I always put myself in destructive situations [W5, Friday]

[hydrokinetics]

[It took time. Everything took time as it always did. It took time for them to all calm down, it took time to heal physical wounds, it took time to properly remove the evidence of obscene crimes...but in the evening they were able to gather in one place away from everyone else. It hadn't been easy coordinating everything, but it was necessary.

And so here they were. All seven of them.]

...I don't really know where to start. [His voice is tight, but determined.] But we need everybody on the same page. Who wants to go first?

Comments

[robitussin]

I'm wrong, right? I'm wrong. There's no way. I'm just being paranoid, right?

[thatsthespirit]

[she. isn't. answering that]

I believe the Madame should possibly look into Dr. Lecter before Xion.

[impulsiveness]

[........ regardless of what Natalie may say next, he nods to Milla.

Noted.]

[insincerely]

... Agreed.

[He's biased, but.]

[elemancy]

[absolutely.]

[robitussin]

...Yeah. Yeah.

[she's going to puke again oh my god]

[hydrokinetics]

There's more. [Ohgodsohgodsohgods.]

...Dr. Lecter is who told me about the roles' jobs. He came to me and said that his surgeries on us have earned him enough merit to learn these things. He already knew about the Bounties when I spoke to him.

I told him I wished it was easier to figure out the roles and who they belonged to. And he said that he could imagine Hal picking the Bounties based on what he finds the most amusing. So...I asked him who the most amusing Bounties would be. And he said he initially thought it'd be people with a tendency toward violence, but now knowing everybody here he'd say it's people that're the opposite. People who want to do good. People who won't kill.

Hal told me that the Deputy is the "good guy" role. The Bounty Leader is the "bad guy." He said not to take character into account for the people filling the roles.

So I said it was unfair and that it was messing with morals, which...it is. And he said "that's why I think he'd find it amusing." So I asked how we'd figure out what Hal found funny. Dr. Lecter said...we'd have to put ourselves in Hal's frame of mind. Watch everything like it was a game. Said it was a dangerous frame to be in, but that being a little sociopathic is how you could predict what Hal's doing.

This was a week ago.

[elemancy]

[]

That's...

[incriminating.]

[hydrokinetics]

I know. [Fuuuuuck.]

[elemancy]

Looks like everything's piling up to give us a good lead to... solving this.

[assuming they're not wrong, but noct can't really see how they could be that far off the mark with how things are adding up.]

[hydrokinetics]

It's something we can have the Madame check, at least. That's the most important part in all of this. If they check and the story checks out, we have a basis to figure out what to do next.

[impulsiveness]

[JUST

A SMALL

KEENING SOUND OVER HERE.

EVERYTHING IS FIND IN THE TOWN OF WHOLE ASS.]

[hydrokinetics]

[YEAH. YEAH BASICALLY. Just a helpless look???]

[robitussin]

...He's a psychiatrist. He told me that after he saved me. So... He would know how people think. How to make sure people trust him.

[Until his boyfriend gets drunk and starts rambling about cows?? I guess. THANKS, WILL.]

[hydrokinetics]

See? This is why I don't like counselors. [MMMMM...] ...he's done more than just surgery and psychiatry though. I...[He looks a little shaken.]

...he told me how he and Will met.

[robitussin]

...How?

[hydrokinetics]

The FBI. Dr. Lecter used to be a profiler for serial killers.

[INTERNAL SCREAMING IN FULL HD!]

[robitussin]

No way.

[holy shit???]

[hydrokinetics]

It's what he told me, I'm not sure if it's true but I don't think that's something he'd lie about. He told me not to say anything because he didn't want to give everybody here false hopes about what he's really capable of in finding murderers. And that makes sense, but...with everything else it's a little weird, right?

[Or flat-out terrifying.]

[insincerely]

[Well, to add onto the incriminating signs:]

... When Xion and I were talking about the Doctor role, she said that it seemed like it pointed to Dr. Lecter, but that also seemed too obvious.

Seeing as how she actually knew all along who the Doctor was... I have to wonder if she was trying to make him appear less suspicious.

[hydrokinetics]

I said the same thing to Dr. Lecter myself, that the Doctor role being himself would be really obvious.

He may have borrowed that to tell her to send her out to find information. I don't know. I really don't know.

[insincerely]

Yeah... it might just be bias talking now that we've got a new suspect, but Xion doesn't seem... all that people savvy—which is unsurprising, considering what her world's like. Dunno if she mentioned the details about her home to anyone else.

But anyway, if Dr. Lecter's telling her how to manipulate people...

[hydrokinetics]

If you mean about her memories and how she was born...I know. She told me.

We don't know that's what's going on. The thing we really need to think about is if Xion's actually listening to him if he is.

[insincerely]

Well, that and her world in general. She told me there weren't many people in it—fourteen in total, nine she knew—and that the population we had here at the start of the game was a lot in her eyes. In other words, she's got very little experience dealing with other living beings.

... We know she's impressionable. I mean, she listens to me, and I'm the guy who did everything I could to make her hate me after Riku's death [people uh might recall that Xion was not happy with Shinnosuke that trial], so that's the standard she has for people.

[hydrokinetics]

Which means she's almost naive in a lot of senses, and would easily attach to someone who would help her find answers and understand what was going on.

[So yes, impressionable.] I'm not going to ask what's happened between you two, but it's a standard to keep in mind. We don't know what else she's being told. Especially now that we know she's lying to us.