[WEEK 2, FRIDAY POST-INVESTIGATION: Keith]

[spinatalltale]

[the manner of death this week wasn't nearly as gruesome and atrocious as last week's. but despite her shitposting, Magilou can tell that it was no less merciless]

[Keith can find her exiting the Magilou-Lucina hut, book tucked her arm, quill poking out of the binding. her expression is still mostly blank, but she also sort of looks. . . pensive?]

[hm]

Comments

[alienated]

Really? Or is it you "don't feel like it" again?

[After last weekend, he's going to call her out as frequently as he can.

She can also stuff it. :/]

[spinatalltale]

[GOOD MAN, KEITH]

[GOOD MAN]

Ugh, geez. The number of you who keep killing my jokes by pointing out that I'm using them to deflect is slowly growing, and it's super irritating.

[alienated]

Then you shouldn't have used them to deflect in the first place.

[ :) ]

[spinatalltale]

[WOW!!]

Hmph. No one appreciates the art of comedy as a counterbalance for tragedy anymore.

[alienated]

This isn't a show, Magilou. This is real life. It doesn't need comedy for counterbalance.

[spinatalltale]

Yes yes, I've heard it all. Be more respectful of the dead, don't push people's buttons, take this seriously, don't put a target on your back, blah blah blah.

Do I really need to sit through that lecture again?

[she sounds bored]

[alienated]

I'm not going to lecture you.

[He's not going to waste his breath when it's clear it's... all the same to her.]

But if you want to say what you're thinking about, I'm listening. Otherwise, I'm going to hit the beach.

[spinatalltale]

[goooood she's too tired to fight this today. she's already heard it from everyone else, already let her masks slip a little bit, so. . . why not??]

I'm thinking about how awful it must feel to be burned alive.

[since she is fairly certain Joshua was]

[alienated]

[Oh.

Almost immediately, he sobers. He can still see Joshua's head on the spike, flesh charred and clumps of hair barely clinging to the scalp. It's disturbing.]

... We don't know if he was burned while alive. Someone found a knife. Hiro, Lief and I found a blowdart. He might not have felt it at all.

[Though he gets the feeling the killer wasn't that kind. All of that could have been misdirection, and he sounds more like he's trying to convince himself than Magilou.]

[spinatalltale]

. . . that expression.

[it doesn't horrify her. doesn't bother her. not like it might others]

Is it the expression of someone who was given mercy before they were killed? Of someone who was unconscious before their entire body was lit aflame?

[alienated]

[...]

No.

[There's no denying that expression. It's not the expression of someone who was oblivious to their death.]

Magilou, why do you think we all hallucinated last night?

[He has his own thoughts, but he wants to know hers.]

[spinatalltale]

[. . . ha]

Uho, you're asking me to speculate. Any answers I come up with should be taken with a grain of salt, I hope you know.

[but then again, that's why he had asked "why do you think"]

I suspect it was to give our killer an excuse to kill. Either that, or it was to make all of us more vulnerable.

[alienated]

That's what I thought, too.

[Either a smokescreen or an excuse, should they manage to corner the killer somehow. Not that... he's too optimistic about that. The whole investigation and trial system is set up to actively work against them.]

Someone mixed me up with one of their enemies last night. The same thing could have happened between Joshua and his killer, but — the ruleboard says to "not kill without consulting the Chief." Would it still be a strike if someone broke that rule?

[He's unsure if they'd let it slide because they got a body as a result of it, or not. Some premeditation had to happen, probably.]

[spinatalltale]

Who knows? The Chiefs sure do like their murder. [ha] I can't tell if they'd be angry about someone being an overachiever about it or not.

[alienated]

Neither can I.

[He doesn't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing that neither of them have any hecking idea. Probably bad.]

But... if it ever happens, I guess we'll find out. I can't picture them staying quiet about it, anyway. They like ridiculing us too much.

[spinatalltale]

I wonder if that's a good or bad thing?

[Mags how could it be good]

Are we being entertaining enough?

[alienated]

We're still alive, so maybe not. They seemed to like Joshua more after his head was on the spike.

[Hahaha, he sure does sound pissed about that.]

[spinatalltale]

. . .

If being entertaining is a death sentence, then I hope I'm the most boring person on this island.

[alienated]

I hear that. But if we don't put an end to this then anyone could be next, the two of us included.

[rip]

[spinatalltale]

[she sighs]

It's so troublesome having to watch my back at all times. And me without my artes. . .

[alienated]

[Cocking an eyebrow at the word "artes."]

You fight?

[spinatalltale]

Hey, I'm a witch. Any witch worth her salt can hold her own in a fight if she's got her malak artes and Guardian doll on her!

[alienated]

[...]

I don't know what that means.

[spinatalltale]

. . . oh brother. . .

Magic! Consider it magic! A specialty in fire and water magic!

[alienated]

[LOOK where he's from they just straight up call it magic.]

Oh— That's cool. [Genuinely.] Wish you still had them here so I could see them.

[spinatalltale]

Hey, you and me both. I'd probably blow our Chiefly overlords into smithereens with them.

It'd be one heck of a show.