Viewing Party 2 - R3: THE RE-CRY-ENING

[misanthropicprinciple]

We got castmates. We got clues. We got crap to bitch about. They get a library? And a LAUNDRY MACHINE?

Welcome, murderfam... TO THE R3 LIVEWATCH.

Comments

[scourgingstars]

Unlikely--our magic can turn the kind of things you find in the average vending machine into Antidotes, curatives have always been as simple as reaching for a bottle of water. He wouldn't have any reason to know the more common methods of curing poison.

[misanthropicprinciple]

Yeah. And that's why the poisoner-king idea doesn't add up for me, either. He may not have been able to take Akande in a one-on-one fight without his magic, but that doesn't mean he'd be able to come up with some other way to take him down.

He's a physical fighter. He could try to get the jump on him in terrain that'd suit him better--push him down the stairs or something. The method here points to someone more like me: Science. Trap rooms.

Who in Noctis's group thinks most like me?

[scourgingstars]

...

[Ardyn frowned slightly, yellow eyes narrowing at the screen. He could think of one or two in that room who fit the description, but the one most predisposed to science and things like that...considering him didn't make sense either.]

...Someone who wouldn't need a textbook to know how to poison someone. Not to mention one lacking a real motive.

[The Champion Alcoholic, in other words.]

[ratherdoweddings]

You don't think he--?

[scourgingstars]

...I don't know, Yurika. I can't see why he would kill Akande, unless Leon was the initial target and something went against the plan. Too much of it fails to fit together, and I can't quite determine what actually happened here.

[ratherdoweddings]

You're right. But there's always something, one little thing that doesn't make sense until you look at it a different way.

In one of our trials, there was a string discarded on the ground that we couldn't make heads or tails of. Each theory we had was worse than the last. But if we'd just remembered McBurn-san wore a string, we'd have figured it out. It's like that.

[scourgingstars]

['The scarring's from using the Ring of the Lucii.']

[Excuse him while he casually puts his right hand in his pocket.]

Right. There's something in all this mess that's being overlooked. Hiding in plain sight.

[desperateprayer]

[ Clarith pops in just then, in time to hear that. And she knows enough to stop before she can even ask them all what she was going to ask, since she refuses to watch this cruel show.

And now she's boring a hole into the back of Ardyn's head with her eyes. REALLY, DAD. ]

[scourgingstars]

[don't you start with him it's not even ardyn's fault that magic is bullshit]

[desperateprayer]

[ THAT'S WHY SHE'S NOT SAYING ANYTHING? Just letting you know she DOES NOT APPROVE. ]

...Anyone need anything?

[misanthropicprinciple]

Does anyone have a real motive? Most of them may not have been too happy with Akande, but Leon was pretty well-liked, I think. And Rick also made a point of telling everyone, very loudly and without prompting, that he'd been with Akande that night.

[scourgingstars]

He did make quite a point of it. Perhaps a bit too much.

For reference, when one's lying on their behalf or someone else's, the term 'refuge in audacity' is a good guideline to follow.

[misanthropicprinciple]

Uh. It'd be a better guideline if I knew what it meant.

[People who are good at lying: Not Junpei.]

[scourgingstars]

It means 'if you assert something to be the truth, act as though it is as obvious as the color of the sky'. Such as 'Akande was with me last night' or 'I am a man of no consequence.'

[misanthropicprinciple]

Oh. Huh, I actually pulled that off once. Caught my first killer by telling him I was Santa.

[scourgingstars]

[AGAIN WITH THE CHRISTMAS SHIT]

My point, Junpei, is that if he is lying about that it makes sense to state it as loudly as possible. And we already know it's impossible Akande was accounted for with him all night, otherwise how would he have ended up where he did?

[misanthropicprinciple]

...Didn't he also make a lot of noise about needing painkillers after bumping uglies with the Big Ugly?

[scourgingstars]

Now you're catching on. Insist upon an idea adamantly enough, and anyone will begin to accept it as truth.

[misanthropicprinciple]

No, it's not just that.

[He waves at the now-undressed and thankfully injury-free Noctis.]

If he happens to be all banged up like Cousin Noct clearly isn't, no one's gonna want to question it if they think he got it from getting banged. Especially by a guy like Akande.

[scourgingstars]

That's an aspect I hadn't considered. It still leaves the larger question of 'what exactly happened', but if he's in any such state that would be an excuse for it.

[misanthropicprinciple]

...

I know how I'd do it.

[scourgingstars]

I can think of a way or two that I might, as well. What is it you're thinking?

[misanthropicprinciple]

I'm willing to believe they might've done the nasty. You know how some people will smoke a cigarette afterwards to take the edge off? I got a feeling weed would work even better for some people.

[Junpei Tenmyouji, bringing in the college knowledge.]

Rick tells Akande he's gonna hotbox one of the cells between rounds, because don't tell me Akande's not the kind of guy who wants to show off his stamina. Akande waits, Rick doesn't come back, he goes up to check. Boom. Trap.

[He rubs his chin, then adds:]

Leon was further into the cell, so he might've been in there first. There's nothing to suggest he was lured out, but--aw, hell. [He rubs his eyes.] The baseball. Maybe he was practicing his baseball when no one could see him.

[scourgingstars]

I don't know. There seems like there's something more than that, and...

...And does he seem unusually prepared to execute Noctis in a hurry, or is that my imagination?

[misanthropicprinciple]

It's not just you. Someone wants this over fast.