DECEMBER EVENT PART THREE: WITH THE DAWN OF REDEEMING GRACE

[sailmods]

[the voice from the imaginary loudspeaker resounds again.]

I do believe that’s the best you all can do. Hopefully it will be enough… Gather in the lobby at your earliest convenience. There, you will find an elevator. It will take you to your next location. [pause] Mind the severed heads.

[the elevator they find in the lobby is not one that had been there before: it is strange, a bit too large and industrial for what is generally a Victorian manor. nothing will compel them to board it, but… hey. if you stay behind, you miss out on all the fun, right?

and the fun starts here. because, as soon as they board the elevator, and the door closes, it drops.

not that far. not enough to harm. certainly enough to startle, especially after it evens out, before plunging a few more feet. the effect likely wears off after the fifth time it does this.

eventually, the elevator stops completely, and opens to a large, mostly empty room. in the center is a large circular stage, ringed with enough podiums for everyone that went on the excursion - living and dead. some of the podiums are covered in white sheets; one might notice that the number of dead corresponds directly to the number of covered podiums.

the Captain is present, of course. he sits on a raised throne separate from the circle, dressed in a suit a tiny bit different than his normal one. he sits with one leg crossed over the other, looking down at them with a completely neutral expression.]

You may take your places. [he gestures magnanimously, then holds up his hand; please reserve the expected freakouts for after his announcements, thanks.] The game is very simple. You have the evidence; put it together, and decide on the guilty party. Only a unanimous decision will bring you the justice you seek. [a faint smile] The one you always seek, at least.

[another gesture]

Questions. Comments. Threats against my life. Concerns.

Comments

[bloodmunchies]

[ Scooch over, Pratt, Aiden needs company. He’s feeling reaaaaal narsty today, and it isn’t even the dead bodies that did it, because he’s used to those—it was all of the dead teenagers, sprawled like they were in the snow.

Also he’s a little stained in Chrissy’s blood across his chest and arms just ignore that.

Don’t mind him if he’s clinging to your arm a little. ] Hey dude, you got any extra candy?

[theweakhavepurpose]

Absolutely man. I got starburst, some of that moosemunch popcorn, and a bunch of peppermints from the front desk. Grabbed those on the way in.

How're you doing? Hell of a time to show up again, and now this shit is happening.

cw: school shooting implication

[bloodmunchies]

Ughhhhhhh. I know, right?

[ He grabs for one of the peppermints, and sticks it between a fang and his lower canine as he talks. He sounds ridiculous this way, but it's helping, so who cares. ]

I shall not lie, my friend, I think I'm kinda freaking out. This is a lot of stress, and like, I'm pretty good with bodies and blood, but I uhhhhh...

[ Aiden groans, bonking his head on the edge of Pratt's podium. ] D'you know about Kent State? The college? 'Cause I went to school there once.

Re: cw: school shooting implication

[theweakhavepurpose]

Being good with bodies and blood is one thing, but this is different. Especially cuz it's all people we know, you know? Like I was pretty okay with seeing dead people all the time as a cop. But fuck did it hit different after the cult rolled in and seeing people you went to school with or used to work with get fucking butchered.

I had this after school job at a pizza joint and my boss fucking suuuuuucked. But I did not need to see his entrails when he got stabbed to death by some crazy assholes.

Oh fuck, really? That's the one with the National Guard during the Vietnam protests right?

[There's a lot of school shootings in America so he has a little trouble keeping them all straight. He's pretty sure about that guess tho.]

cw continuing

[bloodmunchies]

Ugh. Yeah, you get it, dude. Every death sucks and all, everybody is some guy’s brother or whatever, but nobody’s actually treating every dead dude the same. It blows when it’s someone you recognize.

And yeah, that’s the one. The bummer part is that I was kinda there when the National Guard went all Terminator on the kids. It’s not like a ton of people died, it was a couple, but… it was still dead kids, y’know? And the Guard was kids too. It was weird.

[ Aiden slumps further over the corner of the podium. ]

Uh, sorry, I know that this story totally blows, I’m just sorta put out ‘cause it was weird seeing all of the dead teens in the snow like that. It felt almost the same.

[theweakhavepurpose]

Nah man, I get it. It's like, you know... [The word he's looking for is triggering but he can't recall that right now.] you see it and it reminds you of shit and you feel like you're back there.

I don't know that it ever gets better either. Brains are fucking weird, they're wired all stupid and if you get that wiring messed up it's probably impossible to fix.

Makes it a little better knowing that here they're gonna come back. That's why me and Sharky been making those baskets so they know we were thinking of 'em. We should probably have a big ass ice cream party too, so we can all chillax after this. Especially with there being an actual execution. Might be fucking brutal.

[bloodmunchies]

Yeahhhhhhh... yeah. Yeah, 'cause it's like, you can't talk to 'em afterwards unless something crazy magic happens, so you can't be like, "hey, uh, sorry you died, here's a fruit basket." I wish I could do that for the kids. At least here you can kinda do that. An ice cream party sounds like a pretty solid way to kick back.

[ Aiden heaves a deep sigh from where he's smushed against the podium. ]

Hey dude, can I, like, chill out on your shoulders or something? I can turn into something cool. Like a snake. I just need to be off my feet.

[theweakhavepurpose]

Extra sucks cuz I'm dead in my world so I know there ain't nothing waiting for them. No pearly gates, no limbo, no anything, you just cease to exist. At least here it can maybe be a cool story in a few months like: hey remember that wild murder mystery at the Shining hotel? That was pretty twisted. But yeah, in the meantime we'll work it out, shit'll get better.

[He nods because he is trying so hard to be optimistic, and he's not sure it's working. But damn if he isn't gonna keep trying.]

Oh fuck yeah. Definitely, snakes are fucking rad. Can you turn into anything?

[bloodmunchies]

[ Bleak, dude, bleak. But that's the way the world turns. Siiiiiiiiigh. Still, there's a potential ice cream party after all of this. ]

Yeah, dude, anything on Earth, you name it. Cobra? Hognose? Anaconda--uh, that's definitely too heavy actually. I can do like, a corn snake or something, so I can stay out of your way.

[theweakhavepurpose]

Yeah no way I can pick up an Anaconda. Corn snake is good, if you're a hognose you gotta do that thing they do in all the viral videos. And that's probably kinda in bad taste right now.

[He means where the poor snakes are very dead]