murdergame voicetesting with nin!

[scythegun]

[The room you wake up in is not your own. In fact, you may not have been sleeping at all before you're suddenly waking up in an unfamiliar bed in an unfamiliar room. The bed isn't terribly uncomfortable, but it certainly isn't the nicest thing either; it's a standard cot, surrounded by the towering stone walls of your room. There's a wooden desk with a plain key on it, a simple chair, and a mirror, but absolutely nothing else. No decorations, nothing to indicate where you are or how you got here, and certainly no answers.

Should you leave the room and start exploring, you'll find that you're in some sort of fortress. A medieval one, from the looks of it, given that there's no technology to be found anywhere and the laundry room involves no actual laundry machines. The front doors are sealed off with some sort of magic sigil and guarded by two hulking suits of armor that stand ominously in the way. They won't react if talked to or poked, but you get the distinct feeling that they're watching you...

The other rooms are about what you'd expect - a kitchen and dining room fit for function rather than fashion, an armory that is strangely empty aside from some training dummies, a war room that is really just a round table and chairs, and a small library. Not the most exciting thing in the world, but that's likely intentional.

After all, in the foyer there are two very important pieces of information behind unbreakable glass: the first are the rules, written in a flowing hand and dark ink with the usual rules - including one notable one about killing for your freedom. Beside it is a second set of information and pictures: profiles of all the Soldiers brought into this little game, it would seem.

Enjoy your stay in the Fortress; the General will be watching you.]

Comments

[miseriainfernum]

[A very tall man... well, stumbles out of his room. He stands around 5'11" holding at his forehead like he's fighting off a massive hangover.

He looks around the hallway blearily, muttering a horrified "not again!" before he starts to look around the place he's found himself in, eventually coming to the rules in the foyer.

It's obvious what his thoughts on this are, even at a glance, because he's shaking in barely-contained rage, his right hand balled into a fist.]

What the hell is this? Coalition bullshit?

[scythegun]

[Well, this could be going better. It could be going worse too, so Yeager sees no need to be upset about it just yet. Instead, he's off to go looking around the place, specifically searching for weapons... but coming across one of his fellow captives(?) staring at the sets of information on display. Yeager approaches and glances over the rules briefly.]

...My, that is a bit much, isn't it?

[His accent is ridiculously thick and aggressively German. He doesn't sound particularly bothered, but as he glances at the other guy, he can tell he's probably the only one.]

Don't tell me you believe that nonsense?

[miseriainfernum]

[A close glance at the man will make it obvious at once that he's a late-stage alcoholic. Though somewhat hidden behind the muttonchops, there's a bloat to his face, especially his nose.

Despite this, it's obvious he's quite sober.

There's a moment where he seems to take in the accent. There's something of a delay in how long it takes him to respond— three seconds. Maybe that's long enough of a pause to notice, maybe not.]

I believe it's a threat. These things don't happen by accident.

[He waves about the foyer for emphasis.]

[scythegun]

[Yeager takes all this in at a glance, but his gaze doesn't linger on the other man for very long before he's looking back at the rules.]

Ja, that's certainly true! It's the first time I've found myself waking up somewhere entirely unfamiliar, anyway.

[He hums a bit to himself, canting his head before he lifts his shoulders a bit.]

But it may be too soon to jump to conclusions. Perhaps these "rules" are simply to mess with us.

[miseriainfernum]

It's not my first time...

[That's muttered, though. He rubs at the back of his head as he looks around the room, taking in every little detail.

And then he finally just. Bangs hard on the glass containing the rules, hard enough to hurt his hand before he pulls away from it, rubbing his knuckles.]

This seems like a lot of work for a kidnapping without clear goals.

[He says like he didn't just punch the glass.]

We're alone, and there's no sign we're being ransomed.

[scythegun]

[Whether Yeager heard that or not, he doesn't draw attention to it. Instead, he gestures to the framed list of information and pictures beside them.]

We don't seem to be the only ones, if this is any indication.

[Sure enough, we have profiles and pictures of everyone in this murdergame! There's 30 of us, though no familiar names and faces. Since you're probably curious...

Yeager | Capricious
Age: 34 | Height/Weight: 6'0" / 160lbs | Occupation: Leader of Leviathan's Claw
Likes: Fighting, convoluted plans, money, his family, freedom, blastia
Dislikes: Alexei Dinoia, things not going according to plan, death, blastia
Trivia: Yeager spent time posing as a different person to gain control of another guild. This person's name was Regaey. This plan actually worked.

Yeager doesn't seem all that troubled by his own information, though he's notably looking at yours instead!!]

[miseriainfernum]

[It's obvious that Harry is taking in the information in front of it, studying very carefully. Probably committing it to memory.

He's already looked at his own profile, though whatever he's feeling about the information on it isn't clear, because he doesn't have an outward reaction.

He is, however, completely silent as he looks over the information.

His own is, of course, very much on display, and full of things that are probably very, very interesting.

Harrier Du Bois | Scattered
Age: 44 | Height/Weight: 5’11” / 200 lbs | Occupation: Lieutenant-double-yefreitor of the RCM
Likes: the working class, entroponetics, jogging, insects, Kim Kitsunagi
Dislikes: murderers, the Moralintern, himself
Trivia: Harrier is haunted by the scent of apricots for reasons he cannot remember.]

[scythegun]

[That... sure is a profile, huh. Some of these are particularly wild, but Harry's is so close to being a perfectly normal profile and yet every few words throws Yeager for a loop. Oh well, that's part of the fun of this place, right??]

"Entroponetics"... What is that? I've never heard of it before.

[miseriainfernum]

[By the blank look Harry gives him, it's pretty obvious he just asked a question that has the same vibe as "has the sky always been blue?"

There's a very long moment before he actually speaks.]

It's the study of the Pale.

[Hidden in his tone is a very unsubtle, "You okay, buddy?"]

[scythegun]

And what is the Pale?

[Though given the other man's look, this answer should also be obvious. Not that Yeager minds, and he delivers the question with all of his usual cheer... though that does raise some questions about what this guy would recognize, doesn't it?]

[miseriainfernum]

Uh—

Did you forget all reality too?

[He scratches at the back of his head.]

The pale is everywhere on the planet. It surrounds the isolas— continents of matter. It's not possible to measure it, just what surrounds it; the porch collapse. Whatever it consumes is gone into nothingness.

Aerostatics can fly inside of the Pale, though exposure can be... bad. People don't fly to other isolas very frequently, as a result.

[scythegun]

[Yeager listens to all of that in silence and then, once Harry's done, he claps his hands.]

I don't understand it at all!

[i'm so sorry]

But! Humor me and answer a couple of questions for me, ja? Are you familiar with blastia? Dahngrest and the Guild Union?

[He's going somewhere with this, probably.]

[miseriainfernum]

I can't say I am.

[Said honestly, and without hesitation.]

But that doesn't really mean much. There's a lot of things I don't remember.

[scythegun]

Ah, it may not mean much to you, but it means a lot to me. Just like my understanding - or lack thereof - of such things is confusing to you, ja?

Not a single person where I come from would be unaware of blastia or the guilds. Even if you hit your head, you would have heard about them within five minutes, even if you were somewhere in the Empire!

[Exactly what it means is... kind of unsettling, the more he thinks about it.]

[miseriainfernum]

The Empire?

[Yeah, that's not familiar at all. He's never heard of the Coalition called something like that before. He would have been told about something like that.]

I've never been outside of Revachol.

[scythegun]

Ja. So as you can see, we're from completely different places. Where I'm from, the guilds and the Empire are the only civilizations at all.

[So that's. Something. Probably something he should be more worried about than he actually is, but Yeager shrugs.]

Regardless of what that means, it would seem we're both out of our depth here...

[He pauses and glances back at the profiles again.]

Mr. Bois? Or is it Mr. Du Bois?

[We have "von Cumore" so he kind of has an understanding of surnames like this??]

[miseriainfernum]

[The face he makes at "Mr. Bois" makes it pretty obvious it's "Du Bois", but as soon as he's recovered—]

Harry is fine.

[a beat later]

You're really not from Elysium?

[scythegun]

[He's here to inflict suffering and psychic damage on everyone! ☆]

Ja, that's correct. I've never heard of it before.

[miseriainfernum]

It's the Dolorian name for the world.

[Which sort of implies there was a time when his world didn't have a name, but he doesn't seem to dwell on it.]

I always thought aliens would look... alien. Like one of Kim's sci-fi books.

[scythegun]

Aliens?

[What the fuck's an alien, we definitely don't have any giant sea cucumber aliens(?) to worry about at any point—]

Our world is called Terca Lumireis. So it would seem that we're from entirely different worlds!

[Some...how. Don't think too hard about it.]

[miseriainfernum]

Yeah, aliens.

You're not from Elysium, so you must be an alien.

[He is entirely okay with this. His tone is that of someone meeting a new neighbor for the first time. There's no real wonder to it, just someone accepting it for what it is.

Well, okay he is kind of excited to learn more about Tecra Lumireis, but the notion that he's speaking to an alien doesn't lead into three hundred new questions or anything.]

[scythegun]

[That... didn't really answer his question of what an alien is, but sure, he can accept that they're just someone from a different world! Apparently that's a thing where you're from! Wild!!]

Well, anyway! [Moving right along!!] Let's see what else this place has to offer us, ja?

[miseriainfernum]

[What more do you want from him?? You're not from the same planet as him, therefore, aliens! This is perfectly logical.]

Right. Yes. We still need to understand what's going on.

[So he just. Stomps off towards the library without another word.]

[scythegun]

[Off we go! Yeager follows along, because of course he does.

The library isn't exactly all that impressive; it's rather small, with only a few shelves, some chairs and tables, and nothing really interesting. The books all seem to be really trashy fiction, of all things?? You've got the worst thrillers you've ever read, bodice-rippers, and terrible murder mysteries, among other such trash that probably won't prove all that useful.

Yeager flips through a few in silence before sighing.]

The selection is dreadful...

[miseriainfernum]

[And then there's Harry. A decorated police officer, who has found one of those trashy thrillers and has read through five pages in the span of as many minutes.]

Who reads this stuff?

[He says, having not put it back on the shelf.]

Nobody knows how actual police work happens. Don't these writers do research?