week ?, ???

[reapertoire]

[ five assholes walk into a sewer.

they have a few important matters to discuss in the dead god's pad before the game officially starts. ]

Comments

[concertmaster]

Alright then. [he sighs]

Ladies, you've been chosen to represent the rest of your fellow Game runners. Anthy Himemiya, you're the boss for this one. Maya Fey will serve as your Conductor/second in command for the purpose of the Game, though we haven't limited her powers as Composer. Both of you have been allowed to bring on your personal Conductors. Otherwise, I've got your list of bullshit given for the Game here.

[:) it's the list in the secret reports lmao]

The rules are as follows. You've got until May 6th to convince the Angels that the Games are worth keeping. The top brass is allowed a certain degree of interference to test you, but it should be kept to a minimum to give you a legitimate chance to prove your point. I'm the neutral party judge for this affair, so I'll be running it as your Producer. Lucky fucking me.

This shit said and done, go over your assets and decide what to do from there.

[and he's just going to sit there and play on his phone for the rest of the convo. fuck u]

[rosemance]

[ she nods her head once at max, before turning her attention to quickly skim over the given list. none of it seems too surprising, consider how already unorthodox this setup is. ]

I suppose the easiest way to set this up would be as a conflict between Maya and I.

[ it wouldn't take much to convince the chosen reapers that the composer and conductor are fighting, after all. ]

[feytality]

[maya's looking over the list too.... frowning initially. everything about this is so weird. it's not like she hasn't run her fair share of games, either]

Yeah, the Conductor trying to usurp the Composer? Classic Game schemes! [and probably their best bet. anthy's right] It's not like it hasn't happened before, either...

[dahlia.....]

[princeples]

[of course that doesn't sit right with Utena, but it's not like any of this has from the start.]

And if they take it seriously? Himemiya, you'll be painting a target on your back.

[a...gain]

[venomosity]

Frankly, I don't think they'll come to that conclusion. I don't trust them to be that smart.

[dahlia, who do you trust.]

Unless they go out of their way to, I don't think either of them would have any enemies.

[rosemance]

[ the difference here between composer/conductor relationships is hilarious. ]

The whole point of this is to trust them to succeed. So we must take whatever risk might come from this.

[feytality]

[maya is worried about anthy, too, but she's right: they need to take the risk]

Well, I mean---- Anthy, you and I are going to have our Composer powers anyway, right? So even if someone does try to take a real shot at you, we can stop 'em.

[hmmm]

Plus, if we're gonna be faking a power struggle, why don't we split up the Reapers? We've got ten of them, so maybe we could each take half and give 'em our stories.

[princeples]

[dahlia doesn't know SHIT so utena's just going to ignore her!!! and grasp anthy's hand]

Himemiya...

[she's come a long way from being that girl who hated humanity, and utena knows better than to try to protect her against her wishes now, so. she lets it go.]

Splitting them up isn't a bad idea. We can use that to set them against each other, too, so the Players aren't stuck at too big a disadvantage.

[of course utena is the kind of conductor that worries about her players. of course she is]

[venomosity]

[dahlia rolls her eyes at utena and anthy's display of affection. gross.]

We're trying to be professionals here, aren't we?

[anyway]

No one will know who among them is a Reaper... not even the ones from the opposing groups. That almost sounds fun.

[rosemance]

[ fuck off dahlia ]

Mm. Since we don't know who's going to be sent to us as a Reaper, we'll have to decide on who goes to which team later.

[ ... ]

I think we should infiltrate the game as well, but get "killed" off early on. If we're supposed to be observing them to decide on the fate of the Games, we'll have a better idea of what they're like if we interact with them directly.

[feytality]

Don't be a jerk, Dahlia. [maya ships it :/]

We could say one team is detectives... And they gotta find the other ones. That way, the regular Players aren't under as much fire.

[what anthy's saying makes sense. maya brightens up a little]

Hey, good idea, Anthy! We can get to know 'em a little then show 'em how it's done.

[princeples]

[shut the heck up, dahlia]

Well... if one team's trying to find the other one, it should be the ones who are working with Himemiya, right? If we're pretending you two are fighting each other.

[...also:]

Showing them how it's done... Like some kind of tutorial? The Game wouldn't officially begin for them until we were "Erased"?

[venomosity]

[wow, rude, you guys. also dahlia's just gonna laugh at the idea of maya leading the """bad""" reapers? come on, that's fuckin hilarious.

but right. business.]

We've figured out roles for the two of you... what about Utena and me? Acting as your "assistants" seems... a little over the top. Maybe even unnecessary.

[rosemance]

You two can help us in the tutorial, but...

[ what to do otherwise. it'll be best if they all get "killed" off. anthy looks at maya. ]

What do you think?

[feytality]

[she can be a bad girl if she wants, dahlia!!! maya ignores her, instead looking back at anthy]

I think.... since you and I are going to be the ones leading the Reapers.... we should try to get to know them a little better. We could pair up, and --- well, let's be honest, I've gotten plenty of experience getting framed for murders.

[ahem. dahlia.]

[anthy and utena know her well enough at this point to know that, though, and they can probably guess where she's going with this]

Sooo, what if Dahlia "kills" Utena and frames me for it? That way, you and I would be "victims". It'd give us a chance to connect with the Players.

[princeples]

Excuse me?

[she does not look happy with the idea of being offed. :/ rude]

Anyway, even if me getting erased by her was viable-- [:/ fuckn dahlia] she has a point. It doesn't solve the problem of what we do if you two are taking care of the Reapers. Who's going to watch over the Players once we're all "gone"?

[venomosity]

[@ maya:] You make it sound like it's what I do for a living.

[... but hey, look, she's actually contributing something useful to the discussion this time!]

Hey, if I'm going to "erase" you, then you could assume your Noise form and observe them that way. They'd probably enjoy having a dog around more than a snake, wouldn't they?

[rosemance]

[ she also doesn't look too thrilled at the idea of utena getting killed. that's her girlfriend you fucks?? ]

I suppose that could work. But they might question a Noise wandering around unless there's...

[ she trails off before very suddenly turning her attention towards max. ]

Unless we have someone else there watching everyone as well.

[feytality]

[ maya holds her hands up in a gesture of appeasement towards utena and dahlia both. ]

C'mon, Utena -- it'd be risky for you to stay undercover the whole Game and I don't want an actual Reaper or murder-y Player going after you. [ she's concerned about utena, too!!! better the fuck u know. ] Dahlia's got a pretty good idea, here. [ for once. ] Aaaand, so does Anthy.... if there's someone there playing Host....

[ maya also trails off while she turns to look in the direction anthy is facing --- specifically, at max. ]

[princeples]

[@ maya] I can handle myself, but. You've got a point, as well as Dahlia. [she's a good dog :/] And, well. If we had someone to corral Players and answer any questions they have... Yes... I think that could work...

[stares at Max]

[venomosity]

If we can agree on one thing...

[more!! staring!!]

[concertmaster]

[ . . .

after a little bit of silent staring, Max finally looks up from where he was browsing on his phone, deadpan]

... What?

[rosemance]

Thank you, Max, for being our Host.

[ fucking rip ]

[concertmaster]

What.

[absolutely??????????/ not???????]

Hey. No. Absolutely fucking not, no chance in hell. I'm Producer, not babysitter. I don't do Player coddling.

[feytality]

Oh, come on, Max! Let's help the Players out this time!

[ she's not tee heeing, but. ]

There's a lot riding on this! And you don't have to coddle them, just, y'know, answer a few of their questions. Give them stuff if they're actually doing good. You won't need to be hanging around them all the time.

[ famous last words. ]

[venomosity]

And you can be your lovable self, freely insulting them whenever they ask something especially stupid.

[princeples]

It wouldn't do for him to act unnatural in that setting, of course.

[sips tea]

The Players will need all the help they can get. Having someone to guide them and keep an eye on them for us will help us out tremendously. And since you're judging the Game, it'll be easier for you to be in the thick of it, right?

[concertmaster]

I would rather get Erased right here and now than go along with this bullshit. I did not sign up to interact with Players.

[rosemance]

None of us actually signed up for this particular assignment, Max.

[ it's said in a "you're doing it" tone. ]

[concertmaster]

[m o t h e r f u c k e r]

So you want me to babysit your Players and lead them along in the Game. By playing Host.

[ m o th e r of fu c ks]

This doesn't really fall under normal Composer requests, but... You're technically the fucking boss, I guess. Jesus fuck. I claim the right to bitch about it for the entire length of time it's happening.

[feytality]

We wouldn't want it any other way, Max.

[ well, anthy's the boss..... he can't say no. ] And Anthy and I will be in charge of the Reapers! So that's a little less work. Plus, I'll sneak you food and coffee.

[ maya acting like he can't get himself food and coffee!! ]