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No, Bach has no deep dark secret that he's hiding from Lock. Key words here "that he's hiding from Lock". If Lock is already well-acquainted with this supposed secret, then he's not hiding it, is he? There are no such things as free chips. TheDavies fucked around with this message at 05:34 on Nov 19, 2023 |
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Nov 19, 2023 05:29
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No secret. Never trust anyone that offers you a bet and says that there's no way you can lose.
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Nov 19, 2023 21:24
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Bach has no more secrets from Lock because Lock knows everything about him already and Bach is both unremarkable and incapable. Considering the legwork Lock has already put in for Bach, he's at stalker levels of creepiness. This campaign manager gig is an excuse for Lock to spend more time with Bach. (Not very serious; I just dislike Lock and Bach and prefer to vote this way.) EDIT: I also think Ez is capable of resolving this kind of bet and simply claiming Bach has no secrets. Last time, we were asked what would happen if Lock were to go back in time and play again against Odin, and it was simply assumed that he would lose again. NeoRonTheNeuron fucked around with this message at 22:20 on Nov 19, 2023 |
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Nov 19, 2023 22:13
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Yeah, no. Bach doesnt have a deep secret
at least not one we dont already know about.
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Nov 20, 2023 15:27
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The answer to "how do you call this bet if he has no secret" is "he dies". Once a player is off the stage there's a limit to how important any secret can be. But regardless, Bach has a secret. Here's a thought: what if he's our Thane perspective?
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Nov 20, 2023 15:35
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Im calling it that he has no secrets that Lock doesnt know about. From a meta perspective, it would make no sense that Basch has some other deep dark secret, because that part of the story isnt about Basch, its about Lock. Also, there is no such thing as free chips, and Ez feels like she is pulling the same con that Lock pulled on Basch.
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Nov 20, 2023 23:52
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 No, he doesn't. Seriously? You hate money? Jeez, okay, your choice. But bet low.We're betting 18 chips here, based on how the votes fell. All righty then. That's all I had. On to other scenes! I wonder if things have gotten better for Vels since we last saw them?
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Nov 21, 2023 00:55
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 [BGM: Trick Score]   So then they lay siege to the castle. Which like, fair. They want to take over poo poo, they've gotta actually take over poo poo. I respect that. But the main dude of the House orders the raiders to lay waste to all of the citizens to send a message? Which, loving no indication to that leadup.  Meanwhile while the battle's going on the House's lady ends up banging that older blacksmith guy. And I mean first off, time and place, girl. Anyways, the main dude ends up getting hit in the neck with an arrow by the dipshit Order kid from before revenge for his lovely father I guess. But also, the kid sucks too? He was a pompous jackass who was, like, incredibly entitled. Then, middle of battle, it just cuts away. Over on like the other side of the map, the Iron Queen strikes up an alliance with the Wolves to lay waste to all the other factions. But like, I don't like the Iron Queen, and I definitely don't think the Wolves would be good to lead. It's played as a triumphant moment but in reality it's like the team up between two allying villains. And then it just ends! Like, that's the note they go out on. Sequel hook? I mean, obviously, but still. Usually you try and create some sort of conclusion, just a bit of it so people get the sense they've read a finished chapter of the grander story or whatever. True, true. As it stands, they just sort of stopped in the middle of the proceedings. That's not a cliffhanger, that's just a bad ending. Exactly. And I don't know... I'm kinda, like, not really interested in seeing where it goes? 'Cuz at this point, it kind of just feels like a battle of assholes everyone remotely good died pretty early on. And you know, maybe that can work. There's something to be said for watching assholes go to war with each other. But when everyone's despicable in one way or another, I just struggle to find someone to latch onto. And without anyone to latch on to, how am I supposed to be invested? Maybe you just try and root for the relatively least bad? That's sort of a, uh, meager aspiration to strive for, yeah? Sure. It was a familiar type of conversation. An unfamiliar situation. We had talked many times about disappointing books, but never had we done so in the dead of the night in the middle of the forest. ...Ah, well. Sometimes it just was like that. Anyways... I might not have liked it all too much, but it did get me thinking. A rarity. gently caress off! That one was a softball. Heh, fair enough. Anyways, no, I was thinking about what counts as 'good' or 'bad.' Pretty much all the main characters in the story were unquestionably horrible I don't think there's much to argue on that part. But that kind of got me thinking. Everybody in this setup was horrible. In that case, does that kind of make none of them horrible? Huh? I don't follow. I mean, if everybody's acting bad, then maybe none of them are all that bad? Like, you sorta have to blame more their environment than their personal failings at that point. Judging them by our morals of 'right' and 'wrong' might be a bad way of thinking about all of it. You're talking about relative morality. Am I? You are. Then I guess I'm talking about relative morality. So, you're just going to dismiss everything bad that happens because of the standards of the setting? That's a dangerous slope of thinking. I'm not dismissing poo poo, and I'm not putting everything on just that." It's just, you know.... The only other way to explain it is that every single person that was born in this setup happened to be born evil... and I don't like thinking 'bout it that way. I'd like to think that humans aren't born evil with that frequency. So if you throw away that possibility, you have to say that good people could still do lovely things in that scenario. What, you don't agree? I mean, you've got to factor in context. I'm not saying to ignore that, nobody's saying that. But I'm also saying I don't like chalking away right and wrong to a matter of scales towards each other. I think there are some things that are just objectively bad, some things just objectively good. Not saying I can't have sympathy, that I don't acknowledge it would be a lot harder to be good given your circumstances... But you do bad things, you're a bad person. Everything beyond that is just set dressing. Huh. You know, I didn't think you'd go that way on this Vels. Truly, I'm a question wrapped inside an enigma. Just kinda seems simplistic for you. Sometimes simplistic just means right. So you're saying that certain actions are 'bad,' right? No ifs ands or buts, the actions are just bad? I don't think that's right. If you kill somebody in self-defense, that's not the same as murder! Those aren't the same actions. One is self defense, the other's murder. I mean, okay, fair. But can't there be... Oh, I know! Aren't there like, different moral codes in different situations? Like, honor among thieves! If you steal from a thief, and then the thief steals back from you, it's kind of different than a thief just stealing from an innocent person. Those thieves have a sort of understanding between them the stealing is just part of the thief game when it's between thieves. You... realize that's not what honor among thieves means, right? Oh, whatever. You get my point though, right? I get it, sure. I just don't think it holds up. You're saying criminals get to have their own moralities when interacting with each other? That if you're in 'the crime game,' doing things to other people 'in the game' is more permissible? Yeah, sorta like that! Then what, is it cool to kill a killer? That just part of the game? Uh, well What about killing a thief? Not a low-rate thief, a major thief, someone who's stolen millions. Someone who stole money from somebody who needed it for a life-saving procedure. Because of that theft, the person who got stolen from died. Then, is the thief a killer? Can the killer kill the thief? And what if the person who needed that procedure could've been saved by a rich acquaintance, but the acquaintance didn't pay for the surgery because they wanted the first person to die? Then, is it morally permissible to kill the rich dude? I don't fuckin' know! It depends! Context and all. The code changes on a case by case basis? That doesn't seem like a solid foundation. I'm not creating like a legal system, yo, I'm just talking about... You haven't really thought out this philosophy, have you? No, matter of fact, I haven't! Do I have to? Do people have to write out papers on what they want to believe? Or can they just believe what they feel's right? Hey, look, you're the one who brought this up as a conversation. I'm not saying you're wrong to believe whatever you're believing in. I was just giving my two cents. ...Right.[BGM: Last Dice]  It felt like Krish and I were getting into more pointless arguments as of late. That probably wasn't a good sign... maybe something to look into before too long. But it couldn't be helped. Regardless, we'd been wasting too much time. We can pick the discussion up another time. We're not creeping around the forest in the dead of night for fun, you know. You haven't forgotten what we came here to do, have you? No! Who do you take me for? Uh, but also, quick refresher?I sighed. Hey, you didn't explain it that well!I almost let Krish do this by themself. I was this close. Jesus. Okay, okay, calm down, you're right. For now, all we're trying to do is startle this house's owner. Mhm. For a good reason? Yes. ...Probably. I don't like your tone of voice. Could we just- could we just get to it already? Alright, alright, what do you want me to do? Just, look, for now, stay here. Before we start, I've got something I need to set up. Alright.And just like that, I walked away, towards the house. I approached the front porch. ...There were no cameras, right? I checked for them ahead of time, couldn't find anything,, but... maybe I missed something? No, no, I was being paranoid. No cameras. And right now, it was late enough that there shouldn't be any chance that the homeowner might see me through a window or some poo poo. I should be fine. I went right up to the front steps and bent down. I took out a plastic bag from my pocket. Then, gingerly, with a rag, I reached into the plastic bag and placed the pre-made note on the wooden porch. It was paper taken from a common store. The message was written in letters clipped out from various newspapers. Cliche, I know. But it's a cliche for a reason. The letter was suitably vague and threatening. I figured the more details I put, the worse it'd be. Best to keep things general. 'Dearest Tyrant. I hope this note finds you in bad health. But, because injustice reigns, I doubt that to be the case. How does it feel, living life good, while the rest suffer? How does it feel, wearing a smiling face, while holding a knife behind your back? How does it feel, being a sinner? It is sad, so so sad, but it turns out you can't live the way you have forever. Eventually your crimes will hurt the wrong person. Me. This time, you've gone too far. You've forced my hand. You've plunged me into hell. So I'll do the same to you. Bring you to where you belong. This is just the beginning. Do struggle I'd like to be entertained. Hahahaha. Love, the Devil You Don't' Was it a little much? I don't know, I kind of liked it. I thought the last bit was a nice little touch. When you throw in vague specificities like that, people tend to fill in the blanks. ...Maybe it was a little much. Krish might've been the better author choice, being an aspiring writer and all, but I wasn't looking to make a masterpiece in threatening letters. I was trying to get a blunt point across. I made my way back over to Krish.  Okay, now we're ready to begin. Cool. ...What does that mean exactly? Let's just try smashing some windows. Maybe do some vague whooping and hollering. Whooping and hollering? I don't know, I'm just saying we should be intimidating. Alright. I can do intimidating. I somewhat doubt it, but let's just get to work.Krish leaned down and picked up a rock. Don't get your fingerprints on it! Oh. Right. Sorry, new at this. So am I. Don't need to rub it in.[BGM: Silence]  They pulled a rag out of their pocket and picked up a rock. I did the same. We exchanged a look... and then, simultaneously, we both sent rocks flying through the nearest window. Krish began letting out a low-pitch hollering, and I joined in with them. We ran over to the next window and sent another rock. Heh, this was kind of fun. Window to window, we went, sending rocks crashing. I tried seeing how fast I could get from one window to another. Despite their initial hesitations, Krish also got into it pretty soon. Okay, and... stop.Just as soon as we got into this, we came to a stop. We went quiet. And, with my hand signal, we retreated back into the woods. We had done our part. No loving way the homeowner didn't hear that. Continuing like this would just increase the risk of getting caught. ...But still, I wanted to get a good look at the front of the house. See if my note was effective. I waved Krish to follow me, and circled around back to the front. We were pretty far into the woods, it was dark, there was cover we'd be fine. Now, let's see you... Right on time, Governor Aija made her way to the front door. All things considered, she was looking pretty composed. Miffed if anything. But there was a bit of fear. ...Hopefully enough. She quickly noticed the note, and scanned through it. I wanted to see her reaction. It was... vague confusion? I suppose that was reasonable enough; not the best case scenario though. She looked around some, hoping to see whoever left the note... but, of course, this was a pointless endeavour. She probably knew that as well. Finally, with a dejected look, she retreated back to the house. [BGM: Kicker]  Okay. That went about as well as could be hoped. Now we wait. Right. ...Because...? Wow you really didn't listen to anything I said. You have a habit of speaking softly, Vels especially when others are around. Then ask me to repeat poo poo. I knew you'd just explain it again when we got here. That's not that shouldn't be ...Whatever. If everything goes right, what we did should have scared Aija somewhat. And apparently, because of that, some guy should be arriving here soon. That is why we made that mess in the first place. Right, right. And, so... why do we care about this again? Because I don't really like the idea of messing with the Governor without a reeeeally good reason. Well, I don't know if it's a really good reason, but it is a job. For who? This greasy gambler dude. Named Lock. Pretty sure you wouldn't know him. You don't know that. I know a lot of people in this city. I mean, sure. Okay, do you know a gambler named Lock? No. Okay then. How do you? It was a fluke. The guy was getting harassed by these drunk punks they were mad at some bet that happened. I stepped in and saved his rear end. He appreciated it; said he saw potential in me, said he could use someone 'with my skills,' whatever that means. Gave me his number, told me to call him sometime I wanted a job. ...I ended up calling it at some point, on a whim more than anything. Then the other day, he called me, and told me he needed some contract work. Explained this plan to screw with Governor Aija, the one we're doing right now offered decent cash for it. So you're just... harassing people for cash? The way the guy explained it, this is a weird form of self-defense... and, honestly, I wouldn't doubt it. Besides, it's not like we had anything else going on.[BGM: Silence]  Krish didn't say anything. They just looked at me. They clearly had something on their mind, but they weren't saying anything. Well that was fine. I could wait in silence. ... Krish was always the one who spoke up first. ... What? Vels... you called Lock before the mess with the Duats began, right? Right. Been a bit busy since then.[BGM: Spot On]  So then, if he has your number, then it's the same phone as back then. ...Right. You had your phone on you when we were ambushed by the Duats I know that. And I'm pretty sure you never had an opportunity to trash it. But... you told me to get rid of my phone. You said I could get tracked. I, I mean, I threw it out a car! I didn't tell you to do that. It was implied! I threw it out, and you kept yours? Where's the fairness in that?drat. Krish really was a lot more clever than I gave them credit for. They could track your phone. They didn't have the slightest lead on who I am. And why's that? Because I'm a nonentity. We went over this Krish, they don't know me.  I don't know you! Keep it down!Woah. This was more serious that I gave it credit for. Krish, what are you saying? You know me. No, I don't. I don't know where you live. I don't know what you do most of the time. I don't know what's up with your parents, if you have any siblings, where you moved from, I don't know any of that! Those are just, uh, details. Details? They're loving fundamental parts of your life, Vels! We were on the run from criminals, and you still couldn't open up about them. It's like, gently caress! Who are you? ... Who are you? Who are you, Vels? I... Heh. Seriously?Krish began to walk away, head hung low. They were shaking it, like they couldn't quite believe things. I tried following them, making sure they hadn't gotten too far away. ...And then all of the sudden, they turned to a nearby tree and *thump!* They slammed their fist into it.  gently caress! A look of rage consumed Krish's face. For once, I was legitimately speechless. I hadn't seen them like this before. They were truly, truly pissed off. All I could do was look on, dismayed. gently caress. ...gently caress. Seriously, Vels? Why? What's the problem? Why can't you confide in me? ... You look surprised at me. You know, I know we like to keep things light. We hung out to just, you know, shoot the poo poo. Hung out before all this started, that is. But we kept it light. Maybe you thought since I was all smiley and poo poo that I was just living a casual, carefree life. You felt the need to always correct me on my ideas of becoming a writer, as though I wasn't painfully aware that I'm not cut out for it. Krish, I was never- Do you think I got us into this mess for fun? That I was an idiot for trying to organize the Duat thing? Like, okay, yeah, maybe I hosed up by not thinking things through properly. I'll take the blame right there. But I didn't do that on a whim, Vels. I didn't have it easy before now. I've never had it easy, god drat. I mean, you know me, Vels. As close to the chest you may keep it, I've never hesitated to open up to you about my past or poo poo. Do you really think I had it easy growing up here? You think I didn't loving grapple all the time with my class? My race? gently caress, my gender? Panthea might be a diverse group, but it just means it's got a diverse group of assholes. I mean... gently caress, even my dad. He tries, you know, he supports me and stuff, but he's never really gotten it either. All my life I've had to deal with so much poo poo. And you know? I could loving handle it. Because I'm tough. Tougher than most of these fuckers that crowd the city. Be it gangsters or bigots or assholes, none of them are poo poo. I made it my mission day one to not let them get to me. I kept my head up. Kept on smiling. Was a positive, funny, cool baller nobody could talk poo poo about. Beacon of the people, friend to all, that's me, Krish Devaki. Even if it's dumb, I'll reach out to help, even if it's really loving dumb on my part. But you know, it's not like things didn't still get to me. It's not like just because I faced down all this poo poo with a smile it doesn't weigh on me every goddamn day. Krish, you gently caress, and you know what, Vels? You know why I tell you all this? You know why it stings? Because I thought you understood me, Vels. I wanted you to understand me. ...You know, even when we first met, I thought you were really cool. And the more I got to know you, the more I felt that deep down, we were similar. I know a lot of people, sure. They're nice enough. But they don't really get me, none of them could. But I thought... I wanted you to get me. I wanted us to be close. I wanted one god drat person in this city that I could really rely on. You can rely on me, Krish. Clearly not! ... I mean, right? I thought we were friends. But to be friends, that understanding I was talking about has to be a two way street. I mean, I was fine doing most of the talking, because I thought you were just, I don't know, shy or some poo poo. But if you still can't open up to me at all... then, I mean, were you always just uninterested? No, Krish, I wasn't faking anything. Then why don't you tell me anything?! I'm asking who you are, right now, friend to friend... and you can't answer!
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Nov 23, 2023 04:24
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 [BGM: Silence]  I had to say something. I couldn't leave that unanswered, I couldn't... ...I didn't kid myself into thinking I was some sort of great person, but... after all that, I owed Krish something. It wasn't something I often liked to do, but... I decided to recount the turning point in my life. ...I wasn't born in Panthea. Uh, yeah? Pretty obvious, Vels. Why are you bringing that up? I'mI took a deep breath in. ...Keep calm. [BGM: Ura Dora]  I grew up in a reasonably nice city. Wasn't rich, but definitely wasn't poor. I had a nice family only child, which I appreciate. My parents were nice folk. Worked honest jobs. I went to school, had a couple acquaintances, a really good friend. I did decently at school too, if you'd believe it. There's a version of me that actually grows up and goes to college, maybe becomes like a science professor or some poo poo. Ha! Can you imagine that? Me? An actual professor or something? Yeah, uh... weirdly enough, I sort of can.Krish was a lot less talkative now. They clearly recognized at this point that I was actually opening up. Mmm. Honestly, that would probably never happen. Even in the best of circumstances, I don't think a boring life like that's for me. ...But you know, I could've been something worthwhile. Don't say that you're worthwhile. Maybe. Maybe, maybe you're right. ...Sometimes I question that. ... But lamenting on what ifs is a pretty worthless practice. Hypothesizing about possible futures, that's fodder for people with too much time on their hands, poo poo for dreamers that don't get things done. Like it or not, there's only one life... and mine didn't end up that way. ... You know, I still remember that night. Waiting for my dad to come back home. Unaware. It took me a while to realize something was wrong, and when I heard the news... well, I thought it was a joke. Surely that couldn't be right. Why would my dad be dead, it wasn't... ...You know, I think on some level you're still a kid until you come face to face with your first genuine tragedy. A tragedy that thoroughly makes you confront the arbitrariness and cruelty that life has to offer you. Before that point, you go through being aware that death and true despair are things that can occur to a person, but it's more of a conceptual understanding. When you encounter it firsthand, you change. By that metric, there are plenty of adults that get well into their 30s with still never having to really grow up in this way... and there are some kids who grow up far sooner than they should have to. And... you were one of those kids? ...Very astute, Krish. Yeah, my dad's death hosed me up quite badly. I went through every stage of grief, and I lingered in each one for longer than the last. Denial and bargaining didn't last all that long, in the wider scope of things. But anger? Oh, I had anger to spare. I'd have been much more fine if it was an accident natural cause of death. But you know how my dad died? I think you'll get a real kick out of this. ...I don't think I will. Stray shot in a spat of gang violence. Yeah, that's right unintended casualty in another person's war. ...At least, that was what the police thought. Only problem was, the police were unable to identify any suspects. They couldn't go after anybody. Too hard a case, I guess. Of course, I had other ideas about why they weren't pressing charges, but no proof to back it up. The bottom line was, I was told pretty clearly that my dad's killer wasn't going to be brought to justice anytime soon. They'd get to just walk away. They wouldn't pay the price. Heh. Can you guess how that made me feel? Furious? Furious? Heh heh. No... no, I don't think that's quite right. Furious doesn't paint the right picture. It implies I was raging, ready to lash out at anyone and anything that I was blinded by emotions. No, what overtook me was a cold anger. A far more dangerous one. Fury may get people to dangerously lash out, but a cold anger is the thing that you should really worry about. It's probably not a great sign that I default to cold anger, all things considered; says horrible things about my character. But... that's what happened. I was overcome with an icy cold anger. A determination to find the one responsible. And then, to get even. I... ... You? ...I hired a private investigator to look into the case a good one. And in the meantime, I trained. Physically, that is. If you've ever wondered why I was a good fighter, well, you have my dad's killer to thank. Day and night, every free second I had, I was on an insane training regiment. You could say a lot about me, but I'm nothing if not determined. Before this point, I never really saw the need for violence. I thought it crass. Almost... beneath me, if that makes any sense. It was a dumb philosophy. A senseless one. ...Everything has a place in life. So I got fit. I learned how to fight. I was a quick study. Guess I must be a natural or something. And I bided my time. ...and eventually, I... the private investigator found out who was responsible for my dad's death, and I... Well, it's pretty obvious, huh? I stalked him. I set up a perfect situation. And I ambushed him. He was with three of his friends, and I was alone, but it was still an easy fight. I had the element of surprise, and they were really just amateurs. Kids, not much older than me. Turns out the killer was the son of the leader of a prominent gang that had infested the city for years. He was dicking around, trying to prove himself just as big and bad as a gang leader's son ought to be. And then? I don't know the specifics of what went down, and I don't care; I knew the outcome and that was enough. After thoroughly beating and scattering his little entourage, it was just me and the bastard in an empty room. He got on his knees, apologizing, crying, pissing his pants it was honestly pathetic. And... what did you do after that? I did exactly what I trained for. I beat him. I hit him over and over and over; pulled some truly brutal moves on him. Beat him half to death. ... Let me be clear: I don't approve of how I handled things back then.  I was younger, dumber, and more filled with rage. ...But then again, maybe I haven't grown up all that much. Because it's not like I exactly regret what I did to the little punk. Honestly... considering what happened next, maybe I should've killed him. Might've been for the best. Killed him? Wait, what happened next? Think, Krish. If the story just ended there, it wouldn't exactly explain how I got to this point in my life, now would it? That's Oh, come on Krish. You're pretty smart, deep down. You should be able to guess what happens next. I've given you all the clues you need.
If you did all that to this gang leader's son... ...and didn't finish the job... Mhm. I thought myself pretty sharp. But clearly not sharp enough... because I didn't account for the very obvious next step. That said gang wouldn't let this insult pass. They went and got vengeance. Vengeance in the form of my mom. Wh-what? Oh, don't get me wrong, they tried to go for me too; I just managed to get away. But my poor mom? My mother, who never did anything wrong? Who instead of turning to vengeance like me, retreated to grief after the news? Yeah, she ended up paying for my mistakes. My dad's death, that was a tragic accident that couldn't have been avoided. But my mom's? ...That one's all on me. Vels... Heh. Heh heh heh... It's almost funny how stupid I was. See, this is what I mean when I say I'm worthless. My family was ripped apart from me, and it was all my fault. You can't say that! It wasn't your fault, you didn't know they'd do that. But I should have.I had to hold back a genuine choke there. Damnit, was I seriously getting emotional now? I thought I was past this. ...gently caress. This is why I didn't like reminiscing like this... this is why I preferred to keep moving forwards. Ugh. ...But, if this was what I needed to do to keep Krish content... then it had to be done. [BGM: Trick Score]  Anyways, um. Yeah. I'm... I am sorry, you know. That I'm more closed off. I've always kind of been a private person. I mean, I said I had friends or whatever, but I've always kind of, you know, done things by myself. And my personal life, my personal history, it's all stuff I really don't like to think about. You say that you like hanging out with me because you think I understand you, and I do. But honestly, I like hanging out with you... because it helps me forget myself. After the incident, I couldn't exactly stick around. There was still an active hit out for me. So... I fled. And that's why you ended up in Panthea, huh? I mean, uh, more or less. drat. ...So what's happening with me, and the Duats- If I've been acting a bit weird, it's probably because this whole thing hits a lot closer to home than maybe you would have realized. Krish, you're different from me. Your life hasn't been blown apart. I wouldn't feel right if I watch you follow in my footsteps. They're not... ...I don't think you'd follow well in them. ... For once, I couldn't read Krish's expression. ...Made sense. I'd dropped a lot on them. The two of us just stood in silence for a couple of moments. And after a bit, Krish spoke up. Vels, you know... if you had just told me all of this, I would've understood. Yeah, you probably would have, huh? That story is so horrible. I kinda... feel bad. I mean, I'm standing here, going off about my problems, all the while you've been No, you know, I think you have some valid things to complain about, Krish. I mean maybe, but still. I made you open up about something so painful in your past. You couldn't make me do poo poo. I felt like opening up to you. Well, uh, thanks. It's good to know you trust me enough to say all that. Seeing as what we've gone through up until now, it'd probably be weird if I didn't, no? Yeah, probably. Still though, drat. That's some heavy poo poo, Vels. Elegantly put as always. So wait, I'm still confused about some points. Like... okay, that explains a lot. But what about where you've been staying, what you've been doing? What's that all about? Look, Krish, I know you think yourself tough. But it's really for the best if you let me handle things. It's going to take a lot to get you out of the poo poo you're in, and I'm more than happy to do that, I want to do that, but it's best if I handled it myself. What? You can't do it, it's my issue! I should handle it myself, or at least help. See, this? This is what I was worried about, this is why I didn't want to tell you about all this. Vels, I can't have you doing dangerous stuff on my behalf. And I'm telling you, you're not making me do it, I'm doing it. It is just better if I handle things, plain and simple. Better? How is it[BGM: Silence]  Just then, they shut up. ...We both shut up. In these supposedly silent woods, we both heard a loud sound: the sound of a car's engine. Quick, get to cover.I didn't need to tell Krish twice. They immediately ran over and hid behind a bush. For my part, I circled a tree and leaned right against it. After getting to their hiding spot, Krish looked to me in confusion. What are you doing? Shh!I put my finger to my mouth with urgency. The car was getting closer and closer any second now it'd be here. ...And I had to be in prime position to get the shot. ... There. The car was stopping. I heard the sound of somebody getting out. Footsteps closer and closer, moving towards the door. Quickly, I got a glance at the man. I saw their silhouette. ...Yeah, that's probably the guy. It was way too dark right now to get a proper look though, needed to wait... I hid back behind cover. ...Then I heard a knock. ...And then I heard a door opening. I waited a beat, anticipating a nervous look around. Then, slowly, I leaned back out of cover. Right there, Governor Aija was talking with the man right at the doorstep. The porch lights were now turned on; the two were close, clearly in hushed conversation. I could see the man's side profile pretty clearly this was what I was looking for. Very carefully, I took out my phone and moved to the camera app. I lined up the shot just right. Aaaaaand *click* Got it. With the light on my phone at minimum brightness, I checked the shot. ...Awesome, awesome. I put the phone back in my pocket. Then I hid right up against the tree. [BGM: Ones Are Wild]  Now to just wait for when it was safe... Hopefully the first order she gave the man wasn't 'hunt around the house for the troublemakers.' If that happened, I'd be really screwed. I didn't exactly have a natural escape hatch from here without clearly being seen. ...Eh, worst comes to worst I could just run. Probably could get away. ...Probably. With nothing else to do, I tried listening in on Governor Aija and the mystery man's conversation the best I could. It was really hard to make out anything from this distance; still, I tried my best to pick up what I could.  ...clear threat... ...suspects... deal... ...none... ...Lock... failure... revenge... ...unlikely... no trace... ...campaign... ...juvenile...prank... ...possible... ungrateful... ...civil...entitled...still...annoying... ...these days... soon... change... ...treat... legitimate threat... action... ...unnecessary... changed my mind... definitely... childish... ...no reason... advertise... if it... threat... something... ...stay alert... until future... then... ...be safe... stay guard... in case... ...just for... Of the dozens of words exchanged between the two figures, only a couple actually managed to be somewhat... what's the word for legible, but for, like, hearing a word and understanding it? There's definitely a word for that. ...There's a word for that, right? If not, there should be. Anyways, I couldn't hear much of poo poo, but through the bits I could pick up, I more or less deduced the general shape of their conversation. Not that it really mattered I had gotten what I had come for. My next step was simply getting out of here undetected. Luckily for me, it looked like I'd soon have the opportunity. I heard the conversation die down... then the door opened. And then? Silence. I waited for a few seconds before popping my head out. What I heard already told me the answer, but just in case I checked to see if the car was still by Aija's house. ...And it was. Hm. A part of me wanted to run around and take a picture of the car's license plate as well... but to do that I'd have to run across into the open. It was an unnecessary risk for an unnecessary action; best to cash out now. I walked over to the bush that Krish was hiding behind and tapped them on the shoulder. This whole time they had just been in the fetal position holding their breath; an effective method of hiding out, I couldn't deny them that.  Are we cool now? Yeah. Come on, let's go." You got what we needed? Yep. Great! Good to hear. Although, do we really need cash at the moment? We can just ask Polly for anything we need to buy. Just think of it as doing a good deed. Besides, I think it wouldn't hurt if we had a bit of cash of our own, money not dependent on Polly's cooperation. You know, just in case. You're really an untrusting person, Vels. Indeed I am, indeed I am. But so is Governor Aija, apparently. Oh? I'm pretty sure even though she's decided our stunt was nothing more than a prank, she has her mystery man staying with her at the house on guard. Huh. Well, it can't hurt, I guess. True, true. Point is, we're done here, so let's get back to Polly's house." Awesome![BGM: Silence]  And just like that, we started making our way back. Despite feeling accomplished, there was a nagging part in the back of my brain. A part reminding myself that this wasn't really doing anything to help get Krish out of the situation they were stuck in. It was a reasonable thought to have. It didn't appear like there was any correlation. How could I know that far down the line, getting that picture would actually inadvertently lead to a solution, of sorts, to the root cause of Krish's problems?  I found this... enlightening. Most people are shaped more by our past than they care to admit. It's tragic, not something we like to think about. Weird, considering it's the time of our life where we have by far the least control. And yet it is our earliest years that have the largest ripples. When we're born, we are all blank canvases. Sure, a pallette might have already been selected for us, but our potential is still limitless. But by the time we have some real agency, really know what's going on, the form of our painting is already finished. You want to really understand someone, a shortcut is figuring out their past. So I have to ask you... How do you feel about your former life. I don't remember it. Sure, concretely, you might not. But I'm sure, somewhere in you, your essense understands my questioning. So just rely on your gut. Answer what you feel drawn towards. So then... This is a tricky question, one that requires not just introspection, but an understanding of cause and effect. Still, I'll ask it. What in your past do you think most directly led you to becoming who you are now? My hobbies. Hobbies, huh? I can see it. What you practice early, you excel in later few chess grandmasters start in their 20s. With that in mind... If you had to choose between the two, would you consider your current life an embracing of your past, or a rejection of it? An embracing of my past. I see, I see. You decided to play the hand you were dealt the best you could? A valiant option. Alright, so... now that we've examined your past in a bit more detail... how important is it to you? What would it take for you to completely give up on it? How much would you need for you to willingly sever yourself from the past? To erase all memories of it? ...I've already been severed from it, haven't I?
Heh heh heh. Guess that answers that question, huh? Okay. Sorry for this little diversion... and thanks for answering my questions. What about you? Me? My past? ...Heh heh heh. Sorry, I don't really have anything like that. As far as I can remember, I've always been me. Ever since I was born, I was like this. I wonder why? Only God knows. Next update, let's see what Eris is up to! Mix. fucked around with this message at 22:33 on Nov 23, 2023 |
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Nov 23, 2023 04:24
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Mix. posted:img]https://lpix.org/4551700/KrishConfused.png[/img] So wait, I'm still confused about some points. Like... okay, that explains a lot. But what about where you've been staying, what you've been doing? What's that all about? Broken tag here.
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Nov 23, 2023 20:57
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Yay, Vels backstory revealed. Boo, Vels is helping Lock. Property damage and snooping too. The pictures they got are pretty bad for Aija. Who knew she would call Devon over as opposed to Gani or some other lacky? What was she doing alone in the middle of the woods, and how could Lock have figured that out?
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Nov 23, 2023 21:58
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NeoRonTheNeuron posted:Yay, Vels backstory revealed. And seems to have ties to Laverna, too. Small world.
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Nov 23, 2023 22:16
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whitehelm posted:Broken tag here. woops, thanks. NeoRonTheNeuron posted:What was she doing alone in the middle of the woods, and how could Lock have figured that out? Vels and Krish are vandalizing Aija's house, so she was there bc she lives there  all the rich people have mcmansions out in The Forest (caps intentional) as seen by where Polly's camped out, where Aija's gala was held, etc
Mix. fucked around with this message at 22:37 on Nov 23, 2023 |
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Nov 23, 2023 22:33
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Oh, I expected a mansion with security. Because she's the Mayor, and Mayors usually would have some onsite security.  Or a fence or even cameras around their super mansion. Aija being as low-quality on security as Milo is something I didn't expect, and she's supposed to be a pro at this!
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Nov 24, 2023 00:12
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NeoRonTheNeuron posted:Oh, I expected a mansion with security. Because she's the Mayor, and Mayors usually would have some onsite security. The only way it makes sense to me is if this is a more private dwelling than her formal mansion, and she doesn't keep cameras because she meets Devon there. Don't want to have a pile of evidence showing that you did know and meet that serial killer after all. That's just one warrant away from biiiig problems.
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Nov 24, 2023 00:35
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NeoRonTheNeuron posted:Yay, Vels backstory revealed. Locks a reckless gambler so it makes sense for him to take a punt on things that only have a slim chance of working. And from what weve seen Devon is Aijas main source of muscle, so this situation fits him better than Gani. How did Lock find her home is a valid question though, since if theres no on-site security then she was relying heavily on obscurity.
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Nov 24, 2023 11:54
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Lock could be or have ties to the Devil. Vels signed the threat letter "Love, the Devil You Don't".
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Nov 24, 2023 20:40
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 [BGM: Crawford Game]  What. What was that? What the hell? Those were the thoughts that passed through my mind back when I initially listened to the audio clip that the Devil sent me. Of course, quite a bit of time had passed since then; I'd long gotten my thoughts in order. But, back then, I was incredibly confused. What was the context of this conversation? What was the context of this recording? Who was Marduk talking about? Who was he talking to? ...Well, for one, at least I knew the Devil wasn't just talking poo poo. I still didn't buy his God theory for a second. But this, this definitely required consideration. Careful consideration. Let's think about this rationally. What was actually said there? 'It really is a pain... Do I really have to listen to... Don't lecture me about respect... Yes, yes, results, I understand...' Those seemed like the important statements, so let's go through them one at a time. 'It really is a pain' implies that, to some extent, Marduk is annoyed with the compliance, not outright angry. It might not even necessarily be against his will, it just annoys him on some level. 'Do I really have to listen to' implies that he is, on some level, listening to someone. The Devil would have me think that means that he's being controlled by the God, but that's not quite what's being said right there. Just on some level, Marduk is listening to someone. Maybe that means doing a specific thing, maybe that means not doing something. It's probably a hard order, not advice, or else he wouldn't be upset. But conversely, if it really was the God Hypothesis that the Devil thinks, I don't think this is the sort of way he'd be talking about it. 'Don't lecture me about respect.' Respect, respect... Clearly whoever Marduk was talking to rebuffed Marduk's complaints, saying that respect is important in this context. So does Marduk need to give someone respect? Who on earth could that possibly be? Or... is it more of a 'respect the hustle' type respect Couldn't be sure. Finally, 'Yes, yes, results, I understand.' So... results are the reason that Marduk is listening to this person. Or at the very least, results are related. ...No, no. I couldn't piece this together with my current understanding of things. Well... poo poo. Actually, thinking about it, why was I just sitting here, twiddling my thumbs? There was a perfectly good person to ask. Immediately, I began drafting up an email. If I was smarter, back then I would've thought about the approach a bit more mindfully. ...That's hindsight for you.   Devil. This clip is incredible! It's from Marduk, right? I'm so glad you trust me enough to send me this. Is this part of your 'card' that you were hesitant to show me earlier? This definitely has big implications about Panthea. I'd be delighted if you could give me some more insight into what exactly this call is about. Thank you. Olif. And without a second thought, I sent that email. I figured it was adequately thankful and respectful; I knew to at least get that out. But... I was just so curious about the clip. I sat there, refreshing my email account, over and over... waiting for a response. Some response, any response. It took longer than I expected but a watched pot never boils, or however the saying goes. I got an email back from The Devil before too long. I opened it, excited to hear his explanation... unfortunately, at first glance, the email was disappointingly short.   You are correct. This is a secret file I have not shared with many people. Me sending this to you signals my trust, and it is good to know you properly appreciate that. You were questioning my theory about Panthea's God; well, let this be testament and proof. There is a Panthean God... one that controls the leader of the Duats, Marduk. Marduk is annoyed at having to listen to someone below his station. A regular person. The God. Quod Erat Demonstratum. And that was it. loving hell, how pompous could you get? I was really loving annoyed by this Devil guy... but he definitely had some cards I wanted to see. I'd have to just keep feeding his ego. That was really my best chance of learning more. As I typed up my response, I had to keep my annoyance in check... however, without asking more direct questions, he was going to monologue platitudes ad infinitum. To get the answers I needed, I had to face him head on.  I totally see what you mean. Apologies for questioning you; I was out of line. You are clearly far more knowledgeable about this city than me; in my defense, you clearly had more information guiding your theory. Still, I'm big enough to admit when I'm wrong, and this is clearly one of those times. Moving on, this clip is huge! This is probably the biggest clue we have towards the identity of the God. I'm sure you've thoroughly analyzed it; still, I'd like to be of some help. Maybe getting a new perspective could open a new line of thinking that you hadn't considered before. To start out, mind if I ask a few basic questions? For one, how did you get this audio? I understand if you don't want to give specifics; maybe you have sources you want to protect. But still, any surrounding context you could lend would be a huge help. Also, I don't know many recording devices that only get one side of the conversation. Do you have any idea who Marduk could be talking to? I think if we knew that, your theory could be pretty much confirmed. Finally, do you know what they talked about before this clip? ...After this clip? Or is this all you have? Eagerly awaiting answers, so we can work on this together. Olif. And then I sent the email. Not that bad, right? I mean, it strokes his ego... compliments him... acknowledges my fault... very humbly asks to share some information... gives him outs. I think this is a pretty reasonable email, all things considered. I wasn't expecting much pushback from it. I sat there, refreshing the tab, waiting for a response.  I would end up sitting there far longer than I had expected. As a matter of fact, it has now been several days, and still not a peep from the Devil. Like, what the gently caress? Did I blow it? I've read over my own email several times now, and still, I can't see what about it has caused him offense. I mean, that's probably the reason he isn't responding; he's never not responded for this long in the past. Of course, there are some other explanations it's possible that something happened to whoever the Devil is... But no, no, that can't be right. That's too fantastical. Somebody looking into the truth of Panthea, disappearing right as they're asked important questions about an incriminating audio file? ...That's too fantastical. That almost makes it seem like... ...like the whole conspiracy idea is real. I shook my head. No, no, dumb idea. Bad idea. The Devil was actively choosing not to respond. Why, I wasn't sure; maybe he didn't want to answer those questions. I thought I had given him a reasonable ability to refuse answering, but apparently not." ...Whatever. Whatever! What-ever. I couldn't spend time thinking about that poo poo. You know what? I needed to just refresh my brain for like a hot second, and there was one reliable place to do that. ...To Kamapa I go. [BGM: Ante Up]  What's trending? Let's see... Heartwarming picture of a cartoon blah blah blah. Some dipshits giving dumb investment advice again. Not funny comic. Another not funny comic. Inspirational quote next to an animal picture. A funny video that's been posted like a thousand times. ...Ooh, some interesting space news wonder how things are progressing on that front? Painfully unfunny 'edgy' joke. ...God Kamapa sucks. What else? A video of some really dumb stunts. What idiot films these? Well, they make for some good popcorn entertainment. ...Ooh, here's something interesting. Apparently the name 'Bach' is being thrown around more often for this upcoming election. There's this poll stating that his brand recognition is at an all time high. He seems to have a decent amount of approval. That's neat. ...What're the comments thinking? I entered the thread.   I actually met Bach once. He's a super down to earth dude. We had a solid conversation, exchanged ideas. I wasn't even a fan, but he really listened to my concerns and explained his own positions pretty well. I'd say Panthea is due for some change; Bach seems like a good direction to go.  wanna know what's hosed up? aija's campaign has gone, like, super low in the fight. legit, I saw some pro-aija posters hung up on my block recently. they were bordering on racist tbh. just goes to show how out of touch she is. #Bachorbust  You guys know that this guy has no political experience, right? Like, none whatsoever. He had, what, a middling job at Olympo and he wants to jump straight up to leading Panthea? Seems pretty dumb. But anyone but Aija, right? Because gently caress a hard-working woman trying to make things better. Crime still exists so clearly it's her fault and she's just not cut out for all of this. Honestly Kamapa users have their heads so far up their asses. All right, bored now. New thread, new thread, let's go. I skimmed for something interesting. ...Oh? Someone made a post complaining about the Duats. A thorough list of a bunch of grievances, with some evidence attached.  Bold, but I suppose not overly so considering it was an anonymous Kamapa account. All right, comment time...  Seriously can't believe Panthea's still loving dealing with the Duats. In this day and age, we're still dealing with a loving mafia. Like, loving seriously? It's pathetic. Hugely pathetic. Someone should run up to their base and just gun them all down.  loving gutter rats the lot of them. imagine being such a worthless piece of poo poo that your greatest purpose in life is being in a two-bit gang. disgraceful. duats dont deserve rights.  I feel like these monthly 'Let's poo poo on the Duats' posts have become weekly at this point. If it's so bad then why doesn't somebody do something? Oh that's right, everyone here's a bunch of loud-talkers too chicken poo poo to actually make any change. But we can pat each other's backs with another thread saying how they're all so bad and lame and whatever. It's gotten old. All right, that's a shitshow, predictable. Back to home page. ...skim... skim... Oh? A memorial piece dedicated to the late Apis. It's a sketched picture. I didn't think Apis was well known enough to get drawn pictures of him as tribute long after his death; guess I stand mistaken. Now what are the comments on this going to be like? I entered the thread with a bit of anticipation.   omg this drawing is amazing!!! I absolutely love the linework! Is there any way I could support you? Then the author went and plugged some poo poo okay moving on.  I'm so glad some people still remember Apis. As someone who's not really a big fan of the police, I have nothing but the utmost respect for him. I mean, he pretty much single handedly took down a dictator! Were it not for him, I'm pretty sure Zahhak would still be ruling Panthea as a wrinkled, desiccated husk of a self.  are we still on Apis? he caught some people big whoop. idk why he's paraded as this big paragon by the police force, and i don't know why so many people have eaten it up. he solved some cases. that was his job. Quite predictably, that last comment was not doing particularly favorably in Kamapa's voting system. I mean, what were you expecting? A comment like that on a post like that? ...Anyways. I still wanted to kill a bit more time. Maybe one more interesting thread... Let's see, scrolling, scrolling... Oh? This is interesting. An Oracle article. ...Wait, not an article... an official apology? That's weird. I wasn't in a heavy-reading mood though, so I just went to the comments to try and see what was what.   tl;dr the article addresses allegations of prejudice in the Oracle's coverage of Panthean events. It's written by the head of the Oracle, Kane Shay. Link to here if you don't know who he is, but to sum it up quick, he's had some iffy takes but generally less lovely than some of the more hardcore douchebags you'll find in those circles. He basically says that a certain amount of bias is inevitable when running an operation where you have to write a lot of opinion pieces. Shay claims a lot of it stems from his love of Panthea, civic pride, you know the drill. He does, however, concede that for an objective news based site, that sort of bias is probably not the best. He says he's going to be doing a lot of reflection on how to properly limit bias in reporting moving forwards, including hiring some new blood to the Oracle with opposing viewpoints. Ultimately, we're going to have to kind of wait and see if he means what he says or if it's a crock of poo poo. Honestly I could see it going either way.  Didn't The Oracle make pretty much an identical apology like a year back? Are we supposed to believe that this will be any different than that time? It's a move to mitigate some of the bad press circulating about his bad press, and nothing more. I hope people are smart enough to see through that, though nowadays it's hard to have such faith.  smh can't believe the Oracle is bowing down to public pressure like this. another case of internet mob justice going wild. the Oracle was fine. it gave the facts, then it gave opinions, and it clearly delineated between the two. people just mad that the 'opinions' aren't the ones they share. news flash: there's plenty of journalists to follow that'll give the facts and then the same cookie-cutter opinions. go follow one of them. i read the Oracle bc as a proud Panthean, i like hearing the truth of the matter. i really hope that these promised changes aren't noticeable, or i'm going to be very upset. All right, okay, that's it. That's final. Enough internet toxicity for one day. Kamapa was fine in short doses, spend too long in that labyrinth and your head starts to go funny. Besides, all of this was probably just my attempt to stall from doing the actual work I had ahead of me. I could dick around on my laptop as long as I wanted, but at some point I'd have to face reality and turn to my obligations. ...Well, no time like the present. I reached over into my desk drawer and took out a lowkey looking phone. Probably a burner. Definitely locked. Hopefully had some interesting poo poo in here. Well, well, well. [BGM: Golden Point]  A secret hidden phone in the residence of one Polly Deisma. How exciting. Lucky for me, that goodie-two-shoes thought it fitting to give this to me... which meant that I could snoop all through the contents before actually handing it off to the proper investigators. And that meant fun for me, especially considering I was also conducting my own 'investigation' of sorts. Right, that's how to frame this. This isn't work, this is fun; this is for personal benefit. Still, hacking phones open was kind of monotonous work. Luckily, I knew more or less how to do just that. Well, first to check if the phone would just open on it's own. ...Okay, so, scratch that idea. I reached for a nearby bin and started digging through some wires until I found the appropriate one. ...There we go. I attached one end of the wire into the phone, and the other into my laptop. This'd make things a whole hell of a lot easier. I searched for the appropriate tools on my laptop. And then, I got to work. Let's pry this bad boy open, shall we?   [You got 7 chips!] [BGM: Stand]  Voila! Not exactly a walk in the park, but a hacked phone is a hacked phone. With this, no longer did a password stand in my way. With a simple flick of my finger... I was in. All right, let's see... I could turn this bad boy in. Or... I could go with the infinitely more fun and rewarding option of snooping through this phone by myself right now. It should be obvious which option I settled on. Time to see what secrets this super-secret burner was hiding. First up, let's make sure this phone belongs to the expected person. I went to the contacts section. What does the phone call itself? 'Polly,' huh? All right. A little boring, but I guess that's the expected option. I guess. A part of me was hoping it'd be a super secret phone that belonged to a mysterious other person. After all, if the phone was hidden in a public area of the house, theoretically it could belong to anybody living there; maybe even the previous owner. In fact, since it was hidden in a public area, and not some place inside Polly's room, that actually suggested that he wasn't the owner of this phone... after all, if this was your super secret phone you'd probably hide it in a place people couldn't accidentally stumble across it. But I didn't see any reason why you'd lie about your own identity in the Contacts section of the phone. It was safe to assume this phone really belonged to Polly. So then, was this a burner of his? Most likely. Burner phones are great they're the ones that always hide the juiciest of secrets. So then, what apps did this burner phone have? Aw, nothing interesting. Pretty much only the standard poo poo phones came with. I guess it made sense that you wouldn't download Kamapa or some gaming apps on your secret burner phone. But still, gave me less to work with.  Well, we've got to start somewhere. How about the pictures? I opened up the pictures app. Anything interesting? ... Woah. Okay. Lot of porn. Loooot of porn. Except... oh? ...Oh. ...Okay... so, uh, not porn; at least, not the traditional type. Let's... actually look at this a bit closer. Okay, okay, phew. Maybe this shows how hosed up my mind is, but I had to make sure this wasn't like, you know... hosed up in some way. Taken secretly, or under duress, or some poo poo. Still, seems like everything here was pretty above board. ...Relatively speaking. I mean, it's not like I could transport myself to these exact situations. But rather, there's nothing to imply that it is coerced in some unethical way. Gotta be honest, still seems a bit weird to keep a gallery like this. But I mean, maybe that's the whole purpose of this burner phone. Grand scheme of things, this doesn't seem particularly out of character for Polly. More importantly, I severely doubted this was relevant in any particularly pertinent way. Okay then, so pictures are out. What else what other avenues to check? ...How about his phone's browser? That seemed pretty good. I opened it up. ...Blank page. That's fine. Time to boot up the ol' search history. Any skeletons in your closet, Polly? I began reading through. > stocks: basic edition >how to work stocks >is it healthy to shave your pubic hair? >are there people who don't dream? >shadow of panthea >thane: reports >why does the earth spin? >does your voice change as you age? >vocal recognition >security measures >security camera prices >how to host kid birthday parry >'my cat' lyrics >talei greatest hits >how to get song out head? >why isnt 11 onety one? >what is a good credit score? >polly deisma >polly deisma scandals >polly deisma dick pic >how to raise your credit score? >Vashu Devaki >Recent Duat activity >How much does it cost to live in a hotel for a prolonged period of time? >How to make a threatening note without it being traced back to you? >private investigators panthea >private investigator average cost >what if i hired two private investigators to investigate each other? >how do you submit videos to panthea's funniest videos? >how do you record private investigators without it being obvious? >how to use kamapa ... All right, well, that's a waste of time. Moving on.  Okay, gently caress it. I was dancing around the issue. Clearly, the place to check was the text conversations. ...Hm. There weren't a lot of them. Even fewer of them were given contact names. ...I guess that made sense, you usually wouldn't use your burner phone that often. Made me question why there were so many search results in the browser. Actually... okay, that probably made sense. The browser account was probably linked between multiple devices, meaning that those search results could have been made on any device Polly owned. ...Wait, then did that mean Polly had linked his burner phone to his browser's account? Either Polly was a bigger dumbass than I thought, or this wasn't really that much of a 'burner' as it was a second phone. And honestly, either option seemed plausible. ...Whatever. Time to just start checking conversations. ...Ooh, here's a thread with 'Odin.' That seemed promising. Kingpin that Odin is, maybe there'd be some major secret talk happening here. Let's see...  hey Odin! it's me! Polly! just wanted you to know about this contact number, just in case. doubt you'd ever need to contact it, and i doubt i'd contact you from it. but you know, i just wanted you to have this number. jic lemme know when you get this.  Pah! You have a perfectly good phone already, do you not? What use is this second phone? You have not earned such excess. You do not deserve so many ways to access me. Frankly, I should make you talk to me in person every time you wish to converse. okay dad. And that's the end of that conversation. ...Hm. For a brief moment, I felt like I got a brief flash of what it would be like to live in the Odin Deisma household. It wasn't a positive flash. ...Let's move on. ...Hm.  This was a conversation with someone simply known as 'The Guy'. What was this about? I opened that conversation. hey, did you see that new episode of Lunch Money? apparently it got a 8.5 in the ratings on one site, and a 4/5 on another.  Yeah man, it was great! The next episode is on at 9:30 on PTV, right? yep. so excited! A period of time passed. hey, did you see that new episode of Magical Molly? i heard it got a 6.0 in the ratings on one site, and a 3/5 on another. Yeah man, it was only ok! The next episode is on at 11:00 on the Smithsonian Channel, right? yep. I'll still check it out. A period of time passed. hey man, we should hang out sometime soon. Totally! It's been far too long. Some more time passed.  hey, did you see that new episode of Golden Boys? i heard it got a 7.8 in the ratings on one site, and a 4/5 on another. Yeah man, it was pretty good! The next episode is on at 9:00 on Opera Streaming, right? oh? i thought it was at 11:00? You're right, you're right. cool. i'm excited for it! Some more time passed. how about recent events, huh? The world is really crazy. And some more time passed. hey, did you see that new episode of Magical Molly? i heard it got a 9.5 in the ratings on one site, and a 5/5 on another. Yeah man, it was fantastic! The next episode is on at 10:00 on PTV, right?" yep. I'm super excited. ..... Oh. Oh okay. I got it.  It was a drug deal. Cool. Cool, cool, cool. Nice work, Polly. I couldn't quite crack the exact specifics of this code, but the broad strokes were pretty clear. Didn't seem particularly sophisticated, but I suppose it just needed to hold up in court or whatever. So, getting hooked up by a low-rent drug dealer. Classy, Deisma boy. ...Well, to Polly's credit, it didn't seem like the two had talked in quite a bit of time. Not that that was really indicative of much. ...Hm. I double checked this contact's phone number, and wrote it down on my computer's notepad app. I wasn't really the type to indulge in that sort of stuff; still, you never know what'll end up being useful. ...This was probably pointless. But having a drug dealer's contact number in my back pocket might end up useful at some fork down the road. ...Okay. Here we go. This was it this was the money name: Art. This should be good. Those two are brothers. Unlike Odin, I don't think Art would dismiss Polly out of hand, and Art might be really wrapped up in the true criminal workings of Panthea. I was excited to see what this conversation had to offer. I clicked on the name and began to skim. Huh... oh. Huh? I scrolled up quite a bit more. I needed full context for this. ...I needed to make sure I understood exactly what was being said. Okay, this seemed like far enough up to get a full scope of things. So carefully, let's go through this conversation, point by point... [BGM: Ones Are Wild]  hey, Art i know when we last talked we were on rocky terms but i need your help it's about the latest scandal i'm sure you've seen it usually i don't care about the media but this one's annoying i'm trying to rehabilitate my image now Odin's really on my rear end about this whole thing i just need it to go away you have contacts with media people right? people who are good at angling how the public receives info, right? could you please, please, please hook me up with some of those contacts? just as one brother asking another for a favor? i'm begging you  Why are you contacting me with that number? Anyways, the answer is no. I find this begging shameless. Do you really think we have the sort of relationship where I'd bail you out like this? Seriously?  I don't know why you feel the need to rehabilitate your image, but whatever reason you have, it almost certainly is a waste of time. Maybe if consequences catch up to you, you'll finally learn a lesson. seriously bro? Yes, I am serious, 'bro'. y u gotta be an rear end in a top hat all the time? You made an unreasonable request. You're getting a reasonable answer. Simple as that. look, i didn't want to bring this up, but you kinda owe me one Oh? How do you figure that?  in case you forgot, i was the one who warned you about the whole Jacy situation not for me, you would've been taken down hard you don't think my warning is worth anything? Heh. you're the only rear end in a top hat i know who texts the word 'heh' You're really trying to pull this poo poo? pull poo poo? what are you talking about? You're trying to spin that as a selfless act on your part? Not a calculated move on your part? uh, yeah Liar. You and I both know you only contacted me out of self-interest. You knew that I would handle the situation for you.  It was the only way to handle the fact that Jacy knew about the Callista situation. how did wtf how do you know about that??? You know me; I'm thorough. And I doubted your motives when you threw a pretty-looking girl like Jacy under the bus. there isn't a Callista situation We both know that's not true. it was an accident Accidents tend to happen when you're drunk, Polly. nothing really happened Callista's fine we both agreed to be cool she told me herself it was all chill  it wasn't an issue until Jacy started poking around and putting ideas in her head giving Callista ideas about settlement money and btw - incredibly hosed up of Jacy to do that when I was loving helping her with her investigation poo poo like why in the gently caress would you then go ahead and try and wreck my life So you admit it would wreck your life? No! like i said, nothing happened Callista was cool even w Jacy being a bitch, Callista told me she was going to be rational she knew she wouldn't gain anything making a mountain out of a molehill  So you're saying you didn't have a strong motive to silence Jacy? my motive was saving your rear end Bullshit. After all, you're the one who left her on the Mandjet, right? Mandjet? wtf is that? wtf are you talking about? Jacy was too wise to get captured when the Duats came for her. For a bit, she was completely MIA. She knew she was being targeted, so she was laying low. She was smart enough to know that she should get out of town. And yet somehow, she ended up unconscious on the Duat's doorstep. Even the Duats had no idea who delivered her, practically wrapped with a bow. how do you even know all of this? I have a friend. How do you think I was able to get the Duat's Senior Officers to recognize Jacy as a threat in the first place? Anyways, you were the one who delivered her to the Duats, right? tf? no?!?! why would you say that??  She was on the run, Polly. She knew she was in danger. She'd only stay with someone she trusted a great deal. At the time, she couldn't have known that Callista reached out to you and blabbed about Jacy's other investigations. As far as she was concerned, you were still acting as an informant and an ally; she'd have trusted you. You would've had the opportunity to get to her. idk wtf you're talking about Art, but i know enough to say it's bullshit. i'm not a loving murderer. Oh? Was it not murder when you first tipped Jacy off to me? ofc not!!! i thought you'd pay her off, or throw her off the scent, or ship her away. i didn't think you'd jump right to murder! You're not that naive. apologies for not realizing my brother's a complete psychopath! Art, how hard is it to realize that I've just tried to look out for you? i always have Is that so?  I recall a certain brother you certainly didn't reach out to help when he quite needed it. i i was busy im not proud of it Hm. you know what, gently caress you Art i don't need this poo poo i get it, you're not gonna help suck a cock Grow up. You can't keep living like this. [BGM: Silence]  Those were the last messages the two sent each other. ...gently caress. gently caress, gently caress. This was... That conversation confirmed like 7 things I suspected and raised another 12 questions for me to worry about. There was so much to unpack there that I didn't even really know where to start. Jacy's disappearance... this was critical to unravelling that. Polly apparently was an informant against Art. Jacy knew something that Art couldn't tolerate. She also knew something that the Duats couldn't tolerate. And, perhaps most troublingly... she knew something that Polly couldn't tolerate. It sounded pretty conclusive that once Jacy was knocked out on Duat turf, they were the ones who finished the job. But then... who knocked her out? Polly? He earnestly denied it, though. That didn't really prove much. It looked like Polly was capable of much deeper deception than I had previously thought. And... wait. Was I sure that the Duats finished the job? What the gently caress was the Mandjet? Art didn't actually explain that. Who was Art's friend? And... another brother? My mind spun around and around. I needed to focus. This phone, this was the key. This was the key to something big. There were a lot of questions I needed answers for. And with this, I finally found some determination. There was someone I had had half a mind to talk to for quite some time. With this, I finally felt like interviewing them would actually be worth my time. I should start making arrangements to talk with them. But first... the information in this phone. There was somebody who definitely needed to see it. I opened my computer. There was a lot of work to do. ...  You know what I always liked about myths? Well, one of the things I liked about myths... Myths actually have a lot of things to admire, but if I expand the topic too wide, you'll hear me jabbering all day. One particular aspects of myth that I like is the fact that, with practically no exception, the Gods are always portrayed as assholes. That always made sense to me; if there is some divine being above, I can't possibly imagine them being all 'benevolent' and 'all-loving' and poo poo. I think we'd be made in their image: petty, and selfish, and vindictive, and... human. For me, that tracks a lot more. Certainly explains the state of things, eh? And it's realistic. If you view the Gods of ancient myths as essentially humans, but with limitless power, of course they'd be a bunch of dicks. Living forever, no restrictions on what you can do? Losing empathy is inevitable. Maybe that's what separates us from Gods. Maybe to be divine is not some grand aspiration, but something that we would consider amoral. To be divine is to be self-interested, to be unable to connect with anybody else. Because why would you how could you? if you were so much greater than a man? But... power comes in many forms, not just magic abilities and immortality. Then, does acquiring power make you more divine? ...It's certainly been playing on my mind, watching this myth. Next up, let's check back in with Mercury, now that they're free of the Mandjet!
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Nov 25, 2023 18:12
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It feels like Eris has gotten some actually juicy information this time rather than the extremely cagey devil.
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Nov 26, 2023 09:20
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Well, that was a lot of details. I'd rather none of the Deismas succeed Odin at this point. Aija and Bach are no good either, so let's turn the whole city and Olympo over to Chara.
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Nov 26, 2023 10:30
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 content warning: mention of suicide [BGM: Silence]  The waves were choppy. The night was dark. Our boat was rocketing forwards at such extreme speeds, I had to hold on to prevent myself from falling off. A massive freighter ship was gliding through the water aimed right at us. A masked assassin wanted to kill us. Both me and Lara's lives were in grave danger. So then... ...Getting bored seems unreasonable, huh? Definitely, definitely, being bored in this situation is ludicrous. ...But this boat trip was taking longer than expected. It didn't look that far to shore, but I guess I was just horribly bad at gauging distances. Or maybe its just hard to gauge boat distances in general? Whatever the case was, I was getting antsy just sitting here. ...No, I wasn't just antsy for no reason. If I was by myself, I'd still probably be overthinking every move of my own. What was throwing me off my game was the woman sitting right across from me. The awkward silence that lingered between us was, well, awkward. I didn't like it. We had some time to kill. I should try and get a conversation going.  So... ... Nice weather we're having, huh? ... If looks could kill... Jeez. Okay, okay, bad start. I can admit that. I'm just trying to get some conversation going. Why? We've got nothing better to do. You're implying talking with you would be better than silence; respectfully, I disagree. Not remotely in the mood for this poo poo. That's, uh, fair. Still, since we're in this together, shouldn't we... ...Yikes. I mean, I get being a little guarded in a situation like this. But what's with the open hostility? A part of me wanted to take her advice. Just shut up, wait until we get to shore. But... when had I defaulted to just wanting to survive? Had I completely forgotten about my mission? It wasn't enough to just get out alive; I needed to collect all the information I could. Thane clearly knew the most about the Mandjet, but, uh, getting information out of him was obviously a dead end. But Lara, here... she clearly knew more about the Mandjet as well. If I could get that out of her... Well, I needed to start with a rapport.  Waiter. Huh? Waiter. You asked earlier, what I did. I'm a waiter. A waiter at Cassone's, actually. Nice little place, up on the North side of Panthea. ...I know it. Nice place. I've eaten there a few times. That right? Funny, can't say I recognize you. Likewise. But, that place has a lot of waiters; no surprise we hadn't met before now. True, true. So yeah, my name's Mercury. I work as a waiter at Cassone's. Not really a glamorous living, but you know... getting a job in this economy? It's pretty rough, especially without prior experience. Ideally, waiter's not my end-all, be-all job. Most people think that. Yeah, yeah. That's true enough. ... ...I'd maybe like to be a, I don't know, reporter or something one day. That right? Mhm. Although, if all cases are like this, maybe I should rethink things, heh. ... You also asked what I was doing here, specifically, right? Well, I was investigating the Mandjet. You see... I had this friend when I was younger. Jacy Nazea. She was a reporter here at Panthea worked for the Oracle. You know her? ...Sorry, no, can't say I do. Ah. Well. That's not a huge surprise; she was never a huge deal. And of course, she went missing not that long ago. ... Yeah, sorry, bit of a mood-kill, huh? But it's true. It's why I was on the Mandjet. Jacy and I might've drifted apart, but when I heard about her disappearance, I couldn't just let that go. I got a tip, uh, from this person online who seemed to know a lot about the underground workings on Panthea said they actually recently learned something interesting about Jacy Nazea from one of their contacts. ...That her disappearance might've been related to the Mandjet. When I heard that, well, I decided I had to check up on this place myself. Earlier today, I was looking around it. And then, for no discernible reason, I passed out. What? I really... I don't know what happened. My only guess can be I was attacked by some sort of soporific. I didn't see where it came from, but that's my only guess as to what happened. When I woke up, the ship was already out to sea. I poked around, found Thane killing people, he found me, and you can guess the rest. ...Although, apparently Thane doesn't know why I ended up on that ship either. So, you know, I'm really loving clueless as to what's happening, but you want to explain my presence, that's it. I wanted to know more about the Mandjet ...and I ended up far more familiar with it than I expected. Although, that's only in terms of the interior. Still loving clueless about the history of it all, or whatever's happening on it now. ...You want to know about the Mandjet? Uh, if you wouldn't mind.Yes! I actually got her talking. I don't know how much you don't already know. Are you aware that the Mandjet has been owned by the Duats for decades? I, uh, heard rumors to that effect; nothing definitive or anything. Well, I'm telling you definitively: Mandjet is Duat property. Always has been. Throughout the years, it has had a number of different purposes. Originally, it was used to help smuggle illegal immigrants into the country obviously, there was some front, but in reality, it was just a one-way trip to Panthea. Anyone could come in - for a pretty penny, that is. Now that was the sort of racket the Duats were built for. Profitable, easy, and harmless. Hell, helpful even. 'Course, there was another big reason the higher ups at the time liked it. Illegal immigrants have quite a bit of trouble getting legal jobs around these parts. Back in the day, the then-Governor of Panthea, Zahhak, had some really arcane laws that made it near-impossible to get employment as an illegal immigrant, or really anyone without identifying documents. Without many other options, a lot of those immigrants turned to the one place always looking to hire new recruits. The Duats. Right. Huh, pretty smart. Well, this was one of the reasons the Duats rose to power way back when. But, some time when national laws got stricter on the immigration front, Marduk must've decided that the risk was too high. Instead, the Mandjet took on a new life. It became a smuggler's paradise, for all sorts of contraband. Turns out smuggling in things is a lot easier than smuggling in people gave the Duats a nice little revenue stream. ...But again, eventually it was too high-risk an operation, so the Mandjet was retired. In more recent times, the Mandjet... is basically a murder vessel. When people needed to 'disappear,' it was pretty common practice to trap them in one of the storage containers, wait 'til night, then sail out into the middle of the ocean and make them sleep with the fishes, if you catch my drift. Not exactly a subtle drift. ...I'm sorry. But if your friend ended up on that boat, I have to assume she didn't make it off.
 I felt something catch up in my throat. I mean, gently caress. I always knew it was probable that Jacy was dead. Like, 99% probable. But even still, her body was never found. Some small part of me always hoped that somehow, some way, she wasn't actually... gently caress. ...You're a higher-up officer on the Duat totem pole, right? ... Don't deny it, on the ship Thane pretty much said as much. I'm not denying it. Then, did you ever hear anything about Jacy Nazea? I mean, I have to imagine giving the order to erase someone has to go through some people, right? I don't know what to say. I only rose to the level of Senior Officer relatively recently. The name sounds vaguely familiar, but honestly speaking, I don't remember ever hearing anything definitive about her. ...Okay. I am sorry. So, was that what I just walked in on? The Duats eliminating enemies? No, no it wasn't. The Mandjet shouldn't have been in use any time recently. ...and yet, my information suggests that it has been going out to sea every now and then as of late. Which is connected with another serious piece of information I know: certain Duat members are going missing. Oh? That alone doesn't mean anything; to be honest, that's pretty commonplace. The Duat lifestyle isn't exactly healthy you get tons of deserters, as well as a number of idiots who get themselves killed in some dumb way. But it's the exact people going missing that concerns me. ...You see, the Duats are kind of in a cold war as of late. There are different factions within the organization. I'm helming one of them. And, uh, to put it lightly I've been... making more active moves for the inevitable upcoming conflict. I've been getting people onside. And yet... the people I've been colluding with, preparing with. They're the ones that have been going missing. I didn't think this was a coincidence; I suspected that this was a concerted effort by either Yi, Thane, or the two combined to undermine me. That a Duat Senior Officer was kidnapping Duat members and disappearing them to keep me in check. I thought it was connected to the reports of the Mandjet going out to sea. So earlier today, when Thane suspiciously left early, I followed him to the Mandjet, stowed away on this lifeboat. And, well... ...I guess my theory was more or less confirmed. drat.I was pretty in the dark about all of this, but it seemed like things were pretty hosed at Duat HQ. ...And I had almost gotten caught in the crossfire. I wouldn't, uh, just call it murder. From what I saw in there, it was a bit more extreme than that. ...God, I'm going to be sick just thinking about it again. It was full on torture, what they did to that girl in the denim... It was at this point that I realized Lara had resumed giving me the death glare... and then it dawned on me that she was probably reasonably close to the people who ended up disappearing. ...So perhaps talking about their graphic deaths wasn't the coolest idea. Sorry. Just drop it. But... from the sounds of it, that torture wasn't pointless.Another glare. I-I mean, in the sense that, uh, Thane learned something. ...About you. He probably learned a lot about you.Lara was trying to dismiss the topic, but I wasn't willing to drop things so easily. The more information I could get out of this conversation, the better. He called you Ms. Naomi. He stressed the last name. Is the name 'Naomi' supposed to mean something? ...I didn't need to hear an answer. Lara's expression alone told me I was striking a nerve. What's, uh... what's that about, exactly? It doesn't matter. It clearly mattered to Thane. Drop it, dipshit. Hoo hoo hoo, this was not great. Despite being ostensible allies, Lara here was a higher up in the Duats... which means she was probably dangerous. If I continued to tick her off, there's no telling what that might manifest as. If I was smart, I'd drop it. Look, please, I'm not going to tell anybody else.Well, there goes that idea. Why does it matter to you? It matters to me because it matters to you! Look, like it or not, right now we're kind of in the middle of something we're in it together. ...And clearly, it's something motivated by Duat politics. If I have a better understanding of what's going on, I might be able to help out in some way along the road. That's If it really is too personal, or too scandalous, or whatever the gently caress, fine, keep it to yourself. But if you tell it to me, I cross my heart, hope to die, I won't tell another soul. I'm a really honest person too, you can trust me. The only use I'd make of that information is trying to help us. ... At the very least, Lara was mulling over my proposal. And then? She spoke up. ...Where are you from? E-excuse me? Where are you from? 'Cuz you're sure as poo poo not from Panthea. If you were, you would've recognized the last name of 'Naomi'. And why's that? Because it's the last name of the previous head of the Shikomes. Oh? ...Oh. Oh. Yep. Wait, what? How is Long story. Not a particularly interesting one, either. To put it briefly, yeah, my mother was the leader of the Shikome. She wasn't that when she had me, of course, though she was involved with some criminal affairs... which is why she left me for adoption. But even while I grew up with my adopted family, she actually stayed in touch with me. Met with me frequently, tried to connect with me, I guess. Eventually, she led the Shikome. They got in their stupid-rear end gang war. And, eventually... the Shikome lost. A bunch of their members got busted by the police, my mom included. And, because she was too chicken poo poo to face the music, she hung herself in prison. Jesus Christ. That's... That's really awful, Lara. I'm sorry. Did I ask for your fuckin' sympathy? Sorry. ...But, wait... if the Duats are responsible for your mother's death, then does that mean you joining the Duats, and setting up this gang war Forget it, dipshit. Huh? I know what you're thinking, and it's stupid. I was never that close to my mother resented her, more than anything. It was her own drat fault for getting in the drat war in the first place, and for utterly flubbing it. The reason I joined the Duats was because they were the only gang worth a poo poo still standing. I've no spite towards Marduk.Hm. I wasn't sure how convinced I was of that last point. Close or not, if your mother was practically killed by a gang boss, would you really be that willing to work under him, without any hesitations? ...Then again, there wasn't actually a real need for Lara to tell me any of this stuff. Why lie about that detail? Hell, given my background, she should probably suspect that I loathed the Duats. I'd probably be more inclined to help her if I thought this was an elaborate revenge scheme. That said, I'm not sure everybody would see it that way... hence why I haven't exactly advertised my parentage. Yeah, that's probably for the best. ...So wait, if Thane tells this to Marduk... Who's to say? Who's to say how he'll take any of this? Thane and I, we're both standing on the edge of the unknown. On the one hand, let's look at my situation. Maybe Marduk would be understanding; from my conversations, he seems to have a begrudging respect for the Shikome, an understanding that it was all business. He's publicly said to end the feud, and not harass any previous Shikome members. A few Shikome grunts even transferred to being Duat grunts, with admittedly a bit of pushback. There's a reasonable chance that when Marduk learns the truth about me, he'd just shrug and move along. That where I came from shouldn't matter in determining how worthy I am. Alternatively, he could be irate beyond all belief. That behind his calm exterior, he has a burning resentment for how much the Shikome gave him trouble. That he'd never, in a million years, let the Duats fall into the hands of a descendant of the Shikome, for some honor poo poo. He might even want to get revenge on me or some poo poo. Or maybe even my Shikome blood doesn't even matter in and of itself, but the fact that I hid it from him is unforgivable. It could break really bad. drat. The exact same thing is true with Thane's situation, though. If I got the information that Thane was going out and killing Duat members, Marduk might treat this as the ultimate betrayal. An utterly unforgivable act, worthy of an execution. The idea has to at least be plaguing Thane, which is why he's so eager to silence me right now. But then again, maybe that's too hopeful of an outcome. Thinking back, it's bullshit, the idea that Marduk knows about what's happening; there's no chance of that. But Thane was right that I don't know if Marduk would really care. He's got a weird, hosed up value system about taking power for yourself. Considering that Thane's likely doing this to try and inherit the Duat headship himself, Marduk might admire that sort of ambition. He could be impressed that Thane was taking matters into his own hands. Impressed that Thane was killing Duat members? How the gently caress does that make sense? It doesn't. But I can't rule it out, knowing Marduk. Or, think about this: what proof do I have that any of this has happened? Thane could well just deny any involvement, even when I lay it all out. He could say I was making it up to sabotage him. Especially if he blabs about my Shikome origins first, that'll really hurt my credibility. Maybe he spins it as preventing a revolt, maybe the rear end in a top hat'll paint my actions as trying to lead a revival of the Shikome. Silent as he is, Thane's a sneaky fucker, and he has a lot of options on how he could play this. Huh. Yeah, neither of you can really be sure how things play out. Maybe I'd be a traitor, and Thane would be ambitious. Maybe Thane would be a monster, and I'd be rewarded for exposing the depravity of one of Marduk's Senior Officers. It's possible that even if we revealed each other's secrets, Marduk wouldn't give a poo poo at all. He'd dismiss the whole thing as 'petty squabbling,' and repeat how he cares more about results for the Duats than anything else. Or maybe the most likely possibility: we blow each other up, and Marduk cuts both of us off. Neither of us are Senior Officers, and the Duat headship falls to Yi, or someone else, or nobody. It could devolve to complete anarchy, all depending on Marduk's whims. drat. That's... tricky. You're telling me. But you know, in some ways, aren't the two of you in stalemate? Like, if you both have something on the other, aren't you kind of locked in a neutral state? That's only if Thane doesn't manage to off me here and now. Yeah, uh, that'd be one way to break the stalemate, I guess. ...Say, why are you even in the Duats? Huh? I mean, you said it's not for revenge; sure. I'll buy that. But then, why join them at all? ...Uh, I mean, I'm not trying to be confrontational at all. I'm smarter than that. Just, you know... they are a gang, and all. Just wondering how you got caught up with them. Why am I with the Duats? Why does anyone do crime? For the money, dumbass. But couldn't you just get, like, a job? I don't see any reason why that should be a problem for you. I get more money faster this way. Ah. ...So is that it then? Look, the Duats aren't as bad as you're making them out to be. From your description, it sounds like they killed my friend. Can't say I'm exactly a fan. ... Lara didn't have a good response to that. They don't have to be. Huh? I remember talking with my mom, long ago, about what the Shikome really were. She had these lofty ideals about them being the defenders of the people that they could keep other criminals in line, be it violent or white collar. The world's a lovely place that picks on the weak. But a group like the Shikome, a group like the Duats... they could be, should be, a place where underdogs can band together. It should give power to the people. We should be waging war against Olympo, not cozying up to them. We should be protecting local shops, not bringing them to their knees. We should be taking in people with nowhere to go, not actively dragging civilians to our level. We shouldn't need to solve problems by taking them on a boat and shooting them in the back of the head. ...Some problems, maybe, but in rare cases. I'm not saying that a gang can exactly be a beacon of morality. But it doesn't have to be evil or anything. Huh. I never really thought about it that way. Yeah, well, my mom never really lived up to those promises with the Shikome, and the Duats sure as poo poo haven't resembled anything like what I just described for a long rear end time. But, if I get the headship... that'll sure change.Huh. That was a much more idealistically driven response than I was expecting from Lara. Then, should I take her joining the Duats as an active effort to try and reform it from the inside? Following in her mother's footsteps not by trying to get active revenge, but trying to live up to her ideals? It was a nice thought. Sort of a fun spin on things. But I couldn't help but be suspicious of a pitch about why this person inheriting a monstrous organization would actually be for the best. This was a biased pitch, aimed directly at me. All I knew for sure was that Lara's mother used to lead the Shikome, and now she desperately wanted to lead the Duats herself. Everything beyond that, I had to take with a grain of salt. ...Still, it was best to play nice. That sounds nice. I think I'd like that. Yeah, well. You got everything you wanted to know? Pretty much? Good. Because in case you forgot, we're on the run right now, and our little respite's going to come to an end any second now. I looked forwards, and saw that she was totally right. The shore was now actually quite close; we'd hit it any second now. Which... you'd think was a good thing. Unfortunately, I wasn't sure what the step after that would be. Scanning the shoreline, there wasn't exactly an obviously off-ramp. ...Huh. I could just see Panthea's forest over a little incline. As if reading my mind, Lara spoke up. Don't worry, I have a plan. You do? I think I generally know where we are... and I know a place we can hide out. Hide out? Well, it's that, or trying to outrace Thane through the forest back to the central area of Panthea. We may have a solid lead, but I'm not sure that's a bet I want to take. ...Yeah, okay, we can go with your idea.As we barrelled right at the shore, I realized that crashing into it at high speeds might actually be a very bad idea. Carefully, I made my way up to the front of the boat, and slowed down the speed as slow as it could go. It took a couple of seconds to slow down to appropriate speed, and a few seconds after that, we were right by the shore. Lara stood up, got a bit of a running start, and jumped onto the rocky shore. That was fast, huh. ...Well, no time to waste. I followed in her steps, jumping onto solid ground. Phew. I took a couple deep breaths, clutching my legs. My head was lowered, and somewhat spinning. All at once, a sudden sickness had come over me. Just actually being on, like, the actual earth again after everything was somewhat comforting, and somewhat disorienting. Those weren't two emotions that I knew could coexist.  Hey, if you're gonna puke, puke! We don't got time to waste.Lara snapped me back to reality. I could rest later. I looked back, and saw the Mandjet was also extremely close to the shore. We had, like, maybe a minute of a head start. All right, okay, let's get going.Without much difficulty, we climbed up the outlook up onto the Forest. We took a few steps forwards. So, what's the plan? What's our speed? Huh? Should we speed through, or go slower to try and hide our trail? Heh. We should book it. Thane is a great tracker. Wait, if Thane is a great tracker, then shouldn't we go slower? If we run, he's definitely going to be able to follow us. No, you don't understand. Thane is a great tracker. Even if we went slowly, it'd probably be possible for him to follow us. In that case, trying to lose him is pointless, and we should just try to put as much distance on him as possible. A loving master tracker... What goddamn skill set does Thane have? Your guess is as good as mine.Well, I wasn't going to argue with Lara. The two of us began to sprint through the woods.  It was really a surreal experience I mean, all of this had been surreal, but it was just catching up to me. The trees were starting to block out the moonlight which had lit our journey up until this point. It was dark, crowded, hard to see... and we just kept running. Running, running, running through a forest of identical looking trees. I always thought I was a pretty fast runner, but Lara was keeping up with me pretty easily. Even though we were running pretty intensely, I still felt the need to ask her a question. I hope you know where we're going. Trust me. This is the direction we want to go. ...Probably. Probably? I'm like reasonably sure. I don't know how you can be when it's this dark and identical. But... fine.The two of us continued to run for a bit longer. Then, my curiosity took over. Where exactly are we going? We're, uh... We're heading to Odin Deisma's mansion.
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Dec 1, 2023 01:41
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 [BGM: Silence]  I almost stopped in my tracks. The gently caress? You heard me. It's around here somewhere, and it's a good place to hideout. As good as we can hope for. Yeah, okay, but how do you know about it? I, uh... When I was a bit younger, I stayed with Odin briefly. What the gently caress? There's a god drat story behind that. Not really. ...I mean, sort of. I had just gotten into a big fight with my foster parents. I was already about to move out, but that sped up the timeline a bit before I was ready. I didn't have a lot of options. For whatever reason, I thought a good idea would be to break into some building in the forest and live there for a bit while I got my feet on the ground. I mean, a lot of these Mansions are unoccupied a good amount of the year thought I had decent odds. loving bad plan. Yeah, I know that now! Look, I wasn't thinking clearly back then. Stuff was happening. Anyways, I eventually found and broke into Odin Deisma's mansion. Surprise, surprise, it wasn't actually unoccupied. When he found me, I thought I was super screwed... but the old dude was weird. He gave me a chance to 'prove my worth.' He made me play this stupid game against him. Involved stars or something. And you won?? Where the hell do you get off, sounding so surprised at that? No, as a matter of fact, I didn't win, but apparently, I did well enough that I still 'earned my keep.' He let me stay there for a bit. Next day, he made me play again. And again after that. As I stayed in the mansion, I'd have to play his stupid games usually the star game, but he threw in a few others for spice. Weird, but if that was the rent, I'd take it. Yeah, weird is definitely the word for it. ...Actually, that's underselling it. You want my theory? All his sons at this point had moved out. That guy would never admit it, but I kind of suspect that deep down, he was kind of getting lonely. He liked the company I posed. Anyways, I only stayed for as long I needed to get back on my feet. Once I had properly joined the Duats, we parted ways. But... I still remember the mansion quite well. And if I do remember it right...The trees began to clear up, and all of a sudden, we were in a clearing. The Mansion should be roughly around here. Woah. Okay, I'll be honest, I didn't think I'd be that dead on. Like, even I'm impressed. I'll say. Honestly, considering it was Odin Deisma we were talking about, the mansion wasn't even all that extravagant. I mean, don't get me wrong, it was loving huge properly fancy, nice looking bit of property. But I mean, I could see the whole thing from one perspective. Knowing Odin, I wouldn't have been overly surprised if I was faced with, like, a castle or something. drat. Well, you sure came through. Question is... how should we get in? Isn't it obvious? We just gotta knock on the front door. Wait, you're going to ask him directly to shelter us? Of course. Why wouldn't he?Lara began to move forwards, but I stayed still, deep in thought. After a few steps, Lara turned back to me, annoyed. You coming? ...Wait. Huh? I don't think we should just ask Odin for help. What? Why? I don't know if he'd actually help us. Why wouldn't he? There's a chance he's somehow involved with everything. I mean, he's the resident King of Panthea, right? It wouldn't be out of character for him to have a connection with something like the Mandjet, right? Really? You're barking up the wrong tree there. I'm pretty sure Odin doesn't have anything to do with that; trust me, I'm a Duat Senior Officer. True, but you also didn't know about the Mandjet before now. Clearly you don't know everything. I mean, sure, but...Lara faltered. I just feel uncomfortable putting our lives in his hands in any capacity, really. ...Like, here's another possibility. What if he hears our story and says, 'Very well then, you should try and fend for yourself if you truly deserve to live,' shutting us out. You can't say that he wouldn't do something like that. ...I guess, yeah. All right then, so what's your plan? My plan? We just break in and hide, right? Sure. ...Actually, here's a question: is Odin even here? Hm.I looked around, before spotting something. Well, his car is here. So probably. Right. But at this time of night, he's probably asleep. ... ...Okay, but maybe we can't count on that. So, how do we get in? If you stayed here, wouldn't you have a better idea? Right, right... Okay, uh, our best chance is probably this way. Lara began walking around the mansion, and I followed her. Out back, there was a rather large garden, carefully managed; it probably looked beautiful, under better circumstances, but I couldn't really appreciate it right now though. Instead, my focus was on the back deck, with large windowed double doors. This was probably the entrance Lara planned on going through. All right, cool. Let me guess, it's locked. Uh, yeah. drat. Luckily, there's a lock right there. You know how to get through this? drat right I do.Lara moved up to the door. *crack!* Then, with a small rock she must've grabbed at some point, she smashed the closest glass panel. She then began to reach through the opening with one of her hands. ...That... wasn't exactly what I had in mind. It worked. That it did, I guess. All right, unlocked now. Lara grabbed the door handle and began to open it. Wait!Lara froze up at the last possible second. What? That.I pointed to the opposite side of the door Lara was opening. There was a little metal box on it; I recognized it well enough. That's a sensor, and I bet there's one on the other door as well. If the two separate far enough, it'll probably trigger an alarm. Oh poo poo, you're right. Good catch. ...So wait, what do we do?I spent a second thinking about it. Just... keep the door right there.I moved forwards, got on my tiptoes, and grabbed the sensor. I pulled with some force, and with a bit of resistance, managed to wretch the sensor from the door. Then I just held it high, in place. Lara then opened the door fully, and walked inside. I also moved through, all the while holding the sensor as close to its original position as possible. [BGM: Furiten]  Nice. Yeah, uh, little problem here don't think I can just put this thing back on the door. ...I guess...On the inside of the mansion now, I could actually see the other box sensor on the other door. I reached over to that, and very carefully, pulled that loose too. Finally, I gently placed the two sensors on the floor, right next to each other. Phew. Okay. Okay, we're good now. Awesome.Finally, I could take a moment to really look around this place. Yup, this was Odin Deisma's mansion all right. Pristine, clean, filled with strange artifacts everywhere you look. It was, frankly, a cliche. ...I was kind of hoping for something a bit more bizarre than this; still, you couldn't doubt its beauty. But just looking around the place wasn't going to solve poo poo we were still in the thick of things. We needed actual solutions, and fast. As much as I'd love to go for a little house tour, I don't think that just standing around in the living room like this is going to be great. Yeah, not exactly a solution, is it? If Thane's tracking us, he'll get here soon enough; he might already be outside. He's likely to break in the same way too. Uh, I was actually more concerned about Odin? He might've heard us sneak in. It's the dead of night? You think that'll stop him? Fair point. If he did hear us, he's going to be looking around.. and if he finds us, he might be as much of a danger as Thane. Yeah, he does seem like the type to invoke the castle doctrine, huh? Pretty much. gently caress. gently caress, gently caress. We could try stealing his car? Huh? The car out front; we could try to steal it, drive back to the middle of Panthea. We should be safe there. God drat it! Why didn't you fuckin' bring that idea up before now? I, uh, I didn't think of it? Ah, what a waste of my time. My fault for not assuming you knew how to hotwire a car, I guess. Uh, I don't know how to hotwire a car. You don't? No. Then how the gently caress are you suggesting we steal it? I thought you knew how to hotwire it! Oh, wow, really? Ain't that presumptuous." You're a criminal! Oh, so all criminals know all criminal skills? Real mature, Mercury. Real mature. I... okay, forget it. If getting away is out, then we just have to hide somewhere in the house. If we woke Odin, he'll look around, not find anybody, and go back to sleep. When Thane catches up - if he catches up that is - he'll either sneak in here silently, look around, fail to find us and leave. ...Or he'll come in guns blazing, get in a big spat with Odin, the two'll fight, cops are likely to be called, it'll be a lot of chaos one way or the other. But if we're just hiding somewhere, we'll be safe, and know when to get out of town. That makes sense. The question is, where do we hide? You know this place, apparently; do you have any bright ideas? Hmm...Lara looked like she was going into deep thought. Then, she spoke up. I think I have an idea. It's just an idea, though. And it might be a bit overkill, so maybe we could just hide in a closet or something...Well now that you said you had an idea, I couldn't not inquire further. What's the idea? Okay, so, when I was staying here, I remember late one night seeing something weird. It actually, you know what? It'll be quicker to just show you. By all means, lead the way.Lara then took the initiative, leading me out one door and through the building's halls. This place really was a loving mansion, huh? Nobody needed this much living space. Before long, Lara had brought me around a corner to a particularly conspicuous black doorway. Standing outside it, she hesitated momentarily. Okay, so... like I said, late at night, was a little groggy. But I swore I saw Odin turn that corner. I made my way over to this door, thinking he must've come this way. ...but when I entered, he was nowhere to be seen. Let me guess, there weren't any other exits? Uh huh. So, you think there's, like, a secret passage or something? ...Look, you can be the judge of that. The room's weird, but for there to actually be anything hidden in it... well, let's just enter and you'll see for yourself.Then, she opened the door and walked in. I followed her. [BGM: Raise]  Huh. Stepping inside, the immediate purpose of this room was somewhat lost on me. It was a small, circular room. Mostly white, somewhat grand architecture accentuating everything. Around the room, on pedestals, were three mannequins decked out in armor and weaponry. The one to my left wore leather robes, and held a bo staff out with both arms; on the pedestal below it, the name 'Xhindi' was written. The mannequin in front of me wore an outfit with a lot of elaborate furs, and both arms were clasped atop the base of a long hammer that reached the pedestal; on this pedestal, 'Ptah' was written. Finally, to the right, a warrior stood, clad in metal armor, shield held out in one hand, spear in the other, reaching down to the pedestal; this one was named 'Nemesis.' Above each of the mannequins, an identical clock was hung on the wall. Funnily enough, none of the clocks seemed to be functioning. Above Xhindi, the clock read 12:00, above Ptah, the clock was at 6:30, and above Nemesis, the clock was at 8:00. Finally, in the center of the room, by our feet, there was a black metal plaque right on the ground, with a quote engraved in gold. To find the answer, you must first know who is asking the question. The beginning and end of all things appear chaotic and entangled, but for those destined to rule, the truth is easily grasped. Odin Deisma. Wow, engraving your own quote in gold. If that doesn't say something about your ego, I don't know what does. As you can see, this is why I was skeptical of my own recollection. I mean, it doesn't look like there's anywhere a secret passage or hangar or whatever the gently caress could hide. Probably a dead end. Are you kidding me? This place has 'top secret crazy person riddle' written all over it! There's probably some crazy hidden mechanism in this room. Isn't that just, like, a thing in books and whatever? Odin Deisma is literally the exact person who would commission something crazy like that in his mansion. ...Once again, I can't argue with you there. Your memory was totally right. There's something about this room, something just waiting for us to figure out. Okay, but like you said, we'd have to figure it out. In case you forgot, we're on something of a time crunch. If we are looking for hiding spots, there are a number of particularly lofty beds we could probably hide under No. No, no. We're figuring this out. I want to get to the bottom of this. Was this tactically speaking the optimal course of action? I suspected not. But even still... I mean, come on; who could resist a setup like this? And I was more than curious what secrets a man like Odin Deisma might want to hide in his closet. Maybe I had learned what had happened with Jacy maybe. But it was, at best, an incomplete picture. Even though there wasn't necessarily direct evidence tying Odin Deisma to anything involved with that whole situation, a character this crazy and influential probably had some influence on Panthea. Like before, I was just too curious. Fine, okay. Have at it. This...I held up my hands, partly for effect, partly to try and help conceptualize things. This is one big puzzle. Everything in this room is deliberately placed. And the key...I pointed at the plaque. ...is that quote. That's the truth to it all. That right?Lara ambivalently looked around the room.  Gotta say, I'm not sure I'll be too much help in solving things. Oh, you're smart. drat right I am. But... I don't know a goddamn thing about a 'Xhindi' or a 'Ptah.' And all I know about 'Nemesis' is that she's supposed to be the goddess of revenge or something. I don't think we need to know such specific details. I mean, maybe, but that would be leaning quite a bit on specific mythology, and I don't know if that's Odin style. A riddle involving those details isn't exactly clever. Well, if that's the case, the gently caress's the point of labeling these mannequins? I mean, you were the one that said everything was carefully placed, right? Yeah, I...Hold on.  Oh, another thing about logic that you should maybe know! You know how you're thinking about something, and sometimes you get a total flash of inspiration? Yeah, you're in charge of that too. There's now a new shiny button for you to click, one with a lightbulb on it. You can click on it if there's yellow text, but... don't be all willy-nilly about it. Only try to brainstorm if said idea will actually lead to a solution to the question you're stuck on, else you'll waste time on a rabbit hole, and nobody likes a rabbit hole. ...Except for other rabbits, but Okay, okay, I see your expression. I'm sorry, I'll shut up. So, this is basically just a button to hit when prompted sometimes if you think a particular thought should be expanded on or not; nothing too particularly gamechanging.  I'll just mention if we do or don't brainstorm on it when it comes up.What was the secret to this plaque? I knew I could solve it, I just needed to concentrate. What hints did I have towards solving the puzzle? The plaque was signed by Odin Deisma (No brainstorm. ). However, I was willing to chalk that up to simple vanity on his part. The actual lines of the poem were the important part, like the bit about 'the beginning and end of all things' ( Brainstorm! ) being entangled and whatnot....Hey, wait a moment! That specific phrase, it felt too specific. It felt awkward in the context of the inscription, as though it was forced. The poem talks about the beginning and end of 'all things', but I had a feeling we were looking for something a bit more specific than that. What we should really be focusing on are the beginnings and ends of the [clocks/names/outfits]. Right: Xhindi, Ptah, and Nemesis. That's what we were looking for. I could take the beginning and end of each of those names; they were all based off gods, which meant there was probably some mythological origin (No brainstorm. ) to them.There was something more to all this, something I was missing. Maybe I wasn't looking at enough of the inscription. What was next? 'All things appear entangled'? Something like that. Now, did that refer to something? Maybe [letters/the names/the times on the clocks] were entangled, and I needed to sort them out? I mean, it all made sense. Beginning and end of all things? Entangled? Xhindi, Ptah, Nemesis? It all seemed to add up. If you took the first and last letter from each name, you'd get X I P H N and S. Mix them up, and you'd probably get something. ...But what? What did that unscramble to? ...Ugh, it felt like I was still missing something. Did I need to look at even more of the inscription? It mentioned knowing who was asking the question ( Brainstorm! ), for whatever that was worth.Wait. Asking the question? Myths? Ah! X I P H N S, my rear end! It's SPHINX, baby! [You won 7 chips!]  I clapped my hands together. I've got it. I've got the answer. You do? That was fast. What can I say, maybe I'm not so useless after all? Yeah, yeah. Spit out the answer first, then we can assess on that front. All right, so... like I said, the quote is the key. At first glance, it looks like a bunch of metaphoric nothingness, but as usually is the case with riddles like these, it's actually quite literal. 'The beginning and end of all things are mixed up' is talking about very specific beginnings and ends. Specifically, the beginnings and ends of all these names. Huh? Sorry, I don't know if I'm following. That's fine. Look, 'Xhindi' starts with an X and ends with an I. 'Ptah' starts with a P, ends with an H. Oh! I see, so then for 'Nemesis', that starts with an N and ends with an S. Putting it all together we get X, I, P, H, N, S. Which, uh... The gently caress's that mean? Remember, the beginnings and ends are 'mixed up.' Those letters form an anagram: specifically, Sphinx. Sphinx? Yeah. Makes sense, that's another mythological thing... and, more to the point, it addresses the first part of the quote. 'To find the answer, you must first know who is asking the question.' We now know who's asking the question: the Sphinx. Oh! I know this, this is, uh, the Sphinx's riddle, right? I learned about this when I was a kid. Exactly. Those specific names might be too niche, but I think most people have heard the Sphinx's riddle at some point or another. What has four legs in the morning, two in the middle, and three in the eve? Man. I always thought that was a stupid riddle. So did I, but the point is, we know what we're answering now. We just need to represent the Sphinx's riddle with what we have. Conveniently enough, there are three phases of man, and three mannequins we can manipulate here. And each of the mannequins have a clock above them, signalling the 'time of day.' But wait, how can you tell which is morning and which is night? I mean, it doesn't specify AM or PM, so it could be 6:30 AM and 8:00 PM, or 6:30 PM and 8:00 AM! I think the second option is a bit more in line with typical definitions of 'morning' and 'eve'. And, more to the point, I know it's the second interpretation, because that's what lines up with the next step of the riddle. Man, your loving coy way of delivering this is really getting starting to get under my skin. Sorry, sorry. Bad habit of mine. Anyways, we've got to make sure that in the morning, man has four legs, in the afternoon it has two, and at night it has three. Now, this next bit is a little bullshit, but then again, so is the original puzzle. Right now, Ptah, the one that represents evening, already has 'three legs.' See, the two actual legs, and the hammer that's touching the pedestal. So, to line the rest of the riddle up nicely... I walked over to Nemesis, and wrested the shield out of her hand. Then I walked over to Xhindi. Xhindi, who represents the middle of the day, has just the two legs.I took the bo staff out of his hands. 'For those destined to rule, the truth is easily grasped; key word, 'grasped.'I walked over to Nemesis, and put the bo staff in her now-free hand. It fit effortlessly. With this, Nemesis, the one representing the morning, has four legs. Two normal ones, the spear that touches the pedestal, and now the staff that touches the pedestal. Riddle solved! Huh. All right, pretty neat, I've got to say. ...But one little issue. And that is? Nothing's happening. That's...She was right. I looked around, but nothing looked different. Had I messed up somewhere? Or... I walked back over to Nemesis, took the bo staff out her hand, turned it 180 degrees, and put it right back. As soon as the staff touched the pedestal, I heard an audible click.  See, that right there's just lovely puzzle design. Woah! What happened? Well, the noise seemed to come from the middle of the room. The only thing in the middle of the room is this plaque, so...I bent down, grabbed the side of the plaque, and tried lifting up. I was worried that again, I was about to make an rear end of myself. However, to my pleasant surprise, I was able to lift the oversized plaque up and around a hinge, revealing a dark passageway down. Underneath this plaque, a stone staircase led down to a dark cellar of unknown prospects. Voila! Secret tunnel. drat. This is...[BGM: Silence]  Words evaded Lara, and I couldn't blame her. She had said this was the type of thing that only happened in fiction, and seeing it with my own eyes, I couldn't help but agree. It was kind of unbelievable. Right at the top of the stairs, where the lights still reached, I noticed a big switch attached to something like a fuse box. It wasn't labeled, but I had a decent guess as to what it did. If I understood this mechanism well enough, at normal times there was some sort of magnetic lock keeping the plaque in place, preventing it from being opened outwards like this. The tip of that bo staff probably had some magnets in it so that when it was placed in direct contact with that section of the pedestal, the plaque's lock disengaged. However, with this setup, if someone was down below in the stairs, and somebody up here flipped the plaque back down and removed the bo staff, the person below could very well get trapped. My guess was that switch was a secondary failsafe - if flipped, the lock would also disengage. ...But again, just a guess. So... Should we head down, into the unknown? Gotta be real with you, I'm a high ranking Duat member, and even I'm creeped out by that passageway. The feeling's mutual, trust me. But... you're the one talking about how dangerous Thane is. I know, I know. ...All right then. Against my better judgement, I guess is what we're doing.Lara took a deep breath in, and began to walk down the stone stairs. Walking into the black abyss. ...Some voice in the back of my brain shouted out, telling me that this was my last chance to turn back around. That if I went down those stairs, I'd be crossing some threshold that couldn't be undone. That my discovery of this passageway, and my choice to go down would fundamentally change my destiny. But... I wasn't one to be bossed around by voices in the back of my head. I took a step into the darkness.  Well, wasn't that just a blast? There was a nice little boat ride, a stroll through some spooky woods. And to top it off, a fun little escape room puzzle for Lara and Mercury! Isn't that just fun? Seems pretty fun. Right? Bring a cutie along, what do you know, that's a Grade-A date. Really, those two should be thankful to Thane for the opportunity. As fun as the journey was, though, you have to take pause at the destination. I mean, a secret bunker in the house of a bajillionaire in the middle of the woods? Can't say there are many super-fun endings to that story. ...Except if it's an elaborate wine cellar; that's the one actually fun option it might be. ...But I kind of doubt it. Oh, you know what this is perfect for? A bet! Yes, a bet about what's in the basement, that sounds adequately spooky. Assuming it's a basement in the first place, which now that I say that, not sure. Could be a tunnel. Whatever, a tunnel is its own type of basement, I'm rolling with it. Mm, but it's a little open ended, huh? That's a bit of a problem. ...All right, I'll get a bit more specific. Let's bet on whether or not there is somebody down there. I don't care in what condition - dead, imprisoned, enjoying a fine wine, whatever, I just want to know if you think there is currently some body in that cellar. Yes, there is. Fun! I like that. I hope you're right. But how confident are you in that guess? Time to find out!Once again, the thread unanimously agreed that they believe there's someone in there, so we'll be betting 50% of our chips (or a rough approximation), which means we'll be betting 29 chips this time! Great. Well, only one way to resolve that bet. We have to see what lurks below, in the shadows... Could be a ghooooooost! Oooh, spooky! ...No? Not scared? Boo. What's the point of you being scared of ghosts if I can't tease you about it? ...Whatever, let's just move on. It's about time for a check-in with our imposter Thane... let's hope they're in less trouble this time around! Mix. fucked around with this message at 15:46 on Dec 2, 2023 |
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Dec 1, 2023 01:41
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I'm pretty sure that somebody's down there.
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Dec 1, 2023 03:07
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Jade Rider posted:I'm pretty sure that somebody's down there. Yup.
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Dec 1, 2023 03:33
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Honestly, at this point, I'll be disappointed if Odin isn't down there to smug at them. There is a person
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Dec 1, 2023 04:55
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There is a person down there in fact I'm going to guess there are multiple people down there.
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Dec 1, 2023 05:22
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So, here's a thought: if someone is manipulating all sides Panthea to their own ends, the most obvious answer of who could be doing that so far is Odin. Our main refutation of that idea is the same person spreading the "someone is secretly controlling Panthea" theory, The Devil, who claims it has to be someone comparatively unknown. However, here's my thought: The Devil is also Odin, manipulating events from shadows. After all, The Devil has given Eris info, who has in turn passed it along to Mercury, who is now in a position to maybe play kingmaker for the Duats. It's unlikely, but it's a fun theory.
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Dec 1, 2023 16:58
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Yes, there is. Fun! I like that. I hope you're right. But how confident are you in that guess? Time to find out! Once again, the thread unanimously agreed that they believe there's someone in there, so we'll be betting 50% of our chips (or a rough approximation), which means we'll be betting 29 chips this time! Great. Well, only one way to resolve that bet. We have to see what lurks below, in the shadows... Could be a ghooooooost! Oooh, spooky! ...No? Not scared? Boo. What's the point of you being scared of ghosts if I can't tease you about it? ...Whatever, let's just move on.It's about time for a check-in with our imposter Thane... let's hope they're in less trouble this time around!
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Dec 2, 2023 15:46
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Oh yeah, btw, I meant to mention this earlier, but Themis has officially announced the third game and started showing teasers/screenshots from it; it doesn't seem to have any spoilers to anything in this game so far, so would you guys want to see that stuff as its released, or just save it for one big mega post at the end of the LP (since the third game won't be til next year sometime)?
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Dec 3, 2023 02:51
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Save for a megapost. Anyone interested can look that stuff up now. Excited for the next game!
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Dec 5, 2023 03:41
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 [BGM: Silence]  The city was dark. Clouds covered the sky. The only lighting was what was provided by the dim, reasonably spaced out lamps scattered about Panthea's central park. The air was cool, but not cold; I heard insects chirping. Everything was still. It would've been peaceful, had it not been for one man.  So, whaddya make of the upcoming elections, Thane?To be clear, he still talked in a somewhat hushed voice; considering we were hiding out, if he spoke in his usual loud abrasive tone, he'd be doing a pretty poo poo job. You could say a lot about Yi, but he did his job. Still, even quiet, Yi found a way to annoy me. Or... maybe I was just upset with my position. A few days had passed since the Milo situation. Annoyingly, that scene in the restaurant had stuck with me. And, even more annoyingly, I wasn't able to come up with a solution in the intervening days I had. I was still stuck with the role of Thane. ...No, that wasn't quite right. I didn't have to be doing this. I could run away. Sure, maybe they'd track me down... or maybe not, honestly; considering everything, maybe I could quit and be fine. The more I thought about it, the more I figured that it would actually be pretty difficult any way you sliced it for the Duats to pin Thane's disappearance to me. If I was really choosing the safest play, I'd just quit while I was ahead, but... I couldn't be sure. I guessed I'd be safe, but I couldn't be sure. And I couldn't risk the possibility I was wrong." Besides... dark as it may be, playing Thane might just have some upsides, assuming I play my cards right. So because of that, I was back, sitting with Yi, waiting to do a job.   Yo, earth to Thane! I know it's late, but you're not nodding off in there, are you? ...Actually, poo poo, that's a pretty good idea. You could totally sleep through one of the old bastard's lectures in that mask and nobody'd be the wiser. I'm awake, Yi. You were asking about the election, right? Exactly. Wanted to hear your two cents on it. I don't know. I don't have anything interesting to say about that. Looks like Aija's probably going to win. Which is fine. Of loving course Aija's gonna win, that's not the election I'm talking about. Talking about the Presidential election. Our big beautiful nation's going to be getting a new leader before too long. Isn't that exciting? I guess. To be honest, I haven't really been keeping up with the race. Not really into national politics. Shocker, that. Anyways, on a personal note, I'm sad to see the last guy go. Like his policies or not, he was a pretty respectable dude; I admired his style.If that was Yi's reason for liking him, I got the feeling Yi wasn't really all that interested in national politics either.  Eh, but well, when your time's up, it's up. He served his three terms well now it's onto the next eager go-getter. Still, these 5 years passed in the blink of the eye. How time flies. I always thought 5 years was a little long for a presidential term limit. Doesn't let things change with the times fast enough. Thane, Thane, you're missing the point. Since there's a lot of time between elections, the president doesn't have to worry about re-election efforts, they can just focus on getting stuff done. Besides, what would you have the term lengths be? Four years? Three? Two? No, no, you cut it any shorter and what's the point of loving electing someone in the first place? I guess you're right.And just like that, an awkward silence passed between the two of us. I figured Thane would be bad at maintaining a conversation. However, Yi didn't strike me as the type to usually let lulls like this stand. ...Hm. I had a feeling what this was about. And then, moments later, Yi confirmed my suspicions.  Say, Thane... We're cool, right? ...Huh? Just, the two of us. We're on the same team, right? We're good? Yi was probably still thrown off by our interaction at Milo's. Makes sense; it was an awkward situation. I had a feeling given Yi's general disposition that on some level, he was still a bit suspicious about my actions that night. But that disposition was far outweighed, I figured, by Yi's need to actually have Thane on his side. Thane was actually a strong asset for Yi one that he couldn't exactly afford to lose, not now of all times so any suspicions were pushed to the back. Yi needed to make sure Thane was still cool. Of course. We're cool. Yeah, ok, that's what I thought. Is there a reason we wouldn't be? Not at all, I just wanted to check in with you, 's all. After the situation at Milo's?I waved my hand dismissively. Forgotten. Cool. Remember what we're working towards. Doesn't matter which one of us gets the Duat headship, what's important is we make sure that bitch is kept in check. No matter what, she can't rule the Duats. She won't. Frankly, teaming up against her like this seems overkill. Ah, don't go underestimating her, Thane. She's a sneaky little oval office, that's for drat sure. She might act sweet around base, but she's just a cutthroat as us. We've proved that much, right? I know, I know. Still, she's no match. That's for drat sure.Yi stretched out his arms. Just sitting here was somewhat uncomfortable. Anyways. You know, I keep thinking of Milo.Me too, Yi. Me too. Why's that? Ah, I don't know. Just was a character. Haven't seen his type in a while; almost made me nostalgic, if you can believe it. Can't say I feel the same. That's fair, that's very fair. Not saying he wasn't a squirrelly little gently caress. Still, you have to admire the guts. To make a swing at us, no matter how suicidal... It's not gutsy. It's stupid. Hm. Yeah, I can see that perspective. It's a little sad though, knowing we drove him to force our hand like that. Every now and then, I do get the odd pang of guilt when I see his type. I make sure to squash it, of course those sentiments are just unhealthy in our line of work. But you know, I think it's good to feel those vestiges every now and then. Keeps us human. ... You still feel those vestiges, Thane? ...Rarely. Heh heh heh. Never change Thane, never change.Yi took this opportunity to adjust how he sat, and look over the bushes we were hiding in. Then, he turned back to me.  You know what his problem was, Thane? Milo's? That he didn't know his place? No, no, don't be so dark Thane. No, his real problem was quite simple. He sought a justice tempered by mercy. 'Justice tempered by mercy'? Yeah, it's an old quote I find more and more applicable as life goes on. He was hampered by his quest for a justice tempered by mercy. See, if he leaned one way or another, he would have been just fine. If he favored pure justice, well, then it was just a matter of killing as many of us Duat members as he could. Pretty loving extreme, I gotta say, but it's a clean way of fighting back. He's not exactly a fighter, sure, but if he just bought a gun, ambushed us one by one, I reckon he could probably rack up a decent kill counter. On the other hand, had he just favored mercy, just wanted to live and let live, then this wouldn't be an issue. He could mind his business, keep going along, living a sad little life. Maybe he'd be racked with the guilt of knowing that he's let injustice prosper or some poo poo. But he'd be living, and that's definitely the main takeaway. Unfortunately, end of the day, he just couldn't commit. He settled on the compromise most make: seeking a justice tempered by mercy... and in that pursuit, he attained neither. Hmm. It's certainly a way to view it. It's my opinion that most people have a lot more trouble in life than they need to because they simply can't commit. If more people truly dedicated themselves to a single ideal, well, they'd be a lot trickier to deal with. But since we as humans like to waffle about, we're rife with conflict. It's a way of looking at things. ...Say, Yi. You have any limits? ...With the whole 'enforcing Duat justice' thing? Limits? Yeah, 'course I have limits; you have to have limits to stay sane. See, for me it's children. Children, really? Yeah, see, in my opinion, it's impossible for a child to sin they're just not capable of it. They don't have the proper understanding yet. Even if a child does some real lovely stuff? Yeah, it's still not the child's fault, it's the person who raised the child's fault. I think if you have a really hosed up kid, then more than likely, it's the fault of some really hosed up parents. Fair enough. Okay then, what about this: Let's say there's this middle schooler, who really loving hates the Duats. Hates everything that they stand for. Somehow, they got their hands on daddy's gun. And as an act of pure spite, the middle schooler goes and shoots two Duat officers when they're making the rounds. Do you enforce justice then? Well Thane, I never said there were cases where justice wouldn't be served. Duat's justice must be ironclad for our whole system to work. So then what would you do? Simple. The children are innocent I'd just kill the kid's parents. ......Okay, good reminder that I was, in fact, dealing with a complete psychopath. Nice to keep that in mind. ... Say, Thane? Yes, Yi? I gotta ask... Why do you keep that mask on all the time?...Uh oh. I didn't like the direction this conversation was going. I really, really didn't like it. What do you mean? It's my job. I'm the shadow of Panthea. Yeah, yeah, I get that, I know that much. But we're not always on duty, you know? Plenty of times, we're just shooting the poo poo, like back at base. We've all seen your face, ya know? I just don't see the point of hiding it like that; feels more annoying than anything.I was on full alert. To Yi, this might be a casual conversation, but as far as I was concerned, I was already on the job. If this conversation went down the wrong path, I could be totally screwed. Luckily, I did have something of an advantage by the sound of it, this didn't seem to be a new, recent thing. The Thane before me must have also hidden his face most of the time. That gave me a decent bit of leverage. I just keep the mask on. Why do you care? Because we're pals, Thane. I just want to make sure you're doing alright. ... Look, we all know that Marduk was incredibly out of line. For him to do that to you... everybody's perception of him changed after that day. But I mean, it really wasn't that bad. Uh, not talking about the pain, of course it probably hurt like a bitch and all. I'm just saying, if you're worried about the ph I...In but so many words I had a rough idea of what had happened. Marduk and Thane had gotten in a fight, and this fight ended up scarring or burning or just generally messing up Thane's face in some noticeable way. Was that perhaps somehow related to how Thane got stuck with this job? ...Whatever, getting off topic. Point is, the natural arc of that conversation was that Thane shouldn't feel like he needs to hide his face, that that's the path to moving forwards. The conversation very well could end with Yi asking me to remove the mask, just temporarily, as a stint in self-acceptance or some poo poo. So, if that's the moral Yi was gearing up towards, I just had to replace it with a moral of my own one where keeping on the mask was correct. Thane?[BGM: Challenger]  I like the mask. It... you know how you were talking about those vestiges of guilt? The mask... helps with that. I know I come across as robotic and poo poo, but that's intentional. I put myself in that state. And you know how I do it? I remind myself that I'm not me I'm the shadow of Panthea. When I'm out of the mask, I can be my authentic self. When I'm in the mask, I'm Thane, fearless agent of the Duats. Wearing the mask... I feel like mentally, it helps me keep things separate. Helps me stay sane. ... I don't know though maybe that line of thinking is in itself a sign of madness. No, no, I get it Thane, what you explained makes sense to me. It does? How to put it... In psychology, they say every human has something called a 'persona'; cheesy, I know. But humans are unique in this aspect. All other animals stay true to their natural selves, but humans, we have a tendency to form identities. ...However, you know what's funny? This 'persona' concept, it doesn't come natural to humans. If you're too young, or mentally impaired, or utterly devoid of autonomy, there are plenty of cases where you don't have a strong sense of identity. Some say there's basically four reasons for this 'identity' we all end up getting. You gotta understand your individuality the fact that you're separate from the others. You gotta feel a sense of ownership over yourself that you control your actions. You gotta have a sense of uniformity that your identity matches those actions. And finally... responsibility the knowledge that those actions and the consequences from them connect back to the identity, back to you. Now, those are some basic-rear end requirements, which is why most people end up developing a persona. Still, I think understanding the requirements helps to understand this next point, which is this: Most people don't just have a persona. At this point, it's customary to have a dozen. Your personal persona, well, it's the identity of how you understand yourself, but public personas are like different types of masks masks for all sorts of occasions. Mask of a son, mask of a father, mask of a boyfriend, mask of a teacher. One person can cycle through a dozen of these masks a day. I mean, this is some high-concept poo poo meant to explain a pretty simple concept. You act differently depending on who you're talking with. Right. That's just being human. People have dozens of masks, each with strengths and weaknesses. Some are braver, some are more cowardly, some are better liars, some are more charismatic, some are more reasonable sounding. And they all stem from that personal identity, that personal mask that you wear when nobody else is around. Argh, what's the quote? There's a good quote for this. ...Ah, right. 'Remember, you are an actor, in this play called the world. You have just one duty, to act the role that is given to you well.' Huh. Epictetus. That man may have a number of questionable views, but I always liked that quote in particular. Anyways, what role you must act is a question you have to decide for yourself, and often it'll change on the drop of a dime. Only trick is, sometimes if you get too sucked into one of the masks, you forget the other ones. You forget the most important one - your personal identity. ... So, to that end, I actually think tapping into that physical mask to help differentiate things isn't a bad idea. When people's public personas are too different from their personal persona, some rough poo poo can begin to happen. This is why celebrities always seem one breath away from a breakdown. And if you buy too heavily into separating your personas, uh, some not good poo poo can happen. I mean, I heard about this one guy who suppressed all his sins into one physical mask... Let's say things got out of hand fast. Despite all that, being able to cleanly section off your personas with a physical reminder like that is probably a decent idea. I mean, it's not like there isn't a risk for that to backfire into some serious psychological damage, but then again, I kinda feel like there's no way to avoid that in our line of work, don't you think? Right.I honestly didn't give a poo poo; I was just happy it looked like I had gotten through the conversation without my identity getting exposed. Ah, man. I wish I had brought some smokes with me. Why didn't you? I dunno, man. I guess I just thought... ...I don't know what I thought, okay? I just chose not to, and it was a bad choice.This was a pretty casual conversation... [BGM: Bidding]  Which felt odd, since we were lying in wait to perform an assassination. I don't know. I guess I always just pictured this sort of thing being conducted with a bit more... gravitas? Importance? It was a pretty serious situation. But Yi here, he wasn't taking it that serious at all... and given his reaction, I had to assume Thane wouldn't either, which is why I did my best to blend in. But it didn't mean I had to be happy about it, didn't have to be comfortable with it. So. Oh? Got something to say? Could we talk a bit more about the job? Oh, Thane, always such a buzzkill. We've still got a good bit of time, and I really don't like dwelling on those specifics until we gotta puts a real damper on things. I'm just trying to be professional. Yeah, you always are, huh? Fine, fine, we can talk about it. Not much to say, though. I mean, you can probably guess the long and short of it.Judging by our placement and what was lying between the two of us, yeah, I could. To make a long story short, this is a straightforward hit; your forte. ...Well, not quite your forte. This one's supposed to be a bit more subtle. Here we are in Panthea's central park. No real cameras, plenty of trees and rocks and bushes, not like the ones we're hiding in right now. Perfect place for a little ambush, especially at a time like this, when absolutely nobody should be around. But unfortunately, somebody is going to be coming around shortly. And then we give them a little pop to the back of the head, settle things cleanly. Couple minutes from now, there's gonna be a poor guy in a gray hoodie walking right over to the set of benches. That's the guy you gotta shoot. Presumably with that sniper rifle. Yup. It's clean, no ballistics'll lead back to you. Good. ...But, to just shoot this guy in the back of the head? We don't want to make this guy disappear? The client didn't specify that, so I'm assuming not. Besides, this isn't the sort of person whose death will make waves, so just a simple gunshot'll do just fine. Client, client, who's this client? Oh, did I not tell you? This one's coming from Art Deisma himself.Huh? Art Deisma's calling this one in? That... how does that make sense? Luckily, the mask blocked my look of confusion. Art, huh. Yup. It's been a minute since that dude has actually contacted us for direct work. Heh, probably hurts his pride. I get the feeling he doesn't like to consort with people like us. Yeah, I get that vibe from him. Still, he was the one who reached out to me in the first place, all those years back. One of his guys must've pegged me as one of the Duat's more negotiation-friendly members. Our first meeting, he made no efforts to hide his contempt. ...But then again, he was the one who decided it was worth it to agree to regular payments to keep us in check make sure the Duats never have their interests aligned against Olympo. The man must've thought himself pretty slick, drafting up an agreement like that. Poor bastard didn't know Marduk already told the rest of us that it was probably smart to not directly piss off Olympo. So the agreement was entirely unnecessary. Yeah, well, I didn't feel the need to tell him that. He's been a pretty reliable stream of income since, and once in a blue moon, he'll shell out extra to have us settle something he deems beneath himself. Like this hit. Yup. Although, full transparency, according to him, he's not actually the person who requested this hit. He's like, acting as an intermediary or something. Is that right? Yeah, well, don't know if I actually buy any of that bullshit; he likes having plausible deniability on every god drat thing. It's a nervous tic or something, I'm telling you, it really gets on my nerves. Anyways, intermediary or not, a job's a job. Yeah, but... I didn't know how to phrase my next thought. I didn't know if I even wanted to vocalize it. ...Eh, gently caress it. If I double guessed every single thing I wanted to ask, I'd probably appear more stilted than usual and thus more suspicious. I should just ask things. Assassinations? Really? Hm? Is that really what the Duats are? I mean, I'm not saying it's beneath us or anything. It's just... I don't picture the Duats as a cheap organization you can just pay off to handle anything you want. Ah, I see, I see. No, I feel that, can't say I particularly enjoy arrangements like this. But what can you do? Art's been a pretty drat good source of free money. This job's worth a bit. We're here to make money, and more than that, we're here to keep our connections nice and happy. Sure, we could tell Art to go and gently caress himself, but what would that accomplish? It'd just piss him off. I'd rather keep him happy, so even if we don't love it, we're gonna have to do our job. I suppose. Hey, why are you complaining? This is super easy stuff, Thane! Hardest part of the job is getting up at an hour like this. ...Though I suppose you're probably a lot more used to staying up late, huh?He wasn't wrong about that. I also didn't have anything else to say on the topic; seemed like this assassination attempt was going to go through one way or another. I just needed to wait some. Just rest easy. It'll be time soon enough. Look.[BGM: Silence]  Yi got up slightly, looking around over the bushes. Then, immediately, he ducked back down. Oh poo poo! What the hell? What? What is it? Over by the bushes Governor Aija's right there. Governor Aija?I also got up slightly, poking my head out of the bushes. It was super dark where we were, so it was unlikely she'd see anything. Sure enough, over by the dimly lit park benches, Governor Aija was sitting down. She had her eyes closed, and it looked like she was taking deep breaths; was she trying to calm down? She also had headphones in. Listening to music? Or... something else? I ducked back down. That's Governor Aija. Yeah, that's what I loving said! What's she doing? Is she the target? Thane, buddy, the target's a guy in a grey hoodie. If we were going to try and assassinate the Governor, it'd be a bit more involved than this. So then, what is she doing here? gently caress if I know. I mean... the Governor's Building is right by the park, and I've heard she works pretty late nights. What're the odds she's just here by coincidence? It's possible, I guess. The other possibility is her appearance is somehow connected to the fact that our target's going to be appearing soon. ...If that's the case though, it would've been nice if Art could've told us that. That seems a bit more likely. So what should we do?Yi took a moment to think. No need to change plans. Accident or on purpose, Aija's presence doesn't matter jack poo poo we'll snipe the target when they appear, and leave. Plain and simple. Wow, you make murder sound so easy.
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Dec 6, 2023 16:15
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 [BGM: The Poison]  Ah! Ah!Yi and I both let out small yelps at the unexpected sound of a new visitor. How the hell had Lara gotten the drop on both of us? The embarrassment was quickly replaced with paranoia. Yi and I both looked out over the bushes had Aija heard anything? ...No, thank God, looks like her headphones came in clutch. Phew. The hell, Lara? Wow, the big bad Duat boys scared by a girl like me. What has our organization come to? Oh, bite me. You've got to be better prepared than that! I expect this from Yi, but Thane, you're usually more on guard. Yeah, the hell Thane?poo poo. Everybody slips up now and then. Point of order, how'd you find us? Well, I knew the intercept point. You'd be hiding around here somewhere.  Okay, but how'd you know about the intercept point in the first place? Marduk told me. ...and why would he do that? Wanted me to watch over you two as you did the job. Guess he didn't trust you or something. Quit it with the editorialization. Way I see it, probably sent you here so you'd get to know what it's like actually doing a bit of dirty work yourself. I've done plenty of dirty work, I'll have you know. And whatever, bottom line is you're going to have to tolerate me for a little bit. So sorry for that. It's fine, it's fine. Right Thane? Sure. Just don't mess up the plan. Duh. I'm not stupid. Mm. Speaking of things that might mess up the plan, what's with Governor Aija being here? gently caress if I know. She's just here. You think she'll mess things up? It's probably fine. Hm. She's probably the reason why the target's visiting here. You figure? Yeah. I mean, I don't think she usually carries around conspicuous leather suitcases like that on a day to day basis, especially not for a dead of night walk like this one would, hypothetically, be. Leather suitcase?Yi popped up and looked over again. Huh, you're right. Yeah, that probably seals it, Aija's probably meeting with the target. But the poor sap's gotta be offed. Hm. Wonder what Art's thinking. It's a mystery. Lara moved closer, and sat down between Yi and myself. You know, you don't actually have to be here. You can just say you watched over us. It'd be better for all of us. You really don't want me here, huh? Obviously. You're not meant for this sort of work. ...Then again, what work are you good for? I am a valuable part of this organization. You could've fooled me. Clearly Marduk agrees with me. I'm the same rank as you. Are you questioning his decision? Pretty clearly, yeah. Wow. For the record, there's a lot more to this operation than money making schemes and enforcement. Maybe you two've been so focused on your jobs that you've forgotten about that. But for an operation like ours to be successful, you've also gotta be managing smaller scale stuff. Making negotiations. Keeping everybody happy, delegating responsibilities, keeping morale up, all sorts of responsibilities. You might not notice it while I'm here, but if I wasn't around, you'd surely take notice pretty soon after that. Hmph. The disdain in Yi's voice was barely hidden. He clearly was not interested at all in anything Lara had to say. Ugh. You know, really, what is your problem with me? Why are you always so hostile? I don't know what you're talking about. We're in private right now, okay? Just the three of us? Could we not bullshit? Oh, look at that Thane, seems like Lara's taking off her 'friendly optimist' mask right about now. Good to see it. I asked you a question. I really don't give a poo poo, Lara. And by that, I mean I don't give enough of a poo poo about you to dislike you. Now that's a load of bullshit, and you know it. What, are you afraid of me? Scared Marduk likes me more than you? Ha! As if. I mean, that looks like what it is. I just don't like people like you. People like me? The hell does that mean? Oh, you know. You know how you got to where you were. Work should matter, and I don't want a wh Enough.I spoke in a low, gravelly voice, but it was enough to bring both Yi and Lara to attention. Heh. You know, this 'mask' of mine did have some advantages. This infighting is unproductive. Lara, you know as well as I the two of us have had our differences; Yi, you've made your disdain for Lara quite apparent. But we are on a job right now. What's more, we are all Marduk's chosen. We should be professional enough to put personal emotions aside and focus on the task directly ahead of us. Right now, the two of you look like children.My words lingered in the air. For a moment, it looked like neither Lara nor Yi knew how to respond... and then, Yi broke the tension. Jeez, Thane. Decide to shove a particularly large stick up your rear end tonight? I know, right? I mean, jeez, who does he think he is? Our dad? Sure loving sounds like it. Maybe Marduk put him on Parental Control mode; his central processors might've been overruled with the Nanny Protocol. Ha! Maybe. Think there's a switch on the back of his head that does it? I wouldn't doubt it. Okay, now this is just bullying. I don't appreciate this. I don't like this. At this, both Yi and Lara had a light laugh. Well, so long as they quit sniping at each other. I'd rather be the common butt of the joke, if that was what it took. Ah, you know, maybe you're right. This feud's beneath us. Us? Oh, don't be like that. Either way, you're right we've more in common than not. And I mean that between the three of us. I mean, we're all Duat Senior Officers... and we're all pretty fed up with Marduk. Hear, hear! If I had a drink, I'd toast you on that. You know, I didn't break up that fight for us to just slack off in a different way. I was saying we should focus on our job. Anyone tell you you're no fun, Thane? Yes. Yi. Ha, he's got you there. You two really are alike, you know? Thane, Thane, we're focused enough. We're not going to miss the target, we're just looking to kill some time.
I didn't have anything to respond to. So, either of you have any other ideas on how to kill time? I like playing games, when I've got free time; actually keep a deck of cards in my pocket sometimes for that reason. No kidding? Yeah. We could try playing a round of something maybe I could teach you Star Alignment. Nah, card games have never been for me. Oh? Yeah, for whatever reason, smart as I might be, I was already rubbish at games like that. ...And I've a nasty personality, so I don't like doing things I'm bad at. I can see it. I thought we called a truce. Sorry. I said we should focus on the task. You proposed playing a game of cards. How exactly does that follow?Lara shrugged. Shame we've gotta kill this target. He's a gambler, right? I would've liked to play a game against him. A gambler? Yup. Oh, did I not tell you, Thane? Our mark's this guy named Lock. Apparently he's a two bit con artist, typically wears garish suits, likes to hang out around Nohoi's Nest. He's the one who will show up wearing a gray hoodie? The one we're going to kill? Yep. Really have to wonder what Art's thinking, ordering a hit on a guy like that. It is weird. Art doesn't like contacting us for pretty much anything. If he felt like this Lock guy was a big enough problem to actually pay for our services, then the man must have something on him, but... that's weird. Art lives a neurotically controlled life, all centered around eliminating weaknesses. I can't think of how a lowlife like Lock could pose a threat. And for that matter, why's Lock going after Art of all people? I mean, a grifter going after a Deisma, I get. But you'd think Polly would be the one at risk. I Shh.I was the first one to notice, but Yi and Lara saw him right after me. From our vantage point, it was impossible that he could see us... but we could see him just fine. A man wearing a gray hoodie was walking down a stone path. Based on the direction he was walking, he was approaching the benches that Aija was sitting on. Yeah, this guy's totally meeting up with Aija. For whatever that's worth. ...Lara didn't respond. Good idea, considering that the mark was actually walking by now. What are you doing Thane? It's time. Grab the rifle, take the shot.[BGM: Silence]  Oh right. A cold shiver went down my spine. I had to ignore that impulse. I turned around, and sure enough, there was the sniper rifle. One thing to do, I guess. I reached down and grabbed it. I got into proper firing position. And... ... I didn't have an excuse this time. ...Well, I mean, I had several: I could say that it was the only choice, but it wasn't. I could say that it was necessary, but it wasn't. I could say that Yi and Lara would kill me if I didn't follow through, but they wouldn't. I could say that Yi and Lara would finish the job in my place if I hesitated, but they wouldn't. I mean, don't get me wrong not killing this guy would be a loving pain in the rear end. A major, major, major pain in the rear end. A lot of things could and would backfire. My position would become very untenable very quickly. Saving this man would unquestionably increase the chances I ended up dead at the bottom of the ocean. It would, absolutely, be the smartest move for me to just fire and be done with it. However... To do so would mean killing someone I didn't have to. This wasn't the Milo situation. This wasn't self-defense. This was pre-meditated murder. This was a crime, and to the highest degree. Sure, the person on the other end of the gun might not be clean. In some ways, he might've brought this on himself, based on the sorts of actions that he has been doing. But, fundamentally speaking, he was an innocent man.I couldn't in good conscience say he deserved this. To move onwards, I'd have to kill someone who didn't deserve it. To move forwards, I'd have to become a murderer. If I did this, would I have no excuse left? Would I be just as bad as anyone else? Would I practically just be a Duat member? Would I lose any sense of moral justification that I had clung to before this point? And, if that was the cost, was it worth it? Could whatever gains I might get from shooting this gun outweigh the cost of selling my soul? No. No, no, I was thinking about this all wrong. This wasn't an innocent man. Maybe he didn't deserve the death penalty, sure, but this wasn't the same as shooting an innocent person. This was killing somebody in the game. I was wrong... there is a difference. When you enter the game, you assume a certain amount of liability. You work with sharks, deserve it or not, you can't complain when you eventually get your arm bitten off. I am sorry about this. I truly am. If Milo stuck with me, gently caress, so would this. But there was never a choice.  I lined up the scope just right.  Easy, easy, no itchy trigger fingers here. I hadn't ever actually fired a gun like this, so I hoped that it wouldn't be that hard. It wasn't particularly. Still, I needed to make sure I didn't miss. Just then, the man seemed to slow down.  ...Nothing. I did nothing. And, consequently, nothing happened. The slight pause was just that - a slight pause. Keep aiming the gun...  A little lower... A little to the left... Clear headshot...clear headshot...  I held my breath. My muscles stiffened.  And then, when I was barely moving at all... there was a bit of resistance as I pulled it back... but I kept pulling. And at some point, it crossed a threshold. Time slowed. A small explosion occurred in the metal pipe in my hands, and as a result, a tiny chunk of metal began flying out of the front of it. Slowly, slowly, it made its way through the air. At a certain point, the man in the hoodie could do nothing about this fact. Their fate was simply sealed, and in the half a second they had left to live, nothing could change the fact that they would die momentarily. The bullet flew through the air... and eventually, it struck skin. Then blood and muscles. Then bone. In a single horrific stroke, the bullet entered and exited the man's skull in the course of a single moment. And just like that, it was done. I had killed him. [You won 7 chips!]  It took a second for the man's body to flop to the floor. And... that was that. Time resumed. I breathed out heavily. I had killed a man; I was sort of in a state of shock. But... that state was soon interrupted by the sound of a shriek. I looked over, and saw Governor Aija jump up, shouting. She then looked around nervously, probably searching for the gunman. However, perhaps wisely, she soon decided to not stick around. She began power walking away, away from the body, away from the whole scene just away in general and before too long, she was out of sight. The only witness to the death, fled. I didn't know how to feel about that. Then, I felt something touch me from behind. I almost jumped to a fighting stance, before I realized it was just Yi giving me a pat on the back. [BGM: Ura Dora]  Nice work, Thane. Nicely going. Good stuff all around. Job well done. Yeah, super job at murder! Really ended that man's life with style. Is that sarcasm I sense, Lara? Ooh, you noticed! Clever. Lara, why do you have to be derisive to poor Thane? What did he do to deserve it? I'm not being derisive towards Thane, I'm being derisive towards you! What did I do to deserve it? I don't know, let's start with giving somebody a pat on the back for murder. Little messed up, that, you don't think?" Oh, come on Lara. It was the job it was a Duat-assigned job. You really going to complain about that? I'm not complaining about the job. I'm just saying, even if it was a job, we don't have to celebrate murder. I'm not celebrating the murder, I'm celebrating a job well done. There's a difference! I don't see it. Well, that just sounds like a you problem. ...I'm going to go check the body. Uh, alright, but Thane, do you think that's the besI stood up. Oh, okay, sure, you go ahead and do your thing.I walked out of the cover of the bushes. I had left my sniper rifle with the other two. It was closer to morning than night time at this point. No cameras, likely no witnesses... this should be fine. Now, since I shot him in the back of the head, normally the victim would be lying dead face down. However, in this case, he sort of skidded and tumbled some because of the momentum of the bullet. He ended up lying on his side. I walked right over to him and bent down. ... [BGM: Silence]  I looked at the familiar face. Then I stood up. I looked back towards Yi and Lara, who at this point, were also out of cover... then I looked at the victim's face one more time. ...Lara, you said the target was supposed to be a gambler named Lock? Uh, yeah?
By any chance, is Lock another name for Secretary Gani? ... Because if not... I think we got the wrong guy....  Killed the wrong guy, huh? Heh. Can you say awkwaaaard? Hate to see it happen, though it does happen quite a bit. Humans are all more alike than any of us care to admit. It is quite easy to fail to differentiate them.
Oh, but I suppose I don't need to tell you that. There's a lot I could talk about with this scene. poo poo Yi brought up, how Lara's been acting, the whole scenario. It was an interesting scene. So was the last one, and the one before that. Wait a second... 3 scenes... Oh yeah, you know what that means! Time to check the bet! As far as I've seen, nobody else has quite put together who's currently donning the mask, so... You lose! Ahahaha! See, this? This is the result of a lack of faith. If you just always believe in yourself, like I do, if you always do whatever you want with the confidence that you can pull it off, you'll never falter. Oh, what's wrong? Now, now. Don't be a sore loser. You bet against the dealer, you lost. Nothing to complain about there. ...Fine. How 'bout we just run this bet back? So, same thing. Does this Thane hide their identity for 3 more scenes, yes or no? No, they'll be discovered. Betting against Thane? You just haven't learned your lesson, huh? Oh well, suit yourself. Anyways, the bet is made - now we just have to haggle over the specifics.1/4 of the thread said that Thane wouldn't be discovered, so we'll be betting 9 chips here. Okie dokie, bet taken. Betting more this time? Want to make back your losses and a little more, huh? Well, whatever you're thinking, it's out of your hands now; all you have to do is sit back and watch. And... enjoy! Though, that last one isn't compulsory. I'll take your chips all the same. Heheheheh. We're at the end of this round of cards, which means it's time to check in on Devon. Mix. fucked around with this message at 01:44 on Dec 8, 2023 |
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Dec 6, 2023 16:15
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That's some real Persona 3 talk there with all the masks and uh, persona chat. I do like the dynamic between all three officers. Lara and Yi keep each other on edge. Anyway, I'm going with... no.
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Dec 6, 2023 18:55
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I'm also going to go with no.
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Dec 7, 2023 02:51
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No, Thane cannot hide their identity for 3 more scenes. I'm more disappointed that Lock managed to survive again than us losing the bet.
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Dec 7, 2023 08:34
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Yes. Thane's whole gimmick is passing as Thane and that's probably going to stay 'til the end. Nobody has any reason to doubt him right now, and I suspect asking the same question again is a trap, because you expect the answer to be different now. I wonder if Lock set this up or if he just lucked out again?
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Dec 7, 2023 22:42
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No, they'll be discovered. Betting against Thane? You just haven't learned your lesson, huh? Oh well, suit yourself. Anyways, the bet is made - now we just have to haggle over the specifics. 1/4 of the thread said that Thane wouldn't be discovered, so we'll be betting 9 chips here. Okie dokie, bet taken. Betting more this time? Want to make back your losses and a little more, huh? Well, whatever you're thinking, it's out of your hands now; all you have to do is sit back and watch. And... enjoy! Though, that last one isn't compulsory. I'll take your chips all the same. Heheheheh.We're at the end of this round of cards, which means it's time to check in on Devon.
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Dec 8, 2023 01:44
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Mix: Have you tried The Game of Fourtune? I'm only about halfway through but it's been really enjoyable.
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Dec 8, 2023 22:28
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whitehelm posted:Mix: Have you tried The Game of Fourtune? I'm only about halfway through but it's been really enjoyable. Was a day one purchase I just haven't had time to get to yet, but it's on the list of 'maybe I should LP this sometime' games along with like eight other VNs I keep tabs on a lot of OELVN devs (partly bc I do someday want to get into the scene myself) so it was one on my radar for a while before its release, I've heard really good things!
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Dec 9, 2023 00:42
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| # ? May 29, 2024 09:25 |
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 content warning: anxiety spiraling, child abuse/injury [BGM: Silence]  Flip. Flip. Flip. Flip. Slowly and methodically, I flipped the kunai in my hand. It had been a while since I had this thing on me, but recent events had reminded me of it, and I decided to grab it out of the closet back at my place. Flip. Flip. Flip. I had forgotten how relaxing it was to flip it around like this. It was nice, doing something with my hands. Felt like I was keeping myself occupied. Was something to do. Flip. Flip. Kept my mind occupied. Kept it from spiraling. [BGM: The Gungniri]  And believe me, I wasn't far from spiraling right now. I mean, Jesus Christ how worthless was I? Outmaneuvered by a lowly, conniving, piece of poo poo like Lock. I was never smart, but at the very least, I used to be able to kill properly. And now I couldn't even do that? The one thing I was meant for, the one thing I could claim as my own skillset? Worthless. Worthless, worthless, worthless. It was depressing, knowing just how loving devoid of value I really was, deep down; utterly unable to even do the simplest of tasks. And falling for that briefcase stunt? I didn't learn the truth until quite a bit later. Jesus Christ... How dumb can you get? Useless, utterly useless. It was the first instance I had failed a job. I hadn't just failed it, I had utterly bombed it. I knew I needed to report it in to Aija, but I remember what it felt like as I was taking out my phone. The familiar, choking feeling in my throat. My body begging me not to report my failure, fearing retaliation. But... I had to do it. As scum as I might be, I had to at least keep Ms. Aija in the loop.  Slowly, despite my best instincts, I brought my finger to the call button. ...And then I reported in. I'm.. sorry ma'am. Oh? I failed. Lock... got away. I tried my best, I really did, but I failed. I set up an ambush, but he outmaneuvered it. I don't know if he somehow suspected there would be an assassination attempt on his life, or if it was a lucky coincidence, but there was a perfect opportunity that completely threw my plan into disarray. Still, I tried to finish him off despite the hiccups, but I was unable to catch up and kill him. Ultimately, he escaped, and I have nothing to show for it.I remember just standing there, feeling an ice cold ball in the pit of my stomach. I didn't know what punishment was in store for me. I really didn't care on that front. But, more than anything, I didn't want Aija to think less of me; I didn't want her to think I wasn't worth anything to her anymore. If she wanted to completely cut me off... Well, I couldn't have blamed her, but it would sting.
Did he see you? Huh? Did he see you, did he get a good look at your face? Would he be able to identify you? ...No, no, I don't think he would. He got a vague look at me from a distance, but I was wearing a face mask and a hoodie. It was very dark, and he was in a rushed panic. I don't think he could point me out of a lineup. Good. Good. And evidence, what of any evidence that could link you to the scene, did you leave any of that? Of course not, ma'am. The ballistic markings left mean I will need to acquire a new silenced pistol, but beyond that I made sure to not leave anything that could be forensically traced back to me.There was a bit more silence. Okay then. Thank you for reporting in.Huh? ...I-is that it? Do you have something else to report? No, no, nothing else ma'am. Just, I thought that you'd be more upset at me. Well, I can't say that the news isn't a bit annoying Lock remains a threat. However, there's no reason to be upset with you. But I was the one who let him get away! Yes, and I'm sure you pursued him to the best of your abilities. Up until this point, you have yet to fail at any task I have assigned to you. With that in mind, I'm inclined to believe that this is not a personal failing on your fault, but, as you put it, a lucky coincidence. ...And an unlucky coincidence for our part. Unfortunately, sometimes things just happen beyond our control. All we can do is move on from that. B-but ma'am... because of this failed attempt, Lock knows there is someone out for his life. Already, I was unable to secure much information on him; now it's going to be nearly impossible to find him again, he's probably going to be far more guarded moving forwards. No matter. Lock is quite the ambitious type. There is no doubt in my mind he will continue to make moves; when he does, I will be made aware of them, and you will have another chance to do your job. You'll be made aware? H-how? Don't worry about that. Just know that you will have your second chance soon enough. ...Thank you. I will make the most of it. I'm sure you will.[BGM: Bidding]  Anyways, if you're still feeling guilty, then you can make up for it with your next job. Next job? What, do you want me to move on to Laverna in the meantime? No, no, I'm not talking about an optional assignment. We've got bigger fish to fry. Okay. Who's the target? I'm not yet sure, but I do know the client. The... client? I know this is a bit unorthodox, but I'm not actually the one requesting your services this time. Huh? Wait, isn't the whole point of this operation that I'm your personal weapon? That's a major part of my power! Indeed. Normally, I would utterly loathe the idea of leasing you out to another person, making you nothing more than a contractual killer. However, we have found ourselves in something of a bizarre circumstance. This request is coming from one of our chief benefactors. You mean... Indeed, Art was the one who contacted me.My mind was racing at this point. Art? What do you mean? How does he know? What does he know? Settle down, would you? Sorry, sorry. I'm just confused. Does he know about us? Not us specifically, I imagine. However, he asked pretty bluntly if I had any avenues that could discretely settle matters, with a lethal touch. I denied that, of course, but he said he suspected someone in my position did. Then he proceeded, stating that he had a strong need for such services. That he would make lending it to him well worth my while. He even offered 5%% of his current stock stake in Olympo, tunneled through discrete channels, naturally. You accepted his deal for money? Devon, you lack grander sight. It's not what I stand to gain, it's what I could lose. Denying this offer will fray, perhaps even sever the relationship I have built with Art. As many donors as I may gather, Olympo's shadow donations are undeniably the strongest asset I have for winning elections. This one may be a farce, but you can never predict the future. Who knows what storm the next one may bring? Additionally, Olympo is the largest company in Panthea by a long shot. It brings in jobs, revenue, clout. Frankly, it is putting Panthea on the map, and as the Governor, maintaining smooth relations with it as an entity is naturally in my best interest. I weighed the pros and cons, and ultimately, I decided that offering your services up would be for the best. Will this be an issue for you? I know the two of you don't exactly have the best history. However, I am trusting that you can be professional, and put personal biases aside. Think of it as a job from me. Of course. Naturally, of course I'll do the job ma'am. I'm sure you've thought it through, and decided this is the best course of action. It's just... You have hesitation? No, no. But do you think Art knew specifically about our relationship? By the way the conversation progressed, I doubt he had that much insight into the exact specifics. ...Then again, he felt fairly certain that I possessed some way to have people dealt with, so I can't be sure. If that's the case, do you think he might be a suspect for the Bell Murderer? I mean, depending on what he knew You're still on that?
Please, just drop it. I highly doubt Art had anything to do with Maximillian Collins' death. Look, the specifics of the assignment will come shortly; I trust you will handle it. Thank you for the update. Goodbye.And like that, Aija hung up. ...That conversation certainly hadn't gone as I had expected.  Which brought us to the present. Doing prep work for Art's assignment. Here in the forest. I let out a sigh. I was upset, but now for a different reason. Working under Art... I couldn't blame Ms. Aija, of course, she clearly gave it a lot of thought. If she said this was necessary, then by golly, it was necessary. Still... on paper, we should be fine. I'm an adult, he's an adult. We were both dumb kids. Holding things against the man for what we did when we were under Odin's thumb isn't exactly fair. We had both grown. ...But still... I had held a seething resentment towards Art for many, many years. Not just because of the impossible standards he set up for me and Polly. His whole demeanor was cold and cruel. ...Was he the Bell Killer? ...No, no that probably didn't seem likely. Apparently, Odin didn't know about my involvement until after that kill. Art, perpetual kiss-rear end that he is, tells everything to Odin in a constant attempt to score points, so undoubtedly Art would've told Odin had he stumbled across such a big secret before now. If anything, likely the opposite has happened, and Art started suspecting Aija had an assassin on deck because of some off-hand comment Odin made to him. Plus, Art was too professional to ever actually kill someone himself the fact that he was giving up so much to purchase my services was proof enough of that. So yeah, he likely wasn't that loose end. Still, didn't mean I had to like working under him. *RIIIIING!* Speak of the Devil, and he shall appear. I was getting a call, and I didn't even need to check to know exactly who it was. I really wasn't in the mood to deal with Art; speaking with him wasn't quite like speaking with Odin, but it was close. ...But it's not like I had a choice, huh? Ah, well. Bottoms up. *click* [BGM: Trick Score] 
 ...Hello? What do you want, Art? Ah, Devon. It's nice to hear your voice. It's been a while since we've gotten to talk. ...Likewise.If I was doing this, might as well be civil. To be honest, when I was given this number, I was still somewhat uncertain of what I'd hear on the other end. In some weird way, talking directly to you feels oddly comforting. Glad to hear it. Wish I could say the same. Oh, come now. Could we please put the past behind us? Trust me when I say it is a source of embarrassment for us both. I've never done so formally, so let me now extend my apologies for anything I might have done in our youth. ...That's not it. Oh? It's not because of our previous relationship that I'm not comfortable talking to you on the phone like this. Ah, I see. That makes sense. An assassin is probably loathe to come into contact with practically anyone. Understandable. Art was correct. ...But exposing myself directly to Art felt worse. When I first agreed, I didn't realize I would be giving away my identity like this. Art probably insisted on this point. He's never been the type to put blind faith in complete strangers. Still, I couldn't help but feel like my role as the 'Unseen Man' was eroding with every passing moment. First that phone call with Odin, then the reckless encounter with Lock, and now blatantly speaking with Art? Could we just get to work? Of course. As I understand it, you already have all the required information for the hit? Yes, yes I do. As a matter of fact, I'm scoping out the site right now. Is that so? It's still broad daylight out, is it safe? I know what I'm doing. Hmm. Because of your referrer, I am choosing to place my trust in you a risky prospect. I trust that you carry out your work in a succinct and professional manner? Seriously? Yes, I am a professional. Why would you question that? Because I know you, Devon. That in itself is pretty compelling evidence.'Do you want me to turn on you?' I wanted to say that, but as the words began to leave my mouth, something caused me to freeze up. Even still, I couldn't directly challenge him like that. I know what I'm doing. What I want to know is if you know what you're doing. E-excuse me? What exactly are you insinuating? Polly? Polly Deisma? That's who you want me to kill? Yes, our brother. I trust you're acquainted. Ha ha. Seriously though, what gives? I know you two never got along, but to resort to killing him? You can't certainly think that this is a result of a childish rivalry, can you? Of course not. I know you better than that. You'd never do anything that wasn't carefully considered to bring you the most benefit, which makes this a bigger question for me. Personal disputes aside, Polly is your brother our brother. Push comes to shove, he's going to support you. That comment, dear brother, shows exactly how out of touch you've become. Well, not like that's particularly a surprise it's not like you were on top of things in the past. After spending as much time as you have slinking around in the darkness, killing people for money, it tracks that you'd become utterly clueless. Oh, my bad that I've checked out of you two's dick measuring competition. What a crass metaphor. So you know, this is a war over the succession to the Olympo name, and all the power that comes with it. It is important. Is it a war when you've so thoroughly won? That's what I've thought. However, for whatever reason, Polly has decided to pick up the fight. Quite recently, he has taken a shot at me. After more analysis, it's quite clear that a recent theft was his doing. Luckily, I cover my tracks well enough; that victory alone won't win him much ground. But the principle of it proves that he plans to go for the jugular. If it was an above the belt battle, I'd handle things accordingly. However, since he's proven himself willing to commit crimes to usurp me, I can no longer allow him to roam free. It is too big a risk. He now poses a threat to succession. I must eliminate that threat. You know, I'm also your brother. Technically speaking, I also prove a threat to your succession. Hah hah hah hah ha. My Devon, I didn't remember you as having a proclivity towards humor; how age changes us.
Keep it together.  Still, murder is a rather drastic option. It is a drastic situation. It isn't you. Let me guess, Odin put you up to this?
 I make my own decisions. Of course. Of course Odin would never directly advise one of his sons to murder another. But he probably said something like... 'The helms of Olympo can only be reigned by one willing to do anything to grasp them. If one poses a threat, then ending them shouldn't be an option, it should be the given course of action!' ...Pretty good Odin, there. Well, I also grew up with him. He's right. You always did agree with him. It's not just a matter of staying on top, of running Olympo. When dealing with stakes as high as this, things can get... dangerous. I could end up in jail, or worse, dead. ...And you know Polly just as well as I do. He can get single minded, impulsive. He's historically bad at thinking through the consequences of his actions. Even if he didn't mean it, his attempts to dethrone me could end my life. Getting to him first is a natural precaution.I couldn't help letting out a short chuckle, one I didn't even know where it came from. I know this was my job, but... I still was having trouble understanding what I was hearing from Art. You're really serious, huh? I mean, think about this Art. Really think about what you're doing. I'd prefer not to. That's why you should! I know you've done a lot in your quest for power, probably a lot of poo poo I wouldn't want to hear about. But murder? Where do you get off asking that? You're an assassin! That's... Different? Look, Art, we're talking about Polly here. We grew up with him. You have an office right next to him. Can you really bring yourself to kill your own brother?
[BGM: Silence]  I could hear Art audibly breathing. Though he didn't say as much, it was clear my line of questioning was affecting him. However, before I could say anything else, he spoke in a quiet voice. That's not what you should be asking, Devon. The question is, can you really bring yourself to kill your own brother?And without another word, Art hung up the phone. That... he was really monstrous. The Deismas... What happened to them? What happened to us? We're really at this point in our lives? To have fallen into this state of things... maybe that's expected. Maybe we deserve it. ...No, no, the one who really deserves things done to them is Odin... and he still sits on an ivory throne. I can't believe it. I truly can't believe it. We're still squabbling, fighting for his approval. We are adults, living full lives, and we're still... I felt myself being sucked back in time. I could feel myself regressing back to when I lived under Odin's roof, when I lived in fear. I remember how much I hated it. I tried to run away, you know. Planned it out and everything. Did it twice. The first time, the moment I stepped outside of the house, Odin was already waiting right there for me. He knew what I was going to do before I did it. The second time was a bit more successful. I stayed away for a couple of hours. I knew Odin would know that I had left very shortly after I ran away. I thought that if I hid in the forest for a while, that would throw off his search; he'd assume I would start for the city. However, hours later, Polly caught me hiding in a tree. Odin had put Art and Polly up to looking for me. I never tried running away after that. [BGM: Ura Dora]  Art... Polly... they should have been my allies. We should have had a common enemy. But yet, they were both always so horrible. Art, he was never dependable. He was always so emotionless, indifferent to my feelings. I was never as smart as him, and he knew that. He lorded it over me. He liked the feeling of superiority he got from it. He never saw anything wrong with following Odin because it was almost never hard for him it came naturally for him. Of course he'd leave me behind. But Polly... I should have been able to trust Polly. He hated Odin just as much as me; we should have been able to bond. But we never did. I was the older sibling, but it never felt like that with Polly. Sure, he looked to me as a common ally whenever in a war with Odin. He'd bully me into supporting him, then cut me off whenever he was finally done with his tantrum. I'd get roped into so much poo poo because of that. But outside of that? He always looked at me with contempt. He thought I was weird, and wouldn't hesitate to point that opinion out. Maybe I was, but still... Whenever we worked together on anything, he'd always be a step ahead of me. I'd need help keeping up, which'd slow him down and annoy him. He could be really mean when annoyed. ...Unlike Art, he'd actually hit me. Maybe he thought I could handle it since he was the younger brother, but he became stronger than me very early on. More than anything, Polly was really selfish like, fundamentally self-centered. When Odin offered some prize, his morals be damned, he'd dance to dad's tune and play hard. ...That meant tossing me to the side. I remember this one instance that illuminated all of this clearer than anything.  We were all pretty young at the time. Odin took us out to this island. He really wanted to test us in a grander fashion. Ahead of time, he had prepared a scavenger hunt; it was meant to be a test of skills and smarts. We were told to find him, any methods. Faster you got there, better prize you got. He had just won a number of things in an expensive auction, and he thought those would be fitting bait. ...If offering ancient relics as prizes to kids didn't illustrate everything you need to know about Odin's parenting style, I don't know what will. Still, it worked. Polly really liked the European Sword and Shield set Odin had purchased because of that, he decided to take this seriously. Art obviously took it serious; he took every one of Odin's games serious. And me? I didn't really care, but I still wanted to try and prove myself, prove I was just as good as my brothers. So we began the scavenger hunt. Early on, Art approached me. He said he wanted to team up with me. At the time, Art had never really expressed interest in working with me before, so I took the bait. Looking back, it was almost certainly because Art feared there'd be parts to the scavenger hunt that required physical activity. Back then, he was pretty weak; I hear now he takes exercise pretty seriously though. Anyways, we worked together on the scavenger hunt for a while, until eventually, we got to the last clue. Art arrived to it first, and tore off a piece of it when 'discovering it'. We looked over the remaining clue together, and as I looked closely at it, trying to interpret it, I didn't notice Art leaving as my back was turned. By the time I realized it, he was gone, the only one with the full clue. I didn't get mad. I was just sad. But I wasn't giving up. I tried tracking him, following where he might have gone. ...And it took me a while, but eventually I made my way to this sort of secluded cave. I entered it, and there was a long pathway that led to a turn. I could vaguely hear Odin and Art speaking this was it. I began to enter the cave, until right behind me, Polly ran up. When he realized that I had gotten here before him, he got really angry. He rushed over to me, and before I knew what was really happening, we were grappling with each other. He shoved me down, and I rolled off the path, down the hill to the bottom of this crevice in the cave. My leg bent, and I shouted out in pain it was seriously injured. I just sat there in pain. Polly moved on, claiming second place. [BGM: The Poison]  A minute or two later, Odin walked out, with Art and Polly behind him. He looked down at me, at the bottom of the hill. And quite simply... he told me to make my way back up with my own power. I tried explaining what had happened to my leg, but he said he didn't care. I made a feeble attempt to climb, but the incline was too steep, and I rolled back down, hitting the back of my head. Polly began to argue with Odin, saying that this was overly cruel, that he should be allowed to help me up. The two got in an argument which culminated in Odin whacking Polly on the back of the head, and Polly running away. He didn't end up helping me at all. I pleaded with Odin, just to let someone help me. He stood there, silently. Art stood behind him, nervous but quiet. I had no choice but to try and climb. And I failed, and rolled back down. But I had to try again. ...And again. ...And again... And eventually, through an exhausting amount of energy, I crawled my way back up to the path. I lay there, belly on the ground, panting. Looking down at me, Odin simply asked why I tried the same method over and over again without experimenting. He concluded by saying that at the very least, I was able to make it to the path on my own merits I wasn't completely helpless. Ultimately, Art came in first place. He received that European Sword and Shield set. He had no interest in it, but I bet the man still keeps it displayed somewhere. Polly came in second place. He received a fancy European vase, flecked with gold. He ended up breaking it not long after, though I forget if it was in a dumb accident or a dumb act of defiance. I came in last place. Odin gave me a crappy kunai a kunai I still had to this day.  And that was the dynamic that infested our household. Odin was king. He'd continuously bully me; he was awful, but smarter than me. Art always prioritized Odin over me; he would help Odin with his bullying. I reached out for help. I reached to Polly. But in the end, he'd always rebuke my request he'd leave for himself. I was trapped with the three of them. Completely alone. On my own. ...Thinking back, I'm pretty sure my spirals started as early as middle school. They just were more mild. Spirals. Like the one I was in right now. I shook my head, snapping back to reality. [BGM: Silence]  Standing in the forest, close to the house that Polly lived in. Acting as an assassin. The Deismas. They were a truly rotten family. A worthless one. No good could come of them. Could I bring myself to kill a brother? Ha. What a joke. Honestly speaking, I wouldn't have too much trouble ending the life of any Deisma; might as well prioritize the one I could actually get paid for. I was thinking about this wrong. I wasn't going to kill my target despite the fact that he was my brother. I got to kill my target, and he just so happened to be my brother. Lucky break. This was a good opportunity. [BGM: The Pistol]  ...Unfortunately, things weren't going to be as simple as usual. Polly Deisma wasn't somebody who could just die and things would move on. He was, without question, the most important person I had ever been tasked to kill. It didn't seem like that on the outside; he certainly wasn't the most secured. But if he died, there wouldn't be an investigation... there would be an inquisition. A legion of investigators would be tasked with getting to the truth. This wouldn't go away after a few days the Polly Deisma murder case would be looked into for years. He was just too public a figure. Tying him into the Cock Robin murders was just not viable. That would increase the mystique and danger of the Cock Robin Killer to unmanageable levels. So... how to deal with this? There were a number of stories I thought about. What if he was an unintended casualty of a Duat fight? There were a number of ways I could frame Duat members, and making the Duats responsible for this would mean people were less eager to poke around, lest they anger the Duats. But... making it look like a Duat accident was a lot of work. Lot of careful work. And the Duats would know the truth. Sure, maybe that doesn't sound like it should matter I mean, it's the Duats word against nobody's. Clear who wins that. Still, anyone knowing the truth is too dangerous. So what about an accidental death? One of Polly's sports cars could have a loose brake wire. Accidents happened. But if Polly died, no matter the cause, his matters would be investigated. If he really was in a conflict with Art, that would come up, and people would question the timing. An accident right as things were heating up? That wouldn't feel right. They'd look into the accident closer. And as many methods as there were to make a death look 'accidental,' none are completely without traces. I was talented, but even I couldn't guarantee a death to look 100%% accidental. Another option would be a 'natural' cause of death. There were poisons that could imitate strokes or heart attacks quite accurately. They were expensive, hard to get, but I knew the avenues; I could get them if I really put my mind to it. Polly hadn't exactly lived a healthy life. It'd be plausible. But this ran into the exact same problem I had with the 'accidental death' idea. The timing was just too suspicious. ...And just like I knew about these poisons, so too did investigators; if during an autopsy, they decided to specifically look for them, they'd show up. So then, was there just not an answer? Was anything I did too suspicious? ...No, no. There was one thing that would work quite nicely. It wouldn't raise suspicions with the timing. No one would know the truth. It wouldn't be out of line with what was known about Polly, and no evidence would be left.  The fate I had in mind for Polly was that of a drunken suicide. He was already known to get in an impulsive state when drunk, but his behavior had changed recently. It might seem weird for such a positive person to suddenly decide to end themselves, but plenty of seemingly positive people were hiding a darkness. Of course, I knew that Polly was far too self-centered to ever really consider suicide, but... it'd be plausible. Especially with the right note. I had plenty of samples of Polly's handwriting... I knew intimate details about his life... using credit card records provided to me by Art, I knew the type of paper in Polly's household. I also got a pen that he often used in the Olympo office, one which had his fingerprints all over them. It took a lot of careful crafting, but with time and patience, I forged a perfect suicide note that'd be left by his hanging body. It explained the motive for why he took his life in just the right amount of detail, written in the style and tone as Polly. Now it was just a matter of actually hanging Polly up like that, all while not leaving evidence of my presence. Difficult? Sure. But not impossible, especially not if you knew what you were doing. If you were careful, crafty. Researched. It's why I was doing a bit of on-site inspection right now. In the trees, I was circling the building Polly currently resided in, looking for any oddities on the outside. Of course, I already knew the insides pretty well. This building used to belong to Veronica Collins. ...Veronica Collins... Maximillian Collins' aunt. Hmm. ...Was it possible that there was some connection? ...No, no, probably not. For all his flaws, I didn't peg Polly as a killer. More to the point, I highly doubted that he was intelligent enough to figure out what the deal was with the Cock Robin Killings. Anyways, I took it upon myself to draw up the blueprints of Veronica Collins' old house, so I knew exactly what I was getting into. Of course, blueprints weren't everything; Polly had plenty of time to potentially add new security measures.  That's what the spectral thermocamera was for. A rather high-end piece of tech not something I'd normally find myself in possession of. However, for a potential assassin, this thing was vitally important. With proper setup, it could scan through walls and stuff and highlight areas with more energy than expected. Basically, it showed all the people and technology present. The scan revealed that, at present, nobody was home. ...It also showed off a lot of technology. Some things that could only be presumed to be cameras; security cameras, almost certainly set up by Polly as a preventative measure. Luckily, none were where they needed to be to actually stop me. ...Actually, these cameras were good for me. They would 'prove' nobody entered the house. It would lend credence to the suicide story I was setting up. Cool, cool. So the question is: how then did I plan to get in? There were a number of potential entrances. However, the slightest sign of forced entry and say bye-bye to the suicide story. There were ways to hide those signs of forced entry, but then the ways to hide them then had traces themself. I could try getting a copy of a key... but again, that could leave a trace. Also, most of the doors were in areas that cameras covered. No, the trick to getting in rested on the second floor of the house, in the special research I did on Veronica Collins' house. See, the windows all had interior locks that prevented them from being opened. They slid back and forth these types of locks were commonplace. As luck would have it, the window locks in Veronica Collins' house had a very special property to them: they were made with a specific metal. A metal that was not magnetic in most cases. ...Most cases. However, charging a certain magnet with a certain charge could produce magnetic-like properties. With a bit of magnetism from the outside of the window, I'd just give the lock a bit of a turn, and like that, the defenses would crumple. There was a window on the second floor that led into a bathroom right next to the room Polly slept in. Getting to that window was also pretty easy. I mean, it took a bit of dexterity, but it was well within my skill set.  The plan was simple. Climb up to that second floor window. Use magnetism to unlock the lock. Sneak from that room into Polly's room discreetly. There would be the fake suicide. Now, there is the question of how to hang him there's a difference between strangulation and hanging. ...Funnily enough though, for a professional, that's really not as much of a problem as people might make it out to be. With a noose, if you're careful enough, you can strangle someone in a way that is indistinguishable from hanging when checked on an autopsy. As always, I did my research. I mean, there was always the chance that something could go wrong at this stage of the murder; there was always that risk. But unless I really flubbed it, it would at least plausibly be a Death By Hanging. The suicide note should help push that narrative. At that point, it was just a matter of exiting the same way I entered. Lock the window, down the house. In the middle of the night, Polly would die, and not a trace of evidence that could link back to me would be left. Even with all this precaution, the death would still be looked into; how could it not? There was simply no way to get around that when the objective was killing Polly. The trick was controlling what the investigators would find. And with this, all evidence they'd find would suggest that Polly killed himself. That was the conclusion they'd reach. If I was lucky, that investigator lady, Laverna, might even show up; this seems like the sort of case she'd be interested in. And if that was the case, there was even a chance I could get a two-for-one. ...Not at the scene, of course, god no. But stalking her when she leaves, a surreptitious encounter on the street... she was someone who could die with a lot less eyebrows being raised. Hell, if I disappeared the body, I doubt anyone would even look into her case. [BGM: Silence]  Flip. Flip. I had pulled back out the kunai, and flipped it again. After all this time, I still had the drat thing. Even if it reminded me of that scavenger hunt. I guess I just liked flipping this thing. ...A vague memory flickered in the back of my mind. What was this thing's story again? I somehow remembered Odin ranting about it. Apparently it was called the 'Gungniri'. It was said to be a part of some set, built by a master blacksmith of olden times. These kunai were said to be so finely honed, so masterfully built, that anybody could use them flawlessly. If it was flung at a target, then no matter what circumstances got in the way, the kunai would eventually pierce where it needed to pierce. Doesn't matter about the distance, the time, the skill - eventually, the gungniri's blow would strike true. Heh. If that was really true, then why was I putting so much effort into my assassination attempts? Really, I should just be thinking my target's name, throwing this kunai, and waiting for them to die. Simple as that, right? ...As if. The world wasn't built on myths and legends. It was built on hard work and due diligence. You don't kill someone by praying with a magical weapon, you do it by murdering them with your own two hands. I had done as such so many times in the past... and I'd do it again on my own brother. I couldn't hesitate. I couldn't falter. I had to be a human Gungniri. I had been launched at Polly. Soon enough, I'd land true.  Want to hear a riddle? Sure. Woah, way to put me on the spot. Now I have to come up with a riddle, or I'll be a bad host! Okay, let's see here... This is a good one: what's the greatest assassin of all time? The one that never fails to kill their mark? The one you can't run from, the one you can't hide from. The one who kills indiscriminately, the one we all try to fight, the one we fight in vain. Got it yet? If not, here's a little hint: 'each hurts, the last kills.' A bit of an abstract hint, I'll admit, but you're a smart cookie. I'll give you a second to think.
Okay, got it? If you said 'time,' then you'd be correct. The great killer of us all. ...Though, perhaps that's an unfair reading. If we blame all deaths on time, can we credit all births to time? Mm, I'm not sure if it works that way. It's all abstract poo poo anyways, so I suppose it doesn't particularly matter. As for that saying, I believe it's referring to seconds. ...Actually, maybe hours? I'm not sure. Either fits. After all, it's a sundial motto. If you've got some free time, try looking up sundial mottos. They are dark, without fail. 'Time flies, the hour flees.' 'Make haste, but slowly.' 'Look at my shadow and you will see your life.' 'An hour passes slowly, the years, quickly.' 'Time devours all.' 'Umbra sumus.' Ugly stuff, huh? I'm not sure why I only said the last one in Latin, they were all originally Latin, and if I was going to go Latin with any of them, clearly I should've picked 'mox nox.' That's just fun to say. Sorry, sundials, right. Anyways, I like picturing time as an ever-flowing torrent of water, aimed directly at us all. It fills the cracks within us, pushing them until we break. ...Of course, the earlier you get those cracks, the more damage time'll do to you. Poor Devon. He was cracked from the very start. Next update, it's back to the top with Laverna again!
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Dec 9, 2023 16:17
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