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@junpei | text

[Now, Junpei is fairly certain they're all here for some kind of fucked up death game, because why wouldn't the third time be the charm!!— but until some mysterious costumed weirdo starts getting on all the screens and making announcements, there's not that much to go on. He can skulk around town glowering suspiciously at things for long so long.

Sooooo.]

if anybody wants my vote, it's t minus however the hell long before we all start killing each other. would love to be wrong, but if i live long enough to say i told you so, yknow. yippee.

so.

why do *you* think we're here? wrong answers only. top 3 by popular vote get a prize.

[Does he have a prize to hand out... No, no he does not. He will find some cheap garbage in one of the shops and write a 1ST/2ND/3RD PLACE on it, no problem. Eventually. Maybe even a sticker.]

and what do you guys think about picking code names? you know, just in case.

[big talk from username junpei]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Revived...? Like, in the same body?

[is that more or less traumatic than sidestepping into alt. histories. he'll think about this.]

No offense, but why would anyone want to join your club if you keep getting killed?

[ a nod!!! same body, different cause of death. ]

For justice, obviamente!

[ duh!!!!!! ]

It is a point of pride, of honor, to be a Fixer! To help those who cannot help themselves, to protect the weak as one of the strong! The City is dangerous, and those who take the test, who strive do good in the world, think little of what could happen in the midst! If one dies saving another, is that not something to be happy with?

[ something to take pride in... so on and so forth. ]

Ah, but mine companions and I are a special case -- most who die, they do not come back. Thou art truly dead once struck down.

[that sounds... shitty, actually! but he Somehow gets the sense that she won't even hear that, so.]

Yeah, most people die when they get killed, everyone knows that. Maybe I'm just not honorable enough, but dying that much would ruin the mood for me. Do you have any positions that are just for bringing the coffee, or anything...? Without getting sliced and diced in between performance reviews? I'm a real whiz at carrying those coffee cup takeout trays.

[and hm... okay, he does want to know about the Same Body Problem,] What the hell does your manager do that brings you back in the same body, anyway?

Um... Yes! There are plenty of lower grade jobs such as that, but thou would not be an ally of justice the way I am -- there is no dishonor in simply aiding one who does, however! I shall allow thee to keep thy honor in tact whilst keeping thee off the battlefield -- thou shalt be my aide.

[ perfect. ]

As for thy second query! Manager Esquire turns the clock back, as it is said! We are, um... We are connected to them, in some way -- our heartbeats are as one, thou couldst say? Mistress Faust knows far more than I, but she does not speak much on the matter herself.

Don't worry about my honor, I'll be fine. My feelings aren't going to be hurt because I'm a coffee grunt.

[give him ten minutes to realize this is not a bit and he's totally an aide now.

anyway: the fuck, that kind of time travel is way more convenient than quantum bs, damn...]

Anyway, that's... one way to build team spirit, I guess. You guys don't break any spacetime doing it that way? Nobody's arguing about causality or probability, or anything?

[ when she starts calling him Esquire is when it gets real. ]

None of those words hath come up in conversation.

[ frankly speaking they aren't in the bible, so to say, but also they would not ever be directed towards her. more above her head. ]

Thou do get used to it, after a time. Though I hath been told to take care, as we have yet to find our Manager Esquire and ensure their safety. If there be trouble, however, I shall be unable to stop myself from intruding.

[ ... it just is what it is. ]

[what is it like to hang out with a time travel gang that doesn't argue for 30 minutes about the moral implications of killing your alternate selves... he's almost jealous.]

Oh, your- uh, boss isn't here? How many of you are there, anyway? You mentioned a buddy system before.

[sort of. ish. he heard buddy system from compatriots. and she's totally just going to run into danger, huh...]

Should I go steal a first aid kit?

[ the answer might surprise and shock you, junpei. no friend's group is free from infighting. ]

Oh, Manager Esquire is not our boss! But the Red Gaze -- that is, Sir Vergilius, he appears to be absent as well. Though he does rarely step off the bus himself. There are twelve of us Sinners in total, and whilst we are companions there is no "buddy system"...?

[ should there be... it seems fun. pair up. just like their rooms, but with duos over trios. ]

If thou be a thief, then thy hands shall pay for thy crimes.

[ just so you know. ]

Yeah yeah, okay. I'll find a completely legal first aid kit. Don't get mauled or anything before I find a couple bucks.

[leaving a piece of paper with $$$ written on it on the convenience store counter, that is.]

My, uh, friends didn't get to pick, but we had teams the last time a surprise kidnapping happened. Somehow, it even worked out. Can't rec the buddy system enough.

[ he is shaping up to be such a good squire!!!!!!!!!!! so proud of junpei. don quixote's also back to beaming. ]

O-ho, I see! Then, I shall suggest it to mine companions -- Young Sinclair and I are already sharing a room, but I know of others who are without a buddy! I shall set them up.

[ it'll be fine, maybe. ]

Teams? Wert thee on the winner's side? What did thee win?

[oh good, he gets to keep his hands--]

Yeah, everyone's talking about the buddy system. It's the best around.

[as for the Other Thing, he makes a face and genuinely raises a hand to do a little jazz hand motion, but if a jazz hand motion also had depression. woo.]

We didn't die?

So the loser lost the game, as well as their lives?

[ sounds like something the city would come up with ]

How dastardly. However did thee come upon such a wicked game?

Uh, well, I got kidnapped. And it's a little more complicated than that...

[she dies a lot, surely she'll believe in Quantum Bullshit...]

Have you ever heard of... going to another history? Like, a different timeline?

[ oh buddy. you're about to have a fun time. ]

Um... I suppose our IDs work something like that. Ser Yi Sang knows far more about it, as it was his invention, but I hath employed the memories of another me many a time. While we are not transported physically away, our minds, ehm...

[ by the wings how does she explain it. it's above her head in the first place. ]

Our minds, our memories, they become one with another of us, and we are transported in that way. I hath been on the side of mine enemy before through this method, and whilst there are benefits to gain with those memories, I much dislike the creed I then follow. The dreams I hath had in the nights that follow are as if I were to live then as well, though I do not know if it is the same for mine companions.

[oh my god shifters are real outside of him and his 5 friends holy shit]

Oh— okay, yeah. Uh, you get it. We call it SHIFTing, which is... [stupid,] I didn't pick the name. For us, it's a one-to-one swap instead of, uh, becoming one. One... alright, say you're you, right? You're You A in Timeline A.

For us, the consciousness of You A moves into Timeline B, and the consciousness of You B moves into Timeline A. No mixing, no sharing memories. So I'm... Me A, but I've been to the other histories.

[....]

Uh, that's not exactly the same as how it works for you, is it? Usually someone else explains this and I don't have to...

[ quit your death game join my death bus ]

I am the very same! But thine explanation was well done enough, esquire, and I can wholeheartedly say that while it is not the same, I understand thy method of transport! The me who works for the Zwei does not have the memories that I do now, nor would she ever, but I know of her training days as well as the current jobs she may take on beneath that particular office.

Have thee a favorite history thou hath been to?

[ it's kind of exciting to meet someone who can sort of use IDs in a sense like them, except not exactly ]

[can he bring his weirdo friends]

A favorite— Uh, the ones where I'm still alive? It's not— [okay, give him a second to pinch the bridge of his nose and like, Chill; he started this other histories nonsense himself, he can talk about it without wigging out--

it's back to the contextual silly terms:]

Your You A and You B are really different, I guess? Mine aren't that far apart. I guess it's possible to SHIFT into a history that's... You-Z-degrees separated from the first history, but I've never done that. Actually, in all the histories I can remember, I only survive in one besides "my" history.

[womp.... pathetically:] Do you have a favorite?

[ abso fucking lutely ]

Oho... Thou art an unlucky man, are thee not? There must be many a time I am killed with no hope of revival as well, for this "me" is the only one who is connected so to the Manager Esquire.

[ it just. doesn't get shown to her, for obvious reasons in that they need the IDs alive so they can thread the memories together. like a patchwork of histories. ]

Hum... Mine favorite... No matter the memory I hold, I am always with mine companions -- that is the singular truth among them all, and I am thankful for it.

[ it's comforting to know that no matter her history, she will never be alone.

hmmmm. favorite... favo.... oh!!!!!!! ]

Oh!!!!!! Yes!!!!!! The Warp Train!!!!!!!!!! In one, I hath been employed by W. Corp, and I work for the clean up crew! The trains in that Nest are very fast, thou arrive in thy destination within a blink of the eye! Ah, but then there is another where I lead a team of others, and that is rather fun as well, though mine superior and I do not see eye to eye -- oh, but there's another where Mistress Rodya is mine superior, and she is most excellent at gambling!!!!

[ ...

she has a lot of fun ones!!!!!!!!! she is not talking about the bad side of two of these, nor of the one where she's her enemy!!!!!!!! ]

[sounds good, sign them up]

You're always with the same people, in every history...? Guess that's true for me, too, but like I said— we don't go that far from the original history.

[jeez, why can't he go to the coffeeshop au history of him and the gang, that'd be so much easier!!!]

But uh, it sounds like you're not having that bad a time if all your friends are there. Or... companions. You just go whenever you want?

[ all you gotta do is forfeit your autonomy and be willing to die 10+ times in an encounter in increasingly brutal ways nbd. also the big man has something on you, blackmail style. byot (bring your own trauma) ]

Perhaps thou simply has not stumbled upon a Z level history yet! As for that, um... no, not exactly. The Manager Esquire is the one whom directs our paths, as well as the reflection we... inherit?

[ ... you know what, ]

The reflection we SHIFT to!!!!! They ask, and we comply -- it is no problem, as we return to whom we were previous. Though we cannot choose what is obtained through the bus's teeth either, so not... quite... wherever we wish to go?

[ .......

this is above her nonexistent paygrade!!!! ]

Oooh, I do yearn to show thee what I mean! It is a spectacular feat, and there is so much I cannot put into words!!!!!

[luckily he has plenty of trauma to bring!!! anyway she gets 999 points for using the vocabulary, great work.]

Huh, maybe it's about how far you go...? A SHIFT to a Z level history might be too much for me to do on my own. That could explain why you guys need to have one person in charge.

[but does he really need to figure this out, probably not. it's not comforting to learn about a whole bunch of other more-or-less shifters, but... they can commiserate, which is kind of nice, he thinks. or he can commiserate and she can talk about trains; whatever works.

anyway, HOLD on, loop back around--] Wait, you're from the bus that eats things?

[ fas...cinating.... if yi sang ever comes here don'll have to introduce them. this is what she's decided. ]

O-ho, so thou art familiar with it! Yes, I am! With whom hath thee spoken on the matter?

[is he being diagnosed nerd... wow, first time.]

Uh, Gregor? Short with glasses? He said he's not allowed to say anything else about the bus.

[a beat, hm,] I'm not asking for bus secrets, to be clear. But uh, I heard about it... eating stuff. That's not something we have where I'm from.

Ser Gregor is indeed a companion of mine!!! As is Young Sinclair, should thee ever meet! They are both good people, two of whom I would trust with mine life!!!

[ she's meetin up with gregor later she knows sinclair's here, now junpei can join their crew-- ]

And yes, it eats people! They must be still alive, if incapable of fighting back any longer -- it is a balance that is hard to strike, but we hath done well in its refueling thus far! It is the only of its kind!

[ i'm so sorry. this is why you don't ask for bus secrets, yeah. also because it gets into............. a lot of unexplainable stuff.................... ]

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