WEEK THREE

[al2955]

the pygmalion. . . ONLINE CAPTAIN'S LOG: WEEK (3)

monday - thursday (35) 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. Along with this, it appears there are new areas opened on the ship. 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_

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VALUED & VULNERABLE

[al2955]

[ Around 9 AM, AL-2955's voice chimes in throughout the ship. ]

Hello, travelers. I have an announcement to make about this week's valued and vulnerable participants. If you have forgotten, I will remind you: those that are valued are protected this week and cannot be made into a victim, but are still allowed to carry out a murder if they so wish. If a participant wishes to kill a vulnerable participant, they will be allotted one extra tool of their choice to carry out the murder. It is not necessary for a vulnerable participant to be a victim. Any participant not on the valued participants list may be selected as a victim. The tools are as follows.

[ She reads off a list of tools. ]

The valued players this week are as follows.

Emily Lowe, for being this week's most engaging participant.
Hancock, for being this week's most entertaining participant.
Clover Field, for undisclosed reasons.

The vulnerable players are as follows.

Todd Smith.
Lavi.

AL-2955

[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. ]

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 thirty-five of you are well. I am here to announce this week's motive.

[ There is a small pause, as if she must take a moment to clear her throat before continuing. ]

In Ayn Rand's magnum opus Atlas Shrugged, her protagonist, Dagny Taggart, attempts to keep alive the railroad company inherited from her grandfather. Dagny's core struggles come from an idea proposed by Ms. Rand: the philosophical school known as objectivism, or the idea that one must seize what one wants within one's own capabilities, as well as living for one's self as opposed to living for another. In its climax, Dagny extrapolates on her struggles: “I started my life with a single absolute: that the world was mine to shape in the image of my highest values and never to be given up to a lesser standard, no matter how long or hard the struggle.”

This week's motive deals with personal wealth. I have a wonder how far one would go for their own selfish desires: that is, to 'own the world' no matter how long or hard the struggle, as Dagny would. Kill this week, and you and your loved ones will not have to worry about your fortune for the rest of your lives. As some of you remain skeptical, several gold bars will be displayed in the conference room as proof.

This week comes with a bonus incentive as well. Starting today, you will begin to feel an exaggerated intensity of sensory behaviors. In particular, you will feel hypervigilant; loud noises will alarm you, and you will feel a creeping sensation when you catch something in your peripheral vision. As the week progresses, this will graduate to paranoia. You may find it difficult to exit your room without some manner of weapon in your hands. You will suspect the other participants of being up to foul play. This effect will fade if someone kills.

Have a nice day, travelers.

(ooc: the paranoia effect will begin on monday and get progressively worse as the week goes on. it will start with minor and more physiological effects, such as difficulty sleeping and skittishness to sudden stimuli and turn into a deepset suspicion of others, especially those your character isn't close to, by thursday.)

[jackhole]

[ . . . ]

I kind of feel like you're making fun of me, Alice.

[ at least he's self-aware ]

[al2955]

I would never dream of it, Rhys. Perhaps because I have no hopes, dreams, or aspirations as of now.

[jackhole]

[ shaking a finger at her ]

Stay like that.

[thanatosincarnate]

::Tuesday afternoon, bottom deck hallways::

{ Arumat’s standing still, gazing at the Aquarius statue of course, before walking around it to see if there was anything of real note, but nope looks like just more meaningless decoration to him.

Should someone get close, however, he would turn to face them and focus upon their person. }

What are you up to?

{ Let’s just say that’s his way of being “friendly” in his greetings. And paranoid, just a little. }


::Wednesday, Gym, tennis court::

{ Guess who’s here right about now? The honor would go straight to a certain-light haired Eldarian, alongside a certain blond named Luke. They seem to be comfortable as hell where they are. Wait? Are they talking... }

...of course we haven’t found anything yet, even though we had more ground to cover in new areas.

{ The conversation seems to shift -- Arumat and Luke's voices likely going quieter wherever is most convenient. }

Hmph, I suppose it’d be hard to tell who’s really ... but what about this one? Do you think ... seems like a liability?

{ He gestures to someone quickly on the datapad, but he’s also not stupid -- he’s probably changed the page right after so only Luke could have known who he was talking about. }.

[It’s probably a good thing that Luke’s trained to look things over quickly. He only needs to glance at the datapad to review their suspect before he shrugs.]

Motive doesn’t match, but we were kinda off last week, too.

{ Arumat’s about to say something, when someone walks on by, and of course the two fall suspiciously silent into hushed whispers or some such nonsense. Curious? }

::Wildcard::

{ Feel free to do whatever if you'd like, if there's a certain scenario you may have! }

[refactor]

monday - gym

[ You know who is super excited about the gym? It is definitely your resident murder dad (?), Jack. As soon as he's given the new area a quick look around, it's not long before he's back. Jack is a pretty muscular guy, but you have to work for this kind of hot (???) body!! ]

option a:
[ His first stop is definitely the weightlifting room, since, man, having a body means also having to keep it in shape? That was kind of an advantage of being a hologram. No worrying about keeping his hot bod. But at the same time, Jack actually doesn't mind working out too much, though the weightlifting isn't his favorite. So you can come watch him workout and laugh at him actually doing so or he might just call out to you when you enter. ]

Hey- Okay, yeah, how much can you lift? Seriously asking. A spotter would be great.

[ of course, if you're a twig, this is probably sarcastic ]

option b:
[ Alternately, you'll also eventually find Jack at the basketball courts, since surprisingly, he likes to shoot hoops. He's not taking this one quite as seriously, since basketball is something he just enjoys for the fun of it more than the workout. He'll be dribbling the ball and occasionally making shots, but as soon as someone else comes in? Well— ]

Think fast, kiddo.

[ You're definitely getting that ball tossed your way. Depending on how much Jack likes you, it may or may not be directed at your head, so feel free to make that part up! ]

tuesday - parlor

[ Yet completely opposite of the previous set of prompts, you're likely to find Jack in the parlor most of the day on Tuesday. With a little know-how, Jack has at least found something else to occupy his time, and that's returning to his old, original love: programming. Granted, he can't really do much that's useful with these datapads, much to his chagrin, but still, he's pretty psyched. ]

option a
[ Early in the day, Jack will be lounging (and even wearing reading glasses like a true nerd/dad) around, and not quite inclined to interact with others. He's deep in concentration on whatever he's working on, which of course means you should bother him, but even if you're more polite? Eventually, Jack will let out a pure, possibly startling cry of frustration. ]

Oh come onnnnn, I've been stuck on this friggin' thing all morning! What is even wrong.

[ welcome to the joys of programming my friends ]

option b
[ But if you come to the parlor after dinner, Jack is definitely already there and looking proud of himself in a way that could be slightly worrying, considering Jack. But, no, for once, this is entirely stupid. ]

Okay, so, here's the deal, cupcake. What I was working on all day? Crap. Threw it out. Starting over tomorrow. But I whipped up something real quick just to- Haha, okay, just to not shoot my goddamn datapad, but.

[ He pushes his datapad your way across the bar. ]

C'mon. Give it a try.

[ Jack has made a very simple game in his frustration with his first attempt. And that's both in gameplay and in humor... ]

mon. ~ wed. - wildcard

[ As usual, want something in particular? Make up your own prompt! You can also send me a PM if you want to ask about something in particular! ]

[isodope]

Can I melt the gold bars for material use?

[it's a fallout thing.]

[isodope]

Really? This week, and not the one where I sponged bathed the corpse? Yeesh.

tuesday

[todorable]

[coming on up since mild assishness is his flavor of "friendly"]

...Not feeling up a statue? Which is more than I can say for you. Enjoying the whole chick-with-jugs aesthetic here?

[socloverit]

[FISTPUMPS AND CHEERS maybe pay attention to any of the motive, Clover

who's around for her to high-five over this. she's excited. she'll be torn apart by curiosity over "undisclosed reasons" once the hype has died down but for now she is just an exuberant moron with poor priorities as usual]

parlor b

[todorable]

[todomatsu stares dubiously at the pad, not quite touching it]

It's not one of those stupid jump scare movies, is it?

[thanatosincarnate]

{ That's pretty much it. }

I'm not feeling up a statue. I'm looking it over, there's a difference.

{ He has a feeling someone here has actually felt up a statue though. But... why? He just tosses the thought aside, because it was stupid. }

In order to properly explore this place, you shouldn't overlook anything. And no, I could care less for this... "aesthetic".

{ Honestly, he thinks the symbolic statues are all tasteless in design. }

Monday - Option 2

[tacklefordwhimsy]

[If it had been any other day it's possible Shelley wouldn't have caught something thrown to her head, but this week she has hypersensibility. There are perks to that! Even if it is avoiding getting brained by Jack throwing balls around]

Whoa!

[There we go, caught!]

That was way too easy to catch, old man.

[thanatosincarnate]

... Good job.

{ That totally helps, right?

He's totally not slightly amused at Hancock's commentary, nope. }

[toprotecttheworld]

You could have at least tried earning it. This just makes you look lucky.

[Is Jessie bitter about being vulnerable? Yes.]

[todorable]

> monday, conference room

[gold bars

have you seen the gold bars? todomatsu has seen them. and after walking past a few times now he is just. staring]

They're so shiny...

> tuesday, dry storage

[just because the new level is kinda dark and grimy doesn't mean he doesn't wanna check it out. poking through the dry storage for goodies and wait sexy mannequin leg tho.]

Hey--can you reach that?

> wednesday, laundry/locker room

[paranoia or no, stinky clothes still stink. so now that they have some real laundry facilities, totty's sneakily (not really, but he's trying) hefting a blanket's worth of clothing and clothing-adjacent things down to the locker room to get them cleaned. surely no one will track him by the odd dropped sock or tie, and if they do, he'll just...glare at them or something. hopefully they don't need quarters.]

> anytime

[surprise him in the gym? lunch? jail party? sub end? whatever]

[unasking]

MONDAY : bottom deck

[Disgusting.

Frankenstein took one look at the bottom deck, wandered right over to the storage area, and has now returned with an assortment of cleaning supplies. Mops, brooms, buckets, soap, so much soap, and the odd feather duster. Admittedly he's also asked a few robots to assist in cleaning up this nonsense, but it's not being done fast enough.

Hence why he's turning to the closest person and throwing a cleaning tool at them (try not to get a mouthful of feathers):]

And you'll do your part, won't you?

[CLEAN FREAK ALERT.]

TUESDAY : gym

[Battler Butler Mode: Unlocked.

Idly, as Frankenstein enters the gym with any other random person:]

I wouldn't suppose you might be interested in some light sparring? Unless, of course, the paranoia might be getting to you already in which case I completely understand.

[Feel free to point out that he's still in one of his stupid three-piece suits, even fussing with one of the cuffs.

You sure you're ready to be at the gym, Frank?]

WILDCARD : hit me with your best shot

[Down for just about anything! Also hit me up at evergrace if you're interested in plotting.]

monday; option a

[thanatosincarnate]

I'll say however much you think you can start with, and we can go from there.

{ He'll note to be coming back to the Gym again himself -- he may have been working out a bit too. Granted, he had been doing that on his own before a Gym even had opened up. }

wednesday

[mnasthai]

Oh, are you talking about people? That isn't very nice. [ Almost as suspiciously, Kazuma appears to come out of nowhere very quickly.]

[todorable]

Whatever helps you sleep at night. See anything you like?

[which, while it sounds kinda jerky, he finds he does mean it honestly. ...not in a statue attraction way, even if it would be hilarious, but more of a 'did you find that poking the statue's bellybutton opens the door home' way. ...maybe he should just move on]

Actually, what would you prefer? Like, if you had to design your own space dungeon, what creepy statues would you put?

monday

[douchemag]

[Judar catches the feather duster and just stares at it like he's never seen one before.]

What. What is this. Is this a sex toy? Are you...hitting on me? Gross!

[thanatosincarnate]

Hmph. Useless as always, so no.

{ It's funny, but honestly, if Arumat did poke the bellybutton and it magically opened the door to home, he'd actually might smile (not a smirk or an asshole smile) for the first time he's arrived here. }

I hadn't thought about it. On the space-ship I commanded, I wouldn't have allowed any statues that looked like this to even be present in the first place. They could distract the crew or take up space.

If I had to have any it would be something small. Maybe a miniature statue of the ship itself or Eldar's appearance from space.

What about you?

[unasking]

[ . . . . . . ]

Is that truly what your first thought is?

[That's wishful thinking, friend.]

Perhaps this floor isn't the only place that requires cleaning.