week 3 - weekend

[productions]

murder manor week three



saturday & sunday

22 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.

This post will cover the weekend period from the end of trial Friday evening to early Sunday evening, when new incentives will be announced. No murders will take place over this time.

Setting & Rules
Private Conversations

Comments

[balzams]

Fine!

Then what kind of price do you want? No one here has any money.

Your ancestors seem extremely capitalist for people so closely linked to the non-material world.

[throe]

That's the point. Humans places their value on such mundane things like money and jewelry, that it's all we can trade because people refuse to let themselves be open to an entirely different realm until we show them the way.

The most I can ask for is favors. I've granted Kaoru information in exchange for a future favor and you've already granted me being an assistant and your willingness to use your own body to prove me wrong. [ She pauses, crossing her arms. ] None of my favors require "murdering" anyone either, if that's what you're going to imply next.

[balzams]

I would never dream of it.

[Yeah that's totally what he was going to ask next]

If I've already done enough then can't we do something? Ask who's going to commit the next murder or in the case there is another victim ask who the culprit is or... I don't know. Do you have some kind of dowsing skill that would lead us to important evidence?

I know I agreed to be your assistant but it doesn't feel like I'm assisting with anything at all.

[throe]

You threatened to cut me with a knife last week and couldn't even go through with that, so you don't seem like you know if you want to be my assistant or not either.

Regardless, the Hostess has lessened my abilities here. Typically, I can see things that happen in the future, but now it's only able to show the right way with the right questions asked. I can point people in directions that have a chance of helping, but I cannot say 'This person will commit this murder' or 'This person is bound to death.'

Since you've offered me so much though, I can let you in on a little secret. [ She motions for him to step away with her into the hallway, just in case anyone is listening in. ]

[balzams]

[Originally he was more liable to doubt but now Latvia felt more and more desperate and he was willing to do whatever it might take]

I just don't want to hurt people, I want to help!

[He can't help but feel a little more hopeless as she spoke about the limitations on her powers but Latvia didn't know why he didn't realise it sooner, considering the limitations that had been placed on his own body. As the motions for him he carefully steps forward]

... What is it?

[throe]

The key is what lies underneath the surface, untrained to the eye of those who do not bother to look in the first place. All the evidence you need is a pattern. It's like I said to Susan during the last trial, my hunches are mostly based in the realm of my abilities, but they've never been wrong.

Bernkastel was seemingly normal. Though evidence proved her wrong, she mentioned how much she enjoyed playing games. Her seemingly innocent façade almost fooled everyone.

Annie was a teenager, a child soldier. She was militant, clean to a fault, precise. No one bothered to suspect her because of her age, and yet...

Reiko Aya was the same. She was kind, outgoing, easily able to push herself into a role of the sweet, kind businesswoman. It was obvious from the start that she was a performer, it was her job to take on a role like that. Most probably would have thought it was Michael Altman had he not broke down the way he did. His emotion was genuine, far too real to be deemed as false.

Where the evidence is missing, the suspects speak for themselves. There is more than what meets the eye than what is on the surface! My powers may be limited, but to simply hone in on the... auras these people have surrounding them. That is how I know who the culprit is!

[balzams]

[This honestly feels like the first time she's ever been straight with him. Latvia listens to her words carefully and takes them all to heart]

...So it really is just intuition?

I honestly expected something with a little more... pizzazz coming from someone like you.

[But he does smile a little]

I'll try and keep that in mind. Hopefully we'll identify the right culprit on the next trial too.

a+ reference

[throe]

It's not just intuition, it's intuition cultivated with the knowledge of my ancestors and foresight of another realm! With my abilities lessened, I have to find other means of filling in the spaces where my fortune telling would be its strongest. It's like an impressionist painting now, I can only see very little at a time.

If I wanted to be like that loud mouth harpy, I wouldn't be trying to use my powers for good. It's like I said before, I'm playing this game as much as anyone else, but with a few... changes.

I wasn't even trying! What did I reference?

[balzams]

... Of course.

[He should know better than to have that much faith in someone]

Well, I guess it's good that you're still using them virtuo-

Wait, what? What do you mean changes?

http://jem.wikia.com/wiki/Phyllis_%22Pizzazz%22_Gabor pizzazz!!

[throe]

It wouldn't be a game if I gave that sort of information away so easily, now would it?

Good to know!

[balzams]

... It's that kind of thinking that makes you suspicious.

I know you keep saying you're not going to murder someone, but maybe it's not that that I'm suspicious of.

You seem kind of... how should I say it? Above it all? You seem set on winning the game through pacifism even though there's no guarantee that you wouldn't be killed yourself, not to mention when you say things like that it sounds like you know something the rest of us don't...

There's no point in asking what, I know you wouldn't tell me.

[throe]

[ Her lips curl into a smile as she leans in a bit. ]

Let me tell you something about The Stingers. We didn't make our way to the top by being pacifists, as you so claim I am. We made it to the top with hard work. We're number one for a reason and that's because we deserve it. When people told us that it would never be, we didn't listen, and now we're number one with no one to tell us otherwise.

The rules never claim that all of us have to work together to win, just during the investigations and trials. It's a game, how you play it is what matters the most. If you want to follow the rules, you're more than welcome to, but just because someone tells you to act a certain way doesn't mean it's the only way.

[balzams]

... So do you think we can avoid it then? Surely everyone here must have enough sense to know that people will stop dying if they stop killing. Winning the game can't be the only way out.

But if you're out there to win, what do you think the winning conditions are?

Surely it can't be the last person standing. Eventually there will be so few people it would be near impossible to not be singled out during a trial. Even if you retire... somehow it doesn't seem like a victory. Even Annie, she played exactly the way they wanted her to because they backed her into a corner. There's no kind of game about that, it's blatant manipulation.

[throe]

That's the point of playing a game. If you tell everyone everything the moment it begins, there's no way of discovering anything on your own. It's fairly obvious that immunity and popularity are important here that there are obvious other ways of succeeding than being a culprit even with the incentive added on. Look at Susan! She's had immunity since we've started playing, she's even playing it in her own way.

Manipulation or not, we have to play the game. If that entails and entirely different approach, then so be it. I have as much of a right to win as anyone else does.

[balzams]

[It's surprising but that does make a lot of sense. Latvia takes a moment to reevaluate]

So is that how you plan to win? By popularity? I suppose that makes sense, they'd probably reward someone that helped boost their ratings so much.

[throe]

It makes The Stingers look good too. The Holograms and Misfits will have no idea what to do with themselves when we reach the top of the peak and they're still stuck all the way at the bottom!

It'll be a performance no one will forget.

[balzams]

I'm not sure if I should look forward to it or be worried for it...

But thank-you, I'll think about what you've told me.

Congratulations again on your immunity.

[And he starts to head back to his room to contemplate what could happen within the week]