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 Posted: Fri Sep 24, 2010 10:26 pm
((Still Belladonna!))
"Oh aye, is that so?" Vic retorted hotly, unimpressed by Belladonna's answer. She snorted derisively, as though to say damn you, don't you bring logic into this! "Well mate, somebody's gots to have done it, and 'less there was somebody who wasn't in the middle o' the mess-" which Vic didn't think there was, but she'd honestly been too busy going for Betty's blood to have noticed - "then it might just well'a been you!"
And as for Kasumi's question, well....
"Mate, that's damned near the stupidest thing me ears've ever heard, and I sail with pirates," the ghost squawked, scrunching up her face. "If I could'a done somethin' like that to anyone, lemme tell ye the list. Would'a been Betty first - Miss Oh-Golly-Don't-Hurt-The-Bloke-What's-Trying-To-Get-Us next - mebbe you third, now," the pirate eyed her pointedly, "but what's-'is-face? Bugger him, mate. If y'asked Balumf, she'd tell ye that I was goin' after that witch the whole time--"
But, of course, Balumf wasn't there. Vic's mate, her alibi, her tried and true compatriot, had been carted off with the rest of them. Scupper.
Seeming to realize this, Vic's mouth clapped shut. Her eyes combed the cabin in a surly fashion, and her arms crossed. Unable to think of anything better to say in her defense, she closed her argument by snapping out, "'S not like I can be doin' everything at once, mate. And if I'd had time to go chokin' some oversized kitty, I'd'a had time to pull up my bleeding pants!", at which point her cheeks went pink again and she took a stubborn, (momentarily) quiet stance.
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Posted: Sat Sep 25, 2010 12:21 am
((Not saying any names, but Oliver is definitely growing suspicious of at least two individuals))
Hardly one for talking after such brutality, the monster proceeded to a separate corner from the others and propped a shoulder up against the wall; once the injured and accused had been carried off and put in their places. Bruises would form underneath his fine, white fur from those messily placed hoof-kicks, but luckily not many would see through to them! The cuts, which were sparse but visible, however, would not go without a few questioning glances. Battle scars, he concluded thoughtfully, for the upcoming tales of triumph and strength.
...Arg...Suddenly the acid-monsters face became scrunched up and aggressive looking, as if he were angered by something before him...on the floor? No it just happened to be where his eyes fell and stayed.
"Cut the crap..." He grumbled quietly to himself. This is not the time to be haughty--students were getting hurt! People were left with what looked like severe wounds because one of their FELLOW cabin mates had decided it a grand idea to start these attacks. The skin-walker, the ghostly pirate...hell even that witch...he could no longer tell what was a warning sign of foul-play and what wasn't! Kindness was devoid of its meaning on this train; trusting anyone or anything was no longer an option!
Oliver, still standing in his place, scanned the remaining lot with skepticism.
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Posted: Sat Sep 25, 2010 3:03 am
At this point, his head was pounding. Was Erin still in the room? Ghaun could really use a shot right now, but she wasn't. She was smart and left when the commotion began, leaving him alone to try and help the students sort out this mess. Really, he wa sorely unprepared for this sort of thing. Batwings! He worked on the Train! Not on the Bogeyman squad! However, it appeared that they had made their selection. The reaper-host's heels moved with a muffled click as he walked over to Belladonna. "Excuse me, misses," he said to the pair, "I'm afraid I will have to cut your hair discussion short," ahaha, punny, "Please follow me to the Accusation Cabin." Except, of course, Belladonna never made it. As soon as Ghaun touched her, the girl topped over like a lifeless doll. Instead of the quite roomy Accusation Cabin, Belladonna was transferred to an empty bed in the Injured Cabin instead. Shadowed forms moved during the night as the Train continued on its journey. Who were they? What were they doing? It was still a mystery, a mystery as puzzling as what happened to Belladonna.
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Posted: Sat Sep 25, 2010 3:16 am
((No accusations at the moment!))
When Ghaun had come to escort Belladonna away, a vicious look of triumph had swept Vic's features. That's right, she surely must have been thinking, get ye gone, ye harriden!
That expression was quite transformed not two seconds later, of course, as the witch crumpled to the ground. Less the look of triumph, now, and more a hollow disbelief. "... But," the pirate managed to squeak out as the witch was hoisted off to the Injured Cabin, "but wait. That... that means it ain't you, then? But--"
Too late to try and get answers from the girl, of course. The doors to the Injured Cabin hushed shut, and the ghost was left gawking. What the blazes just happened? And who here (aside from Vic herself, that is - she'd stuck her foot in that one pretty firmly, hadn't she?) had any motivation to go after Belladonna? And besides that - could they even be sure there was just one more to worry about? What did strangling have in common with just... going limp like that?
This was all starting to hurt her head....
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Posted: Sat Sep 25, 2010 7:07 am
(( Kasumi is extremely sad but is withholding accusations at the moment. ))
Kasumi backed up in disbelief. Not only was Belladonna accused, but she flopped over like all the life was drained out of her just a few moments later. Kasumi shook her head. "No... but it wasn't you!" she gasped. Frowning intensely, she stared at Vic, crossing her arms in disgust. "See? I told you it wasn't her, but you didn't want to believe me. Both she and I were attached to our respective individuals when the attack happened. Neither she nor I even had time to attack someone else." At this point, she was explaining her innocence to what people remained.
Throwing up her arms, Kasumi sat down again. "Obviously the method of attack keeps changing. It's to throw us off, I bet." Placing her hand to her head, she pulled out another clump of hair.
"You wanted her gone, Pirate. Are you happy now?"
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Posted: Sat Sep 25, 2010 7:07 am
Kashiyoru's ears perked straight up when Belladonna when limp. He hadn't seen or heard anything. When did it happen? How did it happen? All he could really tell for sure...
"None of us are safe." He whispered. "Maybe it was a mistake to move those berserkers into the other cart. We should of tied them up in here. We could keep an eye on them, as well as offer to let them free in exchange for them keeping an eye out and ripping to shreds any...thing that's moving suspiciously about." He paused and thought for a moment. "Though, I guess that would mean we'd have to trust those psychos not to attack us again in the mean time."
He lowered his ears and glanced around. This cart didn't seem safe at all. He honestly considered hanging out in the injured cabin with Jack and the others. Amusing they were still alive. One by one his tails slowly began to wrap around him as if to comfort him.
"Why can't we just get to the damn school already? I just want to get off this death box, and into a nice cozy dorm room, preferably with a good lookin' room mate." He whispered that last part to himself.
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Posted: Sat Sep 25, 2010 7:43 am
Right before her eyes, Belladonna fell. Lumidee moaned (though it was not at all ghostly nor wailing) quietly. She had never suspected the other witch, most likely because of her obvious rage at Betty's actions: someone that beholden to what were apparently some special witchy values, Lumi figured, would never break them herself. She said as much, with a tired glance at Vic. "Could it be a remnant of Betty's poison?" she added, though she didn't entirely believe it. The more important question for the moment fell to whose fault it was, and she couldn't have answered that question if her life depended on it.
She could, however, pause and reflect on the irony of that statement.
"Berserkers are berserk on the whole, I think." Lumi replied softly to Kashiyoru. "You saw the way they were going at each other, even when they were evenly matched. Whatever's happening to them has made them crazed folk - we would never have been able to trust them." She blinked unevenly - took a ragged breath. "I don't think they would have been able to do anything but hurt us as soon as our backs were turned."
The phantom's eyes, now so dull and quiet that they hinged on jaded, roved over two in particular: Kasumi, whom she had her suspicions about before; and the skin-walker who had been entirely too happy with the state of things up until now. Her head fell forward, flickering fingers running through tousled curls. Unless something amazing happened, she was starting to think that they were boned.
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Posted: Sat Sep 25, 2010 9:08 am
((Oliver is going insane and accusing, more or less, Nuk and Vic.))
"Oh my bloody lanterns..." Oliver croaked in his corner just as Belladonna was hauled off...not again.
He had his suspicions of the witches innocence but was, yet again, proved wrong. Oliver wasn't used to any of this--this not being able to come up with at least a viable accusation, or come to an understanding of the situation! None of the events made sense, at least none that weren't already explained...Oliver was losing it.
Throwing his arms into the air, what injuries were inflicted seemed to be disregarded as a crazed look came over the boys face. "This is insane, this is crazy!"
"We're all going to feel the wrath of this berserker one way or another! They'll get rid of us in this cabin before heading to the others, taking us out one by one! We're doomed!" Having stumbled some ways into the remaining crowd of students, Oliver flattened his paws onto the table and hunched over it. “We are so dumb…”
Blue eyes fluttered beneath his mane, hiding them behind a curtain of soft fur before he was ready to tilt upward and glare at the others.
"That pirate over there had her qualms with the witch...Let’s accuse her..."
"But the skin-walker..." Oliver chimed, darting his gaze every which way. "Perhaps he is the culprit...or, you know what lets blame me!" Pushing off his platform, Oliver stood with his arms wide, mocking a welcomed look. "Have at it again! The others certainly have more of a reason to attack but why not accuse a random student? It could be plausible, everything is now...Go ahead and point your grubby hands at me and let us come to some conclusion! Not that it will save us. We'll just be sitting ducks, waiting for yet another one of us to be plucked from the brood."
He was growing increasingly uptight, chest heaving, eyes wide, ears twitching and tail flicking about restlessly behind him…dropping his arms, he turned around to rub his forehead while letting his free hand grip his hip…
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Posted: Sat Sep 25, 2010 10:17 am
((Perlie is accusing Kasumi for now.))
Perlie had gone back to sitting back and staring at her fellow passengers after the ill-fated attempt at asking Vic if she needed help; accusations were flying, and it was always a good idea to keep up with what people were saying. Who knew if someone would actually latch onto something important about the newest culprit? It'd be bad to miss something like that, surely.
Really, there wasn't even that much surprise when Belladonna had been convicted and then, well, slumped over. Just a dull, horrified sort of feeling. What did that say, to be getting immune to the shock of another victim?
"Yeah, I agree - there's no way that's going to work, honestly. Keeping an eye on them? We were keeping an eye on them; everyone was keeping an eye on each other and we're still down to eleven people. And asking them to protect us? Seriously? Are you stupid or something? These are the people who's been attacking us willy-nilly and you want to trust them with our safety?" It was hard not to lash out when Kashiyoru seemed to be lacking any sort of rational thought. Honestly, what sort of idea was that?
It didn't help that tensions in the cart seemed to be running higher than ever, either. Sure it wasn't the outright panic it'd been in the beginning, but this, she was sure, was even worse. This was the sort slow-growing tension that could only make a situation worse.
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Posted: Sat Sep 25, 2010 11:05 am
This wasn't good. This REALLY wasn't good. Andrugora hadn't been too suspicious of Belladonna at first, but now she felt bad for the witch. Looking over at Perlie, she corrected her.
"Ten. There are ten of us now. And now it seems things are going to happen whether or not the lights turn off", she observed. Andrugora was sorely wishing she had her HeadBones to stick in her ears to just get lost in the music and forget what was going on around her.
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Interesting Conversationalist
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Posted: Sat Sep 25, 2010 12:45 pm
Nuk's head lifted as he noticed Ghaun start towards the two girls huddled together, seemingly soothing the one girl's hair. Immediately his eyebrows furrowed together, his grin starting to fade at the implication behind the motion, which was soon confirmed as the staff member spoke up, telling her to follow him to the accused cabin. Tensing a little, the skinwalker sat up a bit, getting up out of his seat again and starting to take a few steps towards Ghaun, stance slightly aggressive now.
"Hey wait just a sec, I never said I accused her, there's no proof! Don't you even --!"
The skinwalker stopped short as the host reached the witch, going completely still as his hand came to rest on her shoulder. It all happened in slow-motion -- everything in such startling clarity, with nothing he could do about it. The witch's head turned a little to look up at Ghaun, what looked like bewilderment in her gaze... and then nothing. The spark of consciousness left her gaze seemingly as soon as that hand touched her, her body going rigid for just half a second before collapsing bonelessly. And Nuk just stared.
Coincidental? Maybe. But it sure looked like if the host hadn't touched her, she wouldn't have collapsed at all. "What the JACKING hell?!" He snarled at Ghaun, gold eyes a little wild with anger. Perhaps it wasn't the smartest idea to curse out the person in power, but then again, Nuk had never been good with authority anyway, nor did he have a strong sense of what he should and shouldn't do. Still, he didn't continue with what he had been going to say, instead growling again and spinning fast, kicking at whatever was closest. Tension was definitely growing, practically tangible in the air, and he could feel it starting to knot his muscles, making him anxious and itching to change shape. Hells bells, it was down to the wire now.
Turning back towards the others, Nuk narrowed his eyes at the other nine, snapping his gaze at Oliver as he started to rant. "Ok, you, acid breath, shut the jack up. You don't know what you're talking about," he growled at Oliver in annoyance, anxiety bleeding through through anger. It was talk like that that seemed to get people deported to the other cabins. He'd seen that well enough in his own words. Staring at Perlie next, he worked his fingers in and out of fists, baring his teeth. He couldn't deny she was right -- in fact, he even barked out a laugh at her stupid comment -- but that didn't make it any better. It had been easy to be amused when the lights went out and something happened, at least then there was something that could have been seen. With Belladonna, there had been nothing. Nothing except Ghaun. Except he hadn't been around when Faint had been choked.
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Posted: Sat Sep 25, 2010 1:16 pm
((Vic is accusing Kasumi!... in her own special way.))
While the rest reacted and Oliver went off the deep end (leaving Vic wishing they had voted him off that first round - maybe the other bloke wouldn't have had a nervous breakdown right in the middle o' the mess....), the ghost swabby was... moping. Yes, moping. Over Belladonna.
Not out of any concern for the girl, of course, but because she'd been so obviously wrong about her. And because she'd been right there, toe-to-toe with the witch, and hadn't noticed blasted anything until Belladonna had gone a-toppling over. If the person here could get it past her when she was right there, there really was no way to stop them, was there? Except by figuring out who it was....
Vic rubbed at her face, groaning and mumbling incoherently as she tried to sort through her thoughts. A sticky-wet piece of hair had migrated from her cheek to directly over one eye; annoyed, she picked at it. The damp curl just happened to twist around her finger as she moved it.
And Vic stopped. And thought about it. Her eyes went over to Nukpana, who she was coming to regard as one of the last bastions of sanity left in the train (and not just because they were equally targeted by the crackpot acid monster) - there was something in her look that seemed significant as she twisted her finger into the strand a bit more, getting the hair about it tighter, and pulled. Mimicking, perhaps, a neck being strangled.
Vic loosed the piece of hair and reoriented herself. She had a feeling what she ought to do, but she wasn't sure how it would go over. "Y'know what, mates?" she mused, fetching a napkin and a pen fashioned from a fingerbone (it took her a moment to be sure that it wasn't a part of the first victim) and scribbling a fast, one-handed note down on it. Her hand was on the pommel of her cutlass again - after the last conflict, she'd had the wit not to loop it onto her belt again, but stuck it haphazardly inside it instead so that she could yank it out at need. "Methinks I be pretty darned glad to see that witch gone. True, she shouldn't-a gone the way she did-" her face flashed through the motions of a scowl, then returned to a sort of manic seeming of inquisition, "but there's one thing I'm damned sure about." Her note written, the ghost straighted up and began to walk the cabin. The first stop was to Nukpana, to whom she handed the piece of paper. He was the only person, in her eyes, that she could hope it would do any good to give it to - and she sure as Hell hoped she hadn't guessed wrong with that. With an exaggerated wink to the skinwalker, the ghost turned to the task at hand.
"The next time we catches one of these blokes, I'll be DAMNED if any bloke's gonna keeps me FROM GIVIN' 'EM WHAT'S COMIN' TO 'EM!"
This last roar was accompanied (predictably) by Vic whipping her sword out of her belt, rushing Kasumi, and bringing it down in an arc toward the futakuchi-onna's head. There was nothing joking in the way she was swinging that thing, either - the pirate seemed like she was out for blood!
((Nukpana - the note reads (approximated for horrible, horrible pirate handwriting): Th3 hAIr wuT dId IT!!! RouNb Th3 N3k!!!! goTA g3T h3R To us3 IT Ag3N))
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Posted: Sat Sep 25, 2010 1:35 pm
Kasumi knew professing innocence, logical or not, would only go so far, especially since Perlie looked to be eying her down with that cold stare of accusation. Kasumi sighed and sat back in her chair, watching the skinwalker explode at Oliver. She remained quiet through his whole tirade, watching him. He even presented with a personality that would betray him as the culprit, but Kasumi still wasn't sure. She watched and waited, seeing his anxiety and anger rise to the surface quickly. He was amused by the rest of their plight and by Jack, Kasumi had had enough. The monster stood, facing her opposite and crossed her arms.
"That's enough. Exploding in anger will get us nowhere. We're all scared, we're all anxious and we're suspicious of everyone else around us." She turned to Oliver and pointed. "And you! Calm down. Panic will get us nowhere just the same. Let's discuss our evidence."
The young monsteress sat down in her chair again. "The method of attack has changed again, and I suspect it will keep changing. This ensures we can't pinpoint someone based on the method of attack, only on our own suspicions. Sure, we can profess our innocence all day long, but it's up to the individual and their prejudices and panic to determine if it's truth or a lie. I could easily point my finger at Vic because she accused my friend, but I won't." Kasumi frowned at the pirate swabby in question, still fuming from what had happened to Belladonna. "Not until I'm sure."
She raised her hands to her sides. "If you'd like to suspect me, fine. In fact, I volunteer. You can all tie me up if you wish, but it won't get you anywhere. I haven't harmed a soul on this train, and that won't change."
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Posted: Sat Sep 25, 2010 1:41 pm
(( Oh damn, I didn't hit preview to see Vic's attack! Kasumi is now accusing Vic! ))
"What by Jack's candles are you doing!?" Kasumi yelped, falling backwards out of her chair. She raised her forearms in defense, back connecting with the train's floor. Not a part of her moved, instead her eyes locked on the blade as it was careening towards her head.
Even her volunteering lead her to being attacked, and by someone she only accused in defense of her friend. "Look at you! Bringing a weapon on board, you were the attacker, weren't you? Who else would do this? It's you!" Kasumi had never been more frightened in her life. She honestly thought herself dead at that moment, never once thinking a student would bring a weapon onto a train. How could she? Obviously it was to attack others, just as she was doing now!
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Posted: Sat Sep 25, 2010 1:50 pm
((Same accusation!))
"Why ain't ye defending yourself, poppet?" Vic snarled, pressing forward for another attack. It was the same style - over the head, straight down. "Use yer hair, like you did to hold the water-horse. Like ye did in choking Faint, eh?!"
So far as Vic was concerned, the very fact that Kasumi didn't try defending herself when it was fully in her power - that she did everything she could to avoid showing off that connection that Vic had already made, and prayed to God the rest of the cabin would make - proved her suspicions. And on her pirate's honor, she wasn't going back on her word. NOBODY was going to keep her from getting this one!
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