenage girl, the business man, Pink Scrunchie, countless players accused of being witches... I wasn’t able to save any of them.

And now, four more lives would be added to the list.

‘Stop panicking.’

I jumped at the sharpness of An’s voice. The dots and dashes returned to their screen. My hands and legs were still intact, still moving.

‘Take a deep breath and focus,’ she instructed.

Swallowing, I breathed in and out shakily. My chest felt hollow, and at the same time, it was crawling with jitters. ‘How can you be so calm? 何を知っている分からない.’ I don’t know what I’m doing.

‘Yes, you do. Chishiya brought you to the Beach for a reason.’

Chishiya?

That was why she trusted me?

I couldn’t hold back a bitter laugh; no matter how much I loved him, what he did at the Beach, the way he had almost betrayed me, it was still painful to think about.

‘違う.’ You’re wrong. I didn’t exactly have the vocabulary to explain properly, but I was sure they’d get the gist. ‘苣屋は私を使ってトランプの盗むしていた. それが唯一の理由だった.’ Chishiya was using me to steal the cards. That was the only reason.

An’s lips parted in surprise. Headband and Pigtails were whispering in low voices. I couldn’t quite make out what they were saying, but from their tones it was clear they didn’t think too highly of Chishiya.

‘So that’s what really happened,’ An muttered, filling in the rest of the blanks herself. ‘It was hard to believe Arisu could be capable of doing something like that.’ She shook her head slowly, processing the new information. ‘I suppose it no longer matters, since the Beach is gone now. But Chishiya still made a good decision bringing you to us. I’ve heard about your games, and I believe you’re more capable than you think.’

I remembered my conversation with Chishiya the day before the second stage, when he told me I would be good at Diamonds. Back then, he was wrong. Just looking at the dots and dashes on the screen, I knew this game was beyond me. And yet, it would be nothing more than a simple brainteaser for someone like him.

I wonder, what would he do? How would he approach this game?

I tried to picture his response to a morse code message. I tried to imagine his methods of breaking it down logically. But even so, it was impossible to understand how his brain worked. He was totally different to me. He was rational and analytical, able to uncover a solution to even the most complex situations. All I could do was notice things. I wasn’t Chishiya, nor would I ever be. And right now, was he wandering the streets looking for me? Probably not. Knowing him, he might have even gone straight to the Jack of Diamonds venue.

No. That can’t be true.

He cared. I knew that. I’d felt his fingers playing with my hair whenever I drifted in and out of sleep during the night. I’d witnessed that unreadable expression of his when he first saw the bruises Niragi left. I’d felt his hands tearing me away from the balcony edge when...

‘If we were in a game together, and say, someone pointed a gun at me, would you do that? As in, would you stand back and watch?’

‘I don’t know.’

My vision glassed over at the memory. Chishiya, you...

You liar.

I rubbed away the tears and tried to hold my chin up higher. ‘みんな、ごめんね. 今大丈夫.’ I’m sorry everyone. It’s okay now.

There were only fifty-two minutes left. The Queen, who had remained silent this whole time, was watching on with a vague, academic intrigue. Despite the pristine neatness of her olive suit and her black shoes, she was relaxed, raising her delicate eyebrows as I looked at her squarely.

‘You said before that you might be able to answer some of our questions, so I want to make a deal.’

‘What kind of deal?’ Her eyes glinted as if I’d just proposed a new game – as if I’d made this even more fun for her.

The drawing of the gallows was still waiting, empty, on the second screen. ‘If we figure out this message and clear the game, you have to answer my questions.’

She took the time to consider it. ‘I suppose that’s fair,’ she said. ‘One of us will die here, so it hardly matters anymore. It’s a deal.’

I’d said those same words to Chishiya, and I had no intention of breaking our promise here in this library. With a little more confidence now, I analysed the coded message closely. Normally in a game of Hangman, vowels were a first choice because of how often they were used. But we could only pick two.

What’s the most used vowel in the Latin alphabet?

Most people would assume it was A, but if I had to make a guess, I’d probably say E. Lots of languages with a Latin alphabet, like French, Spanish and Italian, used words like el, es, e, and est. But if E was the most common vowel, would that make it too obvious a choice?

I chanced a look at the Queen. She was smiling, not in a manipulative or secretive way, but as if she was quietly supporting us from the sidelines. It was peculiar. There was a chance she had purposely avoided E because of how often it was used, and I wouldn’t put it past her – she was still alive for a reason.

So what’s the second most common?

U was a no-go. Out of all the vowels it was definitely the least popular. A would be far too obvious as well. It would have to be a gamble between I and O. There were just forty-eight minutes left, and there was no time to waste hesitating between them.

Pick one, pick one.

‘If it’s okay with everyone,’ I said, ‘I’m going to choose O.’

Pigtails and Headbands looked unsure, most likely because I kept switching languages accidentally. On the other hand, An was open to the idea, replying only with, ‘I trust you.’

I held my breath, transfixed by the dots and dashes before us.

A number of Os appeared, scattered throughout the message; two in the first line, three in the second, four in the third, and one in the fourth. The drawing of the empty gallows remained unchanged.

We did it!

Beside me, Headband exhaled a sigh of relief and murmured a subdued thank you. Much to my surprise, however, the Queen didn’t seem disheartened by our small victory. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think she looked pleased for us.

‘A good choice to start with, I must say.’ She clasped her hands together, resting them against her blazer. ‘Unfortunately, you’ve used up one of your vowels, but you seem like smart girls. I’m sure you’ll do well.’

How could she be so happy?

‘Isn’t this a bad thing for you?’ I asked. ‘Aren’t you worried?’

‘Should I be? There’s no good or bad,’ she countered, ‘just two perspectives.’

She’s a gamemaster, isn’t she? She set up these games, and she’ll die here if we win.

‘But we’re your enemy...’

She smiled warmly once more. ‘I think you’ll find we’re on the same side.’

On the same side? I didn’t understand. It didn’t make sense at all. ‘What do y—’

‘Don’t bother.’ An took off her sunglasses, openly assessing the Queen. ‘She’s intentionally wasting our time.’

She was right. The clock was now on forty-seven minutes, and the Queen seemed to be particularly skilled at raising more questions than she answered. I could interrogate her about all of this once we’d cleared the game – some things took priority. I focused my concentration on the code, trying to find some kind of hint or pattern there.

.-. .. -. --. / .- / .-. .. -. --. / O / .-. o ... . ...

.- / .--. o -.-. -.- . - / ..-. ..- .-.. .-.. / o ..-. / .--. o ... .. . ...

.- / - .. ... .... o o / .- / - .. ... .... o o

.-- . / .- .-.. .-.. / ..-. .- .-.. .-.. / -.. o .-- -.

From what I could see, the O in the first line was capitalised. It was a standalone word – usually that would mean the word was either archaic, or it was in another language. But the Os in the third line were even more curious. The morse symbols repeated themselves twice, with the Os hinting at what could only be either onomatopoeia, or again, archaic terminology.

‘What do you think?’ Pigtails asked.

My eyes scanned the repetitions in the third line. There was something off about it. Words didn’t usually repeat themselves twice in a row like that... unless they were poetic. It would certainly explain why the O was alone in the top line, and why this message was carefully constructed with line breaks in the first place.

If it’s poetry, I might have heard it before.

Headband perked up suddenly. ‘What about going with the most common characters?’

By characters, she must’ve meant letters. I still didn’t know what language the message was in, so I could only use the letters I knew rather than those with accents. Although, playing Hangman as a child, there were always certain letters that wielded the best chance of success.

‘Let’s go with M,’ I said at last. There was usually at least one hiding somewhere. The four of us looked at the screen in anticipation. My fists clenched at my sides as I willed for an M to appear in the mix.

The screen changed.

The wrong screen. A circle appeared below the noose in the drawing. The hangman now had a head.

I could feel the others looking at me, aware that they had put their trusted me and I had let them down. ‘I’m sorry...’ I told them. ‘I’m sorry. ごめん.’

A hand lightly squeezed my shoulder. ‘It’s okay,’ Headband said. ‘We’ve still got more tries.’

Pigtails stepped as close as the noose would allow. ‘This was going to happen at some point. And at least now we know which characters aren’t there. It narrows down the possible words.’

There was silence from An. Perhaps she was disappointed in me, or even regretting her decision to let me captain this game. I wouldn’t blame her if that was the case. I felt the same way, only my regret was stained with guilt too. If I couldn’t save the three of them, at least I would die too. At least I would get what I deserved.

I glanced up at the timer. Forty-five minutes until someone gets sent to the gallows. I couldn’t let it be them.

I can’t lose control of myself like this.

‘You’ve used up one of your ten consonants,’ the Queen reminded us, steady and composed as always. ‘As a word of advice, relying on an age-old strategy doesn’t necessarily work.’

Every time the Queen opened her mouth, she only confused me more. And judging from An’s response, I wasn’t the only one to feel that way. ‘Why should we listen to your advice? Our failure is your win.’

‘Maybe you shouldn’t,’ the Queen replied. ‘But I’ll leave it up to you to decide.’

She didn’t sound like she was purposely trying to mislead us, but that in itself could be what made it so misleading. Most people tend to gravitate towards common letters when playing Hangman – is that what she meant by an ‘age-old-strategy’?

In that case...

I took a deep breath. Maybe this was worth the risk. ‘I think we should try doing the opposite,’ I stated. ‘I think we should choose an uncommon letter.’ Realising I’d slipped between languages yet again, I tried to remember the words in Japanese. ‘逆が試みよう.’ Let’s try the opposite. ‘レアの文字.’ An uncommon letter.

The Queen could have purposely avoided using popular ones to throw us off. But if I was wrong, was it worth losing a turn? The bodiless head dangled from its noose on the other screen.

Only six chances left.

‘It’s worth a shot,’ said An.

Pigtails peered at us from the end of the platform. ‘Are you sure? We don’t have that many chances of guessing.’

I understood her hesitation. It felt like we were gambling with our lives, and I was the one calling the shots. And it was even worse for her as she was placing her life in someone else’s hands. ‘I know, わかてる,’ I tried to reassure her. ‘If it doesn’t work, we can try a different approach.’

Headband was twiddling her fingers again, although there was a hardness in her posture. A resolve to win. ‘It won’t be a waste, because we’ll know then that it’s the wrong strategy. I trust you two.’

It felt good to know they had my back, even if my previous attempt at guessing hadn’t worked. Maybe things would take a turn for the better? I exhaled slowly, trying to assemble the most unlikely letters. Q was definitely a contender. Z was again, too obvious, but X was hardly ever used because there were fewer words you could make with it. It was probably the most unlikely letter to appear in a game of Hangman.

Forty-three minutes ticked down to forty-two.

‘X.’

We waited with bated breath. Headband played with her fingers. Pigtails chewed on her lip. An clutched her sunglasses in both hands, her eyes locked on the message before us.

Please... please.

‘Relying on an age-old strategy doesn’t necessarily work.’

A black line appeared beneath the hangman’s head, his new body dangling from the noose.

#alice in borderland #chishiya #chishiya shuntaro #Chishiya x reader #chishiya x oc #chishiya alice in Borderland #Imawa no Kuni no Arisu #aib

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tory-ben-hi-shelton · 4 years

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my favourite quotes from code

"Okay, pal." Ben gripped our captive at both ends. "Count your blessings that my friend here is a total softy."

It'd been nice fishing alone with Ben. The two of us didn't spend much one-on-one time together, and he often went mute when Hi and Shelton were around. Probably because those two never let anyone get a word in edgewise.

"Don't be such a baby." I teased. "They're practically lap dogs."

"Lap dogs won't rip your face off. Or eat you."

"All in all," Shelton said, "this is a tremendously dumb game."

"You're a dumb game." Hi shot back.

More dramatic moans, but the boys stopped what they were doing.

"Fine." Hi.

"Whatever." Shelton.

"One time." Ben held up a single finger. "One."

"This game is popular?" Ben was sitting on his tackle box in the shade of a large Elm. "Sounds pretty nerdtastic to me."

"We can't all practice birdcalls like you."

"Honey, in my day a young lady didn't speak to her elders like that. We were taught manners." I was about to further reduce her opinion of my upbringing when the shade to Kit's office rose.

Kit once said I terrify him. He meant it in a good way. I think. Pretty sure.

"Tory!" Whitney squealed. "He's going to attack!"

"Maybe." I walked into the kitchen and snagged a diet coke from the fridge. "Try to protect your throat."

"Tory!!!"

"Later." Jason tossed a head nod to Hi and Shelton as he passed them. The Two Stooges clumsily returned the gesture.

Shelton drifted back to my side wearing a sly grin. "That was smooth, player."

"Shut it."

"I know." I signed, turned. Ben often knew what I was thinking.

Shelton rapped a short sting of characters just above the signature: Hemxvivobz

"That's useful." Hi said. "Sounds like a sex position."

"Like everything you do is cool," Hi snorted. "Still have that ninja costume you wore to my twelfth birthday party?"

"Ben, that's brilliant."

Suddenly, the boy was all blushes.

"No big deal. Easy, really."

"We have got to work on our decision making process." Shelton was shaking his head. "Right now we just follow Tory over every cliff."

"Oh, boohoo." I mocked. "Get moving."

Already handsome, flaring took his attractiveness to a whole new level. His coppery skin practically glowed in the evening light. I turned quickly, surprised by the colour rising to my cheeks.

Ben took a breathe, seemed to realize how hard he was clutching me. His hand dropped as if burned.

"Come on Shel-Dogg," Hi stuck out a fist. "After everything we've done, the dark shouldn't scare you anymore."

"And yet, it does." A moment passed, then Shelton reluctantly bumped Hi's fist.

Terrified, I lunged towards my wolf dog. An arm circled my wait and dragged me to the ground.

"Just follow my lead." Code for: I have no idea.

"Very nice," I said. "I wasn't aware break dancing was back in style."

"Now you are." Hi popped open a bag of Bugles. "I also do a killer mime."

Ben smiled for the first time all afternoon. It was nice to see. When he deigned to flash his pearly whites, Ben went from sullen boy to charming young man. I much preferred the latter.

"What happened?"

"A crazy female line backer pummeled my chest." Hi grumbled. "She's still pinning me to the ground. And she isn't as light as she might think."

Their Cinderella run had made Shelton and Hi popular with the older kids. The two were joking and talking trash, seemingly holding their own. For some reason, this made me proud. What an odd thought.

Without thinking, I launched myself at Ben, catching him off guard. The weight of my body knocked him over backward. Never hesitating, I jumped on his chest and started slapping his face.

Ben was slouched in the copilots chair, too dizzy to stand.

"He's no good for you," Ben said abruptly. "Doesn't deserve you."

"Just be quiet." Soft. "We're almost home."

Ben's eyes were slits. "That guy, he's..." His hand rose, fell. "Dime a dozen. Doesn't know anything. About you. The real you."

Mercifully, Ben trailed off. In moments, he was snoring.

Hi and I headed for the lot. I hoped Wimpy and Vomitasaurus and gotten their acts together.

"Off-limits." Shelton muttered. I chose not to hear.

"I could kiss you, Tory."

"Some other time."

"Choir practice?" Ben rolled his eyes. "Perhaps your worst cover story ever."

Hi grabbed Shelton by the cheeks. "You, sir, are a genius." He leaned forward to kiss eachother one.

"I try." Shelton flailed as Hi his first sloppy smacker. "Man, get off me!"

"Problem? Why?"

Hi looked at me strangely. "We're a little busy Friday night."

"Busy? Doing what?"

The boys exchanged a look. Hi snorted.

"I don't know about you," Shelton said, "but I'm escorting my friend Victoria to her debutante ball."

"Fine! I won't go anywhere else alone. Ever again. Scouts honour."

"You're not a scout," Hi pointed out. "No loopholes, Miss Brennan."

I nearly ground my teeth. "On my honour as a lady, Hiram."

"Excellent! I accept."

Hi lifted the heavy cream envelope penned with my name. "What's this?"

"Oh, that." Could anything matter less right now? "You guys are gonna love it."

I passed along our invitation to the Claybourne Manor. Their groans drew every eye in the room.

"Ben, stop the boat."

He looked at me funny. "We're in the middle of the ocean, Victoria."

"Jason's my friend," I said quietly, "but he's not a Viral. He's not part of my pack. He'll never mean as much to me as you do."

Ben's eyes snapped to meet mine. He stared at me intently. I felt my cheeks burn.

"And Hi and Shelton, of course." I added quickly.

"Of course."

"We're always one step behind. Running straight into whatever direction the Gamemaster points. He's owning us right now. Scripting our every freaking move!"

Abruptly Ben was beside me, his hand finding mine. "Later, Tor."

Voices intruded from far away.

"Oh man, she really did it this time!"

"Should we call a nurse?" Panicky. "An ambulance?"

"And say what, exactly?" hissed a third. "That our friend passed out after some bad telepathy?"

I considered running away. Joining a travelling circus. I had a savings account, and a tiny trust fund courtesy of Aunt Tempe. I could probably get as far as Singapore before anyone noticed. I'm very resourceful.

Hi, naturally, had opted for flair. His tux was crushed purple velvet with tails, accented by all white silk—tie, vest, gloves and suspenders. He completed the outfit with a freaking top hat and cane. Whitney had nearly fainted on seeing him.

Ben lurched forward to catch my elbow. "Jason will escort her."

Unable to speak, I thanked him with my eyes. "You'll do great," Ben whispered, patting my hand. "Just picture them all in their underwear." I gave a decidedly unladylike snort.

"Don't choke, Boat Girl."

I almost laughed. "Step off, bitch."

"Oh, we're, um playing a pretty serious game of Dungeons and Dragons," Hi stammered. "I'm, like, the head ... unicorn master, and Tory has to find my magic... beans. Seeds."

Hi cracked the door. "Ladies first."

"Why, thank you, sir."

For the hell of it, I dropped into another formal curtesy. The boys snickered. Then, straightening their soiled garments as best they could, gave me a polite round of applause.

"You okay, Tor?" Shelton had a sandbag on one shoulder, hauled up from the beach. "We don't have time for an ER run."

"We could amputate," Hi suggested. "Shelton, get the whiskey."

"Comedians, both of you."

"I dreamed it."

"Aha! You dreamed it." Hi yawned and rubbed both his eyes. "I think it's time we get you medicated."

"Good thing we're Virals," Ben said.

Our eyes met. He actually smiled.

"I'm with Tory," Ben said firmly. "To the end."

"Thank you." I felt a rush of affection. When it really matters, I can always count on Ben.

I stared at Ben, aghast, incapable of speech. My friend. My confidant. Trusted above all others on earth.

#this is a contender for my favourite book #virals #virals series #long post #quotes

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lotusdiscussthis · 3 years

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hey, i know v3 is DR1 and DR2 inspired, but is there any connection to DR3 anime? in the japanese subtitles there was a word that is word NG and it was said both in the video of rantaro and by Ouma in chapter 2, plus there is a lot of talk about anime and manga, brainwashing, all these things are also present in DR3 with a well known character who is Ryota Mitarai. Perhaps the future foundation formed team Danganronpa and used kiibo to get the cast to vote for a fake hope (brainwashing)?

Hoo, boy. The DR3 anime is something I vaguely remember in comparison to the games. I just remember bits and pieces and I honestly couldn’t bring myself to look at the episodes again and keep my reply for you waiting any longer. Though as I was looking through my past conversations with my friends on discord, there wasn’t anything particularly standout-ish.

I only found one possibility in my quick Google search that shows any relevancy. Here’s my source. It also holds a Wikipedia page link in the same post if you wish to further dig into this.

https://www.quora.com/When-and-how-did-the-Japanese-abbreviation-NG-meaning-Not-good-or-Not-OK-a-counterpart-to-OK-originate

[ NG is a term that was originally used by GHQ.

Japan was under occupation by GHQ after WW2. GHQ implemented heavy censorship so that any information that they thought was inappropriate should not be spread. In this censorship, they called Japanese drama and films that didn't pass it NG, abbreviation of No Good.

The word remained in broadcasting / movie / entertainment industry even after the occupation was ended, and its meaning changed to refer to 'no good' recording, film or performance. English equivalent is outtake or blooper.

And eventually the word was spread out of the industry to the public, where the word means something that is not OK in general. ]

This was surprisingly straightforward. I originally thought it meant Nonary game from the Zero Escape games lol XD

I honestly thought it was gonna be something more to it, but heck, this is still a understandable explanation.

The reason I believe it’s relevant is because NG is a Japanese broadcasting term, which would make sense given the fact that DRV3′s big “reveal” was that it’s actually a tv show. (Well, not really a surprise given that every DR story had something to do with broadcasting) This abbreviation would make more sense to the Japanese audiences than it would with Western audiences and thus why it wouldn’t register me or probably many other DR fans in the West. DR3 would also have Junko using Ryota as a tool to make content to bring forth more despair to viewers as if it’s some brainwashing despair propaganda.

But the only real connection with NG in all this is that it’s a term used for censorship and to prevent things from damaging the content being shown. So yeah, if the mastermind in DR3 were to use NG (Not good) codes, it’s to give the players limitations that would most likely doom the majority by the end anyway. For DRV3 however, the importance of NG comes from the fact that they came from the mouths of two of the most enigmatic characters in the story, Rantaro and Ouma. They were the only ones in the entire game (iirc) that mentioned NG in their dialogue, giving us hints that they were personally told from the gamemaster what they should and/or should not to. If that were the case, to give those two NG censors and forbidding Rantaro from saying something, then they probably were the most informed individuals that could easily ruin this “game”.

This is interesting because they were the only two characters whose existence are not fully understood amongst the rest. The fact that Rantaro (in main game) has “no memory” of his talent and was the supposed V2 winner, and there’s also the fact that Ouma couldn’t afford to be straightforward with his friends no matter what and he had the most sketch talent, aside from Maki. The NG term only pertained to the two characters that left the most details out about their lives when protags tried to get involve with them. (Yeah, we get to learn about Rantaro, but not until AFTER the main story. Like, what the hell) What that important info is however, I cannot say. Needs further analyzing.

As for the matter on whether Future Foundation’s part in this whole thing, my friend, Jacks, and I talked about it and she mentioned that she had theorized in the past about how DICE may have been put together by the Future Foundation as a branch or as a response to them. She wasn’t certain, but according to DR2′s chapter 6 events, FF were the only ones that have been able to witness the second game’s VW killing game and most likely have not been seen by the entire world. And with that said, if the DRV3 history book were to indicate anything, is that Team Danganronpa may have gotten hold of FF’s records of that particular killing game in order to document it. I’m not sure, but I’ll let you take that for what it’s worth.

I’m sorry for making you wait this whole time. I’m losing sleep and I was holding this off long enough, so forgive me if this seemed a bit rush. I hope that this response is satisfactory. If anyone knows more about NG, then by all means, get in contact with me. I would enjoy hearing what more I can learn from this.

Thank you for messaging me! Have a nice day.

#Danganronpa V3 Killing Harmony #DRV3 #{anon}#{answered}#{ personal }#Shuichi Saihara #Kaede Akamatsu #Kokichi Ouma #Kokichi Oma #Checkers #Monokuma #Ryota Mitarai #danganronpa 3 anime #Danganronpa 2 Goodbye Despair #DR2 #Rantaro Amami #Rantarou Amami

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arleendoss7567 · 4 years

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Solid Starcraft 2 Zerg Build Order - Good Offense & Defense

Mavik Pro Drone Cost http://mavikprodrone.net/. Is that what the founders imagined? Humanitarian grounds? To help never have adequate military to avoid the numerous government atrocities on their citizens and civil wars throughout planet! Is this Obama talking or Mavik Pro Drone Review other ones Bush? This commandment goes hand-in-hand with website. You cannot be decisive within your decisions along with no firm grasp of guidelines. Brook no heated issues. A rules call may be questioned but the gamemaster is often right! Any adjustments required should be handled happily surprised session to think about effect next session.

youtube

Honey bees hatch from an egg to begin their living. The eggs are designed from the queen bee. She can lay as many as 1500-2000 eggs everyday. When is actually ready to lay the eggs she achieves this in a cell for this beehive. This cell is designated to do this purpose strictly. The eggs attach to the hive with little membranes, much an umbilical cord. Jetski from the eggs from receding or getting injured. Exactly queen and the worker bees can trick. Drones do not have stingers. A specific sting cannot kill you unless experience specific pre-existing allergies. It will take over 1,000 stings to kill a human being. Some bees actually die after stinging a guy / girl. They have satellites required read an auto license plate from space, so yes that same technology can be used to have a national security threat. They do not need to spy round the entire populous of the united states for any reason but to monitor of where we are typically all going, exactly what we are accomplishing. The very first thing I would try can be always to exploit the mites preference for Drone larvae. You can get drone starting frames for the hive. These frames have larger starting cells and can be therefore better suited to growing drone caterpillar. The mites seem to know this and show a preference for these cells. This would concentrate the mite infestations more to such frames. You can find sufficient Drone brooded within the standard frames to offer the colony. Another quick question how does anything they're doing keep you, or this country safe? In the past 30years I can't think of this single thing that any kind of them carried out to help this country or keeping it safe from invaders. Will leaving the borders open achieve a good country. This isn't a common strategy faster I opt this Choose to wall off topic what race I am facing soon after build the Factory and Starport quitting the wall so they will not likely see things i am up to a whopping. If get followed the above StarCraft 2 build order, at this stage from the game be able to generate a zealot at most gateway because probes at your nexus. Not have considered about 15 probes and 6 zealots and a 28 food supply you'll expect you'll rush the other fighter.

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enddaysengine · 5 years

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Building Mario (L5R)

Between working from home, freelancing, and well… everything, I’m feeling a bit burnt out, so I want to try something different today. I love building characters, and an exercise I particularly enjoy is recreating characters from media as RPG PCs. I contemplated doing this for Pathfinder or Starfinder in the past, only to discover that Tulok the Barbarian was already doing precisely that on Youtube for 5e, so I shelved the idea. (Tulok’s Building Character series is great though, check it out!)

While social distancing, I’ve been digging into the latest Legend of the Five Ring RPG properly for the first time. I never played the L5R card game, but Rokugan has a special place in my heart since I started playing D&D right at the same time L5R did their d20 experiment with WotC’s support. In fact, that was one of my first books! Plus, a couple of my freelance colleagues and developers work on L5R, and I try to go out of my way to read my peers’ work.

So today, I’m going to give you my take on building Mario in L5R! And while Mario may seem like an odd fit for a samurai drama, allow me to present my counter-argument:

(Also, it’s my series, and I find this fun, so I’ll convert who I like!)

I’m not going to dive deep on all of L5R’s Twenty Questions, but I will cover enough to give all the mechanics and a basic background, as well as some suggestions for advancement. I’m also going to try to restrict myself to only using schools from within the character’s clan, although as I make more characters, I’m sure I’ll break that rule a couple times. Here are my goals with this build:

Mario’s a plumber, which means he’s not afraid of getting his hands dirty and doing some manual labour.

Mario’s got some magic on his side, allowing him to shoot fireballs at his enemies.

Mario’s athletic, allowing him to stomp on his enemies or pound him into submission with his hammer.

First off, we need Mario’s clan. The plumber doesn’t translate smoothly into a samurai fantasy, but since Super Mario Maker is a thing, I’m going to interpret that as him being a proficient engineer. We know he is a supremely dependable warrior who defends the Mushroom Kingdom, both of which point me toward the Crab and their Earth Ring. For a bonus, this gives us a rank in Fitness for more jumping action and sets our Status to 30.

Moving on to Family, we see the other reason I wanted Mario to be a Crab (that sentence is weird if you take it out of context). If we are talking about a Crab engineer, we must be talking about the Kaiu family. Boost your Fire Ring, Mario’s a passionate guy and knows how to do about a billion jobs, so he’s got to be a quick learner. This also nets the Smithing and Labor ranks we need to be an engineer and sets our Glory to 40.

Moving over to school, I’m making Mario a Hida Defender. This maxes out our Earth Ring at character creation and bumps up our Water Ring. Take Fitness for more jumping action, as well as Martial Arts (Melee), Martial Arts (Unarmed), Meditation, and Tactics. Take Striking as Earth as your optional Kata, as you get Lord Hida’s Grip, perfect for downing Bowser and his oversized Bosses once you boost your Void Ring. Finally, we’ll get Mario his hammer by taking the ōtsuchi as part of his starting outfit. Within the school, Mario’s Void Ring distinguished him. Boos, walking skeletons, giant dragons, Mario faces them all down without losing his nerve.

95% of the time, Mario has to go out and rescue Princess Peach, which gives us a nice, clear giri. Mario is out to rescue a noble captive, likely a courtier (I will leave details up to you). Picking a ninjō is tougher given Mario’s lack of character development, but he is the most famous working-class hero in video games. I’m using it to suggest that Mario wants to be known for his hard work. Thus, since he is an engineer, I’ll say his ninjō is to build a world-famous castle (again, see Mario Maker).

Many distinctions work for Mario, but I’m trying to preserve that working-class everyman feel, I’m going to give him Ebisu’s Blessing instead. In a similar vein, we can also give him the Adopted Peasant adversity to reflect his humble origins. Although it is easy to miss in the games, if you listen carefully, Mario is clearly enjoying all of the ridiculous worlds he has to explore to save Peach, which gives him the Daredevil passion. There’s also not much in the way of mercy in these worlds, Mario pretty much has to beat up his enemies until they are toast, so we can give him the Ferocity anxiety.

Mario’s relationship with the rest of the Crab Clan is good, he certainly upholds the Courage virtue, so we’ll take the boost to Glory. Likewise, there aren’t any tenants of Bushidō Mario would disagree with, so we’ll take the increase to Honor too.

For a mentor, I’m choosing Yoshi since he literally saved Baby Mario’s butt time and again. That’s a positive relationship (sacrificial jump memes aside), so we’ll take the advantage and choose Support of the Dragon Clan. Yes, I’m being exactly that literal. Your Game Master may want you to make that more specific, but it works as long as it’s Dragon related.

For relationships, we’re going to say that Mario took the axe that destroyed the floor of Bowser’s castle back in the NES games, so we’ll give him an ono as well. It doesn’t reflect the mechanics of any Mario game, but it is a nice continuity nod.

We don’t really know anything firm about Mario’s parents, although double-checking what we do know did give me a new headcanon.

Art by Marcus Williams

What I do know is that we want Mario to have at least one rank in Medicine, courtesy of Dr. Mario. Smash may make them into different characters, but I’m not. Finally, that leaves us with Mario’s Heritage. If your Gamemaster lets you pick your Heritage, take Stolen Knowledge, then use it to pick up the Flame Fist kihō for Mario’s fireballs. We could also take The Fires from Within invocation, and I had that down for a long time since it has range. Ultimately, I decided on Flame Fist since it fits this build a bit better mechanically.

And that’s a-me a-Mario!

Clan: Crab

Family: Kaiu

School: Hida Defender (Void)

Ancestor: Stolen Knowledge

Rings: Air 1, Earth 3, Fire 2, Water 2, Void 2

Skills: Fitness 2, Labor 1, Martial Arts (Melee) 1, Martial Arts (Unarmed), Medicine 1, Meditation 1, Smithing 1, Tactics 1

Honor: 45

Glory: 45

Status: 30

Composure: 10

Endurance: 10

Focus: 3

Vigilance: 2

Void Points: 1

Kata: Lord Hida’s Grip, Striking as Earth

Kihō: Flame Fist

Abilities: Way of the Crab

Giri: Rescue a captive from the lord’s court

Ninjo: Build a famous castle

Distinction: Ebisu’s Blessing, Support of the Dragon Clan

Adversity: Adopted Peasant

Passion: Daredevil

Anxiety: Ferocity

Wealth: 5 koku

Items: Lacquered armor, traveling clothes, daishō, ono, ōtsuchi, club, knife, traveling pack.

For advancement, we’ll want to keep raising the Earth, Fire, and Void Rings (remember Lord Hida’s Grip keys off Void). Water would also be appropriate since Mario is friendly and flexible. Fitness, Labour, Martial Arts, and Medicine will be the essential Skills to increase, and we’ll want to put some ranks into Games for Mario Party as well. If you’re a Mario+Rabbids: Kingdom Battle fan, put some in Command and Tactics too. Mario’s been in more than a few RPGs, so Honest Assessment and Touchstone of Courage represent his ability to help members of his party. At the same time, Iron in the Mountains Style and Rushing Avalanche Style makes your hammer even more brutal, and the various Striking as [Ring] katas can represent different jump attacks for unarmed combat.

#Legend of the Five Rings #Character Creation #Mario #Nintendo #RPG #L5R

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like-a-bag-of-potatoes · 5 years

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12 Dates of Christmas - Mistletoe

AN: This is a series from the 12 days of christmas challenge that I did last year, but considering the blog redo and the fact that it's Christmas, I thought it was a good time for a rerun. Hope you all enjoy!

Characters: Sebastian x Reader

Warnings: Mostly fluffy throughout the series.

Wordcount: 2226

“And how exactly is this supposed to get me in the holiday spirit?” you wondered as you and Sebastian stood in front of his friend’s door, ready to join the party.

“Uhmm… I actually had something else planned, but then Chace convinced me that we should come here instead,” he admitted. “But he assured me it would be Christmas themed, so I figured why not.”

“Alright,” you dragged. In all honesty, you weren't exactly thrilled about the idea, but Seb had this ‘lost puppy dog face’ that he made and you could never say no to him… so here you were.

“If it sucks, I promise I'll take you home,” he assured as he pushed the doorbell.

It didn't take long before Chace opened the door and greeted the two of you with a wide smile. “(YN), Seb… just in time for games,” he said excitedly. Chace was extremely attractive and for a while you had a secret crush on him, but since he was Seb’s best friend, you had never acted on it.

“Yay… games,” you murmured, your voice laced with sarcasm as you unbuttoned your coat.

“Don't worry, you have time for a drink first,” Chace assured with a charming smile as he held out his hand to take your coat. “Wow, (YN), you look beautiful,” he commented as he let his eyes travel your body.

“Thank you. You don't look too bad yourself,” you complimented, hoping that the seven layers of makeup that you put on helped hide the blush that rose to your cheek.

You might not have seen the scowl that Seb sent his friend, but Chace sure did and he was quick to excuse himself to go get you some drinks. “You do look very beautiful tonight,” Seb said as soon as his friend was out of earshot.

Another rush of heat flushed your cheeks at his compliment and you couldn't help but smile. “Thank you, Sebastian. You look very handsome too,” you said honestly.

“Ready for games?” he asked, placing his hand on your lower back and carefully guiding you towards the living room.

“Not even at all,” you said with a chuckle just as Chace came and handed you your drinks.

***

There were fifteen people at this party and you were happy it wasn't too crowded. For your first game, you had been divided into two teams of seven and then Chace as a judge, to play Christmas A to Z, which turned out a lot harder than you had imagined. Now on the other hand, you had been divided into teams of three for the Penguin Waddle.

“Each team has one balloon, the object of the game is to get the balloon back and forth between the coffee table and the dining room table three times. Each team member takes their turn securing the balloon between their knees and do the penguin waddle back and forth. You drop the balloon, you start over. You touch the balloon with your hands, you start over. You pop the balloon… well, you get my point,” Chace explained.

“I need another drink for this,” you noted with a chuckle before you emptied your bottle of beer.

“At least one,” Sebastian agreed, but he was actually having fun, and he could tell you were too.

Chace came and joined the two of you, a blue balloon in his hand. “I'm gonna join your team since you’re only two,” he said. “Who goes first?”

“Since you’re the game master here, I vote you,” you said with a cheeky grin.

“Yeah, I'm with (YN) on this,” Seb agreed.

“I feel so ganged up on right now,” Chace said, feigning offense, but shoving the balloon between his knees regardless. “Everybody ready?” he asked loudly and everyone took their place at the start line. “Ready. Set. Go!”

And they were off.

“This is the single most ridiculous thing I've seen in my life.” You laughed as you watched the five adults do the penguin waddle across the floor. “I love it.”

Sebastian couldn't help but smile as the sound of your laughter filled his ears. “Just get it all out, you’re next,” he noted, chuckling as he saw the horror on your face.

“I'm game,” you announced defiantly as you placed a hand on his shoulder for balance so you could take of your heels, making you six inches shorter than you had been with them on.

When Chace returned he was in second place, team three and four following close behind while team five had dropped their balloon and had to start over.

“So how do we do this, Mr. Gamemaster?” you asked in amusement as you tried to figure out how to get the balloon from him to you without using hands.

“First of all, you have to be a lot closer,” he sassed, making you send him a bitch face before moving in closer. He put his hands on your waist and you put yours on his shoulders to keep from falling over as he wiggled his legs to get the balloon to you. “This is like the most sexy slow dance ever,” he noted, making you laugh.

“I don't know how you normally dance, Crawford, but I have a suspicion you’re doing it wrong,” you teased as you tried to get the balloon to stay between your knees. “Just use your thigh to push it further in,” you lightly ordered, not really realizing how wrong that sounded.

“I love it when you talk dirty to me.” He chuckled as he did what you told him.

“Don't make me laugh,” you said through your giggles. “I will drop it.”

“Now go,” he lightly commanded when he was sure you had control over the balloon. “I get why you like her so much,” he noted quietly to Sebastian as they watched you waddle over the floor. “She's a lot of fun.”

“She is,” Seb agreed with a dreamy look on his face.

You were still in second place when you returned with the balloon, but you had pulled further ahead of team tree and four, so you were quite happy with that. “Come on, Seb,” you said as you reached the boys.

He got in close to you and placed his hands on your waist as Chace had done and you grabbed onto his shoulders, suddenly Seb was very aware of the lack of space between the two of you and he had to shake himself back to reality and focus on the task at hand. This transference went a lot smoother and quicker than the last and when Seb started his waddle he was in first place.

“Come on, Seb, you got this,” you cheered as he waddled away from you.

“You guys seem to be having a lot of fun these days,” Chace noted.

“We’ve always had a lot of fun,” you corrected as you bent down to pick up your shoes, slipping one on before you used Chace for balance to put on the other.

“Has there ever been anything more between the two of you?” he wondered. He hoped that it would seem like an innocent question to you, but he also hoped he’d get something out of you that he could bring to his best friend.

“What? No,” you said with a snort, making your statement less believable. “Look. Seb’s the best man I know, but we’ve always been just friends,” you continues, hoping to sound convincing. There had been different times through the years when you had wondered if it could ever be more than that for you two, but there was always something that came in the way, so you had just settled with the fact that he would be your best friend for life, and you were happy with that.

“Alright. Just thought I saw a little spark there,” he noted, not looking at you.

The conversation ended there as Seb came waddling towards you as fast as he could, and it took all you had not to break down in laughter. “Home stretch, dude,” you yelled to cheer him on.

Seb crossed the finish line and looked over to see if he was first or not, throwing his hands in the air in victory as he realized he had won, that you all had won.

“Awesome waddling,” you praised as you gave him a hug.

“As awesome as waddling can be,” Chace piped in. “I'm gonna leave you to it and set up for the last game of the night. Teams of two, so just stick together,” he said before he scurried away.

***

The last game had been a gift wrapping competition where your left hand got taped to Seb’s right hand and then you used your free hand to wrap a gift. First team to wrap three gifts won. You and Seb placed third, but you didn't mind it at all.

“You having fun tonight?” Seb asked as he handed you another drink, kind of relieved that the games were finally over.

“I am,” you answered with a bright smile. “I didn't think I would, but I am having a great night. Thank you,” you said, clinking your glass to his.

“You’re welcome,” he said, returning your smile.

“So what's on the list for tomorrow? I'm only asking because I need to know if I should stop drinking soon.”

“Tomorrow doesn't even require you to leave your apartment, so you just drink all you want,” he assured, laughing as you brought your glass back to your lips and took another sip of your drink.

“Now would you look at that,” Chace interrupted, a mischievous smile on his face as he looked between the two of you and then to a spot above your head. “It's the traveling mistletoe,” he said in an excited voice as the two of you looked up.

“Are you seriously carrying around a mistletoe on a stick?” Seb asked in disbelief, but still a little amused at his friends antics as he saw the broomhandle in Chace’s hand.

Chace just nodded vigorously, that same grin still plastered on his face. “Now kiss,” he commanded before he started chanting. “Kiss. Kiss. Kiss…”

You looked up at Sebastian with a shy smile on your lips. “It is the mistletoe law,” you said, pointing up at the thing above your heads.

“You sure?” he asked, a little worried. This was so not the way he had imagined your first kiss to be, but here he was.

You bridged the small gap between you and pressed a quick kiss to his lips, turning to look at Chace to make him stop chanting. You missed the absolutely befuddled look on Seb’s face as you turned away from him, which was probably for the best.

“What the hell was that?” Chace scolded. “That wasn't a kiss.”

You shot him a bitch face before you turned to Sebastian again and looked into his eyes. If it was a real kiss they wanted, you would give it to them. Didn't seem like a big deal in your inebriated mind. Sebastian swallowed thickly as you stepped into him and snaked one arm around his neck, he just nodded once when you asked him if it was okay. Subconsciously you ran your tongue across your lips as your eyes flitted between his, and for a second you wondered if they had always been this blue. The feeling of his hands landing on your waist was all you needed to close the gap between you again and gently press your lips to his. This time he kissed you back and it was like it set you on fire, and for the short second that your lips were connected, the rest of the room faded away and it was just you and him there. As soon as it had started it was over, and now you were left wanting more as you stared into those beautiful, blue eyes.

“Now that's what I call a kiss,” Chace cheered, satisfied with how his plan had unfolded. He could see in your eyes now what he had seen in Seb’s eyes for years; love and adoration. “Now who’s next?” he wondered as he moved the mistletoe stick away from the two of you.

A very awkward tension fell between you and Sebastian after the moment you had just shared, and for a second you wondered if he could still feel you on his lips like you felt him on yours. “Sorry about that,” you said suddenly, shaking yourself out of your current train of thoughts.

“Don't worry about it,” he said, shrugging it off. His heart was still pounding in his chest, and however much he hated the way this had happened, he finally knew what it was like to kiss you. The bliss of that soon faded as he realized it would probably never happen again, and that this was as good as it would ever get.

“More alcohol,” you suddenly burst out when you had nothing else to say and you awkwardly turned on your heel and walked away from him. It's the alcohol, you tried to tell yourself as the butterflies soared through you. It's not the man, it's the alcohol, you said to yourself over and over again, hoping it would become true.

#Sebastian Stan #sebastian fluff #sebastian stan fanfic #sebastian x reader #sebastian x you #12dates

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24hoursvideos · 4 years

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Making RZ Twin Good Again for Game Master Network! (Awesome Surprising Hacks Ideas)

youtube

Saving Rebecca and her twin with the transformation device with brown note.

It all started when Matt and Rebecca uploaded the video Rebecca betrayed the game master network. Then Rebecca Zamolo played a giant wizard of oz game in real life. After we rescued my wife Daniel rushed over to check on RZ twin but had to do a battle royale to get her out. It looks like she is working for the RHS which might mean roblox high school or red hood spies. We are not sure yet. Rebecca and RZ twin are both weak so we have to keep them separate Zoe said. Maddie and Matt take RZ twin to Big Bear while Daniel and Zoe drop off Rebecca at home. They found a transformation device that can make you pool by using the brown note. It can also make you do impressions or reverse the switch up. It can only be used once on Rebecca’s twin so we have use try it on each other first. It was a bad idea. Next Maddie does a hilarious and funny impression of Matt and Rebecca. Matt was reversed on being hypnotized and remembers code 10 from the game master. Finally they use the right code and return to Rebecca but is it safe? Thanks for watching my funny entertainment mystery vlog videos in 2020!

More awesome videos!

Brent Rivera – SURPRISING MY FRIENDS WITH PRESIDENT OBAMA!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SPJibaUWUo

123 Go! – AWESOME IDEAS FOR LAZIEST PEOPLE EVER || Cool Hacks To Make Life Easier https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRONpa62wn4&t=17s

Carter Sharer – We Found This in the Attic!! (Ghost Caught on Camera) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbG3l7-J7bc&t=142s

The Labrant Fam – Trying EVERYTHING To Put Savannah Into Labor… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMsUOkK2w7w

Follow Rebecca: YouTube: https://youtube.com/rebeccazamolo1 Instagram: https://instagram.com/rebeccazamolo Twitter: https://twitter.com/rebeccazamolo Snapchat: https://snapchat.com/add/rebeccazamolo

Follow Matt: Instagram: https://instagram.com/mattslayss Twitter: https://twitter.com/matt4music Snapchat: https://snapchat.com/add/mattspack

Gamemaster Spy Ninja Video Here

The post Making RZ Twin Good Again for Game Master Network! (Awesome Surprising Hacks Ideas) appeared first on The Gamemaster Network.

Making RZ Twin Good Again for Game Master Network! (Awesome Surprising Hacks Ideas) published first on https://thegamemasternetwork.home.blog/feed

#Clues #Riddles #DIY Projects #Challenges #Puzzles #Mysteries #Mind Games

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crystalninjaphoenix · 5 years

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Chaos Theory

Part Six

(Even after the disaster of the last part, there are more puzzles to solve. The three boys better hurry on this one, or else there will be consequences.)

They stopped only a few blocks away from the building, sitting on a street corner. Jackie made them stop, despite the fact that they all wanted to get farther away. He remembered the gamemaster’s warning about taking too long, and nerves started eating away at his stomach.

“Here, give me the laptop,” Jackie said. JJ handed him the box with the computer inside.

Chase watched as Jackie booted it up. “I...you know, I’m still not entirely sure what’s going on.” He sounded almost apologetic.

“We’re in Saw,” Jackie said, not taking his eyes away from the screen. “Some psycho decided to kidnap the group and threatened me with your deaths if I didn’t play his fucked-up game and solve his puzzles.”

Chase whistled. “Well, shit.”

“Yeah.” Jackie opened his email, finding another message from the same user as before. This one had a zip folder titled ‘Set 3′ attached. He quickly unzipped it, finding a few files inside: an image called 3.png, a folder called ‘3′, and a text file titled ‘open me first.’ Jackie did so, and inside was a single url. He opened the browser and copy-pasted the url into the search bar.

At first, the three of them found it hard to tell what they were looking at. The website was mostly black, with some white text, and a square that showed a dark video. Until they realized something was moving in the video. Jackie ran his hand through the box until he found the earbuds, plugging them into the laptop and putting them on. Suddenly, when he clicked the little sound icon on the video, he could hear the sound of rushing water and splashing, along with muffled cries and whimpers. His heart sank. “I’m gonna...” He turned up the brightness on the laptop.

Chase gasped. Jameson covered his mouth with his hand, eyes wide. Jackie leaned back. Marvin was in the video, bound and gagged. He was stuck inside a box with glass walls, small enough that he couldn’t straighten his legs. There was water slowly flowing into the box from a connected pipe. There was also a timer in the corner of the video, counting down: 55:12, 55:11, 55:10...

The time on the laptop’s clock read 3:03am.

“Is...is this live?” Chase asked.

“I think it is,” Jackie muttered.

“You can livestream shit like this?!” Chase shook his head. “Why haven’t the police—or whoever—why hasn’t someone stopped this?!”

“Well, firstly, because this video has probably only been active since tonight. And secondly, because you’d be surprised what goes up online.” Jackie leaned closer to the screen, looking around the website. “The Dark Web, you know? There are several sites that are like Twitch for sadists.” Unconsciously, he rubbed his left arm. “I don’t recognize this one, though.”

JJ snapped his fingers, drawing the other two’s attention. There is a timer in this video! he signed in obvious distress. And it’s counting down. I don’t think we want to find out what will happen when it reaches zero.

Jackie shoot his head. “You’re right. We need to hurry. My guess is that timer is how long it’ll take for that box to fill up with water, and then...” He shuddered, immediately closing the web page. “We have to find out where that is. And it’s going to be in the puzzles, just like before.”

He clicked on the 3.png image. It opened to a picture with a dark red background and black text reading: “SEEK THROUGH THE CATALOG, FIND WHAT’S BELOW.” The text was followed by that symbol of a skull inside a hollow circle, divided in four. Below the text were three black-and-white photographs with captions beneath them: a black wand with white ends labeled “Magic Wand,�� a spread-out deck of cards labelled “Card Game,” and a white fluffy cat labeled “Norwegian Forest Cat.”

Jackie frowned. “Okay, I don’t know what this means other than some sort of instructions, so I’m just going to plug this image into the editing program and see if anything shows up when I play with sliders.”

It sounds like we’re meant to find those images in some sort of catalog, JJ figured. But what catalog?

“I dunno. Maybe it’s in that other folder. You know, that came with this?” Chase wondered.

Jackie paused. “Maybe. I haven’t found anything in this image yet, so we can look what’s in there.” He went back into the files and opened the folder labeled 3.

What was inside were countless black-and-white photos, all with names written in numbers and a few letters. “What the...?” Jackie scrolled down...and down...and down...until he grabbed the scroll bar with his mouse and pulled it all the way to the bottom. “There must be hundreds of images in here!”

“Jesus,” Chase muttered. “Uh, I think this is the catalog.”

“How are we supposed to find three pictures out of all these?!” Jackie threw his hands in the air. “That could take hours! W-we don’t have that much time!” Jackie clasped his hand over his mouth, trying and failing to keep his eyes from watering. “It was rigged. This whole thing was rigged, we were never going to win it.” He blinked, and tears started falling down his face. He’d been scrambling, frantically trying to complete puzzles and reach the locations quickly, only for this? For two of his friends to die without him being able to do anything about it? What a sick game this was.

“No no no no, there has to be a way,” Chase took the laptop, using the mousepad to scroll through the photos, eyes scanning in rows. “Maybe they’re really early on, and this is meant to discourage us.”

“Chase, I don’t think that’s the case.” Jackie buried his hands in his folded arms. He was shaking.

“No, listen, there has to be a way.” Chase didn’t take his eyes off the screen. “This guy’s a sick fuck, but he also has another set of puzzles after this, he’s not gonna rig it so you fail before getting to that last set. There has to be a way to find—” He stopped, eyes suddenly widening. “We can use the find feature.”

Jackie looked up with red-rimmed eyes. “The what?”

“The find feature, the search bar, it’s built in to your files.” Chase circled the mouse around the search bar in the upper right corner of the window. “We just need to know what the images are called.”

“Well, uh...I think he gave us the image names. In the other picture, with the instructions.” Jackie gently took back the computer, switching to the other image. “See? Magic Wand, Card Game, and Norwegian Forest Cat.” Jackie typed the first phrase, Magic Wand, into the search bar. Nothing came up.

JJ tapped Jackie’s shoulder for attention. All the photo titles are in that same code from before, he pointed out. Perhaps we simply need to encode the titles of the images we’re looking for?

Jackie suddenly threw his arms around JJ. “Jameson Jackson, you’re a genius.” He let go, then turned to his other side and hugged Chase too. “And you also, Chase! I don’t know if I’d have thought of the search.”

“Aw, it’s nothing,” Chase muttered, smiling a bit.

Really no problem at all, JJ signed.

“Well, I would’ve been stuck for a while. And time is of the essence.” Jackie opened up the same online code converter from before. He typed in the first phrase again, and then copied the result—4d 61 67 69 63 20 57 61 6e 64—and pasted it into the file search bar. Immediately, the image they’d been looking for popped up. “Yes!” Jackie shouted, punching the air.

“Wait, something’s up.” Chase leaned over and opened the image. There was a strange bit at the bottom, taken up with a white and black boxy symbol. “That looks like...I dunno, part of a QR code.”

“How much do you want to bet the rest of the code is in the other two images?” Jackie muttered.

After encoding the other titles and finding the images, it was clear that the QR code was split up between the three images. Jackie plugged all three into the photo editor, and arranged them next to each other so the code was complete. He patted his suit. “Fuck, do either of you have your phone?”

Chase checked his pockets. “No. I last remember setting it down on my desk, but then I passed out and woke up in that...place.”

JJ waggled his mustache, and pulled out his phone with a grin.

“Jays, I love you so much,” Jackie laughed. “Oh, the old-fashioned man is the one with the smartphone, how ironic.”

JJ passed it to Jackie. It’s very helpful. I’m trying to make a habit of keeping it on my person.

“That’s a good idea.” Jackie leaned back a bit as he tried to get the entire code in view of the camera. Then he snapped a picture, and a notification immediately popped up, saying the code had been understood and explaining what it would do. “This’ll take us to a website...” Jackie said, clicking on the notification to activate the code. The browser on the phone opened up,

Chase leaned over. “What’s that?”

“It’s a crossword puzzle.” Jackie groaned. He’d hoped the QR code would just give them the location to find Marvin, but no such luck. “Alright. Some of the squares are colored red, and at the bottom there’s this thing...” He scrolled down, and read out loud. “‘The address is 68′ and then a blank space. I bet we have to solve the crossword puzzle and then plug the letters from the red squares into this space to find the street address.”

Then what are we waiting for? JJ asked. What is the puzzle asking for?

Jackie looked through the hints. “Looks like a bunch of trivia...oh! I know the answer to number one! It’s Undertale.” Jackie smiled a bit. That was Marvin’s favorite game...thinking of Marvin, the smile faded. “Okay. Let’s go.”

By the time they finished, the clock read 3:25am. Piecing together the letters from the red squares, they came up with the address of 68 Aspen St. “That’s on the other side of town!” Jackie cried, distressed. “Okay. Okay, I can probably run there quickly, you guys will have to catch—”

“We can drive,” Chase suggested.

JJ frowned. Chase, I know you can drive, but you don’t have your car.

“There’s a car right there, in that parking lot.” Chase pointed diagonally across the street. There was indeed a single car in an empty lot. “Jackie, do you still know how to hotwire things?”

“Ah—I mean, yeah, but are we really about to steal a car?” Jackie asked tentatively.

It’s either that or let Marvin die! JJ signed furiously. We can return it after!

Jackie jumped at JJ’s sudden motion, but then nodded. “Yeah, guess it’s the lesser of two evils, huh?” He shut the laptop. “Alright. We have to hurry. If my math’s correct, we only have about half an hour before that timer counts down. Let’s go.”

#jacksepticeye #jacksepticeye fanfiction #jacksepticegos #septic egos #jackieboy man #jameson jackson #chase brody #marvin the magnificent #brigid writes fanfiction #chaostheoryfic

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smiley-soo · 5 years

Text

The Game

Mary, my best friend since second grade, and I run into the conference room, locking the door as soon as we both step inside. Gamemaster glides down the hallway he designed. As I slam the door shut, I see his purple bathrobe and his messy bedhead hair halfway down the hall. The lock clicks, and we are both left alone in this long rectangular board room. The opposing wall holds full-length windows, showing the light and peaceful ocean below us. Glancing down the long table with seemingly endless comfy chairs, Mary and I opt for the floor facing the ocean view. Our breaths forcing their way out our chests in small puffs. I can hear Gamemaster rapping on the door with his varied collection of knives.

“You’ll see soon. You’ll see soon, my little piggies!” He begins laughing, a small chuckle growing into a maniacal laugh. Then dying as quickly as it began.

“Remember number rule one, my loves,” he whispers into the crack under the door.

Rule number one: never stop moving. If you do, you’ll surely regret it and most likely lose the game. If you stop to think “oh, woe is me, why was I chosen for this game?” you will surely lose. Remember, my sweet piggies, if you see me, you’ve already lost something. The first words he said as hundreds of us woke up in a large empty garage were just as riddled as the Mansion itself. This mansion is his playing grounds. I force my screaming muscles and push off the wall, making my way to the other side of the wooden table. I drag my finger across it as a drag myself past it – there’s dust on it.

“Mary, get up and walk,” I puff out and turn around to tell her something else, but am greeted by Gamemaster sitting next to Mary with a boney hand over her mouth. His suit peeking out from his robe. A small curved knife pressing into her neck, following her jawline. My feet jump into a fight-or-flight stance with my base-wide. Gamemaster giggles.

“You left your friend, deary! Such a shame she doesn’t have the same wit as you do,” he slides the knife into her throat but doesn’t slide through her neck. It’s enough to draw amounts of blood, but not enough for a quick death.

“Mary, no!” I throw my hands out in desperation but can’t seem to rush to her side. She clutches her neck as the blood flow finds its way around her thin fingers. I stand paralyzed.

“See!” Gamemaster points out, “you can’t even bring yourself to be by your friend’s side as she dies,” he exaggerates the last word as if to prove a point. “Oh, but did you really think I couldn’t get through a door I made?”

“You’ve always been such a beautiful singer; you know that Ivy?” hearing my name from his cruel lips sends shivers down my spine. He continues talking, forcing a normal conversation as I watch my friend die, “that’s why I chose you in here! Well,” he gives his best high-school-girl-in-love-giggle, “that and because I wanted Ben in here too.” The mention of my boyfriend makes my right eye twitch involuntarily. But still, no words come to mind, only fear.

Gamemaster still sits facing me with that fixed smile on his face. At first, those eyes and smile almost seem kind and maybe understanding; however, those of us playing quickly learned the truth behind that mask. But haven’t I’ve just lost something? I can leave the room now. Mary starts coughing up blood; thus, spilling more blood onto her gym uniform.

“Gamemaster,” I address him. He looks up surprised and gives permission for me to continue on with a wave of his sickle.

“You’ve caught us, and I’ve lost something. I’m leaving now,” I force my voice not to crack as Mary gurgles on more blood. I make my way towards him. That fixed smile looks the same, but his eyes scream as if I’ve finally read between the lines he’s been shouting this whole time.

“Yes yes, that’s all very good,” he starts, “but your friend is still alive, you know? Will you just leave her like this?” As if cued, Mary starts coughing more causing more blood to flow out of her lips. “You could,” He offers, “just stay here with her.”

I unlock the door without another word and walk into the dimly lit hallway. The lack of response sends Gamemaster into another fit of laughter. I pass the first door, a quiet baby’s bedroom with piles of toys that will swallow you if you’re not careful, then a second door. Goddamn it, my guilt eats at my empty stomach. I stop mid-step, swivel on my toes, and turn back for Mary.

Walking back in, Gamemaster stops laughing and returns to his fixed smile. “Back so soon, my lovely?” The knife might be long enough to just end her quickly, I think gruesomely. I grab the handle out of Gamemaster’s hands and kneel beside her, ready to strike her final blow myself. Gamemaster chuckles twice as he watches.

“Mary, you won’t die from this shithead,” I gesture to Gamemaster with my head, “but from me. Your best friend,” tears threaten to surface as I speak,” who loves you so so much.” Both Gamemaster and Mary’s eyes grow wide. Mary shakes her head and gives an attempt to scoot away, but she’s pinned between me, the wall, and Gamemaster. The madman himself lifts his arm and points at me. He reaches into his sleeve fuzzy purple sleeve and lowers a longer thicker sword.

“Here Ivy, make this be the only kindness I give to you,” he whispers to me. The genuine kindness in his tone could have fooled me if I hadn’t known him. I grab the gift and reposition my handle on the short sword. Mary looks at me with tears falling down the slides of her face, dripping off her ears as she chokes on sobs. Her skin is slowly losing that pink glow it always held.

“Ok, one…two…three,” I start to count, and Mary tries to find some composure as she closes her eyes, “four…five…six…” she snaps her eyes back open in an annoyed look that screams I could kill you if this were a different time. I smile an awkward grin and force out a laugh, “just like in grade school, you know?” I desperately attempt to throw my focus on something other than what I’m about to do. She also attempts at a small laugh, though she finds it difficult due to the blood slipping through her fingers. It stains her face. “seven,” I begin counting again, and this pulls out a full smile of her. That’s what I was waiting for, I breath out on a whispered, “eight,” and swing the short sword down flatly. That smile still visible.

I turn to Gamemaster, “that’s how people should die. With a smile on their faces,” I stand up, taking the sword with me, and walk out. I leave that hallway with heavy feet as I hear Gamemaster pick up his fit of laughter once again. I pass several doors and jump down two flights of stairs before I see the high-ceiling hallway that Ben and his group are camping in. I scream out his name but am drowned out by the library of music: a room where music is played so loudly, nothing else can be heard there. While this is a safe room, as marked by previous players, it’s no place to camp near.

I turn the large hallway’s corner and see the mule of his group: Edward. Edward carries most of the supplies for the group as he is the largest. Hence, the name mule. I quickly call out his name and get his attention.

“Yo Ben,” Edward calls out as soon as he sees me, “Your girl’s here,” he hesitates but continues, “and she’s hella bloody, yo.” Ben whips around from the front of the group of seven and runs towards me.

“Ivy,” he calls out, “Oh, God, oh my god, Ivy, what happened? Where’s Mary?” he questions as he takes in my appearance. Rather than answer, I run into his arms. He’s easily five or so inches taller than me, thankfully engulfing me now. The tears come easily now. The tears won’t stop now. The others in his group shuffle in uncomfortable silence. He continues, but now in a quieter voice, “Babe, why isn’t Mary with you?”

Hearing her name again floods the raw memory to my forefront again. Clutching my head, I beg the memory to stop repeating. Please, please, I don’t want to see it anymore! I break from his embrace and sprint back to the library. Ben is yelling after me, echoing my name in the hall. But first, his priority is to assemble his group and not get separated. Eventually, his group starts to follow.

I just killed my best friend…what does that make me? I run into the music library and all the NPC students look at me like they’ve never seen another human before. All of them have headphones in due to the constant blaring music, so none can hear my meltdown. Their hands never stop writing their notes as they stare at me. I crash into the desks as the tears fall and screw my sense of vision. Gross loud screams of horror leave my throat, which I can only feel – not hear. The music covers all sounds that escape my throat. I stumble and fall into a ball in the corner - trying to hear myself cry. I press my hands over my ears to hear my own voice vibrate a little louder. If I can’t hear myself cry, I’m not really feeling these emotions. I tear into myself as a person for killing my best friend. She didn’t deserve it like that. She didn’t deserve to die. She didn’t deserve it. I scream at myself through the deafening library.

The librarian stomps over to me as I’m mentally melting down into my own self-hatred. The sane Ivy in the back of my head whispers worriedly, this is still a library, maybe I’m being too loud? Thinking this, one of my hands instinctively reaches over to cover my mouth and the other tries to cover both ears from the loud music; thus, morphing my body more into a sphere. She crouches down on my level, and I look at her with puffy eyes and a bit of fear. She hands me headphones and a folded note on lined paper that looks like it had been crumpled up a few too many times. I quickly throw the headphones on and use both my hands to open the note. It’s nothing bigger than my hands combined.

In clear cursive, it reads: “yooo Ben, it’s Nick again! Or, at least I assume this is Ben. Props on finding my second note! Fingers-crossed that Gamemaster isn’t too peeved with you for leaving his game in the first place haha. Hope you can cross back over to the Neighborhood without him spottin’ you. Oh, yeah…you burned the first note. Huh… well, it’s just past the garage and through the sewers! Remember to stay on the right side the entire time. Remember the leap of faith, dude. The Neighborhood is super tight, right? No scary Gamemaster, and you can chill normally again! As long as you don’t get caught haha! Or you can, if that’s the life you want, lil bro! I know the first note (the stop sign one) was super easy to find but it was the first spot I could. Anyways, hope this helps you get out of Gamemaster’s crazy scary game. The last note is hidden in the biggest house in the Neighborhood. Hope you like my take on this! See you at the end, dude.”

I read the note again and rush off to find Ben. Nick went missing from our town years ago, and no one seemed to be affected except Ben. When we first arrived in the Mansion, there were six pictures titled “the first to visit the Mansion” with various pictures of other people. Nick was among them. This gave Ben a weirdly placed sense of hope.

I stumble out of the library, this time ignoring all the stares from the NPCs. Ben is right there with his group of lost boys in tow.

"Ben, I was in there, and this note is for you, or well for me since I found it, but,” my words struggle to keep up with my thoughts, “it’s from Nick!” I throw out most of the story I can as I pass the note to Ben. He quickly reads it; his eyes growing wider the longer he reads. Our group of nine, now eight, my lips twitch and tears threaten to fall again, will most likely make our way to the garage. Summarizing the note to his group, the younger half nods almost immediately to his authority, but the older members swish it around before agreeing.

“Yo, but, like, how do we know this Nick guy isn’t gonna kill us,” Edward opposes.

Ben simply responds, “it’s from Nick. He wouldn’t try to harm me in any way.” This answer seems to satisfy the mule for the time being.

On our way to the garage, I see others we started with. Some are left dead on the floor, and others are trying to find the keys to win Gamemaster’s game. We’ve spent three months here so far, and no one has found even one key. We pass the main staircase and continue for the far-right stairs. Down these stairs is the front doors, which are impossible to open. A simple distraction trap for those who are weak-minded. The far-right stairs are the quickest way to the garage. I still carry the short sword Gamemaster gifted me through our uniform blue jumpsuits. Everyone started with one accompanied by boots.

The garage is empty when we arrive. When the game first begun, many people stayed around here to look for clues or took it over as a base. Since so many of the rooms are deadly, or at least damaging, the garage was always one safe camping place. However, it was doubtful that you would ever leave once you started camping there. Now, there are only empty food previsions splattered around the large room and a few camping supplies that were too heavy to carry.

“Ok team let’s break off in teams of four and try to find the sewers,” Ben commands. Ben summarizes the note, but only Ben and I have actually read it. Something about it seems strange. When did Nick have time to leave notes when he was playing? How long was Nick actually down here for? Thoughts dash across my head as Ben, two young boys named Alex and Conner, and I take the front half of the garage.

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Gamemaster sits in a warm room in the basement of the Mansion – a place few try to get to since it’s surrounded by mind-numbing illusion rooms. His purple bathrobe covers the black suit and tie he wears underneath. The fixed smile stays hung in place as he watches the players in this round roam and try to survive the Mansion. He sits in a tall velvet chair with his back to the fireplace behind him. Beside him sits another chair of similar fashion – although empty. Through the multiple small TVs on the wall, he can see the group of eight enter into the garage. Gamemaster made sure to clear out the dead bodies that were blocking the passage to the sewers. I wouldn’t want to be completely unfair, he justifies.

Three sharp knocks on the window tell him his guest is about to barge in. “Come on in, Nicky boy,” Gamemaster calls out, maintaining contact with the show before him. Golden-haired Nick climbs in through the window and sits on the chair next to Gamemaster.

“So, my dude finally found the notes, huh?” Nick states the obvious.

“Otherwise, I would not have called you over, boy,” Gamemaster replies flatly, “but actually it was his lover who did! And she even found the second first, funny isn’t that,” Gamemaster corrects himself.

“Wait, really? His girl found it? Well damn, but all’s good if he read them still, you feel?”

“Oh yes, quite indeed. They’re currently in the garage searching now.”

“You think my boy’s got any chance at winning my game? I worked real hard on it, dawg!”

“I’m not so sure. Ivy is holding onto the note so far. Oh, and you want to know what I gave her?” Gamemaster jumps excitedly at remembering this, “The sword I gave you to kill the dumb donkey boy who wouldn’t give you the last key!”

“No kidding! That’s hella tight yo. But damn, I really wanna see my dude Ben again,” Nick sighs.

“No no, I like that Ivy girl – I hope she wins. I’d love to see what game she comes up with.”

“Think she’ll come up with a good one like me, yo? I mean, it, like, took me forever to make my game, dude! Once I got all those keys, you were like ‘make a game of your own now, yo’ and I was like ‘dope, lemme think about it, dawg’ like, it was hella hard.” Nick’s shoulders sag at the thought of building another game.

Gamemaster only chuckles at the birdbrain winner of the last round. That fixed smile still sitting on his face. It’s really like having a puppy who can talk come visit me. I’d love for some real company.

“Oh look, Nick my boy, the group has found the tunnel!” Gamemaster changes the topic by rapidly clapping his hands with excitement. Both the gamemasters lean forward in their velvet chairs to watch the screens.

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Ben and out half-group run over to Edward as soon as he found the tunnel in the back corner. There are bloodstains all around the entrance, I notice. The four in the back have already gone through the tunnel, leaving Ben, Alex, Conner, and I to go last.

“Remember to stay on the right-side guys! Right side only!” Ben yells out. Ben goes down first, sliding through the barred entrance downward into the sewage water below. There’s not even enough water to reach my ankles, so there’s barely a splash as Ben helps me down. The other boys follow suit as soon as Ben gives them the clearing. The group gathers together once everyone is down in the sewers.

“Where’s Clause?” Ben asks Edward.

Rolling his eyes, the mule responds, “the idiot went on the left side just to piss you off, you know, like he does.” Ben gives a sigh and calls out Clause’s name. There’s a slight echo as he does, but silence fills the moments we wait.

The youngest of the group, Conner, says with a lisp, “I heard a loud squishy pop when I got down here…” he trails off.

“Well,” Ben sighs, “I guess he should have trusted Nick.” The remaining five boys all nod their heads in agreement. I’m not sure if they agree with what Ben said or if they just agree with Ben because he leads them, I question.

Together, we walk towards the end of the sewer. A short walk, only taking five or so minutes. The water picks up in speed the closer to the edge we get. There’s a large opening leading into darkness where the water is waterfalling onto another hard surface. The other sewer entrance provides dim lighting, like stars in the night sky.

“What now?” Edward asks the obvious question. Although they can’t see how far the drop is, they should be fine. If Nick could do it and climb back up to put the second note in the music library, we should be fine, I rationalize.

“Listen, Nick says to take a leap of faith, so we should, right?” Ben faces the boys behind him and answers the group. The youngest two and Edward look skeptical. “Look, we’ll be fine, alright? Nick wouldn’t lie to me like that,” Ben tries to persuade the group. And he’s winning. He turns back around to face the edge, takes a running start, and jumps off. Before I can catch his sleeve, he’s over the cliff. Alex is next to rush past me, screaming a loud “Hell yeah!” in my ear as he does. I’m next.

As I jump off, I hear Ben land with a thud on some floor. The butterflies quickly rush from my stomach up to my throat as I let out a small yelp.

“Tuck and roll, babe!” Ben calls out from below me somewhere. I brace my knees for impact and collide with the metal underneath me. Rolling onto my shoulder as I hit the ground, I can hear Ben in front of me laughing. We’re closer to the starry sewer entrances, so there’s a bit more light available. Ben is helping Alex up and walks over to me. Not soon after that, the remaining group members thud down beside us. Alex being 5 foot 3 and a twig making the softest sound, and Edward being 6 foot 3 and being some type of wrestler making the loudest thud.

The slight downward slope forces everyone shift their weight to their back foot. Ben quickly calls out roll call to account for everyone, “Edward, Conner, Alex, Clau-,” he stops himself but picks it up quickly, “Davis, and O’Brien.”

“And Ivy,” I call out, faking insult, “you know, your girlfriend.”

Ben laughs, “yeah and Ivy.”

The group begins walking down the slope, some slipping on the excess water as they walk – mainly the lanky Davis. He struggled with withdrawals when we first met. Though, Gamemaster easily scared the drugs out of him. The further we walk, the lighter the area becomes. Around us, the sound of a river is quickly approaching. There are multiple sewage drop-offs like the one from the Mansion. Some of the waterfalls are red with blood like the Mansion; however, others are crystal clear as if it’s empty.

Conner is the first to spot an open gate across the river of sewage water, “Guys look!” He yells out with his lisp, “an opening! We should totally go in there.”

Ben agrees and the group crosses the river with relative ease. There’s not enough light to see the bottom, but we step over chunky rocks and the slimy floor. The water isn’t as cold as it should be, and small leaves mixed in with clothing particles drift past us. Five minutes later and soaking wet pants and shoes, the group is across the river and walking towards the gate. The sound of birds is the first thing I notice.

Walking out of the sewers, I greeted with a picture-perfect green park with yellow and red benches littered around– and a few willow trees outlining the riverbank. The stop-sign one, I remember the note’s guide. The fresh river water trickles passed our wet pants and shoes as we slosh towards the light of day.

Conner and Alex run ahead of the group, hollering and whooping as they run into the familiar suburb civilization. Ben cracks a smile and launches forward. The rest of us follow suit and walk out into the summer weather with a quick hop. Ben reaches back to take my hand, but I’ve already run past him. I stick out my tongue teasingly, “race you to the first clue!” I scream into the wind and take off.

The first clue was incredibly easy to find. Under the first stop sign, we see is a broken sewage plate with a little box on it. Written on the box is the words “For Ben” with a wide smiley face underneath. I pick it up first and begin reading it. Ben is behind me a few seconds later panting from the race and throws his arms around my shoulders – resting as he reads along.

“Ok Ben, so this place is way tight, right? Take a few moments to, like, actually appreciate it before you run off and get that second note, got it, bro? There’s a field by the school, so, like, take the person you love most and go look at the stars, yo! It’s so peaceful here at night and, like, no one bothers you. You’ll want this moment of peace before you have to go back to Gamemaster’s mansion. But, like, tip for you, bro: burn this note so Gamemaster can’t find this place, ok? Yeah! The second note is where you can scream and only a deaf lady would hear you.”

After reading it, Ben laughs. His arms move down from my shoulders to circle around my waist. “I guess this means we’re gonna have a romantic night under the stars, babe,” he squeezes me a bit. His grip is comfortable and familiar. His back hugs always feel safe. Even in this world we were trapped in, I feel safe when he’s with me. Slightly swaying side to side, we take a breath of silence. A full breath. Since we started the game, it has been nonstop chaos.

“Come on,” he says pulling away and leading me to the park. He grabs my hand and we begin to run together, finally relaxing.

The Neighborhood is more confusing than Nick lead on to believe. It took so long to find the school he was talking about since he didn’t specify if it was the high school or the elementary school. Despite the Neighborhood being on a grid system, there seemed to be many streets that just suddenly appeared. Or maybe, I don’t know how a grid system works, I counter myself.

Along the way, we find some drying clothes out on a line, which we gratefully traded in exchange for our wet clothes. Our blue jumpsuits were now some comfortable yoga pants matched with a blue plaid shirt that drowned me. And some blue jeans paired with a similar blue plaid button-up for Ben. We kept our boots.

Eventually, we find the park Nick was talking about. It was next to the elementary school on 3rd East and Main. The sun is starting to set by the time we walk onto the field of perfectly cut grass. “The sunset looks the same as back home,” I notice with a voice filled with longing. We continue walking until we see a grove of wide oak trees spread about. There are some more benches like before underneath some of them – inviting us to go there. The stars are finally coming out. Ben’s hand hasn’t left mine since we changed. Police sirens and dogs barking in the distance, and even some owls bellow out their song.

Ben spins me around to face him and gives an exaggerated bow, “May I have this dance, my love,” he questions in the worst fake British accent. “Absolutely, darling,” I repeat back in my worst fake British accent. We step towards each other and begin dancing. At first, we dance in silence, but soon Ben adds in loud trumpet noises that resemble more like elephant sounds than actual trumpets. I add in an off-tune ‘du-du-du-du’ to match his tune.

“God, I could just marry you right now,” he laughs loudly and spins me around – leaving me star-gazed. I smile the first real smile since I started the game, this moment reminding me of dates we did before being thrown in the Mansion.

By now the stars are fully out and few sounds remain. I can barely hear people talking on the other end of the park; however, the trees block us from seeing them. Past the trees, in the open field, I can see bulky O’Brien and lanky Davis still in their jumpsuits playing around the field. I can still hear those dogs. Is this also a dog park, I question in between our makeshift playlist.

Ben chuckles, “it looks like they found a frisbee,” he begins. I shove my hand over his mouth quickly, shushing him. “The dogs are coming closer,” I harshly whisper to him. I start pushing us over to a tree close to us. Not the tree we were dancing under, but a few trees down. Ben is rolling his eyes the entire time.

“Babe,” he tries to console me, “Nick said to come and enjoy a night alone out here! He wouldn’t tell us that unless it was safe to do,” he reasons.

“Oh yeah,” I question harshly, still whispering, “There where is Nick? Huh, babe,” I spit his pet name back at him. He looks annoyed, and I bit my lip in instant regret for being so harsh.

“I’m just saying,” I start again, this timeless cruelly, “we’re still in the game, right? We shouldn’t be so carefree.”

Ben tries to ration with me, but we hear someone standing where we were dancing say, “I swear, officer! I saw some kids running around here, and they weren’t wearing our clothes! They looked mighty suspicious, in my opinion, sir, um, officer, sir.” Both of us freeze. I shove Ben up the tree we’re standing next to. It’s not ideal for climbing, but we scale it fast. Once secure, I look out to see the officer trying to comfort the clearly panicked civilian. Ben grabs my upper arm and quietly whispers with dread, “O’Brien and Davis.”

The dogs surrounding the police officer look further out into the field, right at our two group members. The growls are the first thing I hear. Next, the officer whips his head around to see O’Brien and Davis. Calmly, but with increasing authority in his voice, he says, “Everything will be fine now, Civilian. Go back to your house with the note I gave you, and you’ll be excused from the curfew. But leave now.” The blue-jeaned civilian scurries off once the officer finishes his orders. I can hear the civilian saying, “Oh, how I hate leaving the house after dark,” as he runs away squeaking at every movement he sees.

My mind goes through a million possibilities at this moment. Who reported us? The civilian. Clearly, they don’t like outsiders… is this how Nick died? Is Nick dead? No, how else would he put the notes everywhere? Where’s the original instructions? How did Nick survive this? How did Nick plant the notes? What’s going to happen to O’Brien and Davis? What are the rules of the Neighborhood? Don’t leave the house after dark.

“This is officer 929, I have eyes on the aliens,” the officer orders onto the radio on his shoulder, scaring me out of my thoughts.

A response comes in quickly, “This is officer 801, you are free to send in the dogs.”

The dogs? To take them down? As I think this, Officer 929 snaps his fingers twice and starts a series of low whistles. The two hounds take off in a sprint towards our group members. I see Ben next to me begin to open his mouth, but I slam my hand over his mouth. I hold the back of his head for more stability. Ben looks at me with wide and confused eyes, I quietly shake my head. I know what’s coming next. The dogs reach the two in a matter of seconds – one dog for each alien. Davis is preparing to catch O’Brien’s throw when he sees the first hound. He lets out a half, “Oh shi-” before the dog is on top of him. O’Brien turns to run, but the other hound jumps on his back. Both of them are tackled easily. They both scream as the police animals scratch and tear into their skin. Davis is the first to go down. I heard a loud roar of pain before it was cut off by the dog’s enhanced jaw. O’Brien was gone soon after that. He turned to see Davis’ throat pulled before screaming his own last pleading words. The dogs stop and so does the low whistle. As quickly as the dogs came, the left the bodies in the field.

“This is officer 929, the aliens have been terminated,” he reports and turns to leave before the dogs join him.

I grab the note from my shirt pocket and read it again. “It’s so peaceful here at night and, like, no one bothers you.” I read. Why put this sentence in here? Ben would already blindly follow Nick to his grave, so why try to convince him? What does Nick gain from Ben playing this game? I sharply inhale, this is another game. I know that. Every sewer entrance was another game – some have started, others haven’t yet. This…

“This is Nick’s game.” I grab Ben and whisper to him, “This is just another game, Ben.”

“No,” he begins, trying to deny the obvious truth. “No, Nick wouldn’t do that to me, he taught me how to play football, Ivy.”

“Ben…” I try to empathize. He’s still blind to the reality of this game. The Neighborhood is too close to how our hometown is setup. Nick must be hurting too.

“We have to go find Edward and the others, now.” Ben begins to descend from the tree.

My hands latch onto his arm, “We,” I start out harshly, “are not moving until we see others outside. I don’t care if we have to wait for eight goddamn hours in this tree,” I take a deep breath to calm myself and stress my last words: “we’re not moving.”

And so, we did, we waited in the tree for roughly 7 hours. Throughout playing the Gamemaster’s game, my internal clock got used to counting hours. It wasn’t until we heard the laughter of the schoolchildren that we deemed it safe to leave the tree. After they passed us, we began to climb down – Ben insisting he go first. Then, we began to look for the remaining members of our group: Edward, Conner, and Alex.

Thankfully, Edward had kept the two youngest by his side – although Alex was a challenge to do so. We found them wandering around Main street. Though different shades and patterns, they were wearing matching blue plaid shirts. Edward was buying them breakfast at the local diner. I don’t want to know where he got that money from, I begin to think. Edward always knew how to use his large stature to his advantage.

Joining them at the diner, we take a moment to breathe. The food is actually edible – thank you Nick – and I would even go as far as tasty.

“How did you guys survive the night?” I ask after swallowing two eggs and some bacon.

“Turns out, Alex is terrified of dogs, yeah?” Edward answers threw a full mouth, “so he sees a dog and books it into this random house, and like, of course, I’ve gotta follow, you know? So, I drag little boy Conner here,” he pats Conner, causing him to choke a little bit, “and we sleep in this abandoned house.”

“Damn, that’s a whole lot better than a tree,” Ben side-eyes me. I throw my hands up defensively as I shovel more eggs into my mouth. Alex snorts on the milk he’s just taken a drink of as Conner covers his mouth as to not lose any food.

“Whatever.” I pull out the second note from my shirt pocket and flash it to the boys – silently asking if they’re ready to head back into our reality. The other customers around us are NPCs, just like the other humanoids in the Mansion. So, there’s no need to worry over them listening in. I skip over the direction and read it to them once again, “The Neighborhood is super chill, right? No scary Gamemaster, and you can live out your life normally again! As long as you don’t get caught haha! Or you can, if that’s the life you want, you know! I know the first note was super easy to find, the stop-sign one, but it was the first place I would find to hide something. Anyways, hope this helps you get out of Gamemaster’s crazy scary game. The last note is hidden in the biggest house in the Neighborhood. I hope you like my take on this! See you at the end dude.” I pause after rereading it, I hope you like my take on this. I repeat that phrase, God, it’s so obvious now.

“Ok,” Ben is the first to chime in, “the line where it says As long as you don’t get caught haha” he mocks Nick’s deep dorky laugh, “Or you can, if that’s the life you want, you know! is really weird to me?”

“But, yo, he tells us straight up that it’s in the biggest house, dude,” Edward interjects.

“Wouldn’t it take a long time to find the biggest house? Like a really long time,” Conner chirps in, a slight happy tone to his pancake-filled voice.

“Yeah, it would.” Ben ruffles Conner’s hair all over the place, earning a joking “hey!” in protesting return.

“So, maybe they’re connected?” I mumble, too focused on watching Alex shovel pancake after pancake into his mouth. He expertly cuts them into fourths with his fork, then shovels them in.

“Ok, yeah!” Ben straightens his back as he gets more excited. “Ok, so maybe we’ve gotta do some small crime,” Alex stops shoveling momentarily, suddenly interested in this conversation, “in the daytime,” he points out, all heads quickly nodding in agreement, “and go to the police station?” He poses a plan.

“Yeah, that would actually make a lot of sense,” I agree, “cause back home, the police station is known for being weirdly big, so,” I shrug, “the biggest house, kind of, right?” Edward mulls this plan over in his mind. Conner also looks lost in his thoughts, but Alex looks downright thrilled.

“Crime…” Alex giggles through a pancake-filled mouth. We all laugh.

“Ok, ok,” Edward says to gain our attention again, “Looks like little daredevil and I are gonna do some crime,” he mimics Alex, solidifying Ben’s plan. “What will ya’ll do?” he asks the remaining three.

“Well, if you guys go into the celled off area,” I pose, “we could all just sneak in and explore the rest of the station.” Edward seems satisfied that he isn’t doing all the work. Conner’s brows furrow in what looks like hesitation.

“Um,” he pipes up, “I don’t want to play anymore,” he quietly confesses. His lisp making him sounds younger than he is. Edward’s upper lip twitches at the same time as my brows. Ben remains expressionless.

“What do you mean, Conner,” Ben gently places his larger hand on the small eleven-year-old’s back.

“I mean, the note said you could do whatever you wanted, right?” he begins, “I want to go to school here, take the bus, eat dinner, have a real family,” he ends with a soft distant voice.

Edward stands up so quickly, his chair scrapes against the floor, “Yo, you can’t just do –” Ben stops him with a raise of his hand. Edward sits back down, silently clenching his jaw.

“Conner, this is dangerous, you do understand that, right?” Ben sounds like a father counseling his youngest child. He moves his hand back to rest on Conner’s shoulder. Conner nods and picks up a fork. He starts playing with the scrambled eggs on his plate, finished saying what was on his mind.

“Ok then,” I finalize the plan, “Edward and Alex,” I took at both of them, “Go and cause some mild crime,” Alex gives another gooey smile again. “Ben and I will go find a way to sneak into the police station,” Ben gives me a nod of affirmation, “and Conner,” he finally raises his eyes to meet mine, “go find a family.”

We step out of the diner a group of five and disperse into our groups. Edward hands Conner the remainder of his wad of bills saying, “make sure you buy good school supplies.” Ben and I watch as Conner runs off to explore Main street further. Edward and Alex quickly left after that – well, Alex dragged Edward off to do some crime.

If this is anything like our hometown, then the police station should be by the museum on the other end of town. I pick the direction and start walking, Ben following right next to me. I want to look back and make sure Conner will be alright, but he’s survived these past few months. So…

“He’ll be fine,” Ben finishes my thoughts, “he’s survived this long.”

We walk past the various stores – many filled with fake toys and wooden stands that give the illusion of fully stocked shelves. However, once walked past, the reality shows. Everything is about perspective in both of these games. Everything.

We take our time getting to the police station. The sun still shining over us. First stopping by a fishing store, before heading over to the town museum. Inside the town museum were pictures of our hometown: Locke. Graduation photos of Nick’s graduation class, without him. Pictures that Nick’s parents took of him as a child. Some photos were a side-by-side featuring him in one and the other having erased him from the same photo. It’s like a haunting replica of what life outside our town is like now, since he is gone.

After playing like sight-seeing tourist, we arrive at the police station: a long rectangular cross-shaped building with blue trim all around it. We take a quick walk around to search for all cameras, entrances, and guards. There’s a back door with no camera – a straightforward way to get in, very Nick-like.

Once walking through the back door, there’s an apparent lack of policemen. Or, if we saw one, it was a blank-stared MCP. Our boots made small thumps as they hit the tiled floor below us. Besides our shoes, the broken AC unit at the other end of the hall echoes throughout the halls. The back of the station is littered with empty desks – almost like Nick didn’t finish designing the station. Down the hall on the left, we can hear whistling mixed in with Edward’s voice. Beatboxing, well it’s good to know that the boys made it inside the cells, I breathe a sigh of relief. Ben and I sneak around the station, crouching as we go.

“I’ll go see if the boys have found anything in the cells,” Ben tells me, still squatting down behind the police desks.

“Ok, I’ll head down to the right to search the other desks.” I’m not sure if splitting up is the best idea, but the boys are more likely to listen to Ben than me. We nod in agreement and Ben places his hand on the back of my neck, pulling me in for a kiss. “Just for good luck,” he whispers to me, then winks before stalking down the hall.

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Ben silently walks down the hall, crossing one foot over another until he reaches the cell with Edward in it. Edwards slowly trails off his tone when he sees Ben. Edward is slouching on the stone bench with his leg spread open while Alex lay next to him – his back to Ben.

“Hey boys, did you find anything in the cells?” Ben whisper asks to Edward. Alex must have fallen asleep, Ben chuckles and feels the need to shuffle the young boy’s hair.

Edward looks at Ben for a while. Silently. Like he isn’t sure what to say first. He opens and closes his mouth repeatedly. After a minute, he decides to shut his mouth completely. He places his closest hand on Alex’s shoulder and roughly shoves the younger boy off the bench. The wide lifeless eyes of Alex stare into Ben. They’re slightly bloodshot from staying open for so long, and his skin holds a vaguely purple tone to it.

Ben exhales the breath he didn’t know he was holding, “Oh…” he trails off. “How?”

“How did this little kid die, yo? Following what your ass said to do,” Edward finally stands up and jabs a finger at Ben. Edward’s right hand crosses over to grab Ben’s right collar, dragging him diagonally through the bars, “He’s scared of dogs, dumbass. Clearly,” he gestures towards Alex, “more than we knew.” He releases his grip on Ben slightly, though still holding onto the shirt, “he was so scared of the police dog chasing him, he died. The dog cornered him, and he couldn’t take it no more.” Edward’s fists pulse as he relives the memory.

“Shit,” Ben clutches his hair in despair. “Shit, shit, shit,” He continues.

“Yeah, shit is right.” Edward finally lifts his eyes to Ben, forcing Ben’s attention back to the Mule of the group. Edwards breathes through glaring eyes, “Whatever, just let me out Ben, I’m not dying next to this body,” his eyes soften up into pleading.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, let me go find the keys.” Ben pulls Edward’s hands off of him and turns around. Further down the hall is a desk filled with keys labeled with each cell number. He reaches for cell number eight.

The cell door slides open effortlessly, which is either due to Edward shoving it open, or this is the second time today it’s been opened. Once Edward is out, his eyes shift back into hatred. Shit, this ass just played me.

“You,” he squeezes out of closed teeth, “got that kid killed, but not only him. Davis and O’Brien, too,” he lists off the fallen members of their group – his grip getting tighter as he does so. Ben grabs Edward’s larger hand to stop him.

“No, the game took them,” he glares at Edward, “We all decided to come to the Neighborhood, they all said yes like we did. No,” Ben breaks his flow, “I didn’t kill them, Edward,” Ben throws out Edward’s name like it’s a newfound venom. Edward’s upper lip twitches for the second time today.

“Nah, leader. They trusted you,” he throws his other hand around the other side of Ben’s neck. Edward’s meaty wrists cross over each other, trapping Ben’s hand in them. Securing his grip of Ben’s blue collar, he brings his hands closer together – cutting off Ben’s airflow. Ben squawks out a chocked noise. Ben forces his trapped hand further in between Edward’s to create a gap small enough to breathe.

Ben swings his left hand to Edward’s head as a quick attempt to stop what’s happening. But, Edward being several inches taller than Ben, the swing doesn’t connect as it should. “You know,” Edward laughs, “Six years of jiujitsu taught me a lot, but I’ve never actually killed anybody with it.” Ben uses the mule’s legs to jump off and hook both his legs over Edward’s elbows, causing them both to buckle and drop from Ben’s total weight. Swiftly, Edward maneuvers through Ben’s legs and follows through with a more traditional choke. In the fall, Ben gained a moment of breathing, but it was slammed out of him as soon as he hit the ground. Edward’s hands were too quick from muscle memory, so Ben begins clawing at the Mule.

Soon, black-spots fall into Ben’s vision like ink drops on water, spreading and taking over all that he sees. He blacks out from the chokehold, but Edward still holds onto him. Ben played football, but his dead weight didn’t compare to all the bodies Edward has seen fall due to Ben’s poor leadership. Then, the full-body twitches begin. Ben’s shoulders jerk violently against the hold, and Ben gurgles up pockets of released air. Edward presses harder on the leader’s neck. Carbon dioxide spread throughout Ben’s lungs, forcing the twitches to become full surges. Then, like a passing earthquake, the worst of the shakes come to a slow. And, finally, Edward leaves Ben’s body down on the cold tile, leaving him the same as Alex.

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I search through the first few desks I see. If I was Nick, I wouldn’t want Ben to struggle to find this. So, if I were Ben, where would I look first? Realizing the height difference between Ben and me, I begin to look upon the walls. Three cork bulletin boards as large as the desks are littered with notes and lost-child posters. Some hold colored paper, and others hang pure white. Only one has a few empty spots. Guess I’ll start there.

The first board was nothing but school reports from Nick’s childhood. Most of them held passing grades, but nothing to be proud of. Nothing a parent would place on the refrigerator with pride. Barely Cs, a few scattered B-s, and the rare D. Next, I look at the lost-child posters. I’ve seen some of these kids, I think, I’ve seen them in photos scattered around the Mansion. Some kids are from my hometown. Rumors about a kidnapper circle around every 10 years or so, but no one is ever found. Other kids seem to be from other towns, or even other countries. Two rows from the bottom is Nick’s poster. The bottom right corner is doggy-eared, blending a lined note underneath it. Loud footsteps reach my ears. I snatch the last note and turn around to see Edward wide-eyed, chest-puffing, and nostrils flared.

“Is that the last note,” he heaves out his question. I nod looking around him.

“Where’s Ben? And Alex?” I grip the gifted sword from Gamemaster in one hand and reach for the rest of the notes with my other.

“Did we find all the goddamn notes, yo?” He yells out again.

“I did, yes.” I look down to read the final note. It only has five words written on it: “See you soon little bro.”

“Yo! Yo, yo, yo!” Nick bellows out beside us, making me squat to the ground in defense. Edward swivels on his feet to face Nick as well. He’s climbing through the window shouting, “Congrats on winning little sis! Totally gotta admit, but I didn’t think you’d win!” Nick spreads his arms out wide towards me, “And you,” Nick pauses, “you murdered my little bro” Nick’s face falls into a perfect Gamemaster smile, “that was a fucking mistake, dude.”

“Nah, dude,” he repeats the condescending tone from Nick, “he killed so many people, like kids, man, cause he didn’t know how to lead.” Edward lifts his hands into a shrug, “had to avenge those kids.” Edward states his claim as if they’re talking about what flavor icing should go on a cake, not a human life. He points to me, “she’s gotta go too.”

“Who…” I trail off, fearing the worst. Oh God, Ben’s dead. Please don’t say Ben, please don’t say Ben. I beg and beg silently.

Nick turns his back to Edward, clearly not afraid of anyone while in his own game. “Ben, babe, he killed Ben.”

My knees slam down connecting to the tiles beneath me faster than the wind is knocked out of me. My face twitches with pain in ways that I didn’t know what expressions I was forming. My lungs tried to bring air back into my body, but my throat refused its entrance. Liquid sprung from my eyes, either from the news or the lack of air in my body. I clutch the lined-paper notes in my hand hearing them crinkle up.

Nick walks over to me, his expression now flat with cold eyes, and takes my short sword from my belt loop. “Here, Ivy, let me.” He raises the sword like a baton towards Edward. He stands between Edward and me, guarding me from the adrenaline-fueled animal. “You’ve got two choices here Ivy,” he explains as I struggle to breathe in the reality of losing my lifeline, “you can forfeit your win and leave all these games, like, be the first to ever leave, but,” he cranes his neck to look at me, “without Ben,” he looks back at Edward, “Or, my personal favorite, I can kill this fucker for killing my little bro, but then you’ve gotta stay here with Gamemaster and me.” His form reminds me of a poised ballerina, not an ex-linebacker in the field. ��Then, you make a game of your own and you’ll see all the videos of Ben you want.”

My throat is still struggling to open, but my lungs take over and force air throughout my body. Edward stands in a defensive position waiting for my decision, half looking like he’ll try to run, half looking like he’ll lunge at Nick. They’re roughly the same build, so Edward doesn’t have any advantage over the other mule. How could I live a life without Ben? He’s all I had in this game. But going home. And seeing mom, the thought of seeing my mom for the first time in months springs more tears to my eyes – adding to the waterfalls that flow down my cheeks. But I owe it to Ben, I teeter on the fence between total freedom and revenge. It should be so easy, but all I want right now…is to see Edward dead for all of this. Edward and Gamemaster, I settle into the pit of revenge. My right eye twitches as I think, slowing the emotions and focusing on the logic of this proposal.

“…any game I want?” I mumble through numb lips. “Any time I want?” I star at the tile underneath Nick’s poised feet. My sword still aimed at Edward.

“Any time, any game, Ivy,” he slips into the iconic Gamemaster smile. Staring down at the tile, I replicate the same on my own face.

“Ok, I’ll join you,” I lift my eyes to see Edward’s be filled with fear. As if guiding an orchestra into the climax of their song, Nick swings the short sword in a figure-8-shaped motion, and I watch as the station filled with desks begins to fold in towards Edward. The desks thud down like large boulders crashing into the tile, but not shattering, just dead weight. Edward tries to jump and dodge as he runs towards the back door where Ben and I entered into, but the walls are sealing each other with every swish of the sword. Nick begins humming a tone of his own creation, sending desks, chairs, and office supplies towards Edward. Little jacks jut into Edward’s legs, causing him to stumble.

A drawer opens and is sent spiraling towards Edward’s head. Next, a loud cracking sound echoes in the remaining hall and Nick’s hands begin to move faster – like a viper finally landing a strike on its prey. All the desks fly towards Edward now, as if he is the center of gravity for them. More and more desks pile up and soon Edward’s body is lost in the mass of burgundy woods.

I slide next to Nick matching his smile and he ends the song with a bow. The bundle of desks drops to the ground with a large crash.

“Now then, let’s go see Gamemaster, lil sis,” Nick offers me back my short sword and jumps up to the open window. He closes it and knocks three times. Throwing it back open, he extends his hand to me and lifts me up and into the room the window leads to. There’s a warm rush of air as I pass through it,

An open fireplace is roaring with fire while three green velvet chairs sit around a mass of small television screens. Gamemaster sits in one of them in his purple bathrobe. As I am set on the ground, he stands up to greet us. My smile breaks and a scowl replaced it. My jaw ticks with every second I see Gamemaster.

“Welcome, welcome, Ivy!” He bellows loudly, “I’ve been waiting for you!” He claps his hands together and gestures us to sit in the chairs. He, too, takes a seat with a fit of laughter. Nick gently pushes me towards them with a reassuring smile – his own smile, not the Gamemaster’s replica. I sit in between the two taller men and look at all the muted screens. All the people and groups I saw during my time in the Mansion were being whipped out by a flood of black goo.

“Once you design your game, we’ll start with fresh players,” Gamemaster explains, pulling out a lollipop from his inner suit pocket. He offers one to Nick and I. Nick accepts, I don’t.

“I know what I want.” I numbly say, looking at all the lives being taken. Seeing all the decaying bodies flowing down the drains. “I have my conditions though,” I stand again facing Gamemaster. I readjust my sword in my tense palm. His smile twitches and his eyes grow wide again like in the conference room. I trace patterns in the fuzz of his bathrobe, “with every loss of my game, I will take something from you, Gamemaster. One round will be a finger, the next a toe, the next your tongue. For mercy, though, only three people can enter my game at a time,” I turn back to the screen to see the board room where Mary’s body is being flooded out. “I will be the one to kill you,” I sign out as I sit comfortably back down, “The way to win is to play for oneself – not to please the Gamemaster, but to find a genuine moment of happiness.”

Gamemaster smiles, an enthralled smile, “this…” he looks passed me at Nick, “this is the company I was looking for.”

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Next to the front door of the Mansion is a locked room labeled “The Widow’s Farm.” If you knock, it will be opened to you, but only three people are allowed at a time. A back chalkboard sign with white calligraphy lettering outside the door will tell you this.

A group of two girls and a boy knock on the double-doors. Beyond these doors is a wall of curtains waiting to be moved once the doors shut. The curtains reveal a girl with blonde hair dressed in a wedding gown singing an unknown melody. She stands on a circular pedestal looking at herself in a tri-fold mirror.

“Oh good!” She squeals, “I’m Ivy! I’m so excited that you decided to show up!” she guides the three children into the bridal room. “Now, my game is rather easy,” she tells them. “You see, once you walk in here,” she gestures to the closet and chest-filled room around her, “you no longer qualify for Gamemaster’s game.” She runs over to the pedestal again and twirls in her wedding dress. It’s an off-the-shoulder dress with a short train and glittered with diamonds and rimstones.

“All those chest and closets are filled with whatever you may need, and” she twirls again, the permanent smile never leaving her face, “if it isn’t there, just tell me and I’ll find it for you.” She tucks a curled hair strand behind her ears. She doesn’t break eye contact with herself.

The three children stand speechless as Ivy talks to them through the mirror, “Oh, yes, I should introduce my groom, shouldn’t I?” She knocks three times on the right-most tri-fold mirror. Inside is a lifeless corpse of a black-haired male around the same age as Ivy. He’s dressed up in a black suit and tie, with blood-shot eyes to match. Blue veins and bruises streak out of his neck. Ivy’s smile drops for the first time. She closes the mirror door again explaining, “he doesn’t talk much anymore.”

“Now then,” she says smiling again, folding her hands together earnestly. She turns to face the three children, “how will you design my wedding?”

#story #scary story #my story #fantasy #karleywithak

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