THE FIFTH INVESTIGATION

[airlockedmods]

[As usual, the day begins at seven a.m.

Good morning, Champions.]

Comments

[misanthropicprinciple]

Not yet. May be touch and go for a while.

[Junpei hasn't been caffeinated yet, which of course is the reason he's being un(?)intentionally cryptic.]

[buddyoldpal]

[ Cryptic is his default setting, isn't it? Nishitani remains mostly unperturbed. ]

So somebody tried ta whack somebody and they fucked it up? What're we supposed ta do with that?

[misanthropicprinciple]

Choromatsu tried to off himself, Nishitani-san.

[You tell him what to do with that, man.]

[buddyoldpal]

[ RIP. ]

Well, that's a real kick in the dick, ain't it.

[misanthropicprinciple]

Not the best way I've ever been woken up, no. He's still with us for now...

[buddyoldpal]

Yeah, least ya got to 'im in time. That's better than every other fuckin' time, huh?

[misanthropicprinciple]

Oh, well, I didn't have much to do with that. I think Nari and Queenie did most of the heavy lifting, medically. I just did my usual thing.

[Snoopers gonna snoop.]

[buddyoldpal]

Beats not doin' anythin' at all.

Poor kid got 'is life saved, it's a pretty big fuckin' deal.

[misanthropicprinciple]

Yeah. ...I mean, he may not be happy with us later, but too damn bad.

[buddyoldpal]

Hah! That's for fuckin' sure. We don't need another damn crazy murder trial.

[misanthropicprinciple]

...I wonder what'll happen. If we don't have one.

[buddyoldpal]

Good fuckin' question, huh? I'm surprised PAL hasn't popped in ta tell us we broke some new fuckin' rule 'e just wrote.

[ It's worrying more than anything. ]

[misanthropicprinciple]

[Yeah, Junpei actually goes ahead and checks his PIP before shaking his head.]

Nothing new on the books, at least. But I know the investigations and trials are the moneymakers for this show. The whole week leads up to it.

[buddyoldpal]

Yeah, it don't seem like a good sign if ya ask me. Bein' quiet like this ain't really his style.

Unless we really hurt his fuckin' feelings last week, hah! [ He laughs. ]

[misanthropicprinciple]

God, I hope so. Clarith said we did, actually. He made petty-ass bar graphs about the cake we threw on the floor and everything.

[buddyoldpal]

[ Nishitani chortles. Just straight up. ]

Hah! Damn, well if he's listenin' in, I hope he knows I'm real sorry. Boy, I'm so fuckin' sorry i hurt 'is feelin's when he's been fuckin' killin' us off one by one. I'm just choked up about it, really.

[misanthropicprinciple]

Once more with feeling, Nishitani-san.

[But his smirk fades to thoughtfulness.]

Clarith made a good point about him, though. We still don't know just how much PAL's really the one pulling the strings here. He's a computer, for one thing, and at least to my twenty-first century understanding, that makes his free will an enormous question mark.

All we know for sure is he's the point of contact between us--all of us on the audience-facing side of this mess--and the people who put all of this in motion in the first place.

[buddyoldpal]

[ Ok, he hears what you're saying, but........ no? ]

Much as he might be followin' orders, he still fuckin' killed Larimer-chan, I ain't gonna feel sorry for 'im just cause he's programmed ta be an asshole. He's still a fuckin' asshole.

[misanthropicprinciple]

Believe me, I'm not suggesting he isn't.

[You know who else PAL vaporized? Like, fifteen percent of Junpei.]

I just don't want us to get complacent and forget that there's something else beyond the immediate threat. At worst, PAL's just the tip of the iceberg.

[buddyoldpal]

[ He nods. ]

Yeah, guess the producers and the fuckers runnin' around backstage are the real problem, ain't they? Yer sayin' PAL's a punk, and we gotta aim fer the head if we wanna stop this shit, that right?

[misanthropicprinciple]

Mmm... I think it's a 'yes, and.'

However we want to rank PAL, he's also our one still-active lead to the real assholes.