Newlydead: Reigen

[partcompany]

[ Day 5, as promised, Rhys catches Reigen for a chat in his dressing room. ]

So... yeah. How are you holding up?

Comments

[partcompany]

I heard him, yeah. It's kind of convenient that we have so many acknowledged serial killers around?

[proficient_in_photoshop]

I can't believe that sentence is a sentence I agree with in any capacity. What the hell.

[partcompany]

Him putting himself on the line is weird, though. But I can't imagine what secret angle he could possibly have. I guess this girl just annoyed him so much he's willing to risk his life to try to kill her? Weird, but not the weirdest thing a person has ever done.

[proficient_in_photoshop]

I mean, I get it, wanting to just spite her. He did try to kill her, her throat is a mess. And she's pretty intense. I'm not convinced she's not a killer.

But also, I mean, it's not like we have to follow his demands. He outed himself, we could just make him second place and get someone innocent to safety.

[partcompany]

We could do that, yeah. If you announced someone else for first I'm pretty sure people would be a lot more willing to go along with that than a serial killer's spite plan. Some people might still vote for her, but it worked out fine this last time.

[proficient_in_photoshop]

[sigh]

Sure... but what then, what about next round?

[partcompany]

You're worried we're gonna run out of serial killers to murder with minimal moral repercussions. If that happens we have to either pick someone else to die, or risk trying for a unanimous vote and let whoever feels like doing their own thing murder someone at random.

[proficient_in_photoshop]

Yeah... basically.

[sigh]

I think... our other best bet right now is to vote out the guy who wants to die, and then vote Aqua out safely instead of Erika. I mean, I don't care about fulfilling a serial killer's request if we can just get rid of him immediately. And Aqua's been voting to get somebody killed since day one. If she's still in the game next round, she'll definitely be a stray vote on somebody.

[partcompany]

That seems fair. I mean, Erika may be kind of abrasive and I also wouldn't be surprised if she's killed someone before, but at least she doesn't seem like she's gonna vote to kill someone... randomly.

Not sure that entirely solves the problem of what to do next round, but hey, maybe another serial killer will confess. You never know.

[proficient_in_photoshop]

[groan.] I mean, we could always just vote Erika out next round. Then maybe everyone will actually behave and agree to a single file line without anybody needing to be in second place.

[partcompany]

Like four other people didn't vote according to your plan yesterday, do you think that's likely?

[proficient_in_photoshop]

... It could be. It's going to get harder to hide potshots like that in the crowd.

[partcompany]

On the other hand, it's way more strategic to vote like that when you actually have a chance of offing someone with one or two votes. Basically all the votes yesterday were accomplishing is making them look like assholes.

[proficient_in_photoshop]

Very reassuring, Rhys, thank you. Glad you seem to like me enough to at least not kill me out of convenience.

[partcompany]

Look, I meant what I said, I would much rather get through this easily with minimal death. I'm not going to start randomly killing people. I'm just... providing a realistic analysis.

[proficient_in_photoshop]

...[sigh] You're right, I know.

And... thinking about it like that, assuming what I know about you and everyone else here, maybe we should do as Erika says and vote Aqua out. Then we don't have to worry about who Aqua's going to vote for next round. We can just focus on Erika and see if anybody else cracks and wigs out under the pressure of her interrogations, like this guy did. What do you think?...

[partcompany]

I think that seems like as solid a plan as any.

[proficient_in_photoshop]

Okay. That's how I'm leaning right now.

...Not sure how to make sure it doesn't fail, since we'd have to make sure second place for Mr. Please Kill Me is actually second place, and grudge votes against Erika are third place...

[partcompany]

Picking five specific people to vote for second place seemed to work... okay. I don't think she's going to get that many grudge votes if people mostly agree on something else, do you?

[proficient_in_photoshop]

[grunts.]

How many people are left... 24.

I guess we could go for... 8 votes on Suicide Guy, then everyone else vote for whoever we want to get out safely? In case any of the people picking suicide guy switch their votes to Erika.

[partcompany]

Well, you gotta figure Suicide Guy is going to vote for Erika either way. Probably Aqua too? So that would leave... 14 people for the top vote. That should be fine? But might be cutting it close if some of the top people switch or don't vote. God I hope people are done not voting by now though.

[proficient_in_photoshop]

The more complicated I think this might be the more pissed off I get that we can't just go the option where nobody has to die. This is fucked up. It's probably what those sick assholes who took us are getting off to!

[partcompany]

Pretty sure that's the point, yeah. But given that someone is going to die, the best we can do is try to control it as much as we can.

[proficient_in_photoshop]

Yeaah...

Okay! Looks like this round is about to be really easy on everybody's mental health after all, because Cierra just volunteered. I'm gonna... put a few iffy voters on the spot. Aqua and the Reynolds twins. I don't really trust the Hiei guy either but he seems like a loose cannon. Nine to Fifteen is a safe margin of error, right?

[partcompany]

Ah, really? Good news. That should be alright, yeah.

[proficient_in_photoshop]

[exhales and slumps.]

Okay.

God, I hope nobody argues.

You really are pretty experienced with this shit, huh?

[partcompany]

Well, yeah. Not... with this sort of thing specifically, but with... various similar things. Yeah.

[proficient_in_photoshop]

What did you say you did for a living again?

[partcompany]

These days I run my own company, but before that I was working my way up the ranks of Hyperion, the most successful corporation in the galaxy. It was also pretty full of murder. Overall murders per day probably less than this place so far? But the peaks were higher.

[proficient_in_photoshop]

Wow... just... open corporate murder? No police or anything?

[partcompany]

Eh. Not like you're imagining. No one outside the company has the power or authority for that. We had security keeping things from getting too out of control? Most of the time. But if you're the one in charge no one's going to stop you. Plus, killing Pandoran bandits is fair game all the time.

[proficient_in_photoshop]

Is this capitalism's future, I wonder... Scary thought.

Well-- whatever you're from I really appreciate-- this. Talking. I wasn't really thinking anyone would want to just help me out? So-- thank you.

[partcompany]

No problem. ...It's not like I'm being entirely altruistic, either. You're doing a good job keeping everyone organized, and it would definitely go downhill if you had a breakdown from taking it all on yourself.

[proficient_in_photoshop]

[snort]

Don't worry, I'm not likely to have a breakdown, even now. I mean, probably. No breakdown yet. I feel like it should have happened by now if it was going to happen.

Plus I'm sure it doesn't hurt to get me on your side, right, especially if you actually want to win. Well, it's working.

[partcompany]

Right, that too, definitely.

You did look like you were having a rough time, though. And you seem like the sort of guy I could work with. In a general sense, actually. If you ever have a greater interest in future space capitalism, I have some openings.

[proficient_in_photoshop]

Ooh. I'll keep the offer in mind. I'm a pretty well-rounded guy, so you have a good eye.

[partcompany]

Yeah, I don't know about the psychic thing, and you probably couldn't handle any of the tech, but you'd probably do well in general management.

Or graphic design. Though, uh, I'm hoping for a slightly different image than what I've seen of your work so far.

[proficient_in_photoshop]

[snorts]

Wow, a job in my degree. The dream. Shit, I haven't updated my portfolio in years.

[partcompany]

Given the circumstances, I'd be willing to give you some time on that. And I am hoping to start a pretty thorough rebranding soon. It'd be some high-profile work.

[proficient_in_photoshop]

Hah... I guess we'll see if we're in space when we're finally released.

[partcompany]

Yeah, who even knows how that works. They've clearly got some kind of time-space travel thing somewhere, maybe you could hitch a ride if you wanted.