forces are aligning quietly, and there will be trouble

[almostinhuman]

((Dusk continued from while you were having premarital cybersex, i studied the blade))

The school was eerie in this state. Dusk wasn't sure if they remembered it ever getting dark like this in the school sim before. Probably it did, for whoever stayed online for clubs or work or such after most of the students had logged off, but Dusk wasn't in any such clubs and had never had any reason to stick around like that. They were usually eager to leave and hang out elsewhere on the internet, CR sim or otherwise. Now the school was all they had access to. A weird, kinda glitchy version of their school, in the middle of literally nowhere, but still. That it was so familiar only made all the little things that were off about it stand out all the more.

Moving under the covered bridges across the schoolyard, Paris peered into the windows, eyeing them for other students. Not to attack; the sword was cool, but it wasn't a ranged weapon at all. They just needed to make sure no enterprising little hunters were lying in wait, ready to pop them in the back of the head as they passed. It was why they were under the roof cover and not crossing out in the open. They didn't want to give anyone an opportunity they didn't have to. After all, it wasn't likely they were the only person who'd decided to follow the rules laid out for them. In fact, they already knew they weren't. They'd seen the announcement, and the footage therein. At least one girl - Sunny - was dead already.

It was still kinda hard to believe it.

Dusk wouldn't have described Sunny as a friend. Dusk had plenty of those, but their schoolmates mostly didn't make it into that category. But Dusk had known her, of course. How could they not, when they shared a homeroom? Dusk had tried - was trying - to hype themselves up to play the game the way they needed to. They'd nearly killed Amy; their failure to do so wasn't for a lack of trying. But someone - Daniel - had already beaten them to the punch. He'd done it before anyone else could. He'd seemingly done it within minutes of the sim starting. It'd been brutal, too. It'd started as a fair fight, but once he'd gained the upper hand Daniel didn't let up at all. Seeing him hit her again and again like that...

Perhaps they'd been a little hasty, assuming it'd be easy just because it wasn't "real". It had looked plenty real in the footage. But they'd already tried to kill someone, right? Certainly Amy and Zorin and Cecilia had already spilled the beans to whoever they could. Certainly, even with no kills to their name, it was already kinda too late to walk it back. And most of all, it was the only way forward. It was only a matter of time until everyone else in Class 12-B started figuring that out, and then Dusk would lose whatever element of surprise they could have had, if it wasn't lost to them already. Then they'd be the idiot swinging a sword in a game where half the class had fucking guns.

So they just needed to find someone. Someone with a gun, preferably light so they could carry it and the katana at once. Someone who wouldn't see them coming, or wouldn't realize what they had planned until it was too late. Unfortunately they hadn't yet; the school was big, and their class wasn't, so it was surprisingly hard to find anyone out there. But the night was still young. And once they found them...

Daniel wouldn't be alone for long.

They cleared the schoolyard and headed back inside.

((Dusk continued in Don’t break anyone’s heart, they only have one. Break their bones, they have 206))