15S R6 IC Contact

[mermaidkin]

[The greetings on the other end of the phone line by time of day.]

5 AM to 11 AM: Good morning, Stranger!
11 AM to 12 PM: Good day, Stranger!
12 PM to 5 PM: Good afternoon, Stranger!
5 PM to 11 PM: Good evening, Stranger!
11 PM to 5 AM: A little late, isn't it, Stranger?

[And then:] What can I do you for?

Comments

"Thursday night" - yeah, no, it's Friday Morning, sometime around 0330

[backuphero]

Don't know if you're the one I should be asking, but... what happens to us if nobody went for it?

[Jonathan's voice is just barely above a whisper. Why? He's in the bedroom, seated by the built-in vanity, talking on the telephone there (because where else would a handset in the bedroom be?). He's gazing at the bed, and the woman sleeping there, and he's silent in a way that speaks to words left unsaid for a few moments.]

She's asleep. I can't sleep. Didn't sleep. I'm scared if I do it'll happen again.

[In time, he'll lay back down and hold on to his wife and try to pretend anything in any world is remotely okay. But in this moment... he's fidgety and nervous and doesn't want to wake Vita up with that.]

Sorry for waking you up. I just... I didn't want to be alone, all of a sudden.

[mermaidkin]

[Jonathan did wake Hiyori up from a deep sleep, this much is immediately obvious. Not that he's mad or anything! At all! Whether that Jonathan didn't call earlier, or that he's calling so late now! A host always does whatever their duties for the strangers require! But having a more precise schedule does help their hosts meet their needs even more efficiently if that's what would make them happy. Just saying!!! It's a tiny physical drain and that's the only reason it's hard to imagine that on the other end of the line Hiyori is even physically smiling!

At first. By the time that the direct apology is offered, Hiyori has sufficiently adjusted to the situation and calmed down. He still doesn't like that Jonathan is whispering to him - it seems genuinely difficult for him to understand, parsing the words or the reason for doing so - and doesn't respond in kind at all but is still following along closely. Die-day concerns, not surprising. In the future, Jonathan will obviously realize when he looks at the autopsy report that the incident had already happened at midnight, but in the present, Hiyori diligently doesn't hint one way or the other whether he knows anything at all about the case, dodges and weaves and keeps him guessing. There's a faint air of guilt, sure, or at least discomfort from awareness that the situation appears to have negative elements, but that could easily apply to simply compliance in generating a situation of such intense fear in the first place.

That's what Jonathan's actual question is about, after all, the scenario where there isn't a case. Hiyori does state promptly that there was not actually an explicit mention of a time limit in this particular motive announcement, while past games have had motives with an explicit time limit. No other type of more flexible time limit was implied either, like the overarching premiere class threat on the plane. But even this isn't phrased in a way that serves as a concrete reassurance nothing would happen at all. Whether because they didn't murder on schedule, or because more time is passing in the City without that intense expression of personal desire. It's all a mystery.

Hiyori winds down by pointing out that if Jonathan joins the corporation, he will never be alone. This could be interpreted in many creepy or at least strict ways, but rather than confirming or denying any of them, he cuts deeper: on many levels, they practice what they preach, because Jonathan can call Hiyori whenever he wants.]