week 2

[airlockedmods]

[With the sudden pirate takeover and the sudden, tragic deaths of the crew, the second week of the Starfield Penitentiary rehabilitation project is off to a rough start. After Price's call for parlay with the pirate captain, he was not seen for the remainder of Saturday but around 10 pm it is his calm but tense voice that makes the time announcement.

Buckle in, Champions, things are about to get bumpy.]

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday



[ooc: Don't forget to to turn in your AC for week 1 and submit your threads for the Benefactors!]

Comments

i am so sorry for the length of this jfc (2/2)

[withoutred]

[ She shakes her head, snapping out of her recollection. ]

But, as for what you asked - Rick-san has some degree of technical knowledge, though I don't know how likely he is to help anyone, and seemed to be one of the least worried out of everyone about being in a prison. Akande-san looks like he's considering escape to be when, not if. Myself, Mako-san, and Will-san all have some degree of investigative experience. [ Even though she's the best, obv. ] Mozu-san, Fukawa-san, Oda-san, Cheryl-san, Pyrrha-san, Akande-san, Rick-san, Soma-san, Apollo-san, Shirou-san, Connecticut-san, Alexander-san, and myself all tried attacking the robots during the breach.

Shirou-san, Noctis-san, Soma-san, and Mako-san tried rushing towards Blaze-san after Scraggly-san was killed. [ She tilts her head to one side. ] They were restrained, but it still indicates things about their reactions to stress.

As for who might lead... mm, it's too early to tell, in my opinion. Everyone seems too unsettled after yesterday.

[ She's watching Varric now, waiting for a response. ]

Simply by observation, this level of reasoning is possible for Furudo Erika. What do you think...?

[neverheardofhim]

I think you're a hell of a lot more observant than I am, and I considered myself a pro. Shit.

[For a long while, Varric was quiet. He thanked the Maker for blessing him with a halfway decent memory, one that provided him the details long after they spilled from Erika's lips. Each and every statement was recorded down, added to the proper paper. Some facts were underlined, and after everything was said and done, Varric used another sheet to write down a few other things.]

Alright. My turn? I figured we couldn't trust Price. Whether or not that means we can trust Connecticut in kind remains to be seen, though. She didn't seem like she knew what the hell was going on last we spoke, but maybe that's changed.

Noctis isn't the only one older than he thinks -- I'm having the same problem. He told me it was because there's a lot of shit we don't remember -- Price's words. That means, for some of us, we have at years long gaps in our memories. It all seems variable, which means it isn't too hard to believe that Fukawa might remember something that Leon doesn't.

Rick isn't going to help us for free, but I'm sure with enough coin, he can be reasoned with. He and I already made our own deal. [He held up a hand, a gesture of innocence.] Just over booze, I promise.

[The talk of magic made Varric's own face darken. He didn't know if the same rules applied across these separate worlds, but the idea of having to deal with demons on top of their current situation didn't make for particularly pleasant thoughts.]

We will escape, though, and we probably have the combat prowess to do it. We just need to figure out more about our situation. Breaking out and finding ourselves stranded out here isn't going to do us any good.

That does mean we need to cool the hotheaded folks down, though.

[After trailing off, Varric tapped his pen on the table and nodded to himself.]

Not bad, Erika. Not bad at all.

[withoutred]

Well, it's only natural that the detective would be talented at examining the suspects she's given.

[ Boy, is she practically swimming in her own ego today. It's not as pronounced right now, but there's a definite uptick in "smug" after the complement. ]

But your additions are rather intriguing on their own, I must admit. [ And damn, "silver tongue" is appropriate after all. She'll have to keep an eye on his way with people. ] Unfortunately, the skills of this group aren't the problem at hand. It's the cohesion of it.

[ And here she pauses- visibly, it looks like she's just staring at what Varric wrote down. Internally, she's weighing up what to say next - all of that was practically just her showing off. From here on out, she'd be giving him a leg up on solving things.

And that's not happening. ]

I suppose calming people down would be the place to start for now. It wouldn't do for someone to rush off ahead and do something they'd regret.

[ ha. haha. ] Aaah, who knows! It's going to be interesting in the days to come, no matter what happens next.

[neverheardofhim]

Leave the calming down to me. [Varric waved his hands, as if chasing away her concerns.] And the cohesion of the group. I can manage both of those parts, no problem. It's what I do.

[He'd managed to make a runaway slave with a hatred of mages and blood magic, a mage with a hatred of mage haters and blood magic, a blood mage, a horny pirate, a member of the city guard and a pair of siblings all get along with one another more or less. If he could do that, he sure as hell could manage wrangling this group.

Or so he hoped.]

You called us suspects though -- [Don't think he missed that, sweetheart.] Is that really what you think?

[withoutred]

[ She nods once, acknowledging Varric's way with people. Tbh she's glad to let him handle that for now - it leaves her free to investigate as she likes. ]

Of course.

[ wow, shameless much. ]

Look at it from my perspective for a moment. We all are imprisoned here under mysterious circumstances, for crimes we did or did not commit. There are now officially a rule in place encouraging one of our number to attempt murder - and that's not even counting the supposed "traitor" hinted at by Blaze-san. And to our knowledge, there is no way on or off this ship, beyond the safety suits mentioned in the attack, which I don't doubt have been relocated by now.

[ C'mon, Varric. She saw "writing stories" on his profile - even he has to know this set-up. ]

Thus, this is a closed-room mystery, to some degree. And I am a detective - no, the Detective. Everyone present except myself could be considered a suspect at any moment. I would be a fool to forget that.

[neverheardofhim]

[Both Varric's posture and demeanor seemed to shift, the longer the woman spoke. The dwarf understood a fair bit of arrogance -- he lived most of his life talking himself up. But in a place like that, looking down on others and believing herself infallible...]

You know, Princess, your ego is really going to bite you in the ass. [He glanced down at his wrist, setting to flipping through his P.I.P thoughtfully as he continued speaking.]

What do you think you look like to someone like... ah, Mako. [He held his arm out for Erika to see. Occupation: Detective.] Or how about Will Graham? [Occupation: Special Investigator.] You might fancy yourself the hero of your own story, but that's just it. In their stories? You're just as likely to be a culprit as I am.

It's a nice thought, thinking of yourself as a paragon. But accusing everyone else of being potential criminals isn't going to get us out of here. You talked about cohesion, but that's not going to happen if you and everyone else start thinking of each other as enemies.

[withoutred]

[ Erika can't help the eye twitch that comes from seeing both profiles - but at least she doesn't immediately break out in a sneer. ]

How I look to them doesn't matter to me. [ Said with no malice at all; more like the gentle tone one would use explaining something complex to a small child. ] It may not be against the rules here, but it's certainly against the rules I follow for the detective to be a culprit. Thus I, by extension, cannot be considered a culprit.

[ And... technically, she can't consider Mako as one either, even if that stings. But she can still consider him a would-be accomplice. Meanwhile Will isn't "really" a detective, so he's the same as normal people. The loophole checks out. ]

Furthermore, please do not get me wrong. It is still one of my fondest hopes that everyone makes it out of this alive. But I would be stupid to assume at least one person won't try to find another way out - that's not how these stories work, after all. It may not be this week. It may not even be until the end. But sooner or later, someone will snap. [ She drums her fingers on the table, staring at Varric. ]

And when that happens, I will be ready to find whoever took matters into their own hands. If that does "bite me in the ass", as you say, then that's fine. It would be what I deserve for failing to solve this mystery.

[ What a weird way to phrase that, huh. ]

[neverheardofhim]

[The eye-twitch was noted, tucked away in the back of his mind to be written down later. He wouldn't speculate on what it meant, not yet at least, but he had a feeling he'd figured something out about the complicated character known as Erika Furudo.]

Do me a favor, won't you? [He leaned forward, smile sharp and eyes touched with shadow.] I've learned a few things in my time. Part of being a writer. The more you start throwing around accusations of people wanting to find ways out, the more you perpetuate that becoming a reality.

I've seen people locked away like we are, told that they're monsters. Not unlike you're doing right now. And a lot of them? They do the only thing they can to escape -- become the monster people already think they are.

[He hoped that somewhere out there, Blondie knew that the dwarf actually had been listening to his "sermons."]

Of course, that's all provided that you mean what you say, and that you really do hope we make it out of here.

[withoutred]

[ She watches Varric still, silently weighing his words. He has to be an idiot if he really thinks that - that not talking about it magically means they won't become murders? It's ridiculous. At any other time, in any other place, she'd immediately rip that paper-thin facade to shreds - but she's sorely lacking in allies, or at least people who don't seem to dislike her on sight.

So eventually, she sighs and nods once, trying to look... not harmless, per say, but less imposing then she was a moment ago. ]

I suppose I am being a bit too harsh. It's not anyone's fault that we're stuck in such a dreadful situation - well, not anyone here's fault, at least. [ She smiles apologetically. ] I'll take your words under consideration, and try not to, ah, implicate anyone so openly.

[ Of course, she's... not going to stop thinking it, but she's at least making an "attempt". ]

I do hope we all make it out, of course. But one can hope and expect two different things quite easily. I hope we make it out alive, but I still expect at least someone will try other means. [ There's a beat, and then she laughs, briefly. ] Aaah, I suppose that means I also hope someone breaks my expectations...?

[neverheardofhim]

[The dwarf had dealt with people like her on more than one occasion. He might have played the part of the fool, but he wasn't so naive as to think she meant what she said. For the time being though, they seemed to have to have either brokered a truce or come to a stalemate.

And he wasn't about to attempt to shatter it.]

I wouldn't be surprised if someone did. But I can't go around expecting someone to stab me. I can keep my guard up, sure, know my surroundings well, but I can't expect that everyone is out to get me.

The only way to win a fight like this is to have allies. You don't get that without taking a risk and extending a little trust. Understood?