Well, That Escalated Quickly..

Well, that escalated quickly..

(P:EG Chapter 1 spoiler warning for the unaware) If Tozu gave YOU the Traitor Perk, what would you do?

I don't think I'd ever be able to bring myself to hurt any of the others, let alone kill. Personally, I'd find the more friendly/caring students (Diana, Cassidy, Jean, Desmond, Ingrid), confide to them what happened, ask to stay with them at all times so I'd never be alone, and also desperately search for anything that could lead to an early escape from the academy. It's safe to say I would likely be a crying and shaking mess the whole time and would have to have heavy support from my peers. I'm not sure how they would react - they'd probably round up the others and inform them what's going on with me in order to ensure a team effort on my behalf, while also swearing to do whatever they could to keep me safe.

If all else failed, I might try to isolate myself from the others and await my end in a private place, so I could at least spare the others the sight of me dying in front of them. Tozu never specified a deadline or how Eva would have died, but I'd like to imagine it would have been a personal visit and execution from Mara. Okay, this one is actually really, really dark after presenting my own thoughts. The very idea of the Traitor Perk itself comes across as disgustingly unsettling, but there's a thrilling appeal as to what someone would do in such an event along with how the other students could come into play, which is what spurred me to ask this. Regardless, please feel free to skip this one if it's too grim.

Damn, that's... depressing. Your reaction sounds pretty reasonable, not gonna lie. The Traitor Perk is pretty awful, so I don't blame you for choosing to just accept it. Still, let's see what I think I would do!

Spoilers for EG CH1. CW: Murder, gun violence (Mara), fire and explosions

I'd say the first thing to consider is what context the Traitor Perk exists in. Because it's a thing that exists specifically to begin the killing game, it has to be given pretty early on. That means there isn't a lot of time for my mental health to deteriorate to the point I would genuinely consider mass murder (given I would also need to win the trial to survive), or so I would like to think. Like, I don't think it's impossible to push me to that eventually, but I'd say it'd take way more than the Traitor Perk and a few days in the Academy.

However, while I don't think I would kill, I don't think I'd tell anyone all the details about the Perk, either. See, if I tell someone about it, I risk that getting back to Tozu. And if Tozu finds out I told someone about the Perk, it becomes clear to him that I'm not planning to uphold "my part of the deal" (murdering someone), so he might just send Mara to kill me. That would be what we in the business call unideal.

So, what do? I would first check all the cameras and try to figure out if there's anything useful I can find out doing that. I highly doubt Tozu's gonna give me access to any genuinely useful cameras for escape, but it's worth a shot. I'd try to note down any blindspots for future reference, and try to figure out how the motion tracking works and if there's any way to exploit it. I'm hoping here that Tozu either doesn't notice, doesn't care, or thinks that I'm planning a murder with the cameras instead of trying to find ways to work around him :v

Once I've checked all the info I have, and presumably come to the realization that nothing in the cameras helps and I'm cooked, it would be time to make some sort of escape plan. As I sorta described in a similar ask I received a bit ago, I'd try to coordinate efforts with the rest of the cast by writing in notes away from the view of the camera (and I know what the view is hehe >:))

The main plan I'd suggest is attempting to get into Tozu's tunnels. Unlike other mascots, which may use different methods and copies of a robot to pull off the whole "magically appearing from thin air" party trick, Tozu has to, like, go somewhere. He's human, so whatever he does to move through the Academy, we can surely replicate.

With some luck, there may be few to none contingencies to account for students going there, we'd just need to be careful of Mara. Maybe we could even try to disable the generators to shut off any electronic contingencies, though I'd imagine whatever happens down there probably runs on separate generators so maybe it'd be best not to. Funnily enough, there's no rule against intruding in that space below the floorboards, so the only real rule we'd risk breaking is property damage if we need to break our way in.

Speaking of, how? Breaking our way in with regular tools would probably take too long, we'd get shot by Mara before we're done. Well, you might have guessed this based on the content warnings, but we have lithium batteries, and I doubt it's the only explosive thing around. I'm sure me and the cast can rig something up to blow a hole on the floor big enough for us to infiltrate. If possible, building the explosive in a camera blindspot would be ideal. Obviously, though, that's a lot of property damage, but I'm banking on the idea that whoever sets it off has the chance to get into the space below the floorboards before Mara shows up. Going out of bounds like that might make it harder for the game masters to properly administer punishment.

This is where we go back to the Traitor Perk, and I'm sorry that this post isn't very focused on it but my reactions took me in this direction :v See, this plan is awful. It sucks. There are a million ways this can go wrong, including but not limited to: proper contingencies for this possibility existing, there being nothing useful for escape down there, Mara just instantly shooting anyone who gets close disregarding the rules, a new rule about the tunnels appearing immediately as Tozu notices what's going on and Mara being ready to defend this space, among others. I would say that, in the real world, it'd be significantly safer to remain calm and await rescue, since someone's gonna figure out what's going on (obviously it wouldn't work in the EG universe, but we only know that because we know it's a fictional narrative. If it was happening for real, I'd think this course of action is reasonable). Even with a killing game going on, blowing up the floor of the school is not a great idea.

However, if I receive the Traitor Perk, I can't exactly wait for rescue now can I? If I'm already going to die anyways, might as well go down with a bang. I think I would offer to be the one to set off the explosive off, since I'm probably gonna end up dying no matter what. Yet, a low chance of survival is better than none, right?

Anyways, that's more or less what I would do I think. If Tozu gives me the Traitor Perk, I'm blowing up the school. Thanks for the ask, this was fun to think about! And thanks for sharing your own reaction, it was cool to read.