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[ Wintershadow's exit post. Sorry it's so late, but I've been busy. XD ]

"Oof," was all Wintershadow said when he was voted off -- looking at the ground around him, he flicked his hair out of his face and went to join the ranks of the 'dead,' slipping in neatly between Sleepless and Kiss of Death.

None of the deaths made any sense; if he'd voted in the majority (and he had), it's because he'd had no real idea of who was who. It was one of the more confusing games he'd played, but he had to admit -- whoever the predators were, they were on their game. A small smile played around his face as he watched the rest of the survivors race against time.

Marry Wanderer circled the "sleeping" players as he spoke, "If the creatures had been awake at night, aware of their surroundings, they would have heard snarls and growls, yips and howls, as the wolves hunted."

"There was an explosion of violence in the dark then the wolves turned in for the night, laying down to sleep amongst their prey," Merry Wandered stepped into the center of the grove. "When the sun rose, the creatures woke, sun on their eyelids, blood in their noses."

"And like every day before, they followed the blood--winding their way away from their stomping grounds to find who amongst them had died. And how." His voice was low, calm, ominous, "Finally they spotted their dead comrade: Neither Nor. Half his body flung into the trees, the other half haphazardly buried in the ground--neither fully in the air nor fully in the ground."

"They backed away, bristling with tension. It was their turn to kill."


The 24 hour-ish day round starts now.

Another night, another death. Once again, it seemed the wolves had gone after those that were already being scrutinized by the day. And hadn't she been the first to vote for Neither Nor? Now it was just awkward, knowing those she thought were suspicious were not all predators.

"I don't think Nightingale is necessarily a predator; as you said, others believed she spoke the truth, and it isn't as if she can control minds." Apathy did feel as if the doe had been a little too intense during her interrogation (a feeling accentuated by the fact that she'd been one of the accused) when Nightingale had otherwise seemed to be more of a timorous doe. But was that necessarily the action of a predator intent on planting suspicion, or a prey who wanted to examine anything suspicious to try and catch a wolf in the act? They only held power during the day with their votes, so she did not find it condemning if any of them tried to garner votes towards those they felt were predators.

"As for Optimist, I remain unsure. It appears the wolves have changed tactics so as to target those under more scrutiny. Whether that is to protect the quieter ones amidst their ranks, or a ruse to make vocal individuals look more innocent, I cannot say. Despite it all, however, she has not changed her behavior no matter what the predators have done, and I feel a wolf would be more intent on staying under the radar." Of course, the point may be moot considering they had voted Fire off exactly for that reason. She laid her ears back in concentration. The game was difficult when the same action could be interpreted in both ways: as something either beneficial for the prey, or beneficial for the predators.

"Seems like.. he was innocent after all." She sighed, tilting her head to the side, listening. "We can think of these deaths in one way and another -- as well as the innocence of every kin in here..."

"I... still want to hear a response from Optimist with my question from the previous day." she paused, "And well, hopefully everyone speaking up this time? Since ah, numbers are dwindling." Bare Trees looked at the thinning group of kimeti.

Another rough night of sleeping and Swamp Trees was starting to feel the stress of the game. She glanced towards the area where the latest victim had slept during the night. Taking a deep breath, it was time for this doe to pay attention better now that they seemed to be getting smaller faster.

Apathy gazed sideways at Nightingale. "Whether or not one is virtuous outside of the game does not indicate what they will do within it. I feel that even the most honest of kin would deny being a wolf, if they'd been assigned the role of a predator. That is the nature of the game, is it not?" To put another way, she did not think the doe's integrity was being attacked, and she waved her tail in what she hoped would be a calming gesture. The doe seemed to be getting riled over the past few days, when she'd been so quiet before.

She flicked an ear towards Bare Trees; Apathy, too, was interested in hearing what Optimist had to say. As for Story, she wasn't sure how plausible it would be – but the details of the game stated they voted, too, did they not? If there was a spat between who they should and should not kill during the night, she could see how some of them might feel that killing off one of their own might work for the betterment of predators in the long-term. Still, she thought it unlikely considering how low their numbers were. The wolves had started off with five from what she recalled, and it wasn't as if they were voting randomly by the day. Thus, she considered it likely that the wolves' numbers had fallen even more since the beginning.

"Well, I won't disagree with that," she grinned at Peep, referring in particular to part about herself, "but I don't think changing votes would necessarily be suspicious. Many of us change votes by the day, even if the target of our previous day is still in the game." She did find it strange that the doe was so particular about Optimist, but Nightingale had stated her reasons. Even though the doe admitted that there was less evidence against Optimist than she'd originally thought, it wasn't as if she was the only one who'd continued to persist after Optimist. The fact that Nightingale had instigated it was the interesting part, but Apathy couldn't fault that when she herself had done so earlier with Neither Nor. The fact that she'd been wrong about him made her hesitant to believe that Nightingale would be predator by virtue of misguidedly going after someone believed to be prey. Ah, but there was still time in the day, wasn't there? And with one vote down against the doe, Apathy would wait and see, to see if Nightingale's reaction led to further insight. For now, she'd other suspicions on her mind.

"It's good to see you around," she dipped her head towards Swamp Trees, "while our numbers dwindle. I don't think I recall you justifying much – if any – of your votes...?" She left her question open-ended, to see what the doe would say.

Wild Cry was not accustomdd to this much frowning. "I have two theories, but only one helps any kind of separation of prey. That first theory is that the wolves are still picking off those that have been quieter. Wintershadow was not thaaaat quiet but...he did miss a vote one day. That appears to be the only connection between every wolf kill that I can see - but if I am wrong with Neither Nor please speak up because I have not been able to follow his progress in that regards. Of course, that would selarate everylne left. Who are those that have missed one vote or more?"

"Along with that, I don't know if that will narrow it down on who might be wolves but it does give us something to look at. Either all of those that missed a vote are innocent prey or there is a wolf possibly hiding among them."

The buck paced before looking around. "My other theory is that someone was on to something yesterday and Neither Nor's death was a distraction to turn our course of discussion. So it might warrant talk on what we were discussing yesterday."


Wild Cry looked at Optimist and Bitter End to gauge their reactions since Fire Made Flesh was killed already. Both names came up and both have always voted, althought Optimist's first vote was to abstain. He also knew that bringing up the missed votes might bring attention to himself, even though his random votes were still here. The buck chewed his cheek a little in thiught, somehing he picked up from one of his daughters. Then again- leaving those around who might have successfully voted for a wolf on a whim but didn't have enough to get voted off might also be a way to keep eyes off one of the predators.

His musings went around in circles and he stomped his footat himself. Such thoughts won't help them, they only confuse more. They needed conclusions nkt speculations.