Re: The Relentless Slaughter [Round 3: Tormentorland]
11-30-2012, 08:33 PM
Originally posted on MSPA by MalkyTop.
An explosion was not good for the amusement park business. Dodger Scruton wasn’t much of a businessman, but he knew this well enough.
On the one hand, he had never wanted to run the business. It was only a series of ill-timed deaths that led to him inheriting everything from his fabulously wealthy, eccentric, and distant great-second-cousin-twice-removed-in-law, including the management of Rolloland. And the reason he couldn’t refuse the Rolloland bit was because, through some sort of strange space-law mumbo jumbo or something, the entire distant-family fortune was all tied up in the amusement park and its maintenance and it would take quite nearly a lifetime to separate all of it legally. He had been trying to siphon the money out into different bank accounts but it was a tediously slow project. Still, what he had gotten by now was nothing to sneeze at, and perhaps an explosion like this would be a very nice excuse to close up this place and leave it forever.
On the other hand, he didn’t want to get space-arrested. The giant geese incident had been bad enough, but this was worse. He could get locked up for safety negligence because of this. So it was time to figure out what the hell happened and then find someone to blame it on.
It was unlikely to be an accident. So…terrorists? But there was no meaning behind this attack, was there? Cultists, maybe? Just some mad bomber?
Dodger leaned back in his fancy business chair and raised his crest in thought. He had some security looking around, but they certainly were no detectives. And he couldn’t just hire one now because the only mode of transportation had just exploded. Well…the InDim wasn’t the only way to go in and out. He had his own private teleporter. But the matter-transference line seemed to be down, as well as external communication. Which certainly led credence to this being a planned attack.
It wasn’t very necessary, though, as Rolloland was Really Goddamn Large and it would be easy enough for a culprit to just hide and practically impossible to even get a tiny hint of the train of events. But Dodger was as much of a detective as he was a businessman so his own speculation wasn’t worth much at all. Unless there happened to be a detective among the parkgoers, he was most likely going to just finger someone random and frame him. Dodger was not much of a businessman, and so he found that idea somewhat disquieting.
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Samael had stood frozen for quite a long time, unsure whether he was supposed to run away or towards the flaming wreckage.
The dissonance of the reaction wasn’t helping his indecision much. There was very little screaming. No pause in the rides. No fuss.
No worry about the burning bodies. No worry about whether this was a planned attack. No worries.
Samael wondered if it was his act of going towards the train that caused the explosion. Maybe if he hadn’t tried to get out, then this wouldn’t have happened. Maybe he…technically…
No. Even if he hadn’t tried, one of the others would have. He just happened to be the first. He didn’t cause this. He should leave. No, he should try to help. No, he shouldn’t draw attention to himself.
His body was itchy with imaginary blisters. Adora haltingly set a hand on his shoulder. Security had finished closing off the scene and were now taking some people in for questioning. Samael could tell that she didn’t want them to see her skipping on work.
He could take the chance to explain what was happening to the proper authorities. He could bargain and ask for a nice place to hide and wait for the round to blow over. He could even tell them that one of the other contestants did it and convince them to use lethal force, if they had any of that sort of stuff. Which they might.
No, that was wrong.
But if there was anything he had learned, there wasn’t any such thing as wrong or right. Just what you thought was wrong and right. Wanting to not die and win the game wasn’t wrong, nor was it right, it really was just sense, when you thought about it. And this was an opportunity to try to get rid of someone, or at least injure them pretty bad. If he let it go, one of the others might take the chance and point fingers at him instead.
No. Nobody would do that. I don’t know a lot of them, but none of them are the type. And there isn’t anybody I want dead either.
Oh, yes there is…
An explosion was not good for the amusement park business. Dodger Scruton wasn’t much of a businessman, but he knew this well enough.
On the one hand, he had never wanted to run the business. It was only a series of ill-timed deaths that led to him inheriting everything from his fabulously wealthy, eccentric, and distant great-second-cousin-twice-removed-in-law, including the management of Rolloland. And the reason he couldn’t refuse the Rolloland bit was because, through some sort of strange space-law mumbo jumbo or something, the entire distant-family fortune was all tied up in the amusement park and its maintenance and it would take quite nearly a lifetime to separate all of it legally. He had been trying to siphon the money out into different bank accounts but it was a tediously slow project. Still, what he had gotten by now was nothing to sneeze at, and perhaps an explosion like this would be a very nice excuse to close up this place and leave it forever.
On the other hand, he didn’t want to get space-arrested. The giant geese incident had been bad enough, but this was worse. He could get locked up for safety negligence because of this. So it was time to figure out what the hell happened and then find someone to blame it on.
It was unlikely to be an accident. So…terrorists? But there was no meaning behind this attack, was there? Cultists, maybe? Just some mad bomber?
Dodger leaned back in his fancy business chair and raised his crest in thought. He had some security looking around, but they certainly were no detectives. And he couldn’t just hire one now because the only mode of transportation had just exploded. Well…the InDim wasn’t the only way to go in and out. He had his own private teleporter. But the matter-transference line seemed to be down, as well as external communication. Which certainly led credence to this being a planned attack.
It wasn’t very necessary, though, as Rolloland was Really Goddamn Large and it would be easy enough for a culprit to just hide and practically impossible to even get a tiny hint of the train of events. But Dodger was as much of a detective as he was a businessman so his own speculation wasn’t worth much at all. Unless there happened to be a detective among the parkgoers, he was most likely going to just finger someone random and frame him. Dodger was not much of a businessman, and so he found that idea somewhat disquieting.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Samael had stood frozen for quite a long time, unsure whether he was supposed to run away or towards the flaming wreckage.
The dissonance of the reaction wasn’t helping his indecision much. There was very little screaming. No pause in the rides. No fuss.
No worry about the burning bodies. No worry about whether this was a planned attack. No worries.
Samael wondered if it was his act of going towards the train that caused the explosion. Maybe if he hadn’t tried to get out, then this wouldn’t have happened. Maybe he…technically…
No. Even if he hadn’t tried, one of the others would have. He just happened to be the first. He didn’t cause this. He should leave. No, he should try to help. No, he shouldn’t draw attention to himself.
His body was itchy with imaginary blisters. Adora haltingly set a hand on his shoulder. Security had finished closing off the scene and were now taking some people in for questioning. Samael could tell that she didn’t want them to see her skipping on work.
He could take the chance to explain what was happening to the proper authorities. He could bargain and ask for a nice place to hide and wait for the round to blow over. He could even tell them that one of the other contestants did it and convince them to use lethal force, if they had any of that sort of stuff. Which they might.
No, that was wrong.
But if there was anything he had learned, there wasn’t any such thing as wrong or right. Just what you thought was wrong and right. Wanting to not die and win the game wasn’t wrong, nor was it right, it really was just sense, when you thought about it. And this was an opportunity to try to get rid of someone, or at least injure them pretty bad. If he let it go, one of the others might take the chance and point fingers at him instead.
No. Nobody would do that. I don’t know a lot of them, but none of them are the type. And there isn’t anybody I want dead either.
Oh, yes there is…