WEEK 3

[strangerpeople]

WEEK 3



[The week begins as last week began. But there's is a great difference-murder. It has happened. Blood has been drawn; it cannot be undone. The Game has made itself known. The Game is paramount. The Game simply is.

As morning dawns, those who were not present with the DEAD lock will find that the doors that were locked are now gone-and a whole new area has finally opened up to them. They will also find that they remember something they had not been able to recall beforehand. The question is, was it worth it?

And-is it you, or is the ship getting...colder as the hours go by? No, it's not just you. By the end of Sunday, the ship has started to dip into freezing temperatures. It might be difficult for people to bundle up-unless you're Brain, who will find his closet inundated with winter clothing that fit him perfectly.

Yup. This is going to be a long week, as if last week wasn't bad enough.



There are currently 16 strangers in this place.]

Comments

[yesorwoof]

[Makima gives him a delicate wave as he approaches. She puts a finger to her lips and points at the pad - to explain the precaution. Shakes her head, she hasn't decided quite yet. Then... She pauses. When Chainsaw Man said "I could go for some steak after all this" towards the end of the session when she had spent several minutes in silent utter bliss as she repeatedly dressed and bathed the doll, Makima hadn't expected her prayer to be answered quite like this. He's bringing her this really sophisticated plate with the little garnishes and everything... She hasn't seen food like this since arriving. Even her curry that one time is only varied to contain necessary ingredients; stew is impossible to present with perfect control, that was a fine excuse. But this, it's so nicely youshoku style with the little separate sections. It smells so good.

Makima brings her fingertips almost together, not quite praying yet. It's so much. Then she brushes her palm against her cheek, almost biting her lip. Finally she brings her fists together with index fingers pointing up to her collarbone.

"I may?" She mouths.]

[onychomance]

[Kira did what came naturally to him when he cooked a meal like this, but his sophisticated plating habits do come from years of setting romantic atmospheres with his string of past girlfriends. Still, the dish itself is fairly simple for how it looks - ultimately it's vegetables wrapped in meat with a little condiment.

Kira rather enjoyed watching her play with the doll in silence... it was definitely a lot more than when she was acting as that chainsaw rube, but the motions of her hands always strike such a balance between delicate and deliberate - it's almost surgeon-like. They fascinate him, so killing game be damned, he is interested to know more about this woman now. But if she needs to rest her voice, Yoshikage Kira still considers himself lucky as ever that she'll be using her pen to communicate.]

Oh, please go ahead.

[Kira pauses as he lets her help herself. But she won't be able to say anything for a while if she's eating and can only write, so he'll fill the silence himself. There is a small twinkle in his eyes.]

You're quite good at charades. I suppose all of this must be business as usual for you.

[She's doing it on purpose, isn't she?]

[yesorwoof]

["Itadakimasu", she gestures obviously with her hands before she sets about it. Even when it's youshoku, beef does need to be eaten with a knife and fork, not chopsticks. Surgical is definitely the correct word for her comfort with these tools - scarcely scraping against the plate, chewing the rather specific shape that might be unfamiliar, it's all something she can attack relentlessly like a huntress. The blankness of her eyes during this endeavor does raise the question of how much gratitude she really grants to the provider of the meal... But upon hearing his further words, Makima gives a thoughtful tilt of the head. She can take a breath.

Then, first: two little points on her head with index fingers out of her balled up fists. This is a really cute gesture that some associate more with foxes or bunnies, but in the context of seeing Power recently, hearing her X pass (and isn't that morbid?) surely the meaning is in the morphogenic field: Horns for a Devil. Secondly: "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil".

Yeah, needing to do charades is just another day in the life of Devil Hunter Makima. She lets out a satisfied huff after getting that across and brings her hand up to her eyes to make sure she doesn't have a loose strand from touching her hair. ]

[onychomance]

[His expression is as plain as hers - it's not like he expected her to melt immediately over his cooking, though it is still in stark contrast to the blissed out expression she was making while playing with the Chainsaw Man doll. To each their own, he supposes. It is on her 'likes' for a reason.

Yes, while Power was alive he might have thought she was a cosplayer, but having her horns sat in front of him for half the trial was enough to convince him of their authenticity. He didn't know the connection between the two of them, but Kira can read the intention since Makima has told everyone what Public Safety really does.]

I thought so. It's like what sailors or military troops do... even baseball coaches. Perhaps it's even easier for that Chainsaw Man of yours to understand?

[Very conversational about this but yeah, that 'hero' did not seem to have much upstairs.]

[yesorwoof]

...

[Makima freezes for a moment, vacantly smiling into space. The bags under her eyes show... Like she can't quite launch herself off the cliff into that sea of emotion. In the next moment, she regains herself.

She pinches together her fingers on one hand - "nooooooooooot quite". V-shaped fingers are a person standing on the table, and then her other hand makes a splayed shape kind of like Chainsaw Man's outspread chainsaw arms. Vroom, vroom, vroom, it jumps around really high. The person is standing on the ground.

With that she returns to his food, not meeting his gaze, and at least the color returning to her face after the cold of the day can be seen. Maybe if she savored the spices more she might let out a little sigh but she is just that hungry. After some time she's relaxing in her chair and reaching for the tea with one hand and the pen of paper with the other. She'll be free after her drink of water? Hooray.]

[onychomance]

? [So basically, he is too active for that idea to be effective? He isn't totally sure he gets it, but he's just making small talk anyway. Their hostages aren't the best topic to be on if her reaction is anything to be considered. Understandable. Even he doesn't feel great about Shinobu in this situation, though he's sure everything will work out.]

Well... Never mind it then.

[Kira is going to finally have a few of the roulades for himself now that her focus is entirely on the food anyway. He'll glance over once she starts writing again.]

[yesorwoof]

[Ah, Makima forgot to put in skyscrapers for scale. Darn. If it was just at the distance of one story, the gestures might work. She's not sure what went wrong but she supposes "never mind" is merited. She hadn't brought the doll in for dinner with her, after all.

The notepad says,]

Kira-kun's question?

[Her writing is just as quirky as her speaking, using the quick writing as an excuse to combine hiragana, katakana, and ryakuji kanji; it makes sense in the end but strikes the eye at first... The use of his name seems like a pointed contrast to the option of "anata", which could mean "you" but was also how Shinobu referred to her darling.]

[onychomance]

[He blinks at the simplified kanji, but it's easy enough to tell what she means.]

To the winner go the spoils. I didn't think you were doing this democratically...

[He's not going to back out now that she asked though. While he may not have a fully formed question ready, Kira begins to spitball.]

Hmm, what I really want to know about are our powers or our memories. But if Zero is granting this as a reward, then things are likely set up in such a way that knowing the answer won't help much to regain them. It's possible we'd learn more about our situation from unraveling the smaller mysteries, like Ritsu's body. Just an example, that was one of the questions he dodged from me the first time he appeared.

[yesorwoof]

[Her eyes say it all: Yeah, absolutely not. Her gaze lingers, suggesting that it is Kira specifically she might actually heed.]

Ritsu-chan ≠ Hermes ≠ Brain-kun. strange.

[She goes back to that first note she wrote for Akane: POWERS. See, Kira, great minds think alike.

Lets it linger as she thinks again. Though she also eyes Kira thoughtfully: "Our" powers? Does he mean their new abilities, or did he already have one of his own? Shinobu was completely unfamiliar with supernatural phenomena, so it must be just the titled powers... right?]

in the end powers are irreplaceable and provide direction for our safety and escape
and it might relate to what strikes me as the greatest potential yield from questions about individual bodies: the method used to kidnap us

[onychomance]

[It would be completely understandable to think he is interested in the powers granted to him here, since he was the first to connect Anya's power to the method of murder and remained on the subject. But then again, it wasn't worded carefully that suggests 'regaining' refers only to memories? It may have been a slip of the tongue. This is the first time he's been among a group of people who all have their own superpowers.]

Yes, strange. But you're right, we have bigger fish to fry. Fortune does favor the bold and thus Yoshikage Kira would support this plan.

[yesorwoof]

[Her free hand flexes on the table, like she was so moved that she fought the urge to grab his hand. But Makima still has a face of pretty ice, so she couldn't have really made a movement that uncontrolled. Still, no one is looking over her shoulder at the moment, so. She twirls the tip of her pencil and finds herself scrawling something in wispy English that doesn't have a clean idiomatic counterpart, the title of a recent movie that a lot of cocky young devil hunters like.]

the quick and the dead

[onychomance]

[It's for the best. He would have been just as challenged if she had done it.]

Hm?

[Quietly muttering as he reads this... he isn't aware of the movie, clearly.]

[yesorwoof]

just a saying

[She waves her hand back and forth. If you're not quick, you'll end up dead. That's basically the same idea as "fortune favors the bold".]

also the title of a movie
maybe sometime

[It's an incomplete sentence, practically ending in Dot Dot Dot. Her hand rests delicately on the table between the pen and fork. If her intention is conveyed, then she can go back to the fork in peace.]

[onychomance]

[Yes, that makes sense.]

We can watch one sometime? Sure. [He is making this a general thing because who knows if they are supplied with any specific movie.]