InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Well, I like pretzel day."

Bellum Anon (bellum_anon) wrote in bellumlogs,
@ 2010-05-18 10:00:00

Entry tags:

gretel, moriarty, plot: riddles, snow queen, vasilissa

Group M: Gretel, Moriarty, Vasilissa, Snow Queen

The plaque on the wall says:

A motley crew, if e'er I saw,
And not a one against the law,
Except for that one tiny thing,
But it was hardly worth the sting.
Babies, see, are very small,
And barely worth the fuss at all.

So this boat is in the clear,
From dock to dock and pier to pier.
Except, you see for smaller dings,
Like broken hearts and hateful things.
So for this boat to stay afloat,
Kindness, friends, was all she wrote.

And this hint I give you now,
What you want is near the bow.

The room is not a room at all, but rather a pirate boat, complete with a crew that is ready to wage war against another vessel that is coming ever closer. The vessel is missing two things, which becomes immediately apparent: a captain and a name.

1. Near the bow, there is a captain's hat, but there is no way to place a name on the bow of the boat.
2. The group must decide on a name that embodies all four of them - kindly.
3. They must engrave the bow of the boat somehow.
4. And they must agree on a captain.
5. When these two things happen, the neighboring vessel turns out to be friendly, and a lovely trade of goods occurs.
6. If there is any arguing during any of the activities, the boat sinks and they are returned to their previous locations after an uncomfortable dunking.

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	lostintheforest 2010-05-19 02:43 am UTC (link)
	"Evie," she told them. "And fine." There was no point in pitching a fit without a good reason. It didn't mean that she was going to go along with whatever he said though. "Do you know how to fight pirates?" She wanted to get to the good stuff. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	dierache 2010-05-19 02:46 am UTC (link)
	"I don't have personal experience, no," he said. "But I think the point of the plaque was being kind, not getting into a battle, wasn't it?" He picked up the captain's hat and settled it on his head. "Not exactly my style," he said, glancing up. "Well, nothing's happened so far. What else are we missing?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	vasilissa 2010-05-19 03:06 am UTC (link)
	Ileana looked around at the bow of the ship. She didn't know a lot about boats, but she knew enough that there was something missing. "There's no name," Ileana realized out loud, "The ship doesn't have a name." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	snow_bees 2010-05-19 03:11 am UTC (link)
	Deirdre rubbed at her temple, already annoyed by this escapade. "A name?" She turned to Jonathan. "Alright, Sir Captain. Name this thing so we can go home." Her voice tightened, ready to be done with these people. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

lostintheforest
2010-05-19 03:29 am UTC (link)

Evie scowled, mainly at Deirdre. She didn't like any of the redheads in this building apparently. "Okay, first, don't call him that; it's stupid. He told us his name." They weren't eight year olds playing dress-up here; there was no reason for her to act like they were in the middle ages or some shit. "And second, nowhere in the rhyme did it say anything about a name. Only the thing in the bow. Which was the hat. A name is not going to help us not get blown into little bitty pieces." As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she knew something had gone bad. Her stomach twisted up and her broken hand in her cast hurt and everything in her body seemed to be trying to warn her of something.

"Shit." What had she just done?

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	dierache 2010-05-19 04:08 am UTC (link)
	The boat began to sink. "Predictable. Can you all swim?" It seemed to be going down with strange rapidity. "Apparently the riddle wasn't kidding about playing nicely with one another." He looked between them. If anyone couldn't at least tread water, they were going to need help staying afloat. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	vasilissa 2010-05-19 04:26 am UTC (link)
	"Son of a bitch," Ileana groaned, covering her face with her palm. Ileana winced and watched the boat quickly sink. "We're going to nearly drown cause we can't play nice. What the fuck is our lives?" It seemed before they could even prepare or brace themselves, the ship had gone under. With it, so did the crew and the group getting pulled in to the cold water. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

snow_bees
2010-05-19 04:34 am UTC (link)

The water rose quickly around Dee, and before she could even respond to Jonathan's question, she was under water. It was cold and nearly stole her breath, and she tried to swim back upward, but the sinking of the ship pulled her down even farther. She was beginning to panic when the boat was suddenly back under her feet, air surrounding her again instead of water.

She coughed out the bit of water that had made it into her nose, dripping on the deck of the ship. She looked around angrily, finding the other three on the deck as well, and without thinking about it, yelled at Evie. "What was that? What happened to kindness, you foolish child?" The boat lurched again before she'd even finished speaking.

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lostintheforest
2010-05-19 04:54 am UTC (link)

Evie was scrambling back to her feet, fully prepared to launch herself at Deirdre because she wasn't a child and obviously kindness didn't rank too high on the redhead's list of virtues either. She barely had time to whip her head around though, sending the saltwater from her long hair straight into Deidre's face, before her stomach lurched again and the boat tilted and she tumbled. "Fuck." She swore in Dee's general direction as they started to sink again. "Wasn't me that time." This couldn't possibly be any good for her cast.

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dierache
2010-05-19 05:02 am UTC (link)

This time around, Jonathan just rolled his eyes and waited for the boat to pop back out of the water.

He paused, soaking wet, sea water stinging his eyes but captain's hat somehow still intact on his head.

"Let's move on and try to be civil, shall we? The name theory is the best we have right now."

He moved over to the side of the boat, peering over one edge, then the other. "There's no name on the side," he said. "Every good boat has a name as well as a captain. A kind name, I'm going to assume. Nothing violent or negative. I don't think any of us want to get dunked again."

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	vasilissa 2010-05-19 06:36 am UTC (link)
	Ileana squinted her eyes, trying to work through the sting of salt water. She pushed her wet hair out of her face, trying not to glower at the others. "How about we all try to take five seconds before we talk, all right?" she exhaled a quick huff with a frown. "So we need to come up with a name. Anyone got any ideas?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	snow_bees 2010-05-19 05:44 pm UTC (link)
	Deirdre gritted her teeth together as the salt water dripped off of her. She knew the second sinking was her own fault, and she didn't want to be responsible for a third go-around. It took her a good few seconds before taking a calming breath, frowning at the way her clothes were clinging to her. "Does it have to be something boat-like? Or just a name?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

lostintheforest
2010-05-19 06:11 pm UTC (link)

Evie gritted her teeth, but the saltwater had gotten in her eyes the last dunking and she didn't want to sink again either. "It doesn't say," she told them as calmly as she could, reading the plaque more carefully this time. "It doesn't say anything about naming it so maybe we can do whatever we want." She shrugged and looked up at the three with a bit of a smirk. "I vote for The Lonely Island."

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	vasilissa 2010-05-19 06:28 pm UTC (link)
	Ileana stared at the plaque for a moment. "'Kindness, friends, is all she wrote,'" she read out loud. Furrowing her brow for a moment, she regarded the others. "Maybe the entire thing we have to be nice for? Like, naming it something nice. Also, how are we going to put the name on the boat? Does anybody have like, a marker?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	snow_bees 2010-05-19 07:58 pm UTC (link)
	Deirdre clamped down on the automatic rude response that was inches from slipping out. "I think it's a good idea to keep everything as nice as possible. Unless we want to take another trip into the water." She pauses, pushing the damp hair back off her face. "I don't have anything to write with though." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	lostintheforest 2010-05-19 09:50 pm UTC (link)
	Evie held up her hands, showing that they were empty. She didn't even have pockets in her jersey that might contain something useful. "What even counts as a nice boat name? The Rainbow?" Then she looked to Jonathan. "So how about it? You're captain. Got a marker or a knife or something?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

dierache
2010-05-19 09:54 pm UTC (link)

He reached into a pocket, pulled out a length of metal, and flicked his wrist. The butterfly knife opened up and snapped to attention. "A good detective never gets out of bed unarmed," he said, with a small smile, and slicked his hair back from his face with one hand. "We still need a name." He shrugged. " 'The Rainbow' will do. It doesn't have to strike fear into the other ship, so who cares?"

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	vasilissa 2010-05-20 12:18 am UTC (link)
	Ileana raised an eyebrow in surprise at Jonathan. Huh. A detective with a pocket knife. Like this building had enough weirdos. "All right, Cap. The Rainbow it is." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	snow_bees 2010-05-20 03:15 am UTC (link)
	Deirdre continued to keep a tight reign on her temper. 'The Rainbow' was not what she would have chosen for her own boat, but it was friendly enough to suffice for this. She eyed the pocket knife that Jonathan pulled out, but sighed and nodded. "Fine. The Rainbow." Her tone was terse, but hopefully polite enough. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	lostintheforest 2010-05-20 03:27 am UTC (link)
	Evie groaned and shook her head. Trust her to get the group that didn't understand the concept of sarcasm. "I didn't mean it," she informed them, keeping her voice perfectly civil, like she was talking to a teacher or something. "But okay. Where is the name supposed to go?" She wasn't about to admit it but she didn't know shit about boats. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	dierache 2010-05-20 03:54 am UTC (link)
	"The side of the boat, traditionally," he said. "I don't think the placement much matters. The problem is actually carving it in without falling off the ship. I'd say I'm too heavy for any of you to hold my weight, but I could keep hold of one of you while you carve it into the side." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	vasilissa 2010-05-20 04:07 am UTC (link)
	Someone had to go over the side. She looked around at the other girls. The redhead seemed a little too heavy (especially top heavy, honestly.) It left her and Evie as possible candidates. Unfortunately, Ileana thought she may be the smaller of the two. "Oh good. That's just...awesome," Ileana sighed. "I think I might be the smallest. I can go over." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

snow_bees
2010-05-20 04:16 am UTC (link)

Deirdre was a little startled at the girl's easy volunteering. She had to basically trust them enough to let them hang her over the side of a ship, and (from what Deirdre could tell) she didn't know any of them.

She glanced at the other two, knowing that with the name on the ship, they'd be that much closer to getting back to their own lives. "I can help hold her as well."

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lostintheforest
2010-05-20 11:23 am UTC (link)

Evie shrugged, almost apologetically, and showed them the cast on her hand again. "I can't really hold her. Or a knife. Sucks, I know. If you've got anything else that needs doing though..." She trailed off, looking at Ileana, then at Jonathan, then over the side of the ship. "How's this even going to work? Is she going to have to be sideways?" Hopefully the other boat wouldn't start shooting.

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dierache
2010-05-20 04:41 pm UTC (link)

"We're going to have to hang her partway off, and she'll have to write upside-down." He glanced over to Ileana. "Not an easy feat." He turned back to Evie. "Can you keep an eye on the other ship while we do this? If it starts coming up fast, we need to pull her back on board."

Best that everyone have something to do, so that no one started to grow more frustrated for their boredom and began arguing them into the sea again. But it was also a legitimate concern. They didn't know what the inclination of the oncoming ship was. Maybe it meant to attack, and maybe it didn't. Either way, it was best not to take chances.