The Jewel Made me Do It

[DerArknight]

((Chris Tyrell continued from Blue Monday))

Lying on a bed similar to the one he had rested some time ago on, Chris let out a sigh.

In the end, they hadn't encountered a single soul after the run-in with Kaya. He was unsure if this was good or bad. On one hand, it meant they had not gotten into any trouble. On the other, they had failed to unite with the third and last remaining member of the Leviathans. And failed to find more weapons. And failed to achieve anything in general.

Now they had split up for the time being into adjacent rooms. After sticking together for the whole day, Chris was relieved to be alone for some little time.

He was no longer so naive as to take a shower. Instead he had read through the manual for his new weapon, the M55 Reising Submachine Gun. Following the manual, he had gone through the motions of reloading and readying it several times until he believed himself able to copy these actions on the fly when it counted. It felt disturbing, but not doing so would have been suicide.

He also was aware that he wasn't alone at all. Surely, someone was watching him in this very moment over one of the three cameras in the room.

And one of these "someones" was someone he hoped to converse with.

"Jewel? Unless a group of players is heading our way, I think now would be a good moment for a talk.

"If a group of players is indeed heading our way, please make a barking noise or some sort of code."

[MurderWeasel]

A moment later, the collar around Chris' neck crackles and a familiar voice emanates from it.

"No roving bands of killers breathing down on you right this moment. There aren't so many of those left now, actually. Well, still enough.

"I got some of the information you wanted, by the way. How explosive the tank can be depends on whether it's just full of compressed air, or if it's pure oxygen. Pure oxygen is the dangerous one, but precisely how dangerous is a little unclear. I read that a tank explosion blew the doors off a car across a parking lot from where it happened, though, and killed someone more or less on the spot, so if that's what you have you should be careful."

[DerArknight]

After listening to Jewel's answer, Chris moved his head to the right so he could look at the nightstand, where the oxygen tank rested.

One line of the writing on it was Caution: 100% Oxygen!

"Looks like I have the dangerous one." He told Jewel. "But how careful do I have to be?

"Like, i guess shooting it will make it go boom without a doubt, but what if I drop it?"

[MurderWeasel]

The voice is more cheerful than the words it says.

"It depends on the condition of the tank. The one I read about, the guy was just walking it across the parking lot when it blew. If it's dented or damaged, a lot of stuff could blow it, but if it's in good shape I think it should survive being dropped? And not everything will necessarily make it explode. It could just leak, or rocket around and break someone's neck. Lots of possibilities.

"I'd generally treat it with a respectful amount of caution, though."

[DerArknight]

"I guess that makes sense."

Chris stared back at the ceiling. Now that he was resting, he could feel his feet hurting from too much cardio. Another thing he couldn't afford to worry about right now.

"I will think what I can do about the tank. I got a gun now, So I guess that means I can explode it whenever. And even trhowing it at someone might distract them." He wasn't too sure what he hoped to achieve by telling Jewel his plan, but he figured it wouldn't hurt him to communicate with his mentor.

It was then that he remembered something else he had been thinking about.

"One last question: in regards to Mary, is she... safe?

"I mean I guess she didn't try to kill me and so, but back at Mangrove we didn't really get along and now she seems pretty shaken, so she might end up snapping or something.

"Did you see her do anything during the game I should know about?"

...

"I mean," Chris said, suddenly feeling the need to backpedal a little. "It's not that I mistrust her. I just want to ask for your verdict to make sure."

[MurderWeasel]

This time, there's a long pause before the reply.

"You don't have to worry about Mary hurting you. She wouldn't do that.

"With the tank, the thing to remember is that if you shoot it and it does explode, then you're dealing with an explosion. If you're far enough away to be safe, it may be hard to hit, and if you're close enough for a good shot, you may experience more of the effects than you'd prefer."

[DerArknight]

Bruh.


The first part didn't sound very convincing after the suspiciously long pause. And the second had been obvious. Chris had kind of an idea how explosions worked.

But he didn't say anything about it.

"Thanks, Jewel. I will keep it in mind."

He nodded to the camera and got jumpscared by a sudden voice.

"Good evening to those of you who remain," Ritzy Daggers spoke suddenly over the speakers. While Chris had expected the announcement soonish, he hadn't expected it in this very moment, resulting in him jumping up in surprise.

---

Well, it could have been worse.

The good news brought by the announcement was that two of the more prominent killers - Gregory and Akeno - had dropped out of the competition, which was a very fucked up way to say that they died.

The even better was that they were close to the finish line. Only eight people apart from Mary and him were left.

But the shitty news was that it really was only the two of them. Whoever the third remaining Leviathan was, they were gone.

In other news, it turned out that not sticking with Kaya had been a good idea, seeing how she had apparently murdered someone not much before or after meeting them. And Amanda, the girl whose weapon he now called his own, had indeed jumped. The joke Ritzy made about her demise sucked, even compared to the rest of her attempts to be funny.

Just how can anyone watch this show?

Chris had no answer. He couldn't even remember the time he saw a full episode of SOTF-TV. And he didn't mingle with the fanbase.

Funnily enough, he still remembered trying to play for the audience during his first days here. Had he really thought that this audience would be the same as his usual one? That giving them something watchworthy would help his situation in any form?

Back at the restaurant, it had been easy to tune out how messed up this whole situation was. Good times.

After a few more minutes, Chris got tired of the whirlwind of pessimism in his head. Despite his feet still aching a bit, he stood up and collected his stuff.

Time to head out again.

((Chris Tyrell continued in Tinnitus))