Nine-Nine Heart - Run 1

[idolpro]

[It's time for a new an exciting place, right? A land of adventure and fun and excitement!

Wait? Then why does this look like Tokyo-F. Like a Tokyo-F that has seen better days.

A dark purple haze has settled over the city, thick and suffocating, oppressive and heavy. The sky above is filled with yawning teeth and blinking eyes stare back at you. Buildings lie in tatters and their remains litter the landscape.

A few proud buildings still stand tall! The most prominent one among them - THE GAME TOWER. Though it is sporting more of an evil villain castle vibe than you remember. And it certainly used to be taller and not leaking out that purple smoke filling the air. Nonetheless it stands as a beacon in the city, the focal point in the ruin around you.

A voice echos in your head. "Find the Dark Master."

GAME START!]

Comments

[rollwithdisadvantage]

Realizing how boring and fleeting you mortals are.

[rollplayinghouse]

[aha]

That's not going to happen.

[rollwithdisadvantage]

I'm quite sure my patience can outlast yours.

[rollplayinghouse]

What does patience have to do with it?

[rollwithdisadvantage]

He and I have been playing this dance for a long time. Longer before your lineage was even recorded. And we'll be playing long after if we can stop those who have trapped us here.
Will he forget you after a few hundred years, I wonder?

Don't think I didn't notice your final action.

[rollplayinghouse]

If you've been playing that long and you haven't won yet, what makes you think more time is going to help you? Especially when this is a totally different situation.

He can make the decision on his own. If he's still thinking about me in a few hundred years, I'll be flattered... what exactly are you imagining my goal is?

[rollwithdisadvantage]

Oh, I won. The fact that we even have this arrangement is proof of that. This place has just set me back.

It isn't as black and white as the others. You aren't blinded by morality and ignorance. But you do have a possessive streak, don't you? You like to collect things, and perhaps throw them away when they finally bore you.

[rollplayinghouse]

[sharply]

It's not like that at all.

[rollwithdisadvantage]

[A bark of a laugh.]

Isn't it? You threw away two you would consider yourself involved in. And then your unit.
I wonder what you will pick next.

[rollplayinghouse]

It's not throwing them away if they weren't actually mine to start with. If they don't understand or consider my feelings when they do things, they're not really my partners or my family. I just stopped letting them pretend they were.

[rollwithdisadvantage]

Consider your feelings? You might have a point. But understand? That's a terribly high bar to set.

So when your new unit starts stops caring, you will abandon them as well.

[rollplayinghouse]

They won't stop caring. But you're right that I'd rather not stay with people who don't care about me out of obligation. I'll leave them. That's true.

Are you worried I'm just trying to.. collect you, and then I'll get bored and abandon you? Is that your problem?

[rollwithdisadvantage]

As a creature that also uses and discards people once their time is done, perhaps I feel a little kinship.

Ah. Being abandoned. That could be a problem.
If I had a heart to care with. I'm not burdened with such things.

[rollplayinghouse]

[she lets out an amused snort at that]

You absolutely have a heart to care with, don't even try.

[rollwithdisadvantage]

Oh, I assure you I don't. His though, bleeds to this very day. And he doesn't even remember why.

[rollplayinghouse]

You're the same person.

[rollwithdisadvantage]

We became the same person. Don't believe everything he tells you.

[rollplayinghouse]

...So are you the demon he sold his soul to, or whatever? Either way. You're the same person now, and it's stupid to pretend like you can divide everything up between you.

[rollwithdisadvantage]

It is not foolish to think so. I will eclipse these mortal obligations!

[rollplayinghouse]

[nonplussed]

Why?

[rollwithdisadvantage]

Why? Why do you do anything? Our goals are similar. It is the lure of free will. True autonomy.

[rollplayinghouse]

You don't think you have free will?

[rollwithdisadvantage]

No. I do not.

[rollplayinghouse]

...I don't think that's true.

[rollwithdisadvantage]

Sit in the backseat of someone's head for a while and come back and tell me if you still feel the same.