Member
Grimoire Gaming
Aewin
Noctis
Little Bill
Krista stepped out of her bathroom, never feeling so clean or… hopeful until now. She brushed her still damp hair, working the knots out of the blonde strands as she thought over what she had to say. She wasn’t even sure it was going to work — it relied too much on uncontrollable variables and even to her it sounded like a bad idea…
But she had to try!
If she could convince somebody understand and appreciate the thought behind the idea, then maybe her idea might stand a chance? She chewed on her lips nervously as she pulled on her clothes one by one.
The person she had in mind to talk to about her idea was none other than Cyrus Brandon, the Infinite Bishi Politician. He was the leader of the group, at least to her. It made sense, didn’t it? A politician leading them? He seemed like the smartest one too, someone that would spot the plot holes in ideas… idea holes? Krista cringed inwardly.
Maybe it was best to keep her game face on and believe her idea! Yeah, surely that’ll work!
...Right?
Cyrus scribbled various difficult words onto his notepad, which the more medically-minded people amongst them would instantly recognize as anaesthetics. At the top of the notepad he had made a small schematic drawing on which he labelled every cabinet and every shelf within. He precisely noted how many bottles of everything he found and where these were located. After mere minutes in this room, Cyrus could tell this cosmetic surgery lab was a dream come true for the malicious minds in the group. If anyone in the group had the gall to follow Lucas’s footsteps, he’d make sure they’d have another thing coming. He didn’t want to suspect anyone of thinking so, but he’d rather err on the side of safety.
But that was not the only record they held of the inventory. Next to Cyrus, Noel brandished her camera at every shelf, every pointy object. A tool to remember the condition everything is in, just in case they might need it. Noel wasn’t really ecstatic of her duty here, she’d much rather aim her camera at humans. However, she had found no good reason to refuse the politician’s insistence after they had run into each other in the hallways of the hospital.
“I think we got everything?” Noel questioned.
Cyrus responded with a curtly nod, but no words passed his lips. Instead, his attention was drawn by the sudden creaking sound of the door as it was opened from the outside.
“Cello Mr Brandon!” Krista peeked her head through the opening, relief on her face when she found the man she was looking for inside. “You have no idea how many times I've said that to an empty room.” She opened the door fully so she could step inside, spotting Noel beside Cyrus with her camera out. Looking between them, she asked. “Am... I interrupting something?”
Cyrus shook his head. “We just finished up here.” He then looked at Noel, then back at Krista. “Inventory.” He added, just to prevent the establishment of any… erroneous thoughts. “Do you need me for something?”
Noel, sensing the mood, quickly saw herself out. “I’ll check out the room across of here.” Honestly, she hoped there wasn’t much to record there. She had enough of doing inventory.
Krista side stepped out of the way to let Noel through. Before letting the reporter go, Krista quickly stopped her. “Thank you for doing the inventory,” She rubbed the back of her neck as she directed her thanks to Cyrus and Noel. It was comforting to know that measures were being taken to avoid a Lucas 2.0. “I would've never thought to do such a thing…” She admitted the latter part sheepishly.
She then approached Cyrus, letting Noel go through the door. When Krista felt like enough time had passed in silence, she spoke up. “I... don't know who to talk to about this but... I might have some information.” She began to explain her run in with Nariko.
Krista stared at Nariko dumbly, the smile on her face fading by the second. Was that supposed to comfort her? “O-oh. Thanks? I think?” She rubbed the back of her neck. "What do you want from me?"
“I see you're confused, I'm just not sure which is worse. It was wrong to try to cure you like that.” Her eyes shut with their familiar metallic click. “I guess I'm also a little upset that Aleecia is so badly hurt. We're going to have to take her out of the game pretty soon. If there's a murderer while she's in there, the rules state that she needs to be punished if she remains. So I won't be able to see her for a while.” She whimpered. “Everything is horrible, there are no right answers...”
Do robots have feelings? She was still dumbfounded at the series of events. What was going on?! “I'm... sorry to hear that…” Did that mean Aleecia was going to be safe once she was out of here? Krista decided to ask. “If Aleecia gets out of here... does that mean she's safe outside?”
“She will still be in Axis Mundi, just outside the killing game.” Nariko let out a long sigh. “She might not even get reinstated in this killing game. I'll probably never see her again. I won't be able to protect her.” She took a step towards Krista and raised her head. “But I can still protect you.”
She stopped just before Nariko offered her the handbook. Was it safe to tell Cyrus? She chewed on her bottom lip again before dropping it. She knew she could trust him but… it wasn’t the right time. Not yet. “When Nariko said Aleecia would be outside the killing game but still in Axis Mundi... it gave me an idea. I don't know how much of a long shot it is but... what if we send a message with Aleecia? Hide it somewhere on her body so when she's in Axis Mundi, the real one... we can get some help?"
Cyrus gave it a few seconds thought, then shrugged a bit. “Sounds like a long shot, but I don’t think there’s anything against trying it. In the worst case, nothing happens. In the best case, we might get some outside help.” He put a hand on her shoulder, a small token of praise and support. “Any idea what you want to put on the message? Or where Aleecia is right now?”
He was willing to listen?! Krista perked up excitedly as it seemed like Cyrus was into the idea without her having to convince him. “I think we have to send a list of all our names, including Quill and Mason… and Kara and Rika... since I'm not sure whether they've been sent to the same place they'll be sending Aleecia. Nariko... cares a lot for her and I don't think she'll let anything happen to her… but I don’t think the others were lucky to get the same treatment.” It was a wild guess, but then again, this entire plan depended on Nariko telling Krista the truth. “If they haven't been sent back to the real Axis Mundi then it would be useful for them to know that they're also missing! We'll also have to tell them we're stuck in a killing game in a place that looks like Axis Mundi…” She bit her thumb, thinking carefully as she tried racking her brain for any ideas where Aleecia was.
“Well... Nariko didn't tell me where she was... and I didn't ask.” Her shoulders dropped, disappointedly. “But! But but but! We dealt with Alexandria's carnage chassis for Aleecia right? So she has to be on this floor somewhere! I... haven't really explored the hospital side but she wasn't in the resort when I last went…” She didn't state the obvious; why would a comatose patient even be at a resort?
“So… it’s somewhere on this floor… in the hospital side…” She finally concluded. “Sorry it isn’t much…”
Frankly, Cyrus was rather sceptical of this idea. If they were sent back to Axis Mundi, that meant that they likely collaborated with Davis in some way. How else would you simply take back a person that had been missing from your hospital for days without any questions? And otherwise, they were likely taken somewhere out of the public eye, for people probably working with Davis. That said, he didn’t want to discourage Krista. The girl needed some positivity. Not to mention, there was nothing to lose.
“There’s two rooms on this floor I haven’t looked at yet. One of them seems to be the room of a carnage sister. Noel just headed to the other one.” He stated. “I guess that’s where we should go first?”
“Yes! Let's go check it out! We gotta scope this out like spies!” Krista energetically bounded towards the door before halting mid-step just as she was reaching for the handle. Cyrus mentioned he hadn't visited two rooms; one where Noel was, and one that was the room of a carnage sister. A carnage sister... Krista's hand slipped into her pocket to touch the cold handbook before pulling it out.
“By the way…” Krista spoke up, with her back still to Cyrus. “It's Nariko's room… and I can go inside.“ Krista turned in her spot, taking quick steps to reach Cyrus and show him the carnage sister's handbook. “Nariko gave this to me... this was her way of trying to protect me.” Krista told Cyrus, a bit hesitantly.
“Did she now?” Cyrus said, somewhat surprised, as he eyed the handbook for a second. “Interesting. We ought to check it out later. If we’re lucky we might find something half as useful as a makeshift forge in there.” He smiled at her. “Aleecia is probably in the other room then, if anywhere. I don’t think Nariko would let anyone into her room if Aleecia was there.” He snickered, then followed Krista outside.
Krista returned Nariko's handbook back to her pocket. “But... do you really think we'll find something in there? What if Nariko is messing with me?” Krista led the way towards the POD room, her hand playing with the ends of her damp hair. “ mean... Why give me the handbook? I know Nariko cares for Aleecia, but I didn't see her interact with anyone else, let alone me.”
“Can’t say for sure. It’s hard to imagine what might be going through the minds of these robots… or whatever is controlling them.” Cyrus stated bluntly. “But if she’s taken a liking to you, then why not make the best of it? Nariko doesn’t seem like the type to mess with people for fun… unlike the other three.” He chuckled a bit at the realisation. The carnage sisters were an odd bunch, but out of all of them Nariko was the one who seemed the most genuinely concerned about the group. “Even if there’s nothing of use in there. It’s still a room only you and Nariko can enter. It might come in useful in that way. You’ve been given a boon, make good use of it.”
“B-but wait! Nariko is the most evil of them all!” Krista cried out suddenly. She didn’t like the implication behind Nariko giving her the handbook. It felt like a lot of responsibility-especially right after Krista lost her own handbook to the traitor the night before. She did not want to look a gift carnage horse in it’s mouth, but she didn’t know what to do either. So… she attempted to make a joke.“Did you know Nariko cried?! Yeah!” The slightly over-exaggerated hand movements made it seem like Krista was joking around, but her face indicated she was completely serious. “I don't like it when people cry... and the robot looks kinda human too…” She trailed off. Was this supposed to be a joke or her admitting she hated seeing people/robots-that-look-like-people cry? She shut up before she embarrassed herself any further. ‘Just stick to puns, Krista.’
She scratched the back of her ear, glancing elsewhere as they approached the POD room. She stopped just as they were about to enter. “Do you think I should tell the others about this handbook?” She looked back at Cyrus when she finally figured out how to change the subject without embarrassing herself. “I mean... this handbook is needed to open the room so... really anyone that holds this handbook can just waltz right in and somebody could try using it for their…” Her voice trailed off at the end.
“Normally tears are the weapons of empathy and compassion, not evil.” Cyrus smirked, though he was not really sure what to think of a crying robot. Cyrus was not sure what to think of the carnage sisters to begin with. Thankful for the topic change, he pondered for a bit. “Perhaps it’s better to see what’s in the room first before we decide? Regardless, the decision is yours, I think.” He paused for a bit. ”I can understand if you’re not… comfortable with others knowing.”
She nodded slowly. What Cyrus said made sense. If there was nothing that was... useable in Nariko's room, then maybe she could share the knowledge with the other patients. “But…! I trust you. If I do find something in there... I want you to add it to your inventory list. Deal?” She stuck her hand out, pinkie raised and wiggling in front of Cyrus’s glasses. “We’ll pinky promise it. We won’t let anyone die!” Krista beamed at him.
“Of course!” Cyrus responded confidently. He was surprised when Krista showed her pinky, it wasn’t a method of promising he was actually used to. He couldn’t exactly genuinely promise that, but he could at least lift her spirits. “I’m certainly going to try.” He said as he latched onto her pinky with his own.
A pinky promise is a very big deal. With a final cheer, Krista pushed the door into the POD room open, revealing Ice and Noel with an unconscious Aleecia inside a POD. She carefully approached the POD, as if worried that her mere presence would be a disruption to Aleecia's delicate state. Looking between Aleecia and Ice, then at Cyrus, she quietly questioned Ice.
She asked simple questions; how long he had been in the POD room, did he see the carnage sisters place Aleecia into the POD, etc. Her hopes rose with every answer. Ice likely knew how to open and shut the POD without putting the comatose girl at risk. She felt like she could trust Ice and Noel with her plan, and so she quietly informed them of her idea. Krista could not tell how Ice took the news, but she pleaded him for his help; and so he agreed.
“Okay... I need to go back to my room to make the note but I promise I won't take too long! I'll look for you when I'm done!” Directing the final part of her closing statement to Ice, Krista began backing away, intending to leave. There was no time to waste, especially after that worrying Monokuma-carnage sister announcement; there was a message to send!
