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

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.

[tevinteriscoming]

How do we test the loophole? And what do we do in the meanwhile? There's a fairly straightforward dichotomy of choices. [And since, for obvious reasons, this was already on his mind earlier in the week.] We don't have much time to figure something out before the souvlaki make the decision for us.

[antietam]

I mean, how can we prevent the souvlaki from doing anything in the first place?

And... I don't know if we can do anything individually, but River must be able to. We have to appeal to her somehow.

[douchemag]

Like...what, faking someone's death? Fool Ass Lice into thinking someone bit it?

[Surprisingly enough, he doesn't sound sarcastic here - he has no desire to die, but any option that doesn't involve just playing along with what Alice wants is something he's eager to hear.]

[antietam]

[ If Judar's sounding serious, he'll go along with it. He has no other ideas, honestly. ]

Sure, maybe. There are ways to get someone close to death. But what's going to stop River from communicating that someone's died over here, and then the Nuwa's gone?

[bloodteller]

You know that won't work.

[ there's a hand on judar's arm, as yuno steadies herself. tears stain her cheeks, but she looks up toward him with conviction. ]

We need a body. A real body. [ and with a tight inhale, her voice comes with the barest hint of quake in it. ]

If we need that body, it can be me. By Sunday, if no one's killed, then I'll... you can use me.

[erythristic]

Unless we can cancel their immunity somehow and make it fair...

[it wasn't fair. the other AI was to blame for this - forcing the decision into their hands.]

[antietam]

So the best option, again, would be everyone killing? [ This is the Worst. ]

How would we even do that?

[tevinteriscoming]

[Yeah. Yeah. It's very late, and he was expecting to wake to a murder, not to this. He honestly looks shaken, how could anyone not be, but time to pull it together.]

They all appear to have been through quite a lot to come here and prevent us from making a terrible mistake. Their loved ones are on the Nuwa, too, after all.

I suppose we should discuss what to do next. What everyone wants to do next. I presume we all see what's at stake here, yes? If we kill this week, we kill the Nuwa. If we don't kill this week, we die.

[antagonize]

[Yeah. Okay. YEAH. If Jason didn't hate this week already, then he definitely abhors it now. Taking another dip in corpse salsa would have been a hundred times better than this.]

Either we find a third option, or— we take a vote. Decide who makes it out of this situation alive, all nice and democratically. [He's tense. He doesn't want to die again, but—] The Nuwa has a higher number of survivors. None of them have an invited guest riding shotgun, either. Meanwhile — there are fourteen of us left. Out of which two might be possessed by the souvlaki.

[Self preservation, or preventing the largest number of casualties? This is a shitty decision.]

... Whatever we decide, we have to remember that. But before anyone jumps the gun, we need to be damn certain there isn't a way out of this that keeps both of the ships alive.

[tevinteriscoming]

We can take a vote. But don't forget that everyone who died here has someone on the Nuwa as well. Alive or dead may not matter, but what they want matters. To me, it matters. At the least, I'm happy to yield my vote for his.

[Arumat's, he means. Though he's only been able to say the name in inappropriate levity. Never anything serious.]

[antagonize]

If the dead wanted to vote, maybe they should have thought about that before they got themselves killed.

[His reply comes a bit too quickly to be anything with actual thought behind it. More like, he snapped and his tone reveals way more than he'd like to. He's pretty damn upset and frustrated, but. Never mind. Ugh.]

Whatever. As long as we find a way to keep the biggest amount of people alive, I don't care. We just need to keep the souvlaki from ruining whatever consensus we come to.

[socloverit]

[okay well one bout of hysteria later

except no, Clover's always hysterical? and the robots take the bodies away, take Arumat away, and Clover is still crumpled on the floor and sobbing and—

All impulse and instinct and misery, she comes scrambling to her feet, grabbing her scythe again and storming past and through the others, wiping tears from her face as her expression contorts into a snarl.]

River! [It doesn't matter that everyone else is here to watch her flip her shit, throwing her arms out and screaming at the ceiling and not thinking that it might be useless; she's all impulse and instinct and fury and if the rest of them haven't figured that out yet, that's on them.] So—so what, telling us our friends were kidnapped and in danger wasn't subtle enough for you to play along with, but—but completely lying to us about what would happen, that—you could work with that! You couldn't bend the truth, we deserved to know the real truth then, but this—this wasn't enough of a blatant lie for you?! [She chokes on another sob, swallows it down and screams louder.] Answer me!

[al2955]

I...apologize, Clover. [Alice's voice sounds unusually uncertain.] It was not my intention to deceive you. There must have been a miscommunication between myself and the AI of the Nuwa.

[socloverit]

Oh, you're full of it! You were reading the motives off together and you expect me to believe you're not a liar?! If you made a mistake, then fix it! If you screwed up then do something about it!

[refactor]

[ Jack listens to some of the discussion here in a tense silence, but surprisingly, it seems like for quite a while, he doesn't have any opinion at all. There's nothing vocal one way or the other, but he just keeps his arms tensely crossed as he listens to the discussions going on here. But eventually, as the discussions shift to the Souvlaki and to bargaining with River... He speaks up. It just might not be what you expected. ]

You know what? Fine. If this is the kind of shitshow we're dealing with? Might as well go all out, right?

[ From Jack, that's probably not comforting, but he pulls out his datapad, oddly enough. He taps away at it for a bit, seeming to press random icons, but finally, a simple text file pops up, which he passes to whoever wants to take a look at it once he starts to explain. ]

If we want a chance of surviving, it's pretty damn clear that we take care of this alien problem. And to that end? Yeah, time for me to step out of the goddamn shadows or whatever. I've got a role, kiddos. I've known about the aliens since the first friggin' week, because I'm the highest ranking member here.

[ who decided that is the real question ]

So, yeah, like I've been saying the whole goddamn time, but none of you idiots even listen to me. I've been hunting these shitheads down. You really think I was getting Liz to poison herself because I was that pissed at her? I knew she was one. And I mean, also, full disclosure here, I lied. Shocker, I know. But it'll make some of you real happy, and should be making some bodysnatcher shitheads sweat. The odds I'm working with? Way better than one out of fourteen. If you know what I'm talking about, congrats, you get to carry on the alien hunting tradition here, and don't say a word about it. If you don't? Then you could be infected. Simple as that.

[ Jack motions widely at this point, but his expression is still pretty drawn and vicious. It's clear that revealing this isn't something he really wanted to do, but he's feeling backed into a corner. ]

So, you Sou-shitiots that are waiting inside someone? Your move. I've been waiting a looooong time to kill one of you, so it'd be my pleasure to draw the very last of you out. I've made it nice and simple for both of us.

[toprotecttheworld]

Why you?!?!

[Jessie looks uncharacteristically shocked—she's not angry over this revelation despite anger being her go to emotion.]

Why do you have a role, too?! Alice has been working with me every week, she never told me anything about you!

[refactor]

[ Jack doesn't seem to be especially shocked by this, since he just scoffs and shrugs. ]

Because she didn't know about it, not at the start. Alice is a huge bitch. I've also been trying to say that, but you idiots just listen to her every goddamn word like it's law until this week. Ever since the aliens were revealed, I'm gonna take a step in the dark here and say a purge was her plan. I was trying to kill them before they revealed themselves to avoid this, but, well, no luck there.

[tevinteriscoming]

[Jessie. That's quite a relief.]

What's your role, then? Please tell us it's something that can be proven.

[tevinteriscoming]

[Affixing him with a very cold expression. Which might not be unusual, given Dorian's obvious dislike for him for weeks now. Ordinarily, though, he might have let up after the explanation for the poison wine, the chief action that had distilled in dislike in the man. But a few pieces fall into place here, and there's something even greater than a nasty bit of bullying troubling him.]

Oh, have you been hunting them? You've done a stellar job of it so far.

[refactor]

See-

[ Jack wags a finger at Dorian, and he shakes his head ]

Y'see, I know you're being a sarcastic lil' shit right now, so I'll let it slide, because y'know what? I have. And you'll never know it. That's kind of the goddamn point. I'm the one that's supposed to do what's necessary. And I'll continue to do that.

[socloverit]

[Clover definitely takes the datapad so she can look through the file, but her expression scrunches up seeing that big old ACCESS DENIED. So much for that. Scrolling and tapping back and forth isn't getting her anywhere, so she passes it back. But...]

...How long did you know about Elizabeth?

[Look inadvisably or otherwise she's been #teamjack for an unfortunately long time but not sure if she's mad or upset or frustrated or just way more intensely out for blood than usual yet??]

[missmaladroite]

So you're trying to tell me that you shot Rhys because you knew he was an alien.

[It's less shocking than with Jessie - because Marinette figured there'd be another role responsible for killing aliens other than Bull. Bull was a failsafe.]

[Except it's Jack]

And the captain chose you, not the AI?

[socloverit]

This is—this is stupid, we're wasting time.

[It's rare enough that Clover pulls herself together enough to talk to anyone but now she's addressing the whole group, fire in her eyes despite the struggle to maintain it.]

I'm not hearing anyone object to getting ourselves purged for everyone on the Nuwa, which—fine. [She has been bargaining with herself for so long; if her death meant enough, Light would forgive her for it, if she dies for something that matters his sacrifice will have mattered, too, and for him and everyone else who's told her to survive, she hopes this is enough.] But, like, the best-case scenario is that the AI's gonna give us a full week instead of calling Friday the deadline and we still only have days left. I'm not spending them huddled in a little group in the dark and hoping an alien doesn't get me! If we're ready to die anyway, we've got no excuse not to be pulling this place apart! Maybe there's a way to contact the Nuwa, or disrupt communication between the AIs, or something! If there's anything we can do about this, we've got no excuse not to try figuring it out! If we get killed for messing with stuff we shouldn't be, it's not like we weren't waiting to die anyway. If there's stuff to sneak into or break through or just break, now's the time because we're running out of it.