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Post by Hannah van de Berg on Jul 25, 2020 17:47:12 GMT
Hannah could not help but give Jessica a small smile as she face palmed. It could happen really. There was so much going on that some details just slipped their minds. Hannah shrugged it off as she decided to not comment on it. When Geoff asked her about how she knew hannah looked down at her wrist. " two roomswitches ago my roommate nicholas and I decided to do a sweep of the room we were in. We did not find a lot, but I noticed a watch on the ground. When I talked to the person on the other side of the wall Dorian told me it was his, and I promised to hold on to it until I can give it back to him. I should have known to be honest. It is way too fancy" She admitted with a small chuckle. " too many little buttons " She admitted feeling a bit dumb for being sort of a technophobe. Especially while talking to an engineer.
As Jessica started to write again hannah looked over to read along. "If that is the case then I think you are right. " She said as she looked at the book. She then realized that geoff would most likely not know what they were talking about. " Oh right uhm Jessica wrote that she thinks that Kim might be blackmailed with her friends safety.. that includes you both. And in all honesty I think you might be right Jess. If I were to connect the fact she was taken to something secret and came back hurt.. If her injuries looked as if she was warned it would not be a shocker that the woman is indeed using kim by blackmailing her into doing things. It would not be the first time she has done it, since you geoff, have been in a similar situation" hannah said as she glanced over to jess who had been getting something from her pocket. Hannah came to the conclusion it might be personal as she did not want to intrude even more on the girls privacy.
Geoff sadly did not reply to her questions about Katherine. It made hannah a bit tense. Did he have bad news or did he just forget to say anything? She would not be surprised if that was the case. A lot of things were going through his mind she was sure. Also he cared a lot about kim, this whole thing must have put him off. She knew she would be if she just heard that type of news about someone she cared about.
Hannah looked down again as she was reminded of the people who died. " Uhm.. " She started. She looked at Jessica first. " Jessica says she knows about the russian roulette, the card game and the simon says. She did not get into any more events but the russian roulette." She said. Reading out loud what Jess wrote was the easy part. " there was another game. After the card game and before the simon says game Dorian katherine della and cassim were involved in a game they called "hangman".. both Della and Cassim did not make it. " She said. " I don't know anything else." She admitted.
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Post by Geoff Alen on Jul 25, 2020 18:07:19 GMT
"At least you figured out who it belonged to. Something tells me other people's knickknacks were thrown around in this place." It was like a twisted Easter egg hunt. Only for rare valuables. Did anyone have anything that was confiscated that could be as useful as a fitbit or a watch? Preferably something they could have used against this crazy woman? The name Nicholas was brought up. A new face. Geoff hated saying it was a new face. With every death, this crazy woman would pick up a new one to replace the one that was lost, all to find supposedly fresh new matches. But what would happen if the numbers became uneven no matter what she tried to pick up the slack? Her plan was flawed. Killing ineligible people only to bring in fresh faces would cause resentment. It was already starting to fester.
Jessica mentioned that Kim was probably doing a self-sacrifice to keep her friends safe. That made sense. Kim had always put others before herself. Geoff and Jessica were still alive, so whatever she did worked. Geoff hated thinking of Kim doing that. Worst, what did this mean for the others that weren't in Kim's close circle of friends? What about people like Hannah? Geoff reopened his hand. Rather than punch the wall, he gave the wall a hard smack, like he was hitting someone across the face. His palm stung with the impact, but the bubbling anger was released. He didn't need to yell through the wall at people who didn't deserve it. Especially not two of the people he trusted here.
Kim was in limbo. Noah was...somewhere, as was Greg. Was he spared by Kim's actions? Geoff hoped. Jessica was a very worthy ally. Note to self, ask for Morse code lessons so they could communicate more efficiently through the wall. The only thing he knew in Morse was S.O.S., only because he had concocted a robot that would tap that whenever it was low on battery. Katherine...
Oh, right, Katherine. "I didn't speak to her personally, but I heard through the walls that she's doing okay," Geoff answered, remembering that, oh yeah, one of his great allies was being asked about. The fear of something happening to Kim had taken over. Well, that social hiccup was out of the way.
"Okay, so it looks like we're in the clear in terms of games. We may be caught up next room switch."
Hangman...simon says...cards...if this was this lady's messed up version of a game night, Geoff was not impressed.
"There...well there's something else. In my last room, my roommate and I discovered a medical file for someone named Helena. The picture was old. She had spent over 5,000 dollars on plastic surgeries. Does the name ring any bells? Or does a woman with blonde hair...basically a Barbie doll, sound familiar?"
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Post by Jessica Fleming on Jul 27, 2020 21:19:32 GMT
In this particular case, Jessica was thinking in the same way as Geoff. She tried to remember the name of a new person, not letting another victim disappear. Maybe she will meet him later or even will marry this guy. The kidnapper works in mysterious ways.
Even though Jessica knew that Dorian had some connection to the villain, it was still creepy to think that they have found his stuff. However, on the other hand, someone could find her belongings that were taken by the kidnapper. Like, her smartphone, mp3 player (yeah, she was one of those 20 people who still had it) or even her cool pen with Heartless.
Yet, the gesture itself, this promise was very touching and Jessica appreciated it. It was something from the movies but the only example that unintentionally came to mind was an ending of one of the Ace Attorney games. Franziska von Karma left the country with that vow in mind, taking a piece of evidence from the case with her: a Shelly de Killer calling card over which Maya had drawn an image of Wright. She said that she would give it to the defense attorney the next time they met, but has made no mention of it since. So Jessica could only wonder if Hannah really had a chance to return this watch to its owner.
When Hannah said that she was right, the girl had mixed feelings. She usually was happy to be right because of low self-esteem but at the same time, this thought was troubling. Jess must feel happy to be protected by her friend's sacrifice but it just made her worry even more. The girl petted a portrait for a moment and then hid it in the pocket again. She was glad that Hannah did not ask anything, letting her succumb to the sentimentality for a moment. She heard how Geoff smacked a wall and shivered. She understood his emotions, realizing that he worried about Kim as well and did not want her to make such sacrifices.
Jessica wanted to let Hannah tell about the Hangman game since she knew about it much better. Even though she knew that Cassim and Della did not make it, she still shrugged hearing this. The names made it too real.
It seemed that Morse Code Buddies now should be Morse Code Squad since the number of people who knew it was only growing and Jessica could be happy about it. She willingly will teach it both Hannah and Geoff Morse and who knows, maybe someone finds her notes that she left in the previous room and will learn it as well.
Jess sighed with relief when she heard that Katherine was okay. That was good to know.
"What other games we may have?" wondered Jess in a written form. "True or dare? Hide and seek? Rock, Paper, Scissors? Hopscotch?" Unfortunately, Jessica could easily imagine every single one of them in a dark, horror style. It was one of the most popular types of horror stories, to take something innocent, as a child or toy, and turn it into a nightmare. It seems that kidnapper was a fan of such trope. Unfortunately.
Hearing Geoff's description of the woman, Jessica turned her head to Hannah. Were they thinking about the same person?
"It must be the woman Noah told us about," Jessica wrote even though Hannah probably figured it out by herself. "Please tell him everything that we know." even though the text was calm, deep inside Jessica was terrified. Plastic surgeon? Was it something that kidnapper forced her to do? Why and how?
So many questions, so little answers.
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Post by Hannah van de Berg on Jul 27, 2020 23:07:03 GMT
hannah nodded. It would not feel good to keep the item without permission of the person it belonged to. It also served as some kind of little promise to make sure to get out and see each other. Dorian owed her a cup of coffee after all. A joke really but the thought of being able to relax and go to some kind of cafe sounded like a dream to her.
Hannah could feel the tension in the room and on the other side of the wall. It was thick and they could have cut it with a knife. At one side of the wall there was jess looking at the small drawing she was holding, clearly troubled by kim's fate, deeply in thoughts. On the other side of the wall was silence. Hannah could only imagine how bad Geoff must be feeling as well. And her suspicion was met with a sound of something hitting the wall. Hannah jumped slightly as she had not been expecting it. Hannah bit her lip as she tried to make sense of everything in her head. Jessica and Geoff were dealing with their own worries right now. She would spare them the stories and information dumps she had gotten.
Hannah opened her mouth to speak, to ask if Geoff was alright, but he started to talk himself. Hearing katherine was okay made hannah a bit more relaxed. So far so good. She had been so worried about her. " Thank you " she spoke quietly before Geoff mentioned a new topic.
"Okay, so it looks like we're in the clear in terms of games. We may be caught up next room switch." Hannah was still biting the inside of her lip, a bad habit she had developed. The idea of maybe being thrown into another game was scary. extremely scary. Hannah looked over to Jess who had been writing down game names. Each name made her a bit more uneasy. Especially hide and seek. She tried to not think of a possible scenario. " I sure hope not" she mumbled softly
When Geoff mentioned this helena, hannah frowned a bit. " Wait, could it be-" she stopped as she looked at the written words. She nodded. " yes I was thinking the same thing.." she added. "Geoff, Noah has been telling us about how he found something during our.. wedding.." she started. " What he found had been important and he got in contact with a woman. She got into his room one night. She looked extremely beaten up. She was indeed blonde. It looked as if she had been here before us." She told Geoff. " We also think she might be the one who is helping the lady that captured us. " she said softly. " She could have been the soft woman voice we heard at the events instead of the deeper voice of the match maker... It has to be her." She said.
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Post by Geoff Alen on Jul 28, 2020 15:38:07 GMT
"Geoff, Noah has been telling us about how he found something during our... wedding.." Hannah told Geoff. Apparently Jessica had heard about him, too, because there had been a beat before speaking. She was a frequent visitor then. "What he found had been important and he got in contact with a woman," Hannah continued, "She got into his room one night. She looked extremely beaten up. She was indeed blonde. It looked as if she had been here before us.We also think she might be the one who is helping the lady that captured us. She could have been the soft woman voice we heard at the events instead of the deeper voice of the matchmaker... It has to be her."
Geoff massaged his temple. 'Paralysis by analysis' was kicking in.' The deep voice was definitely the matchmaker. Hannah had been right because he still heard her angry scream when they lost the card matchmaking. There had been a younger voice. He had no idea who it was. It made sense that the matchmaker had accomplices. The woman was beefy, but she was in no way an iron pumper. Carrying about thirty people to different rooms all by herself wouldn't make sense.
The blonde woman who visited Noah also knew where Noah was at all times. There were cameras throughout the room, and it made sense that she knew where he was. If she had been here for long, she would know the nooks and crannies of the room. The envelope that he and Emer found was from 2017. That was three years of servitude to the matchmaker. But what was she going to gain from this servitude? Was Noah the husband she was supposed to have "won"?
She was here before. Three years trapped with the crazy lady and her...was acolytes a good word? Perhaps she was spared because there was something the matchmaker saw in her. There had been suspicions that this wasn't the first time something like this had happened. How many people had died then?
He then thought of Kim. Jessica had described Kim as looking beat up, just like the blonde was. Had Helena done the same thing as Kim? Possibly sacrificed herself to be physically - and possibly mentally - abused for the sake sparing the lives of the others? A horrible price to pay, but one disappearance was preferable to thirty or forty or whatever amount of people had been snatched up prior.
"Then she's one of two things," Geoff concluded, "Yes, she's working with the matchmaker, but it's either a forced obligation or she's doing it by choice. Do you think she did because she desperate? She spent most of her money on surgeries, and probably needed a well paying job to possibly pay for more. Maybe she was tricked into working for her to get the money back. Or maybe she did it to save people? Sacrificing herself to be a servant to rescue a few other people that were here before? There's a lot of variables here, and something tells me Helena isn't the only accomplice working with her, be it by her choice or not."
He snapped out of analysis mode. His head was starting to throb from all the possibilities running through his head. The answer could just be literally in front of him and he wasn't seeing it.
"I kind of miss thinking this was just an escape room," he mumbled dryly, hoping it would lighten up his dark theories.
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Post by Jessica Fleming on Jul 30, 2020 20:19:07 GMT
Being here for such a long time was extremely exhausting. Even when nothing bad was happening, Jessica could not properly relax. It seemed like they just had a small talk but there was trouble in the air, she could smell it. Jess had tried to stay calm but small, annoying demons of anxiety were devouring her soul and tearing it apart. Jessica just pretended that she did not hear them and was locking them in the deepest parts of the heart.
Jessica sighed. If only they knew for sure what to expect! There was no way to prepare for possible surprises. Except... "It may sound weird but imho the only way of preparation that we have is if I teach you two Morse code. We may need to exchange the information in a secret, so the villain won't notice. Besides, we have plenty of time and not so much to do," even though the girl discussed it with Hannah she did not know if Geoff thinks that it's a good idea. Jessica would not like to be pushy or intrusive but at the same time, she could not get rid of the thought that it was just an excuse to spend more time with Geoff. Maybe she tried to fix the hole that Kim's disappearance made, turning out to the guy that was pretty cool in her book. She does not do anything wrong, right? If you want to spend time with someone it's just friendship, right? She won't hurt Hannah and won't betray Kim...
Hearing about a mysterious woman, Jessica tensed slightly. Hannah summarized everything that they knew and these pieces of the puzzle were finally mostly put together. Jessica shrugged, feeling sorry about Helena. Beaten up... endless plastic surgeries... and they even did not for what. Even though she was working with the villain, she was still abused...
Kim. Let's hope Kim won't share the same fate.
When Geoff mumbled, Jessica nervously chuckled. It worked for her, slightly chasing away the clouds.
"TBH, I initially thought that it was just a TV show," she confessed in written form, awkwardly smiling. She was still ashamed of it. Jess was so naive! "You know, the cameras and confetti instead of bullets. But I like Geoff's option more," she admitted.
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Post by Hannah van de Berg on Jul 30, 2020 21:20:26 GMT
Hannah leaned against the wall as she listened to geoff. She wanted to feel like she was doing something to make progress in this damned place but really it felt like she was repeating the same information over and ovet again.
Negative behaviour did not suit her but it was way too easy to fall back into that pit of isolation. Hannah looked at the ground while listening to geoffs theories about what helenas motivation could be. As he spoke she looked at jess who seemed to follow every word that left his lips intensely. She looked worried. For kim no doubt. Hannah took a deep breath. It felt as if they were stuck in a loop of passing information through the wall. Good or bad. Waiting to face another game. She would give anything to go back to talking about funny little things. Any thing really but the situation they were all in.
Hannah looked at the wall. "Im not sure. When helena was still talking to us through the speaker, she sounded sad. As if she was either sad to see us get harmed.. or perhaps.. because she did not get to share the same fate as some of us; marriage." She said softly. "Maybe both" she added. "It would explain why she would try to get closer to noah.." she said. Softly. "If I am correct, in asian culture perfect smooth pale skin used to be a sign of beauty and status, beating someone up or, surgery gone wrong, hell even sunburns or freckles, if anything left scars or bruises on her face it would decrease her status, her honour.. and this woman is all about honour" hannah said. " she made someone inflict harm on themselves, scarring them. Scars makes people "less beautiful".. so anything that would be considered ugly made people less valuable" she said softly. "If this woman was obsessed with surgery to make herself prettier.. she might be trying to win over our captor.." Hannah said as she looked up from the spot of the wall she had been staring to. God studying art and symbolism in it came to good use here.
She looked at what Jessica had been writing down. " Jessica thinks a good next step is to learn morse" she said. "I agree.. if she does it now she won't have to explain twice" She said as she looked at jessica and gave her a weak smile.
Hearing geoff mumble made her smile weakly. She looked at Jess writing her response as she let out a small chuckle. "I mean i don't blame either of you. For the longest time i thought we were caught to be in some kind of deep web thing.." she said. "However, it turns out we are in the matchmakers personal social experiment where she tries to proof to herself that she is a capable matchmaker."
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Post by Geoff Alen on Jul 30, 2020 22:07:42 GMT
Thankfully, Geoff wasn't the only one considering possible theories. There was the tiniest sound of something scratching against paper, which he took as Jessica writing. Hannah said that the voice of the woman, who could possibly be Helena, sounded remorseful and sad. While a part of Geoff felt sorry for the woman, it wasn't much to go on. He felt some fear hat Kim would be condemned to the same thing. Hannah continued theorizing about Asian standards of beauty and how Madge abusing the girl could decrease her status of honor. It had him flash back to the golden suite and they talked about the one painting, where Monet made his wife wear a blonde wig. And where they had laughed over that newlywed game. His cheeks warmed slightly at that memory, of how Hannah's smile and their shared laughter brought a tiny bit of light to what was their awful abode.
"True, but the wrinkle could be when were the envelopes collected? The bills said that the surgeries started three years ago, but was this before coming here? I don't see our captor being nice enough to fork over a wad of cash to have corrective surgery if she was only going to beat her up again." Or have someone else beat her up.
But if this woman was so desperate for love, it would explain why she kept coming back. A matchmaker was perhaps her last hope. Three years to keep coming back, spending all her money just to cover up all the physical beatings, even if it meant being berated and seen as 'not good enough'. It was a toxic cycle. It would also explain Kim's new hairdo. People in Eastern cultures often chopped off their hair when they were exiled or upset their dynasty or whatever. That or Madge hated Kim's dye job. He still didn't like the idea of Kim becoming the new 'dishonored' bride.
Jessica suggested she teach them both Morse code. Hannah agreed, and well, Geoff now had his two cents. "And I agree with both of you. I've been wanting to know more besides S.O.S." Morse code would be brilliant. Not only would it help relieve the needed stress to hitting the walls, but it could be used as communication. He wasn't sure how many other people Jessica taught Morse to, especially given the numbers were starting to dwindle, but the probability of it all was relatively high that at one point, Jessica had encountered someone via Morse code. The probability of someone wanting to learn was slim, but at least he and Hannah could fall into those camps.
Hannah mentioned a 'social experiment', and that piqued Geoff's interest. A social experiment. It would explain how some people that had close ties like Jessica, Kim, and their friends got roped in with a few people that were outside of the normal social circle.
"Hannah, what do you mean by 'proof to herself?' I promise we can talk about something happier afterward."
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Post by Jessica Fleming on Aug 1, 2020 23:14:30 GMT
Jessica mostly shared Hannah's thoughts. Every day was just like the previous one and the only thing they could do was just sharing these little pieces of information they knew, and it was not much. Gosh, Jess still did not know the kidnapper's name and referred to this woman as a villain.
When Hannah voiced her theory, Jessica was ashamed that she did not think about it herself, it was so obvious! It really must be some kind of punishment and disgrace. And haircut is a part of such a disgrace too, Jessica knew it from Game of Thrones. Talking about Asian culture... Now the haircut scene from Mulan got the second meaning in her eyes. It was not only to pretend to be a man but also to accept her disgrace for failing expectations of her family when she visited matchmaker... Great, now Jessica imagines the villain as a Matchmaker from Mulan, perfect.
"It makes sense," Jessica wrote. "It matches with the previous games. But still, I don't get why in this case Sawyer got David, who was hurt the most if injuries should be some kind of disgrace. Or was she punished by getting a not-worthy husband?" Of course, Jess did not think that David did not deserve Sawyer, she just assumed that it was kidnapper's opinion.
Meanwhile, Jessica opened the new page from the book and began to write all the Morse alphabet that she learned by heart and repeated with Carmen. A for .-, B for -... and so on until Z. She wanted to hand Hannah this note to read it out loud for Geoff so he could write it down somewhere if he had any tools for that...hold on. There was a hole between their rooms and Jessica could just make a separate piece of paper for him. So, Jessica wrote the Morse code alphabet once again, and finding this hole just passed this note to Geoff's room through the hole she found with Kim. She did not warn him but he should not be scared, right?
When Hannah said about a social experiment, Jessica just nodded. She had such thoughts as well because all of this was so unreal, fake, artificial... like some kind of limbo or purgatory. Jessica did not say or write anything when Geoff asked Hannah to give more details because she would do it much better than she could.
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Post by Hannah van de Berg on Aug 2, 2020 20:54:16 GMT
Hannah frowned listening to Geoff. The wheels in her head were working extra hours. She was deep in thoughts taking in the points Geoff made. In her head she was adding all the info she had together to maybe figure things out. It would be better then being in the dark. She moved her gaze over to Jessica who was writing. " Jessica thinks that what i said makes sense but she wonders why David who got hurt the most 'Won' Sawyer as his bride. To that I think.. Perhaps she decided to 'reward', and god thinking like that is messed up, the person who suffered most for her idea of 'Love' " hannah theorized. " And because Sawyer was the one to put him through those things, even if she were forced, The lady decided she should get on the same 'level' as her husband..?" She said in an asking tone. She did not know if she made any sense.
Hannah looked at Jess when she started to write while listening to Geoff's question. "right sorry. There has been so much things going on that I am not sure if I told you all of it. The lady who keeps us here, she used to be a certified match maker. You know someone who actually helps clients find someone to date. She was fired due to something that happened with Claudette, the blonde girl that uhm.. slapped you in the russian roulette." Hannah said softly. " I Don't know what happened but the woman got fired and after that.. this happened. So i think this is her attempt to prove that getting fired was a mistake on the part of her boss.." Hannah said softly. She looked at Jessica who got up to give geoff the paper through the crack in the wall. Funny hannah had not noticed that before. Perhaps Jessica had been in this room before?
"Either way, Dorian told me this, but it seemed as if her job was everything for her, also she has been doing it for a while. Who is to say that miss Helena did not come to her for help and was told she was not pretty enough for a husband. She could have been.. desperate or something getting that surgery only to come back and ask for a second chance to get matched.. Perhaps that is why she got into this mess and she is simply not able to get out now.. But that is yet again another theory.." She admitted. " I don't have the truth but.. with the information people have been passing on to me.. I can only theorize and hope I make sense.." she admitted.
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Post by Geoff Alen on Aug 3, 2020 2:30:49 GMT
"If I had to guess, he won because he put himself in more risks than the others. I mean blinding one's self? That takes courage." Geoff mused to himself.
Hannah was in agreement with him. The person who went through the most wound up winning. Was that why he was selected early on? Because he had practically nothing to lose or really gain in his predicament? He was just an engineer that was minding his own business. He had a failed marriage just because he didn't truly love his former betrothed. Yet despite following the rules and surviving by sheer dumb luck, he was still trapped here. Listening to everyone else get tortured.
Luckily for him, Hannah also answered his question. The blonde girl who slapped him, Claudette, had somehow been involved with the matchmaker.
"So why isn't her boss in here? Wait....maybe he was."
A chill ran down Geoff's back. Helena had been proof that this was not just a one-time grouping. There had been others here, too. Some may have made it out okay. Others had become cruel victims. The less he thought about what the matchmaker did to her former boss, provided he had been in here before, the better.
It also explained why Geoff had been scooped up. Claudette looked uncannily similar to waitresses that worked at the restaurant he frequented. He has beenn extra friendly with one of the waitresses, Georgie. But that never gotten anywhere beyond friendly flirts and maybe one stand up incident. The matchmaker must have confused Georgie for Claudette and as a result, Geoff was lassoed into this sick twisted game with people he didn't know, hardly knew, or was partially in love with. Yes, horrible for him to realize, but he may have started to fall for Hannah as well, leaving him straddling between two women.
Hannah apologized for sounding garbled and he shook his head. A piece of paper was slid into the room, and he knelt to grab it. Written in crayon was an alphabet, along with some dots and dashes. It was a cheat sheet of Morse code. Jessica must have written it down and given it to him. But he didn't see from where. Folding it carefully, and putting in his pocket, Geoff shook his head with a small smile. Hannah was being adorable and charming again.
"You're making sense. Stuff is starting to fall into place." Geoff's greased wheels started to spin. "She wants revenge against those who wronged her; her boss, Claudette, and apparently Dorian knows a lot, so he's a victim and target as well. I don't think either one of them are behind this. They know this matchmaker well enough to get into her head. It explains the whole east-west scenarios we were talking about, too. Matchmaking is accepted in both cultures and because this woman loved her job so much, she found a way to combine the two here. To her, it's her doing her job, mashing people together to make ideal matches...particularly if men," he emphasized men, referring to himself and David, "are willing to do something horrible to win a wife. Notice how she always puts the women in 'damsel in distress' motifs. It doesn't matter if people are even married or don't even swing that way. In her mind, all couples are a matched set, a combination of two cultures."
And that was the theory he had to go off of. Things were making so much more sense. There was light shining on this conflict. And in a strange way, Geoff was feeling a rush of dopamine in his system, charging him like a battery. He had Hannah and Jessica to thank for it.
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Post by Jessica Fleming on Aug 6, 2020 21:24:50 GMT
Poor naive Jess. She always thought that love was happiness and joy but not suffering. But it seemed that this matchmaker did not share her opinion, consider a woman as a prize to be won by pain and humiliation. That was just disgusting, and girl shrugged, unwillingly nodding, hearing Hannah's and Geoff's explanations. And she also made Sawyer suffer in the same way David did. Jeez, Jessica could not think that she would despise subtext and metaphors so much.
Even though Jessica did not underestimate David's sacrifice for Sawyer she realized that she needed to clarify a few things...Thanks to David's detailed retelling Jessica felt like she was presented during the event and knew every single thing about it.
"That's the point. Most of the time Sawyer had to choose who should suffer and in which way. She decided to keep Etherekan safe but not David. But she still was matched with him. It's a cruel irony and even though it's not her fault and if I were David" Jessica decided to cross out the last sentence. She did not want to be a gossip girl and she completely understood Sawyer. The thing is... if she was blinded because someone chose another person to be saved, Jessica would not forgive them so easily. She would have to be blind, not to see her friends and family for the rest of her life just because she was not good enough for someone. David was the kindest soul for sure. Jessica was not capable of such a big gesture.
When Hannah said that the kidnapper was trying to prove that she was fired for no reason, Jessica could not but snorted with laughter. Maybe, that's why she was fired? She was insane! She should be locked somewhere, not to help people to find love. What does she know about true love anyway? Even Anna... not, even Hans from Frozen is a love expert, comparing to her!
"Maybe her boss is one of the prisoners, we just have not met him," suggested Jessica in written form. It would make perfect sense for her. Or maybe, just as Geoff assumed... he was here.
"I wonder if our kidnapper was abused as well. I mean, if she thinks that it's okay for the bride to be a damsel in distress and for the groom to be tortured maybe she had such an experience. Just a thought." Jessica did not believe much in her theory but it still was quite possible because why not.
Poor Helena. She was exactly like Anne of Cleves, being rejected for her looks. Jess could only wonder if someone of the prisoners was pretty enough to meet kidnapper's standards of beauty... Katherine probably? They will never find out.
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Post by Hannah van de Berg on Aug 6, 2020 22:12:01 GMT
Hannah shook her head not wanting to think about the amount of "courage" It took to blind yourself. She just.. hoped she never had to go through that. She looked at Jess to see how she was taking all of this in and saw the woman cringe a bit at the idea of blinding herself. Hannah couldn't agree more if she was being honest. Blinding yourself and winning yourself a wife. A wife who does not love you and does not want to be in this place to begin with. Right. That could only go well. The brunette noticed Jessica was writing something down and she glanced over to read. " Jessica says that that indeed was the point of the game, Sawyer chose what task each boy had to do" Hannah could not help but be a bit relieved that ethan was okay. However she still felt bad for david too. " David suffered the most and was paired up with her. And Jess is right.. that is weird. It sounds as if she was punished for something by getting a husband who suffered but, what for and why them?" Hannah did not understand it anymore. It seemed as if the reasoning behind everything changed with the second and due to that her theories seemed more unlikely. This did not make any sense.
Then Geoff made a suggestion. Hannah looked at jess who was already writing. " Jess also suggests he might be one of the prisoners but that we might not have met him yet.. like helena?" she asked as she looked at jessica. " the other option might be that.. He is here and told her she had to prove herself. That she is working for this man."
Hannah thought about it when reading what jess had to say. " Jess suggested that perhaps she has been abused in the same way she is abusing us." She said as she frowned a bit by reading this.
She was glad to hear she atleast made a bit sense but now with talking to both jess and geoff about this and hearing new theories there was one thing that did not fall into place for her. Mrs Baker was doing this because she wanted to prove herself as a matchmaker. until now she had thought it was to prove it to HERSELF but.. What if this boss was indeed involved and what if.. this boss was not just her boss but her lover?
" Allright this is going to sound very strange but please try to follow my train of thoughts please" She started. " So.. This woman is a matchmaker who got fired. We know both dorian and claudette used her service. We however do not know a thing about this matchmaking facility. Claudette got her fired because i assume she did not like who she was paired with but dorian.. Dorian married the matchmakers daughter, Teddy's sister.. What if.. What if the father, her husband was the founder of the company? And since claudette complained and Dorian's marriage sadly ended in a bad way.. She is trying to prove herself to.. him?" She theorized in a soft spoken way.
She then shrugged it off. " perhaps that is just.. My mind going wild. I don't know. there is not much to do around this place but theorize, I don't know what the truth is anymore." She admitted
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Post by Geoff Alen on Aug 6, 2020 23:26:39 GMT
"Maybe. Something tells me that therapy isn't going to snap her out of this..obsession any time soon," Geoff pondered. The thought of their kidnapper possibly being abused hadn't crossed his mind. Usually, the villains of stories always had something that was driving them. While some were incredibly wrong in all the ways, like Cruella deVille and her coat made out of puppies, others were more understandable, like the Wicked Witch getting mad at Dorothy for taking the last known piece of her sister. But why go through killing? It was one thing to prove worthy matches, but bloodshed? That was the one piece of the puzzle that had yet to be found. Geoff didn't like incomplete puzzles, and this killer streak idea was digging at him. Obviously she was too far gone to be pulled back in.
He remembered the matchmaker's strange change of emotions in that one game, when she went from furious, shooting the girl with the unlucky Professor Weisenbachfeld, and then rushing out in panic because of someone onyl she could see. She had barged in, calling everyone 'imbeciles' for not getting the cards to match. On the one hand, she was overreacting because everyone followed the rules. But on the other hand, she never told them how to communicate the hearts, leaving them on their own to try and figure it out.
Hannah spelled out the information that everyone was on the same page about. The woman got fired, and then she dropped a huge ball of information.
Dorian was the matchmaker's ex son-in-law. Shit.
"Talk about a bad family reunion," he muttered dryly.
So what exactly happened to the marriage? Was there a divorce and thus the matchmaker had a grudge against Dorian for it? She did like to take blame on others and gaslight them to say it was their fault when really she was the one in the wrong. Abuse was starting to make more sense. Her husband had gaslighted her, and in return, she gaslighted everyone who had wronged her.
"That leaves us with where is her husband now?"
Had he been captured with everyone? Not likely. If she had been doing this for some time, a little over three years, her husband hadn't been captured. And if she was still kidnapping people, he either was still in the country or even in the city still. If Hannah was right and he was the head of the company, he was probably trying to start a new one without the stain of a ruined family. It would explain why Teddy wasn't in his custody. Or maybe he was and the woman had kidnapped him with promises of 'mommy knowing best".
His head was starting to hurt and he had to step away to get a swig of water from the glass given to them. As hydrogen and oxygen pulsed through his blood again, he sighed.
"It's a lot to think about. We have the pieces of a story, and they're fitting, but we just don't have one hundred percent on some pieces." He took off his glasses and rubbed his face, Fatigue was setting in. "Maybe we can talk about this another day? We have, oh, two weeks to discuss theories and whatnot?"
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Post by Jessica Fleming on Aug 8, 2020 15:54:09 GMT
And Jessica thought that Medieval marriages were bad. After watching Six the Musical about wives of Henry VIII she got rid of some of her escapist's fantasies regarding medieval couples. However, it seemed that their kidnapper was deeply inspired by such relics of the past. Jessica could not explain why her image of the beautiful reunion of two loving souls is so corrupted and just wrong.
Jessica did not know what to think about gray cardinal that may hide behind the curtains. It was a common twist to have some secret villain and an unexpected final boss. Jess, you need to stop considering these events as a story, written by King's spiritual successor.
Jess heard out Hannah's theory and thinking about it for a moment slowly shook her head. She doubted that though and she explained in a written form why:
"If that was the case, I guess Dorian would mention it. And as far as I know, we don't have any clues that would lead to any other man besides Teddy, so I'm not sure."
However, Jessica could not reject any theory. She did this mistake when she was watching Steven Universe and to her disappointment (spoiler alert!) Rose Quartz and Pink Diamond were the same person, as theorists predicted since season one, while Jessica treated it as an absurd that ruins Rose's personality making her an awful person.
Hearing Geoff's suggestion to finish their conspiracy evening, Jessica nodded with a small smile. She had a lot to think about and what was more important, her hand hurt from endless writing.
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