THE GREATEST SHOW UNEARTHED

[whocouldwinarabbit]

WHO: The HABIT whocouldwinarabbit and his eighteen lucky Rabbits.
WHERE: Yankee Stadium.
WHEN: Tuesday, November 13 afternoon onward.
WARNINGS: Not for the children. Graphic murder expected.
SUMMARY: THUNDERDOME.
FORMAT: Whatever our contestants would like.

"Rise and fucking shine, campers!" blasts the loudspeaker.

Eighteen bodies. Not a bad turnout. He's hauled them into the locker rooms to wake up together, tied balloon strings to their wrists, the balloons Skittles colors. Angora, some say in sharpie, Flemish Giant. And all have a smile drawn on, bunny ears on top.

"You're probably wondering what the hell you're doing here, right? Wonder no more! Welcome to the Trials, rabbits. Time to feed the HABIT."

The crowd roars in response, their fists in the air. They're not nearly enough to fill the stands, not hardly, the count's barely crawling up to a hundred -- but it's the impassive eyes of the cameras set up around the stadium that matter. These idiots are just for the noise of it.

"Now, see, the rules to this game are real simple. All you gotta do is kill everybody else. That's it! What could be easier, right? Knife in the brain. Sword in the guts. I don't care how you do it, just do it, meat. Look at it this way: the Porter'll bring you back good as new. So... what's keeping you? Besides, hey... the winner gets a prize."

HABIT laughs tinnily through the sound system, over the sound of the crowd. "If one of you makes a break for it -- go ahead! I encourage it, make your move -- but you will notice that there's no escape. Can't have you spoiling my fun, now can we? The good people up there in the stands paid twenty-nine ninety-nine for a show, and by fucking golly, they're gonna get it."

"Now... if you'll look at the balloons for your group assignments. Flemish Giants, why don't you come on out here? No, no, hey, don't be shy. Being first is a big ol' honor. So show us some blood!"

He hits the music, and opens the doors.

Comments

PRE-GAME

[whocouldwinarabbit]

[For those few moments the rabbits get to bemoan their fate! To curse HABIT's name! Or just to wonder what the hell is happening!]

[seeksherownsalvation]

[Unlike the others, Kyouko doesn't sleepwalk into the locker rooms of her own (sort of) volition. Some guy just dumps her there, still half-asleep like the others, but struggling weakly in his arms.

Being deposited unceremoniously onto the tiled floors is the last it takes to wake her. She blinks groggily into the light.]

Huh...?

[Her first words here aren't particularly dignified, either.]

Ugh. Someone...attacked me? There was gas...

[She remembers enough to ball her hands up into fists.]

Yeah. What bastards.

I'll kill whoever got in the way of my sleep. I totally will.

...there's snacks here, right? You don't get to wake up a girl like that without providing snacks!

[xxii_thefool]

[Minako's staring at her wrist where the ribbon of her balloon is tied, and she's looking a little ill.

Kyouko's voice breaks her out of it, and moving stiffly she hooks two fingers underneath the cheap ribbon and yanks until it snaps, leaving a red mark on her skin where normally she'd have been wearing a wristwatch. The balloon floats to the locker room ceiling.]

...I don't think there's going to be snacks.

[gandere]

[ Rin has always had trouble waking up in the morning, so not even noise around her stirs her too easily. Instead, she just slumps against the wall in a manner that surprisingly doesn't result in her flashing her panties to the other participants. ]

Mm. [ With a yawn, she turns on her side only to fall flat across the ground. Think that might wake her up, but she's still groggy when she lifts her face from the floor. ] Ugh... my pillow tastes like dirt.

[ Grumble. ] Archer needs to change detergents again.

[uponsharpswords]

[The good thing about being a magical girl is that she can't be possessed because of certain complications between the relationship of her body and her Soul Gem--complications she has yet to discover, but existing, nonetheless.

The bad thing about this situation is that she might as well had been hypnotized into sleepwalking, as she hadn't quite accomplished what she came here for, i.e.: saving everyone.

Okay, don't panic, don't panic, don't panic!

She takes a deep breath and watches the people finally wake up. At least that problem's been dealt with, but she still can't think of a way to leave. In retrospect, she should have punched in the face whoever it was who tied that stupid balloon to her wrist. But she decided that she just isn't strong enough to haul random sleeping bodies out of the locker room, so she kept pretending to be one of the sleepwalkers, waiting.

Stupid! she tells herself as she rushes to the nearest person. How is she supposed to help them if she hasn't even planned this far? If she just let her only chance to save them slip away?]

Hey! Hey, you!

[Seriously... This girl's still half-asleep? Sayaka gives her a hard shake.]

Hey! Snap out of it already!

[apostled]

[ Lenalee doesn't remember falling asleep in any strange places. She hasn't since... since she was back home where she slept wherever she was able to when on a mission. For a second she thinks she's waking up at home. Wouldn't that be nice... A mission could be hell but no worse than the hell she was waking up to.

It took her a seconds to adjust to the light. She held up a small hand to block as much as she could, but still winced and cringed away from the intensity. She wasn't normally so sensitive to the light.

Slowly she got up on her feet, feeling a little off-beat. She struggles to stay standing as her world swims in and out of focus, leaning against a wall.

It's then that she notices the string around her wrist. That wakes her up a little more. She follows the string up to the balloon attached to the other end. She reaches up with her other hand and turns the balloon carefully. LIONHEAD.

What did that mean?

That's when she hears the voice. It's been speaking this entire time but she only now focuses on it. She catches something about killing. Each other?

She looks around the room with wide eyes.

Cross promised these sort of things didn't happen here. ]

Is this... a joke? [ She asks carefully.

This can't be real. ]

What's happening?

[glowsferatu]

[ the intensity of the light certainly isn't eased at all by the girl a few feet away, glowing brightly and erratically. she's rubbing her temples, clearly out of sorts, but how much is from the situation itself and how much is just her hangover are lines that are too blurry to discern.

she peeks out from behind her hands at lenalee, scowling miserably. ]

It's never the unpleasant circumstances which turn out to be jokes.

[invoking]

[ Gil is normally a light sleeper provided he hasn't been in an exhausting and long fight and/or had to invoke Raven. Since neither of such situations have happened in a while, he jerks sharply as he awakens. The sudden, booming voices rattle his head and he squints while his eyes adjust to the light in the room.

He's already tense, but listening to the "rules" of this "game" gets him to freeze up entirely. It's bad enough when he checks the strap on his leg his pistol is missing. He checks over the balloon tied to his wrist (Lionhead?) and eventually rips it off, looking around to see who else is here with him. ]

What the hell is all this?

[futurebatwoman]

[ She snaps off the balloon silently, looks around at everyone else. Lenalee. Bradbury. Piccolo. Kanaya. Damian, god, no, if Dick was here - at least Dick isn't going to be here for this.

She needs a moment to think. She just needs a moment to think, and. Shit.

She's died already. And contrary to what she's told people, she remembers it vividly. Doing that again is something that she never wanted on a list of things possibly about to happen again. It hurts and it's frightening and she doesn't want to die again, she doesn't want anywhere here to die.

The pacing starts before she even realizes what she's doing. She knew he was going to do something, eventually, and she didn't warn everyone. There's something clawing at her throat, fear and panic and guilt, and all she can do is walk back and forth and back and forth, fingers rubbing where the ballon had been tied. Angora. It's a type of rabbit, isn't it? ]

Re: PRE-GAME

[intothewoods]

[No matter how many times it happens, Jay will never get used to that feeling of I should not be here whenever he wakes up somewhere without any memory of how he got there. How much time had he missed? He had actually managed to fall asleep last night, and then... what? How had he gotten here? That was the million dollar question.

He looks around the locker room, trying to orient himself. Nothing informative in his pockets; no camera in sight. There's a balloon of all things tied to his wrist -- Angora? -- and his stomach flipflops at the sight of those crudely drawn bunny ears. He's seen them before, or at least something like them, on that box he received from HABIT with the videos of their mutual acquaintance. There are other people here with him, mostly strangers, all of them looking as lost as he does. He's not sure how he feels about that.

That changes pretty quickly once the announcement blares out over the loudspeakers.

Fear rises like bile in the back of his throat, sharp and acrid. A deathmatch. One person standing. Fan-fucking-tastic.]

You've got to be kidding me.

POST-ROUND 1

[waiting]

[ The sole survivor of the Flemish Giants gets thrown back into the waiting room with the rest of the rabbits, after cleaving in the skull of one of his opponents and breaking the neck of the other. The fact that the latter was committed with Matt's consent (and after knocking him unconscious first) doesn't really fucking help. His clothes are spattered with blood, as is his face; take too close a look and one might realize that some of the gore is brain matter. He stands on his feet for a moment, looking dazed, before awareness snaps back and he makes a beeline for the nearest sink.

For a moment, hands gripping the edge, it looks like he might throw up. Instead, he turns the water on full blast and starts cleaning off the worst of the blood and gore from his face. He doesn't turn to look as the next group is welcomed to the arena; once his hands and face are as clean as he can get them, he turns the water off and walks, mechanically, to sit on an unoccupied bench.

He doesn't say anything. He doesn't know what he could possibly say. ]

FLEMISH GIANT

[whocouldwinarabbit]

[Group one, step on up!]

[hastheedge]

[This was insane. Absolutely, insane. And, something that Xanatos had no idea how to react to. He had no idea how to even attempt to wrest control of this situation. He was completely out of his element and mentally panicking slightly.

He didn't want to die. He knew that much. And he wanted to figure out just what Habit was. Which, the only way to do that was surviving. Looking over at Matt and Bradbury, Xanatos tightened his grip on the mace slightly, looking at the two of them. (That was another thing that annoyed him. Oh, what he would do for one simple gun)]

So, gentlemen. I'll have to admit, this is an...unorthodox situation to be in.

[Even in the face of death, Xanatos was calm and cavalier. On the inside, however, he was quickly calculating, trying to find something he could use to his advantage, trying to make some plan to get out of this.]

LIONHEAD

[whocouldwinarabbit]

[Off you go down the rabbit hole, group two.]

[apostled]

[ Lionhead's turn. Her balloon said Lionhead.

So did the young child's and the man who had greeted her when she first arrived and treated her kindly. They were Lionhead. And two of them had to die.

Lenalee didn't take a weapon. Her Innocence was her weapon. And if these were enemies, people trying to hurt her friends, she would have readily used it to do what needed to be done. But these weren't enemies. These were people who were as trapped as she was.

She couldn't kill them.

Her tears had long sense dried, and numbness had set in as she stepped out into the field. The openness of the field made her apprehensive compared to the room they had just been kept inside of. Mostly because this big, open space was where two of them were going to die.

Lenalee didn't think she was strong enough to be the survivor.

She shook her head now. ]

I won't... I won't kill you two. You can kill me now. I won't stop you. [ Her voice is empty and she avoids eye contact with either. ] One of us has to survive, but I won't kill either of you to do it.

REX

[whocouldwinarabbit]

[Group three, how are we feeling? Feeling sassy? No?]

[sanguinosi]

[Oh boy. He's really starting to like this Habit guy. It's abundantly clear that Ladd is actually quite excited by this death match, shuffling rather impatiently from foot to foot as he waits for the games to start. His opponents are certainly green. He's not sure what that means, but he's never killed a green person before. There's a first time for everything.

His smile splits open his face, and he's even starting to talk in low, hushed tones about his excitement. He has no weapons, confident in the ability of his insta-bullet arm. He's kicking himself for not wearing a white suit today, but a normal suit can stain if he tries hard enough. What sort of blood comes out of a green person?]

Well! This is fun! I ain't never been in a proper death-match before, with spectators and everything. I don't intend to lose either! What sort of athlete would I be if I forfeit so quickly?

[His hand twitches.]

Now, I've got a real fucking itch to tear you two apart, and I have to say it ain't personal! Especially since we've got such a pretty lady here. I would be a little sad that I have to kill you, but they all come back to life in this dump. I hope you won't think less of me.

ENGLISH LOP

[whocouldwinarabbit]

[Having a good time, group four? Well, hey, maybe this round won't be so bad.]

[glowsferatu]

[ kanaya strides out onto the field with her chainsaw at her side. her steps are slow, deliberate, her shoulders hunched, the bags under her eyes deeper than usual, and her glow flares brightly. two other girls about her age in the same situation, and she's expected to kill them. but what had they ever done? they were perfect strangers to her, and if they'd done something to justify her putting them to an end, she certainly wasn't aware of it. she only knew one person in this ring who she knew without a doubt deserved to die.

she casts a cold stare across the cheering crowd, the inactivity only making them louder, then back to her assigned opponents. she raises her weapon until it's parallel with the ground and holds it there a moment, then unceremonious loosens her grip on the handle, letting it fall. it hits the ground as a harmless tube of lipstick, presenting no threat whatsoever. her gaze passes between minako and rin both as she finally speaks. ]

You need to kill me.

NETHERLAND DWARF

[whocouldwinarabbit]

[Figured out how to escape, group five? Oh, bummer.]

Re: NETHERLAND DWARF

[uponsharpswords]

[The reality finally hits Sayaka the moment she steps into the field, still in the pajamas she had on when she followed the sleeping people to the arena. She spots her opponents: Two boys she's never met before, but still, two people she had sworn to save only minutes earlier. Or were they hours? She hasn't counted, really, but it's not that important now.

What's important is that the groups before hers actually did try to kill each other. And some did win. And now it's her turn and she can no longer deny the fact that this is serious, there's no escape, only one can be left standing. That, and the fact that her heart is racing and her palms are sweating, and that she really, really is scared out of her wits.

But she isn't going to fight! A magical girl isn't supposed to use her powers for her own selfish reasons! She's never going to harm the two people in front of her, and she's not going to let them harm each other, either!

She feels the cool metal of the ring around her finger. In an instant she's transformed: her pajamas turning into an ensemble of boots, sleeveless armor with an a-line skirt, and pristine, white cape.]

Listen! I'm not here to fight you, so stay back!

[But a sword materializes in her hand, anyway. Just in case, she tells herself, because she can't afford to die just yet, not when she still has something at home to protect.

Just in case.]

ANGORA

[whocouldwinarabbit]

[Don't tell the other groups, group six, but HABIT likes you... the least.]

[seeksherownsalvation]

[Funny. Kyouko was almost okay until the last round. She was angry, and she ranted and she railed, but it's seeing that other girl die, the blue one with the sword, that reduced her to bitter silence.

Yeah, funny. Because it's not like she showed affection for Sayaka before that. Just glowering stares.

When she stumbles out onto the grounds of the stadium, she's already transformed into her magical girl self, and clutching her spear tightly in her hands.]

You're both going down.

[But there's fear and disgust in her eyes, and it's obvious this girl who can't be more than fifteen at the outside is blustering. She doesn't know these people. And it's one thing to let humans die, far away from her, to some witch. It's another to kill them herself.]

FINALISTS

[whocouldwinarabbit]

[Our lucky last dregs of life, now all together for the free-for-all round! Who will win? Who will die last? Those are the same thing!]

Re: FINALISTS

[whocouldwinarabbit]

The loudspeaker crackles again, interrupting the music and the crowd both. It's a different voice this time, but still pitched up high and scratchy and eminently fucking smug.

"Well done, rabbits! You haven't completely embarrassed me just yet. There was actually some blood spilled, who'da thunk it? We're down to four lucky suckers. Who will win? Who will lose? Who will get their ribcage torn open and spill their guts for all to see? Who cares who it is? All of you with a pulse, get your asses on the floor! Remember, no matter who wins, all of you are the real losers."