Camp: private conversations

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Respond here for a private conversation with Red! All comment threads are screened.

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[It's a sword! A really fancy sword, but still a sword.

If Mitsuru looks into the red circle on the sword, though, he'll see a image displayed there. It looks just like the one at that link, but at the bottom there are show times listed.]

[killtheanimals]

[Hey, sword, give him something he doesn't know.]

Show times...? So she was a performer?

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[The sword flickers again, which probably means yes.

The image changes suddenly. It's of Red, but her cocktail dress is ripped to above her knees, and she's wearing a coat she didn't have before. She's holding the sword, but her grip is clumsy and her hands are shaking from the effort. It looks like she's never held a sword in her life.

Her eyes are red and puffy from crying, and her face is full of fear as she faces down a horrible monster.

Three sentences trail over the image, after Mitsuru has had time to study it:]

I can't do this.

I'm not strong enough.

But if I don't, I'll die.

[killtheanimals]

[His eyes narrow as he focuses on the video.

Not much of a fighter, eh?]

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[Not back then, nope.

But that's all Mitsuru will get for now. A fair trade, given how Red knows so much of Mitsuru's past and all. The sword goes back to its usual state after that.]

[killtheanimals]

[He waits a moment longer to see if it will give him anything else, but when that fails, he turns back to Red.

Will she wake up if he pokes her in the cheek or will she murder him, let's find out.]

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[Yep, she wakes up.

She also goes from 'dead asleep' to 'awake and ready to go' in like five seconds flat too. By the time Mitsuru pokes her, she's already sitting up.]

Where-

[And then she realizes where she is, and who is there, and she looks a little flustered.]

...my apologies.

[killtheanimals]

[Ah.

Yeah.

Good thing he didn't try to kill her.]

Sleeping out here doesn't seem especially safe.

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I'm sure Blue would have awoken me if I was in trouble.

[The sword flickers in apparent agreement.]

[killtheanimals]

So that's how it works...

[Good to know.]

So, what was that earlier?

[Playing it cool. Like everyone disappearing wasn't frankly horrifying.]

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You will have to clarify.

[This time she's not dodging answering questions, it's been A Day and she can't keep shit straight.]

[killtheanimals]

Nearly everyone's disappeared. There's only nine of us remaining.

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Oh.

[Right, that happened.]

They'll be back soon, it's alright.

[killtheanimals]

You have a funny definition of "alright." Where are they?

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They're in time-

[She pauses. And re-considers her words. Because 'time-out' MEANS something here.]

...

They got put in a corner for misbehaving.

[killtheanimals]

[Yeah thank you for not actually murdering them.]

But they aren't going to end up like Lillith?

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They didn't die, so they won't change like that.

[killtheanimals]

[Well, at least there's that.]

...We wouldn't have enough people to continue this little game otherwise.

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...

[She really shouldn't give out information like this, but.]

You really don't want the camp population to drop below ten before week seven.

[That's the only hint he will get.]

[killtheanimals]

[He goes still at that.]

...That would be the point of no return.

[A statement. So she can answer as little or as much as she can.]

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You could possibly call it that.

[She's being really careful with what she says here. Pay attention to her wording.]

[killtheanimals]

Only possibly?