[ic]

[dormancy]

[In the interest of time and mystery, Vincent and Naoto have met at the overgrown flowers an hour after sunset as promised in a not at all suspicious manner. Luckily, or not, Vincent has found a few becoming flowers for his lady of the evening, and without further ado, they are off to a wonderful evening soiree . . .

The entrance hall is tasteful and elegant with carved wood panels, marble-topped tables, vases with white orchids spilling over. There are four doors in each direction. The door to the right is an open double door with music spilling softly out from it.]

Comments

[dormancy]

Ah, too dramatic? But it had such a nice effect. Your gasp was truly wrenching.

[genderbinary]

[ignore!!]

If Owen-san and Chastity-san haven't left the parlor, then the culprit must be Pleasant-san--that is, if this was not a suicide, which I highly doubt; or if Owen-san and Chastity-san don't corroborate each others' stories.

[dormancy]

That's true. We haven't kept to one place, so we can't assume anyone else has either.

Mm, but would you like a last piece of information?

[genderbinary]

Please.

[dormancy]

You should remember that as much as I would hope that the person who this mystery was crafted for and you who is seeing it through would enjoy themselves, I would never disregard myself so completely.

[genderbinary]

Disregard myself? I haven't done anything of the sort, I--

[genderbinary]

...

[dormancy]

Would you care for a dance . . . ?

[genderbinary]

[just. stares at him for a few moments, stunned]

... this was a logic puzzle, not a mystery.

[dormancy]

Haha, it could have been if you weren't clever enough.

[genderbinary]

Within set circumstances and a finite number of individuals each capable of being the culprit, you have a number of potential threads that could point towards who did it--but none of them concrete. Each thread is exactly the same, in that it casts suspicion but cannot be considered decisive evidence.

But there is one element to this case that is unquestionable.

[dormancy]

And that is . . . ?

[genderbinary]

You brought me here tonight in order to entertain me.

[dormancy]

Then, have I?

[genderbinary]

If you'll pardon my bluntness, I sincerely doubt you would do anything so altruistic if there was not some way you would also benefit from it. At least part of this scenario is meant to entertain you, as well.

[dormancy]

Ah, I'm sorry to have taken up your time, then.

[genderbinary]

It was the process that was meant to entertain me, and the end result meant to entertain you, wasn't it?

That is why you made me the murderer.

[dormancy]

I wanted to see if you would think to cast the suspicion on yourself considering you were doing exactly what a murderer would do . . . And, well, in the interest of entertaining ourselves, a poor woman lost her life tonight. It's unfortunate, but you seem to be keeping, hm, questionable company.

[genderbinary]

No testimony I give regarding my innocence would be seen as viable, either, because of the position I have placed myself in and my obvious biases. Even if I know I did not do it, logic dictates it must be me.

[dormancy]

Of course, I could testify to your innocence, but . . . [shrug]

[genderbinary]

I can testify to yours, but that only implicates me further--and if I lied and accused you, that would also point to me as the culprit.

It's a very well-constructed set-up, I must say.

[dormancy]

Why, thank you. I was told that it would have been a shoddy and poorly-executed affair. Thankfully, I doubt that I will put together another.

[and trailing to the stairs~]

[genderbinary]

Wait.

[dormancy]

[pppause]

Ah, yes?

[genderbinary]

[drops her shoes and holds out her hand]