spinatalltale | [WEEK 3, FRIDAY POST-INVESTIGATION: Akira]

[WEEK 3, FRIDAY POST-INVESTIGATION: Akira]

[it's a few hours after the investigation, and Magilou is-- well. THERE'S STILL A BIG CAT IN THE LONGHOUSE!!]

[. . . but she hasn't entered the building yet, instead sitting outside on its porch, book propped open on her knees. it's not an uncommon sight for her on Fridays, and honestly? Akira is more familiar with it than most]

[her expression is blank when he first approaches her, distant and lost in thought, but she seems to jump back to reality when she notices he's nearby. and then-- she grins]

Hey.

I wanna pet the cat again.

[#priorities]

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[this is fair. he wanted to come back and pet cream soda some more, too.

but seeing magilou there with her book out—yeah, it's pretty familiar. and the ensuing conversation likely will be to some extent as well.

but for now, akira nods easily.]

Me too.

[she pops onto her feet, book snapping shut and quill twirling in her hand]

Then what are we waiting for? Let's go, and hope we don't get eaten!

[that's. . . cheerful. either way, she skips into the Longhouse, totally expecting him to follow her. Cream Soda is, of course, still sunbathing, and she approaches with much less caution than earlier now that she knows the big ol' floof is just a lazy floof who wants snuggles]

I think two bodies is enough for one day.

[he's got a little more faith now that cream soda will treat them nicely. and she does, which makes it easier for akira to settle in and give her some good love and attention, since he was more focused on untangling the tooth neckless from her mane before.

a very good liger.]

She's pretty gentle when she's not carting people off. [they'll get to the more pressing conversation, he's sure. akira know it's coming, because magilou tends to be thoughtful at times like this.]

[A VERY GOOD LIGER]

[Magilou also settles next to the beast, running her fingers through her fur and mane, and occasionally poking at her toe beans because SHE CAN]

Or potentially eating them. [depending on, uh. the purpose of that tooth necklace. which, by the way, now that her mind is on it. . .]

What do you think the purpose is? [. . .] Of all this unnecessary violence, I mean.

[me reading this back and smh at "neckless," don't tag before coffee, kids.

but anyway.]

I'm not sure. Maybe to make a point, or to make it harder for us to figure out what really happened.

[IT'S AN OMEN]

[her hands still in Cream Soda's fur, mouth twitching into a frown]

The Chiefs did make an elaborate point to us during the first week that any evidence we find is useless. So I suppose it would be "entertaining" for them to keep driving that point home by making the scenes as gauche as possible.

That sounds like them.

[he can't argue it, though he chooses his words carefully with cream soda there. just to be safe.]

I guess it's something that can be taken up with them tomorrow; maybe we'll actually get an answer.

. . . do you actually trust any answers they give us?

[serious question!! she doesn't. everything out of their mouths she takes with a pile of salt]

Not really. But the problem is that we can't totally distrust them, either.

[some things they've said have turned out to be true, even if they answered in vague ways.]

That's the problem. We can't trust them, but not everything they feed us is a lie. It's almost impossible to discern what's what.

[she distrusts them!! . . . mostly, despite having gone to them for some answers]

Part of the puzzle of this game is figuring out which one lies and which doesn't.

There has to be a method to do this. They can't expect us to solve that riddle without any clues.

If I had to guess blindly, I think Hal is probably the more honest one.

[but:]

I think it's possible they swap. At any given time, one is lying and one is telling the truth, but not necessarily the same one at all times.

Mmyep! That's my assumption, too.

[don't trust Pal 2k17]

[dropping her hand to poke at Cream Soda's toe beans]

Them swapping just makes things more complicated. If they're going to be obnoxiously cryptic, at least be consistent about it. Sheesh!

It just fits the pattern. They've both said things we can prove as true, I think. They both act purposely evasive, too.

[he'll shift to rub cream soda's belly a bit more, sighing.]

They always try to complicate things for us anyway.

I'm gonna ask for some tomatoes and throw them at their heads.

[Magilou, what]

A protest to get off the stage?

Somewhat.

It'll also probably make me feel better.

Huh. I guess that's fair.

Of course it's fair. I deserve it, at this point! Every bit of their performance has been tryhard and tacky. I'm going to leave terrible reviews once we get out of this place.

Zero out of ten, would not recommend.

[sage nod.]

Oho! Do you want to co-author this scathing review with me? I bet you'd add some really good zingers.

[she's back to aggressively rubbing Cream Soda's belly]

Count me in.

[though, he has to amend.]

One star. They get one star, because I like the cat. [cream soda is a good girl.]

Hm. That seems acceptable. Cream Soda is very much deserving of a single star. Aren't you girl?

[aggressively scratching behind her ears]

She's deserving of 5 stars. Everything just averages out to an overall one star.

Aw, Newt, I didn't know you had such a soft spot for man-eating wild cats. It's too bad we can't take her home with us.

I think I'm just weak to cats of all sizes.

[admittedly. he's a cat-like person and a cat person, it seems.]

[yeah, she's noticed. this is why, when he said he was a cat person, she told him it explained SO MUCH about him]

Let's just hope this one stays our friend long enough to not, you know. Eat us.

[will she stop calling Cream Soda a man-eating cat]