SO YOU WANT TO STEAL SOME CHILDREN (Endgame Catchall)

[facultwist]

Welcome to the container for your endgame! This will be the place where you can perform your polterheist (we really love that portmanteau), and where you'll be able to commentate on the final trial!

ICly, the whole heist will take place Monday, while the final trial watch will take place Thursday. For anything not related to endgame, please continue to use the main deadland post!

Comments

TRIAL WATCH

[facultwist]

[ Maybe you've been able to catch some of your living friends' investigation. Maybe not. Whatever the case, you know what comes next, don't you? You know where to go.

Your story is coming to a close. How will it end? ]

[eternalfuture]

I guess all we can really do now is trust them, huh...

[bellpepperexercise]

Yeah. Whatever else happens…I don’t know, we’ll worry about what we’re gonna do once it’s all over.

[sweetsynergy]

Oh thank god.

[Vanity bee-lines for one of the desk and- brushes some nonexistent ghost-dust off the sport coat that got left here last week. She tugs it back on, adjusting it and visibly relaxing just a bit.]

You would not believe how naked I've felt without this.

[al_fresco]

[ Guess who's here for this one! Surely no one found any evidence that will possibly upset her specifically. ]

Wow... so this is really it, huh? You guys weren't kidding, this trial room is creepy.

[sweetsynergy]

At least it's not full of chains this time.

cw: ableism, abuse, imprisonment

[protomartyr]

[ Lottie spends the bulk of the initial part of the trial listening quietly and attentively. At Thomasin's evidence, she frowns. When Thomasin explains that her family thought of Elsa's burns as deformities, that Elsa was locked away for it, Lottie's hands curl into fists.

There's a heavy presence in this room. Lottie doesn't believe in the wilderness anymore, but she does know that ghosts are very, very real. She turns her gaze towards where she thinks the presence is coming from and says, coldly: ]

I think Elsa deserves to burn this place to the ground.

[ Killing game aside, most of Lottie's friends are already dead. What happens to the school doesn't matter, she thinks. Lottie was locked away for a few months; she can't imagine what it must have been like to endure that for most of your life. ]

cws continuing

[goldendoll]

... So it was her prison, too. [ more literally than it had been for her, at that... but the forces at play remain so, so similar.

yeah. hatsune's not going to... directly say the same thing out loud yet, but. she doesn't seem like she disagrees with what lottie's just said at all. ]

cw: ableism, abuse, imprisonment

[sweetsynergy]

Okay. Absolutely correct? But she still put people I give a shit about in the crossfire, I'm gonna keep taking that part of all this personally.

[Cool motive, still something something.]

[bellpepperexercise]

[Kana’s eyebrows furrow in confusion at the mention of her name. Her expression falls when the letters are mentioned, particularly that the Interim Headmistress—-Olivia—-has kept and reread a certain letter over and over again. A letter from Kana herself.]

I…wrote to her? Is it like those dreams that I…

[She sees that Olivia wrote a reminder to herself too: ALL YOU CAN DO IS GET HER KILLED. As if Kana were somebody that she wanted to save. As if they were friends.

And yet, Kana has no memory of any of this.]

Olivia. [Kana says the name aloud as if it might ring a bell if she does. But nothing.]

[lifegoalsorwifegoals]

[ ...Rinne feels... ]

Kana-chan. Her, that other you... It seems like you were...close.

cw: emeto mention, necromancy stuff

[sweetsynergy]

[And then, uh, the last part of all this drops. Vanity's stomach lurches a bit, seeing the footage.]

What the FUCK-

[Emotions flicker through her rapid-fire, before settling on squirming, twisting anger.]

Oh fuck no, that space-bitch doesn't get to run off in my fucking body like some kind of goddamn skinsuit!

prev cws + decapitation, depersonalization

[goldendoll]

[ she's... conflicted at best, about a lot of what they're learning. not least of which is that once upon a time, the ideals of parentage would have spoken to something deep inside of her. now, it only serves as a reminder of how she's changed.

at the reveal of their bodies—the stitches encircling her own neck, a doll torn and sewn back together—hatsune's immediately caught between revulsion and a dark, maddened amusement. ]

... All that I remember being different is in the past year. And no matter what happens... even if I wanted it, Olivia can't give me my old life back.

[bellpepperexercise]

You were from space?! I was just an idol!

[trustheart]

…

[ Once again, Chris has been quiet this whole time. But once she sees this, her eyes widen with fear, and she grabs for Rinne’s hand, squeezing it and not letting go. ]

This. This is wrong…what…what could have driven her to this? What about the old versions of us would make someone want this?!

[thatsplato]

Don’t worry, Vanity. We won’t like her either. [… She’s not worried. She’s the original Misty. Obviously.]

cw dissociation;

[eternalfuture]

[Usagi isn't even remotely in the room right now. She's dissociating, and heavily at that. Eventually she snaps out of it just a little, just enough to -- ]

-- she could have asked me. I - my previous me - could have healed this, I --

[She trails off, into that dissociation again.]

[banishedfromparadise]

If I could have brought her back...

[Of course Dorothy is horrified at the thought of some other version of her being squeezed into her body. But the merging thing Hawke's talking about...

She could never sacrifice someone else's life to save Tori's. She's certain the other version of her would, for her Pinne, but she wouldn't go that far. Not even after the dreams. But if there was a way to save her, without destroying someone else in the process...]

I... understand how she feels. She's desperate.

[Her voice takes on an intensity that it hasn't since she died.]

Don't any of you have someone you'd tear the world apart to protect? I know, what she did to us was horrible, it's cruel and it's wrong, and I can't forgive her for killing us just to replicate some sick game. But...

[... I might have done the same.]

i don't think this properly counts as investigation but

[goldendoll]

[ wait. gears are turning. if the witch's ghost is present enough to be audible to the living in the room, then surely...

well, it's not like she's been doing this as long as any of the others. she barely realizes she's had the thought out loud: ]

... Can Elsa hear us, or is she just ignoring us so far?

an investigation tag you will get nevertheless!

[facultwist]

[ There's nothing to indicate if she can or can't...so if she can, she's definitely ignoring you. ]

[trustheart]

[ Chris frowns when she hears this, once again squeezing Rinne’s hand. ]

Elsa was alone too. Left by the person that she loved the most.

…

This has to stop. This is all just a cycle of people hurting and leaving each other. We can’t keep letting this happen…

[facultwist]

[ As Elsa roars into view, you'll notice something. Her cloaked head turns to look at the survivors in turn...but it looks at you too.

You've got her attention. Make use of it how you will. ]

[trustheart]

[ At the resolution Elsa makes, Chris finally lunges forward…and grabs the so-called witch in a hug. ]

I told her you could do it!

[ She looks back at the other ghosts expectantly. Chris Yukine publicly showing and encouraging affection? What reality is this?! ]

What are you guys waiting for?! Get over here!

[lifegoalsorwifegoals]

[ Olivia suggests something and Rinne can't help but let out a groan. ]

Oh no. Just like Vanity suggested?

[ THE WORST SACRIFICE: VANITY WAS RETROACTIVELY RIGHT, I SAID IT IN THE DISCORD AND IM PUTTING IT HERE TOO ]

mods?

[rosewitch]

[When this is suggested, Anthy — frowns for a second. Thinks. Turns to Elsa thoughtfully.]

That second possible truth, with the gas leak — it's very flexible, isn't it? More people can come out than went in. Can you ask them if it's possible that there might be a clerical error? That you and Mari — and Olivia, if she wants — were staying here for the break as well, and the records of it just got lost?