week 4, saturday

[ninjay]

[ some time after the trial, jay and jake will lovingly reunite in their room.

jay, to the surprise of no one, looks both agitated and tired. that sure was the longest trial of his damn life. ]

At least we caught someone again.

Comments

[potentite]

That feels so unfair though. [Even as he protests it, he knows it's a real possibility.] I know, I know, this place isn't fair, but...

[He just doesn't understand it. The longer it goes on, the less he understands it.]

If we can just be selected and suddenly wake up with a gun pointed at us, or an axe raised above our heads...

[ninjay]

If I'm honest, it kind of feels like it's skewed in their favor already, considering they're probably working for whoever is running the place.

[ of course mother or whoever would want mira's group to come out on top. ]

There might be something we're missing though, if it's not that.

[potentite]

I was thinking about that a bit. It's strange that there's trials and even evidence. If this deity can conjure us from different worlds and suppress our powers, I'm sure they could get rid of evidence. But they don't. They allow us to find them if possible. And... I asked Craftly, too, what sorts of people have won this game in the past. And he said murderers haven't always won.

[ninjay]

Well... from an entertainment standpoint, it wouldn't be that fun if you always knew who would win, right? Especially considering no matter what side does, they'd still be getting bodies.

[potentite]

Maybe... I guess I just... found it strange that the game could end without the murderers victorious. That seems strange for such a ritual? But maybe I'm just grasping at straws.

[He's trying so hard to find loopholes or oddities in the system, things that maybe could save them.]

[ninjay]

There are probably things we don't know yet, like how it took us a few weeks to find out that some people aren't doing solo kills. We know that there are definitely two groups. One of them is working for Mother, and another one seems to be [ what was the word they used... ] hunting them.

[potentite]

I assume the group hunting them was given that ability rather than just choosing to like us. They must have special abilities to give them a better chance of stopping the facilitators, otherwise announcing they're intent on fighting this would be no more noteworthy than any of us saying it.

[ninjay]

Most likely. We've been guessing that there were three of them working in a group since the beginning because of the rules, but they seem to have known it as a fact.

[ you wouldn't make a public note like that if it was a guess. ]

[potentite]

They haven't done a very good job.

[Like. Not to rag on them but he's just saying there sure have been a lot of murders.]

[ninjay]

Maybe not. What do you think of them, besides that?

[ jake that's ragging. ]

[potentite]

I think... they're probably just as frustrated as us. Maybe more so? Knowing from the start that maybe saving everyone rests on your ability to do this right... and not being able to trust anyone but each other... I imagine it's rough. The notes sound like they're trying to give us hope, though. I wish I could assist them but... if they're struggling so much with special rules to help them, I can't imagine anyone without them would be of much use.

[ninjay]

We can help catch the killers when they can't. If there is a way for them to look for the others, then I assume there would probably be restrictions to how they do it, just like the rules for the normal roles. That could be why it's taking them so long.

[ it might be easier now that there are a lot less than 42 people here, but that does not sound like a positive thing to say. ]

[potentite]

[It's okay, Jake is thinking it, too.]

We're starting week five and we're down to almost half our number. Hopefully, they've had time now to get their bearings and have more clues available than we do that are helping them to eliminate possibilities.

[Not that it's a much of a positive but it's a silver lining to a very terrible storm.]

I just wish I knew what they did. Maybe it would aid us. I don't know. The old two heads are better than one, you know? Or multiple heads are better than three.

[ninjay]

I don't blame them for keeping to themselves since if they put their trust in the wrong person... [ things could go wrong.

which is true for all of them. jay pauses, looking at jake. ]

You were suspicious of me, right?

[potentite]

It was because that happened to Dirk. [He looks down.] I was scared. If he died because of my trusting nature, I could never forgive myself.

[Not that. He'd forgive himself anyway but details.]

[ninjay]

I see. I do understand your concern, Jake. Dirk is someone very important to you.

[ that must be nice. ]

But do be more careful with how freely you give out our roles to others.

[potentite]

[That part confuses him.] Did... someone learn your role? I didn't tell anyone it. It's not mine to tell.

[ninjay]

Kaito's.

[ he knows you blabbed about that one jake!!! ]

[potentite]

Oh, wait, you mean at the trial? [He's still confused sorry.] I didn't know for sure that was his until he, well, proved it. I had a different theory.

[ninjay]

[ he sighs. ]

What was your other theory?

[potentite]

It was incredibly and painfully stupid to the most embarrassing level possible.

[He's deeply ashamed of this more than he's ashamed of most things which is kind of impressive.]

[ninjay]

Jake, please tell me your incredibly and painfully stupid theory.

[ he is genuinely, very curious about this. ]

[potentite]

[Jay don't encourage his weird ass theories.]

All right, well, um, to give you the framework for my theory, you need two points that I thought up from the number of lockers in the Disposal Room. The first is that I thought it was possible that Mother need not be one of the two remaining facilitators but rather more like an original component outside of them. And two, because of this, Mother may have a host who is unaware of what's going on. I mean, what better way to cover your tracks if your host honestly is clueless?

So, um, from there, my thought was, maybe some of the facilitators are just as trapped as we all are. Maybe Mother turned out to be someone they can't help wanting to protect and help? Yes, we know Mira was, um, well, a touch... [A pause. Yeah no there's no polite words here.] Well she was a merry killer. But it's possible that maybe it's not the same for them all. The more our numbers decrease, the more I see... people left over who don't seem like the type to want to do this. Not unless their hands were forced, perhaps.

So... I thought, I thought... someone like Yukina... would be a terribly good Mother in this theory. Someone that other people would want to try to protect and save if they could, even if it meant picking us all off. Maybe Mother would have told you both that if you complete the ritual for her, she'll let Yukina and you both go. Mira would just be happily along for the ride of course. So then... maybe what happened with Dirk was a sort of warning from you guys. [He rubs his arms, looking down.] It was something like that. I told you it's embarrassingly stupid.

[Oh, right.] In that theory, Kaito didn't have the gun. Yukina did. I'm terribly relieved it wasn't right, though. I like Yukina. I just feel awful about it all. I mean it kind of makes sense but...

[He doesn't know. He's not really good at distrusting people, so coming up with ways to think like that isn't actually easy for him. Even then he tries to excuse why they would do it.]

[ninjay]

I think it makes sense. You are definitely wrong, but I can see why you jumped to those conclusions.

[ jay sighs, rubbing his forehead. he's annoyed, he can't lie about that. even though this game is filled with people pointing fingers at each other, he's getting a little tired of how many times it happens to him and his friends. ]

I know that this is a game that lacks trust, but I do hope you won't think so little of me as to mess with Dirk just as some cheap scare tactic.

[potentite]

If it helps, I didn't think you were the one that did it. I do actually think better of you than that. It's just that Kaito was the only person who knew. I don't know him well enough, so I thought he did it. But I understand that you're mad at me. Umm, I'm not... sure what I can do to make it up to you all. But I promise to try if you'll let me.