DEAD 03

[thecomputer]

[Welcome, Zolf!]

[You regain consciousness in a waiting room of some sort. Something is clearly odd - your entire body is slightly transparent, and everything you were carrying with you aside from your clothes is gone. On the plus side, you seem to be impervious to all harm.]

[There is an end table with two stacks of papers. One is a large area to write in (there is a small assortment of pens next to this), and the other all bear the same message:]

Congratulations! You have died.

Please wait in this area until such time as the exercise is terminated. At that time, you will be transferred to your appropriate afterlife. If you were assigned a Communist role, rest easy knowing that any ultimatum given as part of your motivation was false.

If you have any questions, please shout them into the air, and a representative will get back to you within 5-100,000 business days. If you have any final messages for the living, please write them on form B and submit it into the slot in the south wall. Delivery is not guaranteed.

[Sure enough, there’s a slot. In addition, a hallway connects this room with a much larger room, not unlike a movie theatre. A large screen on the far wall shows various events back in the facility as they unfold in real time. A side alcove provides slightly transparent popcorn and a water cooler, although hunger, thirst and exhaustion don’t seem to exist here.]

Comments

[cantarellacookie]

I don't know. Maybe it did talk to my brother.

[She takes his explanation of dying before calmly.]

Did the way the computer execute you have any significance to things that had already happened to you?

[Because hers had definitely been mocking her.]

[ossifragant]

[He takes a moment to respond, trying to think.]

....yes, I think so.

I wasn't poisoned or hung, but the way I died wasn't exactly pleasant, you could say. It was incredibly painful.

[....]

Can I ask you a question, Himemiya?

[cantarellacookie]

Of course, Mr. Greed.

[ossifragant]

Was Tohsaka your first choice? Were I in your shoes, I would have spent a little more time weighing my options on who to convert.

[He's pretty sure she wasn't, but he's going to ask before launching into an explanation.]

[cantarellacookie]

[She shakes her head.] Not at all. I let Sakura Matou convince me... to both our regret. I was leaning toward Mr. Kimbley.

[ossifragant]

Kimbley would have been a mistake.

Not that Rin wasn't, but he wouldn't have been a better choice.

I don't think anyone in this game would have worked out well.

[cantarellacookie]

Perhaps you're right. I should have waited until the next night to act, at the very least. I just anticipated something like Mr Yomiel's gambit happening earlier in the week.

[Because everyone does always turn on her and blame her, don't they? It's part of her punishment.]

[ossifragant]

[He shrugs.]

Hindsight isn't perfect. It's not like any of us have played the game well.

[cantarellacookie]

[She nods.] Otherwise your side wouldn't have lost so many roles so quickly.

[ossifragant]

Oh, I'm sure your side will start dropping like flies soon enough.

We're all terrible at this game, but the bloodshed seems to be happening in equal amounts.

[cantarellacookie]

I'm quite sure we will. At least at an equal rate with yours.