Oddity Specialist: Purgatory
Page 9
Quinn comes to a realization. “The way oddities work, they follow their own internal logic. Usually, the instance of one thing, leads to an instance of another. With that in mind, that means...”
Quinn starts to get an upset look, before pinching the bridge of his nose with his knuckles.
“We need a way to stop this, without having to rely on the vote.”
Quinn states. Neri turns to Quinn, surprised.
“Fine, we can try to think of something.”
“That’s a lovely idea; but do you really think it’s worth anything?”
Alastor asks. He walks up to Quinn.
“Do you really think, things can just work out?”
“...y-Yes.”
Alastor gets closer to Quinn, he places a hand on his shoulder, and whispers into his ear.
“Liar.”
“We won’t know until we try.”
“Fair enough.”
Alastor starts to leave.
“Where are you going?”
Neri asks.
“This might be the last day of my existence, I was thinking of spending it the way I wanted to.”
Neri gets in front of him, before he can leave.
“I didn’t say you could leave.”
“I didn’t realize I needed your permission.”
“Yeah, we need to figure this out, first.”
Forest says.
“Figure what out? We are out of clues.”
“Well...”
“We could bound people’s hands.”
Neri says.
“Then what? Live that way? The only option is to find the culprit; but if their movements are being restricted and watched, they won’t make a move. We don’t have a win condition that we know of, besides finding them.”
“We can try to convince them to stop.”
“How?”
“Talk things out with them.”
“Even if that works, will that bring the people who are gone, back?”
“...”
Quinn and Neri feel as if their plan has come crashing down.
“Then, the best thing for us to do, is to get to tomorrow and vote the traitor out.”
“Do you think that will bring them back?”
“Who knows?”
Alastor leaves.
“Are we just going to not do anything?”
Amy asks, upset.
“...No, we are going to try to figure out who it is.”
“How?”
No response.
“Doesn’t it seem like; it has to be that guy?”
Forest asks.
“We don’t have evidence for that.”
“I get that; but you two seem innocent, and we know the culprit is a male. Meaning, that it has to be me or him, and well, from my perspective.”
“I get what you’re saying; but we don’t make a conclusion, without concise proof.”
“Alright.”
Both Amy and Forest still seem really antsy. Neri walks over to Quinn.
“I think it would be best, if we called it here.”
“Wait, really?”
“Yes. I’m not sure what we can accomplish in a big group. If anything, we need to split up and try to figure something out.”
“I don’t really like that idea.”
“Do you have another one?”
“...No, but I feel that there has to be another option.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
Neri claps her hands together, and calls it there for today. After everyone leaves the class room, Neri tells Quinn.
“Keep an eye on the stream. I’m going to take this investigation to the next level.”
“Meaning?”
“Entering into premises without permission, following targets, and subduing them if needed.”
“Breaking and interring, stalking, and assault?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm, okay.”
“Alright then, good luck.”
“I should be saying that.”
Neri heads off. “I wish I had a way, to keep her from trying dangerous things.”
“What are you going to do now?”
Lucifer asks.
“What should I do?”
“I hadn’t really given any thought, to trying to bring the others back. Thusly, you might not like my answer.”
“We aren’t going to kill anybody.”
“What makes you think, I was going to say such a thing?”
“Were you?”
“...My look at the time.”
“That watch is broken.”
“My thoughts exactly, I should head to a watch doctor and have them check it out.”
“Oh, I thought you were keeping it that way, for sentimental reasons.”
Lucifer gives a surprised look.
“How?”
“I mean, since you can fix what your wearing, you must be choosing not to fix it.”
“Hm, you know, I have a special kind of negative feeling towards detective work.”
“Oh, okay.”
Quinn gives a strained expression. “What do you want me to do with this information?”
Lucifer leaves, and Quinn heads home, for now. “Maybe if I rewatch the footage, I’ll see something new... Which Neri didn’t see... Listen here common sense, I don’t know what else to do.”
Quinn watches the traitor’s movements on one monitor, and the live feed on the other.
“There needs to be something else.”
Quinn squints at the screen. “If it was less dark, we could find their exact height. Or, perhaps she already knows?”
Quinn hesitantly sends Neri a message. He gets a response with the persons exact height back. “A little taller than me, or Alastor.”
“How did she do this? I can’t even make out the writing on the board.”
Quinn gets another message.
“They could be wearing shoes that give extra height.”
“Understood.”
Quinn rests his head onto his desk. “I don’t get it. It feels as if, I am missing something.”
“Hmm.”
Quinn keeps racking his brain, late into the night, until.
“Huh?!”
He leaps up from his chair, as the live feed gets cut. “I need to check this out.”
~Bzzt~
A three-word message from Neri.
“It’s a game.”
Quinn feels his heart sink. In a flash he heads to the school. “Should I be here?”
After walking into the middle of the classroom, he stops. Quinn stares out, unmoving. After who knows how long, he takes a seat at his desk. The next morning, the first of the two survivors, show up, right away.
“I’ve been waiting for you.”
“I could tell.”
Alastor says. He looks over to the board, seeing two things. The female students’ names have been crossed out, and there is a message in cursive.
“Trust him. I wonder what that could be in reference to?”
He looks at Quinn, who is sitting on top of his own desk.
“Yeah.”
“Get much sleep?”
“Some.”
“Hmm, I would think, she would have wanted you to be in best shape.”
Quinn clenches his hands.
“She’ll probably tell me that, personally.”
“Confident?”
“No.”
“Of course not.”
“I just know that this is something I have to do.”
“I see.”
Forest arrives.
“Oh, I kind of thought I would be first.”
He walks in and looks at the board.
“Since we are all here, shall we begin?”
Quinn asks.
“Sure.”
Alastor replies with.
“Uh, yeah, sure.”
“First things first. We will be working under the assumption, that if we vote for the right person, this situation w
ill be resolved. Second, we each will be given some time to speak.”
Quinn looks over to Alastor.
“Me first? Fine, fine.”
He thinks for a moment.
“Hmm, the main thing I’d like to touch upon. If it was me, why would I have stood out, so much?”
“Is that all?”
“For now.”
“I’m sorry to say this; but that doesn’t really make you seem anymore innocent. Especially, after yesterday.”
Forest speaks up.
“And, what did I do yesterday?”
“You took the lead first, like you had already figured a bunch of this out. How could you, if you weren’t already involved? Then you just up and leave.”
“Weren’t there two others, that seemed to have had this figured out, as well?”
“Sure; but they basically cleared each other, as is.”
“Meaning, you’re narrowing it down, to you or I?”
“Yes, I am.”
Forest points at the message on the board.
“Trust him, must be in reference to Quinn, right? Who else could it be? Meaning, that it has to be you!”
“...”
Alastor doesn’t respond, instead he looks over to Quinn.
“Forest, tell me, why is it you think Neri had written this?”
“Huh, who else could it have been? Besides, couldn’t you just look at the footage and see her do it?”
“The feed was cut.”
“w-What?”
“I mean, I know it’s Neri’s hand writing. So, the base of your idea is correct. However, there is something you’re missing.”
“That would be?”
“Neri wouldn’t leave a message saying to trust me. She would be far too focused on cracking the case. Meaning, this message, is in reference to trusting whoever the traitor isn’t.”
“That means?”
“She figured it out, and got this message out, to tell me who the traitor is.”
“I see, then, how do we interpret it?”
“We have to break down, how she thinks that I would have taken it.”
“Okay. Then, what do you think it means?”
Quinn looks at the message.
“She knows I was leaning towards Alastor, specifically. Knowing that, she left a message simply saying, Trust him.”
“...”
“But, the real clincher comes in with the fact, that it had to be a message that wasn’t going to be covered up, by the traitor.”
“Alastor is being really quiet.”
“I have nothing to add.”
Quinn continues.
“If it was just their name, they would draw over it. However, leaving it ambiguous, means they might leave it, as a way to back up one of their claims.”
“You don’t mean to say, that you think it’s me.”
“I do.”
“But that’s, why would you?”
“Besides the inconsistencies of your actions, there is another reason.”
“Yeah, that is?”
“A final message, that Neri left for me specifically. One that confirms that it had to be you.”
“...What message would that be?”
“She said, It’s a game. This means two things.”
Quinn raises two fingers. The first finger goes down.
“First, that the traitor views this as a game, explaining why they would employ tactics to make it more interesting.”
The second finger goes down.
“Second, it means that this event is already an existent game. I looked into it, and noticed a particular game that holds striking resemblances, to this current situation.”
“Yeah, so?”
“Third, Neri is hyper specific, when it comes to the way she delivers information. Since she had made a point of it already, in regards to you being a gamer, that means that she chose her words keeping that information in mind.”
“...You said there were only two.”
“You said that you thought it was Alastor. We are even now, at least in that regard.”
“...Heheehe.”
He covers his eyes with his hand, while looking up.
“Interesting, I wouldn’t have ever thought, I’d play against some real detectives, like that.”
Forest looks down at Quinn with a happy face.
“The reason I kept you and Neri around, is because I noticed that you were the first ones to start figuring things out. And, manipulating good players is far more consistent.”
“...”
“Man, I thought I had this one in the bag. I didn’t think, she would have stopped the camera, herself. That one really tripped me up. Actually, I can’t believe you set one up in the first place, that really caught me off guard.”
“...”
“At least, I had a bit of fun, before the end.”
“Why? Why did you do this?”
“...Sorry, this just seemed like a good way to go out. Not to say, I wasn’t trying my hardest.”
Alastor places his magnet by Forests name. The first vote has been cast.
“Let’s get this over with.”
Quinn walks up to the board. He picks up his magnet.
“...”
Quinn’s hand shakes a bit. “This is heavier than I thought...”
“What are you waiting for?”
“I...I...”
Forest places his magnet by his own name. The deciding vote has been cast.
“w-Wait-”
Quinn calls out. Forest turns to him, with a big smile.
“Thanks, for the match.”
A white light encompasses everything. Quinn is sitting back at his desk, with everyone sitting in class, as if nothing happened. Quinn sees Neri, and feels relief wash over him.
“Hm?”
“We can talk after class.”
Before he can continue, he thinks of something. “Wait, where’s-”
Quinn looks around the class, not seeing what he’s looking for. He then looks up to the board, seeing an empty slot.
“A heavy burden.”
Quinn turns to Alastor, who keeps speaking.
“This is the path, that you’ve decided to walk. Isn’t that right, Quinn?”
Chapter 5: Options
Quinn wakes up to something peculiar. Floating in front of him, is some text and images. On one side, there is a square that has the words, Get dressed. Next to it is the word Or. Beyond that, is another box, this one with the words, Take A shower. Above these options is a circle, filled in with white, with the number sixty next to it. As the number counts down, the white circle ticks away, losing a bit of white every second.
“Uhh, what?”
Quinn stares at this thing, in front of him. When he turns his head, it follows him, staying perfectly in place, from the perspective of his eyes. As if it is labeled into them.
“Okay...”
Quinn waits for the number to count down. He then gets out of bed, and absentmindedly begins changing.
“Wait I can’t stop!”
“What seems to be the problem, so early in the morning?”
Lucifer asks.
“Help, I can’t stop changing my clothes.”
“Is this what they mean, by people can’t keep their clothes on around me?”
“Okay, more details needed.”
Quinn explains what he saw.
“I don’t see what the problem is.”
“What if we were to get an option like, bleed out, or stop breathing.”
Lucifer blinks once. Lucifer blinks again.
Bang
Quinn and Lucifer burst outside.
“How do we stop this?”
Quinn asks.
“I haven’t got a clue.”
“I’ll just-”
Another option appears. Don’t Message Neri and walk to her house. Or: Walk to her house; but don’t message her. “Why is this one so specific?”
“Tsk, fine.”
Quin
n presses the second option. While walking, another message appears. Play in traffic. Or: Head to the park.
“It’s trying to kill me.”
“Huh, already?”
Quinn chooses the first option.
“Detour.”
“Huh?”
Quinn walks around in the park. “Can I leave now?”
“Oh, if it isn’t Quinn.”
Quinn turns to the familiar voice, seeing Alastor.
“Alastor, what are you doing here?”
“I was just out for a walk, and noticed you.”
“I see, well if you don’t mind, I’m-”
Quinn sees an ice cream vendor, and options appear. Get ice cream with Alastor. Or: Steal the ice cream.
“Hey Alastor, want to get some ice cream?”
“Hmm, sure.”
The two walk over and buy some ice cream. “Okay, I need to cover ground faster than this. Maybe if I keep my eyes closed?”
Another option appears. Taste Alastor’s ice cream. Or: Throw yours at him.
“...Hey Alastor...”
“Hm?”
“Could I perhaps have a taste of yours?”
Alastor tilts his head to the side, closes his eyes, and gives a smile. He extends his soft serve cone out. “Ehhh.”
Quinn takes a lick.
“Do you like it?”
“Yeah, sure.”
“I like vanilla the most as well. Though, usually I get chocolate, anyways.”
Quinn looks down at his chocolate cone.
“Okay.”
“Hey, it’s a nice day, how about we walk around for a while.”
“I don’t think-”
Go shopping with Alastor. Or: Get something to eat with Alastor.
“You know what, I could eat.”
“Great, let’s find some place to eat then.”
The two enter into a café.
Ham sandwich. Or: Salad.
“Ham sandwich please.”
Quinn and Alastor sit down, with their food and drinks. “It seems, the options are related to what I am currently noticing, or thinking about.”
“So, tell me, how have you been, since you know when?”
“...Fine. Are you holding up okay?”
“Certainty.”
“I see.”
“And your friend, Neri?”
“She doesn’t really remember it that well.”
“Meaning, she remembers some of it?”
“Well, kind of.”
Alastor gives a surprised look.
“Huh.”
He sets his drink down, before sipping from it.
“Enough on that topic. I’m sure there might be something else, you find more interesting to talk about.”