WEEK TWO: MINGLE

[retellers]

WEEK TWO: MINGLE (37 remain) Rise and shine, gremlins. The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and it's the start of a new week. To the participants, yesterday's events may seem distant now—albeit not as distant as their life before this. Whether or not they notice, they will have lost a memory upon waking up. The barrier to the north is down, and beyond the bridge lies new areas to explore. Strangely, what was there last week seems to have been replaced overnight. That's not the only thing that's different, either. The participants will find that their lodgings have changed, and new buildings within the town have been unlocked. Finally, should anyone check their PHS, Cater, Sharon, and Kano's profiles have been removed. Three Leaders can be found around the area, open (?) to approach. If participants want to speak to them more privately, or to an absent Leader, it looks like they'll have to go through another channel. Furthermore, it looks as though the rules have updated. If you break the current ninth rule, participants will get shocked. It will be a mild shock at first, but the longer they touch each other, the stronger it will get. On that note, if your character did not share a memory last week, please make sure to check your notifs! Participants may also find that their memories of the past few weeks are getting fuzzier... as though they can't recall some of the details without focusing. Finally, this week, every time a participant gets within one foot of someone, they will experience the emotions the other person is currently feeling and vice-versa. This will last for ten seconds even after they've stepped out of their personal bubble, after which the sharing itself might share, but the knowledge will not. Have fun!

NAVIGATION locations ₓ˚. statuses *+:｡ ic profiles :ₓo ic rules ･ﾟﾟ･｡ audience requests murder proposals ｡✧o private conversations ･ﾟo｡ curfew ･ﾟ✧ memories

Comments

[supremity]

I. the plaza - cleaning up messes

[ No one is happy about how this went - save maybe a murderer or two, depending - least of all Hua Cheng. He's very much still agitated, very much still giving off a stormy air to match it. Anyone that gets close enough will be able to tell just how angry he is, and that there's something else, but it's not like he lets very many people get that close to him..! (ha ha eat shit fafa) But it's like the strip check all over again, because he doesn't hesitate to command attention when there's enough of the remaining 37 about, since, well.

They fucked up. And for as impassive towards people as he comes off as publicly, what they'd done is unacceptable by his standards. By a code that he holds, as unknown to every entity that thinks they know him back in the three realms. This Realm, though... ]

We still have at least one murderer unaccounted for. [ Once he gets started, he gets right to the point, because the Realm might have changed but the situation hasn't. ] And enough of us are in agreement that this could embolden them. We need to make better preparations - we need to do better, or we're going to find ourselves repeating the same mistake we did on Saturday.

[ Bluntly, and a little dangerously: ] If the pattern continues, we have four days to get our shit together. Make your suggestions, voice your concerns, volunteer for whatever you feel you're capable of volunteering for - but if you're not going to take it seriously, then you're not worth my time and I honestly don't care. A lack of cooperation got someone innocent killed and wasted our time. If you want to lose your memories and your lives by not listening to warnings or focusing on whether we're in the moral right instead of keeping people alive, you're a hindrance more than you are helpful.

[ This isn't even accounting for the fact that they could have two killers. They could have people that were still trying to decide, and this was the tipping point on whether they would kill someone or not. Either they're going to get their shit together, or they're going to get themselves killed - and Hua Cheng knows which side of that he'd rather be on. ]

If we find ourselves with another death, come Friday, I'll take charge of the body and clothes check again. [ Putting his money where his mouth is, on volunteering. ] You want to help, speak up - especially if you're one of the people that wants the continued discretion towards a man or a woman checking you. And if you want to share why you're so cagy about being checked?

[ A dark, wry smirk. ] Well, we're all not going anywhere right now, are we? You can find me at any time. I'll be checking out the sights.

[ Feel free to use this as a jumping point for convos amongst yourselves for how we fucked up just as much as talking to fafa, and, uh. Good luck, week... 2! ]

II. yar har wildcard

[ You can easily find Huarr Cheng anywhere in what looks to be his natural habitat over here in pirate land. He looks the part, he walks the part, he is just vibing and getting a lay of the land. You want something specific, hmu on discord or plurk. Otherwise I'm literally down for anything and have to go back to work knowing that my inbox is going to be destroyed. It's fine. ]

[infreefall]

[ oh. this is similar to what she was talking about the other day, huh... or close enough, anyway. ]

I think... we should also talk about what happened to our groups last Thursday - and the things we found. I know that knowing about all that could technically help whoever hurt Cater-san and Kreuger-san, but it helps the rest of us to know, too, doesn't it? So that way, we'll all be on even ground and know what we have to work with.

[antaressnipe]

Yes, I've shared what we'd learned with a few already, but it would be wise to ensure everyone knows.

[lionson]

The thing is, I'm sure there's more going on with those two than "I want to kill someone". So writing them off as murderers and nothing more won't help.

I can share what I saw, but it's only half of the story. Alex and Sora have the other half.

[horologia]

Mmm. Since Swan said the effects might have been because we stayed out there while things were happening... They might be worth taking a closer look at.

[supremity]

[ gege coming in clutch downthread hallelujah ]

En, information can harm as much as it can help. [ Agreeing, and less agitated in the direction of a shoujo-adjacent that's done nothing to earn his ire. Especially this one that Xie Lian likes. ] We have to be careful how we spread information, and make it harder for whoever the culprit - or culprits - may be to falsify. But information shared too late or not at all, in some cases, is just as harmful.

[lionson]

[Well. HC has every right to be angry, Shiro himself is still mad at how everything went down during the weekend. But he does have an idea that might help here, so he's going to speak up about it.]

I think it might be worth sharing everything we have found so far. I was in a group that found a strange path to explore, and there was at least one other group that did the same thing. Collecting everything both groups saw so everyone knows about it would help us, I think.

Beyond that, there's probably at least a few others here who have found something useful or informative, yeah? So why not speak up and share?

[supremity]

[ An incline of his head in agreement. ]

While I agree that it's better to be careful, we're not going to be doing anyone any favors if we're so tight-lipped about what we don't know something that might impact us. If parties have information that can be checked against one another, we need to know. And we need to know before we've gone chasing our own asses all over again, when a useful detail could very well already be known by someone.

[dawnblushed]

I'll remind everyone again when-- if another trial happens, but I think we should examine all of the evidence we find thoroughly right away, too.

[she's been thinking about this, apparently.]

...and we need to be open to suggesting things even if we're not totally sure about them! It's good not to make accusations carelessly, but if we just stay quiet until we feel completely sure after thinking something through on our own, it's going to be harder to work through what happened because we won't have anything to discuss until it's too late.

If you think your way through something but get stumped partway through, share it anyway. Maybe hearing what you've gotten so far will get someone else thinking, right?

[chanteuser]

That... yeah, examining the evidence could make it apparent we're missing things. Like the fact we had nothing that properly matched some of the body wounds.

Then we'd know we need to re-check an area from Friday.

[supremity]

We should've been doing that from the start. It was a failing on our part.

[ He's annoyed, but not at Yona, and some of the agitation is tempered by something softer. Whomp, fafa. ]

Throwing around accusations will just get us in the same situation as what happened with Kano, or worse, considering. But suggesting things, or offering a theory, isn't an awful suggestion at all. We need to be able to discern when it's a wild goose chase and when it's something valuable, but if we don't hear it -

Well, we're not going to know.

[horologia]

Perhaps we... Shouldn't assume that we covered everywhere we needed to, the night before?

Like... How do we know, that we went to everywhere we needed to and found everything? So I think I agree that we should be more thorough with checking the places that people went to before, and not just assume that since we have evidence, we have everything important already.

[cuedoves]

Another thing... we should make sure everyone's items are brought to trial. Especially if they're weapons. So we can test them against potential wounds.

[dawnblushed]

...right. There's enough time between when we find the victims and when we start the trial that people could probably try to hide any weapons, but - if someone's suddenly "lost" something we know they had, that's worth keeping in mind, too.

[supremity]

[ Watching him and Yona speak, before he responds. ]

There's no telling whether someone will report their items. But we need to be more diligent in checking them, nevermind recording them, so a tally is a good idea.

[antaressnipe]

[... He is aware no one is gonna want to talk about this (probably), but Chiron is here to be That Centaur, though anyone near him will feel he is rather calm regardless]

Also, I think it is imperative for us to consider what we shall do if we cannot pin down a culprit. Focus and improved planning are not guaranteed successes. We could still fail if our killers are able to slip through our advances.

[dawnblushed]

...

[chiron will certainly be able to feel that this is a topic that yona very much Does Not Like, but she takes a breath and tries to discuss it calmly anyway.]

...you're right. If we can figure out what to do before the trial starts, that would be better - then we won't waste time that could be used trying to find the culprit on yelling at people about being self-sacrificial.

[evocationary]

[ :unamused: ]

[recrowns]

[he's listening! he is, and he hums thoughtfully before offering:]

I'd also like to be more thorough with evidence and body inspection - the condition that it's found in, where blood may or may not be, and if there is a room that is very messy, then we can look back immediately. But if there are pieces we are missing, we ought to discover that much earlier than we did.

[instead of yeeting any random weapon at a body within the last five minutes wow that was bad]

In addition, I think that we cannot eliminate all evidence and checks just because one theory gains traction. It might keep us further from the truth if we assume we are correct and proceed forward without regard for anything else.

[but,]

I'd also like to point out that revealing too many strategies too early will give those who have something to hide advanced notice on how they can try to elude is. So perhaps if you have individual initiatives, you can keep them away from the large group.

[evocationary]

[ so dryly: ]

I'm already planning on helping with the strip stuff - I talked to Hua Cheng about it already. We're not doing the resistance to cooperating thing again. We all saw where that got us.

We can't assume certain people wouldn't kill anybody. Everybody is guilty 'til proven innocent in this rodeo. Sorry. Sucks, but it's the way we gotta do it.

[exercisms]

Um. . .

[He looks. Especially stressed out to be speaking up right now, after having gotten a little better at it during trials.]

I. . . if you know something about why somebody else is acting strange. You should tell someone that. Even if you don't want to tell everyone, you should tell one person.

[dianxias]

[ wow xie lian sure has an expression on his face. it's mild awe, and... something else, unfortunately. hua cheng can probably feel this appreciative something or other coming off of xie lian in waves when he comes by.

hua cheng is so cool when he gets like this......... wow....





i mean. ] -- Well said, San Lang. I'm happy to share anything I've learned so far in any way that I can, and that includes anything about the events of last Thursday.

I learned on Saturday that we only experience those strange sleeping effects on Thursday evenings if you sleep outside of the town itself. Anywhere in these new places like this should have a strange effect on you. Those effects also don't bother the leaders, which is why we were able to tell the spiral wound pattern was faked.

[heartablaze]

[She's here, and she's listening more quietly than normal, though quite a few things get her to flinch.]

...If we're getting special items, then I think it might be a good idea to keep track of them. And... maybe figuring out where the special things from the dead are going?

Does... anyone know if their things are being touched at all? I know the item Cater-chan got, but I don't know if she ever used it, or if whoever killed her took it, but...

Cater-chan's should have been something simple, so I'm not worried, but... if someone were to take something like Shigeo-kun's...

[Not a fun idea.]

[reconnective]

[well. he agrees with a lot of what's being said here.]

I still think we should agree as a group what areas should be out of bounds for Thursday nights. Like safe zones if people really want to sleep outside, but other places we shouldn't touch.

I'm wondering if we should start writing down what we find on Fridays, too? For those of us who're going out and investigating stuff. That way we have notes to read from during our trial and we don't have to try to remember everything we've seen. It'd be faster to compare what evidence we have against what we might be missing if we're not trying to remember what we might've forgotten.

Other than that...[well. he shrugs because most people covered a lot of his points.]

i.

[frostythehitman]

I'll do whatever the hell needs doing to make sure we don't let any more murderers run free.

If this place keeps giving us new areas full of obviously dangerous tools, I'm gonna get rid of 'em. At the very least, we can make it harder to kill than just giving them a bucket full of scalpels.