into each breaking wave

[thisaroma]

[ Well, that was — no pun intended — unfortunate. ...But in light of what they already saw happen the first two weeks, maybe it's not really that surprising, either; and maybe it's at least a little easier to recognize when something is going to be a lost cause, if not necessarily to accept it.

In spite of everything, this is the first time Decus has been in a halfway decent mood after a trial, which he can gather is... probably not the case for most of the rest. So he figures he can take on the party host duties for this week rather than push it onto someone who needs a break. Anyway, he wants to keep up this feeling-okay thing for as long as he can, and if he has too much downtime and starts to think about what happened a week ago today... he might end up a little less okay.

So, he brings some food down to the buffet from the cafes for a little variety (even though most of them probably aren't going to be too picky at this point), along with some tea and cocoa from Starbucks and a few harder options from the bar, and gets that all set up in as welcoming an arrangement as he can manage. And...

Well. Despite how he may come off sometimes, he actually is self-aware enough to realize that some of the others might not appreciate being reminded that he's still alive when three people who'd never had any intention of killing are dead. It doesn't really bother him, but he doesn't want to create unnecessary drama, either; so he doesn't put his name anywhere on the invitations he puts up around the place, just a simple:

food and drinks at the buffet

...Which is almost always the case, technically, this past week excluded, but hey.

And while he might come by to offer a drink or something to someone who looks like they need it, he's mostly going to hang back and let everyone do their thing. ]

Comments

[scythegun]

So one day, whether you think it's right or not, you'll do the same thing.

[He can understand that, he thinks.

Anyway, here you go, another margarita.]

I can't say I really understand. I've never been through anything like that. But I get why today's trial was so difficult on you - and why so many of them have been before now.

[Outside of Alice, the others have been accidents or cases of possession, like this one.]

[sivard]

It would be so much easier if these cases were cold-blooded murder.

We send Lorna for her doom because of something she had nothing to do with, because she was possessed by a monster?

[He hates this.]

This can't even be considered justice. Not even for what Alice did to Sylvando. This is a ritualized bloodbath for the amusement of a guy too much of a coward to show his actual face.

[scythegun]

I agree.

[Mostly. He's still pretty pissed about what happened to Sylvando, but it is likely that Alice wouldn't have acted without that motive.]

Unfortunately, all we can really do right now is play by the rules we have set out for us. We have an idea of how to proceed, but no way to act on it just yet. I really do wish we had another option... but we simply don't. Patience is what we need in order to eventually reach the Captain.

[He sighs and leans on the counter, listlessly swirling his own drink.]

But that isn't a satisfactory answer right now. It wasn't one last week, and even though we've learned a little more... we're still no closer than where we were.

[So how many more weeks will we have to continue on like this? How much longer until we get our shot at him? How many of us will even be left then?]

[sivard]

[Oh, he's pissed off about the murder of Sylvando too, and takes a deep drink from his margarita.]

How many more people are going to die?

The more we lose....

[scythegun]

I wish I had an answer for that. Unfortunately, there really isn't any way to know that right now.

[Maybe the next floor will be our key to escape. Or maybe we won't get anything useful until another three weeks from now.]

[sivard]

What do you think his ultimate goal is? There must be some reason, but all I can think of is some sort of dark magic to summon something.

Likely ancient and powerful.

[scythegun]

Initially I thought his goal really was just to have us all die in the most entertaining manner possible... But I don't think that's accurate. If he truly wanted us all dead, he'd simply have to tamper with one of the cases and make us think it was someone else responsible. We'd vote wrong, and he could kill all of us off except the killer - then it'd be easy enough to kill that person.

He mentioned that he didn't make the rules for this either... which raises a lot of questions, honestly. So at this point I'm really not sure what his end goal is. But we were brought here, and this little game of his certainly has something to do with it.

[sivard]

He did say he didn't make the rules, and I don't think he was lying about that. It makes it sound like he's either working for someone else, which sounds a little unlikely, or he's following plans already laid out.

[Which does point in the blood ritual direction, as far as Zaveid's concerned.]

[scythegun]

Ja. I can't see him deciding to follow someone else's plans... But truthfully, we don't know very much about him. I think we need to try to learn more about him... but I can't say I really want to ask anyone to try to talk to him. He's quite insufferable.

[sivard]

I sure as hell won't talk to him.

[This is such a shock, isn't it.]

...but I'm thinking maybe it's overdue for me to say something to Jones. He seemed... a little off today, didn't he?

[scythegun]

I think that would be a good thing. Mr. Jones is quite easy to talk to once you get used to him. He's quite open too - if there's something he can't tell you, he'll be upfront about it. Otherwise, he answers questions regardless of how hypothetical they are.

[Or you know, how not-at-all-hypothetical they are.]

As for today... ja. I think this is weighing on him pretty heavily. He doesn't have a say in doing the Captain's dirty work - even if that dirty work involves killing us. I think it would have been easier if he'd executed the spirit, because the spirit likely would have fought back.

[It's easier to kill someone that's attacking you than to send an innocent girl off to her death.]

[sivard]

[Poor, poor Lorna. Convinced it was her burden to bear alone.]

More than likely. He seems more like someone who enjoys a good fight.

[He'd probably be someone who's fun to spar with, in better circumstances.]

Not sending kids to their deaths.

[scythegun]

I really do want to see if we can free him. He really shouldn't be caught up in all of this, and I doubt the Captain could run any of it to begin with without Mr. Jones' cooperation.

[sivard]

Undoubtedly.

We've got to make finding his heart a priority, even if I doubt we'll find it far away from the Captain.

[scythegun]

Even if we can't find the heart right away, we may be able to find something else that can help us.

[Like Calypso, but the less we say about her, the better. Don't want the Captain overhearing that!]

[sivard]

Hmm...

There's got to be more on this ship we're missing.

[scythegun]

Ja, and we'll find more as we keep looking. Let's just take it one step at a time.

[It's not good enough, but there isn't anything that will be good enough right now.]

[sivard]

...You're right, of course.

We need to keep focused on the goal of stopping the Captain.