Welcome to Gaia! ::

“Mmmph mmmph mmm!” came a protest from Bialystock and Bloom, his voice muffled by the hand of the Crazed Killer. Surprisingly, he got a response. “Shut up and cooperate. It’ll be worse if you struggle.”

Bialy wasn’t sure what was more upsetting: the fact that he and a murderer were traveling up an unused set of stairs in the back of the hotel, or that said murder was about to do something to him that would likely be very painful. It wouldn’t be long until he found out, though; the figure who had him draped over his shoulder reached the top of the stairwell, ripped a deactivated emergency exit open, and entered into the deserted top floor.

At this moment, Bialy thought to himself, ‘If I get out of here alive, I’m going to tell them to close this floor off.’

The killer withdrew a keycard, then shrugged and kicked the room door in. Laying outstretched on the bed was the now-decaying corpse of Newzpop Reporta Tyro Bong. No one had thought to dispose of it. How rude. But that was for another time. Bialy was thrown into the closet while preparations were made. First, the bathroom was quickly surveyed. Thankfully, it had a bathtub. That made things easier.

A washcloth was grabbed off of the shelf, and the shower was turned on to the point where it would let out a single drop of water every few seconds. The killer exited the bathroom, grabbed Bialy again, and threw him into the tub, tying him down with a rope he’d found in a broom closet. “What do you think you’re going to do here? Chinese water torture doesn’t actually work, you know, it’s just a myth.” Bialy complained, trying to squirm out of the ropes.

In a split second, the washcloth was shoved down Bialy’s throat. He coughed, but somehow, the killer had left a small opening between the cloth and his throat, allowing him to breathe. His nose was immediately clamped shut with a clothespin.

“Let me know how everything turns out,” the killer said, full of glee, as he exited the room.

Bialy was thoroughly confused, until he noticed the drop of water that fell into his mouth whenever he opened to breathe. He was going to suffocate, slowly, as the cloth became wet and expanded to fill his throat.

It was better than getting shot, at least.
---
Dukes stood on the roof of the hotel, staring out into the dusk. Today had gone very, very well. He’d offered to advise Sniper and Crazed Killer, and as far as he could tell, they’d both accepted. This worked out perfectly for him. He now, essentially, had control of the hotel, as he was in control of the two threats to everyone else, and was subsequently not affected by him.

Why hadn’t he thought of this before? Now, he would go downstairs into the hotel lobby, announce that he was taking over, with the help of the killers, and reap the benefits this offered. It would be…frankly, a lot of fun.

Dukes stood up, then walked over to the edge of the rooftop and looked down. If he ever needed to deal with anyone, he’d just bring them up here and push them off. No one would be able to survive that fall.

It was at about this time that Dukes felt a sudden numbing in his back, then a burning pain that spread throughout his body. He lost his balance and tumbled down over the edge, beginning a long fall to the ground that he was unfortunately conscious throughout.

The Sniper stepped out behind him, about to say something. All that it could muster was a chuckle. Oh, the irony.
---
The remaining residents of the hotel had gathered together in the lobby to say goodbye to a group of seven people, who, due to various reasons, had decided to leave. As the last of the sliding doors closed, Insomnesiac stood up and banged on a coffee table, attempting to regain order. “Okay, okay, everyone! Someone here is a killer in disguise. As of today, we’re going to vote to decide who.”

Pads of paper and pencils were distributed, and a hat was stolen off of someone’s head. “Please write your vote down and drop it into this hat. We’ve counted, and if we have the wrong number of votes, we’ll have to do this all again. Don’t cheat, please.”

One by one, people scribbled down names and dropped them into the hat. After everyone had finished, Insom and a few others exited to tally. Conversation promptly started up again. When she returned, Lingui promptly took her hat back, mumbling something about “You didn’t even ask…”

Insomnesiac yelled out, in as loud of a voice as she could muster, “THE VOTES HAVE BEEN TALLIED! `AINE CHIEVIOUS IS GOING TO JAIL!”

“What? All I did was bake pie!” ‘Aine protested, but was promptly carried off to prison.
---
Hirun, Kori, and Steven eagerly awaited the next arrival to the jail. Well, Hirun and Kori, at least. Steven was somewhere in the back, rolling back and forth on the ground.

When ‘Aine was thrown in, Steven abruptly stopped his rolling and trotted over to inspect her. ‘Aine did not enjoy having a cow rub up against her and attempt to eat her, no matter how good she smelled.
---