Monobear Theater - A Jazzy Execution
[tw: #Electrocution [also the music suddenly jumps to loud early on!]]
She’s said all she needs, confessed all she has to, and now Jaz knows her path is finally winding down. No longer is there any opportunity for her to push on and make her own; all possible exits are now sealed, and Jaz knows as much.
But why not give herself a chance at going out on her own terms?
Now back at her podium Jaz steps away from it once all has been built up for the conclusion, closing her eyes and dipping her head.
Silence. Jaz’s ears are straining for the sound of scraping metal, but she should surely know by now that if her ears are straining for a sound, it’s not there.
“Is… this for tension? Seriously?”
“…Honestly. I thought you liked getting these executions done? You’ve been hyped up enough, honestly- aha, wouldn’t it be a fucking riot if it all had broken n-”
Turned out she wasn’t in control of her last moments after all, as the chain suddenly shooting out from behind her squeezed out whatever words she had been about to say and dragged her off with a high pitched scream instead.
COMMENCING EXECUTION: FEEDBACK
People. Crowding. That’s the first thing Jaz notices when she’s finally dropped in the middle of her execution, smack bang in the middle of a heaving monochrome crowd with the only light coming from fluorescent paint on their bodies. Music thuds in her ears, the bass feeling like it’s shaking her very core as she’s physically jostled by the crowd around her in time to the beat.
Thud, thud thud, thud, thud thud, thud
For a while the exact nature of why she’s here is completely forgotten as she’s utterly frozen in the confined space, feeling like she can barely move her chest to breathe in the small space she has in a Monobear crowd. Any sound she manages to make in frustration or panic goes completely unheard, that heavy music that pounds in time with her heartbeat going thud, thud thud, thud in her ears and drowning her out.
It’s only when the glowing Monobear crowd gives another particularly large surge that Jaz is pushed into action. Her gaze is thrown towards an empty stage not too far away at all; wide open, lit up and mercifully raised above the suffocating crowd. The sight is enough to push her to take control of her position in the scene, Jaz’s breaths quick from exertion now rather than panic as she begins to desperately elbow her way through the Monobears before they crush her. Not a single audience member (membear?) is spared, ruthlessly shoved and jostled from their partying by the musician as she fights to pull herself above the masses.
Thud, thud thud, thud, thud thud
There’s no steps up onto the stage, forcing Jaz to pull herself up onto her stomach while still being knocked by the Monobears. She doesn’t waste time lying there however once she’s escaped falling back into the mass, scrambling up to investigate the music desk in the centre that’s oh-so-reminiscent of those she’s performed at many a time. Now that she’s free of that claustrophobic environment, up above the Monobears who continue about their partying business, she’s able to start considering how to get a hold on this ‘execution’ of hers. How to take control.
And her first manner of business is the plug.
Gripping it with both hands Jaz yanks as hard as she can on the cable- and everything stills.
Thud, thud thud, thuuuuuu…
(Show them it’s positively not working.)
Her shaking hands move away from the cable and clench into fists before her, a bright smile that doesn’t match her usual (though you… feel like you’ve seen similar actions and joy before) being forced onto Jaz’s face in spite of her sweat and her skin still prickling.
It doesn’t last long though.
That determined smile is quickly replaced by shock on her face as what light there had been is spluttering out save for the still-glowing Monobears, music stuttering and jumping before dying with a humming sound like microphone feedback. The stage fixtures above Jaz are crumbling, some starting to hang and swing precariously, and in a moment of fleeting panic totally at odds with her normal formal composure Jaz throws her arms over her head with a shriek as she crouches and braces herself for any impact-
Only when the fixtures do fall they crash down around her rather than on her, sickening cracks coming from the stage floor underneath her rather than bones breaking. Ever so slowly Jaz stands herself back up, gaze falling on the steel bars and lights that still continue to plummet. Underneath some of them she can see a grey surface starting to peek out from underneath the cracked stage, though she doesn’t stop to ponder what it is. The Monobears having stopping pushing forward as that wild crowd, the party’s over- now’s her chance to try and get away! Once again feeling in control Jaz scrambles to get out from behind the desk- only for that grey surface to start moving at an incredible pace, snatching Jaz’s feet out from underneath her and tugging her away. With one futile reach for the solid support of the stage edge Jaz is pulled away by the fast moving track, swept right through the stage’s backdrop with all of its fallen debris into…
…a factory production line of some kind, in just as small as space as the party she’s come from, but feeling much more suffocating to the girl and holding a very different context. A shocked glance upwards means Jaz catches the name of the section she’s just entered on the wall: QUALITY CONTROL- and at the moment, it seems to be Jaz up for inspection.
Turning herself over on the conveyer belt shows her destination, the pieces of stage debris further ahead of her giving Jaz a sneak preview of what’s to come. Each piece is being swept underneath a thick archway that’s then sealed off with metal shutters, the piece resting inside the tiny formed chamber for a few moments before a light in the shape of Monobear’s jagged eye flashes green and it’s released again to continue on its way. Even now that previous beat doesn’t stop, now heard in the slamming of the metal shutters.
Slam, khchunk, slam, khchunk
Somehow, Jaz has the feeling she won’t end up passing whatever test it’s conducting.
Slam, khchunk, slam, khchunk
Her head’s ringing from something other than the beat this execution insists on following now.
(She knows it’s probably pointless to try running, escaping- but instinct is forcing her to heavily consider the idea- fighting isn’t an option so everything is screaming flight flight flight-)
Her fingers fail to get any sort of grip on the smooth belt surface, desperate hands creating the sound of metal hitting its own kind as she scrambles to get a hold on something, anything to get herself standing again. A stage light is thrown off the edge of the conveyer belt, wrenched aside by the sheer force of Jaz using it to pull herself up. With that she begins to run, run from that cramped metal box that’s only advancing closer and closer to her, darting and hopping over the obstacles in her path as she desperately tries to sprint back into the stage area. Her look of ever-increasing frustration can clearly be seen even among the new sweat on her face as the conveyer belt actively fights her progress, tugging her back again every time she manages to get the slightest bit ahead. Even with her path clearing as more and more debris is passed through that mechanism, the musician still can’t escape her factory hell.
Slam, khchunk, slam, khchunk
She can’t run forever either. Especially not with her feet in their current state.
But it’s not fatigue that leads to her demise.
With the ever increasing in speed belt now clear of any debris, all of it having passed the quality check, Jaz lifts her gaze from the moving surface below her with that slam, khchunk, slam, khchunk still continuing behind her to see how far she is- only to freeze completely, that angered look melting away into pure shock.
Until now she hadn’t looked above the entrance she’d been ferried through, and now she has- she’s completely shut down.
Her feet stumble on the conveyer belt and she falls backwards, unable to do anything despite that slam, khchunk, slam, khchunk increasing in volume as she’s taken nearer and nearer to it. It’s impossible for her to tear her eyes away from the two figures she’s spotted in a control booth above the conveyor belt’s start; in silhouette perhaps, but that doesn’t matter. Jaz can still make out the shape of the flower in one’s hair, the long braid of the other on the opposite side to her own, hell, just the way both their figures are formed is enough for Jaz’s eyes to widen in recognition.
Slam, khchunk, slam, khchunk
SLAM, khchunk, SLAM, khchunk
It’s obvious that at least one of those well-known figures is responsible for Jaz’s acceleration to the clearing mechanism from the way their hand is outstretched, movement being seen there just before Jaz is shot backwards at an even faster rate. Though she’s still completely in shock from those two appearing to somehow be the ones responsible here, pure terror and adrenaline pushes her back up to try and scramble away once again.
But it’s all futile. With one quick movement that controller sends Jaz’s feet out from underneath her once again, finally sending her towards what can only be a metal coffin without any hope of escaping it anymore.
SLAM, khchunk, SLAM, khchuuuuu…
The closing of the steel doors is dragged out into a hiss as Jaz is finally pulled into the container, only to try and drag the shutters back open with nothing but her bare hands. It’s only just occurring to her now that she should have tried to keep some debris for this purpose, that desperate frustrated look still only just visible as she tries to pry her way out.
Yet somehow… she holds it, slipping back slightly further into the metal chamber in as much of a stance as she can manage to lever the doors- you’ve seen a variation of that stance before, actually, except it was someone with their hands less twisted and lifting a vending machine instead-
Maybe, just maybe, she can hold it long enough for the doors to retract on their own.
But clearly not, if the voices that ring out over the painful scene are anything to go by. Especially as Jaz’s hands start shaking at the very first word.
“Mother and Father did say there was a defective one…”
“‘Course it’s this one. She was going to ruin everything for us someday.”
Protests are screamed from the third girl. But the other’s hands move and a mechanism whirrs, and Jaz’s fingers slip off the metal just before they’re crushed.
For a moment all you can hear is the girl’s terrified screaming, the sound of Jaz’s fists pounding the walls from the inside ringing out slam slam slam thud thud completely out of time with that regular beat that’s accompanied the whole execution thus far. But then it’s drowned out by a loud warning siren, blaring through the small factory accompanied by the bright red of that Monokuma eye.
Then all of a sudden the cacophony drops. The siren halts, the conveyer belt stops whirring, Jaz’s fists stop hammering from inside her tiny metal cell at one sound: a girl’s whisper, one of the voices from before, floating through the previously panicked scene with an incredible gentle tone that carries high contrast to the previous harsh machine sounds. But to Jaz it holds a completely different level of malice, even a sickeningly sweet sound.
Then a crackling fills the air, bright blue sparks being seen running up and down the seams of the shutters as a high pitched scream filters through them. The shrill noise just continues and continues, just loud enough to be heard over the obviously enhanced electricity that just seems to run on
Eventually both noises splutter out. And the shutters open with a hiss.
The conveyer belt starts up again with a whirr as a blur of dark green and purple slumps out onto it. It’s still set at its top speed clearly, judging by the way you’re barely able to get a look at Jaz’s state before she’s carried out of sight, into the darkness.
Until a loud crashing is heard from the back of the trial room near the elevator, some perhaps turning just in time to see all that debris from Jaz’s stage be dumped onto the floor from a hatch that’s opened at the back.
And then follows the body itself of course, burnt and charred by electricity, being rather unceremoniously dumped on top of the pile of ruined stage lights and metal beams with a crash. Her burnt face is set in an expression of complete horror, darkened hands still curled up as though to scratch or hit, seared clothing clinging to arms laced with lightning-like scars that hang limply from the pile of ruins Jaz lies on.
The dream she’d tried to escape with was only fed back into her hell in the end.
JASMINE HAYES, SHSL ELECTRONIC MUSICIAN, HAS BEEN EXECUTED.
[this week’s art by farren! thank you so much!]