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]

[...SPEAKING OF, THIS IS GETTING ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS OVER THERE.]

...At this point I'm willing to put money on this. I'm predicting he lives.

[glaciates]

...I can't believe him. I can't believe any of them.

[He sounds more astounded than upset though, because no matter how much bullshit Kimblee's spouting, he's managing to keep both of them alive somehow.]

[lasuaspada]

...They're all going to die.

[I mean he supposes it's nice that you're having a Moment over this? Bluntly put, he doesn't really care.]

They're too docile - they're considering letting an Incubus live. I imagine they'll refuse to vote again as well...they're behaving like livestock, one side is going to have a victory at this rate and I don't know what's going to happen in that case, but I'm going to guess it won't be something we want.

[glaciates]

Considering what we've seen here are we really sure we want the Lady to win?

[He's not sure the Gentleman is right either, but there's definitely more to this than they were told.]

[lasuaspada]

[He shakes his head a bit at that, though he seems a bit bothered by something.]

...Banjou-san said something to me last night, you know. "No matter what happens, I want you to know that I'm doing this for you."

Does the entire ridiculous lot of you genuinely believe you're doing the right thing? Kimblee-san notwithstanding, because I have positively no clue what Kimblee-san thinks he's doing.

[glaciates]

You're not the only one...

[Kimblee is a special being, we ignore him.]

But yeah, they all think they're doing the right thing. Obviously there's more to the Lady's story than she's telling us, but I'm not sure the Demons are fully in the right either. It was harder to think clearly back there, I guess.

The Demons are putting people to sleep, but we were told that it wasn't permanent. If we got the numbers down where the townspeople matched the number of Demons, we'd supposedly "win".

[lasuaspada]

[Hmmm.]

Normally I would claim that the demons have the high ground because they're simply making us sleep rather than burning us, as the Lady demands...but I wouldn't say that this is much better.

After all, we seem fairly dead to me, monsieur.

[glaciates]

Yeah, I know. That's why I don't think the Demons are in the right either. I don't think either side's right here, but it doesn't look like anyone's going to try to look at things in another way. I know the Demons aren't. They're all too focused on who the next victim's going to be.

[lasuaspada]

[...And that? That is the best news he's heard all day, actually.]

You know what we have to do tonight, then, don't you?

It's time we took our cue from Oswin-san and woke some of them up.

[glaciates]

...Wait, we can wake them up?

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

Is that how Kimblee avoided ending up here?

[lasuaspada]

Naturellement, my friend.

I spoke to Oswin-san earlier; it seems your partner is telling the truth. Oswin-san woke him up last night because he was trying to interrupt this Demon meeting you all apparently engage in, but he missed his window of opportunity - instead of putting a stop to his activity as the Incubus, he shook him before the Maddened could strike. They didn't hit him because he was already awake.

[glaciates]

[...So Kimblee just lucked his way out of getting murdered. Goddammit, Kimblee.]

So can we all do it? In that case we could probably wake up most of the demons if we strike at the right time, though I'm... not entirely sure when that is.

[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?