Phoenix Catch-All

[ruffboi]

Comments

[slobjection]

Guess that wasn't in the cards.

[ thanks to taako he knows what an npc is now ]

.... It's worth hearing them out, at least.

[ruffboi]

Yeah. I learned my lesson last time, about assuming everybody was my enemy just because I couldn't see their goal.

But if feels like they spent all last week pretending there wasn't any risk, and now they're mad at us for triggering a trap we didn't know was there.

[slobjection]

There's also their little game.... despite the insistence that it's a harmless game for fun, some of those abilities are pretty dangerous.

[ like cursing a door ]

That's the long and short of it. Whatever their circumstances, seems like we're in this together now.

[ruffboi]

Yeah. I guess I get why they gave us these now.

[Annoying! Rude!]

Well, whatever. We'd better do our best to help them, but I'm not going to stop harassing them. That's just part of my charm!

[slobjection]

Seems like it.

[ his charm!! magnus is charming. ]

So, about your game....

[ruffboi]

[So, so charming.]

Yeah. You wanna know about it? I won't goof around if you actually want the info.

[slobjection]

[ phoenix thinks he is ]

You've got me pretty curious, I've got to admit.

[ now exposition ]

[ruffboi]

Okay.

[I'm copying this from my thread with Dick because you both like to punish me.]

So, in ours, we all died, and then showed up to this city called Shibuya? The host was this cute lil scamp named Max, and he made a hotel for us, because he was worried we'd get scared sleeping outside.

Anyway, it turned out that this was a Reaper's Game, which is like. A thing that supposedly exists in the afterlife where you can earn the right to come back to life? They all have different mechanics, supposedly, but in this one we had the ol' killing each other and then having trials about it classic.

The twist was that some of us were actually secret Reapers, who were put in the game to pick us off, so we were supposed to be figuring out who the Reapers were. There were actually two teams of Reapers, one group with like, detective roles and shit and one group who had to murder somebody every week. We started calling them the Mighty Ducks and the Bad News Bears, because 'good reapers' and 'bad reapers' started getting a little iffy as we went on, if you know what I mean.

And we had powers! Mine was that I could make big magic energy slashes with my axe, Taako could levitate stuff.

[slobjection]

[ sometimes when you gagtag you forget to give an actual tag and are a horrible person for that ]

[ also this all seems very believable, especially the part where max is a little scamp who loved them all so very much. ]

... Must have been confusing.

[ the two gangs of reapers. ]

So you were all already dead and had to play a murdergame? Sounds a little like overkill.... no pun intended.

[ or was it. anyway, he nods for magnus to go on. ]

[ruffboi]

Yeah. Playing to stay alive, not to not die.

[So.]

So. Eventually, it turned out everything was just a lie! We were all being tested on like. Teamwork or something. In fact, the game almost ended when too many of the Ducks got caught and killed off. It turned out they were actually being forced into it, and most of them were like. Teenagers. Reaper teenagers.

Once we stopped hunting them, we got back on the right track? It turned out the Composer wasn't doing it for bad reasons, either. She was kinda forced into running a game like this, but was trying to help us prove we deserved better than that.

[slobjection]

Twist on a common concept, I suppose.

[ parts of that are familiar to him. everyone leaping to accuse blue who was more or less forced to participate, same as them.... the answer being not murder. well. some things are consistent. ]

So, where did Akira come into play? The one you knew.

[ruffboi]

Oof. It feels kind of messed up to share that? I haven't even told him all of it, so don't. . . spread it around.

[But he knows Phoenix is kind of a dad to the Blues kids from Beau, so.]

Guess you'll find out from the movies, probably. He was one of the Ducks. One of the Reaper kids they were forcing to kill.

[slobjection]

[ yikes. ]

I'll keep it to myself.

[ he would have even if not asked. ]

.... Sounds like his luck, though.

[ruffboi]

Yeah. But I got a pretty good sense of who he is from all that. A really good guy.

I'm trying things different this time around, 'cause he didn't trust me there for most of the time because of the way I acted. I don't want that to happen again. I'd never not help somebody in a situation like that.

[slobjection]

[ wow magnus seems like a really good guy who would definitely never murder phoenix or anything. ]

Yeah, he's a good kid. If a bit of a handful.

[ phoenix clearly says that fondly. ]

He does like the jokester with the heart of gold types. Maybe just let the heart of gold shine through.

[ruffboi]

[He never would! He'd never murder him at all.]

Yeah! We're getting along just fine.

[slobjection]

[ definitely no murder in their futures. ]

Good to hear.

[ ... ]

You mentioned a couple of other people I know. Mind telling me a bit more about them?

[ruffboi]

Other people you know. . . ?

[slobjection]

Dahlia, for one. And I believe you mentioning her something about writing someone else's name in blood or ketchup or something like that.

[ruffboi]

Oh. [Eesh.] Friend. . . of. . . yours?

[Wait, though.]

Wait, if you know Dahlia, then do you know Maya, too? They were from the same place.

[slobjection]

I don't think Dahlia ever had any friends in her life. But I knew her, yes.

[ they dated but they also didn't because it was her twin???? it's complicated. ]

Maya, on the other hand... Yes, she's a good friend. Has a bad habit of getting framed for murders, at that.

[ruffboi]

Oh! [Much warmer in tone, then.] Maya! I really liked her a lot.

I guess you could say she got framed in our game, too, but. . . she wasn't ever in danger, exactly.

[slobjection]

Yes... I can see the two of you getting along.

[ ... ]

That's a new one. How so?

[ he remembers what magnus said about the masterminds but can't ever picture maya as the mayastermind of a murdergame ]

[ruffboi]

Well. She and Anthy were running the show. But it wasn't like - it wasn't their idea to kill people. I think they were being made to do it that way by somebody even more powerful, and were trying to get some good to come out of it.

[So. Yeah. Mastermind, but. . .]

The first week, it seemed like she died, but she was actually there the whole time. She was helping the Reaper kids. And she sent us a mean letter and we had a Big Mac Sauce fight.

[slobjection]

.... That last part sounds like Maya.

[ the rest he can't really wrap his head around.... her dying, running a murdergame, being controlled by someone else? ]

How did she die? Did she tell you?