No One Talks About Connell's Other Stories

[realitymods]

Characters: Will add in characters as they tag in
Location: THE ROOM - a.k.a. somewhere not on the Plane
Time: Future Dated. These events won't appear on Plane screens until Friday.
Summary: Ezra summons participants from the Plane to explain a very - dare I say 'Most' - Dangerous Game to them.
Warnings: None!

Comments

[brandyhabit]

If Benny wanted to survive, Benny knew she had to get a weapon. And Benny wanted to survive.

She hoped the old adage, stay close to Bernice Summerfield, you'll live longer still applied. Actually, she probably didn't want that to apply too much, since someone else's survival was her downfall. Then again, there was that other one stay away from Professor Summerfield, she's bad luck which...

"Oh cruk it," she muttered out loud, while she searched the table, stopping as her hands skimmed over a staser. She cheered up a great deal at that, snatching it up quickly and looking it over.

"Result!"

[brandyhabit]

Benny smiled back, because smiling was the only thing to do in these situations. Raging against the machine was a great deal less satisfying when the machine's spokesman for the day was a boy who looked far too small and too young and too scared for his own good. Moping or becoming depressed was pointless and annoying. So smiles were the only option.

"Only marginally. Oh well, we all have to keep it busy it seems."

[onehundredbeers]

Nathan would, once more, be annoyed at getting pulled into some random strange room if it wasn't for that fact of oh thank god he can think clearly again. Except this time there's no computer.

But there's that kid, and for now his curiosity piques, and he steps over to him. "Hey, uh, do you have- have any aspirin? Or just. Painkillers. I have a, I have a massive headache."

The weapons aren't going anywhere, he can get those after he gets something that will stop his head from hurting from being a raging asshole. He has yet to notice the collar because he's Nathan Explosion, off and on King of Obliviousness.

[realitymods]

Ezra is a bit startled by the question, mostly because it isn't yelled at him.

"Oh, uhm, no. I'm sorry. I don't think I can make it go away, either."

[onehundredbeers]

Nathan groans a little and slumps. "Yeah, it's- it's alright, uh, it'll go away." It wasn't like headaches were permanent, after all. It was annoying as shit, but hey, he'd probably forget it earlier.

"Hey, uh. You ever think about, about, um. Modifying your scythe? It- it looks too big for you." He paused. "And, uh, it looks like you're having- you are having trouble holding it up."

[realitymods]

"Modifying it?" Ezra stared up at it. "Uhm, I am but...I don't know how to fix it." Then he added, almost embarrassed, "It isn't mine anymore. I forgot how heavy it was."

[brandyhabit]

Benny recognized Ezra from the moment they first became stranded on the Plane like this. She was uneasy with the way she saw his older "companion" act around him and had felt a very severe distaste and concern.

Looking at him now, that distaste and concern grew. She wasn't sure what kind of person used children to do their dirty work for them, but she couldn't be too surprised anymore even if she wished she were.

She approached Ezra carefully. Whoever dressed him did enjoy theatrics.

"And how about you? Do you get to make it out okay?"

[realitymods]

"Me?" Ezra hesitated and wondered why someone would ask him that. "I guess I do. Even if someone kills me, I come back right away."

[brandyhabit]

"If a situation is bad enough, coming back can sometimes be a far cry from making it out okay."

She let out a breath, looking at the weapons then back at Ezra and smiling.

"Although, I actually would like to make it out okay, and I'm fairly sure okay for me would mean alive."

[realitymods]

"It would be rude to say I hope you win," Ezra said, reaching up to play with one of his braids. "But I hope you'll be okay then."

Even if it meant the same thing, it felt nicer in his head.

[pactum]

Emil wasn't allowed to speak. That was probably a good thing, because the first thing he did as soon as the collar released him (but didn't release, that would be too easy) was... start yelling. He wasn't necessarily pissed off at Ezra alone. It was more like what he represented, this invisible theocracy that held all the answers and gave away nothing, that tortured him and Marta and made their journey impossible to complete.

"You hope we make it out okay?!" He stalked forward, though to his credit, he didn't draw his sword. "You're sending us in there to fight to the death, idiot! What about the others? What about the people we're supposed to protect?!" He reached up and tugged at his collar, which was rather hidden beneath his scarf but not completely. "Get this thing off me and send me back!"

[realitymods]

"I-I can't! I'm sorry. I'm really sorry!" Ezra's stutter became very obvious then and he stepped back. Despite being armed, the best he tried to do was somehow hide behind the scythe.

"I can't do anything. I can't help or...or say no..."

[pactum]

Oh Martel. This kid reminded him of someone who really pissed him off, too. Someone who was currently aware of events and trying to block them out, even. "Like hell you can't! From the very beginning you've been some whiny snot-nosed little insect, letting them push you around- if you were really sorry, you'd push back!"

[realitymods]

"I know! I know I am. I am sorry, though, I really, really am!"

Ezra clung tighter to the scythe and ducked his head to hide as best as he could in his hood. He tried to speak again, voice soft. "I-If you want to kill me, you can, but it won't do much. I'm sorry. I just come back."

[buckingbronco]

Collars that stop you from speaking are something new but Dino barely notices them after the first moment. This is something far more disturbing than anything else he had witnessed before. It wasn't as if he was a stranger to life or death battles. He'd faced his share of them before, even one where the fate of his Family has been at stake. It was something anyone of higher rank in the Mafia learned to live with. Not like this, not with the battle seemingly for no reason. What could anyone gain from them fighting each other? Amusement?

"So," Dino said once they could speak again a sight edge to his voice, "if we don't try to kill someone, our world dies. Care to tell me what?" His right clenched into a fist, a small flame flaring from the ring on his finger before he managed to get his emotions under enough control to make it die down.

[realitymods]

"I-I don't know," Ezra said, knowing instantly it was a bad answer. So he tried to explain as best as he could with what he knew. "I know some people think you guys are really important. N-Not that you aren't! But they think they could use some of you to make the Machine work right... I guess these are tests. It isn't right though!"

[buckingbronco]

Dino tries to ignore the fact that Ezra is starting to remind him of Tsuna. The stuttering and hesitance were almost the same in both of them. Dino knew that he couldn't let that affect his judgment, not when there was this much as stake.

"It isn't right, but I guess we don't have any choice in it," he said as he approached the tables. He already had his own weapons, and was still eternally grateful he was in the habit of being armed at almost all times, but another gun and some more bullets would still be helpful.