OPEN SIGNUPS A Cruise Ship Experiment ( IC thread)

Chrissie (Fargothia) Fletcher, Dan, Michael Ross, Christopher Fletcher, Zale Lawerewnce, Peter Destin, Joe the Ghost and Darren
and Mr.Death


Chrissie didn't exactly disagree with the girl. All of this fighting was doing nothing to solve their problems at all. If they kept fighting among each other, things were only going to make things worse. She would keep her eyes on Mr. Death, watching as the girl would check on him.

" I mean, the only thing that was hurt was my pride. I did not expect to have to combat someone while just talking..... though, I guess I should have expected it, I did present myself in a less than favorable way. " Ari would find that there were no bumps on his head, though it was noticeable that when Zale had tackled him, he had gained a slight scratch on his face above his right eye.... one that was bleeding at the moment. " Huh- never gotten a scar before, usually never had someone who can touch me..... but then again, Peter and I existed in seperate circles, so neither of us encountered each other much." He noticed that the girl was moving away and followed, not entirely certain why they were moving from the fog. He got his answer as Charlie was consumed by it and the last bit of life was gone. He could feel he was dead.... and not even Peter to could save him.

Dan would look over at her. Why were the men giving them something that couldn't be beaten? He didn't know, but he didn't like it. He didn't need to be told twice to run. He looked over at Zale. The swimmer had proved to be more resourceful than any of the undead. " As much as I hate being helpful.... I don't think Peter realizes his effects." Michael would nod in agreement, grabbing the other arm of the swimmer that Dan didn't take and would run while carrying him. Things would be simpler without him, but Dan knew that it wasn't his choice and the group was already distrusting of each other, he didn't need to add more fuel to the fire that existed. Besides the ghost already didn't trust him and it certainly would express that to Peter when they got to a safer location.

" Thanks," Zale replied.

Joe wasn't an idiot. The ghost could see that Michael and Dan were attempting to prove they were trustworthy. " Come on, Darren," Joe replied, offering their hand.

" I'm good, but thanks for looking out for me. You have proven to be somewhat trustworthy, even if you are more dead than most of us," Darren replied with a smile on his face.

Chris would trip,. " Fucking shoelaces... go on without me."

Chrissie rolled her eyes and would literally yank her brother off the floor. " Stop being such a drama king, Fargothix."

Chris glared. She knew that he hated it when she called him by his personal nickname. " I was trying to be heroic, Fargothia."

"
Sure you were."

"
As enjoyable as sibling bickering can be, I would advise you save that for later," Michael replied.


Peter would take a deep breath and just focus on running. It seemed more important than anything else. Survival. After a while, he would notice an opening. " There's a way out over here," he called back as he had to wonder if this was another trap. He didn't focus too much on that idea, as they entered the room, and once the last of the group got into the room, the passage would close. " ....This looks like the dinning hll. Where everyone was first...... I guess we can look for clues to what really happened here."

@slifer
 
The moment they were safe, Ari went back to treating Mr. Death, having noticed the blood dripping down his face. It may have been a small cut, but head cuts tended to bleed more than necessary. "You have a cut on your face. Stay still so I can bandage it up." Ari ordered, but it was gentle order, one made from care and not from anger. She dug into her bag, pulling out an orange bag clearly meant for first aid. She dug inside, pulling out a pair of tweezers, some Neosporin, a cotton ball, and a small circular bandaid clearly meant to be used on the face.
She started cleaning the cut with efficiency using the cotton ball newly smeared with Neosporin to wipe away the blood and cleanse the wound before putting the bandaid on top. "You've kind of presented yourself as a villain while you were on the ship, so Zale reacted to that. He probably shouldn't have tackled you, but you've been acting like a threat the whole time. Which I'm sure you are, but you can see how that doesn't help your case. If you feel dizzy, or if you need another bandaid, tell me, ok?" Ari said calmly, inspecting her work and finding it satisfactory before moving away from him and his pretty face. Now that she stopped thinking of him as a patient, her brain switched back to thinking he was hot, which of course it did. "Come on and help us look for clues. We all have to work together to get out of here ali- get out of here in one piece." She amended, taking a corner near Mr. Death and starting to search for any "clues," as Peter put it.


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Like a good rock, Jeremy ran beside Peter, covering his back as the other man lead them to the dining hall. "Let's take this side." He said, pointing towards an unlooked at side of the dining hall. "I'm not sure what we should be looking for, but I'm sure if it's interesting I'll present it to you." Jeremiah said, avidly searching with Peter to see what was going on. When they were alone together in a corner, Jeremy started whispering to Peter in a low tone of voice. "We have to strategize somehow. We're all stuck on the boat. Dan and Michael Ross are acting shady, which I'm sure means they work for the people who trapped us here. You and I are the only ones we can trust here. Maybe Ari and Joe, they seem ok. Chris and Chrissie are kind of in the middle for me, as well as Darren, Zale and Astrid."
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Astrid kept up the rear, making sure the others didn't die along the way. By the end, she herself had used force to get the others across the door as fast as possible, the door slamming just behind her as she crossed the threshold last.
Well, they had to get out of here somehow. This all hinged on Peter and probably Mr. Death anyway, so there would probably be a clue here for either of them. It was interesting that Mr. Death didn't really shy away from the girl named Ari, a fact that she would store away for later. She started to search, her path crossing Dan and Michael Ross's. Well, they were on her side, but she had to suss out what they were planning, especially because they seemed to be getting buddy buddy with each other. IF she would have to choose, she wasn't sure what she would pick, but if the pair betrayed her her allegiance would shift over to Peter and everyone else's side quite quickly. She also crossed paths with the twins with the names she thought were stupid, but she might as well foster a relationship with the pair. IT was always good to have options, especially if everyone else wasn't searching.

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Chrissie (Fargothia) Fletcher, Dan, Michael Ross, Christopher Fletcher, Zale Lawerewnce, Peter Destin, Joe the Ghost and Darren
and Mr.Death


Mr Death was used to pain, it was all he had ever known, being able to kill anything he touched. Life was hardly fair to him, so the blood dripping down his face didn't bother him. It just reminded him that at the end of the day, he was as worthless as can be. " It's fine, I already have a lot of sc-" he didn't get to finish his sentence before she could tell him to stay still so she could bandage it up. This was the first time that another person ever cared about him. It was a strange and foreign feeling to him. Was this what it felt like to be loved? How could anyone love someone who only brought death to everything he touched? Well almost everything. He couldn't harm Peter or any of his living dead. It was a weird trade off, but it was theres.

He had never been touched so gently before as she used the tools to clean the cut and wipe away the blood. He took a deep breatth before he would look at her. " I guess I present myself like that because I feel like that. I've always been the villain in Peter's story. While he can save people and make them better and have a second chance at life and then there is me. All I can do is destroy, everything that I touch or almost everything that touches me is dead forever. So in a way, I present myself as scarier than I am because I feel so lonely and alone. Of course, that doesn't excuse how I acted, but it does offer an explanation to what I do. I will let you know if I get dizzy, I guess I can help- but I do need to rest, I was standing in that room forever..... except there are no chairs here, would that count as a "clue?" He asked, not sure why the cruise ship would have no chairs in their dinning room though.

" That is strange," Darren replied in agreement.

Zale would take a moment to consider the point. " Is it weird that the only thing on this table is the coleslaw?" He asked, having Lehna safely on his shoulder and still knocked out.

" I feel like that is something my brother might know, he was at the dinner while I was stowing away."
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Peter would nod and look over aat the side and follow Jeremy" I noticed thatt you forgot to mention someone when you mentioned everyone. Can we really trust my doppleganger won't betray us at the first chance that he gets? He's never been one to work with us or even like us from my small recollection. I do think we can trust Joe and Ari, as well as think that Dan and Michael are acting suspicious. They have been acting that way for a long time though. Obviously, we can trust my pets that are here. And it might be good to have to keep an eye. Nobody would suspect a cricket, rabbit, mouse, cat, puppy, dragon and squirrel to be an agent of ours, plus he can't kill them. Butt we do need to find a way out of this room, I doubt that the killer mist is going to wait for us to find answers if we are too slow. Also, as a die note, Lehna seems trustworthy."

Joe had wondered over. " We also have to find out who is making all of this happen, we know that none of this seems to be happening naturally." Peter nodded in agreement with the ghost girl.
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Christopher would look around the room, uncertain what he had been looking for and wondered why there was only one table on each side. It seemed strange, but he didn't know how to bring it up, so he wondered towards the passageway, noticing Michael and Dan talking in the corner across from Peter and Jeremy.

"I am going to say this as nicely as possible, but you fucked up when you killed the Captain. He was a valuable asset while he knew things, but now, he's just able as useless as any of the other cruise shippers. So, what do you have to say to that?" Michael asked, wondering what sort of witty response Dan would have to him being so brutually honest with him. It seemed he didn't have to wait for long before the man would answer him lowly though.

"
The captain was soft, he was just as much of a liability as he was an asset to us. He could have easily spilled our secrets, like that Constance girl. I don't know how our bosses vetted anyone, but besides you and Astrid, everyone is a qualified disaster at keeping a secret, hell, our main guy who should been least suspicious fucking died to thing 2 over there. So excuse me for taking the moxie to make sure a problem was gone. You people don't pay me nearly enough." Dan replied back just as lowly. Astrid or anyone near the corner they were could still hear them of course.

@slifer
 
Jeremy side-eyed Dan and Michael, before turning back to the group. "I mean, I think Mr. Death would help us. No one really...notices that I'm watching them. I mean, I may have a one-track mind, but that encompasses a lot. He's going to work with us, and from the looks of it, Ari's the key to making that happen, as he looked at her differently while she was caring for him. If Ari's presence is going to help change his attitude, then if you think I'm not going to try and get them together then you're as crazy as I am. If you're asking whose fault it is....I'm pretty sure it's Dan and Michael. They've been acting way too suspiciously the whole time. Dan's been too calm through all of this. He expected most of this to happen. Michael has been interacting with him suspiciously, and thus there's collusion. Right now they can't kill us, and they won't hesitate to if we call them out. So I think we need a contingency plan. We have confirmation that they're evil. I think that while everyone else is focused on leaving, the three of us focus on making sure those who are on our side get out alive, which means the three of us, maybe Lena, Chris, Chrissie, Astrid, and Zane. I'm sure Dan and Michael will value their lives above ours if it comes down to it, and I'm not going to die here. I refuse to just go along with this."

________________________________

Astrid scooted as close to them as possible without making it seem obvious that she was trying to talk to them. She dropped on the floor by them, hiding under the table while pretending to search for clues. "Not the time or the place for that convo. If you were any more obvious.She hissed at he pair, using her hidden position to point to the group in the corner that seemed to be growing. Then, since they didn't seem to need her, she approached Chrissie. She heard what Zane said, and noticed Chris looking frustrated by himself. She didn't know the information like Dan and Michael, so her only choice was to actually help- bring some ideas up to the group. At least she looked somewhat convincing, going under the table and looking for clues and such. This was worse than being not in the know. She had a leg up on the undead and the
"So Chris, why is there only coleslaw? Your sister said you might know why. Are their any utensils? Is the placement important? I was listening to this manners podcast and they had an episode about plating and cutlery. Does it mean anything? Do you remember about how things were positioned when everyone arrived on the ship?" Though, that thought kept rolling around in her mind. Dan had killed the Captain, who was in on this too. Though did that mean Mr. Death also killed someone? Shit, if she got her hands on her bossess....she would kill them, no questions asked for doing this to them. She may be forever stained by what she did, but she was better than Mr. Death, Michael and Dan.

___________________________
Ari looked at him, taking a moment to absorb what he had said. He had done wrong, but he seemed to actually be remorseful.
"Think of it this way. You balance him out. The universe can't have a Peter running around and bringing people back without consequences. You're not evil. You check Peter's power so he doesn't become a god and maybe it gets to his head. I'm sure Jeremy helps with that as well, but the world does need you to exist. You've done something terrible in the past, and you have a chance to fix it. You saw that what you did was wrong and you want to change it. I believe in you." Somehow, what Ari was telling him was exactly what she thought. He had the chance to do right and he should take it, and she believed that he could do better. Either way, it was time to focus. "Remember, you're not evil- you're a force of nature. Tsunamis aren't evil. Earthquakes aren't evil. You just exist to bring balance. Now, the coleslaw obviously means something. Do you think one of people running the show is with us, in the group? I hope not. I mean...." Her voice barely could be heard by Mr. Death, sharing that memory, that hurt her. "Dan killed me. He's not a good guy. He'll kill all of us to survive. He will not help anyone but himself. We have to do something. We're getting led around, and it's not even an experiment anymore. Something's wrong. I think even the ones who know what's going are are spooked as well. Though this looks like a weird dancing setup. Like we're supposed to dance on the floor or something."
 
Chrissie (Fargothia) Fletcher, Dan, Michael Ross, Christopher Fletcher, Zale Lawerence, Peter Destin, Joe the Ghost and Darren

Peter would listen to everything that Jeremy said and he knew that he was right. If Mr.Death wanted them to be dead, they would be dead. He had a distinct feeling that even if he couldn't kill the undead with his powers, he was sure that he could kill them in normal ways. " That's the thing about watching people, most people don't even know that they are being observed because they are so focused on the other things that are going on around them. I can safely say that.... I personally used that skill before. I'm not sure when, but I have definitely used it in the past, that much is certain. Love is something that could do that to any person and I definitely see some sort of love in his eyes, even if he personally doesn't believe in stuff like that. Michael has proven himself to be useful and I do think they are letting more than they let on, but I feel like Michael is lying about something, but I can't figure out what. If our memory wasn't scrambled, we would probably have an easier time figuring out what happened to us..." he replied, taking a second to observe everything that was on the table. He took a moment to notice that there was something on the table and picked it up. Coleslaw. He smelled it. " This- I remember this at the dinner and I remember that I hate the smell of it and refused to eat it......" he trailed off, memories flooding back. " Oh...."

Joe would look over at Peter and then at the coleslaw. " It looks like that is bringing back his memories." Darren nodded in agreement.

Dan would look over at her from under the table and took a moment to try not to roll his eye at the lack of hiding or even pretending. He already knew that he wasn't trusted, so the conversation hardly seemed to be a problem to him. These people were just too naturally suspicious of everything that was going on around them. "I don't think it matters where we have this conversation, there are already people here who don't trust us... besides, there are other secrets here."

"
I would advise that you shut up at this point, or our dear friend Peter will have one more living dead to add to his collection before we leave this room." The threat wasn't veiled in the slightest, but it was said in such a low tone that only Dan and Astrid would be able to hear it from everything else that was going on in the room.

Chrissie had noticed that the other two guys were acting strange, but she wasn't sure how to address that with the rest of the group., so she decided that her best course of action was to leave it alone. She was thankful that the other girl was going to ask her brother some questions as he didn't exactly like to listen to her most of the time. Zale watched from a distance.

" There was something about the coleslaw being ordered special by someone on the ship. I'm not sure the reason but they had asked that it be placed in the center of the table and to not stop anyone from having it. I do remember that when I was cleaning up the table, I couldn't get it off. Like it had gotten stuck and then everything had gone dark and then the next thing I knew I was back in my quarters with the rest of everyone else, but I can't remember much else. I do remember that everyone commented on how terrible it smelled and that it would certainly bring back memories from that if anyone smelled it, but I thought that sounded too far fetched but with everything going on this ship... maybe it's not."

Mr.Death would looked over at her and take a moment to consider how he felt remorse... which was something that he thought he would never feel. Feeling things like that seemed to be out of his range of comfort and yet, somehow, it was quite possible that it was the most honest he had been in his whole life. " I do think that you are right about me balancing him out when it comes down to things. If someone found out that there was no counter balance to raising the dead, he would have revived everyone without even thinking twice about how good or evil the people are. I mostly try to kill the bad people, but for once, I feel like I was the one who got played.... which is a terrible thing to realize when you are always so confident that you will do nothing wrong. I do think that whatever this sick experiment is, they purposefully picked out each element to make people question themselves and their roles. I feel like there are multiple people who know more than we do here, the problem is that the ones remaining...." He turned to look at Dan and Michael. " I know, but for some reason, he's too smart to follow us around. There is definitely something wrong here, I don't think there is more of a purpose than that coleslaw. This honestly looks like one of the most untouched rooms on the ship... I guess.... I should probably tell you my real name. It's Parker. Parker Destin." He took a moment and looked at Peter and wondered what was happening to him.

@slifer
 
Maybe it would be unsettling to Jeremy if he realized how casually he was talking about manipulating people- even someone as kind as Ari, but then again, Peter and survival were his two main focuses right now. How Peter had become his focus, he still wasn't sure about- it was the one memory he couldn't seem to figure out, but it seemed to make sense to him, in terms of the 99% of memories he could remember, even though some things Peter didn't tell him, no matter how much the boy relied on him. This was bringing out his more neurotic tendencies, like his willingness to shank whomever hurt Peter. Mr. Death was on thin ice as it was, his only saving grace seeming to be Ari, who looked to be taking a chance with him.
The moment the "Oh" slipped from Peter's lips, Jeremy took on his role as "the rock" - otherwise known as Peter's balance, instantly taking the other boy's hand, giving it a squeeze to show he was here and getting Peter to a chair so he could sit down
"Joe, watch my back. I have to focus on Peter." Jeremy ordered Joe tersely, before his focus shifted completely to Peter. "Breathe, and ride them out. Fighting the memories won't help." Jeremy said to Peter, his tone transforming to the most soothing he could manage. Hopefully, they could get some insight as to what was going on, now that they had Peter's memories back as well. All he could do was hold out the light in the darkness, and wait for Peter to reject his offer of help, or take his hand and accept his help.

____________________________________________________________

"That's weird. There's only one table on each side of the room. The coleslaw might be magic or something. It's not just coleslaw." Astrid said casually, also finding that weird. For someone who knew what was going on, it seemed that she was in the lowest tier of knowledge. Then again, that must have been intentional- half of her reactions were realistic, which helped place her squarely in the middle. Maybe everyone didn't 100% trust her, but she had an in with every group, not just the "good guys." Astrid made a face at the coleslaw, which she wanted to set on fire. "It's probably magic. Or just really crazy drugs. Or an illusion. " Privately, although Chrissie was kind of an airhead, she was still better than her brother- who was an asshole who was just as involved with this as she. Maybe Dan should kill her, just to relieve her of suspicion. Peter could probably bring her back to life, and she would probably still have her powers- Ari had kept hers.

Astrid realized what was going on with her magic- why everyone was getting their memories back. Her powers were built for tearing and deleting- with wide swaths of memories being torn from people to cripple them. Like a virus, some memories had been left behind, and it had brought all the memories back when push came to shove. Not to mention whatever was screwing around with Mr. Death and Peter's magic was screwing with hers as well. She wasn't built for subtlety, but to take and set fire to what was left. She tried not to be seen, in case this would happen, but she did need skin-to-skin contact...which meant if Peter remembered what she had done, than everything would come crashing down, and they would try to kill her for her role in this- no matter how much of it was forced. The only person who could resist her own powers was herself- which meant they had consumed her blood/skin/DNA, the smell would bypass her powers. Which made no sense but none of this made sense. Well, if this went wrong...it had been nice knowing them. She was sure Dan and Michael wouldn't help her in the least, so it would be her against them.
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Ari felt proud and honored of Mr. Death- Parker Destin- that he was having such realizations about himself- that he was having important realizations, and that he felt he could trust her. "I won't tell anyone your real name unless you want me to. Though I'm sure most of us are fodder for you and Peter- though my powers aren't as cool as yours. I can sense magic in others. Joe has a cool aura around her. It's kind of the color of Peter's magic. Yours and his aren't too different, considering your powers are interrelated and you're twins. " Her gaze followed his, sighting on Peter, who looked like...he was getting his memories back. "I mean, I can check up on him, although Jeremy's looking like he's doing a good job of grounding Peter out. Though...maybe the experimenters are fighting among themselves and that's why it's been like this. Though there's not a clear reason of why, or what they're looking for exactly, although I'm sure you and Peter are the reason for all of this." She patted his arm in a comforting gesture, before drawing her hand back, apologetic. "Sorry I touched you without permission."
 
Chrissie (Fargothia) Fletcher, Dan, Michael Ross, Christopher Fletcher, Zale Lawerence, Peter Destin, Joe the Ghost and Darren

Peter was starting to realize that he didn't truly understand anything that was happening. Even as his memories started to flood back into his mind, things weren't starting to make any more sense than they did before. Sure, there was more people on the ship before, he knew that as a fact. But something else was weird as he remembered everything. He couldn't place their faces, it was like he was seeing shades or shadows. The only clear faces was the one that he met. If that wasn't strange enough, there was no memory of what had been said to him. But yet, other things start to become more apparent. One of the glaring obvious things was that Michael Ross wasn't in his memories that were coming back. No, that was a lie. He was in his memory once he got the chance to focus, but it was wrong, all wrong. There was a different hair color on him, different eyes, different facial structure, hell, the FBI even had the start of some beard. Whoever was amongst them was not Michael Ross, it was not. The second most glaring thing was that Zale wasn't there. He didn't know what meant yet, but he had a feeling that wouldn't help. He took a deep breath and took Jeremy's hand, finally fully processing the memories. He took a deep breath and he decided that there was only one way to work with the problem now. It was when he did the best work. He gave his boyfriend a look that told him he was about to do something stupid. " That man who is with us, he's not Michael Ross. I don't know who he is, but he isn't telling the truth regardless."

Chrissie took a moment to look over at her and wondered if she realized how important that detail was. " Two tables in a giant dinning room seems suspicious, but perhaps, you're right about it being magic." She leaned down on the floor and notice that there was a piano in the far right corner of the room. She took a second and noticed that there was a really weirdly place bar in the other corner of the room. Five points. Piano, two tables, bar and door. " It's a magical pentagram. This whole room is a place where somebody did a lot of work to make sure that coleslaw would be fully charged with whatever was needed in it to give Peter his memory back. Sorry, that was just kind of a stray observation. I'm just really into like magical occult stuff and this certainly feels like that it. It's too bad that the other confused man who was here died before we could get some answers out of him, but it's whatever. I have a feeling that he was more of a lialbility since he kept summoning monsters."

Dan was quiet as he looked over at Peter. This wasn't the FBI agent. That was new information to even him. Sure, he had killed the captain, but he had always assumed that he knew everything. Then who the fuck was this? Was it wise to admit that he didn't know who this was either? " Who the fuck is he then?"

Joe gauged Dan's reaction. It was genuine. " I think that revelation even threw Dan entirely off, which is an incredibly weird thing to say in the long run.

Darren looked as baffled as Dan was. Then who was this person if he wasn't the FBI agent? What had happened to the real one who had been out there?

Chris took a head tilt, wondering if the question that was asked would be answered.


Zale took a second and processed this new information.

The man, the one who claimed to be Michael Ross, the one who was certainly not gave an incredulous look. He had told the idiots to make him look like the real agent in case the people got suspicious. But of course the higher ups thought that was unnecessary. " That is correct, I am not the FBI Agent Michael Ross, I'm CIA Agent Samuel Hope."
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There was something weird about the fact that he was being honored about making important realizations about himself. Sure, he could have mde them sooner, but perhaps he needed someone to guide him down the correct path. There was so much going on that he didn't understand but he did agree with Ari that he didn't want them to know his real name. At least for now. Sometimes it was easier to hide behind something scary monikers than it was to be human around people. He had a feeling that the ghost ad been brought back by Peter. He still didn't understand how Joe was still undead while Zale was alive. He had a feeling that it had something to do with the fact that Joe's body was beyond using, but their soul was not. He didn't doubt that the experimenters wanted something out of him and Peter, but he wasn't sure what that thing was yet. And that bugged him a lot more than he cared to admit. He hadn't noticed that she had touched him until she pointed out. It was the first time he had felt a human touch in a long time. " It's okay, I don't mind it so much. I was just scared of touch because most things I touch die.... well, it looks like things are getting crazy."

@slifer @Minerva
 
Right before Peter's eyes, Jeremy seemed to harden- his eyes crystallizing from blue water to ice as the implication registered in their mind. This was trickery on a whole other level, and it left his hackles raised. "I hope whoever's watching us chokes and dies. That bullshit FBI agent's word means nothing now, and not a single person will believe him. Now that you have your memories back, what do we do now?" Do you remember anything else? I'm sure the "CIA Agent" ( Jeremy's hands made exaggerated air quotes at the name) isn't going to tell us shit. I see Ari's doing the Lord's Work- reaching out to those who may not deserve it." The more he stayed on the ship, the more he found out- which seemed to only pull up his guard even further. "The only thing I can think of is that you and Mr. Death are being kept here to keep the dead alive for extended periods of time- to see how long you can take this. Or we're getting paid back for our..."adventures."
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In that single instance, Astrid's loyalties changed, the swinging pendulum stopping firmly on the side of the necromancers. They had purposefully made an antidote to her powers, had lied to her too many times, and were out to kill all of them. There was no trust left for those upstairs- those who would use and abuse even their own for some unknown gain. She wanted nothing to do with it, and it was time to start heavily atoning for what she had done. CIA Samuel Hope her ass- he was mostly likely bullshitting all of them. But for now, she could pretend to still be on the side of those behind this- until she could make up for her crimes. She let the shock show on her face, a clear sign that Bullshit FBI man had seriously messed up if even his own "allies" had no idea what was going on.
She turned back to Chrissie, who both seemed to be both intelligent and yet airheaded at the same time. "He was a liability because you stumbled into his summoning circles. He's like a detective who brings in high-profile criminals to interrogate and you essentially handed the monsters the keys and said "you can go now. Please don't act like you had no part in his screwing up. Though we're getting jerked around- clearly. Now that Peter has his memories back, can we leave the room? These assholes who run this are leading us in a direction for some reason. I'm sure Peter and Mr. Death have made enemies in their time."

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Ari let out a sharp breath as the pentagram's magic took effect. She could feel the moment it started working, as it seemed to fill the room, wiping away the lies that had been established. Even from here, she could hear the revelation that Michael Ross wasn't who he said he was- leaving a feeling that they were more screwed than previously thought. Though she couldn't help a small chuckle at the thought that she was special enough to be able to touch him, proving so by giving him a soft little teasing push to Mr. Death. "Hey, you have one person who can touch you. That's 100% improvement. Though we have to get off this ship- even if I never find out what's going on, why we're all here. I hope we're not all hostages for Peter- which wouldn't make sense because it would be easier to just kidnap Jeremy to get that done. Unless this is an experiment to see how adept Peter's powers are- and it's been wildly successful which is why we're all still here." She didn't want to think of what would happen if Peter couldn't keep her alive anymore- a second untimely death she probably couldn't come back from. "Though maybe this is a grieving adult who's trying to see if Peter can raise their dead relative. Whoever's controlling all of this cold have lost someone- and grief can make people erratic. Or they just hate you and Peter and just are using the rest of us as pawns to make you both suffer."
 
Chrissie (Fargothia) Fletcher, Dan, Christopher Fletcher, Zale Lawerence,, Peter Destin, Joe the Ghost and Darren

Peter had looked over at Jeremy and saw that he had gone fully cold. He didn't blame him for feeling that way. The necromancer was on his last line of sanity and the only reason he was remaining so was that he didn't want to seem like a monster. While his memories were certainly back and some things were clicking into place, other things didn't quite click into place. Well two things in particular- or rather two people . Zale and Samuel were those two people. " I am not sure why we are here yet, I just know that for a fact, some things are not clicking even with my memories. I know that there was a real FBI agent on here. I also realized that whoever brought us here didn't bring Zale back. I think I did that.... though...." Peter paused for a bit musing on a thought. " Maybe we are looking at from the wrong angle. Maybe there are two things happening here right now. Obviously, they are testing the limits of my and my brother's powers, but bringing the Olympic star back seems like a part of this- but I can't piece how yet."
______________
As Astrid's loyalties started to waver. a crackling could be heard through the air. For a second, it seemed like that it was just another quirk of the ship. After all, boats like this one often had loud motors, so it wasn't too bad of an assumption to be making after all. Of course, that would change the second a voice came on. "Now, now, Mr. Hope, I was hoping that you wouldn't spill the beans so soon. After all, there is so many reasons to keep your cover, but what can't be undone. There is no editing last. Oh. Jeremy, I can't die in case you were wondering. I'm kind of already undead.... actually- no correction- I'm neither alive or dead because two idiots decided that a person on the cusp of death should be touched by someone who permanently kills and one who permanently saves. .. but Peter probably doesn't remember that. Oh.... before you ask, there is no greater plan. This is just my little revenge....... Oh yeah, before I forget, Dan and my other little helper,, I'll triple your pay if you kill the CIA agent. Also, I'm almost done playing, come and find me.

Chrissie would pause for a beat, listening to the mad voice over the radio and she looked over at him. " Yeah, I was starting to suspect that he had no clue what he was doing when he kept bringing monsters into the mess. Though, I'm not sure what to make of the development that just happened....."

" I think getting out of this room would be a great idea, I'm starting to get the feeling that a lot of things are going to make sense," Darren added, not entirely untrue. It seemed that as the others mentioned leaving, the door would click open.......everywhere on the ship.

Joe was quiet and would wonder what the voice wanted. "Hopefully finding the voice will yield answers and not more questions," Zale added.

"We can only hope," Christopher muttered.
______________

Mr. Death took a moment to consider the revelation that had happened over the radio while he had been listening to the only person who made him feel safe. The second the voice came on, he felt an area of familiarity, almost like he had heard the person before. And then he dropped the bit of information that he had been touched by both Peter and himself. There were exactly two people in the world who had that happen to them and one of them wouldn't be smart enough to put together something as elaborate as what was happening here. He however couldn't remember his name- it was on the tip of his tongue, but it escaped him. He did remember what he had been wearing when he had been killed. He had been dressed as a jester. So, they were essentially dealing with some sort of zombie-esque jester. " I think you might have been right on the money when you said it was someone who wanted us to both suffer, though I can't remember for the life of me what his name is. It's nice to have you hear and for what it is worth, I'm sorry that you were dragged here with circumstances that were out of your control. I imagine that I will be doing a lot of apologies in the future." He looked out of the corner of his eye and noticed that Dan had a glint in his eyes. He was starting to suspect that the man had loyalties to just pure cash.

Dan would approach Samuel and cock his gun towards Samuel's head. " Nothing personal.... but I can't let you leave here alive now."

@slifer @Minerva
 
From the moment Astrid heard those words, disgust filled her. Was the man insane? Did he really think that money was what she wanted? What was triple the pay going to do when staying with her employers felt like a chain being wrapped around her throat. Where the hell would she be able to spend that much money? That was when it hit her- that she had to play the long con. The man was trapped in his body- with his memories. She was a person who could take them away, which would solve literally everyone else's problem. She just had to get close to the man and take his memories, though it would be a huge betrayal. She had so much to make up for, and if it took her life to get the rest of them out of there, then that was the price she had to pay.
But first, she had to save this dumbass, and there was only one way to do it, offer more money than the man was giving them- which meant everything she had in her bank account- and with years of abuse combined with an overflow of wealth, she could match the jester's offer, and even double it. She walked up behind Dan, stopping behind the man. Her voice dropped low, as if she was soothing a rabid beast, sounding perfectly reasonable to everyone around her, just out of earshot for everyone else except for Dan and Samuel Hope. Besides, Jeremy was making so much noise that it could cover some of what she was saying to Dan.

"Don't make yourself his lapdog. Let the man do his own dirty work. I know you're better than that. You have the potential to be more than just a hitman. You could sit in that man's spot and do more than that man could ever accomplish. The rest of them have been tolerating your presence, but if you kill Samuel Hope here and now, they will all take the first chance they get to take you out, the moment you show the slightest sign of weakness. I wouldn't just appeal to your sense of pride though. I'll give you a better offer. I'll give you everything in my bank account, which is more than what he's offering. You know that just as well as I how much I have." She had given Dan the hook, now hopefully he took the bait. She was telling the truth after all, and he would know that.

_________________________________________
Jeremy looked up to the speaker, his eyes blazing with fury. It was metaphorical, as he seemed to snap at that man's words, letting his anger and frustration out on this man. If this joker wanted to antagonize them, then he could do it right back. It was only fair after all.
"If you had enough time to plan revenge then you had enough time to get a hobby. Get some therapy! OR even better, maybe work with the pair to see if they could remove it! What happens after this? You sit in your filth and cry about your situation? You're gonna get your revenge and jerk yourself off? What's gonna happen after that? You're still gonna be a miserable sack of shit after this is all over. Your money isn't going to save you after this. I don't believe in the slightest that you've done any research on the topic. All you've done is cry and go "Waaaah Waaah I can't do anything I was messed up by what I'm sure was a bad mistake but I'm so toxic I have to twist things to make myself look better!" I'm sure the moment we all go to your room you're gonna act like you had any right. Maybe I would have understood if you only targeted Mr. Death and Peter, but you dragged innocents into this, and that makes you the biggest asshole out of everyone here. Even Dan is better than you, and that means you've fucked up!" His anger and his righteousness would make everyone turn to look at him, considering he was unloading everything on the man, as it was clear he could hear them.

He had to admit, he wasn't the best person at the best of times, and at moments like this he was downright vile. If that jester was in the room, he would break the man like a kitkat bar- just because he couldn't die didn't mean he couldn't put the man through agony if he had some alone time with him. He was tired of this shithead jerking him around, and it was clear the moment he got his hands on the jester there would be hell to pay. Besides, it would be fun to release his anger on the jester- as he could snap the man's spine, keeping him alive but unable to move. Oh, the joy would be endless with this one.
A part of him knew he was letting his sadistic side come out was wrong, but he had enough with this freak- and Jeremy didn't call just anyone a freak.

________________________________________
Ari thought about their powers, about how they worked, and about the nature of all of this. "You're both humans with powers. Which means something gave you those powers. Which meant you haven't found them yet. OR you're reincarnated gods. Something of that nature.
"If there's set rules for your powers, that means that someone's regulating your use of powers. I'm not sure why you both touched him, or why Jeremy didn't stop either of you, but there's more to this than meets the eye. Right now, we have to go find this man and get the answers to really get what's going on. I mean...Peter might not be all there, but there was something going on. I guess we should go find out then." She held out a hand to him, an invitation to come along with her. Her senses extended outward, letting her see that Peter, Mr. Death, Joe, and Astrid all had magic around them (or anyone else with some sort of magic/ability). That was how they would find this man. Follow the man's trail of unnatural magic, and it would lead right to him.
 
Chrissie (Fargothia) Fletcher, Dan, Christopher Fletcher, Zale Lawerence,, Peter Destin, Joe the Ghost and Darren

Dan knew that at the end of the day that the message had been for him. He didn't think any of the other people who understood what the man behind the mirror wanted. Hell, he was being entirely honest, he wasn't sure that he understood what the man wanted. But it was a pleasure to be paid triple for doing his job. After all, being a hit man meant that he had to kill. He actually didn't even care about the pay upgrade as he wanted to kill the man pretending to be Michael Ross for the longest time. He knew that the person hadn't been the first one they had been one. Sure, he looked liked him, but the way he acted was far from the way the other one acted. There was nothing Dan hated more than a person who pretended to be someone or something they were not.

Of course, if he was offered the right price, well, he would not kill the man. The Captain of the ship had almost done that with his own money, but it seemed that he had been exactly one cent short of beating out the other man. Sure, he could have let him look for the penny, but he opted instead for a head shot and leading the necromancer to him. In that way, he wouldn't remember that Dan had killed him and he also would be one less loose end for the jester to care about. Sure, that man was fucking crazy, but he also was insanely rich. He had gotten a peak at his checkbook and it had been in the billions. Of course, everything he had done so far had been in cash and he seemed to be running low on that.

Dan would look over at her. " Well, first of all, I am nobody's lap dog. I should just shoot for that comment, but digressing, I am pretty sure that he can't be in the same room as the Wonder Twins. Wow, a pep talk. I haven't gotten one of those since someone thought I was the actor who played Superman. Oh, I know that I could do more and yeah, I don't see anything that would make me change my-" He would pause upon hearing what she had to offer. Everything in her bank account was something that he had never been offered before. Dan knew that it was a lot of money. " There's a catch to all of that. Besides not killing Samuel Hope, what else do you want me to do? I don't expect you to just give me all your money for one thing- though if you are, you might be more of a fool than I thought." He waited for her response.

Samuel Hope knew an opening when he saw it. Being so focused on her offer, Dan had lowered his guard just enough and he would with his free hand turn and twist the hit man's hand just enough that he would drop the gun. " Thank you for the assistance."
_________________________________________
Jeremy looked up to the speaker, his eyes blazing with fury. It was metaphorical, as he seemed to snap at that man's words, letting his anger and frustration out on this man. If this joker wanted to antagonize them, then he could do it right back. It was only fair after all.

Zale would take notice that everything had suddenly opened on the ship. He didn't understand why that was the case, but he didn't want to bring up as it seemed to be the least pressing matter. He looked over at the others, uncertain if any of them know this man. "He sounds vaguely familiar to me."

An annoying tick would happen to Christopher as things started to happen around him. " You know, he does sound like someone I know or I have to had talked to him."

" Oh yeah, let me just walk up to the nearest therapist and just tell them I was only half brought back to life from my near death sentence. I'm sure that will go incredibly well and not make me lock up in a mental ward with everyone else. Oh, what happens after this? I'm so happy that you ask that. What happens next is that that I kill both Peter and Parker and be free of this unlife that was forced upon me. Oh, my money will mean nothing to me because I will be dead. But oh, I'm so sorry that you think I'm a terrible person for wanting to not be stuck as this thing. Do you know what it feels like living on two different planes of existance? It's endless fucking suffering is what it is. Oh, innocents. That's funny to me. You would think spending so much time with all of these people, you would realize none of them were fucking innocent. I could run down the list of all the crimes by person, but the most innocent thing on the ship was an undead child and I wasn't even the one to kill them. That was that idiot sorcerer Charlie."

Darren would pause and listen to the man. " I mean, I'm pretty-"

"Oh, I was hoping one of you would argue against that. Let's see- Darren, farm boy.Skipped school seven times, got arrested for drunk driving, shall I go on?"

" People change," Chrissie replied.

"Said the girl who snuck onto a cruise ship."

" Are you about to give examples of all the different ways that all of us have fucked up in our lives?" Joe asked the jester.

"Oh, I'm so happy that you asked that question, Jodie Beaumont. I wasn't originally planning on doing that, but it seems that all of you seem to think that this group is a paragon of virtues when you're not. I know the thing that you did that not even Peter does, You see, before the catacombs, our young ghost friend would go around hopping from body to body and one time she decided to just stay in the body of her great-nephew, had a whole life as him and didn't give him a chance to have his own. But you know, that hardly seems important to this wonderful group of people. You all seem too happy to root for each other no matter what."

"Yeah, I'm starting to see Jeremy's point that you are kind of a jackass who is so hurt that you need to hurt others to feel better about yourself. Trust me, that doesn't work."
________________________________________


Mr.Death was silent for a moment, listening to what she had to say and the words slipped out before he could stop it. "I'm not entirely sure that either of us are human in anything other than appearance. Though, time and time again, whenever I would work my powers or my brother used his, people called us Children of Fate. When I was younger and I didn't hate being around him so much, well, I thought it was a weird turn of phrase that adults used to describe things that they don't understand, but maybe just maybe." He would take a moment to look off in the distance and for a moment, he seemed to have an unspoken thought that wasn't finished. " Oh yeah, you can call me Parker by the way. Just you though." He had to wonder how much this man wanted to die, but he sensed that asking that question was going to be a trip down the rabbit hole that he did not want to take. Ari would be able to see a mix of their two magics coming from all directions, but the strongest was coming from directly below them.

@slifer
 
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Fine, that made sense. Dan wouldn't believe that one man's death "I would like to hope that I could give you everything I have and in return while we're on this ship you don't kill anyone unless it's in true self defense. When everyone leaves the ship and departs I don't care what you do, but until we're done with this I will not have any of these people's deaths on my hands. If anything happens to them and it's not your fault, fine. But-" Astrid's face turned to a shocked expression as the FBI agent turned on Dan, ripping the gun from his hand. The dumb bastard was going to get himself killed now, and that wasn't something she would be able to stop, considering she had Dan actually listen to her, which was a feat inside itself. She had a feeling that Samuel Hope and Dan would start fighting soon, as she was sure they both had hand to hand combat experience.
"I didn't do it for you." Astrid told Samuel coldly, which was the truth- she wanted to stop the killing for her own sake, even if that was a little callous. "Maybe I want to make it out of here alive. Maybe I want to preserve a life without having to use the Wonder Twin's powers. Maybe there's more to this then you think. But I have a feeling if murder happens the rest of them will turn on us in an instant, especially if anything happens to the jester."

_________________
All Jeremy heard was excuses from the man, who seemed to like throwing people under the bus. Though it was funny that he himself didn't have any true crimes that were mentioned- considering he had the most stabbing potential- but then again he was the one who usually the one saving people from the brink. Though how he had avoided doing any wild crimes was beyond him, but for all of his shit, he was actually pretty decent. "They have supernatural therapists! I know at least three of them! IT's still a newer service, but I did my research! You're making excuses for the bad things you're doing, and you're not even trying to help yourself. You're comparing your crimes to others! Skipping school and sneaking onto the ship are comparative to all of this? I can't speak for those who have done seriously terrible things, but if you honestly think killing them will do anything to help you then you're wrong. You decided that if you can't change and try to be better, then no one else can." He turned to the group, his voice lowering from the rage to a more level tone as he remembered how cool the therapists were.

"One therapist is a dragon, which is pretty cool if I do say so myself. Another is a giant talking squid, and my personal therapist is a gnome. I'll introduce you to them later." A blast of pain in his head cut off his sidebar to the group, as a memory came back to him. He couldn't see the face of the person in the jester costume, but he could remember grabbing Peter, trying to pull him away from the person as Mr. Death slowly came towards the man, fighting to pull the both of them away, screaming at both of them to stop. It was as if they had been possessed. He could handle one at a time, but both of them had him fighting a loosing battle, as he was dragged slowly towards the man, his shoes squeaking across the floor.

Coming out of the memory, he looked to Ari, who had grabbed Mr. Death and had dragged him out of the room. His mind couldn't help but think that the pair looked cute together, before remembering that he should be following Ari. The man would not be killing anyone else today, and if it marred his good name, then so be it.

_________________________

Ari spotted the threads of magic all around them, winding together from Parker and Peter until they shot downwards, heading towards the lower floors. "The man's in the basement." Ari announced, putting the pieces together. "We have to go find him. Now while Dan's distracted." Grabbing Parker's hand, she pulled him along, racing out the door and following the pathway only she could see. "Right now, I don't know if you're fully human, but you have emotions and feelings and sentience, and that means something. We can talk more about this later, but we have to finish this."
 
Chrissie (Fargothia) Fletcher, Dan, Samuel Hope, Christopher Fletcher, Zale Lawerence,, Peter Destin, Joe the Ghost and Darren

Dan would look back at her and process the words. There was always a catch to these sort of thing. Nothing in the world was ever free and having to keep these idiots alive was going to be a more diffcult thing to do then anything else. " Well, as long as you don't care- I'll just kill them one by one after they depart if that as far as we to give directions," he honestly replied back to her. It was a simple enough solution for him, protect them for now- murder them later. He was perfectly fine with this arrangement but it seemed that he was less fine when the CIA agent would wrestle the gun away from him and he looked at both of them with a glare. " If this was even a remotely true offer, I'll take it- but I like to add one of my own terms. I don't care what happened to Samuel Hope, I won't kill him- but I am not going out of my way to protect him. And I will definitely punch him if he gets on my nerves. Actually scratch that-" Dan would go for a punch and Samuel would nimbly move out of the way. " Okay, I hate him even more. What was his purpose again?"

There would be an eerie silence as it seemed that despite trying neither of them could remember what his purpose was. " Doesn't change the fact that you helped me from a situation without which, I would be as dead as the captain that Dan killed. Oh, oops- sorry," Samuel replied, not even being the least bit sorry about what he said. It wasn't like anyone was paying attention to her.

Both Chrissie and Christopher would turn back when they heard captain. "I'm sorry- did you just say he murdered my brother?" She asked, giving the look that seemed pointed at Dan.

" I was murdered?" Christopher asked.

" I hate you-" Dan added to Samuel.

_________________
Zale was listening in and he couldn't place why the man sounded so familiar. But that didn't make sense to him. "
You keep ranting about having been brought to life- but I don't see a reason why you choose this location-" He was cut off by the voice.

"Well, I'm so happy that somebody asked why I choose this location. Have all of you felt this air of familiarity with this ship? I should hope so- this isn't your first time being here. It's actually the second time you all have been here before. This is the place where my life was caught in the tangled web and this is the place where he died. You say it was selfish of me What if I told you that this trip had two purposes? One was to get revenge on everyone who did nothing or for the murder of Zale and the state I am currently in. The second was to bring him to life. Also, that not being able to go to therapy. I wasn't kidding. There's a catch to this unlife. I can't leave this ship. Just as all of the living dead on this ship was tethered to Peter and all of Parker's victims are pinned to the afterlife- I'm tethered to the ship. This is my life, my life is my ship. It's all I have left. Isn't that a funny joke?"

Joe would look over at Jeremy and just gave the best shrug. " I know that you are trying to be helpful to the man who has trapped us on this ship, but I think that he is trapped in his own little world. He doesn't want to be helped and I think that is truly the more tragic thing. A man stuck in his own anger that can't get past... wait, joke...." Joe would take a moment and ponder. " I think I remember who the jester is and if I'm right, this just got even weirder than I remember. For once in my life, I hope I'm wrong," the ghost replied, heading off to go and find something that would help prove their point. Hopefully that would be enough to stop him. The undead animals would follow her to assist, minus Peter's squirrel who stayed perched on his shoulder.

Peter wasn't sure what Joe remembered, but the revelation that they had been here before was something else. "
I really hate that my memory is so broken that I can't remember being here. It might help us break through to the mad man if we could remember who he was before this. Names have a lot of power when it comes to freeing people."

Darren would nod, agreeing with people. " Maybe Lehna could remember something about him. She mentioned that she worked on the ship for a long time."
_________________________

Parker would take a moment to notice the way the jester spoke, as if he was someone that they should remember and that it was insulting they didn't. "
You know that makes sense. A lot of things seemed to happen in the basement. " He would take her hand and two things were immediately evident. One, it was pouring rain on the ship as if the weather was not on their side. And the second and honestly more tragic thing- people were emerging from the basement. The people that had been lost to Charlie's spell- the ones that had died again and they seemed to be just that..... undead. " Of course, things couldn't be that simple. We're going to have to fight our way to him."

@slifer
 
Astrid just shrugged, not able to control what Dan did outside of the ship.
"That's fine. Just give them a head start. I'm sure you'll like tracking down each of them yourself. I don't expect you to protect anyone. Just leave them alone." The moment Samuel spoke, Astrid sighed, wondering why she even bothered in the first place, as always, her efforts went unnoticed. "If you're willing to dig your own hole, go for it, Samuel. I'm doing my best not to antagonize anyone. I did my job. Now, Dan, do you accept the deal or not? The moment there's a Wi-Fi connection, I can transfer my bank account to you. The Cayman Islands are great for that kind of thing."
Before anyone could really respond, freaking zombies came out of the basement towards them- not Peter's version of the undead- real, true, undead.
"That's something we can deal with later. Right now, we gotta fight those assholes. They're shambling towards us. Right now, the three of us have the most skill to take them out. Some of the others, like Jeremy, can help bring those without much skill to the jester. This has to end somehow." Then she addressed everyone, pulling out her own hunting knife. "Find weapons, and defend yourselves!"


___________________
Jeremy looked vaguely interested at the mentioning of Zale's murder. He had no idea how that happened, and didn't really know much of Zale anyway, so that was out of his scope of reference. He had no idea who was involved, because he hadn't been involved with anything. The last part of the memory gripped him, as when he tried to pull back Peter, the man had turned and had socked him in the face in full view of the jester- a move that had dropped Jeremy- leaving him unconscious on the ground- and upon waking tied up next to the Jester- a sense of overwhelming betrayal filling him, even as Peter, having come to his senses, had started to untie him.

"How did he get murdered? Also therapists make house calls. The dragon does for sure. I could give her your number. They also have Zoom calls now. Even the supernatural know how to use a laptop. IT's wild." Though now he didn't look confident anymore, like he remembered the scene that the jester so clearly did.

Luckily for Jeremy, he had been armed this whole time, having been unwilling to release his shank, so when a zombie came towards him, he shoved it into the thing's eye, scrambling it's brains with the force of Jeremy's rage. He was done with this, and he would protect his new friends. "Where did we leave Lehna? One group has to defend, and the other retrieve her. We need the information she brings."

____________________
Ari looked at the weather, groaning at the rain- going from the outside would be treacherous to her if she tried to go around. "Can you kill these ones, or will we get another undead-alive creature like the jester?" Ari asked Parker, searching for a weapon for herself and the anti-necromancer. "Otherwise we should go get Lehna. The doors are open, and I remember where she is. We'll have to go around, because this isn't quite the way to go." She was forced back into the room as the zombies came out from the door, the most obvious way to the basement. "Come on." Ari said, leading Parker to another open door, intent on getting downstairs, around the zombies. SHE found a golf club for Parker and a bat for herself, leaving them appropriately armed.
 
Chrissie (Fargothia) Fletcher, Dan, Samuel Hope, Christopher (Fargothix) Fletcher, Zale Lawerence,, Peter Destin, Joe the Ghost and Darren

Dan would consider her point and decided that he could work on killing them once he left.

"Well- I can certainly try to give them a head start and plus, it makes more of a game to me and I certainly like playing games, especially when i'm the game master."

Samuel would look over at her and decided to be quiet for a moment, deciding that his last words were enough to stir some controversy and get the attention of the two siblings and that was all he had wanted. If things were going to be easy, they weren't going to be half as fun. Besides, not even Dan and Astrid knew who they were working for, he did.

"I can certainly work with that even if it means that I have to deal with these-" He was cut off by the zombies arriving on the scene.

Chrissie would take a look over at the undead. " You don't have to tell me. I think this might be the fault of her stupid magic man who thought summoning more powerful things was a good idea.." She would pull a bunch of throwing knives out of her pocket.


" I'm not sure how much help I'm going to be- I was never much of a fighter-" he started to say as one of the zombies approached him and tried to grab him. He would give it a one- two- push punch and it was knocked out. Dan would turn to Chrissie and had to wonder where that fight had been when he was being killed. Samuel would pull up a chair and sit down on it, looking at his watch.

" I'm sure you guys can handle this." He kept his gun pointed at the ground and the zombies didn't bother him. .....

"I'm starting to suspect that Samuel knows more than we do."
___________________
Zale would raise a skeptical eyebrow at the mention of his murder. It had taken part on this ship and yet he couldn't remember anything about how it had happened. But yet, this man who he had never met- this man-and like that, a million different memories would start to trigger. " His phrasing is actually quite deliberate. I think he is blaming everyone on the ship at the time of the murder- and whoever he can remember." He was quiet for a moment wondering how this was going to end up now. As the zombies appeared, he noticed they gazed past him and were ignoring Samuel entirely. Sure, he wasn't attacking him, but there was something off about that.

"Oh, I'm certain that you would remember. You were the one tied to me. Everyone was so focused on saving you, on saving us, that they ignored him. He was thrown overboard by that killer over there- well, not a lone. There was a bit more- but I could never quite find the answers to that," he replied, ignoring the idea of therapy at the moment.

Joe would do their best to remember. " I think she got ahead of us, so she must have figured out the puzzle of the room and gotten out before we got here."

Darren was quiet for a moment. "That just means she can be anywhere on the ship."

Peter was quiet as he looked around the room. " No, it doesn't. I imagine if each of the room has been leading us to major areas of the ship, she's probably in the singing lounge." Peter would stab another zombie as he would move towards where he knew the lounge was.

_______________________
Parker Destin/Mr.Death

Parker noticed that not even the weather was on their side and he did his best to not groan aloud. He failed miserably at that. "I'm going to be entirely honest with you right now. I have no idea what my powers would do to these things. There's a high odd that they will just be like the jester or worse, so I don't think we will find some answers without me trying." He took a second to look over at them for a moment and took the golf club. " I hope you have no qualms about hurting former allies, because they look like the people who Peter saved and then fell in the other caster's spell," he replied, smashing the face of the male zombie that came near him. It was sad to think that some of these people had died, just for this mad man. "Let's find Lehna and end this."

@slifer
 
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Astrid's face changed the moment that realization that more was being hidden from her- and this smug fuck knew about it, and was just pretending to be incompetent. "Don't expect any more help from me if that's what you're like to people who save your ass. I don't know what game you're playing, but I want this to end, and you seem to want to stay here for the rest of your life. I'll be off. Dan, you can come if you want to." Seeing that the zombies weren't attacking her, Dan, or Samuel, she moved towards them, vanishing into the horde of zombies as she went directly towards the Jester, wanting answers. IT meant Samuel had screwed up horrendously that Astrid had chosen the killer to come with her over him, and she was sure he would realize that too. She knew more about Dan then she knew about him, and she refused to ally herself with someone she didn't trust- even though she could throw him quite a distance.
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A look crossed his face, the slightest hint of memory coming back to him. He vaguely remembered ignoring an unconscious body in favor of Peter, the Jester and Mr. Death, but Peter, the ultimate distraction, had wiped that from his mind.
He tried so hard to mitigate the damage Peter could do, but it felt like a losing battle. None of it was his fault- then again, it seemed like half of their missions were a direct cause of Peter's actions, and he couldn't stop the man. Maybe this was his curse- to be pulled under by Peter, all while trying to protect the both of them.
All he had was himself- and he was but one man. One man couldn't stand against the beings who gave Peter and Mr. Death their powers
"I can't be everywhere at once! I don't have powers! I don't have vast knowledge or abilities! How the hell was I supposed to know he would be thrown overboard? If I had the ability do you think any of this would have ever happened?" He was so tired of all of this- of the Jester, of trying to defend himself against a man who would see no reason.
"Will my best ever be enough? Will I ever not be your shitty sidekick? Maybe you should find someone else whose better." Jeremy whispered to Peter, fending off the zombie like a natural-born survivor. With his thick table leg he was a whirlwind- using his strength and skill to knock zombies out, clearly doing the best job out of literally everyone, even as he had his crisis of faith.

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"SO we have to look for Lena, and the way is blocked. Most of the exits are blocked anyway. So we have one way out- even in the pouring rain." Ari looked slightly annoyed at this, but quickly adapted, leading Parker outside. Though it was slippery, she moved with surprising expertise, managing to keep herself and Parker up, even through the relentless rain, using the outdoors to work her way back to the singing lounge. "I can take us to the basement door on the other side, if we need to.
We can take the quicker route instead." Ari said, seeing the string of magic leading straight to the basement. Probably a conversation they should have had inside, but she didn't like the oily, rough, disgusting mix of magics coming off of them.
 
Chrissie (Fargothia) Fletcher, Dan, Samuel Hope, Christopher (Fargothix) Fletcher, Zale Lawerence,, Peter Destin, Joe the Ghost and Darren

Samuel would look over at her for a moment and consider what to say next. " Well, I didn't expect your help in the first place and I never needed it. Quite honestly, I could have remedied the situation but your help made it slightly easier to do. I'm not playing any game, other then the one that has been played from the start. It's too bad that none of you know what that is. But alas, you never did ask. You two were so fit to play your roles that you never bothered to ask why. Like all things in life, everything has to come to an end. Well, most things that is. The necromancer over here managed to extend a lot of the lives of the people on the ship, including the man who is still alive," he replied, looking over at them as they left.

Dan would look over at him. " I regret that you didn't let me kill him. All he seems to do is run his mouth. Maybe a bit of pain might make him want to stop talking in riddles and give us straight answers."

" I don't care what your beef all is. We need to end this and if he knows something, we better bring him, with-" Chrissie was about to finish her sentence, however, Christopher had already taken it upon himself to pick up the chair and Samuel and draping them both over his shoulder.

"Let's fucking go."
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Peter was really starting to hate the way that the Jester was starting to use words against Jeremy and he would make sure to fight the zombies off and take a moment to not curse the man out aloud. It was something else that just made him so unnaturally mad and he didn't know why.

He knew that the man was always trying to fix anything that he broke and he felt bad that no matter how hard he tried, things always continued to get messed up. All he wanted to do was help people. But yet every time, he tried, it only made things worse. Was this his curse? To be so good but have the world make things so hard for him?

" Well, that does make me feel a little bad about you having been in the wrong place at the wrong time with me. I was very inclined to leaved you alone after all of that but then you had to fall in love with the man who managed to kill Zale and even worse, you stayed with him. It would have been one thing if it was only temporary, but it wasn't..You fucking stayed with him. Hell, you have been dating for like three years and if I'm right, fucker was about to propose. Like he did nothing wrong. Like he was this perfect thing.... not this fucking monster"

"I'm sorry that you had a hard life, but revenge has never made things better for anyone. All it does is leave this empty and hallow feeling inside of you,. Also, no, Jeremy, you have always been good for me and better than any of the other people I met here, " he replied, wondering what this man was going to gain out of all of this. He knew one thing though. He wanted to punch this man in the face once.

"Who are you? I doubt your name is really the Jester," Zale replied. Joe was surprised none of them had asked that yet.

"I was wondering when one of you would ask that. It's Dean Jacob Hope."
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Parker Destin/ Mr. Death

Parker would nod as that seemed to be the current situation they had found themselves in. It seemed that whoever this man was, he had thought about a lot of things when it came to this mess. He would follow her outside and be incredibly careful to not slip and fall when they went out into the relentless rain which happened. " I'm not sure if that way is still filled of that terrible gas that we had to deal with which lead us here. That does leave a question though. How did the Jester know we were in that room?"

He took a second and would look over the the zombie and knock them out. " I guess we are going to have to find things out the hard way. But hopefully, the answers we seek are with the Jester or with Lehna wherever she might be," he honestly replied.

@slifer
 
Astrid assessed what the moron had said- and the darkness had mostly left- but it could be unleashed on one more person before
"Actually, if you have to kill one last person, might as well be him. Pretentious asshole. Or....let me at him. If I'm left with him long enough, I can leave him a drooling mess. The coleslaw only worked because I was being careful. NO amount of it will bring a person back if I'm running rampant in their head." Well, she did plan on going down the straight and narrow, but if there was one last person to get rid of, it would be Samuel Hope. The whole family was corrupt, and he was one of the biggest liars of them all. Samuel Hope spoke from his ass, as he did with most things, and would realize that he would pay for that statement he had made later.

Without much resistance, the two slipped past the zombies, making their way to the Jester's room. "Funny, how you're the most reliable person on this boat right now." Astrid said to Dan with a chuckle- as somehow it was mostly true. At this point, Dan was technically the most on her side, and he listened to her- even with money being involved, he had trusted her to make a deal with him, which was wild, considering they were colleagues. Everyone else was on someone else's team, and until the Jester could be dealt with, Dan would be her only ally. She had no idea how Dan felt about her, but all he knew was they had a weird sense of trust between them- they were mostly on the same side, as their boss was as trustworthy as the group coming for them.


Astrid soon let herself into the room where the Jester was hiding in, considering it was the only one where she could hear his voice coming from. She opened the door, leading Dan inside- the door left wide open. The zombies wouldn't stop the others for long- they did have the power couple of Jeremy and Peter inside.
"How do you think this is going to end? I'm sure they're coming to confront you right now." Astrid asked him point-blank- wanting to know his plan for how this was supposed to end- in his mind. The more she knew, the more she could react to it. The why meant little to her, as it was too late for whys.
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That small fact "Peter did not kill Zale. The Mafia did. Or did you forget that small fact? You've picked the wrong person to get angry at. Blame the Gods, blame the Mafia. If anything- blame me instead. I could have saved him. If I had been there, he could have been moved somewhere else. Or I could have done something about the Mafia." Jeremy yelled back at the voice of the Jester, refusing to call the man by his name. Peter's words restored him- as Peter was his and he was Peter's. So long as they were together, they could do anything.

That wrongness seemed to take over Jeremy- the one that allowed Jeremy to transcend his feelings and go into that mode- the one that let him do what he had to do to get himself and Peter out of danger. With a whip of his weapon, he took down a zombie- his hands whipping out in a deadly arc. Zombies fell to the surprising amount of might that Jeremy wielded. With his efforts, he started to clear a path- leading the charge down the stairs- the Zombies falling before his might. Maybe Peter had a darker side to him- one dictated by his powers that was extremely difficult to understand, but Jeremy was still human- and his darker side was coming out- and it was allowing the group to make their way to the stairs, down the basement. Against all the odds, the group, lead by Jeremy, were making real headway against the zombies, They would make
their way to the Jester, the confrontation inevitable, only giving enough time for Dan and Astrid to have some time with the Jester.


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The pieces seemed to click in Ari's head- the FBI agent- the Jester- their last names were the same. "Samuel Hope is this asshole's brother! He's been fucking in on it the whole time! Does he have Lehna? If he's not with her, we have to run for her." Two gas-masks were in the corner, almost as if her wishes had been granted. "Here." Ari said, putting on her mask and handing one to Mr. Death. "We can find Lehna with these. We only have a few minutes. to find her." When they were done, she would lead Mr. Death back the way they came, intent on finding Lehna while the others bought them time by heading to the Jester.
 
Chrissie (Fargothia) Fletcher, Dan, Samuel Hope, Christopher (Fargothix) Fletcher, Zale Lawerence,, Peter Destin, Joe the Ghost and Darren


Chrissie had to wonder if Samuel Hope had even realized that by talking so much he had sealed his fate. It wasn't any of her business, but it was kind of funny that he might have to her. She knew for a fact that it took a lot to make her brother angry, but somehow Samuel had managed to push all of the right buttons to the point that he had lifted the entire chair Samuel had sat on as well as the man over his shoulder. "I would love to know what exactly you did to the coleslaw that made everyone on this boat just go and disappear. Is it like a memory wipe or- what? It's something that I only kind of vaguely understand and honestly, it's one of the coolest things about this entire weird trip, well, minus the dead being raised- that's also pretty cool- less so when you realized that people had to die for that to happen."

Dan would look over at her and took a moment to smile. " Sometimes the most reliable people on any sort of adventures like this are the ones who know how to get their hands dirty, but are also willing to betray anyone for money. Honestly, most people like me would have done the bare minimum, but there was something about this specifically that seemed to need everything to be-" Dan decided to not finish his sentence as he noticed Christopher was giving him a nasty side eye. It seemed that after all of this time, the man might have been a little made that he had been murdered, which was fair, as it wasn't exactly what he had signed up for. Honestly, Dan was starting to suspect that Not even Samuel Hope understood the full picture of what was going on.

Christopher would take a moment to resist the urge to bang Samuel's head against every one of the zombies and the ledge, mostly because he had no clue what sort of setting that gun had on it. It might be one where any slight movement might activate it and the last thing the living dead captain wanted to do was shoot himself in the leg.


Samuel let lose a tiny laugh. "
If there's exactly one thing I know about the Jester, he was never the type to let you know what he was planning. Never quite his style- I'm not even entirely sure what he wants to do once he got what he wanted," Samuel commented to Astrid.Dan would move his gun towards Samuel's forhead.
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" Well, that's awfully easy for you to say- of course, Peter didn't kill Zale. But this was never about that. I'm not entirely angry about him for his death, no, no- you seem to be missing most of my words. I'm mad at Peter because he saved ME and NOT him. Give ME this cursed non-life without the love of my life. But you see, I started to do some research and realized that it wasn't too late. It seemed your little boyfriend can raise the dead no matter how long it had been. So- I figured he could right the wrongs and then- well, then I could be happy," Dean replied.

Darren was quiet for a moment. "You do realize that you still committed murder, kidnapping and I want to say fraud?" Darren asked.

Joe was surprised that the farm boy had known most of those words.

Peter was silent as he listened to what the Jester was starting to say and it clicked into place. "This was never about me or him. I don't think it's ever been about any of us. I think the Jester is just projecting all of his grief onto us instead of dealing with the fact that he was broken by my actions. And when it comes to love and grief, people tend to do crazy goddamn things, like everything he is doing here. While I do certainly believe that the Jester is behind most of the things happening here, there are other things that feel like there is still one more piece of a puzzle that we are missing. Something so obvious-"

Zale would cut Peter off. " I actually might have an idea of what that is. Listening to everything he said, it sounds like he's been in the ocean for a long time, but I know one thing- there had to have been someone who gave you the tickets to get on this boat. A third party, someone else- but I do feel bad for him, even if I can't remember him.

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Parker Destin/Mr.Death

The same pieces had clicked into the head of Mr. Death as he had spoken with it. "I don't think he has Lehna right now, but I do think my brother is right that he might have left her in the one place where she didn't feel out of place, the singing lounge." Parker would put the mask on and offer her a smile, as she was right about one thing. They didn't have much time to figure out where Lehna was. "It's true, since we don't exactly know how long the masks will last because that gas had proven to be less than natural- though I do feel like we are walking into some kind of trap," Mr.Death also commented as they headed towards the singing lounge.

@slifer
 
Astrid merely raised an eyebrow at Samuel as she heard the Jester spell out his reasoning to Jeremy. "Maybe he wants to spend time with his lover on the ship. Who knows?" This time, she didn't ask Dan to stand down, didn't distract Dan as the man pointed a gun at Samuel's forehead. Any goodwill Samuel had vanished with his chuckling combined with smug superiority. Was Dan protecting them from this man? IT was strange to really lump herself into a group with Dan, but he seemed to realize that allyship, even through money, was better than being alone. The smile was strange though, because she didn't know what Dan was thinking at this very moment. "Allow me to see what's going on. But if he's too dangerous to keep alive, then I won't bother. Though the captain is looking at the both of you, and he's not happy." Astrid said, her hands itching to see what Samuel knew. He knew more than her, and she could get his memories without leaving him mindless. That was just a defense mechanism of her powers. She did want to look in all of their heads, especially Dan's, but the cost would be too great for the fleeting moment of finding out about Dan, and what he thought of her, what he was thinking of this whole situation, as they both didn't know everything that was going on, and what little they had known was now shared with the others, leaving them in the dark.
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"Then why go through all this trouble to make a cruise ship? There are easier ways to do things. Kidnapping me and holding me hostage probably does the same thing you want without dragging all of the others into it. Besides, he's been dead for too long. IF you know this much about Peter, then you know he can't keep your lover alive without being near them constantly. Do you have a plan to keep Peter on the ship? Are you going to torture your own lover to keep him with you forever? Everyone else seems...kind of extraneous." The moment Jeremy heard the Jester's reasoning, he figured that the tragically insane man had brought Peter and Mr. Death on board the ship to bring back the man's lover- and keep him alive using the pair to keep him alive and dead at the same time. His methodology didn't make sense though- this elaborate cruise ship memory wiping trip seemed way too convoluted of a plan. How would he force Peter and Mr. Death to do what he wanted? "He might want you to bring back his lover the same way you've kept him alive." Jeremy told Peter as they fought. "If anything happens, don't do it. IF gas pours into the room, run. IT's more than just grief, otherwise he wouldn't have brought all of the others here as well. "Someone's pulling his strings, convincing the Jester that getting you here will solve all of his problems. But who? NO matter, we'll have to get it out of the Jester somehow." Jeremy was on protecting Peter duty, staying close to the man he loved, as he feared what the Jester- and whoever else aided the man- wanted out of the necromancer.
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"We'll just have to see. If I'm taken, run to the others. You and Peter are both on board. They wanted you both on the ship. IF they just wanted Peter, he wouldn't need everyone else on board. " Ari said, leading Parker through the ship, her hand finding a way into his so they wouldn't get separated- unless they chose to separate.

The singing lounge was empty as she and Peter carefully went into the room. She went in first, as she wanted Mr. Death closer to the door, if they needed to escape. An unconscious figure was on the couch, seemingly almost perfectly place in the center of the room. From this far away, she could see it was Lehna. "Wait by the door. I'll go check it out. If anything happens, run and keep moving." Ari told Parker, inching closer and closer to the unconscious singer's form- hoping to wake her up so the three of them could get back to the others, so this mess could be over with.