Aeon Nether & Idol Effigy

Chapter 26- Meerkat on Stage

<Gif from Cheezburger.com>

In this dark room that glowed in a red light, the host spoke in an amiable hoarse deep voice like that of someone sick.

"There have been some mafia, rogue criminals and good people that have been ousted in your separate groups. Here you will begin by voting a person out. By night there will be tablets given to everyone. Each person has a role that can do something at night. The tablets have a place to choose who will live and die for the daytime voting sessions. You are not allowed to talk about your previous games in this game. You must collect evidence to persuade people in this room to vote. As it's the first day you will only be allowed to silently vote for who you want out. Cast your vote now."

A pause filled the air. We voted and he told us the results. Next we ushered in the night and chose our actions.

My tablet stated that I had ranked up in the mafia and I'm now a high ranking janitor. Perhaps due to my group being the fastest. I chose who's murder to clean and chose to act cautious on the scene. My second action had me jogging in the park and attending my night shift at my second job. Then daybreak broke.

"Six people have died tonight. Two investigators were killed by the mafia. A witness was killed by one of the mafia's janitors. One mafia member died whilst he was undercover in the investigator group. The two remaining people include a doctor and a single mother who were accidentally killed. May the two people who accidentally killed them please leave the game, as you must go to jail. The person who was voted out has been notified at night and chose to leave a will stating that you committed arson often. We found his corpse in his house this morning. You may now discuss today's situation. You will vote for another person today."

The conversation peaked. People were playing in their roles and explaining their life stories, quite literally.

There was a mother-in-law shouting at her daughter-in-law, because she went out clubbing yesterday leaving her alone to take care of the children at home. Two supposedly relaxed doctors talked the other into healing them at night. There were all kinds of conversation, and I sat there wincing in pain due to my evolved body being better with less numbing of my pain over time.

They seemed to be talking at the same time with groups of people. The bean bags we all sat on were on a mechanic plate that moved towards the centre of the room, as more and more people died. It happened this morning that the seats moved closer to the centre of the stage. All that presented the path the seats moved in were what I had originally thought were just small lines on the floor for purely design sake.

The conversations carried on and I, being hungry, got down from my chair quietly. There were lunch boxes and some other things at the edge of the stage. I had smelled the food and asked a staff member if I was allowed to eat them before everyone had come to shoot the final game. They said it was okay, as long as I do it during the game and not before or after it. It confused me as to why we weren't allowed to eat them after the show, but I just assumed that the staff would take them away to eat at the end of the game as their bonus or as a kind of punishment for us.

Afterall, we're on a show trying to produce Idols and one of the prerequisites of becoming an idol is appearance. So it won't be strange if we were told to go on a diet or two eating only certain types of food. I remember in my last life that some people only ate steamed food due to health issues like my original father did as he grew older.

So I quickly went out and chose what I wanted, lest I age anymore.

There were a lot of lunch boxes with different food inside them laid out. The boxes were wooden and in a circular tub with a see through lid. There were also labels of the food near them.

I took a bottle of blackberry and apple flavoured water fairly quickly. The lunch boxes I chose were naan bread, with a type of spicy scrambled eggs and a slice of coconut cake. I didn't forget to bring napkins and hand wipes with me either.

It took another minute until the screen on stage said it would be night time. But I couldn't find any spoons to eat my cake with.

Whilst I was looking around I didn't notice that everyone was trying hard not to pay any attention to what I was doing. At this moment the viewers on site and at home were debating on what kind of animal I looked like.

It was then that I saw it. A box on a trolley with eating utensils and other things on it. It seemed that someone had forgotten to bring it down to put it on stage. My lips unconsciously formed a pout and then my expression turned into a serious glare as I looked at it on bridges that were above the stage.

Looking at my food I walked quickly to my bean bag and put my food there. I looked up and around me quickly noticing that no one had seen me. It's a shame that they were actually just acting and watching my every move from the moment I got out of my bean bag chair. Even at this moment gifs of my actions were being made without my knowledge.

The stage was circular and there was no way to make it up to the spoons before the time would go out quickly. So I rashly decided that I would use my energy after I had to cough up the blood I was trying to hold in. It covered the napkin I had hurriedly brought out with red blood, but I just quickly grabbed the bag in my grey hoodie to put it away. The bag was see-through, so the collection of bloody napkins could be seen by those I was unaware were watching me.

After I put it away I covered my body in energy that was both iridescent and looked like an oil spill, as the colours gleamed frequently. I changed it to a lighter energy that changed the colour, to allow me to float up to the bridge quickly. Once I got my spoon I carried it down with me, as I swam through the air quickly to my seat. Or at least that would be how it looked like to most others. In actuality I was changing my density with the energy of the water in the air directly around me. So it was like I was swimming with my hair fanning out behind me slightly and my spoon in my hands.

I got down and into my seat before the timer stopped. I sat down and arranged everything I got besides me with a smile on my face. Then I set my spoon folded in a napkin carefully on top of my lunch- no, I'll just put it on my lap.

Next I hurriedly went to my tablet and input my vote alongside my choices. But after the votes were done my screen flashes red notifying everyone that I had lost. However, I couldn't hide the fact that I was more worried about not being able to eat the lunchboxes I collected.

Looking back at the tablet I looked at my options. I found an option to enter a diary option for tomorrow, which I chose. It said it had to be role related. It was probably a prompt to leave a memorable comment that has to do with the game... I think I achieved that. After that I chose to get investigated and made some excuses.

The clock on the screen showed that it was daytime once again. The host came forward with a report of what happened.

"A total of four people died last night. The mafia killed the last doctor in the game. Then they killed two ordinary citizens and one investigator. The person who was voted out yesterday was Aeon Nether. She left with the police amicably from her night shift as a mortician. When investigating her they didn't find out much, but will continue their investigations later on. At her home, a diary entry was found... It-It asked a question about whether or not she was allowed to eat the lunchboxes with the crowd of dead people... Really? Well just come over here and we'll discuss whilst they discuss."

The host who had his hair hiding his identity in a messy and lazy, long haired style patted the space he made on his throne as the game host.

In response to his actions I got up and brought my food and precious spoon over carefully.