Ceasefire - The Way Out

[mockmods]

[And then you wake up.]

[The room is dimly lit and made of pitted, industrial metals. You sit up abruptly on- some sort of padded table or cart? There’s a caged structure of metal piping surrounding you like a low barrier, but it’s open on top. You might similarly have a moment of panic about the straps holding you down or the electrodes on your head, but they’re just velcro and lightly tacked on, respectively, and in no significant way prevent you from sitting bolt upright and getting onto your feet. A series of twenty one such tables ring the room at even intervals. All but one has an occupant.]

[However long it takes you to notice, there a twenty of you again. Patches, the Trusty, and Yaiba, the Legendary Bassist, are back among your number. Penny, unfortunately, seems to be missing. Whatever you were wearing to the trial, or at the time of your death, you are back in the clothing you wore when you initially arrived. If anyone checks, CAREFULLY PLEASE, they will find that any powers they may have been missing are back.]

[The room is lit well enough, and there are computer banks and monitors around all the walls, which look to have been monitoring your vitals until just this second. Wires and tubes lead from each table to the center of the room, where a low pool is filled with a thick, milky-looking liquid that looks incredibly disinviting to touch.]

[A door rests on each side of the room, a glowing hand-sized pad beside each.]

[Welcome back, Participants.]

[Now, what do you do?]

((One clarification - any active powers that require some kind of power source or connection from your home worlds will either be not active or severely weakened.))

Comments

[mockmods]

[Well, first thing she'll probably notice is that those labels are all names.]

[Including one labeled Sawyer, Veronica.]

[canbebeautiful]

[Cool, well. We're opening that one first because if her name is on it then it's obviously fair game.

How many boxes are there, though. Are there 22 or 20.]

[mockmods]

[So, you know how when you all woke up, everything besides your clothes were missing? You just found the rest of your shit, Happy Candlenight.]

[And there are- probably twenty-one boxes here, actually. One for everyone but the late Hodgepodge Miller, unless there was anyone who just didn't have anything on them besides their clothes.]

[canbebeautiful]

[Dear diary, the world can be beautiful.]

Hey! I found all our shit!

[eudaimonikos]

Oh! Is there a frog keychain, with a little fob on it?

[That's rhetorical, because he's already coming over to dig through the stuff himself.]

[deathroadtocanada]

[She doesn't have shit but hey that's good for ya'll.]

[in4apounding]

[And at some point, here comes Penny. She's going for a hug, at least briefly. Sorry.]

Miss Veronica! I'm- I'm so sorry, I wanted to stop what was happening as soon as I figured out what Mister Yaiba was doing, but- the- Hodgepodge said if I interfered, everyone would be punished. I'm so sorry.

[windowsexplorer]

[Meredith doesn't have a lot, but she seems to be really glad to get this little green rabbit keychain back.]

[aragona]

[Runs over there, pulls out a rapier and belt, snaps in onto her.]

Now I have something to fight with.

[doppelanger]

[ Without another word Helena zooms over immediately to find her box with very little regard for anyone else, because she still remembers what Penny said on the first day, and guess what, guys? It's knife time! Helena holds the blade up to her face and smiles, her gaze enraptured and almost fanatical, before tucking it securely away wherever it is she keeps it.

But also... it's several pieces of face-down paper time? She looks very confused once the high of getting her knife back (again) dims enough for her to realize there's something else at the bottom of the box. Nevertheless, she dutifully retrieves a crumpled piece of paper and two photographs, and upon seeing what's on them the confusion only deepens. A couple of things are visible before she secrets the little bundle away to a corner of the room, to pore over it in relative privacy. There's large, childish writing on the paper, with a big heart drawn on it, and the photographs both appear to be of the same girl. Helena presses her back against the wall, tracing the words with her fingers as she mouths her way through the contents of the letter, but that knife is extremely sharp, within reaching distance, and definitely unsanitary. ]

How is this possible?

[ She's in a world of her own right now, and it's not a good idea to bring her back to this one. ]