15 STRANGERS ROUND 7 TEST DRIVE

[strangerpeople]

15 STRANGERS ROUND 7 TEST DRIVE There are 15 strangers (give or take a few, this time around) on the ship. Regardless, someone wants you all dead. Why? And what is a funyarinpa?... 1. ARRIVAL It's time to wake up in your berth on this not-so-fantastic voyage. Why are you here? What happened to your powers? Memories? Who are these other people that've also been abducted? And...what is that smell?... 2. POWER It turns out you have been...'gifted' a power. It's not something you asked for, but you've got it now. It might be best to figure out how they work. Or don't. It's up to you. From chaos comes order, after all! 3. HOME Well, may as well make yourself comfortable for the foreseeable future on this ship. It's not like Zero is letting you go anywhere they don't want you to go. But perhaps you can find something that can help you get out of this situation! Or...maybe you want to give up and just drink in the lounge. That's an option too! Either way, you and your fellow Strangers won't be bored, at least? 4. MINIGAME Apparently Zero has decided you're not entertaining enough on your own, so now you're being tasked with playing in this game. And why not? You're technically on a cruise ship, so why not have some games? You could put some effort into the game, or maybe you're just done with this [BLEEP] by now-it's your choice on what to do. 5. MOTIVE You knew this was coming. Zero has decided they've waited long enough to see some bloodshed, and have released a motive to incentivize you into killing someone else. How are you feeling about it? What motive has Zero come up with? And...are you thinking about doing it...? 6. DEATH It's happened. One of your number has passed on-killed by another Stranger left in your group. There they lay, clear as day. It's officially time to investigate. How will you do so? Look over the body? Look around the room for evidence? Find a room that you believe is suspicious and search there? Or maybe you aren't up for investigating and would rather mourn your loss or pass out. It's up to you. 7. TRIAL It's time to focus-either you solve this case, condemning someone to death for the murder they committed, or you vote incorrectly, executing an innocent person. You've got a limited time to figure out what happened, and if you get it wrong, everyone dies. Take a deep breath, look at the evidence, and do your best to nail down the guilty party before its too late! 8. GUILTY ...Oh. It turns out you were the one responsible for what happened-you are the murderer! Why did you do it? Was it the motive? Was it something else? Are you sorry? Or was everything that has happened between you and the survivors a means to an end? Now is the time to confess everything-you're not likely to get another chance before you're executed! 9. WILDCARD Have an idea that wasn't mentioned above? Do it! Go crazy!

Comments

[yesorwoof]

Understand?

[Makima is standing in the same spot she has occupied for the entire trial. She hasn't even wandered around for examinations, instead giving extremely precise verbal instructions.]

What a dim view you have of our intelligence, even though you have just admitted that we have inferred the comprehensive truth of the crime you committed.

[somuchshipping]

Boy, those sure are some words you said in order to say a sentence alright.

[yesorwoof]

Fine. I'll get to the point.

[Makima would be looking down anyway since Hermes is less than five feet tall, but she's REALLY looking down.]

You obviously did it for some kind of reason. I know that. But I do not care. Just as you did not care about the trouble you brought Nakamura-kun and the rest of us.

[somuchshipping]

[It's hard to physically look down on a robot who's actually 7 feet tall, but metaphorical looking down is fine.]

But that's just it...! I'm not like any of you humans...! I'm from a video game! AndINeed MyDataToSurvive!

For everyone playing along at home: yes I did a stupid. Hermes is 7 feet tall

[yesorwoof]

Oh, and Nakamura-kun didn't need oxygen to keep going to his brain?

[somuchshipping]

[Hermes is quiet for a long moment.]

Lots of species I've seen before don't need oxygen.

[yesorwoof]

Ahhh, yes, which perfectly explains your deliberate employment of that murder method.

[somuchshipping]

[Wow, way to make this so hard on Hermes...]

I just.... I... I just have get back into my computer game... I have to get back into Fortuna...

[yesorwoof]

You see? How could that be difficult to understand?

[She spreads her hands, beatific, to show the entire group to Hermes.]

Everyone misses their homes. Everyone misses the people they love. Or at least, they long for the chance to leave this place and one day find a happy home with someone to love.

[somuchshipping]

[And now Hermes actually looks annoyed and starts fidgeting in place.]

But I'm from a computer game! I know none of you ever heard of the game I'm from, but there's probably millions of copies of me. I'm usually the first person you see when you boot the game up and...

...

I'm replaceable. If my NPC data gets deleted, the player will just restart his data and get a new me. I'm not gonna let that happen.

[yesorwoof]

[Makima... is from 1997 so she's just barely hanging onto the whole video game concept. But it's a distraction in her opinion.]

You're assuming that your file was either transferred out of the game into your current incarnation, or else that you're a copy altogether, yes? In either case, surely after so many days, the player would have restarted without you...?

[somuchshipping]

[So Maki's been living under a rock to miss the Atari? And Nintendo? And Super NES? And Sega Genesis? And Apple II? Has she never even played Pac Man?]

The current player wouldn't do that...! Not yet as the universe hadn't ended yet. AndGoodLuck TryingToGetThem ToResetCuz IDon'tEvenKnow WhereTheyLive!

[Is Hermes trying to convince Makima, or himself?]

[yesorwoof]

[It's more like, going off all those examples, she seriously doesn't understand how Hermes could have greater ethical weight than an answering machine that asks you to press 1 or 2 depending on type of call. Clearly he's a more complex being than that, but why doesn't he argue that he's more special than a video game character in the first place?]

The end of the universe? Could you explain?

[somuchshipping]

[How lucky is it that you ask the one AI that does the tutorial!]

Fortuna keeps track of what you've done with your play history. What planets You've visited, how many times you beat the game, all that stuff. When the universe dies, it means you can't keep that history anymore, aside from select rewards and achievements and items and species you've created and whatnot. What usually happens is me and Mors- I mean Clockwork rip a hole into the new universe and get rid of the duplicates.

[yesorwoof]

You can't possibly be telling me in all seriousness that you're afraid of being reset because of how much experience you have resetting others.

[somuchshipping]

No, we don't get reset! It's different people! I'm not afraid of getting reset! Being reset means I'm still alive. What I don't want to happen is me dying!

And I won't let it happen. I refuse to give up on Polly and Mors and Thanatos. I refuse to die.

[yesorwoof]

But what are these duplicates if not beings you're deleting?

[somuchshipping]

I mean... I'm not deleting anyone. That's all up to the player. I'm restricted to the game's code, so killing them is all I can do.

If the data for Hermes units gets deleted, that would end up with major problems with the computer game and even get rid of the quicksave option.

[yesorwoof]

The.. quick save option...

[She gives a slow blink. No, she decides, she doesn't care for the fine distinction he's making between types of resets.]

Hermes. Do you think Roland doesn't have vampires to fight? Do you think no family will miss Kira-kun if he never comes home? You may be named after a Greek god, but you're not the only one with important things to do.