shaft | hotel: harrow

My.

[she sits up a little straighter at that, folding her hands.]

...How dreadful. Hope, too? Or only you? I believe he said you would be spending curfew together?

Only me. [ looking at her expression. ] Find it suspicious?

...Too suspicious, in fact.

[she drums her fingers along the table.]

Either you killed Cloud and this is an especially bold move to attempt to deflect your guilt, or something very strange is happening.

I find the latter a little more likely. Who knows what additional twists will be added to make this more entertaining for our host?

[ he shrugs and takes a seat ]

It wouldn't surprise me if there was another person out there in the same boat as me. At Wiwaldi, there were always two people who woke up somewhere unusual the morning the body was found.

Mm. There was a man at the station whose boots were stolen on the night of a murder, and came back caked in mud. He was being framed. The advice we gave him then I believe applies here - announce it openly, first thing. Allow anyone to examine you thoroughly. Bring the clothes you were wearing to curfew to trial. If you are open from the start, it will avoid a lot of difficulty.

[...]

Of course, that particular man turned out to be a cannibal and ate someone.

... That's very reassuring, Harrow.

In any case, I have no plans to hide anything. [ he tilts his head ] And I have faith in our investigation skills.

He didn't eat someone the same week he was framed.

[if that helps.]

I do as well. [...] Did you wake up with the scratches?

No, I had to break out of the coffin.

[ he shows his hands, they're bruised. ]

I don't know what to make of it, to be honest. I have a hard time believing that someone could commit a murder and then find time to bury someone six feet into the ground the same night.

That also sounds unlikely to me. The example of the school, people being moved to strange places...perhaps that is more likely?

[ He looks pretty uncomfortable. ]

I'm... not sure. I remember waking up, after everyone had gone to sleep, just for a second before something hit me in the head and knocked me out. [ He touches his head. ] It's still bruised, so I'm pretty sure it wasn't a dream.

[...]

Well, you might have led with that, Claude.

I'm trying my best to fight some pretty deep rooted self-preservation instincts with logic, Harrow.

[a sigh.]

Well. I do relate to that. Alright. So this was either the killer, or there is a third party who is awake at night who did this to you for some unfathomable reason.

[ he nods, once again rubbing his temple. ]

The last thing I have to offer is that I also had a dream. About people I knew from home fighting our war, but set in Wiwaldi— the previous location I was in.

I don't know if it's related. It ran over and over again until I woke up.

People you knew from home? Might you describe them, perhaps?

Hilda, Ignatz, Marianne, Lorenz... Byleth.

All people I fought with or against. It looked like the last battle before I was pulled to Wiwaldi.

Can it have some significance to Cloud? But what would it be - as far as I'm aware, he knows no one here.

I have no idea, I only spoke to him twice, and never about anything personal.

The dreams from last week were the same among everyone, right? But I don't think dreams about these people, and that war would have any significance to anyone but me. I wonder if it's related to the logic behind these murders in general.

What would this dream indicate to you about these murders, then?

[ he rubs his chin ]

Some kind of collision between our worlds at home and these murder games?

Hmm. The battle itself, other than being in Wiwaldi, was no different than once you might expect to experience?

That's right. It was the same except... [ he rubs his head ] They almost looked like machines? The others in my dream.

Perhaps it is connect to Cloud. Though I don't think we have any advanced machinery here?

Not that I have seen. The host of this place dabbles in necromancy if anything. So the machinery element may suggest something else.

Dabbles in necromancy? How do you mean?

The skeletons and corpse puppetry at execution. Surely you noticed.

(no subject)

shaft - 2022-06-18 03:10 (UTC) - Expand