Day 1 Morning

[photonement]

[Somebody made sure to get up bright and early this morning and is waiting outside the hamster dorm. There's not enough sunlight to gleam on her Mary Janes.]

Good morning, Dipper! How are you doing? Ready for breakfast yet?

[Her voice is bright. Too bright, as she works harder than before to curl her lips around the phonemes of his English name. She's self-conscious about whether people will see them together, or if she's somehow misunderstood the rules and he'll think she's crazy.]

Comments

[terci]

[It was a good thing Dipper decided to get up fairly early himself for more investigating, otherwise Mahiru would probably be waiting there for hours.

When he exits his dorm, he lets out a little bit of a surprised yell, seeing Mahiru there already.]


G-good morning. Sorry, I wasn't expecting anyone to be up yet, hahah... [He gives her a smile, though, and looks around for a second to see if the coast was clear.]

I'm not really hungry yet, but do you wanna, I dunno, go to the house of horrors and "investigate". [Using airquotes. The house of horrors seems like a good place to discuss buddy-related stuff, no one should be too interested in being in there after yesterday's announcements.]

[photonement]

[Mahiru laughs, amused at his gesture and a little frazzled at the lack of subtlety. How well does she have to act? Nobody is out here staring at them. They might be safe for now, then.] That sounds like a good idea. No use cramming your stomach full before you're ready, especially at a time like this.

[So she nods, enthusiastically, with a fairly good reason:] I never went inside the house of horrors yesterday before we all got called there, and by then it was pretty hard to look. There's probably a lot of stuff in there we haven't noticed yet! Oh, but do you have any kind of light? The mirrors could contribute serious glare if I take photos with flash.

[terci]

As a matter of fact, I do! [He reaches into his vest and takes out a flashlight.]

I always carry a flashlight around, just in case I need to do any last minute searches of somewhere dark or in case I get lost in a forest or something. [He puts it back.]

I also have a blacklight, which could come in hand! We might find secret messages written on the walls or something, heh.

[photonement]

Those really seem like they'll come in handy!

[Much better than Mahiru expected from a twelve-year-old.]

So... wanna get going?

[With Dipper assentng, Mahiru will head rather briskly to take the train from the barracks exit to the house of horror's entrance. Once they've sat down, she takes a folded piece of theme park stationary out from her pocket:]

Here's a real copy of that map I was working on last night. [She did this by hand for the kid in a serious slavish gesture of buddy affection.]

[terci]

[But of course, he's a(n almost) professional mystery hunter! And also a paranoid kid. He's prepared for just about any situation.


Once the two sit on the train, he gladly takes the map from her and looks it over.]

Woah, you really went all out with this map. Thanks for making a copy! This'll make searching for clues a lot easier. [He carefully folds the map in half and puts it inside of his vest for safe keeping.]

[photonement]

You're welcome. [She's quite flattered.] Maybe Mabel-chan should make a copy from yours too. [She would delegate that task to Dipper himself but Mabel's relative art skills have made themselves really evident already.]

This isn't my first time making one like this... [That admission makes her look into the distance, eyes focusing on the dark spires of the castle barely visible against the faint sunrise.] My classmates, the other super high school levels. Peko, Ibuki, Tanaka, and Kuzuryuu. We were in a mutual killing game--with different rules, on a desert island. That's why we keep going on about how somebody will be hysterical enough to play, or nominating a single noble-hearted leader will backfire. Because Togami did that already, and Hanamura...

[Killed him, got found out, was executed. Mahiru knows she should have kept things lighter, and she turns back to Dipper, shaking her head.] That was different. There weren't those stupid teams or complicated rules turning us into checkerpieces. I'm just really afraid that we'll find somebody who didn't wake up this morning, after all...

[terci]

Wait, you've been through something like this before?! [Well that changes.. just about everything.]

D-did you ever find out who was behind it? What their reasoning was for creating the "game" in the first place?

Maybe it has something in common with what's happening here?!

[photonement]

I... really, really doubt that. [As reluctant as she is to say that.]

There are no mascots anywhere, and this is such an eclectic group of people... I thought that our mastermind had something against our specific high school. [Is Dipper even in middle school yet? She's not sure how grades work in America] Instead of learning to get along with each other and form a stable friend group... they wanted us to despair. This kind of game is way less personal, with the explosions and the buddy system.

Monokuma didn't want to let us leave the island unless one person committed a murder and hid it from everybody else in the group. That's what makes me think for sure that this happened without him knowing.

[Going out on a limb here...] You say that like you weren't ever in an outright game, Dipper? [THAT'S NORMAL, DON'T GET HER WRONG, SHE'S VERY HAPPY FOR DIPPER ON A PERSONAL LEVEL.]

[terci]

I've been in really scary and weird situations, but nothing like this! [It's a little disconcerting knowing that she's been through something similar before, but yet different enough to seem not connected..]

Don't you think this still might be connected though? I mean, you make it sound like these games are normal and occur everywhere.

[photonement]

There's nothing normal about this, but didn't some of the others say something about...?

[She's trying to remember Sigma and K, though she struggles to link them together where is that thread in the big afternoon post.]

I think someone else had come from a game in a warehouse, and that one had a really different aesthetic too. Even less whimsical than Monokuma's school trip of mutual killing or DreamLand. If I were going to run these games that are so methodical and everything I'd want at least some consistency, wouldn't you? These variations in cast and setting are way too big for even a mastermind who just got bored with the same old thing...

[...Mahiru, that thought is really creepy. At least they've made a lot of progress on the train trip]

[terci]

M..maybe it's like.. some kind of sick trend in gameshows or something...? [He (kind of) joked about this all being part of a gameshow before but what is this even.. he can't even believe there are people who've dealt with a similar situation before.]

[photonement]

I guess these places tend to be rigged with enough cameras for that to work...

Seriously, having one of those in my room is just like on the island. [How nostalgic????] But we didn't have group dorms either. [One mascot is enough for Monokids]

[terci]

It could've been made by a different producer with the same idea? [This is all really creeping him out, though.]

[photonement]

If it were... [The House of Horrors is looming on the horizon. Sort of shoddily. This park doesn't have perfect skylines like Disneyland where the gates frane other rides.]

What does that change? If it's all a big show. Does that tell us how we can break out of the set?

[The train stops, and so Mahiru makes her way off into the house. They have to enter the first funhouse floor before the staircase to the hall of mirrors, leaving Mahiru face to face with a cardboard werewolf.] Man, I didn't notice a lot of this when I went in the first time... [Since it was so crowded. But she should move on to the real topic. She fiddles with her watch nervously - an uncomfortable motion, since unlike a real watch it doesn't slide around on her wrist, instead just digging all the deeper into her flesh.]

So I haven't misunderstood anything - we are "buddies", right?

[terci]

[It's a good thing this thread is private

ANYWAY the two decided with the body announcement and whatnot, to detour to the infirmary instead of the house of horrors, assuming there wouldn't be many people around. And it is there where Mahiru asks about the two being buddies. To which he crosses his arms and nods.]

From what I understand, yeah. [He places a hand to his chin for a moment, before pointing to her.]

Which means we have to protect each other, right?

[photonement]

Yeah. If one of us dies, we both die, and if Ishtar's dead there's no way at all this is a joke. Besides...

[She trusts him already, for the rather unflattering reasons of being a twelve-year-old and the twin of the even more adorable child who skipped head-first into a yubitsume setup.]

You're not a VIP, are you? Because I'm not a special anything, so if you were a VIP, the only thing you could do for yourself would be make sure I get converted, and that's a way big gamble with all the other players in the game. But if we're both regular guests on the same team, we got to do our best to protect each other to keep our ranks higher, too.

[terci]

[He shakes his head.]

I'm not a VIP, or anything really. I'm just a normal person in this game, I guess. [He shrugs a little.]

You don't actually think the body announcement is real, do you? I mean, there's no way someone actually died, right?

[photonement]

[Dipper... You sweet little summer child.]

Ishtar.... was a really loud person... and we've all been woken up. We would have heard him objecting to something like that by now...

[terci]

...b-but maybe.. he's being hidden somewhere right now? Like the clubhouse! It was locked, right? [ITS TOTALLY PLAUSIBLE]

[photonement]

Dipper, I know it's hard, but we gotta go look for the body with the others later.

[The others--that might be a better place to focus.]

You should be able to warn Mabel-chan that way.

[terci]

...

[He just hangs his head, knowing that his small hopes of it all being a joke were ridiculous.]


...how am I going to tell Mabel that everything happening right now is real?

[photonement]

Aw...

[Oh no... a sad buddy... what should Mahiru do... Have one (1) awkward shoulder pat.]

I think... she'll figure it out. She seems like a girl who's really dedicated to the truth. Otherwise she wouldn't go around cutting fingers with a mobster, would she...?

[Mahiru would like to think that Mabel is smarter than that]

[terci]

[He snaps his head up to look at Mahiru.]

Cutting fingers with a mobster?! [UH SHE NEVER TOLD HIM ABOUT THIS]

[photonement]

[WELL, SHE SUCCEEDED AT DISTRACTING HIM FROM MALIK'S MURDER!!! She holds up her pinky to explain what she's talking about.]

Funny how you were talking about the Chinese mafia - Kuzuryuu's a big name in the Japanese mafia world. Right up there with Sumiyoshi and Inagawa. [Unfortunately, Yamaguchi-gumi is the number one with way bigger name recognition than number two and number three, and the Kuzuryuu-gumi is the ] The biggest yakuza family in the whole world and our "school friend" Fuyuhiko is the heir.

So Mabel thought a pinky promise would be cute but she didn't understand what that meant back when the yakuza invented the idea.

[terci]

[His hands go up to his head as if he had a headache and he lets out a very loud sigh/groan.]

She always does this! Everywhere I look Mabel's getting herself into some kind of trouble, even if I warn her not to! [SERIOUSLY first she goes around and rides rusty broken rides AND NOW SHES MADE SOME KIND OF PROMISE INVOLVING FINGER CUTTING WITH A YAKUZA HEIR?!]

[photonement]

This is why you shouldn't trust the mob, ever. They might call themselves a chivalrous organiation and movies make them look like a cool corporation, but what that really means is they're greedy and willing to kill, even when it's wrong.

Kuzuryuu's on a lot of Solanax since they cut up his head so you probably don't have to worry about him stabbing you in the middle of the night right now, but if he turns out to be on that team, we're all toast.

Wait, maybe I shouldn't be talking about Solanax in front of a kid--[She knows that might offend him but maybe it's a little too mean when he's this freaked out]--I mean, do you even have that in America?

[terci]

Solanax? [He shakes his head]

Never heard of it. [That's the least of his problems right now though.]

So wait, you're telling me my sister made some kind of promise with a mobster who's greedy and willing to kill as long as he isn't drugged? [That sounds terrifying..]

[photonement]

He doesn't do it for fun... He's a coward. He'll do whatever benefits himself the most. All he cares about is his awful family.

[Mahiru's head gets sore just thinking about that guy and I finally remembered the other reason why the infirmary was a good idea: Mahiru never took her bandage off all day yesterday. It's all caked red, and she turns away as she puts a new one on.]

But he can't exactly open fire on everyone here. He has to play nice... and have an alibi... if he doesn't want to be executed. He's probably a regular player with no motivation to murder after all. That's how the evidence looks for now. I don't want you to lead a witch hunt just because I knew him and he was rude to me before this situation.

[And she definitely means this situation, not that island. Dipper can take that description of his conduct as he will.]

[terci]

...I wasn't going to lead a witch hunt or anything, I just want to make sure Mabel'll be safe. [He twiddles his thumbs a little, awkwardly.]

He wouldn't go after her if he had to kill someone, would he? I mean she's cute and seems like an easy target........ [Just thinking about it makes his insides feel all twisted up..]

[photonement]

Chivalry is the name of the yakuza's game. Literally, ninkyo's another name for 'em. So... they'd go for conversion at least; I think they know it wouldn't look good... unless she had a special role.

[Looking at Dipper resisting the urge to outright ask but the question's written on her eyebrows]

[terci]

I don't know if she has a special role or not, but I don't think she'd let anyone else know about it besides maybe me. [She's silly but at least she has some common sense.]

[photonement]

Good! That's the safest way to go about things. Little by little you get a whole chain of people who can rely on each other.

[terci]

[He nods.]

Hopefully no one will get any ideas about targeting her, with or without knowing her role.