raisingproject | ☆ WELCOME TO HELL, YE POOR SOULS.

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graveyard

☆ WELCOME TO HELL, YE POOR SOULS.

Magical Girl Raising Project

Graveyard

The last thing you remember is dying. Whether it's by murder or execution, that's was all it. But surprisingly enough, you wake up in the hotel room that you were assigned in, as if you had never died to begin with. However, once you walk right outside, you'll start noticing that while this is the Town A you remember, there are some slight differences that you notice.

The first thing is the fact that while you can see those who are still alive, they simply cannot see you. In fact, they pass through you, as if you were a ghost. And spoilers: you kind of are one, now. The second thing is that sometimes, if you look at a building for too long or too closely, you'll notice that it fizzles a bit, almost glitchy.

But that's completely fine, isn't it? There is, however, one more thing to keep in mind: there are voices of other people, mumuring. Of course, these other people, unlike you, don't have a complete shape; they're just a silhouette of themselves, looking like static.

However: it wouldn't be Town A without an announcement, would it? Of course not. Hence why upon rearriving, there will be a message, typed out:

Welcome to the afterlife, everyone. This is a greeting message to introduce you to how exactly this works. You have the ability to send one message to the living a week, so choose your words wisely. Of course, there are limitations to what you can say! You cannot reveal the mastermind's true identity, even if you know it. You cannot reveal a culprit or a victim, even if you know it.

Also, all messages will be sent to all players during the trials. If there is no trial, the message shall be sent on Saturday. You may investigate as you wish. If you have any questions to ask of me, please leave a message and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

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[Szayel can't say he expected this to end up being a trait either...the trait of even hanging out with people to begin with, that is.

It's a little awkward to be here after meeting his end in this very place but it's also not going to stop him from carrying out investigations, especially when this ritual is pretty crucial.]

Rather interesting to know that someone has been around this place the entire time. I wonder what she witnessed while we weren't here...

[Did she get to watch him bleed out down here? ...look, there have been more morbid inquiries, right? There is one mystery in particular that he's curious about...but they're here on other business.]

Oh, the stories I could tell but let's slip past those to what you're here for. [A smooth and calm toned voice says as the familiar static cracks on the air. A robed girl walks out of the shadows, and smiles just enough to be obvious.]

Unless you'd fancy a stroll down the path of unsolved mysteries. [Another small smile that vanishes as she raises one eyebrow.] Might I go ahead and assume you're not here about the hunter but, about our potential return from the cold embrace of the grave.

[Her eyes narrow as the woman speaks. But hey, she has gotten better since Tuesday in the sense that she'll actually refrain from saying any of her more sarcastic quips. She'll save those for whenever she feels this conversation isn't going anywhere anyway.]

Both are topics of interest to me personally. I don't mind taking a slight detour to satisfy more personal inquiries about the hunter to address the pink elephant in the room first.

[A side glance at Szayel.] Unless you have other preferences.

[Well look at that, she really was here.

Szayel nods when Dahlia glances his way. They both have that interest in common. They were both taken out by the hunter, after all.]

If you have any insights, we would be happy to hear them.

[...so did she see him bleed out, then.]

[She pulls her hood up. It gives her the illusion she still remembers her face and it messes with people. Being underestimated is rather effective for any purpose she has in mind.]

I am surprised that no one has thought about what Not one of you could mean. Or compared the cuts on the bodies to the weapons in the Traitor room.

Or have you?

[She purses her lips briefly. At least Hinata hadn't been overtly patronizing.]

I was a little preoccupied. [The words are said with some forced sweetness. Not that she legitimately thinks anyone in the room is going to be charmed by it; it's simply the tone she defaults to when she is Trying To Stay Cool.]

But if the implication you're getting at is that they're a magical being from a previous round of the murder games... I suppose that doesn't rule her out. [Zange, she means.]

[A beat.] Miss One seemed to think the hunter had the ability to read minds though.

Edited 2017-05-01 00:45 (UTC)

I assume you are aware of just how many weapons were in there. Comparing cuts with those weapons would be like locating a needle in a haystack. Our time was rather limited.

[It's an excuse, unfortunately, but Szayel really does think that there are much better ways of narrowing things down.]

I had a few more days to consider the evidence than Dahlia did, and after my own encounter with the hunter I find the amount of coincidences too great to ignore.

[He looks to Dahlia again.]

The hunter is apparently not one of us—supported by the fact that we were not called to trial for any of their kills—but someone we have seen before. The slayings began when the barrier went down. If you may recall, someone from outside our group was very intent on piercing the barrier to get through to us. Intriguing that despite that being a reality now, she has been suspiciously silent, wouldn't you say?

[Her smile widens into something almost feral. Rose holds up the hand closest to Szayel.]

One is right. They can read minds. And you are also right, it's quite interesting they have not contacted you. So helpful right up until then.

[She raises one hand up and makes a cutting gesture with it.] My apologies for speaking too vast in the scope of a concept. I still have a habit of that sometimes, even without the benefit of seeing.

[She leans back on her heels as she drops her hand back down and looks thoughtfully at Dahlia.]

You are half correct. But it isn't Zange. Her role must follow the rules. If she were to kill there would be a trial.

[Comprehension sets in as Szayel speaks. Truth be told, she much preferred her version of events for admittedly petty reasons. But very well, they have two flies to swat down then. Her gaze shift from Szayel back to Rose. The smile she has on now is mildly disconcerting, but Dahlia will be damned if she lets that show.]

Snow. [Her tone is icy.] The girl was barely of any help even when she was around. [Too many "I don't knows" and "That's never happened before" for Dahlia's taste.]

She was rather indifferent when I informed her of Eliza's murder. [... If by "informed" you mean "practically taunted," but sure, okay Dahlia.] Come to that, there was an image of her transformed state in the museum... she was wearing mostly white in it. She used a halberd, according to the exhibit and her power was to hear voices in distress..... I can see how that could translate into mind reading abilities.

[She continues with a slight frown.]

What are the rules that the mastermind has to follow? If you're allowed to reveal that.

[It's kind of bittersweet to seemingly be on the right track here, mostly when the confirmation of the hunter's ability to read minds comes up. Szayel is quick to reveal his displeasure in regard to that.]

Oh, that's fair. No wonder she was able to counter my every move. [It sucks to be on the receiving end of the mind games he prefers to play.] Snow seems to be a reasonable choice of suspect with what information we have. And she did have pink hair in her transformed state, if I am not mistaken.

[Rose's reaction also inspires confidence... It's a completely normal reaction to have to exciting prospects!!

As for the rules of the mastermind...]

It seems like the mastermind must also participate in the game itself- As a regular participant such as us, that is. Though I cannot say if she would actually be executed if the votes were to fall against her in a trial, culprit or no.

[Maybe Rose knows?]

That's right. A mastermind has to be among the participants. It was created that way from the start, much like a traitor can't operate from the shadows. They are subject to the same rules as anyone else.

There would have been an execution if she had voted for. Then the game would have ended and one of you wrapped up in the hangman's noose with the executioner's axe in hand.

[She shakes her head slowly, looking at first like she might say I don't know.]

Either by irony or design, the rules for the role of mastermind are rather restrictive.

A mastermind can not reveal who they are. Unless found out by someone else. They can not reveal a culprit or victim themselves. It would be rather unfair, they see everything. Including every conversation taking place at any moment. Nor can they reveal any truths about the town.

Thus the traitor role made by the mastermind to do what they can not.

[That just gets a dry laugh out of Dahlia.]

If fairness were ever a pressing concern to any of the minds responsible for this nonsense, none of us would be haunting this morgue.

[She's not done yet with bitter quips just yet.]

And that goes for the mastermind, too. What's the point of being the mastermind if you don't have built-in immunity or protection? This arbitrary sense of "fair play" only goes as far as I can throw Zange, I'm sure.

[...Which hey, might be a decent distance in transformed state?]

But so be it. Since this place insists on irony in all things, our mastermind is nothing but a glorified prisoner of the game, the traitor is not truly a traitor for they're meant to help the mastermind and we are actually the heroes of the story rather than the victims, is that it?

[....why yes, dying turned her into a cranky salt pillar. Suzy stop her.]

[It's like the faint brush of darkness weaving through the faint fragments of memory. She can recall just the voice. Talk of destiny and failure. Her smile fades, as she regards Dahlia in silence.

'We were never meant to win.' The words bubble up and she finally says,]

Hardly. We're all the sacrifices on which the wheel turns. The blood of many has been powering the machine that deals out death in short order for countless eons. It strips the power out of souls and confines them to oblivion.

You seem very set on pinning everything on Zange. Far be it for me to tell you what to do with repressed urges but, we have little time. And I would rather not consider the show you're putting on for her.

Do you remember what you learned in the museum? There was a great deal of history there on the original and successor murder games that took place with Fav presiding. Look specifically at the later. That is when the rules and regulations were created.

The living will have to figure this out themselves but, I will add this. Why do you think the hunter is coming for all of you? Think this over carefully.

Edited (grammar and spelling failures) 2017-05-03 22:01 (UTC)

.....

[A comment like this doesn't need to be dignified with a response, right? Dahlia knows this, and yet....]

Are you deaf and dense? Did I ever say Zange started all of this? And do you really think that anyone who is angry at Zange is angry because they're attracted to her? Get your perverted little mind out of the gutter and back into reality.

[Her voice is cold and crisp like the sting of winter as she lowers it just a hair.]

You are the one who needs reality's firm grip to lead you by the hand. Quit turning a very important talk into your plans for vengeance. If you can't, there's the door.

I am arming you with knowledge but I won't tolerate a fit that you are far too old to be throwing. Now.

[Her voice returns to normal and the sudden sharpness is gone. As if she'd never done it at all.]

Let's return to the matter of the hunter. As I said, there is a reason they were trying to get in and a cause for the murders. Think this over. I will even hand you the key, the first game was sanctioned.

Are you both quite done?

[Okay as salty as Szayel is about the entire situation the dead are in (way to word it as theatrically dramatic as possible Rose, and that's not sarcasm), for once he's not here for derailing to this degree. So when he responds there, it's not said in a very pleasant tone.]

Enough of this bickering. Let us continue.

[...squeezing all the information they need out of Rose, and then they can go and discuss the various ways they would like to torture those who have earned their ire. It'll be fine, Dahlia.]

If I recall correctly, very first game had an entirely different reasoning behind it as well, did it not? Cranberry brought the participants together simply to fight and kill them. When she was killed, several other iterations of the game came into existence as well as a new iteration of Fav himself. This is where I assume the game was restructured to what we know it as now.

That is correct. [Bickering shoved aside.she folds her arms over her chest.] The form we know now was created by her followers and the new version of Fav.

All magical beings in these games are made so by this new fav. Not. The original source.

[If looks could kill, Rose would be hemorrhaging on the floor right about now. She has half a mind to point out the fact that it was Rose who made the conversation take ridiculous turns into the unnecessary and personal, but can she hold back her temper? Sure, she can, but it's done through clenched teeth.]

So we're bootleg magical girls.

[Expertly, and more for Szayel's sake, she'll repress a scoff.]

And the originals are coming after us because we're stealing their show..

They can't tolerate rogue magical girls, no. I don't know precisely why but I hazard a guess it has something to do with the system overall.

[Now that her annoyance has been done, Rose completely ignores the sarcasm and the anger. The man had been right, they need to discuss the information not roll in shenanigans that feel vaguely familiar.]

I would ask why now, over a thousand of years later but that isn't relevant. As I said originally, most of this information is in the museum so hopefully the four left alive will piece this together themselves.

As for the ritual...ask your questions.

Rogue magical girls huh...

[She'll raise an eyebrow at that, considering it. Ultimately she wouldn't have been surprised if none of them were ever going to be sent back home at the end of the game, but if they're this concerned about rogues getting out of a pocket dimension, then perhaps there's a pinch of validity to it. She'll think about this in depth later, but for now she'll soften her own tone.]

I suppose... if the original creators of the system felt there was a genuine danger of our escaping from this dimension, that'd warrant an intervention. They are allegedly watching unfolding progress on the ritual.

What does the ritual involve, exactly? I'm not familia with the occult, but rituals ... do they not usually involve making sacrifices or offerings to bring forth something from the other side? What's the sacrifice being made if there is meant to be one?

[Children, please.

But no, this is some good conversation. So Szayel lets it go until he has something to say.]

While we may have all been fitted with the "magical girl mold" so to speak, it isn't as though some of us didn't have abilities beforehand if that is their concern. [And have them back...when they're not as useful. So salty.] I do wonder what this system entails that they would have no qualms with simply killing us rather than assisting us with this mess.

[He understands scrapping things and starting over, but this is a bit much. Only because he would be the "scrap" in this case.

But yes, the ritual. Admittedly, this was something he was originally completely indifferent about when he first heard about it. Obviously it's a bit crucial now. Dahlia has his primary concern in mind with that question, so he'll look to Rose to see if she has an answer. For something as hefty as resurrecting multiple dead people, he expects the price to be equally hefty.]

Usually such a process does involve sacrifices of the physical, mental, soul, or other natures. I have checked for hundreds of years for every scrap of information I could find and,

[she puts a hand over her face as she sighs heavily. Her neutral tone shifts to something exasperated.]

this 'ritual' only costs spiritual energy and the blood of the caster. There is no series of carefully orchestrated events. No body count. Nothing like that at all. Just spiritual energy focused through ten souls, and sent outwards, reviving them and then the rest.

We don't even break the chains holding our powers at bay. We're revived right back into the cages that are snuffing our senses and blinding our eyes. 'Shit is whack yo.'. [She drags her hand down and shakes her head.]

The rest is moving the energy, which anyone with spiritual power could do but perhaps the fact a Goddess will be doing said revivals is why the cost is negated. Zange will never give me a straight answer on that.

Of course if they murder her we'll still be sodas with straws sticking out of us. So it might all be moot speculation.

Edited 2017-05-06 01:38 (UTC)

[As Dahlia herself has no powers to speak of, that news isn't as hard hitting for her as she suspects it might be for Szayel. She glances very briefly at him, subtly trying to catch his reaction to it. Upon further reflection, she looks back at Rose however.]

When you say we're revived back into our cages.... do you mean we're brought back to Town A or to our original worlds?

[A beat. That's too much said about her opinion on her supposed eventual fate back at home, and she knows it. Scowling more at herself than anyone in the room, she clears her throat.]

I-in any case, I doubt the others will kill her right away. There's been multiple mentions of this reviving ritual that they won't make hasty decisions. The most impulsive of our group are dead now.

Edited 2017-05-06 06:33 (UTC)

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☆ WELCOME TO HELL, YE POOR SOULS.

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