spiritpearls | day 2.

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day 2.

AFTER THIS CLUE

[ Pearl leads Trucy back to her room, the "Morgan Fey" room. It's not that she doesn't trust the others (her trust list is longer than her don't trust list, seriously), not exactly, but she is becoming more aware that if there are really bad badgers that they could easily be listening in when she's discussing things.

So, she figures that the Teen Girl Discussion Squad should maybe avoid speaking in front of, y'know, the whole room when making plans or just... figuring things out.

Locking the door behind her, Pearl turns to Trucy. ]

It might be safer to talk here. About everything. I hate to mistrust anyone, but... [ WELL ]

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...But there are at least two teams out there who we can't trust. [ A pause, and then more quietly: ] Maybe three, if we were wrong.

[ They'd had no confirmation if they were wrong or right. They could have gotten it wrong, and that kills Trucy. She's one hundred percent certain Apollo wouldn't want others to die so he could live.

But after they finish using him as an example, who else will they use? And as was proven last night, the "proto badger" isn't the only killer... ]

Mr. Gavin's team could still be among the bad badger's allies...but...I think we got it right. I do.

[ But she'll never be one hundred percent certain until the game ends, will she? ]

...And I don't think Dahlia is one, even though she's pretty terrible.

Exactly. I think we did, too...

[ Even if it meant their deaths, at least they were both true criminals... well, Engarde was. But Keyes had threatened Trucy and that was Not Okay. There'd been no confirmation if they were right, though. It would have helped, knowing that they'd been right... and knowing that the bad badgers actually existed. Who was to say that Myriam's death hadn't been done by the same person as Engarde and Keyes'? ]

No, I think Dahlia is... just Dahlia. [ Dahlia is complicated, for Pearl. Yet uncomplicated-- Pearl can never forgive the things Dahlia's done and the way she's treated people. But... she'd be lying if she hadn't thought about what if there was some good in her frosted heart? It's probably only because they're sisters, even if she doesn't think of Dahlia or Iris as her sisters. She doesn't know them that well, after all. ]

I'm not surprised anyone is voting for her, but I don't know if they're... really thinking it through. There's no evidence pointing to her. Not the clues, not even her actions. It's kind of a waste, though I suppose I'd rather people vote of her than Mystics Mia and Maya...

I'm not either, but...what if it's a ploy? Like, the bad badgers don't want to vote for themselves in these, right? But they also don't want to vote only for the other team, in case that looks suspicious and people go "oh, they must be innocent"! So they decide to vote for someone everyone dislikes who's innocent so we'll kill them instead!

[ or trucy is overthinking it. but. ]

...I'm just wondering who keeps voting for her, now.

Oh... hm, I hadn't thought of that. It's an interesting theory, but... we have no way to prove it, do we? We don't even know who's voting for her. And the grudges against her can be pretty strong...

[ even when she isn't up to anything ]

And... I'm not sure everyone realizes how important it is. Like, we all know people could die... but the suspicion vote is hard, so I think maybe they're just... voting her to avoid a harder choice.

She tried to kill Daddy, and he hasn't voted for her. Are there enough people with grudges that strong who'd ignore...well, the safety of the group for a grudge?

[ Two groups. Two groups who'd vote for Dahlia for no reason other than a petty grudge. ]

I...wish it were like that, but I also wish I were right. Because at least then we'd have something to go on. What we need to do is make sure the suspicious teams from these clues get through to the voting...I don't think it's Maya and Mia, even though Maya keeps refusing to vote for anything.

[ well, she actually does find that suspicious. but it's maya, and even if lucy thinks it's suspicious trucy can't so ]

Yes, but Mr Nick is a reasonable person, sometimes. [ Only sometimes, though. ]

... That's a good point, we don't really have anything else to go on. These "clues" we get are more like "here are three people, pick the bad one". I... I'm not sure the mirror badger understands that, though.

I'm certain it isn't Mia and Maya. [ Said firmly. But then, ] It-- it can't be them. That'd be like if your dad was one. They wouldn't do that.

Then...we need to get the other two teams up for the actual vote! I really don't think it's Dahlia, so...

It has to be Prosecutor Blackquill and Mr. Armando or Miss Blackquill and Uncle Ray.

[ ...Two siblings. But...a bad badger team has to be among the three teams listed. ]

So, one of us should vote for one team and one for the other. And...we should try to figure out which of those two teams is bad!

That would be the best thing to, I... guess?

Hm. I'll vote for Ms Blackquill and Mr Ray. Not that I believe it's them, Mr Ray's nice and Ms Blackquill is... well, not mean. Mr Armando... I don't think it's him either. [ Godot is a complicated subject, too, though Pearl still thinks well of him.

So basically, it's no one. Well, maybe monochrome lawyer Blackquill, but uh. Probably not him either. ]

I don't suppose you have a plan to figure out which is good and which is bad...?

Then I'll vote for Prosecutor Blackquill and Mr. Armando. I...don't know what we'll do if Dahlia wins, since I don't think it's her, but...at least we'll have done what we could to try to find the guilty party among the three we were given.

[ even though they don't think it's any of them... ]

...I guess all we can do is watch those two teams for anything suspicious! If I remember correctly...those two teams were the last to vote last time. Miss Blackquill's team voted dead last. I mean, Uncle Larry messed up his vote last, but...

Mia and Maya voted just before both of them.

... If that happens, we'll just have to think of a new plan. To try and convince everyone that it's not her. Which means we'd need a better option.

Hm, they could have been waiting to see how everyone else voted. Well, not Larry, he's... Larry. And you said Maya didn't like the idea of voting, right...? [ Which makes Pearl feel a bit bad for doing so herself, but... well. She just couldn't let those held captive to be hurt because she was too good to make an awful choice. ]

Larry voted first, and then changed his mind early on...before anyone. I don't think he's a bad badger...

[ HE'S...LARRY............. ]

And Maya said this morning we couldn't vote for anyone if it would kill them, even if...other people got killed. [ That's what will eventually happen to the hostages: Trucy has no illusions there. ] ...I don't think refusing to vote will help us here, though. So...we need to figure out how to vote smart. We don't hold any cards, here.

No, if he was he would have accidentally told us by now. [ Knowing Larry and all. ]

That's... good, of Mystic Maya. But I... I can't do that, not after seeing what they did with Apollo. She doesn't know him, maybe it didn't hit her like it did us. [ Pearl's pure heart is essentially being shoved aside... but at the same time, they need to protect those who've been taken, don't they? Doing anything else would be selfish and cruel. ] Not even your card tricks can help us there. We need to get some cards, though, if we can find a way. Or else things... things really are just going to get worse.

I...can't, either. If...they run out of hostages, I think...

[ Trucy bites her lip. ]

...Well, there are people here they could use as leverage on other people here. So I think...I think for now we have to play along until we can break the game.

Don't think about that.

[ Because if you start thinking about it, Pearl will too and then this will become a crying hugfest. ]

That's right. We'll play along, but we'll break it. We'll break it and everything will be okay. It has to be, or... or I don't know what, so that's all there can be.

...All right, so...so we've decided how to vote. So...now we just have to investigate the teams! Right?

[ that has to be right. ]

[ Deep breath. ]

Yep... How are we going to investigate them, though?

[ Asking Simon Keyes if he was a bad badger got them nothing. ]

...I guess we have to watch them all of the rest of today. And maybe try talking to them?

[ yeah cross-examining got them nowhere...unfortunately. ]

That sounds about right. If we talk to them, though, we should be careful. If they think we suspect them, they might get defensive.

[ pearl suggested a trial yesterday, but uh. it didn't really work out. (since then apollo appeared.) ]

Maybe we can just talk to them normally...we don't have to accuse them or anything.

[ yet, anyway. ]

Sounds like a plan, to me... If we get to know them a little better, maybe that can help us figure out if they're... I don't know, up to anything.

We...have to assume that they're being effected by, like...magic. Or something. Neither of the Blackquills would do all...this. Without that.

Magic...? Like the way the badger moves through the mirror? [ Well, it did seem pretty, uh. Magical. ] And I know my cousins wouldn't, either.

But it does have to be someone... [ A Blackquill on 2/3 teams, the third being both Feys. ] At first I thought the bad badgers were bad people, like Engarde, but... that can't be if all three of these teams are good people.

You could be right, though it's hard to imagine.

Right. It means...anyone could be a bad badger, not just "good" people.

[ AND YET TRUCY DOESN'T EVEN CONSIDER PEARL AS A POSSIBILITY... ]

I...wonder if they wouldn't want us to catch them, if they were in their right minds. I don't think anyone on those teams would have wanted to kill Myriam.

[ Horrifying thoughts: that right there. ]

Trucy... Catching them would mean killing them.

[ It's one thing to vote for people who are clearly actually bad, quite another if it's friends or family that are maybe mentally unsound. ]

...I know. I know, I just -

[ She knows that, that's why this is terrible and she hates how she's thinking but if they don't think like this it might be Pearls dead next. Or Trucy. Or Phoenix. Or any number of people. Until they're all gone. ]

If it were me, I'd want you to kill me, Pearls. I wouldn't want to hurt you. I don't want anyone to hurt you, or Daddy, or...

[ The worst part is it makes sense, in a way. It makes sense. Not everyone here is a killer, and the three teams up today aren't anyone Pearl would see as such. But someone had to have killed Myriam, and one of those three teams is among them.

But, which one. ]

Don't go there, Trucy. We... we don't know enough. But I do know you're not one of them, so there's no use going down that path. [ Imagining killing Trucy is just as painful as it is to imagine killing Mia or Maya. ]

Let's talk again after the suspicion vote, before we vote for... who to oust. [ Who to kill. ] Maybe then we'll know more.

[ There's a long pause before Trucy nods, reaching out her hand to take one of Pearl's. She's done this before, a hundred thousand times since she was eight and Pearl was nine. Since Pearl had first visited after she'd begun living with Phoenix.

Back then, they'd been nearly the same height. Now, Trucy's taller, but Pearl's hand still fits in hers. It's still comforting. ]

I know. I...know. Just...pull me aside when you want to talk, okay?

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day 2.

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