[Fin] Murder U Too - Endgame

[Florien]

Yeah, I doubt you know a back route into the vault of Clifciev, or how to summon an eldritch terror with a lot of value contained within it. And secrets less than that, well... I don't think they'd be deep and dark enough. So... yeah. Your shirt will... suffice, I suppose... I could probably enchant it or something at home, assuming it already doesn't have some kind of enchantment. I'd prefer something magical, but an extra layer of clothing to pin things on couldn't hurt.

[wahoothis]

"Thank god. . ." He says with a gentle breeze of air. Quickly, he takes off the wet shirt and tosses it at Kellensea just as it became completely cold. "Our rooms better have spares in them. . .Cause if not, I'm gonna need that shirt back."

[Billy5545]

During all this from the reveal of the murderer, Rosa felt crushed when she realized that she had been wrong, and that she almost condemned an innocent to die. She thought, "no! I made that same mistake I did there. I am not worthy of the Ultimate School Council President title.

She then said when Cookie Monster revealed his motive, "in my time on Terra, I have never seen something as petty as this murder. Indeed, even though Mephisto locked me and all of my friends into that school to die, I have heard from the Doctor and Amiya about what they discovered regarding his whole life. He was abused and mistreated by most people around him, before he eventually had originium shard shoved down his throat, making him unable to do what he love, singing, as well as infecting him with an incurable disease."

"I am never forgiving him for everything he did, especially to me and my friends. However, you killed someone over cookies, Cookie Monster? Rosa said the second sentence angrily as she continued, "do you even got what you wanted in Doug's room?... You truly are a monster like your name suggests.

She then witnessed the execution. As she had seen few people being burned alive before back in the school, as well as streets of Chernobog, she didn't feel too horrified when Cookie Monster was baked alive, though she was weirded out by how unusual the execution was. However, she then felt uncomfortable when it took a surreal turn by revealing that Cookie Monster had become cookies himself. She thought again, "how did this machine turn him into cookies? Also, I do not want to see anyone eating this, even though I hate Cookie Monster's shallow motive and be got what is coming for him.

Rosa soon decides to stay for a bit, overhearing the current conversation between Ranma, Kellensea, and Komaru. She chimes in, "those Dragon Whiskers seem to be an interesting medicine. I think most Originium Arts would have a difficult time replicating its effect from what I studied about Arts.

[wahoothis]

"Not really medicine. More or less cursed artifacts, like I haven't had enough of those in my life. . ." He said trenchant about basically being a magnet for cursed items and bad luck. No, he's not bitter at all.

[Florien]

Cursed items, you say? Huh. I have some contacts back home who would be interested in that sort of thing. Shame you'll probably never find a way to meet them, even if you somehow walk out of here alive. I didn't bring their business cards either, so I suppose it doesn't matter that much. Eh. Either way.

Kellensea shoves the shirt under one of her layers of armor. Some flopping about later, and it's on, but not visible from the surface.

Right, so. That was fun. Anyway, has anyone died horrifically yet, or should we wait a bit and see if that happens?

>Look at people to see if they're dead yet.

[wahoothis]

". . . We just watched someone get baked alive into cookies. I doubt another murder's going to happen in a long while. Or at all." Ranma said, a bit annoyed about being shirtless. Not that he's embarrassed by his body, which is athletically in shape as a result of 13-14 years of training. Just find it annoying, especially if he happens to transform. "Besides, I don't have most of the stuff. The first thing that comes to mind is some cursed springs, but. . ." He sighs and shakes his head, walking off to. . .

>Check his room for a spare shirt, since Kellensea is in possession of his current one.

[Kennifer]

"...can you really not wait for night for someone else to die?"

[artsyGeek]

"..why are you guys arguing over things we own?" [Haruka says as she > puts the cake batter into the oven, if that hasn't been done already. Otherwise, she > slices the cake into even pieces for everyone.]

[wahoothis]

Ranma walks back here with a brand new shirt, matching the one he had given Kellensea previously. "I made a bet with Kelly over here that she could take something from me if she was right. . . There were mistakes made."

[Florien]

Well I don't know, Alexis!! Maybe the next murderer will be really brash about things and attempt to strike someone down in broad daylight! Maybe someone will die of a perfectly natural fall onto a table, and we'll have to convict them of their own murder! Any moment, one of us could drop dead from some unseen thrown dagger! Who knows what madness lies in the hearts and minds of the other people here?! I have to be ready! Like that time that time a scout we hired, back with my original group, (I don't know WHY we hired him, Sedriel did well enough...) But anyway, he went out in front, and a Morvynite was apparently up on a ridge we were passing, and that guy's head exploded, right in front of me, and a tree nearby got broken near in half by that one-pound shot. Got blood all over my outer layers, and I found bits of skull for WEEKS. Anyway, we never actually caught the shooter. But the point is, you have to be ready for things like that! Anyway, we did get a refund from the former scout's corpse and sold his stuff, so happy ending, but yeah. Be ready for things.

Kellensea says all that in a perfectly normal story-telling tone of voice, as if those events are the sort of thing that's normal, but unusual enough to tell a story about.

[wingedcatgirl]

Haruka retrieves the cake from the oven and slices it into pieces.

Mmm.... cake.

[Kennifer]

”Uh-huh...”

Yeah, adventurer lady is clearly unhinged. Alexis will enjoy some cake, though. It's probably not made out of anyone's remains, so...

[wahoothis]

"That's. . . lovely Kellensea. That's definitely something we needed to hear after seeing two deaths." When Ranma is handed the plate, he'd eyed it like it was the work of the devil, poisoned to kill him. Though, it wasn't really fear of being poisoned. . . "Sorry, I try to keep unhealthy stuff out of me. Gotta keep up this body." Besides, he doesn't really consider it manly to eat sweets. He simply sets the plate on a table and sat down.

[Subparman]

Kai's managed to remain mostly composed throughout the whole ordeal, but it's hard not to notice the way the tension's faded from his own countenance as well as the room itself. ...Well, any less tense “arguing about hoarding possessions right after a public execution” can get, but it's certainly better than trading fire for the chopping block every three seconds.

“... Ah, by all means, allow me,”—he takes it on himself to tidy up the mess and materials left over from Haruka's baking, eventually speaking up for the first time since the intense discussions.

“As... disconcerting as it may seem at this time, Miss Kellensea does make something of a point. You would hardly do well to loosen hold on your guard... There is simply no telling whether one of us will give into the game's whims, and if at all, when.

...Even so, I do not doubt that everyone here will contribute to our survival. Above all, killers must operate through distrust... and letting an excess of it be sowed between ourselves will only result in the loss of innocent lives.”

There's something unusually sad about that statement. Not that they're all to fall into despair this early, though.

[wahoothis]

The martial artist nodded in agreement. "No objections here. If anyone tries anything, I'll be sure to remind them kindly of our true goal." He says cracking his knuckles. "Whether we like each other or not. . ." cough cough Kellensea cough cough "I believe we all know the common enemy at hand: The ones keeping us here and made us kill each other. We can't fall into their hands and play their game. We're all in this together, so the best thing to do at hand is figure out a way out or a way to beat those guys without getting skewered like a pin cushion. We've already lost two people. . ." Does Mr. Krabs count in this situation? Probably, probably not.

"We all saw what happened when Cookie played the game, and look where that got him. As ironic as this sounds coming from me, we can't be fighting against each other. We're strongest together, so if we put our heads and skills together, we could probably beat this." Emphasis on the probably. Ranma's hopeful, but he's not blindly optimistic. "Speaking of working together. . ." He turned to face Kai, and got down in a dogeza position, pressing his forehead to the floor. "I'm sorry about accusing you of murder. I get it if you can't forgive me at the moment, but I'd prefer to work with everyone to get out of here, including you." He doesn't exactly know how to apologize for something like this. They don't exactly make cards for this that read "Hey buddy pal friend chum. No hard feelings accusing you of killing someone, and nearly getting you executed. We cool?" where he's from. But if he didn't apologize, his pride wouldn't recover.

[Florien]

Yes. Exactly. Stand on guard and all that. Be like me. Keep getting magically modified, illegal though it may be. Eventually, the side effect symptoms will set in, and conveniently, two of them are "no longer sleeps" and "no longer blinks". I think it's a good idea, at least. Some of the symptoms are helpful, even if they're... kind of visually obvious at more extreme levels of general modification and exposure, what's the guild or other people who would try to stop me going to do about it? Arrest me? I'd like to see them try. But anyway, long story short, I support Kai's request for vigilance while appearing to maintain good faith. "Pretend to trust, but verify" or whatever. Also, hey, cake!

Kellensea pokes at the cake with a fork, and actually takes off her helmet a second time specifically to eat the cake. Through mouthfuls of cake, she starts talking again.

Funny Story, I haven't actually eaten a baked good in months, maybe a year. I've mostly lived off that stuff from my gruel spoon. That one that fills any bowl with watery gruel that somehow contains enough nutrients to sustain someone? Anyway, point is, I have no idea if this cake is actually any good, but I like it. Also, I really should have packed that, but I was not necessarily anticipating murder, so bringing my own food supply seemed kind of redundant when I wouldn't be carrying a bowl around or anything. I really should have packed a lot of stuff, but, as adventurers have said for years, "never mention shit you should have brought, just bring enough shit to do things with." And that I... kind of did.

[Subparman]

Kai seems pretty shocked at Ranma's apology, but recovers soon enough. And Kellensea's response—well, it's a mean way to put it, but she isn't exactly wrong. One eye open and all that.

“Truth be told, I... cannot bring myself to blame you. Your hand was forced in a situation with the resolution of murder, and you chose the path that you felt would bring about the least suffering—you had never had the intent in your heart to purposely kill an innocent. ... It is all as said. Trust is the only thing we can truly put forward, and it's what I offer to you.”

His expression reveals little but the look of fucking exhaustion from the trial up close, but perhaps a keen observer would see past the pallor and dead-eyed dark circles to find, of all things, kind understanding. Possibly beyond a logical level for forgiving someone who just almost killed him for no reason—or maybe it's that he's empathising, having experienced the same situation sometime long ago. ...“Difficult” to tell.

[wahoothis]

Hearing what seemed like Kai accepting his apology felt like a huge weight was lifted from Ranma's shoulder. "Right. . ." Ranma gets out a quick relieved breath and stood up, brushing himself off. "So what's first on the agenda? Besides the obvious "Don't kill each other and look for a way out" idea?" As he said this, he's just sliding his plate of cake away from himself, letting whoever wants it to take it.

[Kennifer]

"Well, if there's a way out of here without killing each other, that's obviously preferable."

Sadly this seemed unlikely to Alexis given what she'd seen of their host, but she certainly planned to keep up her end of the "don't kill anybody" thing. Even if she did find them annoying or insane. She's pushing the cake around on her plate a bit, but finally does end up eating most of it.

[SmilyCube112]

Bakugo was in his room, having seen all that's happened. He's furious over being wrong, yet he's not using his Quirk at all to help his relieve his stress.

[wingedcatgirl]

The lights finally go out, a bit later than scheduled.

Night has fallen on Murder HQ. DM your night actions. The lights will go back on at... oh, some time after 10:30 CT 3/2 (1 day and ~6 hours after this post), assuming we're not inconveniently in the middle of anything.

[wingedcatgirl]

The lights click back on.

[wahoothis]

Ranma gave a slight yawn, rubbing his eyes having stayed guard the night. "Morning already, huh?" He said with a sigh, feeling only a little tired. He's stayed up plenty of nights before, so this was no big deal for him at the moment.

[Huney]

Komaru, on the other hand, seems less used to the all nighter thing, as she looks about ready to drop dead on the floor.

"... What do you mean 'already'?"

Maybe she should bring coffee with her next time...

[Despair's Archon of Memes]

Another day... Another body...

>Search for bodies