But there’s someone actually important here. You go to the gorgeous ninetales and hide behind her stand nearby to soak in her cold.
“Getting comfortable?” Astrid cooed at the Vulpix—a child, no doubt. Something stung in her heart that went ignored but not forgotten. It had been so, so long since she’d seen another Vulpix like her so close. And while it was to be expected during her multi-dimensional travels, that feeling was not tempered in the slightest now that it was upon her.
With a silent huff, she rested a tail on the Vulpix’s back and let her soak up her cold as long as she liked.
"Hi!" the Houndoom called out, trotting over to her. "My name's Ebony!" Maybe they could be friends!
“My name’s Astrid!” But she’d already said that, and cleared her throat. “—Ahem. Hi!” She’d already said that too. “Do you know Diyem too? He’s quite a character.”
She should probably ask everyone that when she got the chance. Maybe this was some kind of experiment? A game, clearly, but she knew Diyem didn’t play games. Not to
have fun, that is.
"Hi to you as well!" she said to the newcomer, following Ebony closely. I'm Salem! We all have to play a game about finding hidden killers in the group, and everyone who loses gets punished in a terrible place! But it'll probably be fine because a lot of us don't seem worried!"
Astrid nodded. “Yep, caught up on that part.” A shame she couldn’t say the same for the conversations of those around her. She was
so far behind the curb… usually she didn’t struggle with sleeping in late! Bad timing, bad timing. Ohhh, she dearly hoped her absence didn’t set off any unwarranted red flags.
Time to dive into things.
"Okay... We don't have lots of information yet, and the killers are obviously also liars who will try to get us to turn on each other. But... We have to turn on people we think are lying killers. And some of us might be lying innocents because lying helps us win somehow. Hmm..."
“So. First things first. That means anyone I talk to could be lying, and that’s built into the fabric of the game and everyone understands this and rolls with it anyway.”
She thought about it for a second. Really, really thought about it, and why she was here. Gosh, no wonder people were already upset and on the verge of fighting. Tensions would naturally be high when everyone was seeking the slimmest piece of evidence to use against one another. It was so arbitrary. So chaotic. Broken. A mess by design.
Following deeper contemplation, Astrid beamed. “…Wow! This is cool! This game reminds me of Diyem. Makes a lot of sense now.
“I wish I had exclusive info to give everyone, but, alas,” Astrid put her paw to her head, feigning disappointment, then wore a bashful grin, “I’m
vanilla town. Better than mafia though.” She stuck up her nose. “Yeah, I’m talking to all of you
liars in here. Um, the ones we’re definitely close to catching. We’ll maybe possibly sniff you out if you slip up, so watch out! You can take that to the bank!! Err, if there’s one nearby.”
Unsure who to talk to about game-related matters (they could be lying after all, or reasonably believe her to be lying!) she instead approached Diyem, fully believing him to recognize her.
“Looks like I’m your test subject once again, dad~”