[Why is this suddenly turning into a Trial. His reflexive tactic is the same; deflect like a mirror and lie like a rug. Franz's reluctance makes perfect sense, but also of the two of them... who has the lower percentage? His attention does sharpen as Franz sits up.]
It's the same thing, isn't it? [Something something you're all fooling yourselves that you're voting with pure logic.] Don't pretend you don't know what voting here means.
[Mishima's death was very clear. Which was itself clearly the point. Was he really that naive to think it wasn't...?]
Well, it seemed logical to assume. [ If you were wrong, you refuse to admit it. ] Maybe you thought I would let you?
[ You're not actually sure if you would let him or not. Perhaps you would think you don't care, but then the idea of being stolen from would upset your fragile pride enough you'd actually stand up for yourself. ]
I feel like I'm the only person here who actually heard the whole explanation. [ You give an aristocratic little sigh, flopping your wrist at Sou flippantly. Come now, master of minds. You refuse to be led on a spin. ]
There can only be two finalists in this game. Unless we can find rescue, that means most of us are already dead.
[ You could continue but you find you really have nothing more to say. Is it too soon to give up? You weren't sure on that first floor, but faced with the prospect of voting to kill another person, it suddenly seemed so much more attractive. ]
[If he were a little more socially self-aware he might think 'is this what it's like to interact with me'. Unfortunately he is not. He can still seethe a little though.]
A-already dead, huh...
[Franz is hitting his insecurities DEAD on. He is being murdered here. It's the very thing he cannot afford to think, except by pushing it into the past. Shin is already dead. But Sou is still alive.]
So it's that you've already accepted the outcome?
[It's so alien to him. This... should be something to be happy about, since it's one less competitor... right? There's a crystal, deep in the earth and formed under heat and pressure, that still shines with a desperate animal hope of escape, a way to sidestep kill or be killed completely. It'll be unburied later, but for now...]
Ahaha... you really don't make any sense you know. Stalling like this... do you prefer death by human or machine?
[AND YET YOU LIVE IN A SOCIETY.]
Edited (small thing) Date: 2024-02-18 09:11 am (UTC)
[ You really haven't. You know deep down you aren't as brave as you pretend. You don't know what to do, but you should have done more. People have died, real people, and you can't stand the thought of it. Joe could have been your underclassman.
But you have your sick sense of pride, prince of a thousand enemies. It's a flaw you come by honestly. Your refusal to be toyed with is even stronger then your desire to live. ]
Why must I accept anything? Our situation is absurd! I refuse to accept it.
[ The pain in your head loosens your tongue, little fool. You aren't shouting, but the look in your eyes when you glance at Sou under your dark bangs is far more impassioned then your act in the trial. ]
What's the difference to you how I die, if you've your heart set on winning? Human. Machine. Dolls. Bah, its dolls all the way down. Well I'm no puppet. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not.
[ Your thoughts are filled with strings. Your grip on reality is slipping, you can feel them digging into your wrists, wrapping around your throat. It's the familiar sort of hallucination, the type that leaves you screaming at walls. You can't afford to loose it here. ]
The most human thing we could do is refuse. Like right now, I refuse to go get myself killed for your sake. Why should I trust you?
The anger is an uncomfortable, warped mirror, the kind that gets weak laughs and aversive gazes from what it exposes, reveals. He can't afford to think about it right now, but Kai and Joe's actions did shake him. If his heart is set on winning, huh...]
Isn't that a contradiction? Refusing to die, and refusing by dying? Or are you just that contrarian?
[That's it's own way of being lead around by the nose in the end, isn't it?]
Ahaha... I'm sure none of us are here by choice, you know.
[He'd thought maybe Sara... but the facts of the matter are bad enough as it is, much as the idea tugs at his paranoia. The masterminds behind this clearly expected and accounted for their refusal. Franz is not unique in not wanting to go along with this. The strings are tight and taut around all of their necks.
"Why should I trust you?" he says... Well, the answer is, he shouldn't, but Shin doesn't want that to actually happen, since he needs anyone he can tear away from Sara. He wants out of this stupid minigame, and also the game in general, and that means deceiving others, knapping himself like flint until it's finally easy, somehow. So instead of saying any of this, what comes out is instead.]
Don't be stupid. If you die, I'm stuck here too. You've just got the best chances here.
[They kind of HAVE to work together... Shin hates it. But he also doesn't actually want the guy to die, so much as to prove his point.]
You think me thoughtless. I've had days to ponder thus. [ You talk like an old book when you're mad. Too much Shakespeare, tsk. ] We're not here by choice, but we still have a choice. You, I, even little Gin. We all killed someone.
[ You slump back, your part spent. It hurts to hear it out loud, worse then your headache. You have been thinking about it for days. Three people really, but Kai and Mishima give you enough rope to hang yourself on the way out. ]
So the reason I should risk myself is just to save you... For you are doomed without me and I without you? Hmph.
[ Strangely, there's a moment of quiet. You put your head in your hands and stare at Sou. You look him in the eye like you're assessing him for the first time. What do you really know about Sou Hiyori? ]
Tell me one good thing about yourself. Then maybe I'll do it.
[Thus???? What era are we in??? It's like there's two Alices.]
...
[If there's one thing Shin has managed to achieve, it's something resembling a poker face in response to intense scrutiny and an unnerving stare. He can keep all his sweating internal... most of the time.
He's also flashing back to what feels like a million job interviews. Tell us what you bring to our company, Shin. Tell us how you're useful to us. The resentment and shame is normal.
Anything he reveals here is something he can't later, a tipping of his hand that Franz might be able to use to his advantage. If he makes something up, he might be asked for proof. And even then... there isn't much, is there? He's not strong. He doesn't have Sara's almost supernatural influence. The secrets he managed to glean from that dark room are right out. He's not even a good person, is Sou. There's his work with computers, but that's about it, and it might be weird how a jobhopper knows that. He's weak, the underdog. But it's clear Franz isn't going to budge without something. Getting caught in an impasse like this...
His desperate rummaging through his own mind stumbles upon a dusty box.]
Well... I'm a pretty good swimmer.
[He used to be really proud of it; the one kind of physical exercise he could not only do, but could do well in. He can't remember when or why he stopped. It's painful to think about now. And not actually all that helpful, he's silently kicking himself.]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
sighs. right away sir [dissociates]
Date: 2024-02-17 09:15 am (UTC)[Why is this suddenly turning into a Trial. His reflexive tactic is the same; deflect like a mirror and lie like a rug. Franz's reluctance makes perfect sense, but also of the two of them... who has the lower percentage? His attention does sharpen as Franz sits up.]
It's the same thing, isn't it? [Something something you're all fooling yourselves that you're voting with pure logic.] Don't pretend you don't know what voting here means.
[Mishima's death was very clear. Which was itself clearly the point. Was he really that naive to think it wasn't...?]
no subject
Date: 2024-02-17 06:58 pm (UTC)[ You're not actually sure if you would let him or not. Perhaps you would think you don't care, but then the idea of being stolen from would upset your fragile pride enough you'd actually stand up for yourself. ]
I feel like I'm the only person here who actually heard the whole explanation. [ You give an aristocratic little sigh, flopping your wrist at Sou flippantly. Come now, master of minds. You refuse to be led on a spin. ]
There can only be two finalists in this game. Unless we can find rescue, that means most of us are already dead.
[ You could continue but you find you really have nothing more to say. Is it too soon to give up? You weren't sure on that first floor, but faced with the prospect of voting to kill another person, it suddenly seemed so much more attractive. ]
he's not literally making this expression but he sure is feeling it mr krabs
Date: 2024-02-18 09:05 am (UTC)A-already dead, huh...
[Franz is hitting his insecurities DEAD on. He is being murdered here. It's the very thing he cannot afford to think, except by pushing it into the past. Shin is already dead. But Sou is still alive.]
So it's that you've already accepted the outcome?
[It's so alien to him. This... should be something to be happy about, since it's one less competitor... right? There's a crystal, deep in the earth and formed under heat and pressure, that still shines with a desperate animal hope of escape, a way to sidestep kill or be killed completely. It'll be unburied later, but for now...]
Ahaha... you really don't make any sense you know. Stalling like this... do you prefer death by human or machine?
[AND YET YOU LIVE IN A SOCIETY.]
its not like he cares or anything b-baka
Date: 2024-03-08 07:15 am (UTC)But you have your sick sense of pride, prince of a thousand enemies. It's a flaw you come by honestly. Your refusal to be toyed with is even stronger then your desire to live. ]
Why must I accept anything? Our situation is absurd! I refuse to accept it.
[ The pain in your head loosens your tongue, little fool. You aren't shouting, but the look in your eyes when you glance at Sou under your dark bangs is far more impassioned then your act in the trial. ]
What's the difference to you how I die, if you've your heart set on winning? Human. Machine. Dolls. Bah, its dolls all the way down. Well I'm no puppet. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not.
[ Your thoughts are filled with strings. Your grip on reality is slipping, you can feel them digging into your wrists, wrapping around your throat. It's the familiar sort of hallucination, the type that leaves you screaming at walls. You can't afford to loose it here. ]
The most human thing we could do is refuse. Like right now, I refuse to go get myself killed for your sake. Why should I trust you?
guess who got more iconnnns
Date: 2024-03-08 07:57 am (UTC)The anger is an uncomfortable, warped mirror, the kind that gets weak laughs and aversive gazes from what it exposes, reveals. He can't afford to think about it right now, but Kai and Joe's actions did shake him. If his heart is set on winning, huh...]
Isn't that a contradiction? Refusing to die, and refusing by dying? Or are you just that contrarian?
[That's it's own way of being lead around by the nose in the end, isn't it?]
Ahaha... I'm sure none of us are here by choice, you know.
[He'd thought maybe Sara... but the facts of the matter are bad enough as it is, much as the idea tugs at his paranoia. The masterminds behind this clearly expected and accounted for their refusal. Franz is not unique in not wanting to go along with this. The strings are tight and taut around all of their necks.
"Why should I trust you?" he says... Well, the answer is, he shouldn't, but Shin doesn't want that to actually happen, since he needs anyone he can tear away from Sara. He wants out of this stupid minigame, and also the game in general, and that means deceiving others, knapping himself like flint until it's finally easy, somehow. So instead of saying any of this, what comes out is instead.]
Don't be stupid. If you die, I'm stuck here too. You've just got the best chances here.
[They kind of HAVE to work together... Shin hates it. But he also doesn't actually want the guy to die, so much as to prove his point.]
gasp
Date: 2024-03-08 08:19 am (UTC)[ You could just say yes. ]
You think me thoughtless. I've had days to ponder thus. [ You talk like an old book when you're mad. Too much Shakespeare, tsk. ] We're not here by choice, but we still have a choice. You, I, even little Gin. We all killed someone.
[ You slump back, your part spent. It hurts to hear it out loud, worse then your headache. You have been thinking about it for days. Three people really, but Kai and Mishima give you enough rope to hang yourself on the way out. ]
So the reason I should risk myself is just to save you... For you are doomed without me and I without you? Hmph.
[ Strangely, there's a moment of quiet. You put your head in your hands and stare at Sou. You look him in the eye like you're assessing him for the first time. What do you really know about Sou Hiyori? ]
Tell me one good thing about yourself. Then maybe I'll do it.
hand in insufferable hand
Date: 2024-03-08 10:07 am (UTC)...
[If there's one thing Shin has managed to achieve, it's something resembling a poker face in response to intense scrutiny and an unnerving stare. He can keep all his sweating internal... most of the time.
He's also flashing back to what feels like a million job interviews. Tell us what you bring to our company, Shin. Tell us how you're useful to us. The resentment and shame is normal.
Anything he reveals here is something he can't later, a tipping of his hand that Franz might be able to use to his advantage. If he makes something up, he might be asked for proof. And even then... there isn't much, is there? He's not strong. He doesn't have Sara's almost supernatural influence. The secrets he managed to glean from that dark room are right out. He's not even a good person, is Sou. There's his work with computers, but that's about it, and it might be weird how a jobhopper knows that. He's weak, the underdog. But it's clear Franz isn't going to budge without something. Getting caught in an impasse like this...
His desperate rummaging through his own mind stumbles upon a dusty box.]
Well... I'm a pretty good swimmer.
[He used to be really proud of it; the one kind of physical exercise he could not only do, but could do well in. He can't remember when or why he stopped. It's painful to think about now. And not actually all that helpful, he's silently kicking himself.]