WEEK FIVE: REMOVAL

[retellers]

WEEK FIVE: REMOVAL (25 remain) Time to wake up, participants of the Realm. At 8am, everyone will receive a message on their PHS. Go to where the freaky puppet hell theater used to be across the bridge. Even if the participants ignore the message (or are sleeping in, shame on them), as 9am approaches they will fall victim to a compulsion to head to the specified location. Three Leaders, Tiger, Goat, and Swan, are already present, Jeanne with them. Goat speaks. "... We are the choices we make. May yours bring you closer to the future you wished to see." Once they finish speaking, an alert goes off from a PHS in the crowd—specifically, Zuko's. No explicit message this time, though! Presumably, everyone gets the idea by now and now no one has to deal with glitched text. Regardless of their will, they will feel compelled to walk towards the scene. No other participant will be able to interfere; should they try, a barrier blocks their way.

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EXECUTION

[retellers]

[ Once Zuko is selected, Jeanne will move forward towards the stage with Zuko follow along after her. A pyre is the only thing on it, with a pile sticking up out of it. Rope will appear in Zuko's hands, as well as flint and whatever else they used with flint. ]

[cuedoves]

[ zuko's phs goes off, and zuko tries to plant his feet in the ground and refuse. unfortunately, it doesn't work, and he finds himself on the stage, looking between the rope, the pyre, the flint,and jeanne, with a sick, twisting feeling in his stomach. ]

[ that's probably the poison. maybe. ]

You can't... you can't be serious right now!

[ zuko yells at the sky. ]

[discernments]

[ As soon as Jeanne sees what it is, something in her expression shutters, but she doesn't falter. This isn't what will make fall. This isn't something that will get her to break. Even if she's here to die, she won't be afraid. ]

This is a little in poor taste.

[ She's steady as she walks up to the pyre. There is no fear in her demeanor, only a set and grim resignation. ]

It's just like history to repeat, isn't it?

[ It's not said as a joke, but it's meant as a humorless one even it's something that will fall flat for even those who do know what she's referencing. ]

I can take care of most of it, if you don't wish to, Zuko.

[ It's not like this is unfamiliar to her. ]

PEANUT GALLERY

[retellers]

[ This morning, everyone is... still feeling sick! The good news is that's not as bad as it was last night after trial ended. That's nice, I guess. ]

[recrowns]

[it's the combination of things.

it feels like this week it's just - been the combination of things. shigeo. fiora. elsa. yona. jeanne and now - zuko? and the pyre. his eyes widen and he presses his hand against the barrier and the word escapes him before he can say anything else, soft yet so nearly desperate.]

No.

[evocationary]

[ okay, like - she's koala clinging to people but immediately she reaches to take his hand with her not-fucked up one. ]

[lecarre]

[He's always been there for her.

She seems strangely timid, but even so... she steps closer, and reaches up a hand to gently touch his sleeve with her fingers.

What else can any of them do?]

[antaressnipe]

[-- This is an absolute low blow for the Realm and Chiron watches on in cold fury before he just sits down, a hand pressed to his temple]

[chanteuser]

[ eventually she'll gravitate over and just sort of flop next to him, tucking her arm around his, if he'll allow it. ]

[arkitect]

[he says nothing aloud-- just rests a hand on chiron's shoulder, and lets it remain there.]

[robopriest]

[Emet-Selch has got one shoulder, so he'll take the other, his own expression grim as he stares straight ahead.]

[She doesn't deserve this. Not like this. Especially not like this.]

[evocationary]

[ oh no, zuko. oh no jeanne.

lup looks sick, just like everybody else. this time she's koala clinging to either taako or sora, whoever lets her do it. both probably if she can swing it. ]

[reconnective]

[lup can have his other shoulder to drape/cling to since he's also holding up clem. they can just be a pile, it's fine, this sucks!!!]

[stillnot]

[ clem is definitely still leaning against sora, because sick or not she's still injured. (that's definitely why.) she just - frowns when she sees who it is. ]

Zuko...

[reconnective]

[oh....this is bad...

LIKE IT'S ALWAYS BEEN BAD but this is really bad? he's here and he's frozen in place, watching jeanne and zuko as the pyre burns.

a large bird suddenly flies and nests in sora's hair. it is not his familiar, it is just a bird. but for once he doesn't bother caring about that. there are other things to worry about.]

[robopriest]

[Hansa is keeping his mouth clamped for the time being, because he does not want to ruin the mood of this by any means, Jeanne doesn't deserve that, but when he sees the pyre...]

[He curses under his breath, and then murmurs a haiku to himself with some annoyance, though he's keeping it so quiet so no one can hear. He hates this, actually.]

[chanteuser]

[ alex's cat is around her neck, making grumbling, sad little mewing noises because they are all still feeling sick.

she looks sick as well, but it's not because of the poison. ]

[dianxias]

[ xie lian, horrified, covers his mouth with his hand as zuko is the one brought to the stage for this tragedy of an execution, his soft gasp muffled by his sleeve.

the loss of jeanne is going to be brutal enough. this... like this, with zuko being the one behind it, is... ]

[papasha]

[He still looks ill, of course, but he kind of just hovers around looking grim.

In poor taste, yet what kind of you do with a realm that does what it wants?]

[sacredchants]

[ ignoring how izumo got here, she'll be sitting somewhere as this is all going on because literally this girl is not meant to stand?? there will be a carbuncle (that's totally her's) in her arms as she does so.

this is all terrible. oh so terrible... unfortunately, izumo has no intention of looking away. ]

[uhhhmagic]

[Just. Watching. Arms crossed tightly.]

A little on the nose if you ask me.

[arcsplainist]

[ Even though they're forced to watch these, Alphinaud always tries to put on a level face, unflinching and quiet. But today, he seems more strained than usual, worn at the edges, and it isn't because of the lingering feeling of being sick.

He may even look away for most of this, eyes downcast instead. ]

[horologia]

[ no? no. sometimes kindness only begets even greater tragedy.

they know this story, don't they? they know what happened of saint jeanne, joan d'arc. an execution by burning takes so long; why this, compared to literally any other method of death? is it because they already did the death by guillotine once? and zuko, after everything...

there's an odd bird keeping her company today, but yuuri can only watch silently, face pale and expression tight and drawn. ]

[axecessory]

[ her first expression is tragic—her hands squeeze together into fists before releasing, schooling her expression into something only slightly less miserable.

as though the people they lost already weren't bad enough. this is awful for so... so many reasons. ]

...I don't know if I can watch this. [ is that unfair? isn't all of this already unfair? ]

A MESSAGE FROM YOUR SPONSORS

[retellers]

[ While Zuko and Jeanne are being properly fussed over after the barrier goes down, the three Leaders are whispering amongst themselves with their backs turned to the group. If, for some reason, anyone is looking closely at them, they'll see the three of them hold their hands out and... are they playing rock, paper, scissors? Goat is off rhythm compared to the other two though. Tiger chooses scissors, Swan chooses rock, and Goat is still shaking their hand in a way that makes it obvious they have no idea what they're doing right now, but technically, their hand is still in a fist which means they're rock too.

Tiger steps forward. ]

Okay so, we don't normally do this, but we all thought this was important enough to make a public announcement. There have been a lot of theorizing and rumors going around, so we just wanted to correct one where the rules won't hold us back for once. [ They glance around. ] Whoooo exactly said that it's definitely a rule that the kills have to be one splintered and one non-splintered, or else it doesn't count? I didn't say that, my two sidekicks here didn't say that, and according to the other three, neither did they.

[ They sigh. ]

On that note, if any of you have other wild theories or conspiracies, I beg you to go to your Leader and fact check them. I know that most of you think we don't know anything, but I promise you there are certain things we can make your lives like, ten times easier for, if you asked us and then actually listened to our answers. Anyway, we're out.

[ With that, Swan teleports out, while Tiger leaves with Goat. ]