the one with junpei;

[oraculi]

someday i'll put gifs or something here but not right now!!

Comments

[oraculi]

Nope.

[That's as much a mystery to him as anyone. Almost anyone. Whatever. But . . . hm.]

Yours takes place a certain night a week.

[crashout]

Nope. But yours does. [...] Well, actually, the answer to that is maybe. It's a certain day a week though.

[oraculi]

Same here.

Yours involves planting evidence.

[crashout]

No. [...hm.] Yours involves checking into the whereabouts of a person. Places they've gone and people they've talked to.

[oraculi]

[Ah, and he pauses for a long, deliberate moment.]

Some of that is true. Some isn't.

[crashout]

...[His eyes light up a bit.] You can check the places they've gone, and that's how it can help or hurt. You can prove if they were near a crime scene or a locked room or...whatever.

[oraculi]

Nope.

[OTHER DIRECTION.]

[crashout]

People then. [WOW. GOD. THAT TOOK SO LONG. There's a pause...and he laughs to himself.] Pretty sure we just went for more than twenty questions.

So that's it. Once a week, you can pick one person and see who they've spoken to over a period of time and assess who they know and who might be responsible for any potential deaths.

[oraculi]

More or less, yeah. It's not as detailed as that, but yeah, that's more or less it.

Hey. Ever play hot and cold?

[Maybe that's the way to do this (because he's not giving up til he gets his role, damn it). Twenty questions coupled with hot and cold. Twenty . . . hot and cold . . . ]

[crashout]

Good to know. [He'll definitely tuck that info away, but in all fairness to Haymitch he definitely deserves to know by now. So, he nods.]

I'm familiar with the game. That might work a lot faster. Hit me with what you've got.

[oraculi]

Yours involves items in some way, either somebody's possessions or gift shop inventory or whatever.

[crashout]

Colder. That would've been useful for today though, come to think of it.

[oraculi]

Yeah, no kidding.

[. . .]

Can you tell if somebody's lying during trial?

[crashout]

...lukewarm. Is that an option? [How to explain...] If someone brings up something I know, I could in theory call them out on it if it's wrong.

[oraculi]

. . . I mean, isn't that just how life works? If you know somebody's wrong you can straighten them out?

[quick diversion]

[crashout]

I'll be honest with you because I think you'll understand. Sometimes I'm just really good at bullshitting my way into getting an answer from someone. [Case in point: this conversation.] But I mean more like...having factual information and relating it to actions.

[oraculi]

You know their motivation?

[haymitch should be better at this but i am not a clever person]

[crashout]

Hotter. [Kit I'm so sorry that Haymitch is in this situation and so is Junpei.] I don't alway, but I can.

[oraculi]

[Well, that's closer. At least he's getting there. But if it's not to do with the murderer's motivation-- and he thinks again of Escha, of the way Junpei had talked to her so firmly and quietly, trying to tease out a proper motivation-- and it can help him . . . it's not to do with trial, and it can take place any day a week, which sort of rules out his own role, and it helps that the kid is so social, so what--

Oh.

Because he thinks of his own life, right? Of the rebellion, and the role he played there. Not just all the secret codes with bracelets and bread, but the bits before. Mingling around and getting to know people, being social with the other mentors, asking questions and seeing which way they leaned, deciding if he wanted to bring them in, and that--]

You figure out if others know more.

[It's soft, but intent.]

You see if they've got some kinda role. Somebody's gotta be the one who puts it all together, right? Or else we're all just working on our own, and that's not as fun, not for whoever's watching.

[crashout]

[He waits for Haymitch to put it all together, tilting his head just slightly as he listens to him talk it out and when the answer comes...there's a slow nod.]

Yes. [And now he's wary because it means his own secrets are out, an unsure look passing his features before he stands up a little straighter (which doesn't mean much given he's only 5'8".)] Or, at least, I think I'm supposed to put it together. But that's what I do. I find the others.

[oraculi]

[Two inches shorter than Haymitch, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have a presence of his own.]

And how many others have you found?

[crashout]

Including you and me? Eight. [He maybe takes this job a little too seriously.]

...I'm still not sure it's safe to disclose names to everyone, but my goal is to find the rest and see about getting everyone together to figure out what's happening here. [Hm.]

Did you get a chance to speak to any of the three who unleashed those shitty toys on the ship? They came back with some pretty interesting information.

[oraculi]

Not yet.

[Was he avoiding them? Slightly. Those toys creeped him out.]

What'd they have to say?

[crashout]

Besides the fact that they broke into what sounds like an arcade, they ended up hearing an audio transcript. I heard half of the details from Higekiri and Wei Wuxian, but Dick got a copy of the notes Kagachi took.

From what we understand, whoever our narrator is confronted someone about having some sort of part in this game. "You're one of the 13." Don't know what that means yet. But the most important part is the other thing that was said. "Now we know the demons and" this part was scrambled, but I assume it was "the roles." "They're both like the hydra. Cut one head off, and another will take its place."

Still trying to figure out just what that means in context of the game in front of us.

[oraculi]

. . . shit.

[He rubs his mouth, considering all that.]

Well, there's your next case, detective. Did somebody get Escha's role?