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Post by Coaster on Aug 12, 2013 11:04:35 GMT -5
Obi finally rebooted amidst the commotion.
“SHUT UUUUUUUP!” Geoffrey screamed.
Nobody did. Except Obi, for of course, everyone knows that shutting up is the opposite of shutting down.
Seeing that Prince Stal's announcement had set the discussion ablaze again--particularly after the announcement that watching people panic is more fun--Rob had begun to sharpen his own pickaxe with a threatening gleam in his eye. Clearly, his targeting systems were engaged.
Not knowing where to find Rob's shutdown switch or whether he even still had one, Obi took the nearest loose pipe (with a peculiar pattern of dents on it) and bashed it against Rob's arm, causing the pickaxe to go flying into the crowd. Then, as usual, he made a swift retreat and tried to find a safe hiding spot.
A pile of boxes in the corner looked promising. He ducked into the nearest gap to enter the space and assumed a quivering fetal position.
He quickly noticed another fellow who seemed to be in a similar predicament.
Obi whispered, "Is your boss a meanie, too?"
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Post by Thundy on Aug 12, 2013 11:05:43 GMT -5
Manuel was growing quite tiresome of his confinement in the basement. The watch on his wrist ticked by seconds, then minutes, and would soon be reaching into hours. A slight rumble of hunger ran through his stomach. Was there any food in this basement? Likely not. He was beginning to miss even the freeze dried and liquid diets he'd had on his orbital missions. It was better than nothing. And here he was again confined to a small space for an unknown amount of time, with the thread of danger, but thankfully, no weightlessness to make him ill, and no chance of a pressure leak. Manuel shuddered, he never liked the thought of imagining his eyeballs popping like overripe grapes in a sudden pressure loss.
Ah, and at least the atmosphere wasn't combustible either. He withdrew a small wooden tobacco pipe from his breast pocket and then felt around for his matches. A sudden memory flashed before his eyes of the box of matches still sitting on the table when he was lead down here. He muttered silently under his breath and announced aloud. "Would anyone be so kind as to lend me a match? I seem to have misplaced my packet."
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Post by Avery on Aug 12, 2013 16:05:43 GMT -5
Everyone was yelling, everyone was fighting, everyone was accusing and your-faulting. Hanna could not stand the noise, the clamor, the anger. Geoffrey attempted to half-heartedly convince the lot of them that she could not be the murderer, but at this point Hanna barely cared. She crept over to the far corner of the basement and leaned against the wall, screwed her eyes shut in an effort to block out the infernal squabbling. In the middle of the room, Drunkle still lay in a snoozing, passed out heap, her glasses pushed askew, looking more like a drunken co-ed than a well-respected, middle-aged therapist.
And that Prince Stal, claiming he knew the killer but refusing to name him or her! It made Hanna so mad she could punch him, though she didn't, because then people would think she was the killer.
With a deep breath, Hanna leaned back even harder against the wall-- and promptly fell as it gave way. Her eyes fluttered open, and she screamed, as she landed in a dusty, dark, narrow corridor. Another mouth of the monster, like in the shed! NO!
With a gasp, she scrambled out of it and blinked back the tears that were welling in her eyes.
"I WILL NOT BE EATEN!" she shrieked to no one in particular. "I AM GOING TO SURVIVE THIS NIGHT, EVEN IF IT KILLS ME!"
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Post by Terra on Aug 12, 2013 16:38:35 GMT -5
It wasn't just the narrator who didn't shut up. Nobody did.
Well, that wasn't quite true, but Geoffrey refused to count the narrator's joke about it being the opposite of shutting down, on principle, even though it was a very good joke and Geoffrey simply doesn't have any sense of humor. I mean, really.
(Geoffrey scowled at this. Serves him right.)
But as Geoffrey was thinking about this, he slowly realized that everyone was reacting to something the prince had said, and that he'd entirely managed to miss.
It was obvious from the narration and from the remarks of everyone around him that it was something rather important; perhaps some kind of clue?
Alexa felt cold. Could Prince Stal really have seen something and actually know the killer?
Oh.
So he thought he knew...and, it seemed, he was withholding his knowledge from everyone else.
As the narrator conveniently repeated Prince Stal's remarks, it became clear to Geoffrey that the prince was simply keeping the murderer's identity (or at least what he thought it was) to himself for his own amusement.
Geoffrey's blood boiled at the thought. The more he looked at Prince Stal, the more cruel, smug, and arrogant he appeared. The more he listened to Prince Stal speak, the more he hated him. And the more he was in the same room as Prince Stal, the less he could contain his fury -
"WHY CAN'T YOU FREAKING TELL PEOPLE WHEN YOU KNOW WHO THE MURDERER IS?!" screeched Geoffrey. "I MEAN, IF YOU KNOW SOMETHING THAT COULD MAYBE, I DUNNO, HELP KEEP US FROM GETTING MURDERED IF THE MURDERER WOULD STRIKE AGAIN, WHY WOULD YOU KEEP IT TO YOURSELF? IT'S PRETTY DARN RUDE OF YOU, I MUST SAY. AND ALSO INCREDIBLY IRRESPONSIBLE! I MEAN I DON'T KNOW WHAT OMNISCIENT BEINGS ARE USUALLY LIKE, BUT FROM WHAT I'VE SEEN THEY MUST BE INCREDIBLY CALLOUS AND GENERALLY ALL-AROUND AWFUL, BECAUSE YOU ARE THE WORST! YOU'VE TORTURED ME THROUGHOUT MY ENTIRE LIFE AND NOW YOU'RE PROBABLY GOING TO GET ME AND MY SISTER AND EVERYONE ELSE HERE KILLED! ALL FOR YOUR OWN SICK AND TWISTED AMUSEMENT! I MEAN I'M SURE AS A NARRATOR YOU WANT TO TELL A GOOD STORY AND ALL THAT, BUT WE ARE REAL PEOPLE IN A REAL MANSION WITH A REAL DEAD BODY AND I REFUSE TO BELIEVE -"
He stopped.
What if it wasn't a real dead body?
What if this really was some kind of cruel prank, and the narrator was trying to obfuscate the truth?
He turned slowly and looked at Miss Macy.
"Why, exactly, are you so insistent that we can't melt away the ice encasing Mr. Woo's body?" he asked. "Is it really just so the ice sculpture isn't ruined, or is there something else going on here?"
His eyes narrowed.
"Are you hiding anything from us?"
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Post by icon on Aug 12, 2013 16:55:37 GMT -5
And oh, the busts were sitting back on top of Monty. Absolutely lovely, just what he needed right now. Fallen down a flight of stairs, practically shattered open, and what happens? Those two snark magnets appear again, just to keep mocking him and everybody else in this mansion.
"This basement is absolutely stuffed!"
"Better than being packed in that old shed."
"Not by much, though- at least the tools in there didn't try to kill each other!"
"DOHOHOHOHOHOHO!"
"For crying out loud, Stallary, Wheatloaf," Monty yelled out, "why don't you two make like a sphinx and get your noses chopped off?"
"Sphinx? What a presumptuous comment! We are statues of caliber, we certainly don't sphinx!"
"Yeah, well your jokes sure do!" He shot back.
That seemed to quiet the pair of them for a while. Maybe now Monty could concentrate on the guests. He skirted his way towards the corner when a sudden wall panel gave away in a shower of dust. Some poor person had leaned too hard against it. He rolled even closer, spotting the woman who fell in. Propping his case open slightly, he couldn't help but comment, "Lady, tonight is clearly not your night."
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Post by downrightdude on Aug 12, 2013 17:18:57 GMT -5
"WHY CAN'T YOU FREAKING TELL PEOPLE WHEN YOU KNOW WHO THE MURDERER IS?!" screeched Geoffrey. "I MEAN, IF YOU KNOW SOMETHING THAT COULD MAYBE, I DUNNO, HELP KEEP US FROM GETTING MURDERED IF THE MURDERER WOULD STRIKE AGAIN, WHY WOULD YOU KEEP IT TO YOURSELF? IT'S PRETTY DARN RUDE OF YOU, I MUST SAY. AND ALSO INCREDIBLY IRRESPONSIBLE! I MEAN I DON'T KNOW WHAT OMNISCIENT BEINGS ARE USUALLY LIKE, BUT FROM WHAT I'VE SEEN THEY MUST BE INCREDIBLY CALLOUS AND GENERALLY ALL-AROUND AWFUL, BECAUSE YOU ARE THE WORST! YOU'VE TORTURED ME THROUGHOUT MY ENTIRE LIFE AND NOW YOU'RE PROBABLY GOING TO GET ME AND MY SISTER AND EVERYONE ELSE HERE KILLED! ALL FOR YOUR OWN SICK AND TWISTED AMUSEMENT! I MEAN I'M SURE AS A NARRATOR YOU WANT TO TELL A GOOD STORY AND ALL THAT, BUT WE ARE REAL PEOPLE IN A REAL MANSION WITH A REAL DEAD BODY AND I REFUSE TO BELIEVE -"
Snaw gasped at Geoffrey's scream. Though the young man was loud, he had a point; why WAS the infamously unfashionable Prince Stal acting so Nancy Drew-ish all of a sudden? Does he really know who killed Mr. Woo.
Still skeptical about the Prince's innocence, Snaw Van Peacock approached Geoffrey and patted his shoulder. "Me think it's good of you to scream, dearest Geoffrey," Snaw insisted. He gave Geoffrey the journal he found and opened to the two pages where the map was laid out. "My crime-scanner watch tells me that this was made by somebody that was not me! Also, do you think the red-leather colour is ugly or in-season?"
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Post by Stal on Aug 12, 2013 18:34:07 GMT -5
The tide was turning against Prince Stal and quick. People always love the dramatic reveals at other times, but not now? Something was decidedly wrong with these people. They were every single one of them mad. "If only I had the textwall prowess of my father. He'd have them all eating out of his hand by now." Or sleeping. Either way, he'd have a way out of this. A way like a secret passage.
A secret passage.
Of course.
Hanna was screaming about being eaten by the monster. Prince Stal turned and looked at Barry, and they both ventured in after Hanna. "Hanna! It's okay! We have you and the mansion isn't going to hurt you with me and Barry around. (Barry was still following Prince Stal like the sweet Err Bear he was)
Except Prince Stal had put his hand over Hanna's mouth and pulled her tight to himself. "Hanna, you're about the only one I can trust right now. I need you to trust me." He then flung her over his shoulder, slapped the big red "press here to close passage" button and fled out the secret passage with Barry close behind him.
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Post by Kristykimmy on Aug 12, 2013 19:11:35 GMT -5
"Oh, for heaven's sake!" Alexa screamed as Stal vanished into the secret passage way. "I hope she kills you, you wretch!"
Alexa stomped her foot. Of course he would decide to run off and make a scene instead of just coming out with it. Why did he decide to take Hanna with him, she wondered? If she still had those screwdrivers in her pocket, she was likely to stab him in the back. Not that she would be horribly sorry about that, the arrogant jerk.
Alexa grabbed Geoffrey's arm and dragged him to the passage, pressing the button to open it.
"I don't care that you are as crazy as your sister," Alexa said. "Or that she's crazy. It would make perfect sense for Stal to know the killer if he was the killer. He's not doing himself any favors by running off and kidnapping your sister. Now, come on!"
She hurried up the passage, dragging Geoffrey behind her.
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Post by Gelquie on Aug 12, 2013 19:36:17 GMT -5
Rochelle came to the conclusion--based on Stal's remarks--that he likely didn't know a darn thing about who killed Woo. Her face contorted into a frown at this; she knew that some people were attention seekers, but that they would lie about something like this just made something inside her stomach writhe despite the alcohol. Before she could say anything, though, she saw Geoffrey suddenly launch into a huge tirade at Stal. She instinctively tried to step away from them and stumbled in the process, almost falling. But she took a deep breath and managed to put herself back together. She had to remain professional. This was important. In any case, she pretty much completely agreed with every single thing that Geoffrey said, so the decided to stay silent. There wasn't any need for her to say more.
But then things changed. Just as Hanna opened what seemed to be a secret passageway and tried to keep away from it, screaming about being eaten, Stal suddenly just swooped her up and began running with her, running through closing the passage behind him. Rochelle let out a yelp at this.
"Kidnapper!" she cried out. Before she could move, she saw Alexa drag Geoffrey to the passage and try to bring him up. She nodded in agreement.
"We have to stop him!" she proclaimed. "For all we know, he could be the murderer. We can't let her suffer the same fate as my dear Woo!"
She stopped. She really did not mean to let that "my dear" slip out. Then again, she supposed that she hadn't been doing well at hiding that the entire night. I mean, if Geoffrey caught on, who's to say the others won't? So she decided to just drop any pretenses about that particular secret.
"Yes, I just called him dear, and I truly mean that, but point is she could be in trouble. Miss Macy, they just escaped. You can't expect us to stay here while they're out and not let us try to catch them!"
With that, she raced over to the passageway as quickly as she could (minus the small stumble on the way) to avoid getting shot and slipped through. The least she could do was make this three on one. And besides, there were more people to watch over Miss Macy. Including Sergei. He'd certainly help, she knew it.
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Post by Stal on Aug 12, 2013 19:39:14 GMT -5
((You're all just jealous of Prince Stal and you know it))
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Post by Avery on Aug 12, 2013 19:39:27 GMT -5
Oh, it was very clear to Hanna now, as she lay draped over Stal's shoulder: it had been him all along. He was-- it was so obvious!-- in fact not a prince, but the mansion in the human form it had assumed. So clever! So very clever! Why had she not thought of it until now?
She tried to flail out of his grip, but to no avail... and she couldn't even reach the screwdrivers in her pocket. With a crushing sadness, Hanna realized that this was it for her. This human mansion, Stal-- Stalsion!-- was going to kill her. It was over.
The mansion would win after all.
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Post by ♥ Azzie on Aug 12, 2013 19:41:30 GMT -5
Minerva was terrified.
She had no idea who had committed the murder; she'd thought it was Hanna, at first, but after seeing the behaviour of the other party guests, she honestly wasn't sure if many at all were mentally sound. And now she was being forced, at gunpoint, to stay in a basement with a murderer.
Though she kept trying to avoid it, her thoughts strayed often back home. She hadn't told her daughter she was going out; when time stands still, you don't often need to make excuses for being gone. But she found herself now, for the first time in over a year, seriously being afraid she would die. Afraid she would never see her grandson grow up. And she wondered what they would think, if she never turned up again; sooner or later, something would have to happen. They would realize she was gone, and never find out where. It was inevitable. And she couldn't bear thinking about it.
But the thought lingered in her mind, displaced only by the occasional jab of anger at her colleague. If only he'd taken the invitation instead of her, this would be over already, the police would be here, and the innocent partygoers would be safe and sound in their homes, instead of caged up in the basement of a dead man's mansion.
She noticed a woman seemingly asleep across the room. Fearing the worst, she rushed over and grasped the woman's wrist, feeling for a pulse. When she found one, she let out a sigh of relief.
"Excuse me, ma'am? Excuse me?" she said, trying to wake her. "Are you all right?"
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Post by Stal on Aug 12, 2013 19:52:28 GMT -5
"Stop squirming, Hanna. Trust me." Prince Stal played a desperate gamble. "I've known all along. I'm a secret agent." (Why gamble if you can't double down?) "A secret agent cowboy Prince Stal. I'm saving you from the mansion now. You have to trust me! You can help me put a stop to this mansion. To all mansions!"
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Post by Draco on Aug 12, 2013 20:15:35 GMT -5
Mori peers out of a small opening in his fort. He wasn't sure what was going on again. But he didn't really want to know. He knew they were all crazy. He knew one had to be guilty.
"Yes. I agree. The truth is there is not one of them that is innocent. They are all guilty. Every last one of them. Guilty for different crimes from their lives. If only I had the eyes... If I had the eyes to see... I could bring justice to those whose names I do not know. And those with aliases."
Mori begins to breath heavily.
"I would delete their existences one after another. Delete... Delete... DELETE!!!"
Silence...
"Yes, I know you would help me. After all, you're my one true friend. I would never delete you."
Silence...
"Who to start with? Perhaps the one who threatened us? The royal one? The one who stole our manga? The old people. After all, you can never trust the old people."
Silence...
"Heheheheee.... If only I had the power. The book. I would be deleting these people off the planet as we speak. One after another. Delete. Delete. Delete..."
Silence....
"Yes. Then we could return back to my apartment. There we can sit and be by ourselves again. Of course, we need to plot revenge on our other so call friends when we return. Kukukukuku...."
He pulls his cell phone out again.
"Friends. Everyone must be deleted. Me and Taka will take care of them all. Then we can return home!"
A few moments and a jingle later.
"Dude. Are you talking to Taka again?"
"Of course I am. Why wouldn't I? He's my friend."
"I can't believe we forgot to give you your medication before dropping you off... We didn't think you would go postal."
"Postal? Nonsense. I'm going to clean up."
There was a small pause, waiting for the reply. The jingle was different, from another friend of Mori.
"I got $50 on you. Go clean house. Btw, we'll be picking you up in the morning. Be done by then."
--- The friends however didn't understand the full meaning of what Mori was speaking of. Thinking everything was simply some games he was playing...
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Post by Celestial on Aug 12, 2013 20:33:43 GMT -5
Sergei raised an eyebrow at Prince Stal's announcement. It was quite selfish of the man to keep the information all to himself, especially since if the culprit was unmasked, they could all go back upstairs and enjoy the party. But no, the Prince had to keep them all down here for the sake of drama. Drama was however, quite useless. It provided him no pleasure like fine food, wine or company did and there was no advantage in having drama on your side.
He kept an eye on Rochelle as she introduced herself to Manuel, an introduction that went quite well to him, while another was fixed on Stal, even as he argued with Snaw. It was quite possible he was stalling for time. By now, his suspicions about Miss Macy had spread and others were talking about it, something which gave Sergei some satisfaction, he had to admit. But it was all empty discussion, they were no closer to finding the culprit as they were to learning how to make water into wine.
Upon hearing Manuel's remark, Sergei rustled around in his pockets, pulling out among other things a flyer for classes in creative swearing, a mouse pelt, a tiny abridged copy of the first volume of Das Capital, a collectable nesting doll and several moustache combs before he found some matches for his friend. He tossed them over to the astronaut and gave him a reassuring smile.
"Thank me later," he told Sir Adventure before suddenly, Geoffrey's outbrust distracted him. He marched over to the young man and held out his flask.
"Calm, drink. You need this," Sergei pushed the flask almost into his face, letting the smell of the vodka inside drift up Geoffrey's nostrils.
Just then, all hell broke lose as Stal escaped down the secret passage, as you do. Frankly it did not surprise Sergei that the wily prince would have a way out. People of his standing and smugness levels always do. But he took a young girl with him! It would not stand!
"Tovarishi! We cannot let him escape! Even if he is no murderer, he knows something! We must wrestle that information out! Let's go!" Sergei yelled and lifted up his fist into the air. If he had a sword or some kind of weapon with him this would have looked more inspiring but as it stood, a fist was good enough. Perhaps there was some use for drama...
Nevertheless, he pressed the button that opened up the secret passage and took Rochelle's hand before bowing to her politely.
"My dear? Would you accompany me?" he asked, already knowing the answer was yes from how she spoke. With that, he grabbed the matches he lent to Sir Manuel, lit one and raced down the passageway after Stal.
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