Alexis was fine with that, as soon as he realised that no-one else could echolocate. (The way Harmony went on about everything having its own song, for a long time Alexis thought she could and could never work out why she didn't in his presence.)

Poor, half-blind people. At least they're not wingless, too, that would have been too much.

Asch's eyes are closed, deep in concentration, as all the others give their answers in turn. Even after they've finished, she continues to contemplate. Finally, as the smirk on Senkoumaru's face starts to split into a wide grin, her eyes pop open, and the One Truth comes to her hand.

"Wrong. All of your answers are wrong. I've gone back over it - all the evidence, everything we've seen and done, and I know the truth. The answer to everything. All along, it's been there - only one thing it could be. One thing it could ever be. You've played a good game, Senkoumaru, but it's over now."

She then brings down her blade, radiance pouring from it. Not red or blue, but a beautiful golden light shines from it. "The answer to your riddle is..." she says, as the blade comes to rest right in front of Senkoumaru's nose, ready to strike, "...Bees?"

"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"...Goddamn it," mutters Senkoumaru, as his entire body droops. With a gesture, the lure drawing the mortals ever closer shatters. "You win."

Well, I can see how bees can come from the dead, but how do they bind all life together?

...wait, I get it, all life is bound in mutual fear of the beesting. And while they can in theory be touched, they should never be poked... hmmm. Joy in the honey, pain in the sting. For a parody, it's a surprisingly good fit; better, I think, than 'time' (or maybe I'm just not seeing MUSE's reasoning).

Another possibility is 'knowledge'.

Asch is officially the most challenging character I've ever had to play.

Just to let you know, CCC, Asch answered correctly. I'm going to end up posting tomorrow, as a lot needs to happen, so I didn't want to keep you in suspense ^^

Alternate song choices for that post as I think of them...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szNUd-oj2dE - Answer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSKWf_20Lkg - Dir

I think I tend to think more crookedly than others. Plus, MUSE is the sort to take riddles literally, rather than applying it to the world at hand.

"In one form I have limit, in another I am limitless. I can be shared, but never touched. I bind all of life together, but I can also come from the dead. I can be made, I can be buried. I can cause pain and I can cause joy. What am I?"

We talk all the time about how we are out of time, and yet time is, in fact, infinite. You can share time together with someone else, but you can't actually touch time. People exist in the same 'time', and thus are bound together in the same time, but the past (the dead) exist as well (which touches on memory, had I thought of it). You can 'make' time for someone, or set time aside for later use (burying it away). Time causes pain (growing old, death) and joy (watching your child grow up, for example) as it passes.

Memory is definitely the better answer though. Less of a stretch.

Yes, I can see the challange.



*sigh of relief*

Now there's only the suspense of finding out what happened to Magus and Ryuseii - of waiting for the rest of Harmony's story (incidentally, as soon as the group has a bit of time to themselves, Alexis will want to have a talk with Harmony about that) - finding out who or what mirror-Asch is...



Ah, I see. It is a bit of a stretch, but to be fair, so is 'song' (which only really makes sense in Alexis' cultural background).

It came to me in a sudden hunch, and I was pleased to see how well it fit. The riddle, the world, and to some degree, Serpico himself.

Currently in game only Asch might really have any idea what happened with Harmony to cause that flare-up. Harmony herself doesn't even know... which is why Harmony is going to have some very pointed questions for MUSE when she wakes up, because she's going to remember very little of what just happened, and she won't remember any of those memories she just got flashes of either.

I find it bitterly ironic that MUSE had to shut down Harmony's own memories right at the reveal that the 'mastermind' of this planet is doing much the same to the general population.

Then again, MUSE has reason - good reason - to be doing so. I wonder what the mastermind's reason is?

Alexis knows that Harmony had a son, and that she somehow lost him. That's enough for him to want to ask about it, later.

Lumina will also want to ask questions out of concern for her friend Harmony and all that comes with it.

So my question is when are other people going to post their questions so I can answer those questions ^^

If anyone's unsure what to ask, I can make a few suggestions. Alexis' questions reflect his priorities (mainly, of ensuring everyone's safety); I can think of several that would give a far better idea of what's going on.

Starting out with "What exactly is going on here?" - or, for the more circititious thinker, "What is everything that your rules permit you to tell us about what is going on here?"

Full explanations would fall under one of the things he can't answer ^^

But good thinking!