RECORDING 6: THE SECOND TRIAL.

[foundationmods]

The worst has happened... and now you're all here, in the living room where you first met Todd. As all of you enter, the Vessel is there - Olympia, staring balefully at you in all of her robotic glory.

On one of the tables away from the center is a small enclosed box entitled 'VOTES', with slips of paper nearby and a pen. It's sufficiently away from what will be the 'main' action, but not enough to really give anyone complete privacy as they vote.

Once everyone is inside, the doors automatically shut and lock themselves, leaving you trapped in here with the Vessel...and each other.

One of you is a murderer...however, in this game, the guilty do not need to be voted out. As long as there are enough people voted out that matches the victims...then it will be accepted.

...But, can you really let someone get away with murder...?

The choice...is up to you.

VICTIM: JACK MORRISON
PEOPLE TO VOTE OUT: 1

WEEK 2 VOTING

Comments

[noneforall]

[Hmm... an interesting reaction to a seemingly mundane guess. It makes him wonder...]

Then what were they given? Color me curious.

[Aside from that, there's something else that piques his interest, of course.]

Besides, I would have imagined that there was some way of controlling that aspect, if it was possible to modify such abilities in the first place. But they interact instead, I see.

[kaliedoscopes]

The ability to summon firearms, which I shared as well. I don't have that ability anymore though, I haven't had it since I joined the Foundation. [ Which is hmm but he seems fine with saying it. ]

Controlling in what way?

[noneforall]

Then the memory ability is an extra one unique to you. Curious. Especially if it remained and the more mundane firearms did not.

[It's very hmm and he is certainly hmm'ing at you, Hikage. There's a lowkey sharpness to his stare now, though it doesn't show up in his casual words.]

And I'm afraid control is idle speculation on my part -- you know far more of this mansion than I do of yours.

[kaliedoscopes]

It's a curiosity for us both. [ There's a little shrug of his shoulders, his words smooth with that overly polished quality he sometimes slips into. ]

That much is true, but I think I'd prefer idle speculation in this instance. [ He flexes his wrist, tugging at the butterfly bracket he's worn day in and day out. ]

It's more attractive than the alternative.

[noneforall]

The Foundation didn't have any leads? Well, that's like asking how many leads they must have had on this house.

[Pleasantly, pleasantly, he takes note of the smoothness as well -- he's familiar with dazzle and polish, after all, even if it's only a fraction of the way he does business nowadays.

His head tilts at the motion towards the bracelet, eyes flickering thoughtfully over it.]

The alternative being active and informed speculation?

[kaliedoscopes]

You've answered your own question, so I'll be kind enough not to repeat it. [ Cheekily directed at the Foundation because yeah, if they can't even afford nametags there's no point in having any faith in them at all. ]

The alternative being that there's more than the two reasons I supplied for being sent on this mission even if they were happenstance. One: my clairvoyance, two: my history in a mansion like this one. They're enough on there own of course, but I have no experience with spirits, at least as far as I'm aware.

And yet my bracelet still works to keep the miasma at bay. [ He sighs a bit, fiddle with aforementioned mentioned accessory a bit more. The bracelet, like the rest of his fashion sense, is ornate on it's own made of gold with a multicolored brooch in the middle. Or somewhat multicolored at least, given the black tendrils that snake and crisscross the surface. ]

[noneforall]

[He just inclines his head in acknowledgment because the Foundation totally deserves any and all dragging they get for this disaster of a mission -- there's going in with minimal knowledge because the SCP is a mess (it is), and then there's going in like this. Sigh.

Well, there are more interesting things afoot, at least.]

Hmm. Is clairvoyance another new and exciting ability of yours?

[Probably leaning his chin on one hand all contemplating-like. The accessory kind of pales in comparison to Hikage's usual outfit, but its status is still interesting. He'll have to keep it in mind.]

I'd imagine that this SCP is a mixture of things many of us may be familiar with: negativity, spirits, the ability to manipulate space-time, and so forth. [of course, it also seems to be Growing with a capital G but y'know three or four things at a time here] Though I'd say potential sensitivity or experience with spirits must have been part of the consideration for this group.

[kaliedoscopes]

Ah, no, it's just what the Foundation decided to call my memory reading ability even if it's mostly nonsensical. Seeing into the future seems like it would be more useful here than seeing into the past. [ But an official name is an official name, and there's more he would rather argue with the Foundation about anyway. ]

Right, and this contact with the vessel and ghosts reminded me of something I thought was insignificant. Most of the monsters in Psychdelica were incapable of verbalizing actual speech, but those who were often cried out in regret before they died. Any living thing will yearn for life in the end, but seeing the way the miasmas has behaved, I've started to wonder if it was deeper than that. If the monsters weren't just unfortunate humans, but spirits on top of it all. Who lingered on in their death because of regrets in their life. It would explain why my protection from them has extended to the miasma, as they're essentially the same type of being.

[ A heavy sigh and a shrug of his shoulders. ] It's far too much inference for inference's sake, but if the monsters were spirits then what did that make all of us who were trapped in the mansion with them? And what does that make me, the only exception among my group?

[noneforall]

Haha. Is there nothing they won't bumble into? Though I suppose it would depend upon what type of future you'd be able to look into.

[Light, airy, same as they've been doing until just now -- something to remember, however, what a strange classification. Maybe it will become relevant later. Maybe not.

There's a thoughtful quality that steals in as Hikage goes on: it is a lot of inference, but it's some interesting inference based upon the outlines of a life he seems to know, and that strange piece of jewelry. Truthfully, they all of them could probably stand to make a few more guesses about their presence here.

Be that as it may.]

... Hmm. It does sound like a detail buried behind a detail mired in guesswork. But ultimately there is a fact that needs to be explained: that the bracelet seems to work on a level you supposedly have little experience with. As I recall, these monsters of yours were born from negative emotion -- it's difficult to tell the difference between curses, spirits, and other types of metaphysical phenomena without more experience or information.

[That's matter of fact, a curious hum as he considers Hikage and his bracelet again.]

What, afraid you're not what you think you are?

[kaliedoscopes]

Right, and it's not just something you can pull a book out on, here at least. [ There's something almost bright about the way he says that, but it could be easily read as an interest in literary escapes. Hikage himself doesn't seem to notice, his tone eventually falling to its usual, and then dropping even lower still when he answers the question. ]

No, I could deal with that. It wouldn't be easy, but I can take care of myself. What I can't do as well is deal with everyone else, my other teammates in Psychadelica. [ Again he fiddles with the bracelet. ]

I had to test my ability on someone, right? When I read Kagiha's, no matter how many times I tried, I could only get memories from his childhood. It was like he didn't have any more memories to remember, beyond that.

[noneforall]

Ha. If we could simply pull out a dusty tome and read all about the solution to our ghostly escapades or even our worldly escapades, this might actually be a proper mission.

[His response to that brightness is another healthy heaping of irony, something indecipherable edging the words on his end. His stare is still thoughtful, a little sharp the way it's been throughout this conversation, weighing the way Hikage plays all the notes of his own voice.]

Well, it's certainly something to have teammates. I don't believe I've worked with a group this large in some time, but somehow it sounds less complicated than this crew of yours. [what if!! there was sympathy here!! haha] You're dancing around it. You already know what you think might be going on, hmm?

[kaliedoscopes]

I guess I wouldn't mind getting my hands dirty in that instance. [ Casual is as casual does, and later in the future when he repeats this phrasing in a similar vein it'll carry an additional note and edge. But right now in this timeline before miasma concussions and butterfly invasions, he keeps everything orderly. ]

That depends on how this mission ends. [ Just a little pushback as he gestures at the courtroom and everyone else, because yeah his past team was a mess but this one...? Well that remains to be seen, for now at least. ]

I do. And this isn't the type of dancing I like either. [ A shake of his head. ] I think they're all dead, or close enough to it in any case. It's why their memories abruptly cut off, and why the protections from the spirits carry here. A spirit is a spirit no matter what the world.

And as for me...I can't rule that out either. Not until I get my memories back, but I think there's enough evidence to support that my case is slightly different. But that matters to me less, like I said—I'm certainly alive here and now.

[noneforall]

There's nothing like real hands-on fieldwork to keep you sharp.

[The emphasis falls automatically on the word real in keeping with all of the varied jabs he's made so far, that underlying edge still present and gleaming, but maybe it's also that right now he hasn't had any reason to consider Hikage the most hands-on of people.

Oh how the turns table with just a few steps forward. But as with everything here so far, it's two steps forward, one step back right now. There's a brief smirk at that initial reaction but the considering light in his eye is still there -- for all his messing around he is listening still, because that's just what he does.]

In other words: the bracelets are handy little items preventing you all, or all of them, from falling to the weaknesses of their own minds within the Psychedelica and simply joining all those monsters you were using for target practice. Do tell, did you ever try to read any of those? [that's just plain curiosity, because Hikage certainly hasn't pulled out that power for anything analogous here so far] But ahh, I suppose it is always more convenient to be working with the living than the dead. Not that it's a particularly large advantage here.

[kaliedoscopes]

No, but only because it was hard to get close enough to them to do so without getting ripped apart. That kind of hands on fieldwork really is too sharp. [ A calm lob back with just a hint of pushback because he did catch that insinuation. He does seem to consider the ramifications of trying in their current situation, with a tilt of his head. ]

We're slowly losing that convenience here, but I'm not sure it's worth the risk yet. If I memory read a vessel it's possible I could get as much miasma as I did memories. And who knows what kind of side effect that would produce. [ Spoiler: the side effect is otome. ]

[noneforall]

Right. And all you had was a measly few firearms? Abilities that rely on contact really are convenient and inconvenient at the same time, aren't they?

[It's hard to tell just where the edge and insinuation lie now, with the way his voice slips smoothly and easily into amusement at the retort, all ambiguous commiseration and irony in more than one way. Two steps forward, one step back, one sideways.

There's a brief pause, mostly thoughtful, and then he nods.]

... I have my doubts that things will get better rather than worse, but we'll take the easy gambles first. You no longer have the element of surprise, in any case.

[kaliedoscopes]

[ A nod because this entire experience really will hammer the point home about how guns really aren't worth much in this world or his even. ]

They are, but at least they're simple for better or worse. [ It won't take long for them both to realize this more keenly. ]

I don't mind risk, but it has to be worth it. Otherwise it's just foolish.

[noneforall]

[Much like all of their attempts at dealing with the haunted house and all its hauntings, guns here appear to be best for backfiring and friendly fire; Subete could be sympathetic to it, or he could just be the regularly scheduled shit he's proven to be.]

Simplicity's the name of the game, hmm? I suppose there is an elegance to it.

[Said in an entirely perfunctory manner even if it's not like he's insincere about it. He's just not down to the calligraphy junkie style of KondoMarieing his life.]

But of course, risk without appropriate reward is simply blind faith. We'll see where this one takes you.