[ Tragically the hotel kitchen is still a disaster zone, but Nanaly is there a little while after the trial with some (now clean?) clothes in her arms, hoping the vinegar is still in its place. ]
Huh? Oh-- I wanted to wash these with some vinegar to make sure all the blood's really out. I mean, they look fine now, but I dunno if I can ever trust that again.
It's not the worst idea. But I do kinda hate that we could be traipsing through entire murder scenes and walking around with people's blood on us without knowing, if this happens again.
It had to be connected to whatever happened with the door locks and everything, right? Like, there's no way all that stuff happening around the same time was a coincidence.
What’s even weirder is no one else was hurt? Qi Rong was in the butchers and the opera house with no one to stop him from doing what the heck ever he wanted.
Okay so the second floor of the opera house was blocked off by a barrier — which is weird in itself — but if he’d been really determined he could’ve had six bodies hanging from that scaffolding not just one.
Kinda wonder now if he even saw us there... maybe the whole perception thing went both ways?
[ Anyway, score, there's the vinegar. She's just going to dump some of it onto the clothes she's holding over the sink and start rubbing it in. ]
I guess I also wonder like... if he just took advantage of the fact that all that happened, or if all that actually happened to make it easier for him to do what he was gonna do. 'Cause I mean... it's weird that the only person who was awake and moving freely was the one who wanted to kill someone.
Well, and Marius, I guess.
[ Though it'd be nice if he hadn't actually been conscious for any of that... ]
That's a good point, actually. There's obviously going to be intent, so maybe whatever hit the body and evidence from us can do the same with everyone but the person with the intent to kill and their target? No damn clue how, but...
[ wow that makes his nose wrinkle immediately ]
... I dunno. You think it was just pure chance someone who wanted to kill woke up during all that and found a target that, let's be honest, didn't really stand a chance?
I have no idea what I think of spectres other than “stay the hell away from me”. They seemed to know what they were looking for, but I don’t know if I think they have the capacity to pull off masterminding something like this.
Yeah... We've got monsters called spectres back home, so I figured we were just dealing with those at first, which, you know, just shoot it in all its creepy faces enough times and you're good. These seem to have more going on upstairs than those do, anyway.
[ which is ironic given how many heads they have ]
I wonder why they attack adults though. I mean, not that I’m complaining that they’re leaving the kids alone, but they can definitely differentiate between the two.
I dunno. I wonder if the adults just have more of whatever they're after or if they really don't want to hurt the kids...
Sounds kind of dumb to suggest a bunch of monsters might have some kind of moral compass, but I guess it's not impossible. [ ... ] I'd probably still put my money on the former, though.
Or the other way around. Kids might have something we don’t, and that’s why they can’t be attacked? It’d be nice if we could just find some actual solid information on them, especially if they’re just hovering out there like some kind of wispy threat.
Depends on how much general intelligence they’ve got, I guess. Most monsters just seem to run on instinct though.
I mean, at least we didn't have to deal with the spectres this time, but... yeah. Everything about the situation seemed a lot crueler today... which I guess was probably the point.
[ sigh ]
Hope he's okay after having to go through with that.
Not that we don't seem pretty detached from everywhere down here... but maybe they're only really a problem near that city? I mean, most monsters have pretty limited habitats, so maybe they're like that too.
[ Even if they're not typical monsters, they're still some kind of monster as far as she's concerned. ]
Mm. He's seemed like the type to bounce back from things pretty quickly up until now... though with something like that there's not really any "back". Just moving forward.
Maybe, but …. I dunno. Did you talk to any of the people who came back on Thursday? They found this note that said something about the spectres being a consequence of windows between worlds being open. That doesn’t exactly sound like an isolated issue.
[ you can’t even stab them what is the dang point. ]
I’m not into how they keep picking people to kill people who matter to them. After we go through the whole process of finding them guilty and voting to kill them in the first place.
Oh. [ Frowns. Well, that sucks!! ] Windows between worlds? Doesn't that kinda sound like it was bringing all of us here that made it happen, then?
[ That sounds shady as hell. And yeah, she definitely misses when spectres and spirits were things you could just catch in traps and shoot in the face. A simpler time. ]
I dunno, I don't think it was that unreasonable last week. Xie Lian seemed like he felt like it was his duty as the guy's family to take responsibility for what he did, didn't he? I think it would have been more messed up that time to give that to someone else.
...This time definitely seemed like they were going out of their way to twist the knife, though. For everyone, not just him.
Or whether we’re just one more influx making the issue worse. I guess that’s something we need to pick at over the next week, if we want to get anywhere with this.
[ if you can stab it life is so much easier ]
I’d agree, but someone did point out he was forced to kill family. That’s gotta have some heavy weight to it. [ … ] It was someone people didn’t dislike in the way we all weren’t fond of Qi Rong, pitted against someone who’s well liked. That made it personal across the board.
Well, yeah, I guess making it worse is more accurate, since they've been around for a while. I'd kind of had the impression at first that we'd been brought here to help stop them, but it seems more like it's the other way around now.
[ There's a bit of a pause on her end after that family comment too, and she frowns for a second before shaking herself out of it. ]
It did feel like it was directly in response to all the complaints about how cruel last week was, didn't it? Like, "if you thought that was bad, we'll do you one better." ...It'd be nice if they'd lay off now that the point was proven, but I don't have much faith in that.
Something like that. Whatever we’ve been brought here for feels more like we’re being laid out on an altar, than being asked to lead the ceremony.
[ sacrificers, rather than the people designated to swoop in and provide the rescue. ]
Weird how they know who to pick as well. But that just means we’re being watched then. And then they’re using what they know to step in and make things worse for us.
I mean, they knew enough about us all to fill out those scrolls, so I guess that shouldn't be too much of a surprise. It's less weird that they're watching us here than in our own worlds, at least.
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week 0, post trial
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… What’re you doing?
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Huh? Oh-- I wanted to wash these with some vinegar to make sure all the blood's really out. I mean, they look fine now, but I dunno if I can ever trust that again.
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Huh.
That's a fair point. It seems like it's totally gone though. [ he sniff tested and everything. ]
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[ She didn't smell anything on Friday, either, and she's got a pretty good nose for that stuff.
Sigh. ]
Anyway, I'm not gonna let it bother me too much, but I figure a good washing won't hurt either way.
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It's not the worst idea. But I do kinda hate that we could be traipsing through entire murder scenes and walking around with people's blood on us without knowing, if this happens again.
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[ She guesses she's probably lucky that creep didn't decide he wanted more than one flavor of leg jerky. ]
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Okay so the second floor of the opera house was blocked off by a barrier — which is weird in itself — but if he’d been really determined he could’ve had six bodies hanging from that scaffolding not just one.
[ he shrugs. ]
But we were all unharmed.
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[ Anyway, score, there's the vinegar. She's just going to dump some of it onto the clothes she's holding over the sink and start rubbing it in. ]
I guess I also wonder like... if he just took advantage of the fact that all that happened, or if all that actually happened to make it easier for him to do what he was gonna do. 'Cause I mean... it's weird that the only person who was awake and moving freely was the one who wanted to kill someone.
Well, and Marius, I guess.
[ Though it'd be nice if he hadn't actually been conscious for any of that... ]
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[ wow that makes his nose wrinkle immediately ]
... I dunno. You think it was just pure chance someone who wanted to kill woke up during all that and found a target that, let's be honest, didn't really stand a chance?
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[ running water over the fabric as she keeps working out the invisible stains... at least it's diluting the vinegar smell now ]
You think that's a spectre thing or something set up by whoever brought us here? 'Cause those guys just keep sounding shadier and shadier.
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[ which is ironic given how many heads they have ]
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Sounds kind of dumb to suggest a bunch of monsters might have some kind of moral compass, but I guess it's not impossible. [ ... ] I'd probably still put my money on the former, though.
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Depends on how much general intelligence they’ve got, I guess. Most monsters just seem to run on instinct though.
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Hey. That was rougher than last week, wasn't it?
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[ sigh ]
Hope he's okay after having to go through with that.
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[ ... ]
Who knows. I think it's up to him how he deals with it from here out.
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[ Even if they're not typical monsters, they're still some kind of monster as far as she's concerned. ]
Mm. He's seemed like the type to bounce back from things pretty quickly up until now... though with something like that there's not really any "back". Just moving forward.
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[ you can’t even stab them what is the dang point. ]
I’m not into how they keep picking people to kill people who matter to them. After we go through the whole process of finding them guilty and voting to kill them in the first place.
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[ That sounds shady as hell. And yeah, she definitely misses when spectres and spirits were things you could just catch in traps and shoot in the face. A simpler time. ]
I dunno, I don't think it was that unreasonable last week. Xie Lian seemed like he felt like it was his duty as the guy's family to take responsibility for what he did, didn't he? I think it would have been more messed up that time to give that to someone else.
...This time definitely seemed like they were going out of their way to twist the knife, though. For everyone, not just him.
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[ if you can stab it life is so much easier ]
I’d agree, but someone did point out he was forced to kill family. That’s gotta have some heavy weight to it. [ … ] It was someone people didn’t dislike in the way we all weren’t fond of Qi Rong, pitted against someone who’s well liked. That made it personal across the board.
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[ There's a bit of a pause on her end after that family comment too, and she frowns for a second before shaking herself out of it. ]
It did feel like it was directly in response to all the complaints about how cruel last week was, didn't it? Like, "if you thought that was bad, we'll do you one better." ...It'd be nice if they'd lay off now that the point was proven, but I don't have much faith in that.
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Something like that. Whatever we’ve been brought here for feels more like we’re being laid out on an altar, than being asked to lead the ceremony.
[ sacrificers, rather than the people designated to swoop in and provide the rescue. ]
Weird how they know who to pick as well. But that just means we’re being watched then. And then they’re using what they know to step in and make things worse for us.
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It’s kinda weird no matter what, honestly.