Caw.

Orion, the hunter. FLYING || ROOSTING

[conundrumestate]

Good night, and good luck || Orion || Trial 4.10 || ATTN: Maestro

[♪♪♪]

Orion exhales.

So it’s finally over, at long last. The devil of a man with the cane had sentenced him to die, a fate that Orion wasn’t sure how he felt about. He’d been anticipating it for the last several hours - for the past few days, perhaps, ever since the first seed of the idea had sprouted in his mind. Unlike the others, who had supposedly killed by accident, he’d had plenty of time to stew over everything, to prepare himself for the inevitable. He’d resigned himself to his fate.

So why did he feel so bad? 

He was, of course, quite at peace with everything. But something he couldn’t name had caused the pit in his stomach to deepen and his breath to catch in his throat. 

He doesn’t have much time left, so he’d better make it quick. 

“The fervor of the hunt is a dangerous thing, Schrodinger. In spite of everything… I got caught up in it. The imp of the perverse, I suppose it would be called.”

“I’m not a hero. I acted to save what was important to me, and only me, and I did it in a selfish way. For that, I know I’ll suffer…”

“But I’ll be fine. After all, I am… strong. Hah.”

This laugh sounds a little more choked than the others, and Orion tilts his head in order to conceal his facial expression. His countenance is beginning to shake as the reality of the situation descends upon him, dimming the corners of his vision. 

There’s still one more thing that he has to do, though. And as tempting as it is, it’s not punching Theo. He’s already seen what would happen if he made that decision, and it still made his blood curdle just thinking about it. 

“Mhmm… I can’t forget this.”

Orion rummages through one of his coat pockets before producing something. For a moment, he laconically examines the item in his hand as if to make sure that he has the right thing. Then, he passes the item - an unsealed envelope with an address scrawled on one side - to Maestro, of all people. 

He smiles.

“I want you to take this. Don’t die before you can deliver it, alright?”

“Being able to do things others can’t, for their sake… maybe that’s what I was seeking all along. Heh.”

“I’m counting on you.”

[conundrumestate]

Shit I have 2 minutes || Orion || Trial 4.9 || RE: Maestro

“No. Don’t do that.”

Orion’s voice is surprisingly clear, despite the fact that he just got told god-knows-what by Carmine. He stands firm, and gestures towards Maestro.

“I killed another person, just like Dove and Knockout and Retriever. The most you can do for me now is to just let me die for dignity.”

“Living any longer would be a condemnation.”

[conundrumestate]

Atlas shoulders the earth || Orion || Trial 4.8 || RE: Maestro, Agaricus, Adonis

So the jig was up, permanently. Orion felt strangely at peace with himself - crushing guilt aside, it was like he was falling slowly through molasses. Just an endless, slow descent, where he’s weighted down by nothing but the air above him. The ringing in his ears has become a slow drone. 

It’s through this state that he’s able to relay his sordid tale - sordid for him, at least. He’s not sure the others will be quite so sympathetic. He considers playing towards their pathos, but that would make him look even more pathetic. 

He’s humbled himself enough. Now he just needs to do what they’ve asked of him. 

“I can explain myself. I don’t think that I have anything more to do, anyway. I did not mean to kill TWELVE…”

“But I did mean to kill. The excuse of ‘I did not mean it’ has run its course. To say that it was an accident or a crime of passion would be a bold-faced lie. I have… lied enough in this trial already.”

After all, he didn’t actually go to the bathroom. Sorry, Maestro.

“My person, who got poisoned in the Aggregate Gambit, was my… erm, my girlfriend. Natalie. I have not said it to many. But the reason I entered this show was because I wanted to propose to her. My hunting competitions do not bring in much money. This show, it offered enough money for us to be able to live comfortably afterwards.”

“I wanted to marry her, not get her killed. And when no one did anything at all after the Aggregate Gambit, I took it upon myself to act. I set a trap - I am not unfamiliar with the practice of trapsetting. It was taught to me a long time ago.”

“How I rigged it up was like this. Rope was taped to the door of the parlor. When the door would open, it would pull the rope, which went around a pulley - the spool that I had attached to the wall. This pulley would pull up the bar weight, which was holding back a slingshot that contained the kettlebell. With this, the kettlebell would launch itself at the target and injure - if not kill - them.”

“I could not find bungee cords or anything of the sort, so the kettlebell was held back by the towel rope and the piles of books. I stretched the towels as far as I could before blocking the weight with the other weight.”

“Whoever it killed, it would not be with my own hands, giving me an alibi.”

Orion looks down at his own feet as he says this. His conscious is beginning to catch up with him, and even overtake him. It’s more than he can bear.

“It was not specifically… a trap for TWELVE. I did not want to single out… anyone in this house, and kill them personally. With my own hands. Instead, I set up the trap, left, and waited. When I came back, I saw that it had been activated by TWELVE - who was, I assumed, dead. I cleaned up what I could of the trap and returned to the study.”

He exhales, letting the whole of it hang in the air. That was the whole of it. But there was still one thing… something he knew that he needed to answer for.

The problem was that he couldn’t.

“The one thing I do not know is how his head came off of his body. It was like that when I went to check on the trap, and… I do not believe the trap’s strength was enough to sever his head from his body. Perhaps if he is a machine, he was fragile. But I don’t know.”

Then, a bizarre thing happens - Orion laughs. Not a flat, dry laugh like one might have expected, and certainly not one crazed with murderous mania - just a plain, ordinary laugh. Orion’s mask cracks yet again, but this time - it’s into a smile.

“It’s funny, isn’t it? It’s… it’s funny. The whole time I was setting up the trap, I was mentally preparing for this moment. But now that it’s here, I’m not ready.”

“I’m going to die, and then I’ll have to tell my grandfather that I couldn’t be strong like he wanted. That’s really funny. I didn’t even think of that.”

Orion chuckles to himself, but it’s all he can do to mask the tears that are beginning to form in the corners of his eyes.

How pitiful he is.

[conundrumestate]

I want to get off || Orion || Trial 4.7 || RE: Everything holy shit

“EVERYONE!!! STOP!!!! TALKING!!!”

It’s a sudden outburst for anyone who hasn’t been watching, but Orion has been simmering for a long time. His fingers twitching at the edge of the podium, sweat pooling on his brow… cracks in the unshakable granite, being chipped away as the trial carries on. 

The ringing in his ears from the shouting is beginning to become unbearable, and he just can’t take it anymore. The passive-aggression early on… it’s been mounting, to a point where he can no longer handle it. Orion slams his hands on the edge of the podium, where they come to a shaky, uncertain rest. 

The emotion on his face is unreadable, but it’s… completely exhausted. The hardness in his face has vanished, and he’s overcome with a strange calm.

“Leave Cygne alone. She didn’t… she didn’t do anything. I know she didn’t.”

His posture is growing more and more unsteady, as though the earth is crumbling beneath his feet. And yet, he grits his teeth and continues, as though he has nothing else in his life to do.

“I know this because I’m the weak, pitiful fool who killed Twelve. It was me, not her. So, please…”

“End this damn charade and just vote for me.”

He exhales, a weight lifted from his chest, but an almost greater one placed on his shoulders. But in the moment he exchanges one for the other… 

It’s a brief respite from what he knows is coming.

[conundrumestate]

oh so you're shidding? || Orion || Trial 4.6 || RE: Maestro

Okay, this is getting kind of weird. Orion tugs at the collar of his coat, his face flushed with heat at the embarrassment of being called out for something like that. Maestro really leaves no stone unturned, huh?

“…Because I was in the bathroom. What do you think I was doing in there?”

Orion shakes his head to try and get himself back to normal. Goddamnit, he feels weird.

“Anyway, nothing seemed different when I came back, and it’s not like anything was out of place. If it was, I would have brought it up.”

[conundrumestate]

Why do good girls like bad guys || Orion || Trial 4.5 || RE: Maestro

Orion raises his eyebrow at the sudden accusation. Maestro had always been quick to accuse other people, but he’d never expected to be the focus of one of those accusations. Needless to say, he had been caught a little off-guard by this. Wiping the newly-formed sweat drops from his forehead, he goes to explain himself.

“I can’t prove it, since no one was in the study, but… I was in the study for as long as I said that I was. I only left once to go to the bathroom. The book was, erm…”

He takes a second to try and remember. In the midst of all this chaos, he’d almost forgotten exactly what it was he had been doing.

“Jamaica Inn by Du Maurier. That was it. Prior to coming here, it had been recommended to me by a friend, so I wanted to finish it.”

He takes a moment to steady himself. Easy now, Orion. 

“In addition… not to be insensitive, but had I swung the kettlebell at someone with my full strength, there would have been a lot more blood. Trust me on this.”

“It was not that big of a weight, so I do not believe that anyone except maybe the… more fragile members of the house would be unable to swing it.”

Orion’s hands grasp at the edge of his podium, but his expression and general demeanor has settled back into its normal state. 

[conundrumestate]

Unusually helpful || Orion || Trial 4.4 || RE: Agaricus, Miss Carmine

Now, that makes sense. Maybe the esoteric bits of trash in the parlor actually have meaning if they were meant to build a trap. Orion closes his eyes, thinking to himself about something. He doesn’t voice quite what this “something” is, though, and decides to return to the matter at hand.

“If it was a trap, then… I believe that the discoloration on the wall and the spool of yarn in the potted plant are related. The spot on the wall and the end of the spool were about the same size, so someone probably attached it.”

“That in combination with the rope leads me to believe that some kind of hinge or pulley was used. Not the kind of trap that I’m familiar with, but…”

Orion trails off. Maybe someone else can pick up the slack.

[conundrumestate]

You deadass? || Orion || Trial 4.3 || RE: Maestro

Orion raises his eyebrow in response to Maestro’s query. He had lost a bit of his focus while the attention was on Cygne, so it kind of caught him off-guard. Now that he thought about it, the books were mostly mystery novels, and that was what populated the study. 

“I was in the study for about… two hours. And no, I didn’t see anyone come in. It was midnight when I got there, so I assumed that most people were sleeping.”

That, and he had wanted to be left alone in the study. He hadn’t gotten any time to read since before Tank kicked the bucket, and he wanted to be alone with his thoughts for a while. He didn’t need anyone reminding him of that fact.

“I didn’t see anyone enter. I can assure you that I was in the study for the entire two hours, however. I finished the book that I’ve been working on for quite a while.”

“It leads me to believe that this whole mechanism was probably set up a while beforehand. How often does anyone go into the parlor…?”

[conundrumestate]

Moving right along || Orion || Trial 4.1 || RE: All

Unlike past trials, no one seemed to have any particular theory about what had killed Twelve. Even the more talkative housemates had been rendered mostly mute by the strangeness of this case. Now that Orion’s fears had been addressed, though, his mind was much clearer than it had been. He had the capacity to think about what had been found, at least.

And he had a proposition. He wasn’t sure if it was right, but he wasn’t seeing anyone else make any proposals. They had to start somewhere. 

“There’s something about the nature of the evidence this time that struck me as being quite a bit… different from the others. Almost all of it was in the same room - the parlor. I investigated the courtyard with Arsene and Miss Carmine, but there wasn’t anything there. So Maestro’s theory about it being some kind of mechanism is probably right.”

Orion folds his hands on the podium. Perhaps the crime was self-contained, or a setup. A locked-room mystery, now that he actually knew what one was. 

Surprisingly, he’s still not done talking. Another thought crosses Orion’s mind, and he goes to voice it in front of the rest of the group.

“If we don’t have any leads, alibis might be a decent place to start. Carmine saw me at around midnight, when I was headed to the study. I read in there for a couple of hours, and then a bunch of people showed up.”

“That’s it… I think.”

[conundrumestate]

Sidebar Nation || Orion || Trial 4.1 || ATTN: Theo

Before anyone else gets the chance to speak, a hand is raised as if they’re all back in middle school again and waiting for the teacher to call on them - it’s Orion, surprisingly less brash than one might think. Bags rim his eyes, darker than the ones he normally has. It would appear that even though the curse of sleeplessness has been lifted, he’s still unable to rest.

Once he has everyone’s attention, he draws his gaze to Theo. Normally, he wouldn’t sidebar so quickly like this, but in this case… it’s important. There’s something that he needs to know before he can start this discussion. 

“So, then… before we start. Can I-”

Orion coughs, interrupting himself, before continuing.

“You, гоблин… erm, Theo. It may be an odd question, but do you have any proof that you can show us that the antidote has been administered?”

He can’t relax without knowing the answer. Granted, it’s a trial, so he can’t afford to relax to begin with. But it sure would make things easier.

[dirtyceconfessions-blog]

[stxgmatization-blog]

“Everyone let’s sing along!” 

“Orion is meechee~!! ♪ ♪ ”

[satyashy-blog]

[conundrumestate]

You friccin moron || Trial 3 || Orion || RE: Maestro

Orion was still struggling to understand what was going on. Every once in a while, parts of the trial room would sway before his eyes, and he would have to shake his head as if his hair was soaked in order to return his vision to normal. A dull, painful sensation still permeated most of his senses, but it had at least become less acute thanks to the bandages wrapped around his forehead. Said bandages would be represented in his sprites, but I can’t do digital editing, so tough titties.

And to add insult to injury, his lack of sleep still caused him to call to mind the nightmares he had been having - often interrupting his thoughts completely and only causing the pit in his stomach to widen.

He didn’t want to talk much, since he was still struggling to keep one foot in reality. The plan to stay silent, though, was interrupted the moment that someone started speaking in the trial. Well, no rest for the weary would be had… seemingly ever. Though that wasn’t all that unusual since Orion suspected he qualified as weary most of the time.

“I… well…”

Orion cringes as he notes that his slowness to speak probably makes him appear suspicious… but he’s having quite a difficult time speaking to begin with. There’s not much that he can do about that, so he tries his best to continue. 

“I could not sleep. Late at night, I heard something - I checked under my door and found it to be a note. This one, I still have it.”

Rummaging through his coat pockets, Orion finally locates the note. He pulls the crumpled ball of paper out of his pocket, but quickly uncrumples it the best that he can so that the others can have a clear view of the text.

“I have no reason to distrust Schrodinger, so I go to the parlor. As soon as I get there, I am hit on the head by something… something hard, I believe.”

“After that, I don’t remember anything until everyone came into the room. I believe that I blacked out.”

Orion grips the podium again as he experiences another tremor, but he tries to keep his expression and gaze as firm as it usually is.

“Егер ол бұл туралы білсе, ол алаңдатады…”

[shroomtopperhat-blog]

Out of Mind out of Focus || Chapter 3 || Closed(Orion)

She hadn’t been in the study since it opened, something that had amazed her as it spoke to her.  Maybe it was because it reminded her of her work, or it was just a quiet friendly area that had no connections to the recent murders.

So why did she look so mournfully displeased as she sat at the receptions desk with her eyes scanning a book?

She sighed as she flipped page after page, the discontent on her face growing before she leans back in her seat groaning slightly and tossing the book aside.

“So bored…”

She mumbled as her head slowly fell onto the desk itself as if she were trying to find some entertainment in the wood itself.  It’s only after she hears someone entering in the study that she turns her head, her eyes peeking out of her hat just slightly.

“Don’t know why you’re here… all these books suck.”

  She complains as her eyes gaze at the mountain of murder mysteries stack up.

[satyashy-blog]

You would think that Orion would have gone outside first - being an outdoorsman, he was tired of being cooped up in the estate like a chicken in a henhouse. But there was something that he wanted to do, and though he likely had all the time in the world, he may as well do it while not much else is on his mind. No gambit, no murders, nothing. 

So, in search of a notebook and pens, he had gone to the study. He figured that no one would mind if he took something as trivial as that. There were bigger fish to fry, anyway. 

He was pretty surprised, though, to find Agaricus slumped over on the desk - it was a far cry from when he had first talked with her. He supposed that that’s probably what an extended period of time away from civilization could do to some people. Not that he minded all that much, though - he was more than used to it.

“You couldn’t have read all of those, could you...?”

Orion glances up at the gargantuan monument of mystery novels that apparently were not up to Agaricus’s standards. It seems a bit hyperbolic to him, if anything. 

“Don’t mind me, just looking for something.”

He crouches down near a bookshelf and starts rummaging through it, looking for something that he could write in. Could it really be that hard to find a notebook?

[conundrumestate]

A reminder || Trial 2.4 || Orion || RE: Voting Results

It had gone as expected, then. Orion closed his eyes, the rage having evaporated from his body just like that. Replaced again by a familiar melancholy - she was being sent off to her death march, wasn’t she?

At least, he would honor her dying wishes. America, then. He could manage that. If he ever got out of here, he would be going back there, anyway… he had someone to see. 

“Victor… Herrera…”

Pulling a pen out of one of his many coat pockets, Orion scribbles the name onto the palm of his hand. Hopefully he’s spelled it right - at least, this way he can’t forget. 

It might be a while, and he knew it was stupid to be doing something like this for someone he barely really knew. And yet…

[conundrumestate]

What the fuck is UP Kyle || Trial 2.3 || Orion || Re: what the fuck everyone || ATTN: Knockout

Could Orion get a waffle? Could he PLEASE get a waffle?

The trial began to break down before his eyes, and though Orion wasn’t much of a talker to begin with, he found that he could barely get a word in edgewise. Murder attempts, MORE murder attempts, self-sacrificing, Luna trying to attack Theo - all this was happening far too quickly for him to understand. He needed to breathe deeply and try to calm down. In, out, in, out, in, out, in-

“ENOOOOOOOUGH!”

Orion slammed his fists on the podium with an air of finality. Well, so much for the whole yoga breathing strategy. He was damn heated - mostly from not understanding much of what was going on, but heated nonetheless. 

He pointed an accusatory finger at Maestro.

“Have you lost your mind? I do not have any words of ideation about what it is you need to live for to offer, but whatever it is you’re trying to atone for… it is not more worthy of execution than killing another person.”

“You will not be remembered as a martyr, but as a fool, and someone such as yourself should not be the one to have that be your reputation. Sit down.”

Having settled down considerably, Orion wiped the sweat off of his face. He could feel himself reddening from the sheer embarrassment of his outburst, but this was no time for him to be covering his eyes with his hat and mumbling incomprehensibly. That could come later. 

Shaking, he turned to Knockout. Was she really the murderer? A granny like her… Orion had always been inclined to respect his elders. At the very least, he did hold sympathy towards her. 

“It’s just like Percy to have done something like that… how reckless.”

He coughed.

“You did what you believed was right. I can’t absolve you of what you’ve done, but I can’t lambast you for it, either.”

“If Luna is in no condition to relay any messages you have to your loved ones… I could step up. I do have business overseas.”

[conundrumestate]

Snnnzzzz || Trial 2.2 || Orion || RE: Agaricus

It was a good question. Orion still felt deeply ashamed of the fact that he had somehow slept through a body disposal, but he did not think that it was exactly what Agaricus was proposing. Rubbing his eyes, he took a moment to think about it - he was still pretty tired, after all.

“I am a deep sleeper… deep, soundless sleep makes you wake up as strong as an ox.”

Now’s definitely not the time to be bragging about his muscles, though.

“In addition. While I do believe that his body was disposed of in the spa, I believe he was murdered somewhere else… the evidence we have seems to point to the changing room. Any noise would have been muffled from where I was sitting.”