pleased to meet you

[sailmods]

CW: murder

[it is the morning of the 17th when the usual morning announcement is replaced with the sort of tentative, nervous tone that Friday takes on immediately before something insane happens.]

Good morning, passengers! It's, um... Well, I sure hope everyone had an interesting time on their shore excursion! The Captain sure did! In fact, he had such a good time, he's asked me to inform you all that, tonight, he's going to be hosting his usual captain's formal in the main dining room, but with a twist! This time, it's going to be a, um... victory party! For Natsuno! Because he won! [small laugh] And also to celebrate the opening of a new shop on the Promenade! Gosh, and that really is something to celebrate; I haven't seen that happen since he--

[LOUD STATIC NOISES]

-- Yes, well! The dress code will be cruise formal; everyone can find a new set of clothes in their cabin to celebrate the occasion! I-- Oh, right, we'll see you all tonight! 8PM sharp!

[the connection cuts off. today, for the first time that anyone can remember, Friday can't be found in the atrium. or any other room. smoke 'em if you got 'em.

at 8PM sharp, the door to the dining room swings open. it is mostly empty: the only tables left are a dozen or so under the main chandelier. there are name cards at each table setting, written in Friday's neat script; the seatings seem mostly random, except for everyone who was on the island, who will find themselves at a table with their killer and/or victim(s). except Natsuno, of course, whose name is displayed proudly at the head table, next to an unnamed place. once they are inside, all of them find themselves under the same sort of compulsion that they felt during the muster drill, and their legs will stop working until they have gone to their assigned seats.

Friday enters the room first, dressed up nicely, but with hunched shoulders and her hands clasped firmly in front of her. the door shuts behind her. she says nothing, and acknowledges no one, not even Natsuno, as she takes her spot behind the chair.

a few fashionable minutes pass. it starts as smoke pouring out from under the door, moving towards the table as it slowly solidifies into the form of... a rather normal-looking man. he sits, cross-legged, in the chair that Friday pulls out for him. he looks over the assembled crowd, visibly considering something... there is a flash of silver in the light, and the knife he'd had in his sleeve is across Friday's throat quicker than she can react, and she falls bonelessly to the ground, a spray of arterial blood across the table setting.]

There, perfect.

[he looks out at them again. and he smiles. the knife is placed back in his sleeve, and he holds his hands out, palms up.]

Well. Here's your chance. [he waves a hand lazily, and the compulsion keeping them seated fades like pins and needles.] Try not to embarrass yourselves.

Comments

[serialskiller]

Once they let us out of here, want to go back to the cabin and watch something mindless?

[It's the best it has to offer her right now.]

[opheliac]

(jinx is silent at first as she continues to view the bottles. she would love over to rin but she prefers not to see all the chaos that's happening from the right of them. which is funny considering jinx is all about chaos. but this particular type isn't the kind she's really into.)

... Sure. Sounds good.

(she should had kept it at that but jinx finds herself adding on to that. but when she says this, it's low and discrete only for it to hear:)

T-There's a lotta personal things goin' on and seeing 'em here is just... makin' things worse for me. So I'm tryin' to stay apart, Eh heh heh.

(she chuckles sheepishly and will probably kick herself for showing it a little bit of her vulnerability but she's still trying to recover from herself.)

[serialskiller]

Drinking alcohol probably isn't going to help much. Here, look at me instead of at the room, and tell me something--how hard might it be to get small speakers on the drones without making them too heavy to fly?

[Another distraction, but also something it's been wondering. People talk to its drones; it might be nice to talk back. And it knows she loves an engineering puzzle.]

[opheliac]

(she glances over to it and that question following after does peak her interest now with a head tilt.)

Hm? Easy to do but gonna be tough to do here. I might can give it a shot if I look around enough. There's speakers at Rischie on the walls so I should be able to tear it apart and get somethin' going for ya.

[serialskiller]

What other upgrades do you think you could manage? Or would you, if you had the tools?

[Keep her talking about the cool things. Keep her looking away from the violence. It's a SecUnit, and it's going to help her feel secure here.]

[opheliac]

Oh, Oh! — I can make it self-destruct if ya need it...! 'Course, I know that would mean losin' it but you never know if someone nabs it and tryin' to take it apart. If someone were to open its build, it can activate a trigger and it'll pop. Destroy any kind of evidence or trace of its owner.

[serialskiller]

And you'd be able to do that without weighing it down too much? How would you go about it?

[It gives her most of its attention, though it still doesn't make eye contact with her. That's just a thing, don't mind it.]

[opheliac]

You can make explosives in all shapes and sizes. Took me a lotta days but I managed to make a miniature bomb here. Although, I had Clarke to thank for that! She managed to give me the materials I needed.

(a beat.)

— Buuuut since I'm completely out, I gotta start from scratch again. If you wanna included the BOOM BOOM part. The speakers oughta be way easier.

[serialskiller]

The speakers are definitely more important to me. People keep talking at my drones, knowing I can hear them.

[Which is kind of cool. People just accept them as an extension of MB.]

[opheliac]

Then I'll get it down for ya! Just send 'em my way later and I'll get right to it.

(maybe working will get everything back on track for her.)

[serialskiller]

Anything else interesting you're making these days? Or breaking, that's cool too.

[opheliac]

'Less you mean breaking bonds and makin' more enemies, nada.