cloud ☁️

[unrecked]

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[unrecked]

[I wish I could accurately describe just how fucking tired he becomes at seeing the name Nightman. Like--what is this? Clover Valley Batman? A joke? Is this a fuck from the Rogues Gallery? Seriously?

Okay, firstly:]

Made them give me a handwritten note with the initials of the people only he would know he told me to give a message to on the island. It was correct. It was his handwriting.

[Secondly, as much as he hates it:]

Nightman? What, they couldn't get Sandman because it was copyrighted?

[skyagain]

That settles that, then.

[ cloud very nicely does not tell jason that having access to his memories is a very easy things in these games, because him believing the hostage thing makes it easier for everyone. or harder. whichever. it's less annoying. ]

I was going to ask if you knew him. Sounded a lot like the names from your place.

It details the ways to ensure your hostage makes it. One is just to live to the end of the stay. Doesn't state how long that is. Second, murder one person. Don't have to get away with, don't have to go on a rampage. Just the one. If you help someone murder but don't do the killing blow, it doesn't count, but you'll still be rewarded, so it might be worth your while.

There's a lot of "going on a killing spree will break the contract", so I guess that part is too boring for him.

[unrecked]

[Cloud is the first person Jason is going to shoot actually.]

Wow, can't believe the owner of murder hotel, NIGHTman, doesn't want a bloodbath. And no, I've never heard of them.

Aquila wouldn't tell me how long we'd be here, so that checks out. I asked Cetus if dying breaks the contract, and they said not necessarily if you were entertaining enough before you died. Did anything in there confirm that by any chance?

Wonder why Nightman is so obsessed with murder as entertainment. Or maybe it's the murder mystery part of it.

[skyagain]

No clue, but the entire contract is about that.

If you die... Give me a second, I've still got it with me. I'll just type it up again. On a typewriter.

[ it takes him a bit. typewriter writing is not Quite like computers and so it is terrible, but he is careful. ]

"Any Player who is not alive and/or is unable to return to the Lobby of the Starlight Hotel to check out at the termination date of this contract will be considered to have failed to sufficiently fulfill the terms outlined, and their life and the life of their Hostage will be forfeit."

Then it goes into how killing is an exception to that rule. But unable to return to the lobby feels like a clue.

[unrecked]

Huh. Guess I'm going to have to actually request mine to see if we have similar things. Being unable to return to the lobby sounds weird, yeah. You'd assume not being alive would automatically mean that.

Virgo's job description does say they keep banned guests off the premises. Does dying mean you're banned, or does banned mean something else?

[skyagain]

Forgot to say, contract says the stay is eight weeks. Live to the end and both you and your hostage go free.

There's nothing about being banned on here, but there's another line about "permanent erasure". Might imply a less-permanent kind.

Most of these contracts should be exactly the same, but the staff can't read them without permission, so they couldn't say for sure.

[unrecked]

Joy.

[Cloud can hear the flatness of his voice through the page.]

So a holding pen. That's great. I told Cetus it was weird we didn't get a copy of the contract with our goodies anyway. Terrible administrative management. Cetus said they didn't have them is why, so it makes sense if they couldn't read them.

Weird Nightman doesn't want them to see our stipulations. Why? Wonder if they have their own contract.

[skyagain]

Probably they do have their own contract. Aquarius joked about an NDA.

But it's a "privacy" thing. Even if I showed you mine, you wouldn't be able to read it. Though could be that Vulpecula was being polite and some of the others looked, too.

[unrecked]

Yeah. I asked Aquila why they wanted to work here, but they wouldn't tell me because of the NDA. You literally can't ask them anything about themselves it feels like. Whatever wild theories I made up to them about it, they never said yea or nay.

Well, they did say I'd have to wait to get my hands on more evidence? And to get to know them all better.

Think they're like you and Lup?

Are we going to have to wine and dine these bastards to learn anything worthwhile? I hate the dating scene.

[skyagain]

I'm almost certain they gotta be like Lup and me. Mikazuki and Hua Cheng, too.

Thing is, from what I can tell, all four of us had pretty different rules and reasons. So it's hard to tell how it works for these guys.

But speaking of wining and dining, there is a clause about them in here too.

"Hotel Staff can be identified by the Starlight Hotel uniforms and answer to the names "Aquarius," "Aquila," "Cetus," "Gemini," "Lepus," "Orion," "Virgo," and "Vulpecula". Hotel Staff will be authorized to make deals with the Player for additional incentives or introduce new rules for the purposes of entertainment; however, they may not void the terms of this contract."

[unrecked]

Christ.

Okay, well, that explains some new things we got today. Think that’s why they have tipping boxes too? Aquila joked about it.

Maybe we can find out more about them as we go, assuming someone doesn’t off us first. I’m guessing the rest of the goody-two-shoes here will want to “save” them.

Let me guess: it doesn’t say shit in there about rules regarding their termination?

[skyagain]

Surprisingly, it does.

We try anything against them like that, and it's a breach of contract. Immediate permanent erasure.

[unrecked]

You can’t hear me from there, but I’m laughing.

[skyagain]

Don't tell me that ruined your murder plans already?

[unrecked]

No, I meant helping them. It's just funny. We couldn't get rid of Ivan either. A lot of people thought about voting for her, but

Well, I was a Fox. Me and the other one checked her at the started, and she came back clean. So it makes sense. They're probably just hosts. And after meeting the rest of you, they might be in the same predicament you were.

[skyagain]

Probably.

I tried to ask what kind of deal they could make, but they needed an actual example to tell me what the price would be. Though if we make one to change the rules, Nightman might show up. He has to approve of them, too.

[unrecked]

Why does this sound more and more like some dark dimension, capitalist Batman? Do we even want Nightman to show up?

If they need an example, does that mean we can throw spaghetti at the wall about whatever we want? See if they give it to us?

[skyagain]

I know the staff would rather he didn't. He's watching from afar, but he's not very talkative right now, apparently.

And yeah, maybe. But they're deals. If you ask for something, they'll ask you for something back.

[unrecked]

Yeah. Cetus said I could count on them watching always.

You a gambling man, Cloud?

[skyagain]

Not so much when the odds are rigged, but it's not like there's a lot of choice here.

[unrecked]

We're in agreement then. Guess it wouldn't hurt to try. What do we have to lose besides, you know, just some hostages.

[skyagain]

Again, not like we were given much of a choice. Contract even mentions that they'd keep the hostage whether we signed it or not.

[unrecked]

Okay, that’s fucked. That’s forcing us to sign.

This dude is pissing me off.

[skyagain]

Nothing like a little coercion in paperwork to know you're dealing with a real asshole. If everything else wasn't a raging clue already.

[unrecked]

No kidding.

There’s a lot to work with. Things are going to get a hell of a lot tougher for us as we go.