He was supposed to hear an alarm clock.
James' thoughts were muddled. Somewhere, he was thinking about his nine o'clock presentation. His tie had a smudge on it; he hoped that nobody would notice. The weekend was always less than six days away, so there was that to look forwards to. Payday—cash, and the only thing tying him to work, giving meaning to an inherently meaningless job.
He was supposed to hear an alarm clock. Why wasn't there an alarm clock?
His head hurt. He must not have gotten a very good night's sleep. When he arrived at the workplace, he would pour himself a cup of coffee.
He was supposed to hear an alarm clock. He was supposed to be lying in a bed. Why was something cold and hard pressing into his back?
James opened his eyes. He wasn't supposed to be dressed in his business suit. Why was he dressed—
Where was he?
James bolted upright, desperately scrambling to his feet. Where was he?
Whatcha gonna do, little buckaroo? | i be pimpin' madoka ficsViolet sits up and shakes her mane of black hair out of her face, evaluating the other four in the room. Two of her companions are teenage girls. The other two are around her age, a man with a hideous bowler hat and another dressed as if he too were going to a dinner party. She looks down at her dress of flowing green silk and the flat, matching slippers. Was I really too tired to change into a nightgown after the concert? I didn't even take off my shoes! Well, I did have to drive msyelf home from San Francisco....
But there is a far more pressing matter that must be addressed. Why am I here?
She remains seated while the man in the suit comes to. What should she do? Introduce herself? Well, why not? Violet stands up and holds out her hand to him.
"Looks like we've found ourselves in a bit of a predicament, so we might as well get to know each other before the inevitable downward spiral into chaos and murder. My name is Violet Geier. Yours?"
edited 25th Nov '11 10:54:03 PM by SnowyFoxes
The last battle's curtains will open on stage!A voice woke Simon from his dream. He didn't like that. He opened his eyes to see who had broken into his home, only to see that he wasn't in his home anymore. He picked himself off the floor, calmly turned towards the two who stood before him. "Ok, where the hell am I, who are you two, what the HELL is going on!?"
Mad as a hatterA loud click could be heard reverberating throughout the starkly white room that three of the five had just awoken in. The click was followed by a hiss, and a beep. And finally a disembodied voice, seeming to come over a radio or intercomm, though no such device was visible.
"James Bernard, Simon Myers, Violet Geier...Gayer? Guyer? Am I pronouncing that right? And...the other two are still asleep. Lovely, wake them up for me would you? We can't start the game if all the players aren't present."
go ahead and do every stupid thing you can imagine"Sarah. Lowen." The voice notes, in a droning voice, and then, more conversationally. "So upset, I see. But it has to be more interesting than your job at the shoe store, yes? The four of you would be well advised to awake the blind one, so we can begin. If you linger here too long I'll simply dispose of you."
go ahead and do every stupid thing you can imagineJames looked around the white room. There were no exits.
The pounding of his own heart drowned out all other noise. This was absurd. What had he done? He was just an ordinary person. Nothing he had done in the course of his life could warrant this kind of joke being played on him.
James fought to keep his voice level. "Come on; let's wake her up. If we do what it says, I can't imagine that it'll do anything worse to us."
Whatcha gonna do, little buckaroo? | i be pimpin' madoka fics"Test subjects? What do you take me for, some cheap researcher? If I wanted test subjects, I'd make them. Think of this as....a game. As for food...." as the voice trails off, a large panel unfolds on the side of the room, revealing what is essentially a breakfast buffet. "I'd eat up, it's the last time you're going to get a free meal out of me."
edited 26th Nov '11 3:00:03 PM by BlixtySlycat
go ahead and do every stupid thing you can imagineJames grabbed a croissant. After staring at it for a couple seconds, he quelled his suspicions and bit in. No point starving.
"You'll forgive me if I express my lack of interest in playing whatever game you have in mind for us, sir," James said, addressing the disembodied voice. Trying to still the quiver in his own voice, he continued, "I don't know what you want from us. I suspect that the dispensing of answers is to your discretion."
He knelt by the only one still sleeping and tried to shake her awake.
Whatcha gonna do, little buckaroo? | i be pimpin' madoka ficsViolet rolls her eyes at the voice, but starts building an egg and bacon toast sandwich for herself. Sadly, she doesn't have her handbag with her. Maybe someone else could think of a way to carry this around so they can ration it. She doesn't really want to rip her dress to make a kerchief, but if it comes to that....
"If this is a game, what are the rules and goals?" she asks. "I'll probably be bored enough to play along, oh, in a few days."
edited 26th Nov '11 6:17:56 PM by SnowyFoxes
The last battle's curtains will open on stage!Daedalus. A figure from Greek mythology, the architect who designed the maze on Crete where Athenian youths were flung to fight the Minotaur. Trapped there himself, he made wings for himself and his son, who flew to close to the sun and fell in the ocean...
Symbolism! How delightful. Violet chuckles quietly and helps herself to a bowl of sliced fruit.
The last battle's curtains will open on stage!Elanor woke with a start after being shaken multiple times* , jerking away and automatically extending her arms in an attempt to push away the person (or thing, maybe it's a thing, it's possible). She wasn't sure she succeeded, but she was pretty sure she had hit something, perhaps her step-sister. Probably. Marie did do this sort of thing all the time.
She noticed the ground was hard and cold underneath her and frowned. Someone had pushed her off the bed? She directed her gaze in front of her where she thought Marie was and cocked her head, speaking in a still sleepy, dreamy voice, "Was that really necessary? Master Tanaka isn't doesn't come on Sundays..."
edited 27th Nov '11 3:27:07 AM by Aralyn
When I walk on the street counting my steps, magic keeps silent and reality stalks me."It doesn't fucking matter! You, whoever the hell you are, have no right to IMPRISON us in wherever the hell we are!" Sarah angrily stomps over to the buffet, grabs a few slices of bacon, and begins eating them, before whirling around to the last girl. "And you! Wake the fuck up, you aren't at Master whoever the hell's house anymore, alright?" She shakes the girl before walking off to angrily stomp around the edges of the room.
I ship it.Elanor recoiled at the sudden sharp, strange voice, stung at the breach of ettiquete etiquette? Gah., accompanied by further shaking and the smell of bacon.
"But I never go to his house, he comes to..." she turned her head, suddenly noticing the absence of the usual sounds that echoed through the house in the mornings (her step-sisters teasing the dogs, the sounds of her step-mother making breakfast, she was alone), and she picked herself up, pressing against the wall behind her. Rough and none of the velvet that lingered on her walls lingered on these.
"What..." she murmered, wishing for the thousandth time that she could see.
When I walk on the street counting my steps, magic keeps silent and reality stalks me.

Deep in the confines of a maze lost to reason and time, the ruler of this realm places the pieces for yet another round of His cruel game. For the pieces, the rules are simple. Live for as long as you can without going mad. There is no hope of escape. There is no chance at rebellion. There is nothing but the inevitability of this Labyrinth that is named Daedalus.
“But that’s what He wants you to think.”
The bespectacled heretic silently watches the screen, the blue glow illuminating the dark room, the reflection of the CCTV feed reflecting off of her glasses. Unknown to the so-called God of the Labyrinth, there is a second player of this game, and for her, the goal is the impossible, beat the creator at His own game.
On the screen, five figures blink into existence, still unconscious, but not for long. Soon they will be given their meager tools, and then the game would begin.
“Here we go.” The heretic leans back in her chair and fidgets with a ball of red yarn.
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