week 3 - day 1 & 2

[productions]

murder manor week three



monday, tuesday

24 players remaining.

This is a general mingle post. Please put your character's name, the time, and location in the subject heading of their comment. Players may also thread in logs, either posted to murdermanor or in a private locked journal post filtered to include productions. Plots for this week's crime are due Monday by 9 PM EST.

Setting & Rules
Private Conversations
Plotting

Comments

[throe]

[ Rapture doesn't seem the least bit frightened. She can most definitely call a bluff when she sees it. ]

You don't think they're going to leave out details to heighten the games advancement? Of course they're not going to tell you they're special effects, that would make everything boring. It's not like they can't use pigs blood or something with similar consistency on "dead bodies" to make it seem real.

Illusions are supposed to look real, that's why they're called illusions.

But if you're so inclined to prove me wrong, then do it.

[balzams]

[The fact that it sounded like a threat was really off putting. Latvia didn't want to injure anyone and he certainly didn't want to kill anyone. However, to act so flippantly about it would only cause harm for all of them later]

Then hold out your palm...

[throe]

If you're just going to give me a cut, then that isn't any real way to prove your theory. [ Regardless, she extends her palm; she's certainly been giving a lot of blood these past two days... ] The rules even state that culprits tell the Hostess who they're going to make their victim which gives them time to set up the scene within a certain timeframe to create the "murder."

If you still feel like you have to though... [ She just curls her lips into a thin smile. ]

[balzams]

[Those words make him falter. Even though he tries to push through as the blade hovers above her palm, Latvia can't bring himself to make the cut. Lowering the knife he tries to keep his voice steady as he speaks again]

There are enough dangerous things here... If that were true what if someone murdered another player without telling the Hostess?

I know when Bernkastel was executed she disappeared through the floor and we were shown a video but with Miss Ukraine... She was killed right in front of us.

When we took down to body... It was already growing cold.

[throe]

None of us are missing, right? Sharon didn't vote and she paid for it being eliminated from the game. Why do you think the murders have been on the same day and a trial following two days after? It's all planned — the culprit reveals how they are going to do the murder, set design creates that for us to find, and leaves us clues to look for. We solve it, vote someone off, and do it all over again.

Hanging illusion. Mirrors, scaffolds, and a timed release button that only makes it look like the body is being hanged. For all you know, you could have been handling a stunt dummy. Your only proof of it being an actual body would be an autopsy.

[balzams]

Huh...

[He really wished he could believe that, to know that everyone who died was alive and well would be wonderful news but the thought leave him hollow inside, having emotionally exhausted himself for nothing]

W-well we've already buried the body so it's a bit late for that...

I don't really know what to say. I wish it really were an illusion but... Just as you're saying there's little proof that they're real, there's no proof that they're fake either.

[throe]

The proof is in the logic itself. Why create a mansion just to have it destroyed? Why give us cards with plenty of misinformation? Have we actually seen someone killing another person? Taking everything at face value is the opposite of what this game is intended for.

If you don't bother to seek the question— [ Seemingly from nowhere, she pulls out her crystal ball. It lies in the palm of the hand faced out to him. ] —How will you find the answers you're looking for?

[balzams]

This mansion is really old. It was probably empty and then they bought it for the program.

A-And just because we haven't seen something with our own eyes doesn't mean it's not real. Considering that you believe in things like magic and spirits I thought you would advocate that more than anyone else here.

[The crystal ball catches him off guard and he has to avert his eyes from his own reflection]

I-In that case what kinds of questions should I be seeking?

[throe]

Spirits and magic are ethereal, not unreal.

Simple... [ She smiles, lifting the crystal ball toward the light. ] Is this all real? Are we real...? Who defines what is truth and what isn't? For all we know, we could be existing inside a simulation.

[balzams]

I really don't think I'm in the right mind frame to be asking those kinds of questions...

But... I suppose how do we differentiate what's real and what's not? If we can use clues to find out who committed a crime surely we can use clues to determine if something is an illusion or not. They're never quite the same as the real thing after all.

[throe]

But how do you know? Surely, if you cut me... I'll bleed, but how can you determine if it's real? Just because every object has a name, it doesn't make it real.

Look beyond the mundane! [ She throws the crystal ball gently into the air and catches it with her other hand, then leans closer to him. ] You will be surprised in what you find.

[balzams]

...

No offence but it feels like you're talking in riddles. I can't follow at all.

What do you mean by look beyond the mundane?

[throe]

I mean... look beyond your regular perception. What do you think fuels the search for truth? Definition? Concrete evidence?

No! It's curiosity.

Where does curiosity stem from? The imagination. There were never any proofs of the Greek Gods and yet their myth is so heavily believed without what others define as "evidence." Is there any real difference between myth and science?

[balzams]

Myths are generally believed to be stories and only change so much as people get details wrong since they're usually passed down through word of mouth. Science works based on evidence and hypotheses and tends to change based on the latest findings.

I'm not saying that one's more important than the other, things like myths and traditions are pretty much the foundation for modern culture but the two really aren't alike at all...

[throe]

You could say the same thing for one's own memories or even the accounts of history. Is there any way to prove they were ever real? The details change every time we retell them or remember them. We think of them a little too deeply, wonder if something was ever there in the first place, but we easily accept it just because we can account them in our mind?

Yet, there's no proof of that. Passing down memories to our children and grandchildren last so long before they die out completely. How do we know those memories were not altered by another's retelling... or even by our own?

It's all perception. Both myth and science fall into that.

[balzams]

Um... Well, I will acknowledge that a lot of history is written from a biased perspective but I can personally confirm a good portion of my own history at least and various events from others.

It isn't just memories, people write accounts and take photographs. Even if it's destroyed that doesn't change the fact that it happened...

I'm not sure what you're trying to get at... You can call it perspective all you like but there's looking at things from a different point of view and willfully ignoring the facts in favour of your own.

[throe]

I'll give you a better example then: sound waves. We can't see them, yet we acknowledge that they are there. We accept that they're there!

Why? Because someone told us that they're there. Is an illusion, myth, or even a completely different world beyond this realm all that different then sound waves?

You can accept that science changes, yet you don't bother to question reality yourself. That's looking at the mundane, never questioning what's around you because there's no real way to define it being in reality in the first place.

[balzams]

Um... That's kind of a simplification. They found that it's based on vibrations, didn't they? Those vibrations they can measure to get an idea of the kind of sound. I'm sure there are experiments you can easily do at home to see for yourself...

But myths are different because there's no proof... Maybe that's not the best way to phrase it. Maybe because you can't repeat it? A lot of myths are based on things that happened long ago, times are different now, but scientists tend to repeat experiments again and again to make sure that the results are correct.

... You know, I've had to call my own reality into questions these past few days. You can say I'm not bothering to look beyond the mundane, but it's looking at the mundane that helps keep me grounded.

[throe]

[ She shrugs, holding out both of her arms as she does. ]

There are many paths to the top of the mountain, but I suppose not everyone wants to open their mind to more possibilities beyond the realm of what's "accepted."

As it stands, this game is neither true nor false, but it has been played and it's going to continue being played. In the end, it's doesn't really matter if it's real or not, does it?

[balzams]

Considering that people could potentially be dying... it means a lot!

While it does take off some of the pressure, knowing that only I will be personally affected by my death it doesn't make me feel any safer. I think we're already long gone past what's accepted and what isn't.

[throe]

We could always perform a seance and ask them if they're dead. There are enough candles and materials here to create one... and we already have someone capable of communicating with the spirits in other realms.

Maybe next time we really should perform an autopsy then. That would at least explain one thing.

[balzams]

We could...?

[Honestly that was actually the reason he'd wanted to talk to her, to make sure that everyone's souls had made it to the afterlife safely]

But... what do you mean about the autopsy, what would it explain?

[throe]

If you really wanted to communicate with them, I'd need an item of theirs, but if you just want to ask them yes or no questions then a simple glass will do. We can use some of the candles from the dining room to make a sigil.

It'd prove wether it's a real, dead body or not. Unless they've managed to make an impressive replica, it'd be the one way of seeing if it's a prop.

[balzams]

Th-that's... I'm afraid I can't.

[The only item of Ukraine's is her pitchfork, currently being used as a grave marker. There's no way he's remove it]

But yes or no questions are fine... I just want to know that they're safe now.

... And if that's the case then you can use my body if I die. I only ask that you put it back together and clean it up afterwards. If that's what it takes to make you realise that this isn't all an illusion then so be it.

[throe]

If you insist. The spirits are strongest at two in the morning, so we should try to contact them then.

Really? [ She leans closer to him, staring him straight in the eye. No one's ever offered their body to her like this before! ] You'd really give me your body for that?