Super Dangan Ronpa 0.2 [Chapter 3: Normal Days]

[SwagmaWampyr]

Crew Berthing

Osuji sighed and took Hazuki's hand. "Whatever. Do whatever you want. If you REALLY have to go check it out, I'll tag along, but don't expect me to pay much attention."

He grumbled and muttered something under his breath, allowing Hazuki to lead the way. He just hoped nothing too horrible would happen during this little adventure.

Then again, even if something DID happen, he was pretty sure he had lost his ability to care about it. It would take a real doozy to get his attention.

Spoiler : GM :

[Enthalpy]

Spoiler : spd12 :

We'll see!

Spoiler : BB :

[GuardianDreamer]

Bar

"Okay, so... There's a bar on this ship. I don't think this is alcohol though, even if it does look like it... The wine is non-alcoholic. Oh, there's a fridge with some juice and soft drinks too. And... There's a bowl of peanuts and a bowl of pretzels. Feeling hungry or thirsty at all?" Hazuki said, doing her best to explain what she was looking at. She thought about making a joke about how obviously they thought that a bunch of drunk students would just make a lot of really obvious murders, but quickly realized how tasteless that joke was, considering it probably could have actually happened. It wasn't even that funny anyway. It was just kind of pathetic.

Hazuki couldn't say that she was particularly disappointed by the lack of alcoholic beverages, mostly because she never planned on drinking, ever. She had traveled to many different countries in the past, and she had opportunities to consume alcohol where it was legal for someone of her age to. It just never interested her. Besides, she didn't particularly fancy the idea of willingly entering a state of mind that would make it difficult for her to concentrate on playing the violin. ... One could argue that a drink or two would surely be fine, but Hazuki wasn't going to take that chance anyway, especially on something that didn't interest her. Tea would always be her drink of choice.

It was then that Hazuki came to a horrifying realization, completely out of nowhere.

Wait a second. I'm worried about everyone else drinking alcohol... I'm asking if Tsuyotoko wants something to eat or drink... I've been dealing with a lot of people's issues in general... I've been trying to stop people from misbehaving... Oh god. What the hell. When did I become everyone's mom?!

Spoiler : GM :

My life makes less sense the more I think about it.

[Enthalpy]

Spoiler : GD :

Is Hazuki getting a second SHSL?!

[lazyplague]

New Hallway

Spoiler : Spuds :

It might be worth it to note that while you're close to Chouko, she seems to have some scars of various fashions. Some look like overly scratched marks, and some others look like bruises that ended up sticking around forever.

Chouko shook her head, "I'm afraid not, Wada-san. While it is in my best interest to look into every room myself, I'm not exactly sure if I'm willing to go in there with such a... Unsafe person, so to speak. I had gotten a feeling when we first spent time together, but you seem to really like trying to force conflict. I can't call my gut feelings proper sources, but it's better safe than sorry as of lately." Chouko said, moving back away from Teruko.

Chouko stroked Mononeko's head and awkwardly stepped back until she backed into a RANDOM DOOR and entered it. Awkwardly.

Spoiler : GM Tag :

Of course she noticed that Teruko was trying to antagonize her.

Also choosing a random room is a good idea, yes.

[enigma]

Hallway

"O-Oh, Chouko-Nyan! Wait for me..."

Mononeko squirmed and called out to Chouko, but didn't follow them. Instead, she waited for a few minutes. In fact, it looked like she was making sure Chouko wasn't in earshot. Or... eyeshot.

And then, slowly, she walked up to Teruko. Whispered something.... Quietly.

Then, quickly, she turned around and followed Chouko into the bar.

Spoiler : Spd :

Mononeko walks up to Teruko, slowly. Her eyes shooting a direct glare towards... well, Teruko's hair, I suppose.

"Teruko-chan..."

She gets close and drops her voice down to a whisper.

"Maybe this isn't my place to say this, but I don't think you want to mess with that door."

Her tone is commanding. Authoritative. Tense... Different from her normal disposition, she speaks sharply and almost threateningly.

"Trust me. You really don't need to go in there. It's private, after all. And if you go in there... You might not like what happens. Do you understand, Teruko-chan?"

She looks around, and then returns her icy gaze to Teruko.

"Besides, that lock's code is randomized daily. So, there's no way to work out what it's password is. And since there's no point trying to work it out, why bother? It's pretty simple, I think."

She takes a step back, and returns to her usual kind and nervous disposition.


"But, um... You're a good girl, right, Teruko-nyan? You wouldn't mess around with something like cat... Yeah. That's right! So... Ah! I meowst go and check on Chouko-nyan now! She's probably worrying about me-ow!"

And with that, she runs off.

Spoiler : Dave :

A rather fancy oak bar. Martini and wine glasses and non-alcoholic fancy wines hang above the counter, with a set of (again, non-alcoholic) drinks in fancy bottles sitting on the wall behind the counter. In addition, there's a large fridge with chilled/iced juices and soft drinks behind the counter. On the counter, sits a bowl of pretzels and a bowl of peanuts.

[spd12]

New Floor - Hallway

The odd-sounding laughter, if it could ever be really called that, dies down sharply when Chouko airs her disagreements in about as forceful a tone as anyone may have heard from her - to whatever force she could muster, the words appear to carry strength alone.

"Unsafe? Minam--" Her head turns down sharply, hand clutching her mouth a little tighter. She doesn't succeed in speaking over Chouko's threat assessment as they awkwardly remove themselves from this entire covnersation.

It sounds as though she were about to say something more, but... perhaps they are muffled by where her hand lies as it slowly removes itself from her face. Her facial expression is, in a time of great confusion, appearing to maintain its neutrality.

Spoiler : Dave :

It does appear to ring true that Teruko does stir up a lot of trouble by her own volition...

The way she went for the gun in the theater, before the first murder, against the wishes of everyone around her.

The suggestion she made to amend the rules to allow the sick to rest where they please, before the second murder, brazenly in front of the sick (OOC: I'm not sure if Chouko was there for it but I think this was alluded to vaguely at some point in the trial).

And now, this challenge to open a door and cause trouble with it when it must be locked away for a good reason if Monokuma can't access it... presumably this too might lead to another death if it goes through.

The gut check about her being dangerous is no doubt correct, if the facts as they appear to be ring true that she has been willingly acting as an enabler of tragedy for reasons obscure. (Look, I found my blue pen! It still works.)

...

She does appear wounded at the accusation, though. Why? Would she not think that they'd have caught on by now about her ill intent?

Maybe it'll be better to come back to this later after gathering new sources of information. Little good appears to come from what she's doing.

...

??????????

Anyway, thanks for playing with me again! I look forward to another round of antics down the line if you're up for it.

Oh yeah... max SP increased, for some reason...

Mononeko soon approaches... the puppeteer's head turns downward, surely to regard them.

Spoiler : Mononeko :

Teruko raises a foot for a moment on the cat's approach. Was she thinking about kicking Mononeko? Knocking them over? Both would be perfectly in line with how she's been treating her, from all appearances. Her reaction seems in line with one born of frustration in wake of Chouko's dismissal of her.

There was, after all, no hesitation in suggesting she be used for a horrible and demeaning experiment in the most recent trial.

It lowers back to the ground as the cat draws close enough to whisper - a loud thud. She even gives ground, leaning back, one elbow bumping up against the wall.

"You'd--" She does not get to speak over them. Protest? Question? It is lost as the direction of the dialogue transitions towards insistence. Reassurance.

She seems to look at the nearest camera again for another moment upon the question of them being on the same page.

She says nothing, only a more tense pressed set of lips. Her tension does not appear to break even as Mononeko looks about, nor as she goes into further details.

Where the cat transitions back to a familiar disposition, Teruko seems frozen in... there's no ambiguity, it must be shock.

"Hnn..." A vague vocalization that belies little beyond perhaps acknowledgement of the series of events that just transpired.

Mononeko appears to be left in peace to return to Chouko.

That strange puppeteer... whatever her aims, whatever she seems to be aiming to accomplish in such a horrible, impossible situation...

Could she truly be goaded or intimidated from whatever her path?

Teruko walks to the staircase...

...

...

...but she's not going down?

She appears to be cradling Chartreuse close in both arms, for whatever reason.

...She smiles?

Spoiler : Dave :

There's the sound of Teruko's footsteps growing more distant.

One would be certain that she's not staying at the locked door, for whatever that would mean... but it doesn't sound like she's going to be attempting to follow Chouko nor Mononeko, either.

What the actual point of what she was just doing will continue to remain a mystery...

Spoiler : GM Notes :

I will say starting this chapter that yeah, Teruko's handling is starting to get a bit inconsistent - but a lot of it is because I wasn't expecting Dave to ever post again, and I'm trying to milk every opportunity to harass and gauge Mononeko that crops up. (We all know she's probably harmless, but since has when Teruko followed the script everyone else has?)

That's the real danger with improv writing - you can't really predict/foreshadow things very well, and trying to be a complete initiator of events when you don't know in full what everyone is doing/about to do is also tough! To say nothing of not exactly knowing what lies ahead. So, I apologize to those readers who might have been having issues with any of that. Such is the price of rolling high-concept... in a setting where you can't really go back and adjust and edit stuff so the intents and events flow together smoothly.

Inner thoughts are going to wait a bit. I've been trying to use them to call potential threads of action in advance that don't quite match up, so instead I'll use them as a summary later and just continue being vague without proper descriptors.

...

So, business as usual...? Ha ha.

Thanks for the awesome Mononeko bit, though, it has spurred a lot of amazing ideas from here on out.

[DLA]

Communications Room

"Little tightly packed in here, but it's just a minor inconvenience. Shouldn't be a problem." Aloysius replied. "We should take a look at what little there is to look at in here."

"Let's see... The radio works, bit of morse code there, desk and chair are pretty standard... Haven't checked the headphones though." he said, putting on the headphones and listening for sound. "If we're lucky, there'll be a signal or maybe even people on the other side, which will mean a way of calling for help."

"Strange that this seems untouched. It doesn't seem like the bear to just go and put this here and leave it in working condition, which must mean he's unaware of it. This, combined with the fact that no expense seems to be spared on the library or the like, leads me to believe this used to be an ordinary ship before. What happened to the previous passengers?" he asked, though he was pretty sure he didn't want an answer.

Spoiler : GM :

[enigma]

Spoiler : Spd :

Spoiler : DLA :

The headphones play a crackling, static noise. But beyond it, you can hear dripping water and the scuttling of insects or some kind of unknown small creatures. Suddenly, a set of short and long tones blares through the headphones.

... --- ...

And then it stops and returns to the empty static and dripping sound from before...

[DLA]

Communications Room

"Let's see, we have sound, something scuttling... A signal..." Aloysius's expression turned hopeful for a moment.

"...Brilliant." he took the headphones off and turned to face Katsurou. "We're stuck on this boat with a bunch of murderous weirdos in the middle of the ocean, no signs of help. Right when things start to look dark, a light appears. This room. A chance to call for help. Things start to look bright again."

He leaned in closer to Katsurou and whispered in his ear.

Spoiler : Alnar :

"The signal from the other side was an SOS signal. Whoever's on the other side is also in trouble. That means no help. We're still stuck here. Right when everything starts to look bright, irony has to come in."

Spoiler : GM :

Aloysius stood at the counter of the pet store, showing a small butterfly in a glass enclosure. "This is diaethria phlogea, a pleasant enough specimen." he stated calmly.

"In English, please?" the girl said, looking annoyed.

"It's also referred to as the 89'98 butterfly. The reason for that is the pattern on its wings, you see. On one wing it looks like an 89, on the other it looks like a 98." he said patiently.

"Okay, but which is it, an 89 or a 98?" she asked.

"It's both, it just depends on which wing you're looking at." he said.

"No, but it can't just be both, it's gotta be one or the other." she said, growing frustrated.

"Why is that?" he asked, his calmness not wavering.

"Because it just does." she said, getting upset for no particular reason.

"Very well, then, the customer is always right, I guess. Now, will you be buying it?" he replied.

"Yeah, I'll take it." the girl said, placing the money grumpily on the counter and grumbling out of the store with the butterfly in the plastic terrarium.

"Could you try and not confuse the customers like that? People don't come here to be confused, they come to buy pets and supplies." his boss said whilst organizing shelves.

"I have my methods, boss, I still end up making a sale in the end." he replied, returning to his lab in the back room.

[Alnar]

The Communication Room

"I don't think the Captain would be oblivious to this room. He has cameras all over the place, it's nearly impossible for him to have missed this." Katsurou begins to let his mind wander, putting the small pieces of information together. Could Monokuma have missed this room? No, why would he? He has the entire place on lockdown and watches it 24/7. So why leave a functioning radio, headset and microphone for the students to use?

Aloysius whispers something in his ear, and he nods.

Spoiler : DLA :

Katsurou doesn't seem very surprised by the news. Did he already know or did he quickly piece it together given the facts at hand? It wouldn't be surprising, given how managed to solve the previous trial.

Though your whole first impression of him when you saw him walking in the hallway just before that trial, Katsurou seemed quite cold to you. Eager to see how you, Aloysius, were ready for the chaos of a class trial. That smile you noticed as he passed by that time, it was as if he found the very thought of what would happen if you could not handle it amusing.

Yet he also gave you credit for noticing something during the trial, meaning he is pleased with your performance when it came to adapting to this ship. He also apologized for his coldness to you earlier, so perhaps he's not sad bad a guy to be around?

Who knows? So far, Katsurou was probably someone in the neutral ground for you, if not ever so slightly on the "good" side.

"I see, it's clear now." he says, "When you're trapped on a ship against your will and you see a room where you can contact someone else, what is one's natural response? They will go to it first and see if they can call for help, if they will finally be saved. In other words, they have Hope. But when one finds out the opposite, what is it they feel?"

It's hard to tell if Katsurou is actually smiling, but his tone seems to suggest that he has gained some new understanding in regards to their situation.

"Monokuma knows about this room for sure, and that one thing he's been after from the very beginning of our stay here. When our hopes are crushed, what remains is the cold feeling of Despair. That is the mind game our dear Captain plays against us. After all, the deepest despair comes from destroying the highest hopes."

Katsurou turns his head and and looks up. "Isn't that right, Captain?"

He was addressing the camera in the room.

Spoiler : GM Notes :

From the shattered remains of Hope, the seeds of Despair thrive most.

Hope. What did that mean to him?

All he knew is he didn't have any of that left when he woke up after that fateful night.

Yet can Despair grow if there was no Hope to begin with?

Can Hope be revived from the deepest Despair?

[DLA]

Communications Room

"Blast it all. One step forward, two steps back. We find an answer, only for it to lead to more questions." Aloysius said. "The longer we think about it, the more confusing it gets. It's all a big mind game."

"If I keep thinking about it, it'll only become more frustrating. I need to get my mind off this whole thing for a bit. I've already asked about what goes on here and the whole situation. Let's see... What was your life like before this?" he asked. "I don't mean to intrude, but it does seem to be the one subject I haven't asked you about. You don't have to answer if you don't want to, but feel free to ask me the same, and I'll answer to the best of my memory."

Spoiler : GM :

"And now, for my next trick!" Marvin shouted. "I will be needing a volunteer from the audience! How about you, young man?" he gestured to Aloysius, who stepped up on stage.

Marvin took his hat off and flourished it to show the audience there was nothing inside, then placed it top facing up on the table in front of him. "Tap the hat, if you please." Aloysius followed his instructions, and tapped the hat.

"Now then, we shall flip the hat over!" Marvin said, flipping the hat so the opening faced up. No rabbit came out. Instead, there were bees. Billions upon billions of bees flooded out of the hat. Crowding the room. Never ending. All there was, is, and ever will be in the room is bees.

[enigma]

Spoiler : Alnar :

In this world, it's kill or be killed, after all!

Spoiler : DLA :

At that point, a moose ran through the room and Phineas, who was directing the show, fainted.

[Alnar]

Communications Room

Katsurou continued to glare at the camera for a moment, as if he could see the eyes that were watching him from behind the monitor. When no response came from the Captain, he lowered his head back down in time to listen to Aloysius' question.

He tensed up for a moment upon hearing the mention of family. But he continued the conversation normally so as not to show signs of his unease.

"My life before this Aloysius? I mostly stayed at home studying about psychology. My parents were experts in the field you see. My father was a psychologist and my mother was a psychiatrist. It only seemed natural for me to follow in their footsteps. It was where we, the Shirasagi Family, were widely known. I however, took an interest in Mentalism. I did a few shows back then just for the fun of it. 'Hypnosis', 'Telepathy', things like that. It was always entertaining to see everyone's faces when I performed."

Thankfully, he wasn't feeling uneasy about that part. But the space in this room wasn't getting any more emptier. He considered the idea of going out to talk elsewhere, but that would be hard if Teruko and Chouko were still in the hallway. He thought about how best to approach this matter at the moment.

He looked down at the desk an put his hand on it, feeling the wooden surface against his palm. Maybe... he could get Aloysius to check the outside for him. It'd give him a minute or two to breath, at least.

"Hm, if it's not too much trouble..." Katsurou begins to say, facing Aloysius and looking him in the eye. "Aloysius, would you kindly check the hallway to see if Teruko and Chouko are still there? I think it'd be best if we go elsewhere right now."

Spoiler : GM Notes :

Once Aloysius checks the hallway, Katsurou will slide out the portion of the desk and examine it.

[DLA]

Communications Room

"I see... I think that's a good idea. We've seen all there is to be seen in here. I suppose we should continue our investigation, and then I can tell you about myself." Aloysius said. There was something strange about the way he had asked him to do that, almost as if he had pulled some kind of mind trick. It wouldn't be surprising, considering this guy was the Super High School Level Mentalist. But that wasn't important, as he was going to do it anyway. Aloysius poked his head out of the Communications Room door and looked out into the hallway.

Spoiler : GM :

"What is the most admirable creature on God's green Earth? Why, it's the bee! Have you ever seen a bee on vacation? Have you ever seen a bee take a sick day? Well, my friends, the answer is no! So I say, be... the bee! Be the bee!" - Jeremiah Fink, Bioshock Infinite