night; hound

[gamehead]

With night's fall, you are once again locked in your cabin for the evening. Outside, a blizzard rages. The howl of the wind blocks out the sound of anything happening outside of your small room, and outside your window you can see only the white of frost covering your window and darkness beyond.

At 11 PM exactly, the candle on your desk lights, filling your cabin with a warm, yellow glow. If you are asleep, the light will wake you. You are drawn to your desk.

There, in the center of the desk, is your journal open to a page that was previously blank.

Hound, who will you choose?

Ada Vessalius
Akane Kurashiki
America
Aoi Asahina
Arya Stark
Babydoll
Beat
Bonnie Hood
Bruce Wayne
Bucky Barnes
Byakuya Togami
Charles Fei-Ong
Ciel
Clara Oswald
Damian Wayne
Edward Nigma
Eleventh Doctor
Elliot Nightray
Ema Skye
England
Gendry
Gundam Tanaka
Hermione Granger
Hiyoko Saionji
Holden Caulfield
James Sunderland
Joshua Kiryu
Kanaya Maryam
Kyouko Kirigiri
Lithuania
Luke Triton
Madoka Kaname
Makoto Naegi
Mayu
Mondo Oowada
Peggy Carter
Poland
Prussia
Rapunzel
Rikku
Robin
Sam Winchester
Sanae Hanekoma
Sansa Stark
Sayaka Miki
Sharon Carter
Spain
Stephanie Brown
Steve Rogers
Tony Stark
Touko Fukawa
Ukraine
Ukyo Kuonji
Xion

No one

You will have until midnight to make your choice, before the ink on the page vanishes and the candle flickers out.

Comments

[glowing_skye]

[Try as she might, Ema hasn't been able to drift off to sleep. There's too much to think about, too many theories to ponder over and ultimately dismiss for lack of evidence. That's the part that really bothers her--the not knowing.

Of course, the lights coming back on and the arrival of a weird child aren't helping things any. She sits up, scowling at the kid.]

How did you get in here?

[gamehead]

I've been waiting for you, heehee. How are you, Ema?

[glowing_skye]

How do you know my name?

[Ema does what most mature forensic scientists would do in such a situation. She reaches into the bag of snacks on her nightstand and chucks it toward the child's mask.]

What's going on?

[gamehead]

[ The creature catches the bag and shakes it. ] Thanks! Can I have these?

[glowing_skye]

Wait, what? [Good job, Ema, you threw your whole bag of Snackoos at it like an idiot.] No!

Just tell me what the hell is going on here!

[After a pause, she decides that maybe she'll get answers if she asks more specific questions.]

What do you have picked out for me?

[gamehead]

[ It ignores her and sticks its hand in the bag. It turns around so Ema can't see its face. There are munching sounds. ]

Ummm. [ crunch ] I've got to explain the game's rules first, okay?

[glowing_skye]

[Ema officially hates this thing. If looks could kill, it would certainly keel over right about now.]

Fine. Explain.

[gamehead]

[ crunch, crunch. it's still turned away from her. ]

Ehehehe. It's a killing game. In this game, there are hunters, prey, and scavengers. Every night, the hunters will meet and pick someone to kill. The next day, everyone will get together. The prey will try to find out who the hunters are!

At the end of the day, there will be a trial, and one player will be chosen. Whoever is chosen will be executed! The hunters will win if they outnumber the other players or kill all of the prey.

I know it sounds complicated, but it's not so bad to get as you go along! Hopefully you'll live long enough. I hope you do, 'cause you have a pretty neat role.

[glowing_skye]

...

[Well, at least murder trials are familiar territory for her. Not that that's very comforting, given what this thing has just told her.]

I think I follow the rules well enough.

[Beat.]

If my role is a hunter, then I refuse to play.

[gamehead]

You're not, so you can play the game to the best of your ability! Yay!

You get a role that's just like being a detective! Isn't that so great for you, Ema? You get to do what you always wanted! Double yay!

[glowing_skye]

It's not what I always wanted unless you give me a full forensics lab to work with.

[That said, being able to investigate is a comfortingly familiar role, loath as she is to admit it to the creepy child creature here.]

How does my role work?

[gamehead]

Don't be silly. You're not any good at forensics.

[ the creature laughs. ]

Your role is the hound. There's two of you. One of you is a bloodhound, and the other is a deerhound. Do you like the names? I picked them myself!

...Anyway, the bloodhound's always accurate. The deerhound isn't- it gets a totally random answer. I can't tell you which one you are, or who the other hound is. But every night, you'll pick a name out of everyone here, and in the morning I'll tell you what their role is. That knowledge will help you identify who to trust, and who not to trust!

Buuuut you have to figure out which hound you are. Don't go immediately chasing down your result, okay! You might get someone innocent killed! And don't go running around telling everyone what your role is. You'll immediately become the target of the hunters.

If the bloodhound dies, the deerhound will gain their powers. Hmmm... any other questions?

[glowing_skye]

[HOW DOES THIS THING KNOW HOW TO MAKE HER HATE IT EVEN MORE. Her opinion of it is quickly becoming a singularity of unadulterated hatred.

She swallows back her anger into merely a growl, however, as she listens to her instructions. Hound. May be accurate, may be completely off-base. Fine. It makes enough sense, no need to clarify.

Already, she's pondering how to figure out which one she might be. As much as she's unhappy with the situation, she isn't so naive that she doesn't realize that she's stuck with it. At least for now.]

Give me back my Snackoos.

[Orders are questions, right?]