sidearmofthelaw | RW: private to Percy

[For one thing, he's carrying a bandaged dog. Nisha may recognize Mrs. O'Leary who looks like a mastiff puppy, but Percy doesn't think much of it. Instead, his eyes narrow almost dangerously and he opens his mouth to respond, thinking better of it when they're still out in the open.]

Looking for me for something particular? [It's more hostile than usual, but he'll listen. It happens when the love of your life burns to a crisp and becomes coyote fodder.]

[ She doesn't seems to mind the hostility, anyway, and her voice is still mild. ]

Yeah. Hadn't exactly escaped my attention you were close with her. Annabeth. Wanted to check in on you.

[ She tilts her head a little. ]

We can talk in my room a bit.

[A shrug.] You had Jack. I had Annabeth. [He knows nothing about who Jack is other than someone Nisha was with when she died, someone who maybe fought next to her. He's assuming, but it's all he can do. He makes no movements yet, however.]

We can. But you have to be honest with me. [He doesn't trust she will.] Did you do this? You're the one who was rooming with her.

Heh. Things sure would be a hell of a lot more interesting if Jack was here.

[ She quirks a slight smile at that before addressing the rest of it. ]

I did not. Haven't killed anyone but Ocelot, so far. That's the honest truth.

...If you want an argument, if I was gonna pick someone to kill for a reward, it wouldn't be her. For a plenty of reasons.

I'm not sure if your kind of interesting is the same as mine, but I'll take your word for it.

[No. Don't smile? Nisha, stop.] And you know I took Undertaker so we're even. They found the bodies, by the way. The girls. We should be more careful what we do with them.

[...that's somewhat reassuring?] Someone did though. And I need to find out who. [A beat even as he shifts Mrs. O'Leary in his arms.] Let's go inside before somebody else shows up.

Yeah, c'mon. You can bring your... dog, too, if you want.

[ She hesitates on that because what you call a dog on Pandora is pretty different. But she's getting the idea around this place.

She doesn't continue talking until they're inside her room. Annabeth's bed is there, of course, unmade. ]

I heard they went down in the mines, yeah. Sounds like they had some troubles down there that were more their focus than the bodies for the moment, though who knows if that'll change.

[His interest is piqued a bit when she stumbled on the word, if only because he wonders if she knows of Mrs. OLeary's true nature somehow. But he follows her wordlessly and settles on Annabeth's bed immediately.]

You mean like the skeletons? Wonder why we didn't run into that problem.

I'm gonna guess it's because we were meant to be there. Hopefully no one decides to try that again, at this point. Maybe the Sheriff'll warn 'em off a little.

[ Nisha sits down on her own bed. ]

Kinda just confuses this whole situation more, though. Especially for everyone else.

You realize you're calling the pit sentient. [He doesn't sound skeptical, he just wants Nisha to be aware of what she's saying.] We have a lot of nosy people around here. I already know Milla was thinking of going back to check it out...killing people that aren't playing's one thing, but I'm not sure about letting more people get hurt for trying something else.

I'm not saying any such thing. Sure, that's one possibility, I guess. Could be like a rakk hive or something, feeding off the corpses left down there. But this whole place is clearly a setup, it's probably automated and controlled. We don't trip the security, but they clearly did.

[ She shrugs. ]

Milla, I told her to at least make a plan and ask the sheriff first. I don't really care in principle if people start dying throwing themselves down the pit, but if people start getting working up a crusade that puts us in an awkward position.

Doesn't explain the other pit the Sheriff was digging yesterday. There's some kind of disconnect here. And maybe we don't trip security but we also don't know how long that'll last, too.

[It's only because he's on Annabeth's bed with his dog that he can even be calm enough to have this conversation.] It's only awkward if we're in the middle of a kill when they decide to show up down there. Or if one of them has one of the other roles in this game. Heard anything about those yet?

Not really, no. You heard anything?

...And, if it comes down at some point to someone questioning you about whether you've killed someone down in that pit, are you gonna be able to lie to their faces? Our kills don't matter for the trials, but that doesn't mean no one's gonna be trying to figure out what's happening.

Still looking into it. I'm hoping this trial'll give us some more to go off of.

[He looks briefly affronted though and almost grieved by her question.] I never told Annabeth. Nobody else matters, so nobody else is ever going to know.

Not judging you, kid. I expect people are gonna ask me some probing questions myself, and I'm not a great liar.

[Huh.] Either you're really being honest with me right now or you're the best liar possible to lie about lying. I can't tell.

So if that's true, what are you going to do?

Look, I've got plenty of experience killing people, but I don't usually do it secretly, alright.

[ A huff. ]

I'll do my best, obviously. S'true I don't have anything to hide that's relevant to the trial, anyway. Should serve me through.

Then I guess next week will be a whole other challenge. [He frowns.] We still have the bandits running alongside us that could kill one of us, too. It's a wildcard I wasn't expecting.

Both of us could be targets to be killed at any point, that's part of the game.

But if we don't know about the other roles, do the other roles know about us? How many of the roles know about each other? I want to know more about how they work, but I don't think our Sheriff's gonna tell us.

Which is why this game is a pain in the ass. He's deliberately making us more confused than we have to be. Not the way I'd run a town.

I'd say "too bad you can't take over as Sheriff" but I don't know if that'd be much better. No offense.

Maybe our goal other than just killing people who aren't playing along is seeking out the other roles, figuring out who they are and deciding what to do with them. How hard could that be?

[ She smiles briefly at that. ]

It would certainly be a very different game if I was in charge. No point in complaining about the situation, though.

...And, well, I dunno if that's our official goal, but it's certainly something I'd like to figure out.

We know what our official goal is, but if they want us to play we can at least make it interesting.

...not only that, I just want to know if anybody else knows more about us than they'd let on. [He frowns lightly.] Can I ask you a weird question? Did you ever really talk to Annabeth?

S'not that weird a question. I didn't, more than once or twice. Seemed like a sharp girl, though.

[A pause.] Considering she's the daughter of the goddess of wisdom, that would make sense. She knows how to fight. Her death doesn't make any sense to me at all.

[ She raises her eyebrows at that. Daughter of the goddess of wisdom... is that a metaphor?? Probably not important, anyway. ]

They came at her when she was restrained. Even the best fighters can get bested with a move like that.

No, I mean. [He rubs at his face.] I gave her a gun. Annabeth's got a talent for practically any weapon you give her. She should have done some damage.

Talent and a gun doesn't give you line of sight if someone comes at you from behind. What do you think she could've done?

[ ??? She seems genuinely confused. ]

[...given the fact he's quiet it's likely he didn't think of that.]

She would have figured it out. The point is that this murder was targeted directly at her because whoever killed her knew she could take them on in a fight. If it wasn't you, I need to find out who it was.

[Partially for vengeance, and partially because they may come after him next.] The Sheriff said we could approach him with people we want to take out of the game, right?

Yeah, but I'm sure he wouldn't take you up on the suggestion unless they're actually not participating much. You're thinking you could take out the culprit that way?

[ She inclines her head slightly. ]

Targeting her was a cheap way to go.

I want to look at this in as many ways as I can. But tomorrow's trial. We should be able to figure something out.

[He frowns lightly.] Look, I know you don't think I can handle this, but Annabeth and I have been fighting for years. It's why I needed to make sure this wasn't you. [He firmly believes it wasn't though.] Seems like most people are playing the game though. Maybe our job really will be over soon.

I dunno about that. I bet we're not done killing yet.

But maybe that's just wishful thinking on my part.

Considering you have way more fun with your kills than me? I think so.

[Hm.] Next time the Sheriff calls us to the mines, we'll ask about the pit at least. Deal?

RW: private to Percy

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject