balance_logs | Welcome Participartypants

Welcome Participartypants

Who: All y'all nerds
Where: The Arena
When: The night of the 15th
What: A small gathering to both welcome new members to the Bureau, and to congratulate veteran Reclaimers on their successful magic mitten procurement. Dress is as fancy or as not fancy as you want it. Manners, to the degree of which you are capable, are mandatory.
Content Warning: General content warning for the Reclaimers. Also general content warning for Miss Zarves

	Formal, informal, never mind the dress code.
	NAVIGATION

It's been two weeks since the Reclaimers returned, and since the newest Reclaimers arrived. Some of you have adapted better than the Director could have hoped, and some of you have made your best efforts to find a new sense of normalcy — testing Bender the food robot to his limits, forming book clubs, training together, musing over what sort of fashions one even wears to a party.

Some of you, perhaps, have spent a little bit too much time in the simulation at the Dojo. It's understandable. Adjusting to the idea that your entire universe has been destroyed takes time, and sometimes, escapes are necessary.

And tonight, she's hoping to provide you with a temporary escape with this party.

1. ONCE UPON A TWO WEEKS' WEARY

A. TO WASH AWAY THE ACHING BLEARY

The Director, using the Moon Base's simulation technology, has turned the Arena into a ballroom to behold. The sprawling hall is decorated in ornate wooden carvings, and a large maple floor meant for dancing is encircled by tables and a large banquet table.

In the corner, on a raised platform, stands a baby grand piano, freshly tuned and polished. Anyone is free to have a spin on it, if the mood strikes. At some point during the evening, Johann the Bard, violin in hand, will stand on the platform and provide a performance that could only ever be heard on the Moon Base, among members of the Bureau of Balance — because he did, after all, give this particular song to the Voidfish.

If you would like something with a heavier beat, there's a tablet on the wall next to the platform, where you can make music requests of your own, from the Artificer's collection of songs from across the universe. The collection may not be all that extensive, but The Cupid Shuffle is probably in there.

Get down and boogie, is what we're saying.

B. THEY WERE THROWN A BANQUET CHEERY

And what's on the banquet table? Snacks provided by Bender, of course — which means they could have any manner of magical effects. Here are some of the snacks available, including one that the Director was lucky enough to roll for herself.

Cupcakes of every flavor imaginable, utterly delicious — so delicious, in fact, that whoever eats one will have flowers grow in their footsteps for the next two hours. The flowers are magic and disappear on their own, so go turn the dance floor into a garden (Courtesy of Lion).
Mead that puts you in such a good mood, you'll be unable to resist the urge to sing in whatever measure of talent you have (Courtesy of Lancelot).
An energy drink that will literally give you wings for two hours. Enjoy looking absolutely angelic for your friends (Courtesy of Akechi).
Nachos that have a curiously JPG quality to them, but no other magical effects (Courtesy of Terezi).
The most delicious cheeseburgers you ever did taste (Courtesy of Maya).
Finger sandwiches that, when eaten, light up your entire body in an assortment of different colors — the light trails behind your movements, like the way lights look on a low shutter speed. Enjoy the raving (courtesy of The Director).

2. BUT THEN, SHE ROSE FROM THE ICHOR

Some of you may have heard a thing or two about Miss Zarves — perhaps the rumors circulating around town, or the strange connection to Garfield and the Bracer Chasers some of you may have bought to decorate your Bracers. Maybe words like "catalyst" and "Ouija Board" have come up once or twice.

Because there is a being trapped in a plane of existence right next to yours, largely forgotten, as if she had somehow been reverse Voidfish'd. Forgotten, that is, until the Bracer Chasers — curiously laced with high amounts of aluminadium, a word that might sound familiar to McCree and Faolan. For two years, she's waited, and watched, wanting a chance to be seen again, to speak with the Bureau herself once again, cursed with a maddening loneliness.

And the second one of those cute decorations was pressed against a Bracer, Miss Zarves had it — her catalyst. She would know, after all: She was once a leading researcher on using catalysts to travel through dimensions, after all — and the Bracer Chasers were one of her original designs.

At the very end of the party, perhaps one or two piano songs away from shutdown, the simulation suddenly shuts down. The lights blink off with a systemwide shudder. After five seconds, the lights flare back to life, and the entire Arena is its default white blank slate. And a message, from username @Zarves❤Scarves, slowly blinks across the screen.

Hello. I would like to play a game.

And then the Arena goes dark.

A. HACKER VOICE: I'M IN

That little stunt isn't the only one Miss Zarves, who now has a connection to the dimension you're residing in and some of the Bureau tech, is going to pull. For the rest of your stay at the Moon Base, until you're whisked away to the next mission (Or unless you figure out a way to stop her), you may experience some of the following:

Wonky simulations: You may have been traveling to the Dojo to recall a certain piece of your home world. And maybe one day, while you're minding your own business, that same simulation may suddenly appear outside the Dojo. Or perhaps you're wandering down a hallway, and you come across a mishmash of other people's simulations, torn apart and stitched back together haphazardly.
Bender: As if this guy weren't a big enough mess already. If you happen to ask Bender for one of the items that were available at the party, you may instead be given food that has the opposite effect. Think cupcakes that leave behind wilted plants, mead that makes you cry uncontrollably, or energy drinks that not only do not give you literal wings, but put you straight to sleep.
If you happen to have a subscription to Webflix, regardless of what movie you pick to watch, it'll pick a specific movie instead: Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. Also, you won't be able to turn it off.

3. AND THEN THINGS JUST KEEP GETTING WORSE

The arena's simulation has decided to take a sabbatical, a spectral being from another plane of existence has invaded the Moon Base, and Madame Director is doing her best to keep the room calm and collected. First, the darkness needs to be handled with properly, so with a stomp of her elegant white oak staff down on the floor, a sound echoes above and beyond any panicked shouts, and soon the room is filled with dancing lights that emanate from the four cardinal directions of the arena.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Excuse me. Thank you everyone for coming to this enchanted evening here with your fellow Reclaimers, but without proper lighting- Johann, Johann, please, I don't need signature music right now, this isn't a wrestling match for crying out- thank you, Johann. As I was saying- unfortunately, this evening's events will have to be---"

Almost right on cue, as if there wasn't a possibly worse time in the world for this to happen, the doors of the arena bust open. Into the room swarms a dragonborn, looking rather beat up and worse for wear. It's impossible to tell if Dragonborn can cry the way humans can cry, but her amphibian-like eyes shine oddly in the colors of the magical lights surrounding the room. The Director's eyes go wide for a moment, this was rather- no, extremely, unsuspected.

The Regulator approaches the Director. "We found him! Lucretia, we found him! And h-he. That son of a bitch has Killian!"

And lacking in the proper finesse that's demanded of her as a leader, she rubs her forehead. "Carey, come with me to my office and we'll sort this out." She looks around the room, her Reclaimers all gathered and standing, watching this interaction take place. "Please, everyone, return to your apartments for the evening."

A. TWO WEEKS UNTIL ROLLOUT

The Director hasn't slept a wink throughout the night, dealing with a host of problems facing the Bureau at the moment. She consults with the clerics on how to get rid of this ridiculous joke-entity that Garfield has proliferated long enough. She speaks with Carey about all the details she can offer, attempting to calm her down, despite her unraveled state. Killian means the world to Carey, after all, and the Director, no- Lucretia, was waiting for the wedding invitation for far too long.

Sometime around mid-day, the Reclaimers will receive a message on their bracer from her.

Reclaimers, we will deploying in approximately two weeks. We've discovered the location of a relic that we haven't heard about in quite some time now. A full briefing will be provided at a later date, but please prepare accordingly. The area you all will be assigned to is known as the Netheril, a vast desert that splits the continent in half between the western and eastern fronts.

We've instructed the tailors to offer special clothing designs that are particularly good for protection against sand and heat — at a heavily discounted price.

Ensure that you have a weapon, as there's no telling what sort of beasts you can encounter out in such a wasteland. Train intensively over the next few days. We anticipate that it will be quite some time before you are able to return to Base, so please ensure that your BIAS is restocked and ready to go.

Two weeks.

blurb code by photosynthesis

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

This is something similar....

[He should put it all out of mind and never looked back.]

This was a city that had been untouched by the despair that swept the world after the collapse of Hope's Peak Academy.

[And or was all over. It should be. Or close to it.]

Akamatsu san, have you been in a killing game before? Have you fought Despair?

...

[That's right, he'd said something about how that one school getting destroyed had caused the end of the world. It hadn't seemed possible from how he'd described it, but knowing that Monokuma was involved...

Would an army of Monokumas from the Monokuma Machine be able to do something like that? Destroy a whole city?

She shakes her head, roughly, forcing herself out of her own thoughts.]

That's...

[The silence, the inability to answer immediately, is probably answer enough.]

...Yeah, [she says finally, unnecessarily, grip loosening on his hand as she stares at the floor. Then she forces a laugh, though it's more emotional than any kind of humor.] Yeah, I guess you can say that.

[Does she lie about her role in it? Does she tell the truth? Does she just try to distract him? She doesn't know, her thoughts skittering from thought to thought like someone dripped oil on piano keys.]

[If he were the sort who could be a protagonist he might try and reassure her here, or offer comfort. Instead he was just at a loss. It was confusing and made no sense.

He had to know how this was possible!]

Akamatsu san, I need to know everything you can tell me, exactly. There is no way you should be familiar with this.

[Unless this happens again in the future, or she was from some sort of alternate time like. Those could be answers.]

That person is dead, her feeble attempts to continue are destroyed. That insane despaired illness has been curbed.

He would not allow this to continue. And I have all the faith in His abilities to make sure it won't.

I... I don't know a lot, really.

[She draws her hand back completely, wrapping her arms around herself with a quiet sigh. Her knees feel weak from the Monokuma-scare, so she leans back, rests against the closest wall and closes her eyes.

She can be a little bit truthful, right?]

Me and... fifteen other Super High School Levels, my friends, we were kidnapped and trapped in an abandoned school. With Monokuma and his stupid Monokubs. I... I don't know anything about a despair illness or whoever you're talking about, though.

Despair is contagious. The more a population falls to it, the quicker it spreads.

[Her words were so familiar, and yet, so alien. Maybe she was from some sort of future? He wouldn't be surprised if some copycat surfaced down the line.

But still... it was a bit hard to think about it.]

We were trapped on an island. And before, they were locked in the old school building.

[Though maybe speaking about the island as the same was a bit unfair.]

...

[The realization hits her like a lightning bolt. We were trapped on an island? He told her about the student council in the school, but we--

Her eyes fly open, and she takes a step closer to him.]

Y-You were involved in one, too? With Monokuma?

[All her questions jumble together -- are you okay, what happened, are your classmates here, are you like me, but instead all that makes it out is,] H-How?

Yes.

[In more ways than one.]

How? It's hard to know where to begin. It's complicated.... More importantly how could you have interacted with it?

There is nothing left of that woman, and no one could take her place. Unless multiple worlds had to suffer from that despair evangelist.

How depressing....

...I told you already. My friends and I were kidnapped.

[She runs a hand through her hair, feeling it stick to the nervous sweat in her palms, the residual anxiety from seeing Monokuma keeping her nerves on end just as much as this conversation alone.]

I've never... I've never heard of that woman you talked about before. Enoshima?

...

[There's a beat, then Kaede's hand covers her mouth again as a few pieces fall belatedly into place. Mikan's a Super High School Level, just like Nagito, and there had been a picture of a girl for her initiation test...]

Umm... was she a blonde girl with pigtails?

That description would describe her, yes.

Have you seen her before?

[He doubted it, since she had never heard of her. Never heard of Hope's Peak....

Though, that didnt mean much, if she had run into Monokuma.]

And, though you were kidnapped, that doesn't mean much. Can you remember before that? Other than the bit you have told me before. Details right before you woke up.

Because... memories can be altered, I wouldn't be surprised if that happened with you and your class.

Afterall, you need a good twist, and it's a helpful tool that's worked at least twice.

Ummm... just a picture, but it's gone now. I didn't realize what it was until you said something...

[Poor Mikan... This raises a whole slew of new questions.

Actually, everything Nagito is saying is raising new questions. She winces, pressing that hand in her hair against the side of her head. It's like when she'd spoken to Shuichi about it, how the memories of just before were just gone.]

I... I don't remember how it happened. I just... woke up in a locker with... my friend. He couldn't remember how he got there, either.

[Shuichi. It still hurts to think about the time she shared with him, even now. It's one thing to reminiscence about the fun they had together, it's another to try recounting it.]

I thought... it was because we were both really stressed out. And then there just wasn't time to really try to think about it.

What do you mean, a good twist?

A good mystery will be hard to solve and have a twist at the end. If it's too obvious it's not fun when the answers are revealed, however, if there are no clues to hint at the truth that's also bad.

Making it so people cant remember certain events, or making everyone strangers and imply they weren't, or hiding their past, makes a compelling mystery. It's surprising when the reveal is "You were the ones who chose to be locked in the old building and forgot the world ended!" Or "You lost three years of your lives and are actually the villains!"

[If he knew more about the Future foundation issue he would add "It was your beloved leader the whole time making you kill yourselves!" But, he didnt actually know that uet.]

There's a lot that can be done, because the people involved don't have enough information or context.

...

[Her lips curve into a frown. Maybe she's just stressed out, like she'd said, but it almost makes her angry, how easily he can talk about this kind of thing. The only thing that keeps her from getting too angry is knowing that he went through the same thing himself.]

It's not just a story, Komaeda-san... for me, it wasn't as much about solving the mystery as trying to get to escape together with everyone. I didn't care who the mastermind was, as long as we could all get out and stay friends... we'd have had time enough to figure it all out after we got out.

[She hugs her arms around herself, trying to keep her voice from shaking as she glances up at him.]

I mean... it was the same for you and your friends, right?

We all wanted to know "why" and "who". We were given enough at the start to be confused and uncertain.

I had expected that sort of thing to happen.

He never gave up finding an answer and getting through it.

I focused on investigation.

[He didnt know how things were set up for her, but they had been set up for the worst from the begining.]

It was an opportunity to see everyone's Hope shine, and crush despair.....

Motives were carefully planned. Once we were even starved until someone committed one.

There was no escaping.

And it was broadcast to the outside world. There was an audiance, there was a narrative.

That is how she works. How she always works.

It's always filmed. The first one, the second one, the related ones, the third one.

Though, we were different. Our circumstances were different.

Akamatsu san, how much did you experience before coming here?

[Related ones? A third one?

She's starting to feel almost faint, but she squeezes her hand in her hair, tightly enough to hurt to keep herself in the moment. The motives are making her head swim. Is that what everyone would have had to go through, had the Hunger not claimed it all? That's what she'd wanted to protect everyone from.

Her breath is coming in harsh pants through her nose, though she forces herself to try to stay calm. Focus. Think of a soothing song like Maurice Ravel's Sonatine, something that'll whisk her worries away. Take her out of the moment.

She breathes. Once, twice. Somehow, she can't help but feel like she's behind the podium in the middle of the trial grounds again. Like there's a spotlight shining on her.

How much did you experience?]

That Enoshima... she was one of you guys, right? The mastermind?

Edited 2019-01-25 20:06 (UTC)

No.

[He would never accept her as part of anything to do with him. The very thought put an uncomfortable and almost disgusted look on his face.]

She was a student of Hope's Peak Academy, but she was an underclassman.

My class...

We were simply victims, throw away experiments.

[The mastermind wasn't one of them... Kaede doesn't know if she should be relieved or not. She and Shuichi had both thought by the end of the class trial that there was no way the mastermind could have been among them after all, but it sends a wave of complex emotions through her at the realization that for Komaeda, it was confirmed. Kaede's plan to kill the mastermind could never have worked, huh...? And while it's a relief to know that there was no way a mastermind could have been hiding among her dear friends, it hurts to think about even still.]

...I'm sorry, [she says finally, reaching out to gently touch his elbow. It feels like a hollow comfort. What could she say that makes a killing game any better? Nothing. Nothing at all.] If there were a piano here, I could play you a song...

[She thinks Clair de Lune, and pauses. No sound comes out, and she shakes her head.]

I wish you hadn't had to go through that.

Perhaps another time, when a Piano is present.

[He smiled a little, her effort was appreciated.]

And though it is a kind statement, I won't trade that experience. Without that game... we would have been worse off. I would never have been able to meet someone important. And... the world would be less hopeful.

[Perhaps if he had succeeded at that time, but then, what would have happened to Hinata?

Ah, yes. There was that.]

Though... I suppose in a way, we did have a mastermind among us.

You keep talking about someone important...

[It's a leading question. More than once now, he's talked about someone important to him. Even with the reveal that there might have been a mastermind, she won't be deterred!!

Unless Nagito doesn't want to talk about this person. She won't push too hard.]

They helped you defeat the mastermind?

[He can't help but laugh, the irony of it. Now that he knew the whole picture.]

Yes. He was able to persevere, look towards the future and push everyone forward towards a positive goal. He uncovered the mastermind of our game, and then saved us all.

But, in a way, he was the cause of our game being a thing in the first place.

But then... we went in knowing what was going to happen anyway....

[He sighed a bit and lowered his voice.]

That's the thing about them, what you discover as the truth can be rather far from what you thought it would be. Memories are changed and the truth obscured.

...Komaeda-san, I don't understand.

[That's what it comes back to. None of this makes any sense to her. How could the person who helped catch the mastermind have started the game in the first place?]

Let me get this straight. You're saying that the guy who started the game was able to catch the mastermind during his trial...? You don't hate him for starting it?

[It sounds like this person was like her, except he actually succeeded in his goal. She closes her eyes, takes a deep breath.]

I don't really know. I learned about it afterwards. I was already dead when most of the reveal happened.

[He couldn't help but look down, a mixed expression on his face. It felt very recent to him still, and he still needed to resolve some things. Though, he supposed, he wasn't as bad as right after.]

But, I remember before, and I experienced after. I suppose you could say there were two masterminds, working together, but one of them had a completely different goal. And that persons goal lead to something good, but needed the other to achieve it.

It was the perfect example of needing bad conditions to lead to positive outcomes. Good luck always follows bad luck. Hope, always follows Despair.

Oh!

[It's a gasp, her hand flying to cover her mouth again with a rush of emotion so intense it almost makes her sick. He died during his killing game, too...? Meaning Mikan must have been the one to fill him in on... on what happened, after he died.

...Wait. Wasn't their world destroyed? How could there have been a reveal, and yet...

She's starting to get a headache, and starting to think that maybe someone else would be able to explain things more clearly.]

I... really don't get it, but...

[There's a beat, then she steps forward, wrapping her arms around the older boy and giving him a hug. There's one thing she does understand, and it's the hopelessness of being killed, of coming face to face with death.]

Thank you. For telling me.

Ah that-

[He stops as she hugs him, a little unsure about it at first. Something he had said had resonated with her.

That he died?

Could she have died in hers? How could she be here now then?

He wasn't really sure, but, it felt like he should pat her head at the very least.]

It was virtual reality, but, we didn't know that at the time.

[Oh... he pat her head. It's kind of nice, even if she's not expecting it. She's supposed to be the one comforting him, after all!]

...Huh?

[Wait, what?

She pulls back, brows knitted together as she frowns up at him.]

What do you mean, "virtual reality?"

The Neo World Program, a complex virtual simulation used for extreme therapy. You see, the mastermind of the killing game we ended up being in, was an AI developed by the original mastermind of the end of the world. Though she had died, she made sure she lived on....

She infected the computer, and caused the situation. We were all suppose to die and I believe she would take over our bodies?

It's a bit too Gibson, isn't it?

[He had already said too much, he couldn't bring himself to talk about how they had been despair and needed treatment before. At least not at the moment.]

Our memories were wiped while inside, we could only remember up to the begining of our first day at Hope's Peak Academy.

Dying feels real... and, there is always a chance you will die in real life if you experience a strong enough trauma. We should have been comatose, most of us were. It took effort to wake us up again.

Welcome Participartypants

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