(no subject)

[felinguistic]

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W3, Saturday;

[crashout]

[Post-trial, Junpei winds up approaching Shiraishi with a quiet sort of frustration in his frame.]

...so. We probably should've pursued the two killers theory a little harder, but at least we caught one.

[felinguistic]

When presented with that much information it's not unlikely we were going to overcomplicate it. Although I'm concerned about the fact we missed a demon willing to dismember someone.

[ boi. same. ]

[crashout]

We positive that Illumi's the one who killed Izuminokami? All I got was that he had to make it a messy kill to throw us off of Illumi's tracks.

[felinguistic]

He mentioned the messy kill and the video, which narrows it down unless he's incredibly dedicated to throwing us off track. [ which, y'know. he could be. ]

I would say both the bodies were messy enough to throw us off track.

[crashout]

After a while, I stop trusting what the demons have to say. But given the word assassin maybe we really were that stupid after all.

[Is he taking this harder than necessary? A little.] Then who would be decided enough to send us on a scavenger hunt? Nothing says our host will continue being possessed in the next week either.

[felinguistic]

That clue didn't come from a demon at all. Maybe that was the sign we should have trusted it more.

[ fair. it's a frustration and embarrassment over all, really. ] Maybe it was a message. Anger that someone took one out earlier than they should have. So they gave us a case that made a mockery of one of us physically, and the rest of us in solving it.

[crashout]

Izuminokami told me he would help me. Maybe you're right.

They got away with it either way which is the worst part. And now we don't know where it is. [UGGGGH.] So. We have to figure out a way to find it and kill it ourselves.

[felinguistic]

Naturally. Even if we assume it does change hosts, we may be able to figure out who it possessed next based on interactions and such. Anything’ll that could help is worth looking into now.

[ ... ]

Also perhaps we should discuss what I said I’d talk about on Monday now, instead.

[crashout]

[He just...tilts his head curiously when Shiraishi changes the subject.]

Perhaps we should, Cockblocker. Anything specific you wanna tell me, or am I laying out my own research here?

[felinguistic]

[ he sighs ]

It sounds less pleasant when someone says it out loud. The naming fits the theme and purpose but isn’t going to win any awards for good first impression.

You can have a go at figuring out my actions and thought processes so far if you want. Not this week’s though, I handed you that one for free.

[crashout]

Yeah, well, can't blame you for that one. [He gives a lopsided grin.]

I'll admit I don't exactly get why you picked me this week. I don't exactly see myself as a target for something like this. [He hum to himself.] Were you awake on Thursday night?

[felinguistic]

[ it’s so bad... ]

Sometimes I’m going on instinct. Sometimes there’s a method to it. Regardless, I’ll end up protecting someone one way or the other. [ he sighs. ] No, not awake. I did fall asleep in the library though, when whatever it is that knocks us out hits us.

[crashout]

I got that. Part of your job, and always the first person you sleep with. [...hm.] What would you have done if I said no? Do you get another change to pick someone else?

[But...even more hm.] Amazing that our killer left you alone then. Maybe don't do that next time?

[felinguistic]

You didn’t though. And I think it’s just the first person you sleep with generally. If I had a ill-conceived encounter with my loud roommate it’d probably protect him, even if I didn’t specifically consider him as a possibility for the week beforehand.

I had no particular person in mind the first week and they were fine.

[ he doesn’t look super excited about the whole thing honestly ] It wasn’t my intention to end up sleeping there. But I wonder — are they picking targets and find themselves unable or unwilling to veer from them once the night has started? Based on everything that we found out yesterday, there were a few of us who fell asleep there.

[crashout]

I didn't and you know exactly why I didn't. [Begrudgingly making sure Shiraishi stays alive, of course.] But if that's how it works that makes sense. You could almost buy yourself even more time if you wanted to plan. Can I ask who you chose the first week?

I don't know about that. It might be that they just felt like they didn't have any need to do anything to you since you weren't a threat. Or it would be easier to frame you than kill you.

[felinguistic]

Which worked well when it came to sorting out the protection. [ looks like they both made sure the other lived, very much so. ] First week I just left up to chance, with whoever worked somethig out with me first. Which was your fox bride, incidentally.

[ bless. ]

We're pretty knocked out during that time. Not like we could stop them either way, if they chose to plant evidence or kill us outright. [ come to think of it. ] Did we suspect that sword last week? The one who was found sleeping at one of the crime scenes?

[crashout]

...thanks for that, even if it was accidental. [Just another thing he incidentally owes Shiraishi for.] It did work out for this week. We'll have to see if it works for the others.

[...] Nikkari usually comes under suspicion for one thing or another because it's easy to pin him for things. It's why we can't always take evidence at face value.

[felinguistic]

As far as I can tell it's worked out ever week so far. So, if you have any suggestions or requests, I'll consider them. [ hmm, hmm. ]

Yes, I know. Evidence is important, but misplaced it can be misinterpreted. I wonder if it's not some sort of opportunistic attempt to deflect attention onto a third party, based on who is there at the time.

[crashout]

...I'll keep that in mind. We'll have to approach this strategically because you have the same rules where it can't be the same person twice in a row, right? I'll let you know as soon as I have an idea.

With today, Nikkari's third hand was irrelevant and maybe not the cause of our demons. But I don't see why our demons wouldn't take the time to frame someone else. You've seen what happens to a majority of the group. Even if it's misinterpreted, we waste so much time going back and forward to rule it out.

[felinguistic]

It’s less limiting than you might think. But yes there’s always the chance I’ll protect someone one week and they’re targeted the next.

[ he’s quiet for a moment, before adding: ]

Good to see your fox bride didn’t get herself in trouble. [ yet ] This was her first week with no protection, as far as I’m aware.

The frustrating thing is a lot of us assumed we had two demons working together but nothing to back it up until the clue vouchers were used. It also didn’t help we were still searching for parts of a body for most of the evening — so if that wasn’t a deliberate distraction attempt it certainly worked out like one.

[crashout]

We just have to prepare for that. [There's a nod though.] Tamamo is...very good at beating odds. Let's hope she stays that way.

So what do we do next time, we ignore inconsequential body parts and throw out the outrageous theories immediately to pick them apart and get them out of the way?

[felinguistic]

[ yeah, even when being chewed on by a demon. ] Hopefully so.

Ideally we wouldn't have a bunch of inconsequential body parts to hunt down. Or we'd be better at finding all of them in the first place to save us some time later on.

[crashout]

So we get people to be more efficient during the investigation hours. Pair people off to strengthen their strengths and make up for their weaknesses. Not that you can really assign everybody that way, but at least a reminder beforehand to look closely at everything.

[felinguistic]

That’d be the ideal. We have people here who investigate — although I can’t offer myself as willingly for that, I don’t always do the field work. [ he’s an analyse in the office kinda guy ]

But spreading out the experience might be beneficial.

[crashout]

You're usually out there with everybody else anyway though. You can probably put together clues and point people in the right direction to keep looking. This is exactly what I'm talking about.