The kids are all wrong || Chapter 1 || Body reaction || Ayato
Ayato wasn’t bothered by the fact someone had just died, it was expected from the motive the shark had given them after all. “I have no clue who this is” He muttered to himself and listened to Monosame’s boring speech. A trial? Now everyone was supposed to play detective to try and find the murderer.
There was no reason for Ayato to really stay in the room, besides trying to find anything that would point to the killer. So, he left the room without another word, heading to the sixth floor. He decided against going to the crews quarters and, instead walked to the common room, sitting down on one of the available couches.
The floor was empty as far as he knew which was nice, no one to bother him. After a few minutes, a noise caught his attention. “Nice while it lasted….”
Body Reaction || Higeru || Curiosity Killed the Cat
Higeru had bolted down to the Meeting Room at the sound of Xana’s scream. If anyone knew how to act quickly, it was him of course. Upon arriving there and seeing Melody, however, his reaction wasn’t immediate. The boy stared for a moment, walking closer and taking a look at the body. It appears that he… couldn’t actually tell that the girl was dead. He’d never seen a dead body, of course. Not in movies, not online- nowhere. How was he to know if she was dead or not? The best description he’d received as a child was that someone went to sleep forever. Still, even this sort of description hadn’t resonated with him very well. Couldn’t they just wake her up, then?
“…..”
“Melody….. nee-san. Wake up. You…. scared someone….”
Still confused by the whole ordeal, and the talk of….. “revoking,” Higeru thought it might be best to find out how to get her out of this forever sleep. After all, that was what everyone else seemed to be starting to do, right?
Twenty-four hours isn’t a lot of time to come to terms with one’s mortality. You all had your own separate ways to deal with it - maybe you panicked and spent your time crying your eyes out in one of the submarine’s many rooms. Perhaps you were openly defiant, challenging your fate with a determined smile, clutching onto some semblance of dignity as you faced a demise most wet. Whatever the case, the night passed in a huff of silence and worried sleep, and you couldn’t help but worry that Susan was going to make good on his promise to drown you all.
It’s morning. You wake up in varying statements of refreshment, and even as you greet your fellow crewmates hello, it just seems to be another ordinary day.
Unless you’re Xana Skye, who bursts into both crew quarters in alarm, yelling something about the meeting room downstairs. You get up, hurried by the Matchmaker’s efforts, and sooner or later the fifteen of you are on the first floor- fifteen? An arbitrary headcount reveals that, yes, someone is missing from your group...But who?
An absentminded glance towards the red timer [3:36:46] is all that can be managed before you see what has Xana so riled up. Your blood turns cold.
At first, you all latch onto the glimmer of hope that maybe she’s fine. There doesn’t seem to be any visible injuries on her, and from this angle, it’s just as likely that she simply fell asleep in the meeting room. But her chest isn’t rising, and her one visible eye is glassy and blank. A quick check of her pulse confirms what you feared worst.
Looks like Melody Sommer won’t be making the trip back to the ocean surface...
Before anyone could say a word, a tap on the far windows drew your attention to Susan, who did a somersault in the water. “Hooooo-wee! Ah’ knew one of ya would finally give in! ‘Course, ah’ ain’t gonna say who they are, but congratulations to ‘em anyways! Now everyone else here’s gonna live juuuuust a while longer!”
He tilted his head to one side, a bizarre action for a shark. “Now there’s just one more thing y’all gotta do before ah’ give ‘em their just desserts! Ah’ did say you’d have a shot at gettin’ out, but first, ah’ll give you and yer friends here time to investigate! Take a gander at poor ol’ Mel and see if you can figure out which one of y’all killed her, and how they dunnit! In awhile, we’re gonna proceed to a Class Trial, where y’all can discuss among yourselves and then vote for who you think is guiltiest!” He did a happy little clap with his fins.
“If y’all vote for the right person, then they’re gonna have their right to leave revoked! But if you vote for the wrooooong person...Ah’m gonna revoke someone else’s right to leave! So ah’ suggest y’all be smart lil’ younguns, and figure this out! And don’t mind the timer, ah’ll get to removin’ it soon enough. Cheerio!” With that, Susan swam off, leaving the remaining fifteen of you to decide what to do.
Dead Things in the Water | Germain | Chapter 1 | Open
At first, all he wanted to do was ignore it.
With the constant threat of murder looming over the submarine for the entire week though, Germain found it hard to focus on anything else, his regular hobbies providing no solace from the sense of dread he couldn’t just wipe away. He was forced to face the situation, and the more he thought about it, he started to feel like rejecting it wasn’t working. He couldn’t help think about it, and dancing around it would be poor judgment on his part, leaving him off his guard. Germain wasn’t going to act like he wasn’t a part of this anymore, especially not after the new announcement.
A day to kill, or they’d all be killed. Really, he figured it was inevitable that Susan come up with some sort of incentive to push them. He wasn’t expecting something so urgent though. He was a bit nervous at first, and naturally scared as Susan talked, but he worked to clear his thoughts once the shark left. Not much had changed. If someone was going to murder someone, it would just be happening sooner rather than later. So the motive didn’t really make much of a difference as he thought about it. It was a bit perplexing, seeing as a murder in this situation seemed like something to look forward to as lifting the burden. He’d have to think about that a bit more.
Germain needed to get to know people though; that much was certain. His isolation wasn’t going to do anything good, and if he wanted to be of any help to the rest of them, he’d have to be there. So rather than dashing out of the hall as he had the last time they were called there, he stayed behind this time, looking around. Once he found a suitable victim to his unfortunate presence, he strode over, standing up straight upon getting to them. Be confident!
“Uhm… hi. I… erm. Hello. I…” What was he going to say to them? It wouldn’t have hurt to have thought about that beforehand. The motive seemed a pretty taboo topic, but it was probably on their mind. Meanwhile he was just standing there, avoiding their eyes, looking like a doofus. “Penny for your thoughts?” It was a start, for him at least.
While she had learned that life here would be rather unpredictable, Nadia was still extremely startled when Monosame slammed himself straight into the glass at the head of the room. So startled, in fact, that she jumped backwards and flung her arms around herself at the sudden room-shaking crack!
As the shark threatened them, Nadia couldn’t prevent herself from trembling. How could this happen? Not only were they being forced to kill people in order to leave, but now… they were on a time limit?!
24 hours… somebody has to kill in only 24 hours! It was too much for Nadia to imagine. All the people she has talked to so far seem… so nice! How could any of them kill someone else? This isn’t right… there had to be another way around this, right?
Nadia rubbed the back of her neck and shook her head. Unease was quickly creeping in, but, she had to stay brave. With a deep breath, Nadia put on an optimistic smile.
And when you thought things couldn't get any worse [Motive]
You all couldn’t shake off the feeling of dread that now permeated the submarine after Susan had made that fateful announcement. Kill to leave? Surely he couldn’t be serious, right? And for a while you could let the false sense of security reassure you, that maybe this was all just a huge practical joke, and there was to be no killing. But perhaps you knew it wasn’t. Which is why you found yourself back in the meeting room, all sixteen of you, waiting for him to make a reappearance. When there was 24:05:00 left on the clock, the speakers crackled to life.
“Howdy there! Ah’ can tell y’all have been listenin’, and here y’all are, punctual too! Good, good, ah’ like it when m’kids behave themselves! As promised, ‘ere’s yer somethin’ special!”
For a moment, nothing happened. You all looked around, wondering what the special surprise was and where it was going to come from. It was Kasai who first noticed Susan in the distance, and as everyone turned to look, the small black-and-white dot in the distance got bigger. Very fast.
C-C-CRACK!!!
Without warning, MonoSame slammed into the glass panorama, and a large, if hairline, crack spread out from the initial point of impact. Luckily, the panel held, and Susan simply backed up so he could address you through the cleft window.
“Well, that went exactly as ah’ expected it ta go! Good thing too, I d’wanna drown y’all…on accident, at least.” Susan smiled, as his monochromatic red eye gleamed. “Henceforth, ah’ declare, that if no one dies before these next twenty-four hours are up, ah’m authorized ta flood this whole submarine by ramming into it again ‘n again, and turn y’all into m’next submarine sandwich! If ya wanna continue this whole no-killin’ business just so y’all can remain guilt-free, then be m’guest! Ah’ hope ya understand the consequences of not actin’ when it’s yer only choice left!”
With a macabre laugh, Susan sped away, and your eyes all refocused on the red timer.
24:00:01…24:00:00…23:59:59…
You now had twenty-four hours to kill, or risk everyone on board being killed. Bon voyage.
Higeru Hashimoto || Chapter One Start || The Scalded Cat Fears Cold Water || Open
Higeru couldn't believe what he was fearing. In fact, it was taking a little while to register. They were.... no.... they were staying here forever? He began to shake. They couldn't, they just couldn't be forced to stay here forever, and....
Kill eachother?.... Higeru wasn't too familiar with murder. He knew vaguely what it entailed, but he generally wasn't too familiar with the inner workings of the concept, or of death in general. How does a person cause... death? So someone wont be around anymore, right? It was.... well, it was a bit alarming, to say the least, and completely baffling.
"What?... What are you..."
Before he could finish however, he was immediately struck by the sight of water coming rushing towards him. In a normal circumstance, he would've scampered out of the way, but he watched as Kurimu hurled in front of him. Confused and hesitant for a moment, he reached out to catch her, only to be socked right in the chest and gut by the girl barreling into him, as well as a fuck ton of water. It took Higeru a moment to come to his senses, but when he did, he was curled up on the floor, trembling and whimpering.
When they were called down, Germain had honestly been hoping that Susan would tell them they’d be leaving, and the actual announcement unfortunately turned his expectations on their head. He was numb, still trying to wrap his head around the fact that he’d just been told to kill someone. Forget the rest of it, Germain just couldn’t understand it. Why would someone ask for that?
To kill someone, to entirely remove them from earth? What would happen to them? Would it all just stop? He couldn’t do that to anyone. Did that mean he’d die down here, at the bottom of the ocean? Probably. He was finding that a bit difficult to come to terms with.
Germain decided that the best course of action would be to get as far away from the commotion in the hall as soon as he could. Everyone was shouting, and it was only making matters worse. He brought his scarf up to cover his face and did his best to sneak out. He slipped through the crowd, hopefully not drawing much attention, and left after he was sure no one was missing. Making his way through the submarine, he found himself at his destination: the library. There was no where else he’d ever rather be, especially at times like this. He looked around the room. Should he read? He didn’t know. He was just so confused.
Twenty thousand leagues under the sea, no one can hear you scream [Event]
The flow of time would seem rather weird down under the sea. With the absence of any natural light reaching the exterior of the submarine, you didn’t know how to judge how long it’s been since you’ve last arrived in your new home. There wasn’t really much to complain about, though, was there? The amenities in the submarine were top-of-the-line, and soon enough, you were all relaxing into the nightly grind of finding a room in the submarine to venture into, and ultimately making friends along the way. The routine lasted an unspecified amount of time, until one particular lull, when your ID cards crackled to life.
“Yeeeeeee-hah! This is yer friendly neighbourhood MonoSame speakin’ ‘ere! Please be dears and come down to the Meeting Room ah’ first met’cha in! Ah’ know some of ya might be preoccupied with showerin’ right now, so ah’ll give y’all a bit t’get down here! Cheerio!”
Susan’s voice blasted through both your ID cards and the speaker system. Willingly or reluctantly, the sixteen of you descended the levels of the submarine, until you reached the door at the end of the hallway on the first floor. The first thing you noticed when you stepped into the meeting room was that Susan was already waiting for you on the other side of the glass. The other thing you noticed was the presence of a large timer in the middle of the room on the oval table: it read 48:00:00 in large red numbers, and didn’t appear to be active. Once Melody entered, closing the door behind her, he started to speak.
“Howdy-doo, people! Looks like y’all have been enjoyin’ yerselves down here under the sea! Ah’ sordidly hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there’s kinda, sorta, technic’ly been a change in plans. Don’t get mad at me though, y’all, ah’m just the messenger here!”
A change in plans? Does that mean you all would be disembarking this submarine soon? Admittedly, whether you were keen to divulge it or not, the place was rather nice. The amenities inside the submarine were decent at worst and actually luxurious enough to be considered opulent at best. While the company of your fellow crewmates may not have been pleasant depending on how well you got along with them, ultimately there really wasn’t any reason to disrupt the relative peace in the interior of the submarine. Perhaps you would keep in touch with your newfound friends, or maybe you actually found someone to bring home to your parents. Perhaps this short vacation wasn’t so bad after all-
“Fer starters, you ain’t leavin’ here! Ever!”
…Or perhaps that. Some things you just never see coming.
Susan’s red eye gleamed with a new malicious light as he continued to exposition. “Hopefully, yer not dumb enough ta realize we’re at the bottom ofta Pacific Ocean, which means there ain’t no one who’ll be able to set’cha free unless they happen ta love trenches! Don’t worry tho’, ah’ve also set up a white noise amp so if there be anyone onboard that just so happens to have a means of communication, y’all outta luck! No one can find us down ‘ere, juuuuuuust how ah’ like it! And if ya even think ‘bout tryin’ a means of escapin’, well, y’all have seen that one submarine movie, right?”
Everyone stares blankly at him, and his expression changes to the monochromatic-shark equivalent of a frown. “Really? Ah’d’ve thought y’all’d be panicking by now! Ah’ guess maybe a lil’ demonstration’ll help!”
Without warning, one of the side panels you didn’t even know had a purpose swung open, revealing a hole in the wall about the diameter of a basketball. A loud whoosh was heard as a jet of water appeared to burst out of the hole; its intended target appeared to be Higeru, who turned around too late to realize it was him.
The saving grace came as Kurimu, who had been watching, immediately dove between the Cat Burglar and the blast of water. The saving grace also went flying as the high-pressure spout launched the petite girl off her feet. And finally, the saving grace (and the rest of the water) promptly collided with one Higeru Hashimoto, sending the both of them crashing into the far wall with a loud bang.
“…Okay, now what was that for?” The Ice Cream Maker demanded as she got back on her feet helping Higeru do the same. The first hint of emotion appeared in her otherwise impassive face, as she shook the water out of her hair, before adjusting her pink-and-blue locks back into place. Said emotion was clearly not an amused one.
“Ah’ said it was a demonstration! S’not like he woulda’ drowned or anything, it’s just a little itty bitty bit o’water!” Susan appeared to clear his throat, before moving on. “Okay, so maybe ah’ gotta little ahead of myself. When ah’ said at the start that none of ya were gonna be leavin’ here, ah’ forgot that there is…eh, one way ta leave.”
His smile widened ever so slightly. “Kill someone! Beat ‘em up, send ‘em flying, kick ‘em out, rock ‘em, shock’ em, sock ‘em nopunintendedbythewayHigamikun, just find a way to generally unalive ‘em and maaaaaaybe ya’ll have a shot to get outta here! It’s simple as that! Now, any questions?”
The amount of noise that followed could have put supporters at a Donald Trump rally to shame.
A loud burst of static was what silenced everyone as Susan appeared to frown for the first time. “Hey, hey! There’s ain’t no reason to panic! We can all get along together as we’re busy plannin’ on how ta kill ta leave this here submarine o’mine! Remember, kiddos, we’re all upstanding future members of society…well, not for long, ah’ guess, but whatever. Anywho, ah’ll just conclude with a message from m’boss!”
The projector screen promptly winded itself down, and the blinker flickered to life as it played the opening countdown to the main act, which consisted of…nothing. No pictures, no movie, no popcorn, just the heavily-distorted and warbled sound of someone speaking directly to you. You couldn’t make out a distinct gender to the voice, nor an age, pitch, or any sort of clue who would reveal who Susan’s mysterious ‘boss’ was. And so they spoke,
“Greetings. If you’re watching this, chances are…you’re probably going to die. It’s not a bad experience, death - it’ll only hurt for a moment, and then you won’t have to worry about what comes next. That’s for your ‘friends’ here to decide, and perhaps I may help them speed things along. I suppose you might be wondering who I am, or why you’re here, or as to what my motives are for doing all this.”
A laugh echoed, and chillingly, you could place a name to the voice - in fact, you could place sixteen of them. The sound was as if you and your fifteen classmates were all laughing in unison, but it sounded cold and alien and just plain wrong. “Well, tough luck. If I told you all, it wouldn’t be very fun for me or you, would it now? My motives are complex, after all. One thing’s for sure, though - you all are in for the experience of a lifetime. Yes, many of you will die here, but you all will be remembered. So thank you for lending me a hand in these trying times. I’ll be seeing you all shortly…or perhaps in no time at all. Pleasure’s mine.“
And the message concluded, a loud beep was heard, and the red timer started counting down.
Susan shook his head, and his normal speaking voice returned even as the screen winded itself up, and the projector turned off on its own.
“Come back ‘ere in one day, when the timer hits 24:00:00! Ah’ll have somethin’ special for ya planned then! Until next time!” And with that, he swam off into the murky unknown, leaving all of you to ponder what was to come next.
[You may now volunteer for the position of this chapter’s killer/victim! Please PM a mod if you’re interested in playing a particular role, and we will decide together as to the most appropriate selection for each one. Following that, stay tuned for the first motive, and ultimately murder! We’re also looking for artists who would be willing to help us speed up the process for the body discovery/execution art if possible!]
Unfortunately for the benefit of everyone involved, Kurimu couldn't quite remember what the date was. All she knew was that, the day before she woke up, she distinctly remembered making plans to visit home in order to celebrate her sixteenth birthday. Her little sisters had been excited because she was bound to bring some of her newest creations for an impromptu taste testing...But it would seem like time went on and her birthday passed her, so she was sixteen years - and a few days, maybe even months - old.
She certainly didn't feel any older, let alone look any different, but perhaps that was part of the charm.
Nevertheless, she wanted to celebrate it - if not for herself to feel any older, then to see if she still retained the chops to create ice cream with substandard ingredients. Sure, the milk came in a carton that was sold by a particularly high-end brand, but she had no idea how fresh it was, nor was there an expiry date on the thing...Guess she just had to trust Susan the shark on this one.
So she got to work. Pretty soon, she had a few bowls of mixed flavours like vanilla bean, mango/raspberry and her signature rainbow out on the counter, ready to freeze. This was a test batch to see if the amenities were good enough, and as she hoisted the bowl with the vanilla mix into the freezer, she nudged against the slushie machine, causing it to roll off slightly-
...Huh. Hang on, when was the slushie machine ever mobile? There were wheels on it and all, meaning that it could be moved...And if it could be moved, why?
Higeru Hashimoto || Prologue || What the dink is that || Open
Higeru blinks. That surely was… interesting? Higeru had never really been to the sea before, and had no idea what to expect. Was this… normal? He wouldn’t know. He’d heard of sharks before, kind of… was this a shark, then? He didn’t know they talked. Susan was… cute? Kind of. If anything, Higeru was just confused. Thankfully, confusion was a feeling he was well used to now.
“Hm?…. Upstairs?…”
After listening curiously to the shark’s announcement, he headed upstairs quickly, eager to look at all of the new rooms they’d been promised. His attention had been taken off of their situation for the time being- the boy was just anxious to find out what the heck an “ID Card” was.
Waking up in a strange room and having it flood shortly after wasn't the end of the weirdness, now a talking black and white shark with an accent appeared before everyone, gave a speech and left afterwards, mentioning before that the rest of the rooms had been unlocked and were free to explore.
"Hasn't this been fun?" Ayato spoke to no one in particular before leaving the room and going to explore what this place had exactly, he walked up to the last floor and looked around, finding a door with a list of names engraved on it. "I see my name and....oh great" He scowled, not happy about a few of the other names listed, Ayato opened the door and saw the first bed was engraved with his name. "Convenient..." He grabbed the items on his bed and sat down.
Out of everything she had seen in her short 18 years on this planet that was... definitely the weirdest thing she had ever seen. A talking, monochromatic, southern, shark that goes by the name of Susan. The moment the shark first open’s it’s mouth and begins to talking her hands find her head and she lets out a low groan. She can’t take any more weirdness today or her head will explode...
Susan leaves and so does Xana, already leaving to search the submarine and to clear herself of this massive headache. After searching the entire submarine she comes to a stop in the Crew’s Quarters, after finding her bed and pocketing her ElectroID and key she plops down on her bed with a loud sigh. “Could this day get any worse?”
A bicoloured shark, with a Southern twang, named Susan. Well... okay. A clever puppet, probably, a little silly given that they all seemed to have been kidnapped, but Takara could deal with this. It actually made it a little less scary, in a way. Sharks were a little scary, but sort of cute too, and Susan had a sort of mascot quality to him — at least their... host? captor? wasn't some masked creep in a trench coat, or something. They retrieved their ID and checked all the functions, then, satisfied, went about wandering all the floors to see if there was something interesting. Some cool things here and there, but...
Oh goodness. Now, the fourth floor had something good. A totally dark room, filled with lava lamps. Now, Takara wasn't the kind of stoner who'd delight in something so psychedelic, but it involved light and bright colours. Was it any surprise that it would be of interest to someone who worked with jewels? Anyone who wanted them would find Takara sitting cross-legged on the floor, leaning back, looking through their loupe at the blurs and blobs of intermingling, floating colours. Ooh, that looked like some zoisite there, and that like some atlantisite, and some unakite, and some boulder opal...
This wasn’t... She would say funny anymore, but it was never actually funny to begin with. Upon sight, Miyahara immediately pressed herself into the back wall, as far away from that thing as she could get. This was... unexplainable. Since when could sharks talk? And since when were they named Susan?
As it spoke, she bit her lip nervously- So hard that it had began to bleed. She knew now wasn’t the time to be freaking out, but, could you blame her? What they had just seen was definitely unnatural...
In her shocked state, she’d even missed out on questioning the... shark? Machine? Who knows. But, she supposed she’d gotten enough information out of the encounter, even if she hadn’t spoken to Susan directly- They couldn’t leave yet. That thought filled an already shaky girl with even more fear.
“...”
Despite the obvious terror and danger, she’d go look around upstairs. Apparently, they direly needed their ID’s and she wasn't one to just ignore orders given by giant talking sharks.
After retrieving her ID as quietly as she could, Mel quickly snuck off away from the others. She found herself in the ballroom as she tried to wrap her head around everything... Was that shark (Su-San was it?) telling the truth? We're they all really stuck here?!
Tears began to form in her blue eyes. She loved the ocean, she really did... But being held in a scary place like this against her will was just devastating. Not knowing what else to do, Mel just stood there feeling completely helpless.
