plan all your moves in advance (week 5 meeting)

[fuckingguy]

[ So, it's Wednesday, and we're having a meeting in the bathroom of the bowling alley.

Jonathan is the one who initially attempts to set said meeting up, and perhaps that's how you found out about this! But while he's putting the gathering together, his efforts come up against (read: are viciously hijacked by) several other people's similar ideas, and, somehow, this ends up organically manifesting itself. No invitations are sent; word of mouth serves instead. If you aren't given warning ahead of time, by Wednesday afternoon, it's kind of a gimme; many of the people still alive are suddenly absent, and of those who remain, at least two are actively suggesting everyone else head over to the bowling alley bathroom. Zinda's methods are probably less Like This, but Nandor's... ]

Bathroom safety meeting! Bathroom safety meeting, everyone! Follow me, please, we are having it in a more amenable space.

[ And he will absolutely not take no for an answer and keep following people around until they comply, so unless you slam the suite door in his face (valid), the path of least resistance is probably just going! The bathroom, once you show up, is a far cry from the garden party or even the changing room get-together on week 3. Dandy and Misfire (?) have instruments, which they are playing annoyingly, but that seems to be about it as far as outside preparations go. ]

Good; that is all of us, and now we can begin. [ Whether this is actually all of them or not is irrelevant! He clears his throat. ] As you may have realized... there is no bathroom safety meeting. That was but a ruse, crafted to conceal our secret meeting, and now we are going to discuss what we have discovered over the past two weeks and how we will go about unleashing utter destruction on Fontaine.

[ You also might simply be in the bowling alley already and need to use the restroom. That is entirely possible, and if so, tough luck. ]

So, uh, what have we got?

Comments

[howveryglib]

Perhaps that is the case, yes. We would likely need more information to know for certain, of course...

[honeyedtea]

... didn't he say his goal was to populate the city, somehow?

[howveryglib]

It seems like all the murder is counterproductive… unless our lives are being traded for access to means of further populating the city.

[honeyedtea]

No matter how I turn it over in my head, it simply doesn't make any sense. If we were brought here with the intent of being killed, why waste resources on keeping us... well, relatively happy and healthy? Why is our quality of life here being kept to the standard that it is?

[howveryglib]

...

The way the trials are set up is designed to result in exactly one survivor, is it not? I wonder if that may have something to do with it.

[honeyedtea]

Do you have some ideas as to what he could be seeking, to that end?

[howveryglib]

Not in terms of populating the city, no. It could be a means of determining who has the right qualities to rule a city like this and ensure everyone stays in line, but that is the closest possibility I can imagine.

[honeyedtea]

I suppose I've heard of a number of ridiculous ways to pick a successor, but they certainly takes the cake. But I wouldn't put it past him in the least.

But would anyone here want to rule this city after being trapped here?

[howveryglib]

That is, admittedly, the thing that causes me to question the plausibility of that theory. I suppose his ego could be such that he is unable to conceive otherwise, but he does not seem quite that dim.

[honeyedtea]

So we're back to square one of having no idea of his motives...

[ She sighs. ]

It certainly would be easier if we could dismiss all this as his simply being a madman, but this seems to be too elaborate an arrangement for a simple lunatic.

[howveryglib]

If we were in my home realm I could suggest tempering as an explanation for any bizarre behavior, but Eleanor exhibits the symptoms of tempering far more than Fontaine does. It is an affliction of the mind that demands absolute loyalty, and he seems to have free will…

[honeyedtea]

Mm. Given that we know for a fact he has access to resources from our home realms, it's not entirely out of the realm of possibility. What exactly is tempering?

[howveryglib]

...You are not incorrect. In any case... Tempering is basically the process in which an eikon--that is, some sort of summoned false deity--irreversibly bends a person to their will.

[it's fucked up!]