week 2, tuesday

[seaclipsed]

[ katara is seated in front of the bonfire, cooking... well, fish. fish is probably like 90% of everyone's diet at this point honestly.

anyway, this is a good opportunity for anyone to come by. it's almost midnight don't expect me to write anything more eloquent than this dammit. ]

Comments

[vipmix]

Right. There's also the theme of the game-- partners and bonds and trust, but we're also meant to be hunting each other down, both in actual murders and in trials. What they want out of the game doesn't seem to match how it's going to be played.

[seaclipsed]

I can get trusting your partner, since if they die, you will too. Even though the Chiefs managed to make people doubt that at the trial...

[ people were easily persuaded into believing yato might be suicidal or something, just because it fit the narrative they were given. ]

[vipmix]

That was quite the narrative they cooked up for him, wasn't it?

[whether "they" means the chief or the people joshua doesn't say]

[seaclipsed]

They got him to admit that he would kill for someone he knew back home. But... I think a lot of people would admit to that, so singling him out for it...

[ she sighs. ]

Even without all of that people were going to vote for him anyway, just because he was Haru's partner.

[vipmix]

People will believe what they want to believe. You'll find that to be true no matter the trial. [he's dismissive with it, but continues anyway] Defaulting to voting for the person's partner if there's no "appropriate" conclusion won't help anyone in the long run. Until the results are announced, no one is ever going to be fully convinced. If you offer a safe substitute where people don't have to feel bad about their votes since the person was going to die regardless... Any kind of doubt and they'll go right to it.

[seaclipsed]

They should still feel bad! In one situation, they die because of the stupid way the system is set up. And in the other, you're actively choosing to kill them. Even if they're going to die anyway, the people who vote for it is still sending them to their deaths. Even if they don't have any other choice, they need to acknowledge it instead of patting themselves on the back for creating a lower body count.

[ having less people dead is good, sure, but that still doesn't take away from the fact that it's still murder. ]

[vipmix]

I'm glad you get it.

[whomp there it is]

This is the kind of environment we're in, Katara. The only way to make it is if you don't blind yourself to the things around you. People are already willing to settle for less than the truth to make themselves feel better, and it's just begun.

[seaclipsed]

We're just going to make things harder for ourselves that way... and at least with Yato, we were basically lead to that conclusion. How are people going to react if they do the same thing again, but only this time it was completely our mistake and not because Hal basically lead us there?

[ katara acknowledges that this is a shitty situation, and that they are all going to have to do things they normally wouldn't. but she doesn't like the idea of saying it's the lesser of two evils to get by. ]

A lesser evil is still evil. So we need to look at all possibilities open to us instead of just clinging to whatever's easiest right away.

[vipmix]

Bravo. You're a lot more perceptive than I thought. [does he have to be condescending about it? yes.]

The easiest path is a pit that's not easy to climb out of. That we were lead to believe Yato did it doesn't absolve any of us from the guilt of condemning him to death. [except the like. three people who didn't do it, but] That's going to be true every week, whether we succeed in catching a killer or not, with the partner system.

[seaclipsed]

... Right.

[ she taps her chin, frowning. ]

Do you think that might affect votes though? What if someone who killed a person is partnered with someone who is well liked?

[vipmix]

It already has. You think people defended Laura when I brought her up for her charming personality?

[he did it partially for a test to see how they'd react because he is The Worst, to be fair, but. yknow.]

I'd be shocked if people won't work less hard to find a murderer if the victim is disliked, too. That's just how people are.

[seaclipsed]

That's just... unfair! They can't expect people to try their hardest to solve murders for people they like and then not do their best every time. What will happen if they don't catch the killer? All that means is that there's one person on the loose who already has been confirmed to be okay with killing!

[vipmix]

It's all theoretical so far, so you shouldn't get too upset yet. [a beat] But with our group and how the first trial went, the odds aren't exactly high for a change unless there's a push otherwise.

[seaclipsed]

It'll probably require speaking to people outside of trials, I think... during them, people might be a little emotionally charged.

[ and she's saying this as someone who typically makes decisions base on emotions. ]

[vipmix]

Maybe... It's good to appeal to their logical side, but how much they'll take into account when emotions are running high can't be predicted. It's the same of anyone, even in scenarios less dire than this.

[seaclipsed]

That's true. I can't say that I've never acted on my emotions before.

[ katara you do it in every one of your episodes ]

But I think that people would be more likely to listen to you if you've spoken to them before.

[vipmix]

[wait, what]

To me?

[seaclipsed]

I meant the general you. But you count for that, I guess.

[ .... probably. ]

[vipmix]

[oh thank god he was worried for a second she'd lost her mind. CONTINUES LIKE NOTHING HAPPENED]

Most people will have talked to each other outside trials soon enough. There's only so many of us here. [...] Well, Neku probably won't, but that's Neku.

[seaclipsed]

You know each other from back home, right?

[ she... thinks??? like they sort of talk like they do, but at the same time they... don't... it's weird. ]

[vipmix]

Yes and no.

[that's. vague.]

[seaclipsed]

[ ???
????????

????? ]

[vipmix]

We are from the same world, but he had no idea I existed before this.

[........will he ever give a full answer]

[seaclipsed]

But... you knew him?

[ that seems to be the implication here. ]

[vipmix]

I'd heard about him. He met a... friend of mine.

[implying joshua has friends?]