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The chill of the floor eased his headache, but soon it didn't make that much of a difference as the rest of his body followed the same chill. He had a content smile on his face, hopeful of something, but as his consciousness faded, that hopeful idea faded alongside it.
Well, until it didn't.
His eyes flashed open, the back of a couch greeting him, as well as a wooden floor. This definitely wasn't where he was last. After being hit with as much confusion as one can hold, he sat up. The boy peered around the room, spotting a kitchen, a common area, and a set of stairs that most likely led to a second floor (Duh! Where else would it lead, idiot!?)
He finally stood up, and as he did he noticed his clothing. Unlike the white shirt he had on before he was here, he was once again wearing the black and white jacket he used to mainly wear, like he was being mocked. As if the universe was making fun of him even harder, he locked eyes with an NPC he recognizes very well.
"Brandon." A laugh weakly escaped his mouth as he stumbled over to the robot.
A voice started talking as he tapped on the NPC's shoulder. "let's chat! how are you feeling"
A voice? No, it isn't just a voice. It's his voice. Brandon's voice. The voice that he thought he'd truly never hear again. He collapsed against the cold body in front of him, grabbing onto nothing as his hands slipped down the metal. He could see tear marks show against the floor, were they his?
"feeling good." Did he feel good? He wasn't exactly sure, he was crying. Do people cry when they're happy? Too many questions floated around in his head. It doesn't matter if there was a real answer to any of them, but he does know the answers that lead him to what he's looking for.
"cool :D what have you been up to"
"playing games" He really hasn't actually played anything in awhile, he's been too drained.
"oh what game is your favorite right now?"
"heli wars" After everything, he would consider that it was his favorite game. After all, if it wasn't, Brandon's last message to him wouldn't be as accurate anymore. He'd rather not give that up.
"ozo is that you?" There it was, what he was looking forward to hearing. Maybe he actually was happy now. "LOL it must be! hope you still get out there and pwn, so much fun"
He shifted, sitting down on the floor and his head rested against the NPC's legs. He tapped on it again, going through the same string of questions and answers over and over. In his mind, he couldn't catch on to how repetitive it was, he was just glad he could hear Brandon's voice again.
Due to his focus on Brandon, he didn't notice that more people joined him in the building he was in.
As soon as Elliot spawned back in, he leaned back in the chair. Of course he was targeted first again, it was always like that. But if anything, he was glad it was himself instead of anyone else. He was snapped out of his thoughts once he registered the voice of one of the NPCs filling the room.
Usually if a survivor is left behind from a full round, they'd catch up on sleep. Maybe that just wasn't the case today? Elliot was unsure, so what else can he do but investigate. He got out of his chair and stepped quietly towards the main room, but instead of being met with any familiar faces, he saw a boy with a purple cap sitting on the floor.
Now this just pissed Elliot off, usually he kept a calm face and tried to bring positivity to his teammates, but the thought of another kid being dragged into this mess angered him. Unfortunately, it seemed that the boy wouldn't pay any attention to him even if he tried. He just kept repeating the same choices the NPC had. Instead of pushing any further, Elliot went and sat down on a chair near the clock. He was far away, but also close enough to keep an eye on the kid, he hoped someone else would come soon.
-
After a few minutes the round ended and everyone showed up around the table. A win was finally achieved after a streak of losses and it raised everyone's spirits. But before they could even open their mouths, Elliot came around the corner and shushed them all.
"There's someone new, and he's just a kid." Elliot quickly looked over his shoulder at the boy.
"He hasn't said a word and if you didn't hear it in this silence, he won't stop interacting with the NPC."
"H..How old do you...uh.. mean?" Noob stuttered out, fidgeting with their fingers.
"He looks around the age of those three killers." He said, his eyes landing over 007n7, he noticed a familiar guilty look on his face.
"I wasn't exactly sure on how to approach him because it seemed like he was crying."
Without a word 007n7 stood up from his spot at the table, going over to the boy. He has looked through the NPC's code quite a bit, and the only game that's being chosen is the one that actually has a response that isn't completely glitched out.
He kneeled down next to the boy, "Is your name Ozo?" He asked, lightly placing a hand on his shoulder.
He slightly looked up, "Yeah."
"Well, Ozo, do you want to go sit on the couch and we can talk?" He asked gently.
"No, I don't want to go far away from his voice." What was he even supposed to talk about anyway?
"Would you rather me bring something over here instead? So you don't have to sit on the floor anymore?"
"That's fine."
007n7 nodded, smiling. "Alright, give me a second."
Before getting a seat, he went back over to the other survivors, who he now noticed were watching the interaction.
"Did'ya know the kid?" Chance asked, leaning against the chair in a way that it was halfway off the ground.
"No, but the only name the NPC mentions is Ozo, and it's obvious he is familiar with it."
"Smart guy!" They exclaimed, now rocking with the chair. Maybe once it falls backwards he'll learn to stop doing it.
Elliot spoke up next, "Did you get anything else?"
"I'll try in a second, I'm going to bring him something to sit on. I don't exactly want him to sit on the floor when he's vulnerable."
"Ah, that's a good idea. And Chance, sit in that chair correctly, no one is patching you up when your head gets cracked open."
"Ell..." Chance whined, listening to his words despite their annoyance and planting all four chair legs on the floor.
007n7 nervously smiled, his relationship with the pizza worker was still as rocky as it had always been but more compliments have been slipping through those rocks as of late. He turned back around and went to the couch, there was an ottoman sitting next to the area and he decided to move that.
He slid it over right next to the NPC so that the boy was still able to interact with it. 007n7 then sat down on the far side, patting the spot next to him as an indicator for the kid to sit on it.
“Ozo, do you know who this person is? It seems some of the dialogue options don't exactly work.” 007n7 started, trying to invite him into a conversation.
“It’s something my friend Brandon made.” He replied, getting up and sitting down next to 007n7 while a hand was still grasping the NPC’s. “He made it so we can still talk to him even if he's gone.”
007n7 hummed, his eyes catching those of the other survivors before his attention moved back to the one next to him. “Do you know where he went?”
Once the question was asked, he froze, his hand dropping down to his side. His mouth opened, but it felt like he was suffocating. Before he knew it, tears were falling again.
What was he doing here anyway?
Where was Brandon?
Why was he surrounded by strangers?
How did he make it here at all?
He feels like his brain is failing on memories that should be so simple, but whenever he tries again, a ringing plays out in his head.
Noticing his tears, 007n7 pulled him closer into a small hug. “You don't need to answer if it's too hard Ozo, I don't want you to stress.”
“My head hurts.” He mumbled, letting himself rest against 007n7.
“I bet, it is pretty overwhelming to be in some new place with a bunch of people you don't know, huh?” He chuckled, trying to lighten the mood. “My name is 007n7, if you have any worries don't hesitate to come to me, alright?”
He didn't respond, instead he just closed his eyes. Oddly enough, he felt tired, even though he swore he was sleeping before he even came to this place. As he was slowly falling asleep, 007n7 was observing his face. He managed to catch a sight of something that was pretty concerning.
A mark, a mark that happened to look quite similar to one 007n7 had. He felt like he should just keep it to himself. He didn't want the other survivors to ask the boy any questions or for them to ask 007n7 how he would recognize something like it.
He was hoping to get some answers to what the other choices would lead to, such as the other game options. They probably wouldn't do anything that different, maybe they were simply just connected to other friends that this ‘Brandon’ had.
Speaking of Brandon, talk of more disappearances worried him. He couldn't help but assume that another kid would be dropped off here, or even worse, on the killer's side. There was really no need to bring children into this game, even Noob being here was pushing it, they were the youngest of the survivors before today.
He could feel the boy go limp against his side, indicating he was finally asleep. 007n7 shifted gently, standing up from the seat. He bent down and lifted him up, bringing the kid over to the couch for him to rest on. After he knew he was still in a peaceful sleep, he made his way back to the table where everyone was still gathered.
“What new information did our dear exploiter uncover?” Two Time asked, their hands neatly folded on top of the table.
“Well, Ozo mentioned that the creator of the NPC is a friend named Brandon, who created the robot for other friends to interact with,” Before he let any more words out, he took a deep breath. “and this Brandon is unfortunately missing, which I can't help but think will have an impact on the place we are in.”
“I really hope another kid won't get brought here, it's heartbreaking enough now that we have Ozo with us and those three killers.” Guest said, shaking his head.
“🤔👉😡🔄☺️🚫💀” Taph suggested.
“Maybe the killers will go easy on us with the kid here, ey?” Builderman spoke, rubbing at his chin. “Who really knows, but there's most likely a high chance they won't care anyway.”
Suddenly, a chill washed over all of them, and a feeling of dread followed.
“A round already, really? Usually we get a day off after someone new joins.” Elliot didn't really like whatever this was implying, but maybe It won't bring the new survivor into the round. He could only hope as everything went dark.
The map was a familiar one, Brandon6875935's Place, which couldn't help but feel like the biggest mockery on the planet after what they just discovered. But for some reason, the killer's name wasn't stated, the group was just thrown into a round blind.
-
This is most unfortunate, an error occurred in the system that dragged an unknown variable into this world.
We are unable to do anything about it in the current moment, but we hope it brings you more entertainment.
Sadly, our new variable doesn't have any important skills to note so it seems that a [KILLER] cannot inflict damage on them.
We suppose this means they don't exactly fit into the role of a [SURVIVOR], but something more like a [SPECTATOR].
Our best guess of why this has happened is because of a new [KILLER] we had set to be introduced.
We can only hope that this variable will not affect the [KILLER] in any way.
We send our sincere apologies, The Spectre