[Mafia] The Aurora Project - [END]

[KungFuCutbug]

"No sé, alright?! We're under a lot of pressure, we have nothing to go off of, I don't know if Russell or Nintendo is more suspicious, I'm honestly surprised I'm not suspicious in your eyes considering I started the bandwagon against you and—"

[Sherry falls to her knees, clutching her head in her hands and groaning loudly again.] "I DON'T KNOW! I don't know!" [With that, she collapses onto all fours and... are those tears?] "I... I don't know..."

[MadameButterflyKnife]

Well, she got her fucking wish. So we're really letting her play executioner now?! Alright. Holy fuck.

[Kennifer]

"I don't know either. If I did, I would've voted for them in the first place."

Holly looks like she is trying very hard to keep it together.

[PointMaid]

I was hoping to gather more evidence before I... are you going to hate me if I choose poorly?

[MadameButterflyKnife]

Yes. Yes I fucking will.

Voi's mind is rushing. Ruby could kill whoever she fucking wanted. A reward just for looking suspicious. And with all the suspects...she'd admit. Everyone got on her nerves in some way or another. But to just die at the whim of some random lady who thought herself a mastermind against some batshit insane killers...

She was on the brink of just shutting down.

[Kennifer]

"I just hope you choose right."

[Despair's Archon of Memes]

I won't. You're just doing your best, after all.

[Caret]

A tide of pure anxiety engulfs Bow. Ruby, the Yeti, now has a critical decision in her hands. If she chooses n Traitor, that's good for everyone; however, if she picks an innocent...

"Ruby... I really hope that you make the right choice for everyone. Right now, I'm leaning towards Russel or Nintendo, but... if you decide on the wrong person... then... then..." Bow thinks for a second. She was the one who cast the decisive vote, so if Ruby ends up executing the wrong person... would Bow partly be responsible for it. Probably not, since there was already a bandwagon moving at a steady pace. But still...

A single tear leaks from Bow's eye. The pressure exerted on her has finally caught up to the otherwise hopeful fairy.

[Oggy123]

Nintendo looks at Ruby in concern.

"Please, i just hope you'll get the right person!"

[KungFuCutbug]

"...I'm not entirely sure if I will, honestamente, and I doubt I will be till your decision's been made. You're under just as much pressure as we are, if not more since your job was to get lynched and execute someone else in your place... If anything, though, someone I 100% will be hating by the end of this is the boss for being so asininely insistent that someone had to die before nightfall." [Sherry tightly clenches her fists and grits her teeth, trembling slightly.] "Fuck this. Fuck Heeko, fuck the Pianist, fuck the traitors, fuck the Aurora Project... FUCK. EVERYTHING."

[awe921]

... Russell closes his eyes and sits down.
He's ready to die; no, he would prefer to be chosen. I mean, he has no future ahead of him. It's over. The moment he broke the bottle over that monster's head, it all fell apart in a flash. The others atleast have futures that they can call their own. Worlds that they get to live in.
He has nothing. He chose to cave in his world, and his world will end in that white room, or amidst the cold, cold snow.
But he doesn't say anything. Words don't want to come out.

[PointMaid]

Ruby takes a big breath.

Then here goes nothing... I really hope this is right and he's one of the traitors. I choose Russell.

[awe921]

"..."
Russell doesn't look anyone in the eye.
A simple request comes out.
"... please, atleast let me decide how I die."

[Oggy123]

The strange personification then looks towards Russell.

"I... i hope she's got the right guy..."

[Despair's Archon of Memes]

I hope so too. We can't lose now. Not like this. Especially when we've lost so much already.

[KungFuCutbug]

[Sherry can't even bring herself to look at Russell.]

"...Russell. Whatever happens, good or bad... I... hope I can see you again. In a dream, or... something."

[Kennifer]

Holly doesn't say anything; it looks like she's fighting with everything in her person not to break down completely right now.

[awe921]

"... Sherry?" Russell glances towards Sherry.
"... if you end up..."
"..." Russell looks down and clutches his head. His last thoughts raced in his head. They are fragmented, frantic and scattered. Memories are slipping by, and soon he will become one himself.
"... Please. If there's an afterlife, please let it be somewhere I am not."

[MadameButterflyKnife]

The kid's dead.

Russell...he was fucking doomed. Doomed more than he already was just by being here, doomed, doomed, doomed.

Voi just looks, unable to make herself do anything other than feel peril and rage and sheer inability to do anything, anything, you can't do anything, you're powerless-

Why should she care anyways, right?! Heeko's probably gonna send out to grab another kid like him once all of them were dead in the ground. They were all replaceable. Heeko and that Pianist had already made that clear as day. Hell, it wasn't even anything new to Voi. It's just how things work. You get replaced. You're done with, you're obsolete, and when you eventually grow old and boring and stale you'll get thrown away and replaced with someone that can do everything you can. Except better. It's the nature of improvement, they say. The corps always say that they're out to make things better.
And if you can't fit their idea of better, then there's no place for you in their future.
Shouldn't she be happy? Ruby didn't say her name despite Voi's vote. She'd evaded death again. She'd evaded obsolescence once more, she's done this too many times before, shouldn't she be grateful? Grateful for the luxury of getting to exist?
She'd always been ungrateful, then. Being grateful never got you anywhere in life.

You can't save him.
You can't do anything about it.
Just watch, and wait to see what happens next.

[wingedcatgirl]

Dubhe just floats there, watching dispassionately.

"Is he one of us or one of them...?" it mutters idly.

[KungFuCutbug]

"I do not fucking CARE wherever the hell I'm gonna end up after this, Russell! As long as it's NOT. FUCKING. HERE!"

[An increasing amount of bitterness punctuates every word Sherry speaks; whether it's directed at Russel or not is unclear.]

[Caret]

Bow simply looks on, completely paralyzed by anxiety.

Russell, another kid who got swept into this. Another child who didn't deserve to suffer through this. What in the world was Heeko thinking when he sent out those invitations? He almost certainly knew of the danger the traitors pose, yet he didn't warn anyone of them until they came out of the shadows. Why would Heeko and the Pianist keep their employees in the dark about almost everything about the Project? The traitors; the roles; heck, even what the end goal of the Project is. The Aurora Project is supposedly going to be the ultimate telecommunications hub, but what exactly for? Having murderers casually run around after sunset killing people isn't an excusable thing, but... what motivated them to sabotage the project?

Bow is absolutely done with this. Whatever the Aurora Project is supposed to accomplish seems utterly trivial at best and downright shady at worst. At this point, she wants to to knock Heeko and the Pianist as revenge for endangering people without any seeming remorse. She wants to go back home where all her friends are; where she can curl up in bed and nap to her heart's desire; where she can be... herself. Everything she has gone through doesn't seem to be worth it. And... what if she's next? She knows that death isn't the end for her, but what about everyone else?

...

She can't fucking take it anymore.

Bow begins to cry.

[PointMaid]

Ruby is shivering. She did it... she got people to vote for her. Should she have waited? Well... today they were told they *had* to eliminate someone. Was it better if it was another innocent? Maybe she'd saved one of them from that fate. She could only hope.

But... she'd also condemned Russell, on hardly anything but her feeling. Was it going to be enough? She really didn't want to have had to do it. But she had been forced to make a decision. She could, again, only hope it was the right one.

[Despair's Archon of Memes]

Reisen is completely broken... What the ulterior goal of the Aurora Project exactly IS... is insignificant. She's witnessed multiple murders... And multiple executions... All horrifying... The stress of it all... In addition to her previous murdergame experiences... Has clearly reached a breaking point.

She doesn't even care anymore about doing the challenges. She just wants to stop this murdergame. Stop the pain. And stop the hosts.

Because in the end... a game of murder... is still murder. With all of the bloodshed and turmoil... She has to stop this... Before it's too late.

Not even stopping the potential traitors feels good... The condemnation of one to death is simply inexcusable. Reisen can't win... But... at the same time... They HAVE TO.

[Cassie]

Good Night (CW: SUICIDE)

"..." Russell closes his eyes once more.
He reaches into his pockets and feels the familiar coldness of his knife's handle.
... Russell pulls out his knife and points it towards his chest.
"... I'm sorry, everyone."
"Even if this situation is a nightmare... Even if the cold eats away at our minds..." Tears begins to form.
"These few days" Russell presses the knife down on his vest. The fabric keeping it together is starting to tear.
"were the most fun, peaceful ones I've ever had." The shirt underneath is beginning to tear.
"... thank you for giving me so many memories, even in just these 2 days." It's starting to bleed.
"I'm... glad I got to meet you all." It's starting to hurt.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Russell's cries grow quieter and quieter.

...

Russell activates his Hunter powers. He aims at himself.

He begins stabbing himself. His blood flies out. The bugs on his brain go quiet. It stains his clothing, his face. It seeps into his eyes and his mouth. That feeling would be one of the last he ever experiences.

He stumbles around like a dying animal, knocking over the chair he used to brood in. He supports himself against the wall with a bloodied hand, a mix of tears and blood splattering on the floor.

... and like that, he stumbles onto the floor.
Nothing more, nothing less.

Aaaaaaand this is what Heeko stumbles upon.

"..."

"What on earth!? Did the Hunter just went and do it to himself before I gave the clearance!?" (OOC: the GM did give clearance)

He facepalms.

"Oh, huh, someone got assigned the Yeti... alright hold on a sec...yeah, oh dammit turns out this was the wrong assignment you got in, dammit..."

Looking stressed out, he hastily escorts Ruby Ramirez to a 1-man aerial escape pod.