WEEK 2.

[trustfellows]

WEEK 2 Two people are dead. Jean Kirstein and Caren have both died due to a tragic accident. Of course, you're not entirely innocent, are you? You voted, you played into this game the Coordinators are running. But you know the stakes now. You know what failure to complete Rule Seven really means. No more excuses from here on out. Saturday is given to regrouping and sleep; come Sunday morning, the clock chimes the hour at seven o'clock and there are no dead bodies to be found, so it can be assumed that all of you are safe for the time being. That said, you'll be feeling a little groggy when you wake up; it seems you've regained something that you didn't realize you'd lost... Of course, exploring the building from here on will reveal something new: namely, a stairwell in the northeastern corner, leading upwards toward a new floor entirely. Another sign of how things are going to progress around here, maybe; chances are you'll enjoy what you've been given, but was it worth the lives of two people to obtain? PARTICIPANTS REMAINING: 33 PARTICIPANTS REMAINING: 32

SUNDAY | MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY
[OOC: Welcome to week two of Trustfell! Feel free to make as many top levels as you'd like and tag out to other characters! This post is for all of your interactions this week... at least until the weekend. Don't forget to save those threads for coins and the activity check!

If you'd like to get in contact with the Coordinators, you can do so through private meetings with Alena!]

Comments

[heritrix]

[Rin, meanwhile, has slept very little this week and not at all last night (hence 4 AM adventures in front of the clock), which probably explains why it takes a few seconds for Cabanela to get her attention. Even then it's the vacant sort until a spark of recognition flashes in her eyes, like she only realized he was there that very moment. Immediately stands straighter, expression shifting into one that's halfway normal, if on guard.]

Fine. I'm fine.

[perpend]

[He'd offer to make her some tea, but the rules being what they are....]

We've been through a lot in this past week.

[heritrix]

[...Rin's left arm is held close to her middle; horizontal with her chest, the position is kind of awkward.]

...I was thinking just the opposite, actually. That not enough has happened, and I haven't learned as much I should have. [...] It's been a week, but it feels like I'm getting nowhere... Or the world is moving agonizingly slow.

[She adjusts her arm just a fraction of an inch, gaze shifting back to the clock with a soft intake of breath.]

...But perhaps that's just me.

[perpend]

Two people have died. I'd say plenty has happened. I wish I were the sort to believe that would be the last of it.

[He sighs.]

But we know nothing of our current situation.

[heritrix]

[Yeah, don't mind her Cabanela, that's just Grail War syndrome talking. Rin doesn't even try to defend her point of view; in the part of her conscious mind that isn't shrieking with agonizing pain she can agree two deaths are unforgivable too, strangers or not.

...said agonizing pain is infinitely more consuming attention-wise, that said. They know nothing of their situation... It's been a week, and that's all that matters to Rin. It's getting near impossible to think straight; she's not even sure how she got out here, come to think of it.]

What time is it?

[perpend]

Four-something? It's pretty late.

[Or early, depending on how you look at things.]

I'd offer to make you something to drink, but the kitchen is still off-limits.

[heritrix]

[Three hours to go. Three hours, and then she—]

A nice cup of tea would hit the spot now. [Her chuckle sounds a little high; a little hoarse.] What are you up for?

[perpend]

Can't sleep myself, actually.

It's nooothing new, not because of this place... but that doesn't make it much better.

[heritrix]

Right. You're a detective...

[perpend]

That's riiight. There's always something on my mind. A case, what those working under me are doing, if Lynne is getting herself into trouble...

[heritrix]

Tell me about them.

[perpend]

Lynne's a good kid. She's something of a daughter to me; she was in the station often as a child, wanting to know more about the people who saved her from an incident when she was young. Once she joined the force, I took her under my wing.

As for the case, I've been looking into the connection between three impossible events. Two of which involve people doing things they had no way of knowing what to do, and the third involved a friend, a fellow police officer, claiming he did a crime he couldn't have committed.

[heritrix]

[Tomorrow she might feel bad for this. She's not interested so much as desperate; desperate for anything to take her mind off the pain in her arm. Cabanela's voice is like static in the face of it; she has to concentrate to make anything out, and even then sometimes it fades along the edges. She can't think.

But Rin tries, holding on to the words like slippery stones. If Cabanela is watching her, her lips move soundlessly, mouthing the very story he's telling her with stalls and gaps, like a student studying out loud to better commit the facts to memory.

The case... What... What was the case? No, it was three... And a cop...]

Blackmail...?

[perpend]

[Cabanela looks thoughtful.]

That's possible. If so, we haven't found any evidence of it. It's incredibly frustrating.

[heritrix]

What— [Nngh.] What evidence supports it?

[perpend]

Noot much, unfortunately. Just the circumstantial evidence that points towards my friend's innocence.

[heritrix]

[She's mumbling, repeating after him again. One of those words can be made out in a wheeze, 'circumstantial'. Rin doesn't ask another question, but she's still listening or at least clearly trying to, if he wants to elaborate.]

[perpend]

....This will make me sound crazy, but I've been doing a lot of research into the idea that there is an outside force manipulating things. I've called it the "manipulator" for obvious reasons.

I'm low on proof, but...

[heritrix]

[If Cabanela's going into conspiracy theory territory with her, Rin might have to ask him later on if this was an actual conversation they had or just a weird fever dream she had. But if it's any consolation, she's not looking at him like he sounds crazy. She's watching the clock instead, brow wrinkling in a combination of pain and puzzlement.]

Outside force?

[Why does he say that like that should be some otherworldly thing?]

[perpend]

...Yes. Granted, I don't know what that means, because it could mean a lot of things. The best I've got so far is some sort of brainwashing.