Week 5

[bathymetric]

Good morning, New Rapture. A new day is dawning.

Another week, another motive, another trial. Even without a literal time loop, it's easy to start to feel stuck in something of a rut. Though vandalism parties and the like can help shake the feeling somewhat, it's only natural to start going a little... stir-crazy, don't you think?

Fortunately for you, another week brings another new section of New Rapture to investigate. This one is the biggest yet! And look at that fun theme park. And a bar!

Seven of you are dead, but eighteen of you remain. What you do to try to escape is up to you, but at least following :)'s advice gets you coins for stuff, you know?



SUNDAY | MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY

[ ooc: Welcome to the fifth week of Unknown Seas Round 3! Please make sure to mark any investigation toplevels accordingly, post your ac, and you can reach either Mayor Fontaine or Eleanor for conversations! ]

Comments

[inaclearing]

Peregrine...

[Hm.]

She and her friends went out in the wood as part of a survival challenge. They were supposed to be guided out together, split off alone, survive the night and find their way back. But an unexpected blizzard rolled in, and it got bad. The kids all made it out, but Howl, the man who took him out there...didn't.

[However you might interpret his disappearance, the fact is that he's gone.]

[fuckingguy]

Oh, I see. He was a werewolf.

[inaclearing]

What? No.

[.....]

I mean, probably not. Almost definitely.

[fuckingguy]

But that is the most logical answer based on what you have told me! Also, why would that be his name?

[inaclearing]

How does him getting lost in the woods mean he's a werewolf?

[Or. You know, not lost in the woods. If Brett knew for sure that Howl had lived, and deliberately gone off alone like that, it might almost make sense, but...well, it's only ever been a theory. Maybe even wishful thinking.]

It was a nickname. His full name was Peter Howland.

[fuckingguy]

It just seems like the kind of nickname you would give a guy because he is secretly a werewolf.

[inaclearing]

I'm not sure who gave it to him to begin with. The town, I guess. But he was such a recluse, I'm sure they never would've known if he was a werewolf.

[honestly though that might also be a point in the werewolf column]

[fuckingguy]

[ Privately thinking exactly that and raising his eyebrows: ]

Did you ever meet the man yourself?

[inaclearing]

I did, several times. Met his cousin, too.

[Is lycanthropy like, a family thing, or]

[fuckingguy]

Ah. And you did not notice a strong smell of dog during these encounters? Perhaps some scratch marks on the walls, or chew toys just kind of lying about?

[inaclearing]

....no. His cousin's very wealthy, actually, very proud of her house. I think she'd rather die than scratch up the walls.

[fuckingguy]

But he was a recluse.

[ He pronounces it "rehCLOOOSE", like you do. ]

[inaclearing]

...yeah. Heir to the biggest weapons manufacturing conglomerate in the country, and he was a recluse in the woods.

[Shrug. Is that like, a pro or con for the werewolf theory?]

[fuckingguy]

... You are really not helping your case on this werewolf thing.

[inaclearing]

Does that add to the werewolf thing? More than him being just a regular recluse?

[fuckingguy]

Well, it is not unheard of, people abandoning their elevated status in human society after they are turned. Even if you can go out in the sunlight, you kinda lose the ability to keep track of all the things that are necessary... because of all the carnage, and also, getting distracted by passing trucks.

[inaclearing]

I'm...pretty sure it was all the war and bloodshed that got to him. He didn't get along with his family, and at one point he spent years traveling warzones with - Gerda. A war photographer.

[don't worry about it!]

He told me about it, once. He said -

Inside me an anger was born again,
For injustices I couldn't cure.
I tried to hold fast to the love that we shared,
but the darkness would come and leave no room for something so pure.

[Yo where'd he get that backing music from? The snippet of song seems oddly unsuited for Brett even as he repeats it - but at the same time, his voice fills it out better than it would have a month ago.]

Seeing all that carnage, with his family name on the weapons of war - I always thought that was what did it. [...] I've got the tapes, actually. Could you tell if he was a werewolf from his voice?

[fuckingguy]

Possible. [ He sounds kind of genuinely disappointed to admit: ] But... what you just said is more likely. Not everyone is able to handle war with grace.

... Did he also sing it, or is that just you?

[inaclearing]

I don't know if people should be. His cousin was much too comfortable with it, if you ask me.

[Not that anyone did - she didn't, and so he hadn't said anything. But Brett's always thought Howl's resistance to the family business, and even his ill-fated desire to change it, spoke well of him. More clearly than nearly anything else about the man.

Anyway, immediately distracted by that question!]

...you're the second person to mention this singing thing to me recently.

[fuckingguy]

It is just that you keep on doing it. Ever since the first trial, you know, it's like — you will be talking as normal, then suddenly you are singing for no reason, and if anyone brings it up they are the weird one.

[inaclearing]

[Brett frowns, bemused, at him for a moment.]

You know what? Come listen to the tape with Howl.

[fuckingguy]

Okay...?

[ He will simply follow Brett wherever he's going whilst looking mildly befuddled! Truly, this is a man who has turned the Euphrates red with blood on multiple occasions. ]

[inaclearing]

[He's just heading back to his suite to retrieve the tape! Nandor can follow him into his room if he likes; it's pretty neat. He's got a few trinkets on the shelf by his bed, and a super normal conspiracy board pinned up to one wall, and also a small pile of maces and swords shoved in a corner. Don't worry about it.]

Oh, here - this is it.

[He'll play the tape, skipping over most of the earlier interview pleasantries. Honestly, this is not a werewolf thing, this is a singing thing.]

[fuckingguy]

[ Uh, of course he's worrying about it, those should be mounted on Brett's walls like all of his are?? Nandor is absolutely bopping on over to the conspiracy board, but before he can get particularly invasive in checking it, Brett's got the tape and he's listening to it. ]

Do you really not hear this? I mean, yes, he is just speaking about this Gerda, but there is a guitar in the background — and now he is singing.

[inaclearing]

[The conspiracy board is pretty much everything that's been presented at meetings, anyway! It's just more organized and has some of Brett's own thoughts and theories.]

This is just the raw footage. There definitely wasn't a guitar.

[Brett folds his arms, starting to look a little uneasy.]

I mean, he's just - he's being eloquent.