END GAME: THE COUNTDOWN STARTS

[sailmods]

[the prisoners wake up on cold, hard floors.

the lights are bright, glaring, a sterile cell with sterile bars facing a sterile hall. the prisoners with you, across from you, and no one else. no rocking of a ship in waves, nothing. just the prisoner and their prison.

time passes, one assumes. the rhythmic click of Friday’s heels down the hall. it’s almost like the ticking of a clock.]

Comments

[sabigoe]

[ ...Pouting. Not because they didn't wait for her vote. Blue was her choice as well.

She just wanted to push the fun pressy button. ]

[sailmods]

[nothing appears to have happened.]

[teethoftherisk]

[Hmm. Siffleur considers pressing it again. He looks at the sliders instead and after a moment of thought, he shoves them all upwards. Maybe the effect was small since the sliders weren't at the extreme end.

He also notices Fio looking sad, and gives her a gentle nudge towards the control panel. Her turn.]

[sabigoe]

[ Fio lights up, shuffling (a little excitedly...) forward to the control panel. ]

Hm. [ Is it broken? Siffleur seems to have made a few adjustments with the sliders, so... ] Let's try pressing it again!

[ Again, she pushes the blue button and doesn't remove her palm. A brief glance back, as if making sure everyone's watching her like she just did something very impressive... then back up at the monitors. Any changes now? ]

[sailmods]

[nothing appears to have happened.]

[sabigoe]

...Huh. [ Drops one arm to the side, swaying it lightly. Her other is still wrapped around the toy ship, by the way! As much as she wants to press the buttons again... ] Does anyone else want a turn?

[ Because it's polite to take turns! ]

[tempingainteasy]

[April can only watch for so long before saying something:]

-hhhHHEY maybe we should quit touching those until we know exactly what they do, yeah??

[Yes for anyone just tuning in, that's Siffleur's paper hat talking.]

[decohere]

There's no way to know what they do until we f-[cuts off] around and find out.

[pokes the green button?]

[tempingainteasy]

Yeah but - [grimace as the button is pushed. nothing explodes or starts screaming but April won't apologize for it anyway.] - how do we know for sure nothing's happened? How many of us have eyes on these monitors, we could be looking for a door or a change in lights or-

[a crinkle as she squints at the monitors to double check, look for any differences as she mutters.]

God, I hate Observation Duty... FNAF... All that low effort horror game- Wait, hold up. Where are the cells on here?

[prince_of_beasts]

They're not, [ Dimitri is doing his best to remain calm and professional, but his voice has gone faintly shrill, ] are we sure that there is no way to identify what these do before we press the button that kills everyone?

[tempingainteasy]

... We could start by checking what's happened so far?

[To the ants:] Hey Vic, get us a status report, please? Oh, and tell Flan it's like that time when we were on night shift again.

[is the in-joke going to survive the journey? Maybe not but it's been twenty minutes since she last riffed with Flan and she is, if you'll forgive her, getting antsy.]

...

[Unfortunately, the answer comes back quick in the form of Victor informing them the way they came through is broken which, um.

Listen, she's been camping on the cougar's head the past bit, it's not like she's had a huge field of view here.]

... Ah, fuck it then. Hey, did we do the red one already?

[decohere]

Fuck it. [goes back to the control board switches

up up down down left right left right B A

and slams all three colored buttons at once.]

[sailmods]

[nothing appears to happen.]

[decohere]

[shrugs]

Well I'm out of ideas.

[sabigoe]

Are we trapped in here then? I can't think of anything either. I hope everyone back in the cells is doing okay...

[ Maybe she's a little put off by the earlier comment about the buttons killing everyone! Until she watches Ava press all three.

...Fio reaches over and pushes all three again. Maybe nothing will happen again... she just wants to copy Ava and push buttons because it's fun. ]

[prince_of_beasts]

[ They're trapped in an enclosed space, Dimitri's Crest is being suppressed, and something is replacing eyes. Haha. Oh no.

He's not (yet) at the point of just hammering on the walls, but he starts searching the door for any sign hinges, or any other mechanism. ]

[decohere]

[boredly continues watching the monitors, tap tap taps at the screens.]

So there's no way back out?

[sabigoe]

... [ Starts looking around too... a little after pushing the colorful buttons that seemingly do nothing a few more times. ]

If there isn't one, then... maybe we can just make a way out?

[decohere]

Make a way... [Ava considers Fio's suggestion, glancing at the walls, the ceiling, the floor... then back at the screens. they seem to be the easiest broken thing in here.]

Anyone feel like smashing?

[stormpirate]

[just kinda observing them with this expression.]

[configuration_birdwatcher]

// I don't.

[ They're all smashed out. ]

[ To Jenny: ] // Can you let us out?

[teethoftherisk]

[While Bastion asks Jenny for an exit, Siffleur eyes up the monitors and then crouches down, wiggling his back end as he gets himself positioned just right-

-and leaps at the screens, landing on the top edge of them, seeing if his weight on them will do much of anything.]

[stormpirate]

Oh, no, I'm sure you can all manage to open a magical door that I'm the only key to. Don't give up now.

[teethoftherisk]

If you are the only key, and you do not enjoy your time with us, why have you not opened the door already? The sooner we free everyone, the sooner you will be away from us.

[stormpirate]

[stiffly] Because it has to be an order, asshole.

[because that's what you do, when you're a slave. you follow orders.]