Zepher

"I do not need to go back yet. I am very comfortable floating in space. It feels natural." Merei is, quietly, enjoying herself. Very, very, very much. Weightlessness feels inherently right to her. "I will press forward." Merei will... 1. Move to B3. 2. Explore B3. 3. Clear B2. 4. Move to B2. OoC: Let me know if I should submit actions for Varen as well, @KotZ and @The Legonater.

No top hat for me, by the way. Though I am wearing one, Cheryl... so... I don't know what to make of that. I'd assume that also, but I'd also assume it would be clearly communicated and that, if it were, Cheryl would not be announcing that she received it? I did start the math talk, you're right! I just wanted to know what you found suspect of it. At least you admit that it's a good town strategy... Anyway, Cheryl is pinging me a little right now, just because she looks like she's trying to build momentum against someone without pushing too hard. That being said, at least she's talkative! For me I'm between Joyce and Geoff - they both jumped on Susan for "fishing," and are both fairly inactive and not adding anything of substance - I hate to say it so coldly, but if we are going to lose a member of the town I'd prefer it be one who isn't participating too much. I don't like that Joyce only accused Susan after Geoff (distancing herself from the accusation), which makes me want to vote for her even though she is a little more active. I don't like that Geoff barely says anything and doubled up a vote yesterday... this is difficult. But, for now, I think I will go ahead and Vote: Joyce (jimmynick).

OoC: Right, but I can clear all levels with a single action, so I can do it as quickly with or without your help! Totally your call though. Hopefully @KotZ will be able to start to get in actions, but in order to be able to run the round... Varen will... 1. Move to D4 2. Explore D4 3. Move to D3 4. Peek at A1

Susan, you can be specific. You say you used to not have much suspicion but now you do! Who do you suspect?

I think it's actually more efficient for me to save Kirwin, since it will just take me one action to clear the whole tile. "You don't need to turn around, Zaria. I will be able to extract Kirwin," Merei says over the short-range radio, hearing the other teams' considerations. "Stay close, Varen, we can move forward shortly." 1. Explore D3 2. Move to C3 3. Clear C4 4. Clear C3 Edit: Unless you really want to be the one to free Kirwin, @Kintobor ! Don't want to step on any toes!

Cheryl, this slipped through the cracks a little. I'd like to hear your promised thoughts on this? It looked like it was going to be a way to build a case against someone, but now that Susan is under suspicion you're more interested in that. If this was something that truly bothered you, why didn't you ever follow up?

Varen will: 1. Move to E4. 2. Uncover E4. 3. Uncover E5. 4. Uncover D4.

I think I already voiced my suspicions: you and Joyce. The only other thing that's stuck out to me was people who doubled up votes yesterday: which again, is you, and Geoff, who made an accusation of fishing today at the first chance they had. Those three are highest on my list, but we're grasping at straws here in a lot of ways!

OoC: Looks awesome! Very Forbidden Desert/Island vibe. The flames that compose Merei's head licks the inside of her visor, making it glow faintly. She attempts to stifle the flames so they don't melt through the glass. "I will serve best clearing this debris. Varen, maybe you can follow behind me, giving us two exploration teams." 1. Merei moves to D3. 2. Merei clears D2. 3. Merei clears D4. 4. Merei clears E3.

C'est terrible! This is sadly the most likely outcome, but it doesn't make it any less terrible for us. And worse still, while I advocated for no action yesterday, I think it is much more difficult to do nothing today - we will need to act before our numbers dwindle too much! So it is time for us to begin to discuss. The scum will certainly prefer to hide in the shadows. If we get everyone talking, hopefully someone will slip up. As Al has said, hopefully there are people in the shadows also working for us, but we can't rely on them! So, who isn't contributing is my first thought! Cheryl has said that she is worried about those who are speculating scum numbers. I don't really agree, besides the fact that we should keep an open mind, but it is at least a stance. Al asked for investigators... sort of. Geoff called him out, Joyce agreed (which is... not much), and Ash also agreed, but added a least his own thoughts to the matter. Susan has spoken up twice, and said nothing of substance either time. Based off of that, I would like to hear most from Susan and Joyce. Is there anyone you suspect? Qui et pourquoi?

OoC: Hell yeah. "I have not, but as long as someone with experience assists me in fastening it, I would be happy to learn." Merei takes an old Aether terminal disk out of one of her jacket's pockets. "Ensure this is attached to the outside so I will be able to manipulate space if need be."

Merei stares out a window, taking in the sights, before reading over Kirwin's shoulder. "Does this ship have any capability to track things down? Communicate? Or are we to fly randomly until we find the missing ship?"

“If you have a story, Jace, Alexa, please share.”

This is my thinking as well. Normally I think a first day lynch would help, but with the numbers it just seems bad. Tomorrow I think we have to try no matter what. As for the vote, c'est bon! We all have to vote for someone. I was going to suggest we each take the person below us in our nice portrait gallery, but as long as it's spread out, doesn't matter. I'll go ahead and Vote: Cheryl (Hinckley). And my name should now be loudly and proudly written on this little name tag here. I wasn't wearing one before because I thought we all knew each other! Sorry about that (seriously, did actually fix).

Merei also takes notes during Kirwin’s story. “Both good tales. One of the wisdom of many, one personal. I am glad you can view that as a learning experience, Kirwin. It is a positive light you shine. I appreciate it. Do you know how you came to be alone on that space station?”

If we're not going to assess people on who they vote on today, I'm hoping we can assess what plan of action people advocated for. I am declaring my stance: it is better that we fail to reach a consensus today! But I'm wary that people seem unwilling to commit to even saying if they think we should lynch of not lynch. What do you think is the best course of action? Don't be wishy washy. We especially need to decide on a plan now so that we can implement in the "evening," one way or another, before time runs out.

As Zaria tells her story, Merei takes notes on it.

We can try some mathematiques! I am hoping we have only two members of the mafia in our midst. That is my best guess, anyway. If we lynch someone today, and they kill someone else in the night, we would move from 2/8 mafia to 2/6 mafia. That is not good. We may get very lucky and lynch a mafia with our random vote today, but the odds of that are 1/4. Alternatively, if we burn the day, we will probably end up with 2/7 mafia, and the town will hopefully have a little more information to work with, and the odds of "randomly" lynching a mafia goes up (though I guess this is true in both scenarios). What are people's thoughts on these numbers? Chez Albert is concerned with an authentic French experience, not with budgets and bottom lines, but I do think all that math is correct!

"Hm. No stories as exciting as that, Varen. My only good story has already been told. While traveling the region before joining with Heroica I was primarily conducting research, which is interesting to me but probably isn't particularly interesting to be told about. I went to this library, I went to that library, etcetera."

Well, that certainly helps make that decision. Though Fred is more accurately raising the point I'd like to raise. I've read about this happening to other Chambers of Commerce the mafia have infiltrated, but not for a long time and never one as small as ours, so I don't know what is the best way to do things. With no information, is it better to sit on our hands? But, again, with such a small number, just sitting and waiting for something else to happen feels dangerous as well.

I think all you need to know about me is very obvious! I am the owner of Chez Albert, and am therefore the expert in town on all things French! Bien sur! My question to all: how should we begin to discover, nay, découvrir, the most nefarious among us? Does anyone have any ideas? Gordon expects us to vote, but with so little information is this a good idea on the very first day, or non?

"I am not certain the Starblazers were entirely forthright. If their Viper was taken, they may have retaliated. But that is conjecture, not observation, not fact. If they have indeed been hostile towards the previous parties, I can only hope that returning Viper to them may put them in our debt, and they may help us uncover the truth. I apologize if I was not as aggressive as you'd like, Alexa. But I didn't see any reason to fight them in the moment, especially as we don't know for a fact that they've hurt our friends, and that fighting them didn't seem likely to reveal if they had or hadn't. If things had gone poorly, I assure you, I was ready to defend myself and you. As were the others. I will say again, Kirwin, and Zaria too, thank you for being prepared to come to my defense."

Oui oui! I am appalled to learn of this nefarious mafia activity, and further, that they have corrupted our mayor! Mais, c'est la vie. Now we must act to protect ourselves!

“I agree. I don’t like not knowing what happened to the teams you sent before, but hopefully chasing one mystery will lead to the resolution of both.”

“It seems a delay here would mean they’d be tempted to cut through a dangerous shortcut to stay on schedule. It doesn’t, however, answer what happened to the other two teams. Should we poke around here some more for them, or attempt to follow the ship? What is the priority?”