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

[alchemicals]

I was last night, and that's why I don't try to do decent things for people.

[He's clearly trying to brush it off; it's nothing to be concerned about.]

I lasted years before this; half an hour wasn't so bad.

[ossifragant]

[Greed has no idea what to do with this. As far as he's concerned, Kimbley is a traitor who doesn't deserve his empathy, but there had been a time when Greed considered him something rather like a friend.]

You were trying to spare that kid from waking up to you gone.

[That's bizarrely selfless of Kimbley. He's not sure what to do with it.]

[alchemicals]

...It seemed like something that kid would be fucked up by, yeah, and absolutely nobody needs that - have you heard Newman yell?

[...]

I wouldn't gain anything from doing someone's head in like that, and if that kid was going to be fucked up over me anyway, there was no point in twisting the knife. I'm sadistic, sure, but it's hard to reap the benefits if you're dead.

[ossifragant]

He'll understand eventually.

[Hopefully. He'd hate to be made a liar because of something like this.]

If Yomiel's caught one of the other Communists, maybe Newman will be one of the lucky ones to make it out of here alive.

[It's not comforting, exactly, because they're both dead, but it's something.]

[alchemicals]

Oh, don't worry about trying to make me feel better - I set Knightley on Newman, too. That kid Paul had a point, that trial just wasn't the place to bring it up - not while we were closing in on someone else who couldn't refute our arguments any.

[He shrugs a bit once that's out there, though.]

I've calmed down a bit since you saw me last, but that doesn't mean I won't still put knives in backs, friends or otherwise. What did you tell Yomiel, anyway? I figure you had to have said something.

[ossifragant]

That you're a treacherous bastard, and how to manipulate you into giving yourself away in the event you ended up being an enemy.

[Speaking of knives in backs.]

[alchemicals]

[OKAY THAT WILL ACTUALLY GET HIM TO LAUGH BECAUSE WELL DONE, YOU BEAUTIFUL DISASTER]

What...do I even want to know how you told him to pull off that last one?

[ossifragant]

I didn't expect him to be able to pull it off on his own. It was going to be a bit of a team effort.

[alchemicals]

Are you serious.

[Oh my god.]

You set up a contingency plan, in the event that I was a communist.

[ossifragant]

I wasn't going to go into the game trusting you of all people.

Me dying without knowing put things up in the air, but the trial made it clear which side you were on.

[alchemicals]

...Answer something for me?

[ossifragant]

Of course.

[alchemicals]

[He actually hesitates for a moment before he goes to ask; there's not really much of a way to word this that isn't conveying some sort of sense of "that was fucked up, it fucked me up", but he's going to try to do this without it being too much of a trainwreck.]

Did you know they were gunning for one of you? The night you died.

[ossifragant]

[He shakes his head.]

They must have seen Clay acting suspiciously right off the bat and scanned him; I tried to tell him to keep his mouth shut. Obviously I wasn't quick enough.

To be honest, I was expecting to wake up to Yomiel dead.

....but I knew it would be me to die first of my partner and I. It was just a matter of time.

[alchemicals]

Like I said, I was protecting Yomiel almost from the start. If it were me, he would have been first against the wall after that trial.

[ossifragant]

I don't know how the vote works, but it has to mean at least three of the five wanted Clay out of the way.

I don't know why-- he's useless. The Scanner must have heard him yammering about communists and assumed he had an important role, it turned up positive because he was my partner, and they assumed he was one of the roles that wasn't "this idiot's life is connected to some other idiot's life."

So far they're not exactly movers and shakers.

[alchemicals]

That's what we were suspecting, too - they went after Puppington, hit you instead.

Hopefully you're not still wondering why I was pissed off.

[ossifragant]

I think I have an idea.

[.....]

It's a good thing you didn't go after him. You and Yomiel. I don't need people getting revenge on my behalf when there are bigger problems.

[alchemicals]

I heard Yomiel going after him; I just couldn't be fucked to join him at the time. If I had, Puppington would have been dead several times over.

[ossifragant]

[He really doesn't know how to take this.

He understands it more from Yomiel than Kimbley, truthfully.]

You would have joined me a hell of a lot sooner than you did as it is.

[Greed shifts, running a hand through his hair.]

I don't get you.

[alchemicals]

[...Well, that's...a thing, isn't it.]

How so?

[ossifragant]

Your big problem is that you don't know how to make up your mind, isn't it?

[It's said a lot more patiently than the wording would imply.

Greed isn't a very patient man, but he's going to have to be to deal with all of this while the remaining people are busy killing each other.]

[alchemicals]

So do you want to try again and actually tell me what the hell you're getting at this time? I don't know what the hell you're talking about.

[That patience doesn't seem to be rubbing off.]

[ossifragant]

You getting all upset on my behalf because one of your allies was mowed down pisses me off a little, that's all.

Maybe you should have thought about that the first time when you brought the military to the Nest and mowed down all of your allies.

[alchemicals]

That was different!

[The words are sharp; he can hear his volume rising, but he can't say he really wants to put much of a stop to it.]

You want to hate me for that? Fine. I professionally and categorically don't care, because you hating me isn't my damn problem! Just make up your damn mind about it already!