BLUFF [AIB]

Stage One: III

[Started: 12/25/2022]
[Ended: 12/25/2022]
[Song: Come On Eileen by Dexys Midnight Runners.]

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Alice In Borderlands
BLUFF
STAGE ONE: Rubatosis
"The unsettling awareness of your own heartbeat."

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Chapter Three
"Wise Man."
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    The old man brought Y/n to an old dock on the beach. The only boat docked was a small yacht. On deck, there was a small lounge area with a fire pit in the middle. Y/n had settled on one of the seating ledges and let the waves calm her as the old man started the fire.
    The sun was just coming over the horizon when he had finished cooking up a few fish. They sat together to eat but Y/n had some very important questions on her mind. Some of them likely knew the answer too.
    "Sir, will you answer my question now?"
    He nodded. "If they're not stupid."
    "We have to play death games and you said this was a new country. Does that mean the games are like renewing a visa?" She asked.
   He looked a little impressed. "Exactly. Every game has a card. The higher the number the more visa days."
    "Does the suit mean anything?"
    "Diamonds are games of intellect, spades are games of strength, clubs are teamwork-based, and hearts play with...well hearts." He explained quickly as if it were common knowledge.
    She sighed. "I'm guessing you don't know what happened to everyone in Tokyo?"
   He shook his head. "But there is one thing, everyone seems to arrive in this place at different times. Food is scarce because it's all rotten and on the outskirts of the city the forest is growing back. Whatever this place is it's been going on for a while. And be careful who you trust in games. Sometimes the people that set them up pose as players, try to get everyone to die. I call them dealers....I think they are forced to do it."
    She frowned thinking about what he had said. "Do you think this place is even Tokyo?"
   He smiled. "I'd like to believe it's not. I think that if you collect all the cards you can return home."
   Her mind flashed back to the man that took the card after the game. "Why didn't you take the card before then?"
   He waved her off. "I won't live long enough to get out of this place. I'm just waiting for my death."
    Y/n was intrigued by the old man. Unlike popular belief, old people are not interesting in the slightest. They all have stupid stories about what life used to be like. But this man was different. His overall attitude gave it away.
   "Why not try? You'd get to see your family again." Y/n said.
    She didn't care about family but the majority of the population did.
   "Bah, my kid wants Nothin' to do with me." His smile faded as he looked down. "I wasn't a good father, she won't ever forgive me and I don't blame her."
   "You have a daughter?"
   "Yup. She's a hard-headed brat. A bit like you." He replied chuckling a bit.
   "My father wasn't great either and I'll never forgive him. It would be nice to hear him admit that he was wrong though. You could do that for her." Y/n suggested.
    The man shook his head. "She's moved on. I don't wanna bring up old wounds."
"I get that."

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The sun had risen Y/n sat on the dock with her feet in the water. She stared into the blue depth conflicted about her new situation. The old man whose name he refused to tell her sat down next to her with a huff.
"You can stay here ya know, I wouldn't mind the company in my last days. I got some things to get off my chest." He told her.
She looked over at him suspiciously. "Like what?"
He looked out at the horizon a regretful look in his eyes. "All the bad things I did."
'Well obviously.'
"What did you do?"
"I hurt people, I hurt a lot of people." He drew out his sentence. "I was greedy and it cost lives."
Y/n gulped. "We're you a hitman or something."
"Occasionally."
'Holy fuck.'
He looked back at her. "What about you? What did you do before this?"
"I was a hairstylist."
He roared with laughter. "You don't seem like the type!"
'Laugh it up, old man.'

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A few days passed by. Y/n did stay with the old man. Gradually he hinted at his old life but mostly he asked Y/n questions. Most of the time she didn't have much to say. What could she say? All she knew was that she hated her life.
The boat rocked back and forward in the open ocean a few miles offshore. Y/n sat on the edge of the boat with a fishing pole in her hand and sunglasses on her face. The sun beat down on her but she liked the feeling.
"You know you were too trusting in the game." An old man's voice came from behind her. "You have to be more skeptical in the future."
She rolled her eyes. "I knew what I was doing old man. Kyuma didn't seem the type to trick someone into a sacrifice."
"You could have been wrong."
She turned around to face him. "If you know so much why don't you teach me how to survive the games Huh?"
He looked down in thought. "That's not a bad idea kid."
"Awesome." She turned back around. "Can't wait."

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"Lesson one, you can't trust everything."
Y/n and the old man walked through the streets of Tokyo gathering supplies. Y/n has pulled a wheelbarrow filled with clothes, canned food, and propane. Old man was carrying nothing but managed to talk the entire time.
'This guy is starting to get on my nerves.'
"Before you were used to being the deceiver but here everyone will try to trick you including the games."
She snickered. "How do you know I'm used to being the deceiver."
"No normal person is as calm as you after their first game." He looked at her like she was stupid.
'I wasn't THAT calm.'

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"Lesson two."
Y/n and the Old man stood on the beach. The sun stood high in the sky and the waves crashed on the sand.
"This will be a long lesson."
She tilted her head. "Why?
"I am going to teach you how to fight." He said putting his fists in front of his face.
Y/n laughed nervously and took a step back. "Whoah, maybe we should have lunch first."
"No backing out now kid. Give me everything you got." He waved her forward.
She looked at the man clueless about where to start.
"Jesus." He put his hands down. "You are terrible."

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The old man pulled open the wardrobe after unlocking it. There were shelves and shelves of weapons from assault rifles to handguns and knives. Y/n stared in amusement.
"Nice collection."
"This is part of lesson two." He told her. "I'm going to teach you how to use all of these."
She smirked taking a large gun off of a shelve. "Can we start with this?"
"Absolutely not." He took it back from her placing it in its usual spot. He picked up a knife instead. "We'll start with this. Sometimes a knife is all you'll have."
'Buzzkill.'

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