subordinacy | week 1 ( sunday )

[UH HUH I DISBELIEVE YOU, JAN]

[Akira's in the park, reading Detective Conan manga, because I hate myself! but he looks up when Setz approaches]

Ah-- yeah. What's up?

[Setz glances at the manga, a brief ? on his face, before he gets down to business.]

Have you ever spoken to our host personally, outside of the weekend?

[he blinks, head tilted, at the question, before nodding]

Yeah, I have. He's actually pretty available if you're trying to seek him out. Why?

Have you discussed this game with him?

Yep.

[popping the p for emphasis]

He's never really been able to say much, but I keep trying. I figure at some point, he's gotta crack. Right?

Have you ever gotten anything substantial out of him? If so, I'd like to compare notes.

[another nod, and Akira scoots to the side to make room for Setz on the picnic table bench. this will. . . probably be a lengthy conversation]

. . . that's a good idea. I don't really know how "substantial" the stuff I got from him has been, but I'll tell you everything he's told me.

[Sure, sitting down.]

It'd be appreciated. Of course, I'll return the favour.

[a flicker of a smile, before he closes the manga in his lap and set it aside. and then he leans back, head tilted up, as he tries to figure out where to start]

I asked him about entry fees, first. How they're picked, and how they know enough about us to take something so vital from us. He says that he has a file on everyone that includes their life stories, all the way up until their death. It's from that file that they choose the most impactful entry fee for each participant.

I also asked him how he became a host, and he said he was. . . volunteered. [haa] It really seems like he doesn't want to be here, but that much is obvious.

[He nods. That's... well, that's something. It's strange to imagine someone having files on everyone like that, but.]

Anything else?

[yeah but i'm putting it in pieces b/c I don't want to give you a wall of continuous text]

I asked him about the Composer. He refused to give me too many details about them, which wasn't surprising. But he did say the Composer feels like this game has to be the way that it is for the benefit of everyone.

. . . whatever that means.

... For the benefit of everyone? That's a strange way of putting it...

Yeah. I thought that, too. So I asked if he trusted them.

[head tilted, brow furrowed]

He said he didn't know them well enough to say. And then called himself a "neutral party."

He didn't expand on that. And wouldn't, when I asked. But he didn't seem very happy about it.

Hmm.

[...]

He told me Composers—in general, I suppose—are reclusive but dramatic... "quirky pieces of shit", if I have to use his exact wording. Our Composer is unlikely to do something as drastic as erase us all without warning, to use the example I asked him, as they'd prefer to let things play out.

However, he couldn't completely dismiss the possibility that, depending on our actions, they'd show up in the game before the end. With that said, we should consider it a bad sign for us if they do.

[. . .]

You have to love the finnicky and fickle nature of all-powerful cosmic beings, right?

[WRY]

Well, all-powerful might be stretching it. All-knowing, maybe, but...

[He pauses, as he's not certain if he should say this if Akira doesn't already know—]

It is technically possible to kill the Composer and take their place.

[that gets a pause from Akira, a furrowed brow and a tilt of his head, gaze affixed on Setz]

"Technically possible?"

What does that mean?

According to Max, it can and has been done. It's extremely difficult, but not impossible.

It's one of two ways to become a Composer, the other being to become a Reaper and slowly work your way through the ranks. Obviously, this would be the... quicker method.

A quicker, riskier, and more brutal method than advancing through merit alone.

[he turns away, affixing his attention on a random point in space, expression pensive]

. . .

But. . . even if it's possible, is killing the Composer the right answer?

I don't know. It may be the only way to alter the rules of this game, but... to begin with, there's no guarantee that the Composer will even show up before the game is over.

Perhaps more importantly—

[He stops, quiet for a moment.]

... You said at the beginning, when we talked about it, that you wanted to save everyone. I trust that's your priority even now?

[Without waiting for an answer:]

I asked Max if there was any way to save those who've been erased. [...] Don't get your hopes up, as he wouldn't say yes... but he said he could answer that later. It's better than a no, at least.

So, be sure to ask again at a later date—especially if I'm no longer around to do it myself.

[Setz is good to trust that that's Akira's priority, because it is, and always has been. but what he says next throws Akira even more off guard than the part about killing the Composer]

-- what?

[because even if that isn't a "yes, they can save those who have been erased, for sure." it's actually. . . a lot better than a no. and the one thing Akira hadn't thought to ask Max, if only because he has assumed that there was no way to rescue those killed during this Game]

[. . .]

[he settles down quickly, features scrunched together]

If there really is a way. . . then you can bet your ass I'll ask. I'll ask every week, until he tells me how it can be done.

I promise you that, Setz.

[...

Somehow, it's incredibly refreshing to hear that. Honestly, if more people like Akira, or others in this game, had surrounded Setz, his life might've turned out very differently. After so much selfishness and coldness and arrogance—

Don't blink, Akira, because for the first time in a long while, Setz smiles.]

... Good. I'll be counting on that, then.

[he doesn't really know exactly how rare Setz's smiles are. but nevertheless, Akira mirrors it, as small and tight as it might be in light of this new information]

All right.

For the sake of everyone here, I won't let you down.

[All right, smile over now.]

Likewise. For this, I'll give whatever I have to offer.

[Which isn't much, especially from someone like him, but still.]

... That aside, I also asked our host a bit about the nature of the Reapers in general, if you want to hear that as well.

Then that's two of us, at least.

[maybe more, if others decide to pursue the best possible outcome of this game with the same conviction. boy, does Akira hope they do]

[at Setz's next statement, he nods]

Yeah. I never got around to asking Max about them, but I was too busy asking about the Composer and his role as Host.

... If you win the game but aren't selected to come back to life, you can choose to become a Reaper instead. It comes with some benefits, apparently: immortality aside from erasure, powers, the ability to go between the... RG and UG at will?

And what Max said about Reapers being sadists was a bit of a misdirection. He did specify "most", but... infiltrating the players like this isn't a normal scenario, according to him. While a Reaper's duty is to carry out whatever job the Composer gives them, that doesn't necessarily involve erasure in every game.

[THIS ONE IS APPARENTLY JUST FUCKED UP.]

[listening to all of this quietly, a frown on his features. but it's a pensive one, like he's filing this all away for later. or just confused over some of the terminology, like--]

. . . RG? UG?

[nani the fuck. though that feels way less important than what Setz says next]

If this isn't a normal scenario, then what does it say about our luck that we got stuck in it?

Unlucky enough to die, unlucky enough to end up in this game...

[He sighs.]

He also couldn't tell me how many Reapers there are, but that he could answer at a later date. Apparently, he has a list of dates for when he can give out classified information, but he [zia] is too lazy to remember off the top of his head.

E-Rank luck all around.

[worse than E-Rank. more like, Z-Rank]

It'd be nice to know what sorts of questions he'd be willing to answer at a later date, so we can ask them every single week until we get an actual response.

How many reapers there are, how to bring back those who were already Erased, how to fix the McFlurry machine-- [a pause]

That last one is a joke, by the way.

[sorry. . . . .]

[...]

Um, okay.

[... WELL, MOVING ON.]

I guess we'll just have to keep track of everything we want to ask.

[THAT TAG IS STUPID NOW B/C WE FIXED THE GD MCFLURRY MACHINE]

. . . at the top of my list is "why."

Why is the Composer doing this?

week 1 ( sunday )

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