I'm not calling you a ghost, just stop haunting me [ Week 10, Thursday]

[chiseler]

[It's about 8pm when Luke sets plans into action. Initially, he'd kept things between himself, Adam, Grell and Dorian. He hadn't anticipated that Dave would also be contacted by someone from the other side, nor did he anticipate the other things that had happened this week.

It takes a lot of convincing. It takes convincing the others and vouching for Dave, ensuring that no, he's pretty sure Dave isn't an alien and yes he does understand the risks of bringing someone in. But he feels like it's important that they all talk and start to put this puzzle together.

It doesn't hurt that all of them had also explored different sections of the top deck, too.

So it's Thursday evening shortly after dinner that he rounds up the group and tells them to wait in the chapel for him. The doors lock once they're all inside and the lights are low, but at least they can all fit comfortably in here and it's less conspicuous than the viewport. Like on Tuesday, Luke's leading the discussion and he leans back in one of the pews, looking at the other four thoughtfully.]

We are gathered here today because...well, a bunch of dead people are talking to us. [That's about it.] We should compare notes further and see if there's any sort of answer we can come up with. Who wants to go first?

Comments

[parodeity]

Since I'm the newbie, I don't mind goin' first if no one else is like, married to the idea?

[ dave's sitting at one of the pews, legs stretched out in front of him and crossed at the ankle, his arms crossed over his chest. the pews aren't that comfortable but he'll lounge anyway. ]

[tevinteriscoming]

Oh, by all means. There's been far too much marriage for one week as is.

[The fact that he agreed to meet means he's agreed to trust Dave, or maybe more accurately, trust Luke's assessment of Dave...even so, he'd prefer him to go first.]

[parodeity]

Haha, you sure you don't wanna get in on the action? Judar apparently enjoys marryin' people off.

[ but jokes aside...WE WILL SAY THAT HE. SUMMARIZES HIS ENTIRE CONVERSATION AS NEAR TO VERBATIM AS POSSIBLE HERE, because I am not sure we wanna go through this line by line when we have the nifty gdoc that has the convos stored! ]

...Anyway one of the things that kinda seemed weird to me is how animated his avatar was. Kinda wonder if it wasn't just legit him and that's just how he was appearin' to me?

[ not that this tangent is at all relevant after his more important information, but it's a thing dave found Interesting. ]

Also, apparently he was hacking down the stumps in the game, you know? Like. Is Furry Crossing the afterlife? Do we all gotta pay off our damn house loans once we die via catching ten million bugs or something? If so, I have to say I prefer like, any religion's afterlife to that.

[tevinteriscoming]

I'll pass. Much like evisceration via alien, it's a fate I have some pride in avoiding for this long. Besides, I find myself rather unattached these days.

[Just a slight bitter edge to his words when he speaks. No harm meant by the comment, but the person he was seeing did die only two weeks prior. It's astounding sometimes how little anyone seems to remember.]

I don't think so, I don't think they're in the game. The Bull made it sound as though they're watching us via some sort of surveillance device. The place they are is called the Cradle; I think he would have said if it was a quaint little town in a game somewhere.

[chiseler]

...I can kinda confirm that, actually.

[tevinteriscoming]

Oh? Do tell.

[chiseler]

I, uh, kinda had a conversation with somebody myself the other day. Confirmed a couple of things for me including that the monitors go dark on Thursday nights and they can't see in our rooms. Whatever the monitors are, anyway.

[tevinteriscoming]

They can see into our rooms. But they can't see everywhere at all times, no.

[Not elaborating on how he knows this, but he sounds pretty certain.]

Who did you speak to, then?

[chiseler]

[...that's unfortunate. But ah well, he just shrugs.]

Lavi got in touch on Tuesday. Adam already knows, too. The conversation was pretty short but I got a couple of things out of him before he got cut off.

[parodeity]

Hey, you're legit a club member now. ...Also, picturing them watching us on security cams now. Semi creepy but at least we like them so they can keep it up I guess??

[chiseler]

I don't know how I feel about being watched all the time. You'd think they'd get bored after a while. But it also raises a question of where they are if there're monitors everywhere. Lavi didn't have enough time to tell me that part, either. What is the Cradle?

[tevinteriscoming]

I spoke to the Bull again this morning. Most of what we discussed was - [hesitating slightly in finding the words to explain this] - of a personal nature. But it's worth noting that I gave Adelina a message to pass on, before she died. A code word of sorts. The Bull was able to repeat it back to me. It's proof of not much at all, I know, but it's something.

[A sigh. It was easier to talk about all of this when he was pretending it wasn't real.]

I should mention, as we're into Thursday evening - if any of our number are suspects, we shouldn't name the meeting. Choose one of our number who isn't a suspect, and say you met with he or she alone.

Another thing. Alice tells me that, if someone were to kill for the motive this week and succeed, the person they raised from the dead would be revived immediately. I hope I don't need to explain the significance. Unless she's rigged the trial, I doubt she'd promise something that she couldn't do, not when it could actually be disproven.

[antietam]

So she's actually promising to revive anyone—not just someone from here, but anyone we choose.

That means it's possible. Sure, it'd take a lot of power to revive everyone who's dead, but she's fully admitting she can do it. They can be saved.

[tevinteriscoming]

Exactly. If it was a promise to revive someone from home, it would be like any of the other meaningless, impossible to confirm offers she's made.

But someone here - she told me explicitly. I told her if I were to kill, I'd need explicit confirmation my intended pick would be revived after trial and brought here, in case of a fight. [Realizing how that sounds a second too late.] Obviously I'd be mad to really mean to do it. But she'd never risk being exposed as a fraud. It's within her power.

[antietam]

[ Adam doesn't seem bothered by it. He's actually smiling. And considering a little bit if they could manage to let this motive come to fruition, just for the sake of proof. ]

So, ultimately, we have to protect her. She may be off, but she's the best chance we have. Were you able to ask how she'd do it?

[tevinteriscoming]

I'm not sure, truly. But you're right. Alice is an ally. An unpredictable one, but the Admiral's communication makes it only more clear.

[antietam]

[ He's quiet for a moment. ] I think, after everything we've learned, anyone who continues to show hostility toward the AI should be watched.

[tevinteriscoming]

[Raising an eyebrow.]

Not a bad sentiment. But are you speaking generally, or have you someone in mind?

[antietam]

Jessie was pretty clear about not trusting the AI when we met about her message. To the point that we met in the captain's quarters because she didn't want her to overhear.

She said that Shelley had specifically told her not to trust her, but we never heard anything of the sort, right? Arumat wasn't happy with her, but nothing like that.

[ There's a pause. ] Of course, anyone who's possessed wouldn't know what the aliens know, but something to consider.

[tevinteriscoming]

Ah. That is tricky. The Bull never said to trust her, of course. Maybe Shelley really said so. But it certainly stands out.

Whoever speaks to one next, you ought to ask them to ask Shelley to confirm it.

[antietam]

Maybe we should try to gather a list of things to discuss with them for whoever gets a message next. We don't want to waste our connection.

[parodeity]

[ raises hand ]

That would be helpful because I am getting the idea here that my questions were like, not as business-y as they could've been.

[ like at least he focused on SO HOW DO I REVIVE YOU rather than entirely on GREEK FOOD!!! but. adam was so much more on point? ]

[chiseler]

[He hums to himself, leaning back and staring at the ceiling in thought.]

We just learned a bunch this week. What kind of questions can we draw from that?

[erythristic]

What do we define as hostility, however? The anger and hate that's a predictable result of this game? As much as I agree that we should protect her - and I will, with my blood if necessary - it would be difficult to write all who simply mistrust her as potential threats. One can understand that she keeps us alive, keeps this ship running, and still despise what's happened. She told me that she anticipated us to hate her from the very beginning.

[it's not trying to contest Adam - she's sincere in wanting to hear his answer on this.]

[antietam]

Trust me, I understand that. I don't mean simple name-calling, but people who are trying to make plots against the AI or deem her the real enemy are more suspicious.

And obviously, we all know why people would feel that way at all. But the fact is that she's the lesser of the two evils.

... I'm also not sure why keeping an eye on people who show signs of mistrust would be that bad. We have to be aware of everyone, don't we? [ He's valued for his suspicion for a reason. ]

[erythristic]

It's not that it's bad - it's that we have to be as discreet as possible. Knowing exactly where we need to look aids us, so that we might conceal instead of accidentally coming off as paranoid.

[because that never worked out for people.]

[antietam]

I know, but we really have nothing else. As far as we're aware, there are no other signs of who's possessed. There's nothing that we can narrow down.

[erythristic]

They probably anticipate some sort of trick or bluff to get them to tip their hand, don't they.

[antietam]

They're not stupid. [ So yes. ] The only thing that gets them to react strangely is when one of their own becomes threatened. Rhys and Elizabeth with the poisoned wine, for example

We didn't think anything of it, but maybe we should have.

[erythristic]

...threatened, huh? That's not something impossible to pull off.

[someone please stop Grell Sutcliffe.]

[antietam]

[ Nope, he's smiling. ]

It's a bit harder now that people have had time to develop friendships, but they can't be that good.

[erythristic]

Why, Adam Parrish, someone would suspect you of plotting with that expression.

[antietam]

If I were, the AI would be here trying to offer some weapons.

No, I'm suggesting.

[erythristic]

[when Grell speaks, it's when the topics before have fallen into a bit of a lull - she's not raising her voice, and she's leaning against the stand in the middle of the room.]

I spoke to Kazuma again. And beyond my word, I have evidence to that - it may only be in the game, but he brought a present that I can show you. [she wasn't as avid a player as others, so changes to her avatar had to come from somewhere.] He said that those on his side received a transmission, not from the captain but from someone else. Something difficult to understand, but a true message...given his warning on the Souvlaki? It's a sign there's yet another party in play, perhaps.

[parodeity]

A good party, though? If they're chit-chattin' with the dead?

[ since sonya seems to be Team Good maybe this means they have even more allies they can rely on???

...that may be too optimistic but it's thursday they can all use some optimism. ]

[erythristic]

Hopefully. Let it be that us on this side are the ones with the more questionable friends - or outright opposition, as it so happens to be.

[that video she'd seen with Jack...it still didn't go away from her mind.]

If only there was a way to deduce which of our number were infected - or a way to bluff and lure them out.

[parodeity]

It'd help if we knew what the fuck their goal was. Like. Is it literally just "kill everyone"? Obviously getting caught is one way per Lizzie. And I guess. Otherwise killing the person as per...Rhys and Jack. Thanks Jack.

[ which brings dave to: ]

Man, it'd suck if someone tried to kill one of 'em for a murder mystery and then the corpse went BAM! not so dead after all, motherfucker! For the killer, I mean.

[erythristic]

It would. At this point I can't even blame our last culprit for making sure the bodies were dead...even an alien can't come back from "exploded into pieces."

[no kill like overkill.]

[parodeity]

Horror movie tropes are in full effect, not that this has not been the state of affairs this entire game. But apparently headshots are not a reliable method of murder when it comes to greek food space freaks?

[erythristic]

It takes more than a single bullet to stop a demon on the best of days. I'm not surprised it barely had an effect on our dear Rhys.

[you'd be surprised at what demons can come back from, Dave.]

[chiseler]

So then our next step should be...what, figuring out the best way to kill them in case we run into them unprepared?

[erythristic]

If you can't inflict massive damage on them in one blow - explosives, fire, the like - I'd say decapitation's the best way to go. Unless you know of something that can live without a head?

[chiseler]

[He gives her a blank look.] Uh. A hydra? [Eheh...] They sprout new heads every time one's cut off. In that case the only way to really beat them is burning them but even then some of their heads spit acid and fire. They're pretty nasty to fight, but they're also good for business. Donut shops, you know?

[parodeity]

Wait wait wait. Hydra donuts?

[ that sounds gross

he wants to try one ]

[chiseler]

[He waves a hand.] Back home there's this chain called Monster Donut which is pretty much how it sounds. It's a chain of donut shops that's attached to the lifeforce of the Hydra. Every time one of its heads gets cut off, two more heads show up and a shop pops up somewhere in America. The donuts actually aren't that bad either. [And here he looks almost proud.] Some of Hermes' kids figured out a method to capitalize on it. Only problem is that monsters are the only ones who can purchase donuts from the shops. They have a tendency to want to kill demigods. Can't imagine why. [Don't be a sarcastic shit, Luke.]

[parodeity]

...So are the donuts like, normal donuts, or made from monsters?

[ dave is just going to focus on the IMPORTANT DETAILS here!!!!!!!!!

god he's useless ]

[chiseler]

I mean...they taste like normal donuts. [So he's neither confirming nor denying SORRY DAVE.] If I ever figure out how to get them out here in space, I'll let you try one.

[tevinteriscoming]

[Frowning, and giving Grell a cautious look.

He has the sense that the latter piece of information is something they may want to be extra discreet with.]

[erythristic]

[catching his eye, she inclines her head just a small degree. no more details, she understands.]