"H-holy shit!"
Ever since that awkward exchange back at the docks, Max had been almost entirely nonreactive and silent. It was obvious to anyone watching that she was reflecting, sifting through her own thoughts and feelings one at a time to gauge how she felt about the whole Chloe thing, and she was pretty sure nobody wanted to hear that out loud... except maybe Chloe, depending on what conclusion she reached.
Max was a quiet girl by nature, but even she couldn't maintain her silence when they came upon Alice's body, especially in its... state. The poor girl was fucking mangled almost beyond recognition, and Max didn't even wanna question what that stuff coming out of her ears was. Serious ick. The only real interaction they had was Alice threatening her over those stupid dolls, but she didn't deserve this. No one did.
Still, for now, it was time for Max to shift into detective mode. That, she could do.
Max was silent for a few moments, thinking... but not about Chloe's question. She already had a pretty good idea about that, she figured. No, instead she was thinking about her phrasing... because as awful as this murder was, the method was...
kind of hilarious. And considering how impermanent the deaths of Kalifa and Kaku had seemed to be, Max didn't feel nearly as bad being a little facetious as she normally would've. The fact was, the way Chloe asked that came with opportunity! She hadn't really left the right impression during their talk before. Maybe... maybe this was her chance. After a few seconds, Max spoke up in response.
"Well, umm... yours is pretty good."
...
...
...
Fuck.
"I'm thinking..."
Max replied solemnly, meekly folding her arms. That other thing sounded good in her head, but... as far as ways to say "I like you back" went, Max was gonna try to think of something a little less stupid. And embarrassing.
She stayed true to her word as Chloe took to conferring with Aqua and Archer, using the opportunity to slip away and lightly pad over to the corpse. She had to suppress the urge to shudder as she drew near, but once she had a better look at the remains, well... everything clicked.
"Hey, everyone?"
That was directed towards the group, the voters, basically anyone nearby who'd listen, Max carefully pacing around the fringes of the crime scene as she rubbed her arms and cast her gaze over the party.
"You all know Nicki Minaj didn't do this, right? I mean, n-not to sound condescending or anything, but it's just so obvious things were set up to look that way. I mean, death by buttcheek? If she was the bad guy here, would she really make things look so blatant? Conan Doyle's spinning in his grave somewhere. Nicki's not stupid enough to set herself up for a fall like this, and she's not smart enough to pull off an "it's too obvious" double-bluff. S-sorry."
That last part was added with a wince in Nicki's direction. Max didn't really wanna offend.
"I know it's tempting to impulse vote for her right off the bat, but that's because it's been set up to look that way. Instead of hearing the words "ass" and "crushed" in the same sentence and immediately suspecting Miss Silicone, we need to be looking at the people who could do something like this and who're smart enough to set Nicki up for the fall. Sooooo... let's think about it for a sec, people. Who could've crushed Alice's brain just by sitting on her? Maybe, ohhhhh, I don't know... the dude with the huge fucking stone golem following him around?"
With a sudden note of accusation tinging her tone and demeanor, the photographer sent a glare in
Naoya's direction.
"I know it was you. And since you and your cousin are kinda a package deal, I'm guessing he was in on it. Whether you're voted off this round or not, you've had it, got that? Enjoy that feeling."
Max normally wasn't half this confrontational, but her gut feeling told her this guy was a killer. That pissed her off.
Severely. With that said, she
placed her vote for Cain and Abel before slinking back to Chloe's side, her outburst finished.
Damn. She had way more backbone than people gave her credit for.
@Atomyk @TheBlueBurch @Klutzy Ninja Kitty @The Tactician @Proxymoron @Unlimited RP Works @ShadowPrime @literally everyone
What... just happened? Claire hadn't expected the vote to turn around quite so fast... or at all, even. No doubt the agents had something to do with this, but did that mean...? "Max." Claire walked over to the girl, a cautious smile on her face. "I still don't feel comfortable with voting, but I'm glad you think something's off with this as well. But..." She glanced off to the side. "He's right that the brain trauma isn't so easily explained by his abilities. I guess the dossier could be vague, but it really did seem like sound waves, or something to that effect." She thought this over for a moment, crossing her arms. She seemed lost inside her head as she said, "Not to ruin your moment, but it's just odd either way. I guess we'll see how this goes..." She managed a small smile toward Chloe to at least acknowledge her existence before moving to find Aqua.
Claire let out a mix between a laugh and a sigh. 
