Another Night at the Hub

[Ktoasty]

Leader considers the people he needs to make comparisons with. Winner, Lord, Spark, Wisteria, Lacelle, Neon, Jack, Leiter, Kannon, Violin, Gabriel, Garble, Ribbon, and Trailblazer. Fourteen in all.

"Ok, I'll go through these carefully, make sure they definitely fit the criteria."

"Dad and I both have greenish hair color."

"Lord, um, hm, name..." She did say he could call her anything. Well, if she likes fruits, and she's pretty fuzzy, "Peach. Peach and I both agreed to treat each other like siblings."

"Jack and I have both been in Rooms,"  he pauses. Enough people have said numbers by now. It should be fine. "Rooms 163 and 754 together."

"Spark and I are both in our teens."

Leader takes out a rock with a smile on it, a screwdriver, and an 'Honorary Sheriff Detective' badge for his next three 'boths'.

"Winner and I both carry a pocket-sized companion on our person."

"Ribbon and I both used handtools to find the clues to our next rooms."

"Gabriel and I have both held this badge today."

He pockets his stash and comes up with a couple of 'boths' for codenames.

"Lacelle and I both have our codenames start with 'L'."

"Leiter and I both have our codenames end in 'R'."

Then he thinks of more 'boths' from yesterday he can use.

"Kannon and I both got a 100% score in our rooms yesterday."

"Neon and I both had our bracelet shapes change into a hexagon yesterday."

"Violin and I both had our point totals decrease yesterday."

"Wisteria and I both made the choice for our respective team in Room 163's AB game."

That leaves one left. What can he think of for Garble... oh, there!

"Garble and I are both males with medium-sized shoes."

"Is this alright with everyone?"

[⋆⋅ Sage ⋅⋆]

May 23, 2024 19:29:45 GMT -6 Nekomaru said:

"Let's see... I'm still missing a few, so let me know if you relate. I graduated top of my class. I... do not get along well with my parents. I am gainfully employed, as a journalist. As for my hobbies... I enjoy cooking, and stargazing."

Lacelle glances over at Ribbon.

“I don’t get along with my mother. We can put that for the two of us.”

And to Winner: “My first and last name also have the same amount of syllables. Not letters, though. But we can put syllables.”

And to Gabriel: “We were both in Room 345 first round, and that only applies to five people. We can put that.”

She still needs Lord, Neon, Jack, Leiter, Violin, and Garble, so more info comes out:

“My first name starts with T, as I said before. It’s five letters and also ends with I. My last name starts with B, has eight letters, and ends with T. If this helps anyone else, my first and last names come from different backgrounds.”

[Sachi]

"Hm, still need something from me, do you? Let's see then - I enjoy a good gamble, I play an instrument, every one of my three names begins with the same letter, I was among the first to escape the first room... I consumed a beverage in my previous room (I did not like it), I have red hair, black eyes, so on and so forth."

[⋆⋅ Sage ⋅⋆]

Lacelle continues scribbling down on the paper she was given. Seems like only Neon, Leiter, and Violin are left.

She glances at Neon. “Have you heard what I’ve said about myself? Any similarities? Here’s a few extras:

I have only one sibling.
I’m the youngest sibling.
I’m biracial.
I don’t have any pets.
I’m 21, so the digital root of my age is 3.
I speak three languages… to some extent.”

[Ame]

[Source] ⋆⋅ Sage ⋅⋆ said:

Lacelle continues scribbling down on the paper she was given. Seems like only Neon, Leiter, and Violin are left.

She glances at Neon. “Have you heard what I’ve said about myself? Any similarities?”

Neon looks stumped.



"Not... really darling, It seems like we've lived pretty different lives."

She thinks for a while, before clicking her fingers



"Oh! You watched your brother die, no?"



"As it turns out, I saw my little sister get shot."



"Then, it would seem we've both watched our siblings die."

[⋆⋅ Sage ⋅⋆]

Lacelle’s gaze falls down to her feet, but she gives Neon a nod.

“Pretty messed up that I have to write ‘we both watched our fathers die’ and ‘we both watched our siblings die’ for this.”

[Sachi]

"You said you were an ice climber, or mountain climber, or some such thing, didn't you? I haven't dabbled in such things myself, but surely you must prefer cold weather. If I stretch the definition of that, I suppose we can say we both hate the heat, yes? Nice and simple."

"Now all I'm looking for is Wisteria, Kannon, Garble and Spark..."

I shall approach Garble and flick him on the head. I shall then approach Spark, and give the child a hug. I shall touch the face of my bracelet to Wisteria's, and I shall shake Kannon's bare hand with my gloved one.

"There we are. Hardly any sense in complicating things further. If any of you need me, I shall be upstairs."

[Vaellin the Bard]

Lord messily writes in her notebook a few more pieces of information

Watched a lot of tv shows of various kinds but never finished a single one
had to hide from drunk people
Been at a party without talking to anyone
Never owned a pet
Cannot whistle
Slept in a theater before

[Sachi]

I shall sigh dejectedly and return to Garble. I will take his hand into my own, and force him to flick me on the head. I did not think this through enough.

[Ame]

[Source] ⋆⋅ Sage ⋅⋆ said:

Lacelle’s gaze falls down to her feet, but she gives Neon a nod.

“Pretty messed up that I have to write ‘we both watched our fathers die’ and ‘we both watched our siblings die’ for this.”

"My condolences, darling."



"Losing family is hard, and... I make no claim to know your story, but-"



"By the looks of things, we're both Bigons. We'll be spending quite some time together, so..."



"A burden shared is a burden half carried, if you'd like."

[Skullmaster4]

May 23, 2024 21:53:35 GMT -6 Vaellin the Bard said:

May 23, 2024 20:30:19 GMT -6 Skullmaster4 said:

"Mm- I've dabbled in tarot a little bit- if that's close enough. It's quite interesting."

Jack looks bored.

"I absolutely HATE sharing about myself- but if I must-"

- "My codename is Jack, after the playing card- I see no reason to share my real name."

- "My real name contains 9 letters."

- "I specialize in Escape Magic."

- "I have been tackled today."

- "My favorite food is Spaghetti, my favorite drink is ginger ale- "I tend to enjoy a good beer. I also like to eat candy, my favorite being black licorice.

- "I was a rather good student in school, got 'A's in all my classes!"

- "I'm still part of the family business- I'm quite close with them. We perform many shows together.

- "I don't watch TV. I prefer a good book."

"That's probably all you need, right? Now leave me alone-"

"Jack, would you be alright if I put 'lied to someone called White?'" She looks absolute confused  at his list of situations. Black licorice, she notes mentally, is not candy but a foul replacement for candy. And ginger ale is a foul replacement for soda too.

"Ah- Yes. I suppose that would be fine." He winces, sensing some kind of attack on his character.

May 23, 2024 22:57:19 GMT -6 Peregrine said:

Kannon presses the left button to highlight the FEED icon, then presses the centre button to select it. He feeds his Tamagotchi a few Meals and Snacks in order to fill both its hunger and its happiness. Beep boop! God. It's been years.

Jack sneaks behind Kannon and uses sleight of hand to grab the Tamagotchi. He then pushes the "Feed" Button a bunch, and tosses it back.

"Sorry- I'm borrowing 'Played with the Tamagotchi today', I don't have a good one for you."

[verylukely]

May 23, 2024 17:07:26 GMT -6 Vulpix said:

Seeing that no one else is helping themselves to the ice cream, Spark quietly takes some more. It's not like there's a freezer here, so if they don't eat it soon it will go to waste. Suddenly, he feels a pang of sadness.

"My mom always told me to never waste food. I... I really hope she's okay. When I get out of here, that's the first thing I'm gonna do: I'm gonna make sure my mom's safe. And if she isn't, then..."

He finds it hard to talk with the growing lump in his throat. He eats another forkful of ice cream, and tries to calm down.

"My favourite subject in school is chemistry. I like to draw, but I'm not very good at it. I'm kinda clumsy, and not very strong, but I am pretty fast."

"Do any of you guys know how to whistle? I do."

Gabriel pops up behind Spark and sticks his hairy hand into the ice cream, shoveling it into his mouth.

"I'mf pufifng you down as "boff ade ice cream" today"

Gulp

"So nobody else is allowed to eat this!"

He chucks the tub of ice cream into a nearby room.

[verylukely]

"Wait! High fives! Has nobody done high fives yet?"

He sticks out a hand that is still dripping with ice cream, trying to get Kannon, Leiter or Winner to high five him.

[Vulpix]

After careful discussion and consideration, all 15 participants feed their answer sheets into the fax machine next to the computer.

There is a moment of silence.

They all look around at each other.

Some of them even start to smile and sigh with relief.

Then, they all hear the BEEP!

They look at their bracelets to see what has happened.

Every person's score has gone down by 1.

[Ktoasty]

Leader lets out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding in.

”Everyone survived, and our points are still at a net positive from the last AB game. This is… great!”

Still, being at 2 points is a big risk for both him and Trailblazer. He goes over and taps his father figure on the shoulder.

”Make good friends with the other team, alright, Dad? Let’s do our best to get an ally vote tomorrow too.”



Then he goes over to Violin. They had a promise made yesterday, and Leader wants to make sure it’s still active.

”Hey, Violin. I know we didn’t go in the same room today, but we will be tomorrow. Will you still ally with me if we have another AB game there?”