MASTERMIND MEME

[employeeoftheyear]

Well now that everything is settled, why not be a little evil? In this AU, your character is the one behind all of this! Feel free to stretch things however you like to make it reasonable for your character to have done this! The world is your evil oyster.

And obviously this doesn't have to line up with game canon; if your character would have been dead in the canon, they can be survivors in this AU! Or you can pretend your character died to hide the fact that they're the mastermind if they lived!

Just go wild! There's no such thing as too much gloating and villain songs!

Comments

[tellthestory]

[By the seventh week, the Balladeer is still alive.

No one is more surprised by this than the Balladeer himself. He's remembered everything now. He knows how these games are meant to work. Over the final week, he tries to confide in several of the other survivors. Something isn't right, he says. I shouldn't still be here.

What he meant to say was, I'm an NPC. We're not supposed to last this long. But he never quite got it out; if anything, after all these extra weeks to grow closer, the others were less willing than ever to hear him say things like that about himself. And...it feels good, hearing them insist so strongly that it isn't true, that they're his family. He allows himself to be comforted. Just for a little while, he lets himself believe that for the first time, he could survive an entire show.

At the end of the week, the showrunner - a nebbish, sort of pathetic man named John - invites the group to begin their final investigation. There are detailed notes about two other murdergames, both run by the Leading Player, and about the Balladeer's own involvement in the second one. The focus here seems to be nothing more than the show's popularity. People like these shows. They give them time and focus. They give them attention.

The Balladeer trails behind all the while, quiet and increasingly distant. The reasons seem obvious. Every week, he's grown more and more distressed and guilty over his memories. Hearing that old game of his dragged up again can't be easy for him. Anyway, he looks tired. If anyone asked, though, he just smiled and waved them off. He's fine, really! Ending this is way more important. 

Even as the group files into the courtroom, he sticks with them, lagging a little but still present. It isn't until he's nearly at his podium that he stumbles, catching himself on its edge. As he straightens, the weariness in his posture seems to suddenly melt away. He steps back from the podium and quickly ascends the stairs to the stage. His entire posture seems suddenly different; he's like a coiled spring, not at all loose and at ease like a proper performer should be. He looks down at the gathered survivors with barely concealed smugness.]


Okay, that's enough of that. Let's finish this whole thing up. Don't get any funny ideas, now - I got friends watching.


[ Mastermind Trial: Connect ]