[Week 3, Tuesday: Max]

[purrtagonist]

[wherever Max is, someone is bumping the back of his head lightly with a cup of-- GASP-- coffee! it's Akira. of course it's Akira. who else would it be]

There has to be a better place to hide that coffee maker than in the McDonald's bathroom.

Comments

[purrtagonist]

[. . . huh]

[huuuuuuuh]

Then let me bounce the question back to you, if you have an answer: why do Games like this exist?

[concertmaster]

Like everything else in this universe, the Games exists because someone benefits from its continued existence. [a beat] That's as much as I can say on that.

[purrtagonist]

[something suddenly slips neatly into place, like the final piece of the edges of a puzzle, the frame complete but the center still empty]

Noise.

[because he remembers, after the live house, talking to Setz about the Noise]

Is it related to the Noise? And how they feed off of negative emotions?

[concertmaster]

[hrm]

No, not... really. I keep forgetting you're a literal baby Reaper. You probably don't even know what Noise are, do you.

[purrtagonist]

[HE GOT EXCITED, MAX]

[slumps]

There was Noise in my last Game, they just served as. . . [waves. a hand] Random encounters and boss fights. The Reapers guiding us didn't exactly explain what they were.

[concertmaster]

[there there, buddy... there there... the report on noise isn't out yet,,,]

Yeah, that's about what they serve in general. Reapers can control Noise. Officer ranks and up can also turn into Noise.

[purrtagonist]

[listen he never had the chance to summon his own Noise buddies. . .]

Ah.

Like a fursona, only Noise-ified.

[hm]

[concertmaster]

I didn't need to hear that, ever.

[purrtagonist]

Kidding, I'm kidding.

[I still can't believe I typed that, I hate myself]

But I'll keep what you said in mind. If no one else is asking these questions, I'm thinking it's time I at least tell the Players what I know.

[concertmaster]

[consider yourself lucky i didn't make a joke about yusuke being the furry in the PT]

You think they'll listen?

[purrtagonist]

[wryly, with a lopsided smile]

I don't know.

[but?]

But even if some of them do? That's enough. Enough to get them talking.

[concertmaster]

Your hopes and dreams disgust me as always.

[sips coffee]

[purrtagonist]

Related to said hopes and dreams, if I wrote an anonymous message to the Players, would you deliver it?

[concertmaster]

... Please tell me you're not going to ask me to deliver a fucking calling card.

[HE READ YOUR FILE, JOKER]

[purrtagonist]

[I MEAN. . .]

You realize that'd out me to at least three people here.

[icly, oocly it'd out him to like, everyone]

No. Something more straightforward than that. [. . .] And I may want to send a separate letter to my Reaper. . . "friends."

[concertmaster]

[the look he gives is the "I expect nothing from you so of course I thought that" equivalent but he moves on.]

For Reaper-to-Reaper contact, you'd have to ask your Conductor. But yeah, I can deliver to Players.

[purrtagonist]

[perfect]

How much am I allowed to tell them? Because I was thinking, oh. You know.

Everything.

[concertmaster]

[........]

Yeah, it might get censored on the way out depending on what "everything" means.

[purrtagonist]

Okay, well, not everything everything.

[they already established he doesn't want to out himself??? and he does understand that he may not be allowed to be as frank as he'd like]

That the Composer is doing this to prove something. That something or someone, somewhere, is benefiting from this Game. That there's more to it than there is on the surface. That they should be questioning everything about the setup, instead of assuming that eliminating the Reapers is the "right" solution.

Aaand maybe a warning that there are two groups of Reapers, here. Not just one. And that Players should look for them a little closer to home. Sometimes, people are helpful because they have ulterior motives, after all.

[concertmaster]

... That might be doable. I can't guarantee you jack shit on results, but it sounds like there's nothing I wouldn't tell Players in there. If they, you know, fucking asked.

[purrtagonist]

Maybe this will encourage them to start asking. Ah-- sorry if it means they pester you more.

[holds out one hand, fingers wagging]

Can I get a pen and paper?

[concertmaster]

I hate it, but it's my job.

[shrugs and grabs a pen and paper from his hoodie. how many things are in there. ]

Here you go.

[purrtagonist]

[it's a hoodie of holding]

[anyway, Akira gets right to work, but he's being kind of thoughtful about word choice and perspective, here. so it might take him a bit. and as he works on the letter?]

Sooo.

Come up with any new assassination plots lately?

[he asks that question totally casually]

[concertmaster]

[squints]

If that's you being subtle, maybe I should take the letter back.

[but he doesn't.]

They're not assassination plots. They're... options.

[purrtagonist]

I'm bad at subtle.

[hahaha]

Options, then.