video;

[tenminutes]

Kirino Kousaka!

[ This video looks a little more dramatic than it should. For one thing, Yuri has her hands folded beneath her chin, looking quite serious. The background is dark, illuminated only by beams of the sun peeking out from behind her in the window. Before her is an egg, held in a holder.

This is in fact a bit of fun for Yuri, and also based entirely on the fact that she wants to win and find out just what this Gold Ticket situation is. The fact that Yuri looks like a movie villain probably doesn't reflect her intentions, but she is declaring this in public. ]

I've taken the egg hostage, get here right now or I'll give it to one of the other classmates to babysit while I take care of everyone else's "eggs."

[ Yes, she's making vague threats to everyone else's eggs to start a stir. What other reason would there be for declaring this out of private? Of course, if anyone ticks her off, she obtained a number of Ferrero Rocher chocolate balls from Caius that she's been planning to practice sling shot with. ]

Comments

[losthersheep]

I hope you don't mean that you're going to break other people's eggs. That really can't be considered anything like "fair play."

[ Mami is a stickler when it comes to the rules, and she doesn't like the idea that her egg (or her friend's) might be ruined by someone planning to cheat. ]

Surely you wouldn't do something like that, right?

[ Mami is smiling, but she means business. ]

[tenminutes]

Only if they gave me a reason to, of course.

[ The chair Yuri is sititng in is clearly not one that students normally have though..

Rules may very obviously not factor in for her. ]

[losthersheep]

..And what would you consider to be a good reason for breaking the rules?

[ Mami was trying to give the girl an easy out, so that she could say that she would never break someone else's egg, but it seems like the girl isn't planning on being a model student. ]

[tenminutes]

Oh, I don't need a reason to break the rules. I wouldn't break someone's egg without a reason though.

[losthersheep]

That's a relief to hear. [ Somewhat. ] We should work together to make sure everyone passes though, right?

[tenminutes]

I haven't actually attended class unless I needed something in years, I just wanted to go get my egg because there was a prize. I already know half of the people doing this will probably fail on their own.

[losthersheep]

You skip classes?

[ No, no, that won't do! ]

If you help your classmates, then maybe more of them won't fail.

[tenminutes]

What are you talking about? I assume you're not an NPC since you're on the network, but you're obviously new so I'll let you know!

[ Wow so generous Yuri. ]

You can't fail. It just repeats. Again and again and again and no one ever ages, the NPCs will forget and will start going over Marie Antoinette or the Shogunate or whatever you're in class for repeatedly. If I wanted to go anymore, there wouldn't be a point. The only way to graduate is to disappear. No one explained it to you yet?

[losthersheep]

So the teachers...none of them are real people? [ That has Mami a little worried, it sounds almost sinister, that they'd be trapped here, forced to learn under some sort of...familiars. It reminds her too much of the Witch's Barriers, and it doesn't sit well with her. ]

Then this place, is it really purgatory?

[tenminutes]

No, they're more like NPCs from video games.

[ She hopes she gets that because it's weirder to explain if you haven't played games. ]

It's not really purgatory. Some people might call it that, but it's actually pretty pleasant. It's just a place for people to go while they work out their issues. Limbo is probably more correct than purgatory, really..

[losthersheep]

I've never really played video games..

[ She's too busy being a prim and proper girl with despair filling her life. ]

It's certainly a better place than where I expected to end up..

[ Killing herself, she would have expected something much...darker. ]

[tenminutes]

Think like robots with people-faces then. They're so "normal" that it's abnormal and they'll forget anything you do that's bad with a bit of time. There are circumstances that they become something else, but most of the time that's not the case. If you're new, I won't scare you with that just yet until you've gotten everything else down.

[ That's the closest explanation she's got otherwise. ]

[losthersheep]

It seems not everything is as it appears here.

[ Mami isn't sure she's happy with that or not. She has a question though. ]

..Is there anyway of telling if certain people have been here before? And..where they might have gone if they aren't here any longer?

[tenminutes]

Who are you looking for? I've been here longer than anyone else, I'd be your best bet.

[losthersheep]

I'm looking for two girls...a blue haired girl named Sayaka Miki, and.. [ Why does it hurt so much to say this name.. ] ..a red head, Kyouko Sakura.

They should...have come here too. [ Aka they are dead. ]

[tenminutes]

[ She shook her head after hearing the names. ]

I've never heard of them. If they're dead, that doesn't mean they end up here. There are specific types of people who end up here, after all.

[losthersheep]

Specific types? What do you mean?

[ Mami's holding it in, but she wants to cry. She wants to know why she died and she can't even see the people she promised she see again. ]

[tenminutes]

The people who end up here are people who have regrets so strong they can't move on. The people who curse their lives but don't give up.

[losthersheep]

I see..

[ That sounds perfectly like Mami. Homura too. But it's surprising that Madoka would be here under those conditions. Worse, it makes Mami feel like a terrible person, that she still has regrets but Kyouko and Sayaka do not, or at least, are not here. ]

I thought under those conditions you were supposed to become a ghost.

[tenminutes]

We all thought a lot of things before we got here. I don't think anyone was right.

[losthersheep]

I guess that is true..

This is a lot to take in all at once. And I thought things had been strange before I got here..

[tenminutes]

I think "strange" is kind of a relative term nowadays..