week 3, friday

[ninjay]

[ sometime after the investigation, jay returns to room 117. it seems like both jake and kaito aren't around conveniently for this thread to take place.

when jay sees dirk, he waves with his right hand. ]

I feel like I should have stayed in with you guys in the morning.

Comments

[splinten]

Sounds like it was the better option.

[Dirk is in bed with one of his philosophy books. Let's say that Dirk, like, got the news about what's going on so at least he's in the know.]

[ninjay]

I didn't see any of the bodies yet, but that's what tomorrow is for, I suppose.

[ he is not wild about seeing marty's. anything found in the dark room cannot be good. ]

That's not what I want to talk about though. May I ask you a question?

[splinten]

Awesome. [Dirk, left on his own and with nothing but a book and talk of death, seems to be retreating back into the half-dead depressed state that he has been at risk of sinking into at any moment since Dave died.] Yeah, go for it, dude.

[ninjay]

[ dirk...... jay has probably spent enough time around dirk at this point with the whole room sharing to be able to tell when it is a Bad Time to talk to him, so he's gotta strike while the iron is still hot. ]

You're not the Copycat, are you?

[splinten]

Nope.

[Just point blank nah.]

Also not sure why you'd guess that one for me.

[ninjay]

Because I know that both Jake and [ he hesitates for a moment ] Dave are more or less aware of the identity of them.

[ and dirk is the obvious link between them, so. ]

[splinten]

[There isn't a flinch, although the dead look sort of come back after that brief return to alertness.]

And I'm the obvious link. [fair enough] Dave made me promised not to tell anyone what my role was unless I absolutely needed to, so I won't tell you what I actually am in the stupid hope that maybe if I stay loyal to him he might talk to me in the afterlife. [That was also said in that dull, dead monotone. Like he knows it's a lost cause but can't help otherwise.] I figure Jake told you he knew the Copycat's identity. Did Dave say he knew?

[ninjay]

I know that a cat symbol was found in his room one morning, and that he wasn't worried about the Copycat copying his role. That only makes sense if he knew who the Copycat was and trusted them with it.

[ there's also jay's other conspiracy theory but he's not going to. voice that yet. ]

[splinten]

A cat symbol was found in his room? [This is a weird thing to fixate on but also: Dirk's brother is dead and he didn't know about that.] When? What did it look like?

[ninjay]

... Monday morning. [ so, the day dave died. ] It was a drawing of a cat sitting on a copier.

[ jay didn't know what a copy machine was until this game rip ]

[splinten]

[He's still for a moment. Then a quick shake of his head.]

Doesn't matter. He's dead, whoever was... tryin' to fuckin' scare him was just... [Dirk rubs at his face with his hands. He's trying to breathe steadily.]

I want to know who'd pull a stunt like that.

[ninjay]

[ there's a silence as jay just stares at dirk. ]

Was Dave the Copycat?

[splinten]

He didn't tell me his role directly, so I never saw the key he used.

[Which means he could have been.]

If you ask Craftly tomorrow, he'll probably tell you.

[ninjay]

Possibly. That's... worrisome though. If he was the Convict and had his role copied, his attitude made it seem like he was fine with it because he knew who it was. But if he was fine with it because he knew he was the Copycat, then that means the Convict still has access to everything with their key.

[splinten]

[It is worrisome. Although he pauses.]

If he was the Copycat, wouldn't he have taken it as a threat? Like, some asshole slipping a note under the door 'I know what your role is' to intimidate them?

[ninjay]

True. He found it with Kaito though, so there's the chance that he didn't want to worry him. But that then leads to the question of, how would someone else have found out about it?

[splinten]

If he had an ally and that ally leaked, maybe. Unless there's a role that can discern other roles, which we haven't ruled out yet after Hana's framing.

[ninjay]

It's what makes the most sense in terms of the Ghost, I think. Enough time has passed for people to have revealed roles to one another, so if the Ghost possesses someone now then they have plenty of opportunity to maybe have found it out on their own. But after just one week? Not likely.

[ unless you like, really want to die or something. ]

If there is a role that can see other people's roles... flaunting that knowledge is awfully brave.

[splinten]

Or just malicious. I heard there was writin' downstairs.

[ninjay]

One of them said something about an ectoparasite. That's how the Ghost role is described in the menu, right?

[ look. jay hates jumping to the "what if it's the ghost!!!" conclusion, but omega did say that there would now be some sort of sign if the ghost kills someone. ]

[splinten]

I just wondered if some clowns went off their Faygo.

[Hm.]

Yeah, it's called a parasite, and 'ecto' can mean ectoplasm.

[ninjay]

[ jay should continue the conversation about the ghost, because clearly that is what's important here.

and yet.

AND YET. ]

Clowns did what now.

[splinten]

It's stupid and you don't want to know.

[ninjay]

I'll take you word for it, based on what I know about where you're from.

[ don't tell him about homestuck ]

[splinten]

Smart move.

[Anyway.]

Hopefully, Omega's gift will pay off here. Although knowin' the ghost did it won't help us identify a ghost.

[ninjay]

No, I suspect that one will still be a hard one to track down. There's always Marty, but...

[ he has no clue how they are going to figure out who did it on that end, too. ]

[splinten]

God fuckin' help us with Marty.

[ninjay]

I'm guessing that someone might have locked him in there? Which... is a very obvious way to murder someone, when you think about it.

[ he cannot think of any other logical reason for marty to be in there. ]