Day two; before night

[siggey]

[ I don't care if Kurapika wants to be "subtle". He's just about the least subtle person in this whole park, so we're using my room this time to hold up the conversation.

I've got 4 water bottles on the table. It's not too messy because I didn't get a chance to really mess this room up, other than to sleep in at night. Anyway, the rooms are soundproof and this is good enough. ]

Grab a bottle of water if you want. I haven't opened these yet.

[ Just hoarded them, because you never know...]

Comments

[chainjailer]

... [Kurapika does just that, taking a seat. Usually he would just stand, but he's exhausted again, mentally and physically.]

Did you happen to look at the tallies for the vote?

[siggey]

[ I'm sure he's more tired than I am. I'm glad he didn't protest too much when I flat out told him we're going to be meeting in my room. ]

Yeah. Aside from me and you, 5 other people voted NO ONE.

...

One person voted Legion. Starfire.

[ On that subject, I'm scrolling through my bracelet now to fish up her profile.

...

Huh, looks like a nice girl. ]

[chainjailer]

...Right. And if I were a VIP, I would be taking bets that there's a good chance some of those 5 may be buddies.

There's a 2 in 5 chance that someone is going to come after us, if they're following the same line of thought. Our odds...aren't good.

[And Kurapika has already found out first hand that he can be overpowered here. Mori was able to pin him to the ground earlier.]

From now on, we should start voting differently. Even if only the first vote is counted, they may show up separately on the tally. Although... No. That can't work.

[siggey]

You're being paranoid.

[ I sigh, reaching for a bottle myself. ]

If we die tomorrow, it's going to be because you managed to piss virtually everyone off with your anger fit earlier. But who knows how they're picking, Kuzuryuu could still have been random.

...

Anyway. You sure you wanna talk about tomorrow right now, especially when we might not live to see it? At least try to get some closure for today first, one thing at a time.

[chainjailer]

They want to kill as many people as fast as possible. The buddy system is here for their advantage, not ours.

[Kurapika lowers his head, staring down at the bottle of water.] But if we die because of my actions, then I'm sorry. I don't know what else to talk about... If I die tomorrow, I've lost so much more than just this "game".

[siggey]

They're only going to do that if we seriously only put our efforts into hunting the VIPs. We don't HAVE to kill, but they do.

...Forget it. We're not going to know until the time comes, just... Can you try to do something about how you get mad so often? I'm totally exhausted from today too, but damn, you're angry for someone your build and age.

[chainjailer]

[No, he's sure they'll do it. They'd want to end this game too...]

I've been trying, but this anger in me runs deeper than you could possibly understand. Age has nothing to do with it. Age didn't change who the VIPs chose to kill, did it? Yuya and Ishtar were even younger.

[Kurapika sinks down to take a seat on the floor.] There's 38 people left, and 8 of them are VIPs. It seems like we have the advantage, but it'll be easy to turn that around. Up to six people could die a day, if we're unlucky enough.

[siggey]

Know any breathing exercises, or that sorta calming techniques?

[I don't, not really. The most I would is from glimpses of commercial on TV.]

I don't mind trying to pull you in, but it's gonna make a connection obvious if I do it too often.

...

I'll ask you this seriously now, since we've gotten some time to know each other better and see how this fucked up game works. Do you really think the only way to stop all this is to flush out and kill the VIPs?

[chainjailer]

Like I said, I've been trying. [He pushes his bangs back, letting out a heavy sigh.]

As for how to beat this "game"... I don't know. I want there to be another way, but until we get these bracelets off we're at their mercy.

[siggey]

I donno. You'll probably flip your shit again tomorrow, if another chain of useless deaths happen.

...

Hold it. 'Beat', or 'end'?

[chainjailer]

[He shoots Sigma a tired, but annoyed look at that accusation.] Thanks for the vote of confidence.

As for your question, I intend to break this game so it can't be played again.

[siggey]

I'm in sciences, not psychology. I tried stopping you earlier today, didn't really work, remember?

[ I'm not even trying to make accusations, just stating facts. Damn... ]

...

I'm with you there. But whether VIPs or regular guests win, don't you think those are both outcomes the mastermind's already prepared for? I mean, when you make a game including two sides that have to play against each other, logically one of them is going come out on top. It's predictable, I don't think it'd 'break' anything.

[chainjailer]

[Kurapika will just ignore that subject, thanks. He's upset enough with how things turned out.]

Obviously. That's not what I meant by breaking the game--for now we can play along, but while we play I've been searching the park, too. Yuya... [His gaze travels downwards again.] ...Mentioned the tent to me, before he died, and plans to open it.

I think they're hiding something in there.

[siggey]

...Yeah. Mahiru's right. After Levi was outed to have lied about his claim, everyone got so distracted and outraged by it that we completely stopped trying to figure out Sakaki and Kuzuryuu's deaths.

Why the tent specifically? A lot of places here seem to be closed, and our bracelets start beeping when we get too close.

[chainjailer]

[He nods at the first part, knowing Sigma had a point.]

The tent seems the most likely to be able to hold something. The Ferris Wheel, the tunnel with the swan boats... Those just seem broken down.

[siggey]

With all the budget that went into this, I wouldn't be surprised if there's some sort of huge underground base beneath us where they stash their dirty laundry.

[ I sigh, the theory of "secret government experiment" suddenly feeling to become more likely. ]

But the tent, huh... What about the carnival games? The rules did say that if we play enough, we might get something.

[ Something useful? Doubtful. But they could still throw us a bone... ]

[chainjailer]

Budget? It looks to me more like they picked the first abandoned place they could find and just locked us in.

And as far as I'm concerned, the carnival games are just here as a mockery of what this place this used to be.