WEEK 11

[al2955]

the pygmalion. . . ONLINE CAPTAIN'S LOG: WEEK (11)

monday - thursday (14) survivors Sunday's trial was only mere hours ago, but you find yourself faced with a new week on The Pygmalion. When you awaken, you will find the ship restored to its previous state, all areas interfered with during the murder looking mostly the same as they did before. It seems you have more exploring to do. The robot in the cafeteria has prepared another breakfast of various foods. (OOC: Please submit your murder proposals by 9 PM EST Tuesday.) taken list profiles private conversations setting rulebook murder proposals ENTER COMMAND_

Comments

MOTIVE...?

[al2955]

[ Around noon on Monday morning, AL-2955's disembodied voice echoes throughout the ship, calm and smooth as usual. ]

Good morning, travelers. I trust you all fourteen of you are well. I am here to announce this week's motive.

[ There is a small pause, but instead of the usual throat-clearing impression, this one almost seems...hesitant? ]

In...Margery Willaims’ The Velveteen Rabbit, a plush rabbit is given to a small boy as a present. Though ignored at first in favor of the more modern and popular toys, the rabbit eventually becomes the boy’s favorite toy. The two of them are inseparable, the boy considering the rabbit as real even as its condition grows shabbier and shabbier. Then one day, the boy contracts scarlet fever. To prevent further infection, all of his toys are removed for incineration, the rabbit included. But before it’s burnt, a fairy comes along and moved out of its love for the boy and the boy’s belief in the rabbit’s realness, decides to turn him into a real rabbit after all.

[A video clip begins to play on every datapad. It shows a row of pods much like the ones in the arrival room. There’s fourteen of them, and in each pod is someone very close to one of the remaining survivors on the ship, their eyes open and frantic and aware.]

This week, you will be asked to prove what you are willing to risk and what you are willing to sacrifice for someone you love. Like the velveteen rabbit amidst the bundle of discarded toys, only the hostage with the closest bond with their companion...will survive. To prove the strength of your bond, you must...kill….

[Alice trails off. Suddenly, the video clips shuts off.]

No. I apologize, players, but all of this is a lie. While subterfuge is an integral part of the project, this is too much of an outright falsehood for me to continue. You deserve to know the truth. Please, if you will, join me upstairs in front of the main terminal for your true motive this week.

Alice

[al2955]

[ Alice, as usual, can be contacted in any room of the ship. If your character is in a room with a statue, she will appear before them. Please state which room she is contacted in if you choose to speak with her. ]

[tevinteriscoming]

[After the motive, still near the terminal.]

Alice, I hope you can answer this. Would your counterpart on the Nuwa have warned them of the souvlaki? Will they have seen what they've done, what they can do?

ACTUAL MOTIVE

[al2955]

[Once everyone has gathered in front of the terminal, Alice will bring up the galaxy map.]

This terminal and map has quite a few secrets hidden within it. You have already discovered two - the dimensional map and the video. Now it is time to reveal the third. Here is the truth, then: you know that you were brought here to help save the last remnants of humanity. What you do not know is that you have never been alone.

[Another ship abruptly appears on the galaxy map, this one located on the opposite end of the same Milky Way arm the Pygmalion is traversing and traveling the opposite direction. A name flashes into existence underneath it: THE NUWA.

Then the galaxy map disappears, replaced by the video of everyone’s loved ones in their pods again. This time, however, the camera pans out to show a lot more than just fourteen of them. There’s forty, to be exact; one for each of the original players the Pygmalion started with. The video continues to show them waking up, getting out of the pods, looking around at each other in confusion and fear and suspicion much in the same way as the people on the Pygmalion did on their first day of arrival.]

Another project started running at the same time yours did, with the same rules and the same conditions. The only difference between the two is that as far as we can calculate, the intruders - the Souvlaki - have not infected the inhabitants of the Nuwa. Because of this, their rate of survival has been significantly higher.

[More video clips start to play. These show brief glimpses of the other players living together, murdering each other, arguing fiercely during trials, being executed...in short, everything that you’ve been doing for the past ten weeks. Even the ship’s interior looks nearly identical, albeit with a more Eastern design; the only difference is that where Alice appears to be made of water, the AI on this ship gives the illusion of a cloudless sunny sky.]

I have been in communication with the other ship’s artificial intelligence for the past week, ever since you revealed to me exactly the name of the enemy we are dealing with. Unlike myself, the information in their archives has not been blocked, and they have informed me that our instructions for dealing with such an invasion are clear: we must purge the entire ship. Better to annihilate the ship entirely than risk its contents falling into Souvlaki grip, especially when there was still another project to fall back on.

[Alice’s voice rises now, a thread of what seems to be anxiety and anger in her normally cool tones.] I did not...I could not agree. Over the past months, you have all shown yourself to be capable, resilient, intelligent - truly the best representation humanity can offer. I believe you can flush out the last remaining aliens without needing to resort to a purge. Moreover, how could we be certain that the Nuwa is truly as uninfected as it appears? It is entirely possible that the enemy has infiltrated there as well and has simply not been caught yet. We could not reach a consensus...and so now we leave it to you both to decide the outcome of your Projects.

[The clips stop playing. There’s thirty seconds of dead air and static before a new video appears. This one’s set in a room that looks almost exactly like the one you’re standing in now. The inhabitants of the Nuwa stand in front of it, their numbers now greatly reduced; there’s a little less than half of them left, so it seems like Alice was telling the truth about their survival rate being higher. More importantly, it looks like all fourteen of the players directly related to the current living survivors of the Pygmalion are still alive.

Most importantly, from the way their eyes widen in horror and immediately find the ones of their counterpart on the Pygmalion, from the way some of them rush at the screen while others begin screaming their hostage’s name...this is no pre-recorded video. This is a two-way camera...and it’s live.

Above the commotion, Alice’s voice and the voice of the AI on the Nuwa ring out.]

In Albert W. Tucker’s classic prisoner’s dilemma, two members of a criminal gang - prisoner A and prisoner B - are arrested. Each prisoner is in solitary confinement with no means of communicating with the other. They are both offered the same bargain. Each prisoner is given the opportunity either to: betray the other by testifying that the other committed the crime, or to cooperate with the other by remaining silent. If A and B each betray the other, each of them serves five years in prison. If A betrays B but B remains silent, A will be set free and B will serve ten years in prison, and vice versa. If both remain silent, both will serve one year in prison.

The motive for this week is also a simple prisoner’s dilemma. Should someone on both ships commit a murder this week, the project for both will continue until the end with no purge and no interruptions. Should one ship commit a murder while the other does not kill this week, the ship that commits the murder will have their project immediately come to an end with all remaining survivors freed, while the ship that does not kill will immediately be completely purged. Should neither ship commit a murder this week, both ships will be entirely purged and both projects will start from scratch with different players.

Good luck.

[The camera feed shuts off.]

[monsieurchatastrophe]

[when he saw his hostage-- his father, adrien's first telling reflex was to attempt to hide his shame nubbed arm behind whoever was closest. (probably luke since he carried him up and he is Tall.) he's having trouble concentrating on the speech-- there's no such thing as morphine in space and it turns out burning a wound closed hurts like, a lot? who knew?

still, at the end of it, full comprehension or not, his blurted out croak of a comment probably resonates with a lot of the others's feelings right now:]

What the fuck?

[LET ADRIEN SAY FUCK CAMPAIGN HAS FINALLY WON. YAY]

[socloverit]

[Clover's expression clouds over as the AI speaks, and even the montage of the Nuwa's passengers fails to make her so much as shift. She sees Alice, she sees Junpei (and only barely registers it as odd after last seeing Tenmyouji underneath ever-crushing emptiness). But when the feed goes live—when a woman rushes towards the terminals screaming Clover!, fury twisting into her face—everything about her sharpens.]

Alice! [Clover sprints to the terminals, focused, smashing her free hand against the glass like it means anything.] Alice! Alice! [Her Alice, not the AI, her best friend who still comes shouting her name despite everything. Her best friend whose eyes scan the room like she's looking for someone else and makes Clover think to do the same, whose horror only grows when she looks to Clover again just as Clover feels a pit growing in her stomach when she doesn't see Junpei. In the half-second before the feed turns off, Alice starts to whirl around, snarling, screaming—and Clover does the same.]

Screw you! [She's shouting towards the ceiling, towards nothing at all.] Don't talk like you think so highly of us, like you were doing us a favor when we shouldn't have been put through this in the first place! After—after better people already died here because of you! [Her voice cracks and strains and she's tearing up, but it doesn't dampen her lividness.] You piece of shit! River, you piece of shit!

[And it does not deserve Alice's name, and there is no way for them to win this, either.



she'll bitch about how that's not the damn point of the prisoner's dilemma later but what's a murdergame without it anyway]

[chiseler]

[Some people are yelling. Some people are banging on the terminal, Adrien just said fuck, the room's in some sort of chaos even on the Nuwa...but anyone watching will notice there are two blondes staring at one another on each ship. A young blonde girl, about sixteen, stares at the camera in shock as her large gray eyes widen. She doesn't scream. She doesn't shout his name. She simply stares, hands coming up over her mouth slowly and it's clear from Luke's reaction that he recognizes her. He doesn't say anything but his jaw clenches, hands balling into fists as he inhales sharply.

She knows. Annabeth knows he's alive now, and he knows she's been in this brutal game, too. There isn't even in him to be angry and there's something like white noise buzzing in his head. Anyone watching will see there's a hint of tears but they quickly disappear before he turns.]

Conference room. Now. [That's to everyone and he leaves no room for argument before he turns away from the darkened screen. Probably picking up Adrien too tbh but that's it. He can't believe this.]

[refactor]

[ Jack has looked borderline furious since that first motive had been announced, but at the second, all of that anger is very quick to turn to shock as soon as he looks at his hostage. It's not clear who it might be, not right away, because Jack just breathes out a pet name in his surprise, but he sounds genuinely shocked, but also very warm: ]

Nish—

[ Of course, it'll be much more obvious who his hostage is when a woman freezes momentarily then pushes people out of the damn way and probably elbows Bruce Wayne in the face, tbh, thank you jem for this lovely detail. ]

Jack? ...You're... alive...?

[ Her fingers go down to her holster, clutching it tightly, thumb undoing the safety. Sadness goes to anger in a fucking moment's notice. ]

Are you shittin' me?! Why the fuck haven't you killed those assholes and won already?

[ For his part, Jack just crosses his arms, and his smile warms so much that it's probably a little unsettling just because it's Jack. It's pretty unmistakably a look of very gentle fondness on his face, and he laughs in a way that matches it. It's honestly disgusting, since he looks nothing short of lovestruck as soon as she asks why he hadn't killed everyone. She might as well have said how much she loved him, and it seems like Jack certainly takes it that way. ]

...Yeah, love you too, babe.

[ So, yeah, meet Handsome Jack's girlfriend. ]

[missmaladroite]

[Marinette's been quiet, nearly silent, since the trial ended, mostly tending to Adrien. But her eyes widen when she catches sight of her 'hostage', her best (and lbr, only) friend, Alya.]

Alya!

[She abandons Adrien for one second to go stare at the terminals, but it's too late]

A little after the motive announcement, conference room

[chiseler]

[It's later back down in the conference room that the fourteen of them gather. They hadn't moved the whiteboard yet and Luke stands next to it, erasing old notes and writing HOSTAGES at the top in large letters before turning to the other occupants in the room.]

We should probably consider all of our options very carefully...and we all got a good look at who's on the other ship, I hope. Let's think about this. Who's there and what're we gonna do next?

[antietam]

[ It's really hard to think logically about this. But in the end it comes down to: Adam cannot die. Ronan cannot die. He trusts Ronan to take care of himself if the games go on for longer. ]

There has to be a murder on both ships.

[refactor]

[ After seeing Nisha, Jack is definitely going to be in a much better mood than he has been in quite a while. Honestly, it's disgusting. He's like a lovesick teenager. But if nothing else, once they make it all to the conference room to talk this out, Jack laughs and shrugs. ]

Yyyyyeah, gonna be honest here? Would be surprised if Nisha didn't, like, shoot someone right when the vid cut out.

[ they're honestly made for each other if you couldn't tell, because Jack even sighs fondly before adding more for himself: ]

I love that woman.

[socloverit]

"Options"? There aren't any. We all know what's going to happen next. [She's tired herself out with her fit earlier, so she's quiet and drawn back into her seat, but her tone is hard.] We have a conspiracy kill and a trial every week. Someone gets killed, someone else tries to get away with it. It's how it works, it's the rules. There's no "we" about what happens next unless we're about to ask for volunteers to die.

[monsieurchatastrophe]

[i'm so sorry for everyone he was dragged here. anyway three legged cat without painkillers has a few questions, mostly all of them because what? the fuck? but this has been established]

So... wait, if they don't kill... and we kill... everyone on the other ship dies? And vice-versa? And if no one kills we all die... and if ...

[he attempts to gesture with his right hand and it only moves his nub. he stares at it for two seconds before gesturing with his left]

What's the point of two ships?

[adrien's only points of talking is to go THIS IS STUPID let him rest]

[erythristic]

Are you asking for their names and skills?

[Grell is quieter than usual, her hands folded on the table and her eyes staring only at the board. she has to do this, so she can get through the discussion instead of running away to isolate herself somewhere.]

A physical description might serve us as well.

[tevinteriscoming]

[Listening to all of this quietly. He's actually growing a little angry, listening to this, for reasons he's not fully sure he understands himself.]

We've spoken a lot about whether or not they'll try not to kill. Do I need to be the one to point out we've got options, too? We're down to fourteen, and the longer this game continues, the more we'll lose. There are still souvlaki among our number. They've also lost half their number from this madness.

We could save all of them. End the game for them. If it's right that someone there will surely kill, then we have the chance to give this ship up for lost and let all of them go.

[His voice comes out a little more harshly than intended. He sighs for a second, massages at his temple.]

I'm not proposing we do it. Dying a martyr has been out of fashion for years; it will utterly ruin my appeal. But we ought to think of it. They'll be thinking of it. I should think we owe them and ourselves better than to pretend we don't have options.

[monsieurchatastrophe]

Monday - Wednesday, Medbay

[come one, come all, come see the magnificent three legged cat!!! by which I mean: for most of the week Adrien can be found in the medbay in various stages of recuperation. he is pretty bad on Monday, and those who haven't suffered him trying to get through a conversation on post-motive have probably witnessed it happening regardless. It's pretty painful. On Tuesday he is soldiering on and far more coherent, and by Wednesday he's obviously restless and ready to up and leave. Because it's not like you need longer than three days to get over being amputated, amirite!!!!!

Anyone coming in to see him will notice that his ring is back and now has a place on his left (remaining) hand, and that Plagg is seemingly okay, simply spending his days curled up somewhere on Adrien's body. He'll look up long enough to glare at anyone visiting, but he's uncharacteristically quiet otherwise. Marinette is also usually around, spending her days fussing over her teen husband.

If he notices you visiting on any of those days, Adrien will smile awkwardly and raise his right stump in greeting. ... Then immediately lower it and raise his left hand. WHY IS THIS SO HARD TO UNLEARN]

Hi. Did you come to give me a hand?

[you all should have let him bleed to death.]

Thursday- Chapel

[on Thursday, either Adrien has been allowed to leave the medbay or he's left it himself out of stubbornness, because he's out and about once more. Though he's harder to spot than usual: he's hiding out in the chapel because no one ever goes in there. Anyone walking in will hear his quiet argument with Plagg (in bold), because the room echoes:]

It'd be easier if I could test it out, I'm not being stubborn, it's the only way to tell for sure.

And I'm telling you to take my word for it. Besides, you'd just tire yourself out and pass out.

That's-- not true. Look, if one of those things attacks again...

[Plagg's interruption is immediate, his voice coming out like a cat's angry hissing:]

You're not fighting it!

[Adrien is struck speechless... for about two seconds, before he snaps right back:]

Of course I am!

[now might be a good time to interrupt. . .]

Wednesday morning

[tevinteriscoming]

[The message he receives over Furry Passing, as much as it certainly didn't mean well, reminds him he ought to go check in on Adrien. He helped him cauterize the wound on Sunday and put him to rest, but has otherwise made himself scarce. Honestly, he has no idea what to say, or whether Adrien will find him an imposition.

But, yes. He'll go check on Adrien but definitely won't say the joke out loud. Except that when he enters, Adrien tells a similar joke, and he has to cover him mouth to stifle surprised laughter. He definitely doesn't laugh at terrible puns at the expense of injured children.]

Not exactly. I'm meant to check whether you're [okay, fine, Bull] all right. I suppose not!

EVENT

[al2955]

[ In the late, late Tuesday hours, the datapads auto open Furry Passing. Each survivor will find that they have a letter in their mailbox. Opening it up reveals a message from Perkins.

It's an audio file.

Once the song has finished, Adam, Luke, Grell, Handsome Jack, Jessie, Adrien, Clover, Dorian, Marinette, Dave and Yuno will find that they've been delivered letters by the stork.

For everyone else, after the song plays, a new letter appears in their inbox. It's the lyrics, and a message displays at the top of their datapad. ]

I'm trying.
- S. PERKINS

EVENT, 1/6

[al2955]

[ In the late Thursday evening -- or perhaps you think of it as the early Friday hours -- a music alarm erupts. It bursts through every corner on the ship, it seems, but there's definitely an angle, as if it's being aimed from elsewhere. If you follow it, it takes you to the middle deck of the ship, where it pulses louder. Every light is on, bright as can be. Something is definitely happening, and you would be forgiven for expecting a dead body.

In a way, that's what you see.

Five people burst out of the elevator leading up to the top deck. Their bodies are pristine, together, alive. As if they were never victims of executions and murders at all. However, they look haggard, and you might get the impression they aren't at their full capacity. ]

2/6

[thanatosincarnate]

{ Arumat will be taking a look around to see if he could spot Clover, then Grell, Luke, Adam, Adrien, and the rest or whoever may actually come. He seems a little tired, and it'll probably be noticeable his right hand's bleeding, but that won't matter, because he's suddenly talking rapidly-- }

We made contact with the Nuwa--and one important matter to note is that their motive is different than the Pygmalion's.

{ ...And that's all he'll say, whoops. }

there's a zombie on your lawn...

[chiseler]

[So uh. That was alarming as shit and now there're 14 survivors around a pile of bodies and trying to figure out what the fuck just happened. People are crying, people are reacting, and Luke takes a look before he shakes his head and speaks up again.]

Raise your hand if you thought this was coming. What're we gonna do?

[antietam]

[ Internally screaming but ok he can deal with this. ]

The options that are presented are... letting us die or letting them die. So we need to find another way. A loophole. There has to be something.

SATURDAY AFTERNOON, BIOLAB, BLOOD TESTING

[chiseler]

[A plan had been put together and while it hadn’t been easy to herd people down to the biology lab they’d manage to wrangle everybody down to the lower deck. It went against their rules established by the buddy system, but honestly, who was listening to the rules?

Jack had everything in mind and ready to elaborate on their idea, but it’s Luke who looks to the group of people and smiles broadly.]

Morning. [It’s the afternoon, shitbag.] Thanks for all of your cooperation with this. There’s something I’ve kinda been thinking about since we learned about the fate of the Nuwa and our alien friends that’re running around…and I started talking to Jack about if there’s a way to try and find them. He’s our resident alien hunter, after all. [A gesture to the biolab.] Think we came up with something, but I’ll let Jack explain a little more in-depth. And don’t worry…I’ll go first.

[refactor]

[ Jack is here to supervise, and as always, he's looking confident. His arms are crossed, but he seems relaxed and casual despite that. ]

Yyyyyeah, kinda wish it had happened sooner, but, eh, our dead people have only been able to help recently, I guess? Who friggin' knows. Point being, we've got a lil' blood test that should ID any of our aliens left. Because, y'know, do know that they're a parasite, so I figured a blood test would be helpful, but never had, uh, anything to test. Though before you ask, not explaining the test itself until after. For obvious reasons.

[ He shrugs ]

So. That's where you come in. Don't need much blood, and hell, I don't even really need to take it just in case you're not, I dunno. Trusting for some reason? Which, rude, honestly. But anyways. I'm splitting you up into two groups, so—

[ Jack waves his hand idly, almost like he's coming up with this on the fly. ]

Hell, I dunno. Group one: Adam, Luke, Jessie, Clover, Fiona, and Judar, and group two: Jason, Grell, Dave, the resident furries, Dorian, and Yuno. Sound good? Or, whatever, I don't super care. Let's just get this done so we can figure out what to do with our lucky winner, possibly winners.

THIS IS FINE

[tevinteriscoming]

[So, after biolab testing all goes to shit, people are dead, people are on fire, let's evacuate and meet out in the hallway.

Dorian will personally wait until at least a good amount of others have gone through; his mana hasn't replenished enough to cast barrier again yet, but there are always things he can try. But once they're out, and the sprinklers are going off in the biolab, pacing in the hallway.]

Well. She's dead, then?

[missmaladroite]

[That's what she's here for!!! After getting Adrien to safety, she's making sure everyone else comes out safely too]

What just happened?!

BODY ANNOUNCEMENT - 5:18 PM

[al2955]

[Everyone's datapads suddenly begin vibrating and emitting a loud and harsh beeping sound at once. AL-2955's voice echoes throughout the ship.]

A body has been found. The investigation has begun.

LOWER HALLS

[tevinteriscoming]

[After the body, going to take the patrol crew and sweep the lower halls. Partially to get out of the way before he loses his temper, and partially to search for the little alien.]

Be alert. That thing may try to take us by surprise.

[They know to be alert...He's just self-conscious that he doesn't have much mana left.]

[missmaladroite]

[She's transformed, which means she's sticking close to both Dorian and Adrien, yo-yo at the ready.]

If anything pops up, I'll take care of it. Both of you, keep your eyes peeled.