strangerpeople: (Default)
The Fifteen Strangers Mods ([personal profile] strangerpeople) wrote in [community profile] 15corpses2017-12-02 02:07 am

WELCOME TO THE GAME.

[You have died. When you awaken, it's in your body back to the shape it was in before whatever it was that killed you - but not all is right. Nothing surrounds you but darkness as far as the eye can see. A girl's gentle voice speaks to you from seemingly nowhere. It is a voice you probably haven't heard before.]

It's all right...it'll be all right.

Please forgive me for this, but, you're in the True Game now. As you're now here, on this plane, I...took something from you. Something important. The thing dearest to you. It has to be taken, though, as it's your entry fee - it's one of your means of surviving this!

I promise, we don't mean to do anything terrible to you! But this Game is important, and you getting through it is, as well. You'll receive missions, and for the missions you complete, you'll be given points. The more points you earn, the closer you'll get to leaving this place. And then, when you do finally leave, perhaps you'll understand why you were brought here. You'll regain what you lost, and you'll know the truth.

So please...please survive! I have faith in you! You'll be all right!!


[Sure enough, as soon as she's done explaining and collects your fee, something important of yours is missing. It might be memories, an object, or even a person (that's not a Titled), but they are your collateral now. Your motivation for continuing your existence in this world. You black out, and when you wake again, you're back in the mall, in the bedroom you'd been assigned. You remember everything you'd forgotten while you were alive, although you might have re-forgotten it if that was your entry fee. At least everything here seems mostly the same.

However, there's a few new things to discover... your cell phone now lets you read the surface thoughts of everyone that's living, and imprint thoughts into their heads (except for Croix, The Chance. Maybe it's because she didn't have a power? Who knows.) You also have all the items and money you had when you were still alive, which will be useful, because you still get hungry and, we'll say you still need clothes, but that's actually debatable because you are invisible. Not to other dead people, no, but to the other people in the mall.

Yeah. That's a thing. This version of the mall is full of random people who are using the mall as a mall, and even working the registers - oddly enough, there's this one girl with pink hair who seems to work at all of the restaurants at different times. But no one can see you, except for the shopkeepers of food and clothing stores specifically. (Luckily, the Barcade counts as food.) The Titled can be seen going about their business as well, and you can follow them around and watch them, listen to their conversations. However, nothing you say or do can be perceived by them. Even using your powers goes unnoticed, no matter what you try to do with them. It's like you're in parallel worlds. So that's a little spooky.

Speaking of spooky things, there are also monsters in this version of the mall, though the living seem as able to perceive them as the Titled can perceive you, and even to you they are only barely visible unless you focus on seeing them clearly. But these monsters attack people - they attach to the mall-goers like parasites, however for now, they seem to be leaving the living Titled alone... they prefer to attack the dead Titled, and only the power you gained here seems to truly damage them. They also seem quite difficult to defeat on your own. If one of them happens to come for you, you'll need to find the others, fast. At least if you checked your phone, your first mission told you where to go!]

[personal profile] notgentle 2017-12-12 07:37 am (UTC)(link)


Ha! Not really. I think it's pretty sad. [He glances up.] You think that you can do this [he mimes stabbing someone in the back] and that at the same time? Karma [overcompensating] Akabane was right, you really are an amateur.
foolishjustice: (Tell me when you're done yapping.)

[personal profile] foolishjustice 2017-12-12 07:45 am (UTC)(link)
I never got paid for the people I killed, so technically that's true. And I guess I did make some mistakes I should have known better about.

[If he'd left Yuuri to die of his internal injuries, Torri wouldn't have caught him and he only would've had one crime scene to clean up. If he hadn't made a habit of welcoming Akira into his room, he could've hidden the bloody clothes there and not smelled of smoke at the trial.]

But if you're trying to rile me up by insulting my capability as an assassin, don't bother. It's not exactly something I ever took pride in.

[personal profile] lifecoach 2017-12-12 07:45 am (UTC)(link)
(...You're a step closer to flying now.)

[A mysterious statement from the guide Reaper, spoken quietly as to almost be inaudible - it's basically to herself. But Torri will be able to see the wings on her back now that she's here. She wonders if she'll be angry.]

just ftr both akechi and dio's tags are riddled with both p5 and vlr spoilers

[personal profile] notgentle 2017-12-12 07:53 am (UTC)(link)


[A tension is forming in his arms as he continues to not look up, and Dio speaks with a sarcastic sunny emphasis on individual syllables.] Oh! Really, now? You had me totally fooled. You seemed to think you were so special. The only person who could stop that "Shido".
foolishjustice: (Tell me when you're done yapping.)

And things that didn't come up in the trial are showing up now.

[personal profile] foolishjustice 2017-12-12 08:00 am (UTC)(link)
[Once, Shido's name alone would fill him with rage and hatred. Now he feels...nothing.]

Heh...I've never been anyone special, really. Just a poor bastard who stumbled his way into a conspiracy while trying to get back at his deadbeat dad over his dead mom. It just happened that I was the only one who knew about it and wanted to stop it. I had just enough power to make myself useful enough to keep around, but not enough to stop him from killing me the moment I tried to get help. Honestly, it was pathetic more than anything.

[A quiet moment, then, under his breath:]

Akira was always the special one.
katsufemmefatale: (Softest cinnamon roll in the bakery)

[personal profile] katsufemmefatale 2017-12-12 08:02 am (UTC)(link)
Akechi-san?

[Yuuri's still got that warm smile, but there's also determination in his eyes too. Right now, he's the strong one, and it's his turn to share that strength.]

That right there? That's remorse. I saw it more than once Thursday night, when you were trying to hide it. I was too scared then to think about it, but my head's clear now.

And you're wrong about one thing: I have to be the one to offer you a second chance. If it doesn't come from someone you hurt so badly, it means that much less. This is for both of us. I told you, I don't want to be the person I was becoming when I hated you. You'll need to earn my trust back, but it's not impossible because I want you to do it.
foolishjustice: (This pain...)

[personal profile] foolishjustice 2017-12-12 08:07 am (UTC)(link)
Why?!

[He covers his hands with his face, frustration and pain mixing into a tone of desperation.]

Why does everyone keep trying to give a shit about me, now that it's too late?!
katsufemmefatale: (Are you sure?)

[personal profile] katsufemmefatale 2017-12-12 08:14 am (UTC)(link)
[Akechi might hate it, but showing vulnerability, crying in front of someone? Might be cathartic for him in the long run. He needs to break out of the shell that held in all that festering resentment for so long.]

Well, for one, they want us to work toward coming back to life here. If you didn't deserve it, I'm sure you wouldn't be here. I'm not going to question whatever deity runs the afterlife. So it's not too late.

[personal profile] notgentle 2017-12-12 08:16 am (UTC)(link)


[With virtually no sympathy or even interest] How exactly were you going to "stop a conspiracy"? You just said you couldn't get help without being killed. And didn't this whole shitshow keep going for years after you stepped in it?

[personal profile] lifecoach 2017-12-12 08:25 am (UTC)(link)
[LC grabs another leg and shows him.]

Like this, k?

[With bare hands can actually be fine for these, though she's using a cloth napkin. She bends the joint a little forward and back to loosen it, before snapping it in half with a satisfying crunch and pulling the ends away from each other. Taking one half, she snaps it again in the middle.]

And then you just, like... [She slides the shell off, leaving a stick of meat in her hand.] Pull it out! Done!

[And she punctuates that by dunking it in the melted butter they came with.]
foolishjustice: (A-ahaha...)

[personal profile] foolishjustice 2017-12-12 08:26 am (UTC)(link)
[He lets out a sound that might be either a laugh or a sob, it's really hard to tell.]

You think that? What makes you so sure that I'm not just here because they needed someone they knew they could push to kill, and they don't get a say in who gets this shot at revival? That sounds a bit more likely, to me.
foolishjustice: (Tell me when you're done yapping.)

[personal profile] foolishjustice 2017-12-12 08:33 am (UTC)(link)
All I would have had to do was reveal who I am, and Shido would have been ruined. Having an illegitimate child is the sort of scandal that destroys a person's life where I'm from. Publicizing his crimes wouldn't have done him many favors either, although enough of the police force is in his pocket that I doubt he would've been arrested that easily.

...There's nobody to blame for myself for why it kept going on, though. I could have revealed everything right away, but I wanted to make him see me as useful first. To wait until he acknowledged me, the child he abandoned before I was even born, as essential to him, and then destroy him at the very moment he thought he'd won. I wanted him to feel the same level of humiliation and despair he put my mother through.

[The past tense is very deliberate, as his tone doesn't reflect any of the hatred, resentment, or twisted attachment that would lead to that train of thought.]

[personal profile] notgentle 2017-12-12 10:27 am (UTC)(link)


So. You have this guy Shido, doing bad shit all the time. This huge number of murders and stuff. Some by you, others by people who aren't you, like the people who would kill you if you told anyone.

[Dio is on the last page of the comic book by now, and is looking at Akechi as he holds it loosely.]

And to stop this guy, you could tell people about the crimes, or about the illegitimate child situation. You could even just try to kill him. Those things are just so hard, though, and could have gotten you killed.

Oh, you also apparently believe like most of us that this mall is in another dimension, and while you're sitting pretty here none of these conspirators could lay a finger on you, even if this big old juicy secret got broadcasted right to them. But who cares about that.

You're waiting years for this guy Shido to acknowledge you, and you keep killing people, and the conspiracy isn't stopped. You have no actual plan to stop the conspiracy! Or maybe just no idea how to make the guy acknowledge you so then you can use your perfectly good plan to stop the conspiracy? Same difference.

And then, you come here, and suddenly it's so important to escape so you can get back to your lightning speed progress stopping the conspiracy. So, you kill someone. You make no move whatsoever to stop that deed of yours from leading to the execution of everyone else here. You just get caught eventually, and now you're here.

Am I wrong about any of this crap?
Edited (PNW is long but not lie.... where the f did that come from I'm sorry) 2017-12-12 16:08 (UTC)
semperperatus: (Default)

[personal profile] semperperatus 2017-12-12 02:32 pm (UTC)(link)
...You're not bothering me.

[He shrugs.]

Can't say I'm happy with what you did, but you don't have to leave because of me.

[Munch]
foolishjustice: (Tell me when you're done yapping.)

[personal profile] foolishjustice 2017-12-12 05:58 pm (UTC)(link)
You saw the trial, right? You don't have to pretend what I admitted to isn't worth hating me over.
foolishjustice: (I am through with you.)

[personal profile] foolishjustice 2017-12-12 06:09 pm (UTC)(link)
A few things, actually. First off, I considered trying to kill him with the same method use made me kill others with, but I wasn't powerful enough when I had the chance. Now he knows enough to certainly have some form of protection against me.

Second, I had a plan, that would have come to fruition in a couple of months. He'd be at the center of public attention, everyone would have seen a public announcement about his true behavior, and he would have lost everything at the moment he thought he was secure. I would have been killed, yes, but I could accept that if I dragged him down with me.

Third, I didn't kill to escape. I killed to keep my secret from getting out early...and to keep Akira's secret. What he's hiding is something Shido would have him killed for, too. ...Something he already ordered me to kill him for, actually, but the secret being publicly announced would make it possible for him to do that without me.

Fourth...I pushed them in the right direction. I called for that review of the evidence, knowing the fabricator's interference was keeping them away from my trail. Because you're right, I am an amateur. But I'm not exactly torn up about not having the guts to kill ten people in one fell swoop, just to save my own pathetic life.

[personal profile] notgentle 2017-12-12 06:56 pm (UTC)(link)


There are these things you might have heard of called "bombs" and "guns"... [He just sticks that in there, halfway under his breath, as Akechi continues a logical explanation that otherwise mostly has Dio closely listening. His brow starts to furrow as Akechi denies killing to escape - and then his face crumples up all at once over the description of a pathetic life, because he knows exactly what that's supposed to mean.]

So you're really going to pass it off as trying to prevent either of those two secrets getting out. After you murdered a witness to the one - (1) - required murder. She ran away for yards and yards, and didn't attack you hard at all, and you followed her, and you put a knife into her neck, after you saw exactly what that did to Katsuki.

And you're still jacking off to your Lady Justice pinup poster in front of everybody? Really? That's how it's gonna be?
foolishjustice: (I am through with you.)

[personal profile] foolishjustice 2017-12-12 07:09 pm (UTC)(link)
There's this thing you might have heard of called "security". He's a major politician with both police and Yakuza connections, you think one person could manage to kill him through mundane means?

[He shakes his head with a shrug. He doesn't really care anymore, anyway. As long as Akira survives to change Shido's heart...]

I could kill two people to save us both. I lost my resolve when it came to killing ten more. It's really as simple as that. Justice...society's justice lost its glamor to me a long time ago, when I saw just how corrupt the world really is.
totalbullshit: (Default)

[personal profile] totalbullshit 2017-12-12 09:45 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Helena knew she'd wind up somewhere. She somehow expected it to be more dramatic than ending up right back where she started. This just feels like any old bad morning in the mall. Just that she's dead.

In a weird way, being dead is pretty underwhelming.

Helena swings her legs out of bed and gets up. She may be a hikikomori generally, but there's no use staying inside now when she can't even be sure what kind of world she's in. Further, if this is the mall... she should check out the place she opened, if nothing else. It didn't look promising at first sight and it frustrates her.

Looking kind of absentminded, Helena walks down the bedroom wing and out into... a very populated Yotsukoshi. ]


...huh?

[ Catch her then or at any place in the mall later, she is actually exploring for once. ]

[personal profile] notgentle 2017-12-12 10:28 pm (UTC)(link)


You "lost your resolve".

[Imagine a college upperclassman and a college underclassman as they wait outside the classroom for their combined section course. The final is due today, and the upperclassman has been leaning against the hallway wall with crossed arms; he has only completed one essay question out of three, and that by a loose definition of signing his name on top of the paper. The underclassman has rushed over, out of breath, and declared that the dog ate his homework. Dio is the upperclassman in this situation; that's the idea here. He neatly closes the comic book and lays it down flatly on top of the stack.]

Do you really not understand? [It's a grammatically distinct tone, not quite an obvious quote like "life is simply unfair", but like he's switched registers to impress the old professor watching them.] The corrupt justice system is you. The cogs in the system who can't see past their own temporary lifespans and family ties and intimate attachments, that's you. The greedy guys who step on human after human on their way to their own personal glory, your petty desire to see this one person's pathetic face - that's you.

[His tone becomes more casual again.] I mean, I could try to see it the way you probably do. [Emphasizing this sentence with sarcastic halfhearted jazz hands.] How I'm this psychotic terrorist on an evil "mission". [His hands fall; his gradually manic investment does not.] I'll even pretend that your half-assed approach to stopping conspiracies still makes any sense after switching methods partway through! You had your mission, I had mine, the rules were harsh. Fine!

[Finally, as might be anticipated, his voice rises.] But you think you're so much better than me just because you didn't vote for anybody? You rub my nose in it again and again that I'm this filthy [sarcastically dramatic] "evildoer" who totally deserves to die and not try to survive after some rule 7 action? I know you like to dress up as a regular detective, [to make it very clear that he understands Akechi has done some detecting at some point but still operates very differently from what you would assume of a detective actually reporting all known crimes and certainly not committing any of them] but I didn't audition to be a chorus line extra in your little criminal crushing musical number.

[personal profile] notgentle 2017-12-12 11:21 pm (UTC)(link)


[Dio is having a reasonable Tuesday morning. After breakfast, he's decided to patrol a different wing this time, after the Fun Wing has been under control during these first two days of its unlocking. He heads over and impales a couple targets with barbells, that kind of thing. There are a couple of injuries acquired in the process, so about fifteen minutes later he's walking out of Prime Time Care picking at a scab and looking into an angle that he can hide it with his top hat. When Dio scans again, the noise are not immediately bothersome. Which is almost more foreboding... are they going to surge all at once later? Have they gathered somewhere else? Did they really already leave to latch onto the titled's loved ones? This doesn't make sense. He's standing around in the open trying to figure out what he should do.

The subsequent surprise triggers not the scan but the sense of hearing. An elevator going ding. And out walks Helena. Not so unusual for her to go to the bookstore - and Dio has never found that especially interesting - but as the seconds tick by, something seems off about the direction of her gaze. The blankness of her thoughts. At every point prior, such thorough meditation is a type of detachment that even she has deemed impractical. But if he can't scan her... and there's this faint movement in the air that gives him the sense they're on the same plane...

Staring at the form unabashedly, Dio rolls up the sleeve of his coat and uses his index finger and thumb to punch his forearm repeatedly.]
totalbullshit: (negative; side-eye)

[personal profile] totalbullshit 2017-12-12 11:30 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Walking through a full mall without being noticed by anyone is really, really weird. She looks nothing like a prime fashion blogger now, with her bandage and her baggy clothing and bare feet, so even in Neo Yokio she'd be attracting a different kind of looks than normal... but this is just... nothing. She's a ghost now. In a different way than all these other customers appear to be because they were certainly not real while she was among the living.

An odd situation.

That gets significantly odder when one of the people around starts... pinching himself? And staring at her. These actions seem to be very much related. ]


....?

[ Helena stares in turn. It is pretty hard to not recognize this clothing because only one person has this kind of obnoxious taste, but... she's never seen this man before. Now seeming more confused than absentminded, she walks towards him, looking him up and down. ]

Did you win those clothes in a bet or something? Is Dio walking around naked now?

[ She's not sure if he can really hear her, but she doesn't have a lot to lose anymore. She's dead. She can say whatever to whomever. ]
Edited 2017-12-12 23:42 (UTC)

[personal profile] notgentle 2017-12-12 11:51 pm (UTC)(link)


[The initial intense shock that paints his face after acknowledgement is more tinted with disappointment than anything else, though it quickly resolves into a situational petty anger.]

Seriously? That's what you're going with? Oh, I'd wager so much money, you fucking wish that I would--

[It's only several seconds into his reflexive resentment of a comment he considers sexual and demeaning that Dio realizes - first of all, she's actually talking perfectly common sense like she always does, and secondly that she hasn't identified him. He thwacks both his hands on his chest, indicating himself.] No, goddammit, it's me-- [And it's only after that he cuts himself off all over again like a complete idiot who only just realized the implications of them having this ongoing two-way conversation.] Wait. What the hell are you doing here?
totalbullshit: (smile?; schadenfreude)

1/2

[personal profile] totalbullshit 2017-12-12 11:58 pm (UTC)(link)
[ That's a lot to take in. Helena's first reaction is to glance down her own body (looks normal) and examine a strand of her hair (also looks normal) to make perfectly sure that this afterlife doesn't simply bodychange everyone for shits and giggles.

She's still herself.

Dio is... this guy. Apparently. He certainly sounds like Dio - not strictly speaking, just the manner of speech - so Helena is inclined to very much believe so. ]


... no wonder you said you're miserable.

[ It's not an answer to his question, but it sure needed out. ]

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