week 0 - training facility

[murdergame]

blood match week zero



week zero

When you first wake up in your room, an announcement will play on the television.

You’ll be spending your first week before the game officially starts at a vast facility that has been completely submerged underwater. This facility consists of a central hub surrounded by four smaller spherical buildings. You can get to each subsection by either taking a shuttle or walking across a long glass tunnel.

Setting
Competitors
Private Conversations

Comments

[cygni]

[ SONGS FROM HOME, YOU SAY.

This is truly where Atsuko feels comfortable. It may not be an official thing, seeing as she lacks a microphone, a stage to dance on, and twenty other voices singing with her, but she's found the karaoke versions of several familiar songs and is going all out. She's long since memorized the lyrics and accompanying dances, after all.

So if anyone felt in the mood for a live performance, she's obliging. Even a makeshift audience was as worthy as any stadium. ]

[existency]

[ When she starts performing, there is someone there, but the overall impression he gives isn't exactly strong. Cole tends to keep away from other people when he can, rarely making eye contact at all (which the big hat helps with). It's a little weird, but it comes off as a rather intense shyness, if nothing else.

When Atsuko starts to sing, the brim of the hat tilts up. It's not easy to see his face even so, but from his posture where he's sitting, no matter how guarded it is, he seems to be listening. He's very quiet and still as she sings, but when she finishes, he speaks up. His voice is very gentle and soft, but he speaks with more confidence than would be expected. ]

The way you sing... You really love it, don't you?

[ A pause, then he adds, ] It makes people happy.

[ this is the weirdest compliment ever, but that's cole for you ]

[cygni]

[ Not weird in the slightest, that's exactly the kind of stuff you hear all the time in Space Idol World... Considering she's felt down the entire day--because well, kidnapping--and she'd found the dance club by accident, this was a welcome surprise. She hadn't even been away from home for more than two days, but she already missed the feeling. To see someone appreciated her impromptu performance puts a sincere smile on her face. ]

Of course. It's my passion, and my dream. [ A dream she's already living, being a professional performer, but details, details. ]

I've been told that, but it's wonderful to see it first hand.

[existency]

It helps.

[ The way he speaks is strange and stilted, like he's not used to talking to people, but there's a very genuine, soft kindness in every word. The brim of his hat tilts up enough that she can see his face, though it's gaunt and exhausted looking, like the young man hasn't slept in a long time. Certainly longer than they would have been here. ]

What were you singing about?

[cygni]

[ She can sense it well enough, being quiet and reserved herself when singing isn't involved, so she makes sure to speak patiently. ]

"Heavy Rotation" is about falling in love and feeling light-hearted, mainly. "Korogare ni Ishi Nare"...is a bit more fitting to our situation, I think. Overcoming hardships no matter how much the world beats you down.

[existency]

That is... good.

[ There's not a hesitation in how he says it at least, but more like he's uncertain about expressing it at all. But he nods with more certainty. ]

I think bards sing about that a lot. Leiliana did. She doesn't anymore, but she used to. [ He knows that she won't know who that is, but he shakes his head lightly. ] It's wonderful, though. Songs soothe the hurt.

[cygni]

Ah, a friend? [ 'Bard'...she hasn't heard that term in the longest time. It was the sort of things you heard about in instructional classes: historic performers, long, long before the wars. Or if you wanted to sound silly and pretentious. She has a hunch it wasn't the latter, with this guy. ] If you don't mind me asking, why did she stop singing?

[ that's never a good thing!!! ]

Well, if there's anything else you'd like to hear, I think the DJ might grant me one or two more songs tonight.

[existency]

[ He cants his head lightly as he lowers it, clearly thinking about the answer to her question, but it's not the question she's expecting, probably. Some of the people in the Inquisition were Cole's friends, like The Iron Bull, but Leliana was different. He's not sure how to answer that question, so he doesn't. ]

She didn't, not really. She still sings, sometimes, when it's needed, but mostly where she thinks no one can hear her. Softly, in the gardens, late at night so that no one wanders by to hear, and in the gardens so that her voice doesn't echo as much as it would in her tower. She thinks she's too busy, thinks that part of her life is over, since she has purpose now, because she is one of the hands—

[ But he cuts off abruptly, since he remembers what people have told him about his rambling, and here where there are so many strangers, he's trying to be mindful. It's like he had been lost in a thought, so he looks back up with an apologetic expression. ]

I am sorry.

[ People seemed to like it when he apologized for the weird things he said, at least. It's a bit hard to understand, since he was always just speaking the truth, but he's learning. ]

You should sing what makes you happiest. I would like to hear songs like that.

[cygni]

You don't need to apologize.

That's a shame, though. Someone thinking that singing isn't important anymore, because it was a silly thing that happened in the past, and they've got more significant things to do now [ ... ] Too many people seem to think that, nowadays.

[ a pause ]

Wise words, sir. Would you like to hear my favorite song, in that case?

[existency]

[ He doesn't know what to say to what she says, since it's not something he has any experience in. There's not even anything for him to listen from, to pull from, so he remains quiet on that subject. Instead, he just nods shyly. ]

I would. If it's all right, I would very much like to hear it.

[cygni]

Mmm. It's another love song, but it's always held a special place in my heart.

[ she hops over to the robo-dj and another happy pop song gears up. ]

[existency]

[ At least this time when he listens, he's looking at her more, though it's still never quite directly. He's a shy, skittish person, that much is clear, but at the same time, it's subtle, but he seems to be enjoying the song. There's still a nervousness in all his features, but ever so slightly, he does smile.

It's not really the song, so much. It's pretty, but Cole doesn't know much about music. There was never really music in the spire, so he only heard it in the tavern in the Inquisition.

More than that, he's smiling because he can see how happy it makes her. And that's enough. ]

[cygni]

[ Indeed, she puts 110% into this song in particular--it truly is her favorite.

When the music ends, she gives a small curtsy. ]

You seem like a very perceptive person, sir.

[respecting]

[Beat's just wandering in to see what this room is, but he freezes in the door when he sees a Japanese idol concert?? What the hell, that was not what he was expecting at all. Some girls he knows might like this kind of thing but he had never paid it much attention. The surrealness of it, though, causes him to linger in the door and just watch. As far as he knew, the only people in this underwater station were robots or competitors in the Blood Match, but she looked like a real celebrity on stage. Was she truly a part of this?

When she finishes, he doesn't applaud (because he's not that polite and this isn't a genre he particularly likes or anything) but maybe she can just satisfy herself with his continuing stunned look.]

Damn, girl... what are you, some kind of pop star?

[cygni]

Ah, of a sort. I'm an idol singer. AKB0048's Atsuko Maeda the 13th. [ a curtsy ]

Is pop music not to your liking? Admittedly, it's all that I sing professionally, but I do know other songs from my free time.

[respecting]

AK... [what.] Wha's that stand for?

[also, the 13th? That's one uncreative family...!]

I like music but, yeah. I'm more about the rap beat, yo. You don't freestyle?

[He asks as a joke.]

[cygni]

AKB0048. [ said patiently. ] The story's a little long, but I think it's short for a town called Akihabara.

Heh heh. I'm not much of a lyricist, sadly.

[sparklyrichbastard]

[Applauds with an excess of enthusiasm.]

Brava! You're like a real idol!

[cygni]

[ she bows ]

Thank you. I'm glad even in a place like this, I can still entertain.

[sparklyrichbastard]

It's in a place like this that we need that the most. I can't say I'm glad, but I'm grateful you're here to lift our spirits.

[cygni]

Oh, I can't take credit from Mayuyu. I'm sure she'd perform something if you asked it of her, too.

[ Mayu was...Mayu. But she did love entertaining as much as Atsuko did, so whatever!! ]