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((sorry this one's gonna be brief, had a crazy double shift today x.x ))

Rising Sun was torn between all the arguments flooding her ears. She couldn't bring herself to vote for Colored Spring, simply because he was the only Kin here that really acknowledged her. And she didn't find Wild Sage's actions so suspicious that she could vote for him, either. But, she once again recalled her vote from 'Round 3,' and as more Kin dubbed Freedom to Act a menace, the doe only grew more certain of her accusation, and she nodded towards the doe to seal her vote.

"The predators must make the most of the nights because those are the only times they rule. During the day, they are still at the mercy of the prey and their suspicions. To reveal their identities before they are guaranteed to survive would be folly. To this end, they move swiftly during the night, having discussions without words so that there is time to stage their kills." She looks at each of the players still "living" in turn, a pleased, dangerous smile on her face, before continuing, "They make there choice with some disagreement, but it is a choice nonetheless. It doesn't really matter in the end, after all, because they intend to kill them all."

She glanced the group on the sidelines for they all shared the same secrets she held in regards to the game. "The predators returned to their sleeping spots and rested, disguises on, until it would be time for them to wake with the prey."

"The day came soon enough, the sun rising to illuminate the blood that was everywhere surrounding the creatures. Some of them tumbled in fear while others had grown immune to the violence that was enacted at night. They saw blood, dripped everywhere, but saw no body at first.

They didn't find the body, or in this case body parts, until they looked up into the trees. The blood had drained from the parts that had been tossed into the branches as if thrown there by a vicious wind, torn apart by the most violent storm, a Feral Storm. They already knew who had died, but they didn't begin their deliberations until they found the victim's head. The predators had taken a storm and rendered it simple rain, blood rain, to fall around the prey."

Through Your Eyes gestured carelessly with a toss of her head for the buck to join the others standing at the side. "The small world the creatures occupied was getting smaller and smaller as area after area got tainted by violence, but they moved to a new spot anyways despite the certainty that they would end the day with violence in that very spot. They began their deliberations with that in mind: one more would die before the end of the day."

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Feral Storm, like Doubleback, was not a strange kill for the predators to make (unlike, say, Blurs and Stains), Life thought. He was thinking independently, if he contributed little else to the conversation, and he was not particularly memorable: actually, a strange amount of his votes coincided with hers, and yet she could not remember talking to him. She nodded a good-bye regardless, and then of course opened her mouth to speak.

But someone was faster. Lightning Strike, at last, with the information she'd promised the first day, and yet no information about predators.

Oh, Life was fairly certain she believed the wolf-pelted doe. In fact, she had probably suspected this. Lightning Strike had been quick to defend Life even when little reason existed to do so (Life had counted on making herself a more interesting target for predators during the day than people who might be important, and besides: she'd known from the start that it was less important for the team that she personally survive than prey outnumber predator.), and she had waited, on the previous two "days," for Life to make a vote, and then followed her onto it. This was conspicuous because Lightning Strike always talked before this happened, unlike those who merely waited for a "majority" to exist. That coupled with the importance Lightning Strike had paired with keeping herself alive on the first day was significant.

And that made the declared list of prey easier to swallow, though Life knew little about Errant Thought, and she had distrusted Fiend for his seemingly arbitrarily-cast suspicions. Flint she'd been withholding judgement on: she'd agreed (obviously) with his suspicions for Fiend, had thought his suspicions for herself reasonable, and had disliked his sheep-like vote for Farrow. "We think you should have waited," she said finally, amused. She wanted that information, and did not think her own "life" particularly important. "But if you too are prey, and doubt her claim, you should vote for us - for Freedom to Act, we mean - to die rather than her. If she lies, killing Freedom to Act first makes no difference; if she speaks truth, killing powerless but talkative prey is preferable to killing the seer." If any distrusted Lightning Strike's claim because they also distrusted Freedom to Act, well. She'd prefer the seer live longer, and so perhaps even regretted forcing it to come to this: but the game had needed talkers. With any luck, someone who remained could protect the wolf-pelted doe.

Lightning Strike was right, though, and so was Expecting to Fly, the previous day: their numbers were dwindling fast, and there were eleven alive. At most four of those were predators: should their numbers reach eight, they'd find out for certain whether there were fewer (for prey lost once their numbers were equal to the predators', and if the game was over with eight left, than none of them had guessed well at all). But Freedom to Act, of course, would rather now vote for someone suspicious than someone quiet. Colored Spring had been an annoyance rather

So she examined the remainder of the players. Expecting to Fly, Life trusted: she, too, poked and prodded at those who spoke strangely. Her consistent votes for Wild Sage were becoming almost prescient, in the light of his actions the previous day. Flood of Light, too, she felt was fairly trustworthy: he'd stayed admirably consistent, and seemed to prioritize his own opinions first, but clearly was willing to listen to others, too. Both of those were strong traits. Kiss of Death confused her, for she understood little of the acha's reasoning, although she supposed someone else Lightning Strike had confirmed as prey might (why vote for Life if Wild Sage made her uneasy?). Yet she felt more benignly toward Kiss of Death than Tracks, who she could not seem to form an appropriate impression of. He'd made strange, strange decisions the previous day, and Wild Sage, though, Life trusted far less: he'd refused to vote twice, and one of those for the purpose of looking innocent. Certainly, she felt pity on him for Colored Spring's previous fixation, but this and his previous lack of reasoned votes was dubious, and his attempts to persuade the prey at large by making them pity him rather than by creating a more solid reason to vote in agreement with him rankled her. That coupled with his indecision was made strange by his suddenly verbose accusation of her the previous "day". Rising Sun, Life felt, was similarly strange, for Colored Spring's flirtation clearly had nothing to do with his innocence. A pair could be friends in life and enemies in this "game": sides had been picked arbitrarily by Through Your Eyes.

"Yet we think it wisest for you to vote for someone else." It was clear from her tone that Freedom to Act had mentally assimilated herself into this "team" already, and she turned to them, almost ignoring the rest. "We trust you, Expecting to Fly and Flood of Light." She tilted her head, hair lazily off her shoulder. The last four, she narrowed her eyes at. She was fairly certain that Blurs and Stains had been a predator (and yet she knew she could be wrong: the bony doe could merely have been overly protective of her own life), even if she'd had no concrete suspicions either way about Second Star to the Right and Colored Spring. She'd voted for Second Star to the Right simply to prevent excessive prey deaths (the silent doe had hardly spoken anyway), and she'd voted for Colored Spring because he'd obstinately refused to help. Precipice, too, had been an arbitrary choice, but her similarly arbitrary popularity in the votes probably meant she was innocent. And Farrow had been as trustworthy to her as Expecting to Fly: Life had disagreed with his vote, like Expecting to Fly's, but thought his attempt at reasoning and rousing the crowd admirable. Perhaps it didn't prove his innocence, but early in the game, the prey had needed to talk more. Eating Fireflies, too, Life knew too little about to judge, and his "death" had happened at someone out of the game's hooves.

Of course, she was also fairly certain all those killed at "night" so far were innocent. The predators had made some interesting choices for kill targets, but she'd doubted they'd killed one of their own to better their chances. I'll Never Tell's death had come too early for that, and Butcherbird's death had helped no one look innocent. Sweet Gale was probably innocent, and Doubleback was prey. And it'd be stupid for them to kill their own now: no one had interacted enough for Life to spot potential alliances.

That said, she doubted that all four of the kin she mistrusted were also all four of the predators: that would be far too simple, and of course she thought there were only three left. And she was not sure her judgment was the most appropriate. So she'd hope, for once, that one of the other prey had a better lead.

[alsoooo i know it's an awful time but i'm at a con from july 3rd to july 6th! LUCKILY the busiest day for me is july 5th which should be "night," so it won't matter much - i'll still be able to post at least twice for each "day" during that period, assuming i stay alive! i think i can post again to answer questions/talk more/vote before "today" ends, assuming that rollover has changed to 10pm-ish PST rather than 7pm PST - i almost definitely can't make it before 7pm PST ;; so feel free to direct posts at me!

alsoooo i'm pretty sure the vote totals for round 2 are missing corn's vote for farrow ;;;;;

also WOW i just previewed this and it is long as ******** I AM SORRY i just wanted to get my opinion out there in case i'm not here later ;;;; ]

Okay how is that possible. She just told herself that Feral Storm may be innocent and now he is dead? She took a while to take this news in. Was this another survival tactic by the predators to stay hidden amongst the prey? It doesn't make any sense. Does this mean that Coloured Spring was a predator i n disguise? What is the ratio now anyway? She counted the remaining heads. Ten remaining. Eleven, if she included herself. If there really are still four predators left, it wouldn't take long before the winners are announced by Through Your Eyes. The votes at this point can still be split amongst them...

That's when she heard interesting information being blurted out into the open shortly after both kin's deaths were announced. Kiss of Death laughed out loud in disbelief. They were supposed to rely on this small list of innocent players to win the game? "What is this? Are you saying all that to mess with our minds?" she called out to Lightning Strike. "I have been making wild guesses since the game had started. By listing all these names you know that they, the predators, will go after these prey as soon as they can starting tonight. Right?" She felt uneasy to talk back so hastily at the doe. it doesn't help the situation any better constantly hearing Freedom to Act starting off sentences with We's. We as in whom? She snapped her maw in frustration causing a lock of hair to dangle infront of her face. The words that flowed out of their mouths sounds comforting but what if some of those mentioned were not it? Did Lightning Strike manage to somehow take a peek into the future?

"Who exactly should I be voting for then?" she asked, since the one she voted against yesterday is now a prey according to the Seer. She didn't feel like she was wrong when she had sided with Flint.

At this point in the game, she too was quite glad that she was still alive for one more day to try and pick out who the predators are.

Kiss of Death remained silent for a moment lost in her own thoughts as she leaned her body against a tree. There there were a few pieces of the puzzle missing. If the four that were mentioned were prey, that didn't leave a lot of names that had chance to be labeled as a predator. "Tracks? Rising Sun? Wild Sage?" she spoke questionably, eyes still fixed at the little row of kin that Lightning Strike stood beside. She did not mention her own name and stopped there. For if she said anymore, she was afraid she would become the next target.

Again she blurted out everything that was running through her mind. Like any other day, right after her voice was heard, even if it confused the players, it felt like it would be her last time.

The remaining prey should hurry and figure something out. Night is soon acoming. Someone won't make it through the night with so much information being exposed for both sides to hear.


(( ahhh i leave the house in 30min. i will try to post again while at work :/ ))

She looked over at Wild Sage still leaned against the tree. "There is that too," she replied, but really they need her there.

(( a post from work! it might getsuper busylater. i forgot how borked this keyboardis with the spacing lol. ))

"I have to agree with her. Dubbing yourself a seer when we have no way to validate a claim, let alone proclaiming people as safe. I don't know these kin you claim as safe." Tracks gave an huff. "We have predators, not a single kin that is taking us out. A group. Our choices might have been correct or have you all forgot that our host says They?"

"But, as for my choice, it would have to be Lightning Strike as well." A seer, bossing them about proclaiming innocents. "Who you know outside of the game, what you know of them. It does not matter in this setting."

Flood of Light listened to Lightning Strike's booming voice, and he listened to it with discomfort. He shifted back and forth, hooves raking into the ground-- he was uncomfortable, because if the team did not include him, then it was a lie as far as he could tell. However, perhaps it was merely because Lightning Strike could not see all? He didn't particularly trust them, not even a little.

He didn't trust the ones she assumed under her wing, either. And he was sad, because if she was right, she was singling out the prey she hadn't saved. If she was wrong, she was a terrible liar. "Lightning Strike," Flood of Light began, his cool and soft voice a contrast to her booming and assertive one, "What of those you have not named? Would you condemn us, despite our innocence?"

Flood of Light's tail slid back and forth, his ears pressed to his head. He looked sad, in his own way.

And the first one to speak up including him in their declaration, he'd just voted for, and never trusted. "Please forgive me if I have misjudged you, Freedom to Act," Flood of Light said, bending one leg briefly as if bowing apologetically. He wasn't convinced he had been wrong, but he was never convinced he had been right, either.

It was Wild Sage, suddenly, who made Flood of Light question alliances. The first day, Flood had listened to Sage and thought his comment made sense. This new day, however, he was suddenly unsure. Wild Sage had tossed out other names. Perhaps he was just trying to save his own skin, but... Flood watched him, with rapt attention.

Watching Wild Sage, Flood of Light seconded Expecting to Fly. "Yes, Lightning Strike. Were you thus appointed, or self-appointed?" he asked, curious.