changing and replacing this mask, show time;

[recrypt]

Comments

[survivaltricks]

[that's such a mood, mauyn]

. . . none of them mentioned a strange picture, no.

[h-hm]

But Natalie was told by the directors that the cabin that burned down was another "residual." I confirmed that with Winter and Heart myself, but neither Natalie nor I know whose residual it is.

[because it can't be Giyuu and Dimitri and Shinobu's right? because they didn't recognize the equipment. . .?]

[recrypt]

Which of our locations would have had CCTV screens for surveillance involved? It sounds like there was too much technology involved for either the temple or the castle, and I doubt the island would have had all that many luxuries...

[ ... ]

In any case... it seemed like some sort of doodle, maybe. It's hard to say, because I couldn't look at it for long without my visual functions starting to throw errors at me, and it was blurred beyond recognition outside of a simplistic 'key.' Red was bad, white was good.

Predictably, it was mostly a mess of red, but... it seemed there was a bit of blue in there too?

[survivaltricks]

A doodle you couldn't look at for long. . .?

[huh]

[. . .]

Hey-- do you think it's a picture of one of our counselors? We can't see what they look like under the cloaks and hats and frills, so maybe. . .

[he trails off a little thoughtfully]

[recrypt]

[ she makes an annoyed sort of noise. ]

Yes. And unfortunately, this isn't like those old shows where you can just take an image and run it through a filter while dramatically saying enhance to miraculously recreate the original.

[ if only being a robot were that convenient. ]

That said, I'm not very sure that it looked much like a face, but if you think that's it, then it's interesting that so much of it is apparently labeled 'bad...'

[survivaltricks]

If only real life worked that way.

[AMUSED. . .]

And maybe it's not a face, but I guess their faces are the one thing in this camp I can think of that are purposefully distorted so we can't recognize them.

[recrypt]

Vaguely circular, maybe an oval at a slant. That's all I can tell you about it. If you really want to see it for yourself, you can try asking that group again.

[ but she's really not convinced it's a face.

that said, she sighs, and strokes through the fox's fur again. ]

Akira, you've asked what happens if no one dies in any given week already, correct?

[survivaltricks]

[. . . haha]

No, but I just sort of assumed the consequences were similar to the ones at the mansion.

Lili confirmed that for me.

[HE SOUNDS TIRED]

[recrypt]

Right. If no one dies, everyone does. It counts as a forfeit to the game.

[ 'game', fuck off already. ]

What an absolute farce of a game.

[survivaltricks]

[somehow, he is not surprised]

Do you think the person who killed Yu knew that?

[recrypt]

I don't know. But we can't assume... bad faith, necessarily. We don't know anything for certain about who they are, after all.

Besides, it's not like I know how far this information's spread, especially considering it obviously seems the Directors are willing to talk if you just ask.

[survivaltricks]

I'm not assuming bad faith. In fact, I think Natalie was probably onto something.

[regarding the footprints and how the person who left them may have wanted to be caught]

And yeah-- the directors are actually very forthcoming. Well. . . with anything they can be forthcoming about.

[recrypt]

It's strange what they seem to be able to talk about, and what they aren't. The items in particular...

[ it's. really weird, and it feels like those blank spaces they can't talk about are where they really should be trying to do some digging, but... ]

They still won't tell me what it is they were removing from what they give us. As far as I know, they can't say much about it at all.

[survivaltricks]

I still haven't seen them removing anything from the items they've given me at all.

[is that good or bad he doesn't know]

[recrypt]

It's such a small, but strangely specific thing...

[ do. do they start needing to figure out a list of what they've asked for??? ]

The rewards we got from the Directors come directly from them, they said, but when I asked whether that was related in any way, I was told they still can't say much. It isn't related to the residuals either, or at least... 'not quite' was the answer I got regarding that question.

[survivaltricks]

I don't even know how to make heads or tails of that answer.

[sighs]

But maybe it's something to table until they can give us more information.

[recrypt]

Haha. That makes two of us, then.

[ god i only caught up on main comm and i'm wheezing at the poor directors' announcement ]

[survivaltricks]

[THE POOR DIRECTORS' SUFFERED SO MUCH]

Ah, well.

[flops backwards, allowing the fox to climb onto his stomach and do fox things while he pets the creature's ears]

Hey, 45. . . can I ask you what you got last week as a prize? You don't have to answer that if you'd rather not.

[recrypt]

[ she offers up a bit of the until-now abandoned feed nearby to the one that's currently using her lap as a pillow first, considering that this was the original reason she was here before getting sidetracked. ]

Stuffed penguin. I think I was seeing a couple of vaguely similar things around. Don't know how I'd ever use it, but it's cute. Why?

[survivaltricks]

Was that for the furniture building task? I was asking about the end-of-the-week prize.

I got something similar for the furniture task too, though.

[STUFFED CREATURES. . . THEY CUTE]

[also he will grab some feed to feed the fox that is now lounging on his stomach]

[recrypt]

[ a mild smile. ]

I figured. No, I actually didn't get anything musical.

I got a bracelet.

[survivaltricks]

[. . . hm]

Pink and useless?

[recrypt]

Very pink, completely harmless. But I'm sure you could come to that conclusion on your own, right?

[survivaltricks]

Not necessarily. Up until now I assumed that only the musical instruments were harmless, and anyone who got something else was on the winning team.

But it sounds like I need more data about the items we receive at the end of the week before I can make that conclusion.

[recrypt]

I wish you luck in that, then. You're in a better position to be figuring that out.

You know, I'm not sure if I should be offended. I might not have any pre-built music programming in me, but it's mostly math, I'm sure I could pick it up with some effort.

[ instead, cheap variety store bracelet? ]

[survivaltricks]

I don't know about that. Somehow I doubt the people on the winning team are going to readily admit that they won.

[he says that with a crooked smile, neither offended nor amused]

You want my kazoo?

[he holds it out to her]