The White Elephant in the Room Playground

[unrepentantAuthor]

Jesse nodded, cocked his head.

"Oh yeah? Guessin' it has a special property besides the cultural association with gettin' folks to kiss each other, huh? What's it do?"

 

[Fusion]

"A Mistletoe? You mean that thing that people for some reason kiss under?" Lee asked. "What does it do?"

 

[IFBench]

"I-it...it..." His cheecks grew a tiny bit rosy.

He took a deep breath, then said, "I can protect people with it."

 

[Fusion]

A grin cracked along Lee's snout and he chuckled. "That's a relief, even if we already got our suspects out. Have you used it yet?"

 

[IFBench]

"Y-yeah. A lot," Gen answered.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Jesse grinned.

"I'm willin' to bet you've used it on yerself more'n once, huh? By any chance was that why you were so insistent the Naughty guests ought to have it out fer you? Were you hopin' you'd attract their fire, get away clean, prevent any further vanishings?"

 

[IFBench]

"I've...only been able to use it on myself once. Last night, I got the ability to protect two people at once. I couldn't use it on myself before then," Gen admitted.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Jesse nodded. "Then it was brave of you to draw attention to yerself like that, son. By any chance, would you mind tellin' us who you protected on the nights where nobody vanished? Might be a clue."

 

[IFBench]

I wasn't trying to draw attention, Gen almost said, but decided to leave that unspoken.

"U-uh..there were a few nights where I was really stressed, and forgot to use it," Gen said, looking down. "On the night where Mewtwo died, I protected you, Jesse. The night before last night, I protected Abigail. And last night, I protected myself and Abigail."

 

[Chibi Pika]

Palkia chuckled heartily. "So we both protected Abigail on the same night! How wonderful. It's a good think that didn't backfire, as it occasionally is wont to do in these sorts of games~"

 

[Chibi Pika]

Palkia clapped its hands together and added, "You know, you really had me fooled! I thought for certain you were the other survivor. I was convinced we didn't have a protector on our side at all! What good fortune that you kept yourself safe~"

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"I appreciate the protection. And Abigail was a good choice to protect, we've made a lot of use of her ability. You did good, kid."

Would've done better by protecting someone every night, but it was no sure thing he'd guess right anyway. The question now was... who would the killers go for now, if they were eavesdropping on this conversation?

Jesse flicked an ear at the sound of Palkia's voice.

"My dear dragon, by any chance, d'you have some kind of... retaliatory ability? Somethin' that may or may not shield folks, but exacts retribution upon their antagonists?"

Speaking of survivors... Could Tabitha be trusted?

 

[IFBench]

Gen smiled. That went a lot better than he thought it would.

"T-thank you," he said.

 

[Fusion]

Lee was quietly taking in everything, not having all that much to say or ask. That and his mind wanted to be somewhere else. Somewhere soft and warm-colored.

Lee cursed having thoughts without having a brain.

 

[Chibi Pika]

"My dear dragon, by any chance, d'you have some kind of... retaliatory ability? Somethin' that may or may not shield folks, but exacts retribution upon their antagonists?"

Palkia hummed, drifting back and forth. "You know, I really thought that Tabitha might have such an ability. He'd implied that anyone who came for him in the night would... have a bad time. Which is why I refrained from doing so... among other reasons, such as his eager willingness to vote for Nilam repeatedly, even at times when it could easily backfire on the Naughty side."

The spatial dragon's eyes flashed. "My gift? Well..."

Spoiler

Palkia reached into Santa's sack and retrieved an item which the others could not see. A candy cane sharpened to a sinister point.

"My gift is the power to kill."

 

[Fusion]

"...Did you make that?" Lee asked, deadpanned. "Because for all the gifts we have gotten, that looks... amateur."

 

[Chibi Pika]

Palkia put a claw to its chest. "Certainly not. The dear Ralts in our company gave it to me."

 

[IFBench]

Gen yelped, and tried to get as far away from Palkia as possible.

Unfortunately, he was still in Lee's grasp, so all he could do was squirm.

No no no no no I don't want to die!

 

[Chibi Pika]

Palkia tilted its head at the young Oshawott. "Do you truly believe that you're in any danger right now?"

 

[Fusion]

Lee rested his paw on Gen's head, giving him another squeeze as he looked at Palkia. "What do you mean Abigail gave you that?"