it's so funny he is offended by this but also funny the hair stands that way on his own, and i simply have to let jason accept it]
Nightman. He has very specific interior designers for his very lavish and out-dated aesthetic murder hotel. What better way to incapacitate you for a sixteen year old girl who he has possessed. Since people killing each other normally is no fun.
Do I get first dibs' on kicking Nightman's ass now that I died and came back?
[ he is just saying he would enjoy it. anyway, now they are at the bar so jason just has to accept jrpg hair, and cloud grabs a drink. and then another and slides that one over to jason. illegal underage drinking!! ]
You find out anything else while I was dead? I can't say I got much from our excursion on Thursday besides-- well, everything ended when the sun rose up.
So Friday—by the way, as a side note, I fucking hate cemeteries—I went in to look for anything that might be important in the graveyard. I see a hand sticking out of toiled ground. Not sure if I was going to lose my mind or piss myself. [He was fine. Uh, mostly.] It was moving.
I basically just pull Claude out of the dirt which is weird because he was in the concierge with me and some others. But he startled me so bad being alive that I’m yelling at him to give me answers, so he doesn’t. He just asks me if I was awake then wouldn’t really talk. He finally tells me he remembers being awake and getting hit.
At trial, he said the same thing happened to Kim and Mikazuki. He said he woke up and got hit, then put in a coffin and buried. He had a weird dream about fighting a war at home at the other game he was in, but everyone was a machine? He could smell ink.
[ ... okay. cloud's wracking his scrambled brain to make sense of this one, frowning deeply because burying people alive is bad. they have established this. ]
... If it was just the grave thing, I'd say that one was a hint at me. [ waking up in a grave hello. ] But who the hell was awake to knock them out? Clementine couldn't have pulled that off.
[Yeah, hello. Very hello. JASON TODD HAD TO PULL SOMEONE OUT OF A GRAVE HELLO.]
Not sure. Could be the Nightman fucking around with something new he thinks is funny.
On the island, we had roles. So maybe it's a role of some kind. Don't know why a role would be putting three people in the cemetery, though. That's fucking morbid.
I don't know. We had roles, too, including one that could check out the crime scenes while everyone slept, but... Whoever or whatever did that basically buried those guys alive. Doesn't seem like something someone here would do without being possessed.
Maybe. We do have hostages, though. If they can twist our arms for a hotel game of murder, maybe they can twist them more for extra duties. You can't say no, stuff like that.
[He glances at Cloud, pensive and thin-lipped.]
When you went on your field trip, did you find anything... different? Like, related to the hotel? Yoo showed me something from theirs, but it didn't make a whole lot of sense.
[ he does nothing but nod at that himself, a deep frown etched on his face. as for the question... ]
No. Only thing we got out of that was a locket. But... the whole thing was pretty much like the hotel anyway. Brought somewhere to entertain the hosts, and then it turns out their entertainment was watching us kill each other and die.
What, they didn't think you had enough of the murder hotel already?
[He sort of gives that hissed exhale of exasperation through his teeth. He really has to put his forehead in his hand on the counter here.]
Yoo was convinced theirs was... memories of someone here. It sounded wild as hell, and he was already half out of it trying to tell me. Kept zoning in and out. Something about going into a hole.
He had a piece of hotel paper. Some people were playing Hangman, but not sure who. Ten-letter word. R was put in the sixth slot. T, S, M, L, O, D, E had all been tried, I think. The man was pretty much hung. [He closes his eyes like he's thinking.] The writing on the side was... "Give me another guess, you're missing a limb" in thick writing, "lmao" under it in slim writing, then "let the man die with dignity" in thick writing again. I think.
Below that was, "That is not a word!" in thick writing and "How dare you? Apologize to" in the slim writing before the page was ripped.
[ cloud listens to all of that and just downs his drink, because you know what, his head already hurt before, and this did not help. he's not good enough at vocabulary to even begin to try and guess that without a piece of paper himself. for a while he just looks like he's thinking, frowning heavily and tapping the counter with a finger ]
This a hint that Nightman's not playing us alone, you think?
Where is TIM? "Jason can figure out word puzzles." No, he just wants to punch and shoot. Where is Tim? Those are the brains.]
Maybe. I don't know if it's from the staff, or if maybe... I don't know, another round? I did try to ask if this was something the staff had done before, but they dodged. Which... suspicious. I assume they have.
That was when we got here, though. Maybe I can ask again, see if the tune has changed.
Even if they tell you, it's different if they've done this shit in general or if they've done a round at this hotel specifically. But something's off about them for sure.
[ jason wishes for tim and cloud doesn't even have anyone to wish for, he just admits; ]
I'm not a word puzzle guy. [ he's not entirely stupid with puzzles, but vocabulary is a lot different. save him. ] Maybe we can cut a deal to get one of the staff to solve that one for us. [ deadpan. ]
Yeah. I differentiated, but it didn't seem to matter.
[SOMEONE HELP AVALANCHE WHERE IS THE BRAINCELL!!! i believe in tifa it's all i've got. we're sending hope to ff7 land.]
One letter is a little hard to work with. The writing makes me and Yoo think it's maybe a made-up word. Or a word associated with someone, so we might not be able to guess it. I don't know. [He smirks wryly.] You think they'd cut us a better or worse deal if we tried to do it together?
Hey. [He sounds grumpily offended, but not angry.] I'm not the one who got beat to hell, then kicked the bucket, and then sat up on the autopsy table, alright?
If they should be annoyed with anyone, it should be you. [Muttering:] My attitude is fine. [IT'S NOT FINE.] They love me.
[ jason keeps mentioning it so cloud is Starting to wonder... if jason... was upset by his death...? no that's clearly silly. anyway he pats his shoulder ]
They were too busy being annoyed at the guy who tried to stab 'em to be mad at me. Least that means you're probably off the hook, too. [ he thinks jason angrily muttering is kind of funny. sorry about that. but he goes back to being a little more business ] Harrowhark says the tasks can take a while, so trying to split it up between two of us might not be a bad idea if we wanna request something more intense than the room service.
That's true. You think they'd split it, though, or force us to double up? We already don't get paid enough as it is; it's our luck they'd add more weight. But it wouldn't hurt to ask, I guess.
Aquarius said room service is room service and deals are deals. If we make a deal, it has to be related to this place's entertainment. So, like... murder, obviously. You know what you'd have in mind?
We'll see. No one's tried it yet as far as I know, so I guess we'll have to be the guinea pigs.
[ the murder makes cloud frown again ]
Pretty sure I'm all tapped out murder-wise. [ And then, on Sunday, ] I don't know. If the deal is for answers, then it's a matter of finding out how much that'd cost first. Right? There's no saying we have to offer an exchange ourselves. Just see if it's something we're willing to do. Or if it's even worth it.
[Cloud says this and falls right back into murder.]
Yeah. I assume it's a negotiation, and I assume it isn't going to be in our favor. But we'd all have to probably shake on it. When I talked to Aquarius about it, they really seemed like they wanted me to consider it before doing it. So I don't think anything is wrong with talking to whoever of the staff we think would give us a better deal.
Depends on what we want to ask for. And how to relate that to murder, but, like, in our benefit. Good luck to us.
Only ever had to barter for my own paycheck. This sounds like it'll be a lot more complicated. [ but he doesn't sound like he is backing down, leaning his elbow on the table so he can rest his chin in his hand ] Aquarius seems like not a bad one for deals. Some of them are a lot more... intense than others.
[ he pauses like he's not sure why he censored himself for jason of all people so he clarifies; ]
A lot more batshit. I don't know most of them that well [ because i was so fucking busy this week with a murder and cyoa ], so I can't say for sure who'd be the best. How many have you talked to so far?
[He looks exactly like he's weirded out by Cloud censoring himself, but then laughs when it's corrected.]
You can just say Virgo. [That isn't the only one, but it's the most obvious one.] I think I've talked to all of them at least once, but some not extensively. We'd probably have to figure out what we'd want to try first. If it's something crazy, maybe someone like Virgo would be best. Aquarius said you have to sell it.
If it's batshit enough of an idea, wouldn't the best person to cut a deal with be someone batshit? Aquarius is pretty sensible. Kind of wary, I think. Aquila is a pain in my damn ass, but if you want to make a joke of the deal, they'd be the perfect choice. Orion seems somewhat reasonable. Gemini tried to be sassy but was kind of guarded? They were the one who wouldn't come off any details when I questioned them about this being their first rodeo. But they did offer where to find a library, so they can be nice.
Virgo is hilarious, but completely unhinged, obviously. Easy to bully. Lepus seems like a dangerous asshole. More serious than Gemini and in the "don't bother me" department. Cetus is... Cetus wouldn't be bad. They don't talk a lot, but they seem reasonable? I guess. I only talked to Vulpecula once on the phone. When all of you started coming back from wherever. They seem to always be trying to get Lepus to lighten up, though.
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it's so funny he is offended by this but also funny the hair stands that way on his own, and i simply have to let jason accept it]
Nightman. He has very specific interior designers for his very lavish and out-dated aesthetic murder hotel. What better way to incapacitate you for a sixteen year old girl who he has possessed. Since people killing each other normally is no fun.
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[ he is just saying he would enjoy it. anyway, now they are at the bar so jason just has to accept jrpg hair, and cloud grabs a drink. and then another and slides that one over to jason. illegal underage drinking!! ]
You find out anything else while I was dead? I can't say I got much from our excursion on Thursday besides-- well, everything ended when the sun rose up.
[ the dream theory... ]
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[This feels incredibly socially debilitating to him, but he is going to have to suck it up. Luckily, he is not a drinker really.
Though this place feels like it might start turning him into one. Roy would laugh.]
Thanks. [Quickly moving on:] Nah, not really. Still think things might be a dream, yeah. The hallway of fucked up doors? Feels kinda like nightmares.
You tried to do, uh, room service yet? Or cut a deal? Like—talked to them about it.
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Not yet. I was supposed to talk to them again on Thursday, so I thought I'd check then, but... Stuff happened.
[ STUFF. his arm is still fucked up please. ]
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[Fucking Cloud. Jason’s expression looks exactly like that sentiment. Fucking CLOUD.]
I’m going to try later maybe. See what the conditions are even if I don’t take it. Not a big fan of devil deals, but whatever.
[He sips the drink but nursing it makes him feel better actually.]
Kind of want to see if they’ll tell me anything about why I had to pull Claude out of the ground like a potato.
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... Right, you guys kept mentioning that. And the cemetery. [ he missed the initial curfew talk so he's just. henwo? ] What exactly happened to him?
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So Friday—by the way, as a side note, I fucking hate cemeteries—I went in to look for anything that might be important in the graveyard. I see a hand sticking out of toiled ground. Not sure if I was going to lose my mind or piss myself. [He was fine. Uh, mostly.] It was moving.
I basically just pull Claude out of the dirt which is weird because he was in the concierge with me and some others. But he startled me so bad being alive that I’m yelling at him to give me answers, so he doesn’t. He just asks me if I was awake then wouldn’t really talk. He finally tells me he remembers being awake and getting hit.
At trial, he said the same thing happened to Kim and Mikazuki. He said he woke up and got hit, then put in a coffin and buried. He had a weird dream about fighting a war at home at the other game he was in, but everyone was a machine? He could smell ink.
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... If it was just the grave thing, I'd say that one was a hint at me. [ waking up in a grave hello. ] But who the hell was awake to knock them out? Clementine couldn't have pulled that off.
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Not sure. Could be the Nightman fucking around with something new he thinks is funny.
On the island, we had roles. So maybe it's a role of some kind. Don't know why a role would be putting three people in the cemetery, though. That's fucking morbid.
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I don't know. We had roles, too, including one that could check out the crime scenes while everyone slept, but... Whoever or whatever did that basically buried those guys alive. Doesn't seem like something someone here would do without being possessed.
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[He glances at Cloud, pensive and thin-lipped.]
When you went on your field trip, did you find anything... different? Like, related to the hotel? Yoo showed me something from theirs, but it didn't make a whole lot of sense.
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No. Only thing we got out of that was a locket. But... the whole thing was pretty much like the hotel anyway. Brought somewhere to entertain the hosts, and then it turns out their entertainment was watching us kill each other and die.
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[He sort of gives that hissed exhale of exasperation through his teeth. He really has to put his forehead in his hand on the counter here.]
Yoo was convinced theirs was... memories of someone here. It sounded wild as hell, and he was already half out of it trying to tell me. Kept zoning in and out. Something about going into a hole.
He had a piece of hotel paper. Some people were playing Hangman, but not sure who. Ten-letter word. R was put in the sixth slot. T, S, M, L, O, D, E had all been tried, I think. The man was pretty much hung. [He closes his eyes like he's thinking.] The writing on the side was... "Give me another guess, you're missing a limb" in thick writing, "lmao" under it in slim writing, then "let the man die with dignity" in thick writing again. I think.
Below that was, "That is not a word!" in thick writing and "How dare you? Apologize to" in the slim writing before the page was ripped.
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[ cloud listens to all of that and just downs his drink, because you know what, his head already hurt before, and this did not help. he's not good enough at vocabulary to even begin to try and guess that without a piece of paper himself. for a while he just looks like he's thinking, frowning heavily and tapping the counter with a finger ]
This a hint that Nightman's not playing us alone, you think?
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Where is TIM? "Jason can figure out word puzzles." No, he just wants to punch and shoot. Where is Tim? Those are the brains.]
Maybe. I don't know if it's from the staff, or if maybe... I don't know, another round? I did try to ask if this was something the staff had done before, but they dodged. Which... suspicious. I assume they have.
That was when we got here, though. Maybe I can ask again, see if the tune has changed.
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[ jason wishes for tim and cloud doesn't even have anyone to wish for, he just admits; ]
I'm not a word puzzle guy. [ he's not entirely stupid with puzzles, but vocabulary is a lot different. save him. ] Maybe we can cut a deal to get one of the staff to solve that one for us. [ deadpan. ]
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[SOMEONE HELP AVALANCHE WHERE IS THE BRAINCELL!!! i believe in tifa it's all i've got. we're sending hope to ff7 land.]
One letter is a little hard to work with. The writing makes me and Yoo think it's maybe a made-up word. Or a word associated with someone, so we might not be able to guess it. I don't know. [He smirks wryly.] You think they'd cut us a better or worse deal if we tried to do it together?
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Depends. How annoyed are they with you right now? Might give us a worse deal just for your attitude.
[ the joke is cloud also has a bad attitude. it's fine. ]
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If they should be annoyed with anyone, it should be you. [Muttering:] My attitude is fine. [IT'S NOT FINE.] They love me.
[They do not.]
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They were too busy being annoyed at the guy who tried to stab 'em to be mad at me. Least that means you're probably off the hook, too. [ he thinks jason angrily muttering is kind of funny. sorry about that. but he goes back to being a little more business ] Harrowhark says the tasks can take a while, so trying to split it up between two of us might not be a bad idea if we wanna request something more intense than the room service.
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That's true. You think they'd split it, though, or force us to double up? We already don't get paid enough as it is; it's our luck they'd add more weight. But it wouldn't hurt to ask, I guess.
Aquarius said room service is room service and deals are deals. If we make a deal, it has to be related to this place's entertainment. So, like... murder, obviously. You know what you'd have in mind?
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[ the murder makes cloud frown again ]
Pretty sure I'm all tapped out murder-wise. [ And then, on Sunday, ] I don't know. If the deal is for answers, then it's a matter of finding out how much that'd cost first. Right? There's no saying we have to offer an exchange ourselves. Just see if it's something we're willing to do. Or if it's even worth it.
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[Cloud says this and falls right back into murder.]
Yeah. I assume it's a negotiation, and I assume it isn't going to be in our favor. But we'd all have to probably shake on it. When I talked to Aquarius about it, they really seemed like they wanted me to consider it before doing it. So I don't think anything is wrong with talking to whoever of the staff we think would give us a better deal.
Depends on what we want to ask for. And how to relate that to murder, but, like, in our benefit. Good luck to us.
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[ he pauses like he's not sure why he censored himself for jason of all people so he clarifies; ]
A lot more batshit. I don't know most of them that well [ because i was so fucking busy this week with a murder and cyoa ], so I can't say for sure who'd be the best. How many have you talked to so far?
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You can just say Virgo. [That isn't the only one, but it's the most obvious one.] I think I've talked to all of them at least once, but some not extensively. We'd probably have to figure out what we'd want to try first. If it's something crazy, maybe someone like Virgo would be best. Aquarius said you have to sell it.
If it's batshit enough of an idea, wouldn't the best person to cut a deal with be someone batshit? Aquarius is pretty sensible. Kind of wary, I think. Aquila is a pain in my damn ass, but if you want to make a joke of the deal, they'd be the perfect choice. Orion seems somewhat reasonable. Gemini tried to be sassy but was kind of guarded? They were the one who wouldn't come off any details when I questioned them about this being their first rodeo. But they did offer where to find a library, so they can be nice.
Virgo is hilarious, but completely unhinged, obviously. Easy to bully. Lepus seems like a dangerous asshole. More serious than Gemini and in the "don't bother me" department. Cetus is... Cetus wouldn't be bad. They don't talk a lot, but they seem reasonable? I guess. I only talked to Vulpecula once on the phone. When all of you started coming back from wherever. They seem to always be trying to get Lepus to lighten up, though.
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