Lost Souls

[shimmershimmer]

[You don't wake up, exactly, but at some point you come to. There's something wrong with you, a numbness and translucency. Should you try to touch something, your hand will pass through it. Why, it's as if you were a ghost. So that's the bad news. Sorry about that. The good news is that mentally, you've woken up entirely. You remember the real truth of who you are, your relationship to your so-called "family," and all the other lies you've been fed by the Shimmering Lady.

You can move freely around what you will soon realize to be the village. The reason why it may take moment of realization is simply because it doesn't look anything like you remember it. The sky is black, the grass is dead, and the cottages are run-down and shoddy concrete buildings. The pond is dirty, and there are no animals whatsoever, anywhere.

And the temple. It's more like a storehouse than a temple. The Shimmering Lady is there, or that mass of flesh and tendrils that calls itself the Shimmering Lady...

She doesn't seem to see or hear you. When the others exit their "homes," neither will they. And there's some strange force keeping you within the walls...]

((Popcorn, mingle, curse the Lady, etc! Also! There will be a special thing for you to do here once Night 01 starts. Watch for it~ :>))

Comments

[lasuaspada]

Honestly, I don't know if we want to wake up so many at once or not - look at the Lady and tell me that she wouldn't try to put an immediate stop to an uprising and likely succeed.

[glaciates]

...Oh yeah, good point. I doubt she's aware of us, but meddling like that would definitely not be a good thing.

[lasuaspada]

We also don't know how much power she has over us. I'm...physically powerful in a way that most people are not, and my being here isn't something I would have done willingly besides because it goes against at least two things I hold in highest regard. Banjou-san is weak, but he wouldn't be here either for both of the same reasons I've got.

I'm assuming that we're not the only ones, either. Would you or Kimblee-san have come willingly - and if not, would it be easy to physically force either of you?

[glaciates]

No, neither of us would have. It definitely wouldn't be easy to force us either.

[...Well, maybe it would have been easier if Kimblee was still in those stocks, but that's not the point.]

I guess we'll just have to be really careful about it.

[lasuaspada]

[...What, you mean he somehow didn't talk the guards into letting him out of them and having free run of the prison? He's shocked (and certainly not at all bitter).]

We'll see what happens at the trial today.

No offense to you, but I hope he burns.

[glaciates]

No offense taken.

[Kimblee does deserve some form of punishment for that.]

Yeah, I guess there's nothing we can do but wait and see what happens.

[lasuaspada]

Whether he burns or not, he seems very invested in making sure you don't.

I wonder if he realizes how suspicious that makes him look - were it me, I'd take that as an immediate sign to burn you both.

[glaciates]

Yeah, I can see where it's suspicious, but I don't think he has any ulterior motives. There's not exactly much he can do with my body.

[Except maybe use it as a hostage if someone's dumb enough to let them stay in the same room.]

[lasuaspada]

No, I don't think there's anything he can do - what I'm saying is that our friends out there may think there is.

After all, they don't know how the soulmate bond works, and Kimblee-san has done nothing but try to benefit himself for the entire duration of this exercise. You also share the same title of Incubus. From their perspective, isn't it logical to think that it's the same demon possessing both of you? Keeping one of you alive spares the demon; it doesn't matter if the other shell burns.

That's why I'm saying it looks suspicious.

[glaciates]

Oh, that's a good point. I'm surprise no one's brought that up. You'd think it would've occurred to someone else by now.

[lasuaspada]

And now you see why I was targeted to take the fall for the rest of you.

[...totally not bitter.]

[glaciates]

Yeah, sorry about that...

[lasuaspada]

You already knew about the Detective, didn't you? Before he said anything about being the False Seer - the lot of you already knew.

Were you the ones to kill Lynne-san as well?

[glaciates]

Yes, we did. Kimblee figured it out after we blocked him. He left a note that said that both he and Ling were innocent - we figured that since he was blocked, the only two people he could put down were the one he'd seen in a vision and himself.

[...Well, Kimblee did most of the figuring out there.]

We didn't do anything to Lynne though.

[lasuaspada]

[...are you shitting him - ]

...That's my logic. You were using my logic to try to kill me.

[....................]

Well-played, all of you.

[glaciates]

Yeah. Uh, sorry about that too.

[It's more awkward than well-played, honestly...]

[lasuaspada]

I told Banjou-san that maybe the reason the dove put his name down is because he couldn't see anyone else - but I was coming at it with the thought that he was a demon, not...

[He laughs, actually; this entire thing is hilarious in hindsight, if only in that oh-you're-terrible sort of way.]

Ahh, giocoso - that's fantastic.

[glaciates]

[...Gio-what now?]

Uh, if you say so.

[You seem pretty okay with this, all things considered.]

[lasuaspada]

Oh, I do, monsieur! And I appreciate your telling me, simply so now I don't have to be concerned about that "brother" of mine burning.

[glaciates]

So you guys aren't really related? Why would the Lady fake relationships like that?

[At least the comrades thing wasn't too much of a stretch.]

[lasuaspada]

[That will just get you the most derisive little noise.]

Please. You think that I could possibly be related to something that weak? He's a coworker of mine; we dislike each other very much.

[thefinaltarget]

Wait, you didn't?

So Kimblee must have wanted me to think I was the anti-Seer.

[glaciates]

No, we didn't target you. He was going to say that he dreamed about you and you were clear, so you'd think you were the False Seer.

[...]

Sorry.

[thefinaltarget]

It probably would've worked, too. Ugh.

He probably told you this, but I actually picked you that first night.

...I mean it wasn't personal or anything, if he made it sound that way, I just didn't know where to start.

[glaciates]

Yeah, he told me that. He did say that it was random though.

[...wait.]

Oh, it's not like I take it personally or anything.

[He does look pretty suspicious, after all.]