reapertoire | week 5, monday

week 5, monday

[ Between one blink and the next, Undine will suddenly find herself in a greenhouse. If she tries looking outside its glass windows, she'll notice that there is a strange haze that makes it impossible to tell the exact location, but the interior of the greenhouse is fairly bright, as if sunlight was shining through.

Everything in it seems fairly normal. There is a variety of plants, but primarily roses, as well as a small outside garden table. Still, strangely enough, there's also a... kotatsu? Well. Okay. ]

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Good morning, Undine. Would you like some tea? Please, have a seat.

[ she gestures at a chair across from her. there's already a cup placed in front of it, as well as a tea kettle. ]

Make yourself comfortable.

Oh- yes, of course.

[Undine moves to sit in the chair, sitting tall and polite after she's scooted it in. If nothing else, she has manners.

She does drink her tea black, though, so after pouring herself some she will drink it as-is. Not a lot though, just a little sip to help her compose herself and get her nerves back.]

I'm glad you're still here. Well, it sounds like everyone is still 'here', but. Not permanently Erased, I mean.

All of the souls are still around, and will continue to do so until the Game ends.

[ if they have a chance of reviving the ones who have been erased during the game, there's no point in killing them permanently before judgment happens. ]

[Fair enough. It's hard to revive someone if they're gone forever.]

Are they here right now?

[She knows how the whole 'phase between existences' works so. Maybe they're 'here' but not here at the same time?]

Not here specifically, no. You have to be personally invited by me to reach this place.

[ the greenhouse, she means. ]

[That makes sense, she never saw a greenhouse in any of the locations they had been to so far.]

Thank you for the invitation, then. I've been wanting to talk with you for some time now. Both 'yous', actually.

['You' as in Anthy, to see if she was doing alright, and 'you' as in the Composer, for other reasons.]

I don't get to many visitors, so I'm always happy to see a new face here.

[ she smiles, but then it falters for a moment. ]

I supposed we should get the Composer talk out of the way then?

[Yep, it's time for that talk.]

After the Reaper Creeper last week, I figured it had to be one of you. You, Utena, or Dahlia. Since Maya is the Conductor, it's not too far of a leap to guess that one of you three remaining is the Composer.

I'm surprised to see it's you, though. I thought it would be Utena.

[Since Utena was decidedly more loud and forthright, compared to Anthy.]

When I said Utena is naive during that trial, I meant it. She wouldn't be fit to be Composer.

Maybe. But the hotheaded types are the ones who usually end up becoming leaders, don't they?

[That. Was definitely the case for Undine's magical girl group at least.]

But if you're the Composer, then I suppose you designed this game and everything. Did you intend to be 'erased' the first week?

[ she'd correct undine that being something like a composer wouldn't fit utena's normal style, but she lets it go. ]

it would have never happened if it wasn't intended.

Oh? Has everything gone as intended?

[Everything in the game, she means. Because it's been a cluster fuck and she's wondering if that was on purpose.]

Of course not. It has been very stressful to watch.

[ she sounds cheerful about it though. ]

It has, hasn't it? None of the games I was ever in went quite like this.

Actually...that's what I wanted to talk with you about, if I could?

Of course you may. I can't promise you I can answer all of your questions though.

I understand.

Was I...were the reapers just brought here to be erased? Is that our entire purpose in this game? To be the 'bad guy' the Players unite to defeat?

What makes you say that?

Because that's how it feels right now. I know we're supposed to challenge the players, I'm not new to this, but it feels like we were brought here just to be villainized and erased.

I see.

What have you learned about this Game so far, Undine?

That there's several different groups all working towards their own goals within the game. Each group has their own very valid reasons for wanting to win by their own conditions, but the best possible outcome is likely one of compromise. And sacrifice, too, since there's no guarantee that the Players will be brought back at the end. And even if they are brought back the Reapers will not get that same consideration.

And...it's hard to go along with that. To accept that I might be gone forever for the sake of a couple-dozen people I barely know. Especially when more than a few of that number would not spare a second thought to my life if they knew my role in the game. It's hard to be willing to give up so much for people who, albeit incidentally, would not be sad to see you gone.

When you first decided to become a Reaper, did you think that all of the decisions would be easy?

Honestly, when I became a reaper, I wasn't thinking about that at all. I just saw it as a chance to see my friends again.

[And look where that got her.]

But I've been through enough of these games to know that our part in this is to help the Conductor decide who to return to life. We're supposed to provide the challenges that show what the Players are truly like.

The challenges you have asked us to present to these Players here? They do not show what the Players are truly like. All this game has shown is that, when people are told by an authority 'these people are out to erase you, so erase them first', they will believe that authority. They will believe it and will absolutely do it, if only because they're lost and confused and are likely to trust the first person who comes to them saying "Here, I have answers."

Nobody in this game is beyond saving. I truly believe that. But they have been set up to do their absolute worst, and that isn't a true judgement of their character.

I see. I'm sorry that you feel that way, Undine.

[ she pours herself some more tea. ]

What else do you think about it? I'm sure those aren't your only thoughts.

[That's...not what she was expecting at all, and catches her off-guard.]

Um-

[Wait, isn't she supposed to be getting information from Anthy, not the other way around? But when she falters there, she loses the bravery needed to outright say that, and instead answers Anthy's question.]

I...I'm kind of wondering what you're even looking for here, because it's hard to guide the players and encourage them to grow when I'm not sure what they're even supposed to be growing towards.

Were we right before? That what you're looking for is 'cooperation'?

[ she doesn't seem to really react to how flustered undine gets, but her smile does become a tad more sympathetic. ]

We did say that communication is the key.

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