sevenhorrors | something something let's go gambling

[ Sometime in early October, Mizi calls them all to their dorm with an idea in her head. To say she feels strongly about this competition is... an understatement. Though it doesn't say on the docket that there'll be a punishment for not coming out on top, she can't help but imagine it that way. As a result, she's been feeling quite intense towards getting points.

Which has led her here, list in hand. From what they know from Nei, allowing your name to be heard by the ghosts is a big danger, but...

Her expression is dead serious when she raises the matter, hand running up her arm. ]

I wanted to talk about these points... I think I have a way to get one hundred. Maybe more.

[Raven crosses her arms, drumming her fingers against her own.]

You can't just up and kill that girl from Kin'un, Lyric, no matter what you're thinking.

[Unless????

But this is probably more a protective and pragmatic warning more than anything. She's trying to keep her class safe.]

[ She scoffs, clearly still hot over that. ]

Her class seems protective of her.

[ Which makes them all kind of her opps by extension, but that's neither here nor there. Eventually, she shakes her head. ]

It's about our names. My name...

Our names...? What are you suggesting, Lyric?

...The last person whose real name got revealed got in trouble because ghosts heard it.

[ She explains that first, thinking that Briar might not have heard about that particular mistake just yet. ]

But... I have a way I can tell you without saying it, or writing it down, even.

[ More pointed and more meaningfully than before, she draws a hand over her sleeved bicep — come to think of it, she's never once worn short sleeves all throughout summer, not even in the comfort of their dorm... ]

[Okay, she's trying to follow... Briar's brow furrows as she tries to hazard a guess.]

Sign language? Are you going to... Well, I won't make a game out of it. It's not a dangerous method, surely?

I feel as if even indirect methods may be taken into account, but if it nets us points and we have enough strength to take any consequences, then it could be worth it.

[ Briar is a part of them now, so it was always going to come out — ]

...It's a brand on my arm. [ ... ] I'm sure it's not like this for you, but... humans are kept as pets where I come from — the brand replaces our collars.

[ That's the easiest, bluntest way she can think to get it across, and given the matter-of-fact nature of the way she says it, lacking in exaggeration or much other emotion, she's telling the truth. Not for pity, but only so that Briar might understand, and with haste, the kind of person Lyric is and where she came from. ]

You know what "pets" are, don't you?

Can't blame them for that. They've got the same priorities I've got for you kids.

[Even if it does, in some ways, put them in opposition. She can tell their classes would be likely to be the first to oppose each other if a real conflict over resources ever broke out, but keeping an advantage is going to be better for their survival for right now.]

It might seem like a lot of points, but those points don't come free.

And if we don't have the most at the end, who knows what might happen?

[ She knows it won't be free... but, she also thinks she might be able to dodge the greatest danger of saying it aloud. Another Yakuyoke member might know it, but she's grown to trust them. ]

I won't... let them take any of the rest of you away.

Don't give up yet. We're still gonna find her.

[That's the most important part...she can't just let the rest of their classroom give up into nihilism and despair while they look for any sign of Rin. If she wasn't in the shed, then she has to be held somewhere else.]

What if they use your name and you're the one who winds up getting Pied Pipered?

[ (inside mizi's mind) who the fuck is pied piper ]

At least then, I might get closer to finding Rin.

[ Getting "taken" seems to mean going "somewhere else." If that somewhere else is where shei s, it wouldn't be a complete downside getting dragged there, she thinks, which is an idea she already floated to Dove. ]

Besides... I don't need to say it, or write it down. To tell you. We're in our dorm, too... maybe they won't hear. It might be the only way.

[ Pointedly, she runs a hand against her bicep, giving Raven a knowing glance.

[Her gaze drops to the part of Mizi's forearm that she keeps rubbing, and, yeah, the signs are obvious enough. Half of what she teaches boils down to observation and interpretation. She'd be a shit teacher for not noticing things.]

You've already made up your mind and won't be so easy to talk out of it, haven't you?

[It seems like she's already past the point where she can be discouraged.]

Okay, if I can't stop you from showing off your medal, then I'm at least honored to see it.

[ She knows doing this is risky... but Raven can be trusted, she thinks. More than those outside their dorm. Perhaps naively, and arrogantly, she thinks she can get around the predicament of the ghosts overhearing through this method — she doesn't think past the opportunity.

Slowly, she shrugs off one shoulder of her blazer, twisting her arm to show the inside of her bicep without fully taking her sleeve off. It's not like she wants everyone to see, after all...

But there, embedded in the skin, is raised metal that spells out the name MIZI. It's a strange, alien material — not a tattoo, and not quite a brand livestock might get either, devoid of burn scars. It's like a license plate, pressed directly into her skin.

Raven was right — she's stubborn, and can't be talked out of things. She feels desperate to win, desperate to make an effort. Her expression is complicated and dark, only meeting Raven's eyes to ensure she sees it. A medal? No, it's more like... ]

...It's what they replace our collars with, when we start to perform on stage.

[Raven thinks of the scars she got in that hellhole as medals, no matter what, so maybe it's not a surprise that she'd try to use the same language to give Lyric a little more ownership over her own scars.

She looks at the brand with her chin in her hand. She gets why Mizi can't think of it the same way.]

... All right, I got it. [She waves her hand quickly so she can cover it back up.] Are we doing this quid pro quo? My way of saying it without saying it might not work out so tidy.

[This is...about trust. She doesn't want to give her name up, even if the name she'd give is a pen name. It'd still count. And she doesn't care all that much about equivalent exchange. This time, it's all about keeping the kids on board.]

[ Quid pro quo? Whatever that means, Mizi shrugs the shoulder of her blazer back on before crossing her arms tightly, eyes averted. ]

If you don't want to, don't.

[ Even though Mizi would vastly prefer to have leverage over someone she's made herself vulnerable to... her classmates are the ones that have been there for her. She doesn't want to think of them only in terms of being a threat or a danger. At the same time, if Cadence were ever to use this information against her, well...

She'd find a way to pay her back. ]

You might not get away with it like I can. But don't... [ ... ] Don't tell anyone mine. It's for the points, that's it.

[ It's half a plea and half a threat, spoken like Mizi is unsure which it should be. Cadence understands, right? What she's doing is for their whole class, not just for herself. She doesn't want to be betrayed, but she's lived her life unable to rely on most, if not all other beings around her. ]

I just got here, so I'd like to avoid murder if possible.

[even if some fools could really use a backhand, but thankfully no one here falls under that for her. yet.]

And that'll only be a problem if none of the other teams agree with you! [She smiles, showing most of her teeth.]

[M'AM, SHE IS CONCERNED]

Well, at the very least let's not start fights.

... That being said I am not against finishing them.

something something let's go gambling

name reveal / point getting discussion

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