Absolute Faith, Final Draft

You pull out a stool. Pete has bulging muscles, one wooden leg, a skull and crossbones on her tricorn hat, and eighteen visible anchor tattoos. She doesn't look up from her phone. You clear your throat, which has gone a little dry. (text-colour:blue)[["I'll have a midori sour, please and thank you."->BluCh1Pet1]] (text-colour:orange)[["That jukebox in the corner. You reckon I can buy some tokens for it?"->OrCh1Pet1]] (text-colour:cyan)[[(Back.)->IntroBar]]

An uncomfortable expression crosses Pete's hard features. "Fine." She talks low and fast. "I don't know anything myself, but there're two people here tonight who do." (text-colour:blue)[[(Next.)->BluCh1Pet6]]

"After what you did last time? No way. You're banned, Deluxe." An unwelcome memory stirs. A memory that sounds like the clunk of a wurlitzer, and smells of club-sandwiches and regret. (text-colour:orange)[["Look, whatever happened last time, I promise it won't happen again, I just want to play some nice tunes."->OrCh1Pet2]]

Pete puts her phone down with a sigh. The soft pink of the liquor shelf mists through the green fruity glow as she mixes your cocktail, muttering to herself. (text-colour:blue)[["Soooo I'm looking for two former factory employees. You know who they are?"->BluCh1Pet2]] (text-colour:green)[[(Maybe a personalised necklace will make Pete like you?) "How do you spell 'Pete' anyway? Is it with the traditional 'P'?"->GreCh1Pet1]]

She pushes the bubbling glass to you. "Nope." You take a tangy green sip. Melon sweetness hits you like a sandwich to the face. Memories--awful and urgent--rise in your throat. (text-colour:blue)[[(Eyes watering) "Please, Pete. We're on the same side.->BluCh1Pet3]]

(if: visits<=1)[(text-colour:cyan)[|TypeTextA>[Neon light spills over the slick sidewalk. Above a rain-battered awning a sign flickers: *Pirate Pete's*. Oh the pirate nights you've spent here with your partner, Sere Winters. The laughs you've shared with Pirate Pete. But times have changed, and people have been poisoned. ](click-replace:?TypeTextA)+(t8n:"dissolve")+(transition-time:1s)[|TypeTextA2>[Behind you, the shell of the former Threads and Flowers hat factory rises from the stinking waters of the Lower Inlet. Half a year ago one milliner went rogue, poisoning their co-workers and anyone unlucky enough to cross their path. Your once proud town lies in tatters, too scared to put on a hat. ](click-replace:?TypeTextA2)+(t8n:"dissolve")+(transition-time:1s)[|TypeTextB>[You've been tracking the case for months, between binges on maraschino cherries and ceviche; but no one's talking. Because they're all dead. Only two living people know what the Poisoner looks like: a shareholder, and a delivery driver. This is the only place in town where they could be. The last time you were here was the night the Poisonings began. The night Sere Winters left you, and you blacked out on midori sours. You have a nasty feeling Pete isn't going to be pleased to see you. ]]](click-replace:?TypeTextB)+(t8n:"dissolve")+(transition-time:1s)[|TypeTextD>[(text-colour:lime)[[(Read up on the case and yourself.)->IntroNotes]] (text-colour:cyan)[[(Enter the bar.)->IntroBar]]]]]]{ }(else-if: visits>=2)[(text-colour:lime)[[(Read up on the case and yourself.)->IntroNotes]] (text-colour:cyan)[[(Enter the bar.)->IntroBar]]]

Pete puts her hands on the bar and looks you in the eye. You focus on her eyebrows. An anchor peeks out from under her hat. "I don't know //shit// about the Poisoner, and you want to know why?" (text-colour:blue)[["Yes please, I do."->BluCh1Pet4]]

(set:$PetCh1Green to true)"It's spelt with a 'fuck you for giving those necklace things out to everyone except me for Christmas two years ago,' actually." This is extremely bad. (text-colour:green)[["I will make it up to you, I promise."->GreCh1Pet2]]

Pete leans in. "It was the night of the first club-sandwich-making-seminar. The only one that anyone turned up to, in the end. They all wound up dead, but you would have scared them off regardless." (text-colour:orange)[["I am deeply sorry. Let's change the subject, perhaps."->OrCh1Pet5]]

(set:$PetCh1Orange to true)Pete groans. Someone keeps texting her hearts and question marks. "Look, if you can show me you're capable of having a normal human conversation with all of my patrons I'll give you your jukebox." (text-colour:orange)[["You have my word. And *who is sending you hearts?*"->OrCh1Pet8]]

(if:$Ch1ClarYellow is not true or $SanCh1Magenta is not true or $ClubCh1Red is not true)[(text-colour:red)[[Clarissa]] is flopping one of her shawl's tassels against her nose, humming something repetitive like she has an earworm. (text-colour:magenta)[[Santine]] stares out the window as though it will return him his soul. He ashes his cigarette constantly, tapping away to some jarring, jazzy beat. (if:$SanCh1Magenta is true and $Ch1ClarYellow is true)[The (text-colour:yellow)[[club-sandwich-seminar-presenter->Sandwich]] is staring at you. ](if:$SanCh1Magenta is not true or $Ch1ClarYellow is not true)[The (text-colour:yellow)[[club-sandwich-seminar-presenter->Sandwich]] potters about, singing something about cucumbers. ]In the corner, the (text-colour:orange)[[jukebox->1Jukebox]] continues to play its sweet, simple song. (visited:"Ch1Notes")[(text-colour:lime)[[(Read up on the case.)->Ch1Notes]]](else:)[(text-colour:lime)[[(*Case updated.)->Ch1Notes]]] (text-colour:blue)[[(Run back and talk to Pete some more.)->Ch1Pete]]]{ }(if:$Ch1ClarYellow is true and $SanCh1Magenta is true and $ClubCh1Red is true)[Alright. You've talked to everyone here and no one has started bawling. (text-colour:blue)[[Time to see a pirate about getting into the damn noise machine.->Ch2Pete1]] (text-colour:red)[[Clarissa]] is humming her odd tune, while dismembering her straw sunhat all over the floor. Pete stares daggers. (text-colour:magenta)[[Santine]] stares out the window as though it will return him his soul, though it definitely won't. (if:$SanCh1Orange is true)[He's probably thinking about how much he wants to bone jazz.] The (text-colour:yellow)[[club-sandwich-seminar-presenter->Sandwich]] slices cucumbers inexpertly, chanting about melons. In the corner, the (text-colour:orange)[[jukebox->1Jukebox]] continues to play its sweet, simple song.]

"You mean you don't remember coming in here, ordering fifteen midori sours and playing some song about sandwiches and ceviche on repeat for three hours? That song is broken now, by the way. Someone tore the button off." (text-colour:orange)[["Lets say I do, and that I'm very sorry. Now can I have the tokens?"->OrCh1Pet3]]

Pete looks away. "No. But that was the night the poisonings started...You're lucky I called you a cab, you were out cold." (text-colour:orange)[["Pete I need to fix this."->OrCh1Pet7]]

The door swings shut behind you and you are met with three unfriendly damp faces and one club-sandwich-seminar-presenter. (text-colour:blue)[[Pirate Pete->Pete First Dlg]] lounges behind the bar, texting with focus. A (text-colour:red)[[woman in a *truly* bizarre shawl->ClarissaPrelim1]] slumps over a glass of white wine. A (text-colour:magenta)[[man in an expensive suit->SantinePrelim1]] chain smokes by the window. A (text-colour:yellow)[[club-sandwich-seminar-presenter->SandwichPrelim1]] prepares their lunch-themed display in the centre of the room. In the corner a (text-colour:orange)[[jukebox->Jukebox]] plays a gentle calypso tune. You dream of someday making a million friends by making the greatest alphabet-jewellery based pun in history, but not with this crowd. Maybe you should go get a drink. (text-colour:lime)[[(Read up on the case and yourself.)->IntroCh1Notes]]

The jukebox is warm and smells of fingertips and vibrating plastic. It has pink, green, and gold piping. There is a slot for tokens on the side. Under the screen there is (text-colour:orange)[[a row of buttons,->JukeboxButtonsPRELIM]] one for each track. One has been torn out, as though in a fit of sonic anger. (text-colour:cyan)[[(Back.)->IntroBar]]

You sidle up to the bar. The woman's shawl is outstanding. It looks like it's been made from eight-hundred doilies. (text-colour:red)[[(Stick out a hand) "Faith Deluxe, Deluxe Detecting. I love your shawl."->ClarissaPrelim2]] (text-colour:cyan)[[(Back.)->IntroBar]]

You walk up to the window table. Ash drips from the man's cigarette and plops, softly, onto the little mountain in his ashtray. He looks you up and down expressionlessly. (text-colour:magenta)[["I'm Faith Deluxe, Deluxe Detecting. Mind if I join you for a moment?"->SantinePrelim2]] (text-colour:cyan)[[(Back.)->IntroBar]]

You head toward the finger-food pyramids in the centre of the room. Just who do they expect to attend, exactly? While everyone wants to learn how to make club-sandwiches, most of Private Pete's clientele have been murdered. (text-colour:yellow)[[(Next.)->SandwichPrelim2]] (text-colour:cyan)[[(Back.)->IntroBar]]

She tucks her shawl securely under her chin. "I appreciate that, but I don't talk to suspicious strangers. If you get a drink I'll believe you're not a cop." (text-colour:cyan)[[(Back.)->IntroBar]]

"I know who you are, and I know what you're here for. You're not a subtle person, detective. In fact--" he taps ash, delicately. "You're barely a detective. Go fail to save lives on your own time." (text-colour:cyan)[[(Back.)->IntroBar]]

You take a seat next to the window. Santine gazes out at the pouring rain. His suit is a grey silk blend. His hair is silvering around the temples, his eyes dead as cinders. Smoke trickles from his mouth. He looks like a five thousand dollar ashtray. (if:$SanCh1Magenta is not true)[(text-colour:magenta)[["What was it like having the Poisoner work for you?"->MagCh1San1]] ](if:$SanCh1Magenta is true and $SanCh1Red is not true)[(text-colour:red)[["So did I hear you say you knew the Founder?"->RedCh1San1]] ](if:$SanCh1Orange is not true)[(text-colour:orange)[["What's that tune you were tapping?"->OrCh1San1]] ](text-colour:cyan)[[(Back.)->Ch1Bar]]

The jukebox is warm and smells of fingertips and vibrating plastic. It has pink, green, and gold piping. There is a slot for tokens on the side. Under the screen there is (text-colour:orange)[[a row of buttons,->JukeboxButtons]] one for each track. One has been torn out, as though in a fit of sonic anger. (text-colour:cyan)[[(Back.)->Ch1Bar]]

(if:$SanCh1Magenta is true and $Ch1ClarYellow is true)[The club-sandwich-seminar-presenter places a last leaf of parsley atop a colourful lunch-food pyramid. They set down their tongs with a flourish. "May I help you?" (if:$ClubCh1Cyan is not true)[(text-colour:yellow)[["Watcha doin over here?"->YelCh1Club1]] ](if:$ClubCh1Green is not true)[(text-colour:green)[["Are cucumbers melons, or marrows? I always forget."->GreCh1Club1]] ](if:$ClubCh1Red is not true)[(text-colour:red)[["How come you kept evesdropping while I was talking to Santine and Clarissa?"->RedCh1Club1]] ](text-colour:cyan)[[(Back.)->Ch1Bar]]](else:)[The club-sandwich-seminar-presenter waves you away furiously while balancing two club-sandwiches together to make a little tent. Maybe you should come back to them after talking to the others. (text-colour:cyan)[[(Back.)->Ch1Bar]]]

You pull out a stool next to Clarissa. She whacks herself with the tassel more violently. "What do you even //want//?" Her accent flitters like fish through nets. (if:$Ch1ClarYellow is not true)[(text-colour:red)[["I heard about your cousin. I'm very sorry."->RedCh1Clar1]] ](if:$Ch1ClarOrange is not true)[(text-colour:orange)[["What's that song you're humming?"->OrCh1Clar1]] ](text-colour:cyan)[[(Back.)->Ch1Bar]]

There are five buttons, and five songs. The fifth button has been clawed off the face of the Jukebox, along with several chunks of pink plastic. You don't think it was you. 1. (text-colour:blue)[[//Coconuts in my Heart// - Porthole Pam and the Privateers->Coconuts]] 2. (text-colour:red)[[//On My Side of the Isola// - Sunny Skies Revival Troupe->NoTokenSongs]] 3. (text-colour:magenta)[[//Eight Times a Fool// - Gambler in the Rain->NoTokenSongs]] 4. (text-colour:yellow)[[//Cucumber Times// - Zuchini Tim and Wintermelon Sam->NoTokenSongs]] 5. (text-colour:grey)[[????->????]] (text-colour:cyan)[[(Back.)->Ch1Bar]]

The torn mechanics scrape your fingertip. Even if you had a jukebox token, you'd need to find the missing button before this song would play. (text-colour:cyan)[[(Back.)->JukeboxButtons]]

Nothing happens. Pirate Pete's coconut jam continues to tinkle through the bar. If you want to play one of these other songs, you're going to need a token. (text-colour:cyan)[[(Back.)->JukeboxButtons]]

The song is already playing. A pretty, piratey song; Pirate Pete must have chosen it. (text-colour:cyan)[[(Back.)->JukeboxButtons]]

There are five buttons, and five songs. The fifth button has been clawed off the face of the Jukebox, along with several chunks of pink plastic. 1. (text-colour:blue)[[//Coconuts in my Heart// - Porthole Pam and the Privateers->CoconutsPRELIM]] 2. (text-colour:red)[[//On My Side of the Isola// - Sunny Skies Revival Troupe->NoTokenSongsPRELIM]] 3. (text-colour:magenta)[[//Eight Times a Fool// - Gambler in the Rain->NoTokenSongsPRELIM]] 4. (text-colour:yellow)[[//Cucumber Times// - Zuchini Tim and Wintermelon Sam->NoTokenSongsPRELIM]] 5. (text-colour:grey)[[????->????PRELIM]] (text-colour:cyan)[[(Back.)->IntroBar]]

The song is already playing. A pretty, piratey song; Pirate Pete must have chosen it. (text-colour:cyan)[[(Back.)->JukeboxButtonsPRELIM]]

The torn mechanics scrape your fingertip. Even if you had a jukebox token, you'd need to find the missing button before this song would play. (text-colour:cyan)[[(Back.)->JukeboxButtonsPRELIM]]

Pete looks up from her phone in horror. "Nope, no, I got rid of you. Go mingle!" (text-colour:cyan)[[(Go mingle.)->Ch1Bar]]

(if:$Ch1ClarBlue is not true)[Clarissa raises thoroughly plucked eyebrows. "Are you, really? Well, I didn't realise Alex //had// any short friends. Especially not any who wear supermarket trenchcoats. Where's your fedora, home-brand detective?" (text-colour:red)[[(Very quietly) "I left it in the socks and accessories aisle. I don't like to wear hats these days."->RedCh1Clar2]]](if:$Ch1ClarBlue is true)[Clarissa slides an unvarnished capital A around the bartop. "I'm sorry too. I don't think I'll ever stop being sorry...even though I really only knew him these last six month." (text-colour:red)[["I heard he worked with the Poisoner?"->RedCh1Clar3]]]

"It's a traditional folk song from the Isola. People used to sing it while braiding fishing nets. These days it can be heard down the pub while mariners take turns crying." (text-colour:orange)[["That sounds delightful! Why would you leave?"->OrCh1Clar2]]

Clarissa runs a finger over her own straw sunhat. It looks out of place with the rest of her. Too plain, too traditional. "I understand that." (text-colour:red)[["Did either you or Alex ever work with the Poisoner directly?"->RedCh1Clar3]]

She hesitates. "Alex ran deliveries to and from their apartment. But it was all arranged so the Poisoner never had to meet anyone. As far as I know, they never set foot outside that awful place." (text-colour:red)[["Awful? So you've seen the apartment yourself?"->RedCh1Clar4]] (text-colour:yellow)[["The Poisoner was a recluse?"->YelCh1Clar1]]

(set:$Ch1ClarRed to true)Clarissa bites her tongue. "No, of course not. That wasn't my route, it was Alex's." (text-colour:red)[["Did you hear or see anything else regarding the Poisoner during your time at Threads and Flowers?"->RedCh1Clar5]] (text-colour:yellow)[[(Cleverly) "I wonder whether you could see through the windows of a place like that?"->YelCh1Clar2]]

"I'm telling you, it was like they didn't exist. But the factory lived and died on the hats they made. Threads and Flowers was built on the hands of a person who lived like a prisoner." She averts her gaze. She knows exactly how they lived. (text-colour:yellow)[["How do you know all this?"->YelCh1Clar5]]

Her eyes dart about the bar. Pete is smirking over some text. Santine wouldn't look up from his cigararette unless you offered him shares in some criminal enterprise, but the club-sandwich-seminar-presenter has gone still. "Yes," she whispers, "but it's not what you think. I didn't see them hurt another person. I saw them hurting themselves." (text-colour:yellow)[[(Lower your voice) "What do you mean?"->YelCh1Clar7]]

(set:$Ch1ClarYellow to true)Clarissa swallows. "I walked in on them, that day. The day before the Poisonings began. I think--I think I caused it." She tugs her odd, home-made shawl about herself. "I can't. I can't talk about it, not like this." You keep one eye on the club-sandwich-seminar-presenter. You need to find a way to make Clarissa feel more at home. Maybe then she'll open up.(if:$Ch1ClarOrange is not true)[(text-colour:orange) [["What's that tune you're humming?"->OrCh1Clar1]]](if:$Ch1ClarOrange is true and $Ch1ClarBlue is not true)[ (text-colour:blue)[["This might not be the right time, but could I interest you in some novelty wooden jewellery?"->BluCh1Clar1]]] (text-colour:cyan)[[(Go bother some other patrons.)->Ch1Bar]]

She looks embarrassed. "I want to be a tailor. I couldn't wait to leave that sandy spit of land and do something other than fish! You know some of us are allergic, right?" You didn't; it's terrible to contemplate. (text-colour:orange)[[(Next.)->OrCh1Clar3]]

She sniffs, and gazes around the pub. "But…this? A factory town where everyone spends their days on a production line making identical, cheap hats? This is worse." (text-colour:orange)[["Yet you didn't return, even when your cousin died?"->OrCh1Clar4]]

"It's not that easy. I don't like it here, but at least this is closer to *somewhere*. Home was better...but I can't go back. If I go back, I'll never start moving forwards again." She tugs her incredible, bedazzled shawl up to her chin and sighs. You smell wine and rain-damp hair. (text-colour:orange)[["What do you plan on doing now that the factory's closed?"->OrCh1Clar5]] (text-colour:blue)[["Actually, I have some jewellery you might be interested in."->BluCh1Clar1]]

(set:$Ch1ClarOrange to true)Clarissa looks off, out into the streaming night. "I'll move up the Inlet. Go to the big city…there'll be more jobs there." There's a hint of despair in her voice. She knows how hard it is to leave when you have nothing behind you.(if:$Ch1ClarBlue is not true)[ (text-colour:blue)[["This may not be the right time...but I might have some novelty wooden jewellery that could cheer you up."->BluCh1Clar1]]](if:$Ch1ClarYellow is not true)[(text-colour:red) [["I am very sorry about your cousin."->RedCh1Clar1]]](if:$Ch1ClarYellow is true)[ (text-colour:cyan)[[(Go bother some other patrons.)->Ch1Bar]]]

"Oh yes. They never left their apartment. We all guessed someone high up must bring them food, because it wasn't any of us. *I'm* guessing it was the Founder." She nods sagely and swishes a mouthful of white wine. (text-colour:yellow)[["Why would the Founder put up with that for one employee?"->YelCh1Clar1a]] (text-colour:red)[["So you've seen their apartment for yourself?"->RedCh1Clar4]]

Clarissa snorts violently. "The place didn't //have// windows. They were bricked up from the outside. Like someone wanted to keep the Poisoner in. Though they can't have...the door was always unlocked." (text-colour:yellow)[["So you've //definitely// been there."->YelCh1Clar3]]

(set:$Ch1ClarBoobs to true)Clarissa looks outraged. "You know what, fuck you, detective. You're short, and your boobs look stupid." (text-colour:yellow)[[(Try to stop crying.)->YelCh1Clar4)]]

Clarissa looks around uncomfortably while you wipe your eyes with a pocket square embroidered with the words 'I love woodworking and being a detective'. "Alright, shit," she mutters. "I'm sorry. They're basically fine." (text-colour:yellow)[[(Blow your nose.)->YelCh1Clar5]]

"I...look. Alex wasn't their driver. It was me. I was the Poisoner's delivery driver. I saw that boarded up apartment every day, picked up their ghost packages. Right up until the end, when--" she breaks off. "I can't talk about it. I *can't*." A faint sheen of sweat beads her forehead. (text-colour:yellow)[[(Softly) "Did you see the Poisoner hurt someone?"->YelCh1Clar6]]

Clarissa peers suspiciously over the lip of her wine glass as you nervously spread out your varnish-sticky carvings on the bar. (text-colour:blue)[["Yeah, so these are just a few examples of what I can do… That one I messed up the M at the end…I haven't fully mastered rounded edges... That's a loose lower case "L," I could use that in your name, for instance…"->BluCh1Clar2]]

Clarissa looks as though she's witnessing an experimental live performance. (text-colour:blue)[["...and that's about it for my teak period..."->BluCh1Clar3]]

(set:$Ch1ClarBlue to true)"You know what?" Clarissa says, after you explain that all of this is really just your //early// work, "I think these are dope. If you do one for me, you can spell it with a K. That would have less round edges." Your eyes fill with tears.(if:$Ch1ClarOrange is not true)[ (text-colour:orange)[["So what do you plan on doing now that the factory's closed?"->OrCh1Clar5]]](if:$Ch1ClarYellow is not true and $Ch1ClarOrange is true)[(text-colour:red) [["I should really say, I'm sorry to hear about your cousin."->RedCh1Clar1]]](if:$Ch1ClarYellow is true)[ (text-colour:cyan)[[(Leave while happiness still lives.)->Ch1Bar]]]

"I'll tell you right now, *no one* in that factory knew what was up with the Poisoner. No one had ever met them, no one even knew their name. Some of the old lot swore they were the Founder's own *child*--but you can't believe anything old people say." (text-colour:red)[["You can believe SOME things."->RedCh1Clar6]]

Santine tsks. "How should I know? I wasn't their keeper. It's not my fault they turned into a serial killer." He doesn't meet your eyes. His hands are elegant, but the nails are harshly bitten. Blood has dried under the quicks. (text-colour:magenta)[["Something troubling you?"->MagCh1San2]]

"What could //possibly// be troubling me? I'm an extremely successful business person. I have absolutely nothing on my mind." (text-colour:magenta)[["I just thought you might be experiencing some guilt around, you know, the hundreds of people who've been Poisoned while working for your factory."->MagCh1San3]]

Santine sits up straighter. "First off, only about twenty of them were Poisoned on factory property. The rest were all on their 'at-home-days' or whatever you people call the bits when I don't have to pay you." (text-colour:magenta)[[(Next.)->MagCh1San4]] (text-colour:green)[["You mean weekends?"->BluCh1San1]]

"They were //for// the Poisoner! The factory revolved around them. That's why it had to shut down. Without the Poisoner there is no Threads and Flowers. It was--and I don't say this lightly--a batshit insane way to run a business." (text-colour:magenta)[["Which *you* helped to run."->MagCh1San6]]

"I only worked there a year! I didn't realise how…unstable the Poisoner was. I should never have been allowed to implement the new quotas. I still don't understand why Ka--" he cuts off. (text-colour:magenta)[["'Ka--'?" ->MagCh1San7]]

Santine looks shaken. "I merely refer to my other shareholders. An editorial 'Ka--', if you will. A general sense of someone in power who, when I suggested upping the Poisoner's quotas *could* have stopped me, and didn't.'" (text-colour:magenta)[["Alright, leaving…that, for now, how //did// the Poisoner respond to these new quotas?"->MagCh1San8]] (text-colour:red)[["Is Ka-- the *Founder*?"->RedCh1San1]]

"*Badly,* detective." His eyes dart to Clarissa. "Right before the Poisonings they sent me a message. A message telling me they would never make another hat. And they…" he swallows. "They made sure they never //could.//" (text-colour:magenta)[[(Whisper) "//What was in the message//?"->MagCh1San9]]

(set:$SanCh1Magenta to true)Santine stubs out his cigarette with a badly shaking hand. "Have a //care// detective. Not all of us wish to gamble on our lives tonight." Sound carries easily over Pete's gentle song. Clarissa is playing with her tassel, Pete is re-pointing one of the corns on her tricorn. The sandwich-seminar-presenter, however, is watching you. You shiver. Perhaps a loud, noisy jam *would* help Santine reveal his creepy secrets.(if:$SanCh1Red is not true and $SanCh1Magenta is true)[ (text-colour:red)[["So did I hear you say you knew the Founder?"->RedCh1San1]]](if:$SanCh1Orange is not true)[ (text-colour:orange)[["What was that tune you were tapping?"->OrCh1San1]]](if:$SanCh1Purple is not true and $SanCh1Orange is true)[ (text-colour:blue)[["Hey, how about some hand carved wooden jewellery? Fair warning, I can't really do 'S'."->PurCh1San1]]] (text-colour:cyan)[[(Go check out the other patrons.)->Ch1Bar]]

Santine looks faintly repulsed. "Is that what they're called? God, you're all so depressing." (text-colour:green)[["Didn't you work in the factory yourself before you learnt how to launder money?" ->BluCh1San2]]

(set:$SanCh1Blue to true)Santine's eyes narrow. "Say, didn't you have a partner? I remember there used to be two of you scurrying around. I feel you're significantly worse without them." Suddenly all you can smell is midori. (text-colour:green)[[(Say...something.)->BluCh1San3]]

Santine is still talking, a red packet of cigarettes now in one hand. "Frankly, you should probably just retire. You're clearly not cut out for this." You...you are. You're a real detective. Only one person has ever believed in you, but they were the best person in the world. (text-colour:magenta)[["So...so did those labour-rights-infringing quotas apply to the Mercury Poisoner?"->MagCh1San5]]

"Excuse me? I didn't realise this was one of those 'comment innappropriately on other people's behaviour' pirate bars." He ashes his cigarette with great absence of rhythm. (text-colour:orange)[["I'm just taking note of everyone's jam. I'm planning on slamming some tracks later."->OrCh1San2]]

"How interesting. Well, goodbye." He makes shooing motions at you while lighting another cigarette. (text-colour:orange)[["I'll bet you're into jazz. All expensive people are into jazz."->OrCh1San3]]

Santine sets down his unlit cigarette. "I'm into any music that drowns out the sound of inane people in pirate-themed bars trying to talk to me about things they don't understand." (text-colour:orange)[["Man, //no-one// understands jazz."->OrCh1San4]] (text-colour:blue)[["You're right, and as a token of my apology, how about I make you a personalised wood-carved necklace? Fair warning, I can't really do 'S'."->PurCh1San1]]

Santine leans forwards in his seat, cigarette forgotten. His lustreless eyes take on a primal gleam. "Jazz isn't understood. Jazz is //submitted to//." (text-colour:orange)[["Um."->OrCh1San5]]

Santine looks at the little wooden items you produce. "What //are// they," he says, critically, poking one with his pinky. (text-colour:blue)[["Well these are mostly from my Spring collection. I got really into stone-fruit timbre--"->PurCh1San2]]

(set:$SanCh1Purple to true)Santine looks faint. "Please, take them away." Shocking as it might seem, this isn't the first time someone has responded negatively to your woodcarving hobby.(if:$SanCh1Orange is not true)[ (text-colour:orange)[["Back to that jazz I totally understand."->OrCh1San4]]](if:$SanCh1Magenta is not true and $SanCh1Orange is true)[ (text-colour:magenta)[[(Hide how much you care by not crying) "Onto other matters... What was it like having the Poisoner work for you?"->MagCh1San1]]](if:$SanCh1Red is not true and $SanCh1Magenta is true)[ (text-colour:red)[["Grateful for your patronage! Did you say you knew the Founder?"->RedCh1San1]]](if:$SanCh1Magenta is true)[ (text-colour:cyan)[[(Gather up your necklace items and go check out the other patrons.)->Ch1Bar]]]

(set:$SanCh1Orange to true)"Oh. Well, that was the wrong thing to take away from that, but good, I suppose." He looks mollified. Better hit him with the tough questions while he's still thinking about jazz. (if:$SanCh1Magenta is not true)[ (text-colour:magenta)[["Wow, that was so informative. What was it like having the Poisoner work for you?"->MagCh1San1]]](if:$SanCh1Red is not true and $SanCh1Magenta is true)[ (text-colour:red)[["Incredible! Did you say you knew the Founder?"->RedCh1San1]]](if:$SanCh1Purple is not true)[ (text-colour:blue)[["Now that you have changed my understanding of all sound, may I interest you in a novelty wooden necklace?"->PurCh1San1]]](if:$SanCh1Magenta is true)[ (text-colour:cyan)[[(Actually, time to talk to someone else.)->Ch1Bar]]]

"Why would you even--how would that--I would never date someone like--" he coughs and glares out the window. He looks uncomfortably warm. Behind you, you hear someone stifle a laugh--but you don't catch who it is. (text-colour:red)[["Santine, are you sleeping with your boss?"->RedCh1San2]]

"//Was// sleeping with, //was// detective. We broke up when I was fired. I mean, when I strategically took the fall for--oh, who am I kidding." He looks down at his bleeding hands. "I was never anything more than a pawn to them." Yikes. (text-colour:red)[["One time I had a girlfriend and she dumped me even though I had figured out my bra size by then."->RedCh1San3]]

Santine stops halfway through eating his thumbnail. "What?" (text-colour:red)[[(Quick, while his guard's down) "Did you see how the Founder treated the Poisoner?"->RedCh1San4]]

"Look. I..." A line of sweat streaks his temple. "All I can say is that the Founder of Threads and Flowers went to some very extreme lengths to keep the Mercury Poisoner under control." (text-colour:red)[["Extreme like...mind control?"->RedCh1San5]]

The presenter clasps their gloved hands behind their back. "Tonight's seminar will cover mayonnaise thickness and cucumber placement. Then, we will move on to presentation--decorative foliage, sandwich placement, etc." (text-colour:yellow)[["My."->YelCh1Club2]]

"They're cucumbers! But cucumbers, marrows, //and// melons are all part of the same family. Would you like to know anything else about traditional club-sandwich-filling-ingredients?" (text-colour:green)[["Um...are they meant to be cut into rectangles, or triangles?->GreCh1Club2a]] (text-colour:lime)[["How do you stop them from going soggy?"->GreCh1Club2b]] (text-colour:#c4ec55)[["Where do club-sandwiches come from?"->GreCh1Club2d]]

(set:$ClubCh1Green to true)(set:$ClubCh1Green2a to true)"They're both correct! Typically, a club-sandwich-display will have both triangular and rectangular sandwiches. Just remember, //always// remove those crusts."(if:$ClubCh1Green2b is not true)+(text-colour:lime)[ [["How do you stop them from going soggy?"->GreCh1Club2b]]](if:$ClubCh1Green2d is not true)+(text-colour:#c4ec55)[ [["Where do club-sandwiches come from?"->GreCh1Club2d]]](if:$ClubCh1Green2b is true and $ClubCh1Green2d is true)[(if:$ClubCh1Cyan is not true)+(text-colour:yellow)[ [["How's this whole seminar thing going, anyway?"->YelCh1Club1]]](text-colour:blue)[ [["Would you be interested in checking out some high quality, handmade, alphabet-based wooden jewellery?"->BluCh1Club2]]](if:$SanCh1Magenta is true and $Ch1ClarYellow is true and $ClubCh1Red is not true)[ (text-colour:red)[["How come you kept evesdropping while I was talking to Santine and Clarissa?"->RedCh1Club1]]](if:$ClubCh1Red is true)[ (text-colour:cyan[[(Go check out the other patrons.)->Ch1Bar]]]]

(set:$ClubCh1Green to true)(set:$ClubCh1Green2b to true)"Surface tension."(if:$ClubCh1Green2a is not true)+(text-colour:green)[ [["Um...are they meant to be cut into rectangles, or triangles?->GreCh1Club2a]]](if:$ClubCh1Green2d is not true)+(text-colour:#c4ec55)[ [["Where do club-sandwiches come from?"->GreCh1Club2d]]](if:$ClubCh1Green2a is true and $ClubCh1Green2d is true)[(if:$ClubCh1Cyan is not true)+(text-colour:yellow)[ [["How's this whole seminar thing going, anyway?"->YelCh1Club1]]](text-colour:blue)[ [["Would you be interested in checking out some high quality handmade, alphabet-based wooden jewellery?"->BluCh1Club2]]](if:$SanCh1Magenta is true and $Ch1ClarYellow is true and $ClubCh1Red is not true)[ (text-colour:red)[["How come you kept evesdropping while I was talking to Santine and Clarissa?"->RedCh1Club1]]](if:$ClubCh1Red is true)[ (text-colour:cyan)[[(Go check out the other patrons.)->Ch1Bar]]]]

(set:$ClubCh1Cyan to true)"Absolutely not. But I'll tell you what--come to my seminar later on, and I'll let you take home as many as you like."(if:$ClubCh1Green is not true)+(text-colour:green)[ [["Are cucumbers melons, or marrows? I always forget."->GreCh1Club1]]](if:$SanCh1Magenta is true and $Ch1ClarYellow is true and $ClubCh1Red is not true)[ (text-colour:red)[["How come you kept evesdropping while I was talking to Santine and Clarissa?"->RedCh1Club1]]](if:$ClubCh1Red is true)[ (text-colour:cyan)[[(Go check out the other patrons.)->Ch1Bar]]]

"Look, I won't pretend things haven't been a little dead around here--" They inhale, and you feel a chill as you realise they are about to say 'no pun intended'. (text-colour:yellow)[[(Remain very still.)->YelClub]]

"Perhaps so. Perhaps this world cannot really be softened by the gentle pillow of a three-layered sandwich, and perhaps it is time we admitted that." They shrug. "Then again, perhaps not. After all, a sandwich doesn't have to stop a murderer in order to murder my appetite!" (text-colour:lime)[[(Stare at them open-mouthed.)->LimCh1Club2]]

They cough. "No but in all seriousness, go enjoy the bar. The seminar won't start for a while yet." (text-colour:yellow)[["Are you really expecting anyone to come?"->YelCh1Club3]](if:$ClubCh1Green is not true)+(text-colour:green)[ [["Are cucumbers melons, or marrows? I always forget."->GreCh1Club1]]](if:$SanCh1Magenta is true and $Ch1ClarYellow is true and $ClubCh1Red is not true)[ (text-colour:red)[["How come you kept evesdropping while I was talking to Santine and Clarissa?"->RedCh1Club1]]](if:$ClubCh1Red is true)[ (text-colour:cyan)[[(Go check out other patrons.)->Ch1Bar]]]

The presenter goes still. "Was I really? How unprofessional of me. I'm sure I was simply thinking about parsley placement, and it merely looked as though I was evesdropping." (text-colour:red)[["Do you know either of them?"->RedCh1Club2]]

They laugh. It is chestier than you'd expect. As though it comes from someone who has lived a much longer and harsher life. "Why no, of course I don't! I don't know anyone. I am merely a representative of the club-sandwich-seminar company. Would you like a sample?" (text-colour:red)[["I distinctly saw you listening, and maybe laughing."->RedCh1Club3]] (text-colour:magenta)[["Uh, sure, I'll take a sample."->MagCh1Club1]]

"Oh. Well, you can't have any actually. They're all part of the display--I don't know why I offered." They edge between you and the plate of samples. You still can't see their features, but you think they might be nervous. (text-colour:magenta)[["Huh. Kind of feels like the sort of thing you'd //want// to hand around before an event."->MagCh1Club2]]

(set:$ClubCh1Red to true)"Well, I wasn't! Now if you'll excuse me, I have a lot of cucumbers left to slice, and the only thing that helps me slice them faster is my cucumber-slicing song, which I have to sing myself, since all this bar plays is music about pirates."(if:$ClubCh1Cyan is not true)+(text-colour:yellow)[ [["How //is// this whole seminar thing going, anyway?"->YelCh1Club1]]](if:$ClubCh1Green is not true)+(text-colour:green)[ [["Are cucumbers melons, or marrows? I always forget."->GreCh1Club1]]] (text-colour:cyan)[[(Go check out the other patrons.)->Ch1Bar]]

The presenter's shrouded person stiffens, and for a moment you think they're going to snap at you. Then they relax. "It does, doesn't it! But nope." You both stare at each other for several seconds. (text-colour:red)[["I still think you were monitoring what Clarissa and Santine were saying about the Poisoner's mental state."->RedCh1Club3]]

(set:$ClubCh1Green to true)(set:$ClubCh1Green2d to true)"No one knows."(if:$ClubCh1Green2a is not true)+(text-colour:green)[ [["Um...are they meant to be cut into rectangles, or triangles?->GreCh1Club2a]]](if:$ClubCh1Green2b is not true)+(text-colour:lime)[ [["How do you stop them from going soggy?"->GreCh1Club2b]]](if:$ClubCh1Green2a is true and $ClubCh1Green2b is true)[(if:$ClubCh1Cyan is not true)+(text-colour:yellow)[ [["How's this whole seminar thing going, anyway?"->YelCh1Club1]]](text-colour:blue)[ [["Would you be interested in checking out some high quality handmade, alphabet-based wooden jewellery?"->BluCh1Club2]]](if:$SanCh1Magenta is true and $Ch1ClarYellow is true and $ClubCh1Red is not true)[ (text-colour:red)[["How come you kept evesdropping while I was talking to Santine and Clarissa?"->RedCh1Club1]]](if:$ClubCh1Red is true)[ (text-colour:cyan)[[(Go check out the other patrons.)->Ch1Bar]]]]

(set:$ClubCh1Blue to true)["No."] You quietly slip your samples back into your pocket.(if:$ClubCh1Cyan is not true)+(text-colour:yellow)[ [["How's this whole seminar thing going, anyway?"->YelCh1Club1]]](if:$SanCh1Magenta is true and $Ch1ClarYellow is true and $ClubCh1Red is not true)+(text-colour:red)[ [["How come you kept evesdropping while I was talking to Santine and Clarissa?"->RedCh1Club1]]](if:$ClubCh1Red is true)[ (text-colour:cyan)[[(Go check out the other patrons.)->Ch1Bar]]]

Pete slides her phone under the lip of the bar as she sees you approach. (text-colour:orange)[["Two witnesses established, and I'm only on midori sour number one. Do you trust me now?"->CyCh2Pet1]] (text-colour:green)[["Who's--" (craning to see the screen) "--Treasure Chest Hester?"->GreCh2Pet1]]

You could toast coconut on Pete's cheeks. "She's no one. A pen-pal." (text-colour:green)[["A piiiiirate pen-pal?"->GreCh2Pet2]]

"Chester is actually a highly respected figure in the pirate world. I met her on a cruise last year and we happened to hit it off. She was very impressed with my idea for a chain of coconut-themed minimarts." (text-colour:green)[["//Chester//?"->GreCh2Pet3]] (text-colour:blue)[["Wow, that sounds like an amazing idea!"->BluCh2Pet1]]

(set:$Ch2Tokens to true)"Oh I already regret it. Deeply." (text-colour:cyan)[[(Time to crank it.)->Ch2BarTitle]](if:$PetCh2Green is not true)[ (text-colour:green)[[Just real quick before I head off, *who* is Treasure Chest Hester?"->GreCh2Pet1]]]

"You mean the one you //broke?// You can use a token on it if you want, but it won't work, //because you broke it//. Maybe someone knows how to fix it, but I'm perfectly happy to leave it the way it is." (text-colour:orange)[["You won't regret this, Pete."->CyCh2Pet2]]

(if:$ClarissaToken is true)[Gentle notes plucked from an old instrument tangle sadly in the air, like washing hung outside a fishing hut. (text-colour:red)[[Clarissa->Ch2Clarissa]] has become an indiscernable lump of sequins and confident fabric swatches. (text-colour:magenta)[[Santine->Ch2Santine]] glances over his shoulder constantly, biting his nails. The mound of ash in front of him has become a softly collapsing mountain. The (text-colour:yellow)[[club-sandwich-seminar-presenter->Ch2Sandwich]] lounges next to their finished display, casually tossing something button sized and catching it again. (if:$Ch2ClarCyan is true)[The old (text-colour:orange)[[Wurlitzer->(Play a song?)]] hums in the corner, yours at last. ](visited:"Ch2Notes")[(text-colour:lime)[[(Read up on the case.)->Ch2Notes]]](else:)[(text-colour:lime)[[(*Case updated.)->Ch2Notes]]] ](if:$SantineToken is true)[The awful clatter of existential jazz thunders through the smoky room like a grumpy uncle looking for his wallet. (text-colour:red)[[Clarissa->Ch2Clarissa]] hunches over her wine, staring down into it transfixed. Her mouth is a grim line. (text-colour:magenta)[[Santine->Ch2Santine]] sits up straight, cigarette laid aside. His eyes shine; he is listening intently to, and enjoying, the extremely unplesant music. The (text-colour:yellow)[[club-sandwich-seminar-presenter->Ch2Sandwich]] lounges next to their finished display, casually tossing something button sized and catching it again. (if:$Ch2SanMagenta is true)[The old (text-colour:orange)[[Wurlitzer->(Play a song?)]] hums in the corner, yours at last. ](visited:"Ch2Notes")[(text-colour:lime)[[(Read up on the case.)->Ch2Notes]]](else:)[(text-colour:lime)[[(*Case updated.)->Ch2Notes]]] ](if:$ClubSandwichToken is true)[The unnerving whisper of childhood happiness and forgotten dreams spreads through the bar like watercolour on paper. (text-colour:red)[[Clarissa->Ch2Clarissa]] hunches over her wine, staring down into it transfixed. Her mouth is a grim line. (text-colour:magenta)[[Santine->Ch2Santine]] glances over his shoulder constantly, biting his nails. The mound of ash in front of him has become a softly collapsing mountain. The (text-colour:yellow)[[club-sandwich-seminar-presenter->Ch2Sandwich]] is taking a selfie with an egg and cress. (visited:"Ch2Notes")[(text-colour:lime)[[(Read up on the case.)->Ch2Notes]]](else:)[(text-colour:lime)[[(*Case updated.)->Ch2Notes]]] ](else-if:$ClarissaToken is not true and $SantineToken is not true and $ClubSandwichToken is not true)[(text-colour:red)[[Clarissa->Ch2Clarissa]] hunches over her wine, staring down into it transfixed. Her mouth is a grim line. (text-colour:magenta)[[Santine->Ch2Santine]] glances over his shoulder constantly, biting his nails. The mound of ash in front of him has become a softly collapsing mountain. The (text-colour:yellow)[[club-sandwich-seminar-presenter->Ch2Sandwich]] lounges next to their finished display, casually tossing something button sized and catching it again. The old (text-colour:orange)[[Wurlitzer->(Play a song?)]] hums in the corner, yours at last. (visited:"Ch2Notes")[(text-colour:lime)[[(Read up on the case.)->Ch2Notes]]](else:)[(text-colour:lime)[[(*Case updated.)->Ch2Notes]]]]

This song has been playing all night. Pirate Pete can handle listening to something else for 2 to 5 minutes. (text-colour:orange)[[(Back.)->(Play a song?)]]

You still need that missing button. (text-colour:orange)[[(Back.)->(Play a song?)]]

"After the cruise we stayed in touch, and one thing led to another... Anyway she's coming into port soon and I don't know if she'll still like me in person." She looks terrified. You are gripped with a sudden panic. Pete and Chester's love //must// succeed. (text-colour:green)[["Maybe you could move in together!"->GreCh2Pet6]]

"Not in the slightest." Ruefully, Pete reaches below the counter and slides you a battered tin lunchbox full of faded plastic tokens. (text-colour:orange)[["I promise you won't regret this, Pete."->CyCh2Pet2]] (text-colour:yellow)[["What about the fifth song? The one with the missing button?"->OrCh2Pet2]]

"It //does// right?" Pete props herself up on her elbows excitedly. "Just a really solid, good idea." (text-colour:blue)[["Maybe even worthy of a hand carved, coconut themed, wooden sign?->BluCh2Pet2]]

"She's already asked me to move onto the pirate ship. She hates that the Poisoner's still out there. But I just can't leave Pirate Pete's. And how would I open the minimarts if I lived at sea? I guess I'm not a real pirate." She looks down. (text-colour:green)[["Have you ever asked Chester whether she'd like to settle down with you? Run the bar together? Open the minimarts //together//?"->GreCh2Pet7]]

"I couldn't. Chester's a free spirit. She *hates* landlubbers. When she finds out I want to stay, she'll leave me." She looks so anxious, looking up and down from her phone. (text-colour:green)[["Look, I know I'm not really an authority on this. But I will say--don't give up on the things you love until you know for sure they're really gone."->GreCh2Pet8]]

(set:$PetCh2Green to true)Pete frowns. She opens her mouth, as though to question something, then decides against it. "Thanks Deluxe. I'll remember that."(if:$Ch2Tokens is not true)+(text-colour:orange)[ [["Right, I'm not sad. Now, about those tokens, have I done enough to earn your trust?"->CyCh2Pet1]]][ (if:$Ch2Tokens is true)+(text-colour:cyan)[["Right, I'm not sad. Onwards and upwards, Faith!" (Go out and face the bar once more, this time with jukebox access.)->Ch2BarTitle]]]

(set:$ClarissaToken to true, $SantineToken to false, $ClubSandwichToken to false)Like a sunwarmed hand, the first, soft notes fall over your shoulders. It is a strange melody. Off-key notes from some loose-stringed instrument. Foreign yet familiar. A folk song as old as the entire Inlet. (text-colour:cyan)[[(Hit da club!)->Ch2Bar]]

(set:$SantineToken to true, $ClarissaToken to false, $ClubSandwichToken to false)Begrudgingly, like a distant uncle coming to your aid, the first F-flat strikes the bar. It is a resentful, clashing melody. Each crowded note is placed with exacting discrimination and class. It isn't pleasant, but boy is it loud. (text-colour:cyan)[[(Hit da club!)->Ch2Bar]]

The chip, warm from your palm and slightly sticky, clunks lightly down inside the softly vibrating machine. Suddenly, all of the tracks except one are ready for you to play. 1. (text-colour:blue)[[//Coconuts in my Heart// - Porthole Pam and the Privateers->Ch2Coconuts]] 2. (text-colour:red)[[//On My Side of the Isola// - Sunny Skies Revival Troupe->Ch2MySide]] 3. (text-colour:magenta)[[//Eight Times a Fool// - Gambler in the Rain->Ch2Gambler]] 4. (text-colour:yellow)[[//Cucumber Times// - Zuchini Tim and Wintermelon Sam->Ch2Cucumber]] 5. (text-colour:grey)[[????->Ch2????]] (text-colour:cyan)[[(Back.)->Ch2Bar]]

(if:$Ch2ClarCyan is true and $Ch2SanMagenta is true)[(set:$ClubSandwichToken to true, $ClarissaToken to false, $SantineToken to false)With the soft chill of unexpected rainfall, the cucumber song shivers over the bar. It speaks of the end of childhood. Worn out toys and final schooyards. The last days of happiness and joy. Patrons eye their drinks uncertain if the feeling is hope or despair. (text-colour:cyan)[[(Hit...da club?)->Ch2Bar]]](else:)[Before you can press the button, the hair on the nape of your neck prickles. The club-sandwich-seminar-presenter is watching you, tossing a small, slightly tarnished object back and forth. Maybe you should talk to Clarissa and Santine before dealing with them. (text-colour:orange)[[(Back.)->(Play a song?)]]]

(if:$SantineToken is true)[Santine taps on the tablecloth like it's a coconut and parrot-embroidered piano; his fingertips and lips are now cracked and raw. He stabs a nibbled finger at the jukebox as you sit down. "//This//. This is what I'm talking about," he nods in time with the absence of beat. "This is jazz." (if:$Ch2SanMagenta is not true)[(text-colour:magenta)[["What was the message the Poisoner sent you?"->MagCh2San1]] ](if:$Ch2ClarYellow is true and $Ch2SanLime is not true)[(text-colour:yellow)[["Why did you send Clarissa to the Poisoner's house early that day?"->LimCh2San1]] ](if:$Ch2SanMagEd is true and $Ch2SanRed is not true)[(text-colour:red)[["So rolling back to 'Ka--' again..."->RedCh2San1a]] ](if:$Ch2SanOrange is not true)[(text-colour:orange)[["Do you know happen to know where the missing jukebox button is?"->OrCh2San1]] ](text-colour:cyan)[[(Back to da club.)->Ch2Bar]]](else:)[Santine's eyes widen and he hisses, like you've got mange. "Music!" He mouths. "Louder!" Right. There's only one thing that will help here, and it's not an alphabet pun. (text-colour:cyan)[[(Back.)->Ch2Bar]]]

(if:$ClarissaToken is true)[Clarissa is puddled on the bartop, her incredible scarf thing pulled over her head. She peeks out at you with baleful red eyes. She looks as though a collossal weight has hit her all at once. "I cannot //believe// you found this song here." (if:$Ch2ClarCyan is not true)[(text-colour:red)[["Right! Let's talk about what happened the day you met the Poisoner."->RedCh2Clar1]] ](if:$Ch2ClarOrange is not true)[(text-colour:orange)[["Do you happen to know where the missing jukebox button is?"->OrCh2Clar1]] ](text-colour:cyan)[[(Return to da bar.)->Ch2Bar]]](else:)\ [Clarissa clenches her wine stem in a death grip. Her body is stretched as taught as a production line. She's definitely too tense to talk about the Poisoner. Not even the most perfectly timed wooden-alphabet pun would do any good here. (text-colour:cyan)[[(Back.)->Ch2Bar]]]

(If:$ClubSandwichToken is true)[As you approach, you see them tuck the button-sized bauble into one of their latex gloves. (text-colour:green)[["Is this thing starting already?"->GreCh2Club1]] (text-colour:orange)[["Why is this song about depressed children, not cucumbers?"->OrCh2Club1]] (text-colour:red)[["What's that thing you're playing with?"->RedCh2Club1]]](else:)["Go away," the club-sandwich-seminar-presenter calls emperiously. "We are not ready for your audience yet." The 'we' in question is clearly them and the sandwiches. (text-colour:cyan)[[(Back.)->Ch2Bar]]]

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves. But Deluxe? I'm interested." (text-colour:green)[["Soooo. How did *Chester* get involved in all this?"->GreCh2Pet3]]

(set:$Ch2ClarCyLow to true)"Oh fine. It'll haunt me to an early grave anyway." She blows her nose on her shawl and eats a peanut. "So, ok. I come over from the Isola all 'la la la clothes' etc, and Alex gets me a job running deliveries for Threads and Flowers. And because I'm special or something I get *that* route." (text-colour:red)[[(Next.)->RedCh2Clar2]]

(set:$RedSeen1 to true)Clarissa nods at Santine, who has been looking at both of you and quickly pretends otherwise. "That one." (text-colour:yellow)[["Why would he do that?"->YelCh2Clar2]](if:$Ch2ClarCyan is not true)[ (text-colour:red)[["Interrupting someone at 6am seems a little risky."->RedCh2Clar4]]]

"It was pitch black. Mercury was so thick in the air it made my eyes water. It was small, that apartment. One windowless room full of trash. It smelt like a public toilet." (text-colour:red)[[(Next.)->RedCh2Clar6]]

"They were cutting their fingers off." (text-colour:red)[["..."->RedCh2Clar8]]

"Nothing. It was like looking at a person who wasn't really there--who hadn't ever been there. The only thing about them I remember is that they wore a dirty Threads and Flowers uniform, and went barefoot. And they were sad. Very, very sad." (text-colour:red)[["What did they do when they saw you??"->RedCh2Clar10]]

(set:$Ch2ClarCyan to true)Clarissa looks at her hands, scrutinizing her splayed fingers like they're going to disappear. "I guess we'll never know."(if:$Ch2ClarYellow is not true)[(if:$RedSeen1 is true and $RedSeen2 is not true)[ (text-colour:yellow)[["But right, so, why would Santine tell you to get there so early anyway?"->YelCh2Clar2]]](if:$RedSeen2 is true)[ (text-colour:yellow)[["What //was// Santine's role in the company? I can't quite seem to get it out of him."->YelCh2Clar4]]](if:$RedSeen1 is not true and $RedSeen2 is not true)[ (text-colour:yellow)[["So what lame boss told you to go to the Poisoner's house that day?"->YelCh2Clar1]]]](if:$Ch2ClarOrange is not true)[ (text-colour:orange)[["Do you happen to know where the missing jukebox button is?"->OrCh2Clar1]]] (text-colour:cyan)[[(Return to da club.)->Ch2Bar]]

Clarissa spreads her hands. "The day I meet the Poisoner I'm starting my shift, and this guy //sprints// up to me, and demands I go straight to the Poisoner's. Drop //everything// he says, and get there as fast as I can. He'd never so much as looked at me." (text-colour:yellow)[["Did you ask why?"->YelCh2Clar3]]

(set:$RedSeen2 to true)"And get fired? When someone like Santine gives you an order, you follow it." (text-colour:yellow)[["What //was// Santine's role in the company? I can't quite seem to get it out of him."->YelCh2Clar4]](if:$Ch2ClarCyan is not true)[ (text-colour:red)[["So you had to go interrupt the reclusive miliner? That seems...unwise."->RedCh2Clar4]]]

Clarissa shrugs. "Sleeping with the boss? I mean, seriously. He said he was a shareholder, but he acted more like a mystery shopper with a license to kill. That is a position I like to call 'The Boss's Boyfriend'." (text-colour:yellow)[["And by 'the Boss' you mean the Founder?"->YelCh2Clar5]]

"Yes. I never saw them myself--that I know of, but they had a stranglehold on Threads and Flowers operations. Nothing happened that wasn't their call. They used people like Santine to do their dirty work--whether they knew it or not." You look at Santine. He is furiously trying to pick out flecks of ash from his tea. (text-colour:yellow)[["That you *know* of?"->YelCh2Clar6]] (text-colour:magenta)[["So he probably didn't know it."->MagCh2Clar1]]

"Haven't you heard? The Founder is a master of disguise. They liked to test workers by going undercovers as different odd-jobs people. They fired alot of people without pay that way. It put the fear of god into the workers too--you could never trust anyone." (text-colour:yellow)[["But like, their boytoy would reconise them right?"->YelCh2Clar7]]

(set:$Ch2ClarYellow to true)"I doubt it. The Founder wasn't exactly a giver. But you could ask him, I guess. I mean he knew *something* was going on that day." You both watch as Santine gnaws at his cuticles, muttering to himself.(if:$Ch2ClarCyan is not true and $YellowSeen is not true)[ (text-colour:red)[["So, take me back to what happened the day you met the Poisoner."->RedCh2Clar1]]](if:$Ch2ClarCyan is not true and $YellowSeen is true)[ (text-colour:red)[["Alright, but getting back to it--6am, that's so not the right time to interrupt someone!"->RedCh2Clar4]]](if:$Ch2ClarOrange is not true)[ (text-colour:orange)[["Do you happen to know where the missing jukebox button is?"->OrCh2Clar1]]](if:$Ch2ClarCyan is true)[ (text-colour:cyan)[[(Return to da club.)->Ch2Bar]]]

"Yeah, he definitely thought he was calling the shots. Called himself a 'productivity architect' or something equally unbearable. Pretended all the workers over 45 didn't know him as their bookie. In fact if they mentioned it they got fired, so I don't know what he'll do for money now." (text-colour:magenta)[["And you really have no idea why he told you to go early that day?"->MagCh2Clar2]]

"None at all. But he seemed terrified. Almost like he knew what was about to happen, and wanted to stop it." Interesting. (text-colour:yellow)[["But you don't know much about the Founder themselves?"->YelCh2Clar6]]

Santine gives a laboured sigh. "How are you so persistent, yet so poorly dressed?" He stubs out his cigarette. (if:$Ch2ClarYellow and $Ch2SanLime is true)["Fine. Those fingers the Poisoner cut off? I received all ten of them in the mail later that day."](else:)["Fine. On the day the Poisonings began the Poisoner cut off all their fingers and mailed them to me."] (text-colour:magenta)[["Ew!"->MagCh2San2]]

Santine gives you a pitying look. "*Quit?* the Poisoner couldn't quit. The Poisoner didn't even get to take one of those 'weekends' you're all so mad on." (text-colour:magenta)[["And they were just ok with this?"->MagCh2San4]]

(set:$Ch2SanMagEd to true)"I was alone, coming home late after drinks with Ka--I mean with no one. I was twiddling the key, when this stench hits me. It smells like iron and refuse and sadness. Then this...absence in the shape of a person steps out of the alley." (text-colour:magenta)[[(Next.)->MagCh2San6]] (if:$Ch2SanRed is not true)[(text-colour:red)[["Right, so we're back to this 'Ka--'."->RedCh2San1a]]]

"Yes, yes, I was in a relationship with the Founder of Threads and Flowers," Santine says, irritably. "They staked me into the company, and encouraged me to set quotas that I didn't realise the factory could never meet. It was professionally questionable, and emotionally destitute. Sometimes we would go and get martinis." (text-colour:red)[["What were they like?"->RedCh2San2]]

"They crept up to me, calling me 'the hat man' and saying I needed to stop giving them hats to make. When I said I couldn't, they said I needed to fire them. The actual phrase they used was 'set me free'. They must be near 50, but they seemed...younger. Frozen" (text-colour:magenta)[[(Next.)->MagCh2San7]]

"Yes. They did." He looks ashamed. "For all I know that's the only time they ever left, and they came to me. And you know what I did? I told them to talk to HR." (text-colour:magenta)[["Does Threads and Flowers even have an HR?"->MagCh2San13]]

(set:$Ch2SanMagenta to true)"Does any company? If it makes you feel better I spent the next week in a cold sweat. I knew they were about to do something bad, I just didn't know what. Or *how* bad."(if:$Ch2ClarYellow is true and $Ch2SanLime is not true)[ (text-colour:yellow)[["So instead of actually helping them, you just sent the delivery driver a couple hours early?"->LimCh2San1]]](if:$Ch2SanMagEd is true and $Ch2SanRed is not true)[ (text-colour:red)[["So back to 'Ka--'"->RedCh2San1a]]](if:$Ch2SanOrange is not true)[ (text-colour:orange)[["Do you know happen to know where the missing jukebox button is?"->OrCh2San1]]] [(text-colour:cyan)[[(Back to da club.)->Ch2Bar]]]

Santine shoots Clarissa a furious glare. "I didn't send her early! I sent her to deliver a flipping note, didn't I? Did she tell you about the note part? God, these people. Anyway, I knew I'd fucked up. So I sent the Poisoner a note explaning everything." (text-colour:yellow)[["Just for posterity...what exactly did this note say?->LimCh2San2]]

Santine waves a hand. "Oh, you know. 'Dear Valued Threads and Flowers Employee. Thank you for your years of tireless service, you are hereby terminated effective immediately. Sincerely, Santine. Lower Inlet Businessperson Of the Year nominee.' Something like that." (text-colour:yellow)[["Oh, well, if said something like //that//..."->LimCh2San3]]

"What do you //want// from me? They wanted to stop, I gave them permission. At great personal risk I might add. The Founder would have been furious if they'd known." He fidgets with his lip, again. His cigarette has tiny bloodstains on it. (text-colour:yellow)[["The Poisoner never got it. They were cutting off their fingers when Clarissa arrived."->LimCh2San4]]

"Multiflorous. They could have been 30 or 70. A beautiful young socialite, or a gruff old sailor. I remember finding them charming, yet their appearance never quite stuck in my head." (text-colour:red)[["That sounds like how people describe the Mercury Poisoner."->RedCh2San3]]

"Yes and no. Both are impossible to call to mind, but where the Poisoner is a blank stencil of a person filled with absence, the Founder is like a thousand people all at once, all changing so fast you can't latch onto any of them. Though the Founder was always very hygienic. They hated touching anything with their bare skin." (text-colour:red)[["Fun...so what letters come after 'Ka--'?"->RedCh2San5]]

(set:$Ch2SanOrange to true)"What? No. I never use those things if I can help it. Too many grubby detective fingers have been there already."(if:$Ch2SanMagEd is true and $Ch2SanMagenta is not true)[ (text-colour:magenta)[["So you said the Poisoner approached you in an alley?"->MagCh2San5]]](else-if:$Ch2SanMagenta is not true)[ (text-colour:magenta)[["What was the message the Poisoner sent you?"->MagCh2San1]]](if:$Ch2ClarYellow is true and $Ch2SanLime is not true)[ (text-colour:yellow)[["Why did you send Clarissa to the Poisoner's house early that day?"->LimCh2San1]]](if:$Ch2SanMagEd is true and $Ch2SanRed is not true)[ (text-colour:red)[["So rolling back to 'Ka--' again..."->RedCh2San1a]]](if:$Ch2SanMagenta is true)[ (text-colour:cyan)[[(Back to da club.)->Ch2Bar]]]

She recoils. "I've never so much as touched that thing. On the Isola we have a saying: 'Never use a machine that runs on tokens.'" (text-colour:orange)[["But like, camping showers!"->OrCh2Clar2]]

(set:$Ch2SanLime to true)His face twists between guilt and regret and chooses anger. "And I suppose that's my fault? I'm a victim here--do you know what it's like to have this much pressure put on you?"(if:$Ch2SanMagEd is true and $Ch2SanMagenta is not true)[ (text-colour:magenta)[["So you said the Poisoner approached you in an alley?"->MagCh2San5]]](else-if:$Ch2SanMagenta is not true)[ (text-colour:magenta)[["What was the message the Poisoner sent you?"->MagCh2San1]]](if:$Ch2SanMagEd is true and $Ch2SanRed is not true)[ (text-colour:red)[["Speaking of pressure, let's return to 'Ka--'"->RedCh2San1a]]](if:$Ch2SanOrange is not true)[ (text-colour:orange)[["Do you know happen to know where the missing jukebox button is?"->OrCh2San1]]](if:$Ch2SanMagenta is true)[ (text-colour:cyan)[[(Back to da club.)->Ch2Bar]]]

She shrugs. "We became very token-dependent a few decades back after electing a token-obsessed mayor. People are still wary." (text-colour:orange)[["Do you have any idea where *this* token could be?"->OrCh2Clar3]]

(set:$Ch2ClarOrange to true)"Nope, sorry. But try Santine. He looks like would steal a button." Does he? Maybe if the button was gold-plated and signed by someone both attractive and famous.(if:$Ch2ClarCyan is not true and $YellowSeen is not true)[ (text-colour:red)[["Well with that covered, let's talk about what happened the day you met the Poisoner."->RedCh2Clar1]]](if:$YellowSeen is true and $Ch2ClarYellow is not true)[ (text-colour:yellow)[["So what idiot told you to show up to the Poisoner's flat early?"->YelCh2Clar1]]](if:$Ch2ClarCyan is true)[ (text-colour:cyan)[[(Return to da club.)->Ch2Bar]]]

"Who knows? All I can say is that that they won't be making anymore hats after that." (text-colour:red)[["What did they look like?"->RedCh2Clar9]]

He sighs. "Their name is Kay. Kay Flowers. They're from the Upper Inlet, and they came down here to found their hat empire. That's all I know about them. Barely more than someone who wasn't their boyfriend for nine whole months." (text-colour:red)[["I take it the two of you have broken up?"->RedCh2San6]]

(set:$Ch2SanRed to true)"Astute, detective. Yes, when someone uses you as a pawn in their inscrutible game and then pins the blame on you it tends to sour things in the bedroom, too."(if:$Ch2SanMagEd is true and $Ch2SanMagenta is not true)[ (text-colour:magenta)[["So you said the Poisoner approached you in an alley?"->MagCh2San6]]](if:$Ch2ClarYellow is true and $Ch2SanLime is not true)[ (text-colour:yellow)[["Why did you send Clarissa to the Poisoner's house early that day?"->LimCh2San1]]](if:$Ch2SanOrange is not true)[ (text-colour:orange)[["Do you know happen to know where the missing jukebox button is?"->OrCh2San1]]](if:$Ch2SanMagenta is true)[ (text-colour:cyan)[[(Back to da club.)->Ch2Bar]]]

"No recreation here, detective. I'm at work." Their tone lowers. "And I take work //very// seriously." The amount of latex gloves they're wearing makes their digits look fake, and clumsy. (text-colour:red)[["Why are you wearing so many pairs of gloves?"->RedCh2Club2]]

(set:$Ch2ClubOrange to true)"You pressed play, detective. I'm not here for the music, only the sandwiches." The song hits a hollow, minor chord and the bar shivers, collectively. (text-colour:red)[["What's that thing you're playing with?"->RedCh2Club1]] (if:$Ch2ClubGreen is not true)[(text-colour:green)[["Is this thing starting already?"->GreCh2Club1]]]

(set: $Grab to 0)"Sorry detective, I can't shake hands with anyone while I'm at work. And I am //always// at work." From the shifting darkness under their hat, you sense they are smilling. They fail to notice as a button-shaped object slips through their plasticy fingers and plops into a salmon log. (text-colour:red)[[(Go for the log.)->RedCh2Club4]] (text-colour:yellow)[[(Deliberate.)->YelCh2Club1]]

"But you've already attended my seminar. Why the rush?" (text-colour:green)[["I never attended your seminar."->GreCh2Club2]]

"It's good to be hygienic. It wouldn't do to accidentally poison someone!" You squint at their fingers. They look real...but you can't see any skin beneath the layers of latex, and it's not like setting out club-sandwiches requires a //lot// of dextricity. (text-colour:red)[["Could you take your gloves off, please? I uh...have a latex allergy and I want to shake your hand."->RedCh2Club3]]

(set:$Ch2ClubGreen to true)"Of course, it was your *partner* who attended. Such a delightful individual. There was so much happening that night I almost forgot you spent most of it sulking in the corner." There is a faint ringing in your ears.(if:$Ch2ClubOrange is not true)[ (text-colour:orange)[["Why is this song about depressed children, not cucumbers?"->OrCh2Club1]]] (text-colour:red)[["What's that thing you're playing with?"->RedCh2Club1]]

(set: $Grab to $Grab +1)The club-sandwich-seminar-presenter blocks you deftly. "Oh no, detective. The food is for seminar attendees. And, as aforementioned, the seminar has not started yet." (text-colour:yellow)[[(Deliberate.)->YelCh2Club1]]

It is a truth, acknowledged or not, that being a private detective essentially means you are not a detective. You can *try* to grab the button, but what you really need is to find a way to steal it while they aren't looking.(text-colour:red)[(if: $Grab is 1)[ [[(Go for the log again.)->RedCh2Club4]]](if: $Grab is 2)[ [[(Go for the log one more time.)->RedCh2Club4]]](if: $Grab >2)[ [[(Just keep working on this log thing.)->RedCh2Club4]]](else-if: $Grab is 0)[ [[(Go for the log.)->RedCh2Club4]]]](if:$Ch2ClubPurple is not true)[ (text-colour:magenta)[[(Pretend your phone is ringing) "What's this? The real police? Calling to ask if I've talked to any serial killers lately?" (Squint at them to gauge their reaction.)->PurCh2Club1]]](if:$Ch2ClubBlue is not true)[ (text-colour:blue)[["Oh my GOD, I just remembered! The Latex Glove and Yellow Rainhat Convention is meeting on the pier right now and I have two free tickets!"->BluCh2Club1]]] (text-colour:yellow)[[(Survey the table dispassionately) "I see you went with the square sandwiches."->YelCh2Club2]]

"Yes, I did," they say defensively. "Why? What's wrong with squares?" (text-colour:yellow)[["Oh, nothing. I've just never seen a club-sandwich display without a few triangles before."->YelCh2Club3]]

"I prefer it this way." They survey their rows of square sandwiches uncertainly. (text-colour:yellow)[["You know, I think you're right. They do look better all the same like that."->YelCh2Club4]]

"Yes...if you'll just excuse me, I'll be right back." They dash off and disappear into Pete's kitchen. Pete raises her eyebrows at you. (text-colour:yellow)[[(Investigate the table.)->YelCh2Club5]]

(set: $PantryTime to 0)(text-colour:magenta)[[The button thing is sinking slowly into the pink goop of the salmon log.->YelCh2Club6a]] (text-colour:lime)[[The spread of club-sandwiches creaks the table, each squishy, crustless rectangle fresh and delectable.->YelCh2Club6b]] (text-colour:blue)[[On the floor, the pirate-themed table-cloth is caught on the handle of a blue chilly-bin.->YelCh2Club6c]]

(set:$Ch2ClubBlue to true)The club-sandwich person snorts. "It is NOT. It met yesterday. Or else do you really think I'd be wearing a brand new yellow rainhat and seventeen pairs of latex gloves right now?"(text-colour:red)[(if: $Grab is 1)[ [[(Go for the log again.)->RedCh2Club4]]](if: $Grab is 2)[ [[(Go for the log one more time.)->RedCh2Club4]]](if: $Grab >2)[ [[(Just keep working on this log thing.)->RedCh2Club4]]](else-if: $Grab is 0)[ [[(Go for the log.)->RedCh2Club4]]]](if:$Ch2ClubPurple is not true)[ (text-colour:magenta)[[(Pretend your phone is ringing) "What's this? The real police? Calling to ask if I've talked to any serial killers lately?" (Squint at them to gauge their reaction.)->PurCh2Club1]]] (text-colour:yellow)[[(Survey the table dispassionately) "I see you went with the square sandwiches."->YelCh2Club2]]

(set:$Ch2ClubPurple to true)"Well, is it? If it is you should probably answer them."(text-colour:red)[(if: $Grab is 1)[ [[(Go for the log again.)->RedCh2Club4]]](if: $Grab is 2)[ [[(Go for the log one more time.)->RedCh2Club4]]](if: $Grab >2)[ [[(Just keep working on this log thing.)->RedCh2Club4]]](else-if: $Grab is 0)[ [[(Go for the log.)->RedCh2Club4]]]](if:$Ch2ClubBlue is not true)[ (text-colour:blue)[["Oh my GOD, I just remembered! The Latex Glove and Yellow Rainhat Convention is meeting on the pier right now and I have two free tickets!"->BluCh2Club1]]] (text-colour:yellow)[[(Survey the table dispassionately) "I see you went with the square sandwiches."->YelCh2Club2]]

(set: $PantryTime to $PantryTime + 1)(set:$Button to true)You free the button from the pureed salmon side-dish with a sploosh. It //is// the missing jukebox button! At last, you can play that mystery song...something which doesn't turn your legs to water.(if:$Sandwich is not true)[ (text-colour:lime)[[The spread of club-sandwiches creaks the table, each squishy, crustless rectangle fresh and delectable.->YelCh2Club6b]]](if:$ChillyBin is not true)[ (text-colour:blue)[[On the floor, the pirate-themed table-cloth is caught on the handle of a blue chilly-bin.->YelCh2Club6c]]] (if: $PantryTime is >2)[(text-colour:yellow)[[You hear the slap of the pantry door--time to skidaddle!->Chapter3Title]]]

(set: $PantryTime to $PantryTime + 1)(set:$Sandwich to true)You slip an egg and tomato rectangle into your detective pocket. It feels too heavy. Like somewhere among its pungent folds something far weightier than mayonnaise has been spread.(if:$Button is not true)[ (text-colour:magenta)[[The button thing is sinking slowly into the pink goop of the salmon log.->YelCh2Club6a]]](if:$ChillyBin is not true)[ (text-colour:blue)[[On the floor, the pirate-themed table-cloth is caught on the handle of a blue chilly-bin.->YelCh2Club6c]]] (if: $PantryTime is >2)[(text-colour:yellow)[[You hear the slap of the pantry door--time to skidaddle!->Chapter3Title]]]

(set: $PantryTime to $PantryTime + 1)(set:$ChillyBin to true)You duck under the tablecloth and open the chilly bin. Inside, are around fifty squeezy bottles with handmade lables saying 'MAYONAISE' on them.(if:$Button is not true)[ (text-colour:magenta)[[The button thing is sinking slowly into the pink goop of the salmon log.->YelCh2Club6a]]](if:$Sandwich is not true)[ (text-colour:lime)[[The spread of club-sandwiches creaks the table, each squishy, crustless rectangle fresh and delectable.->YelCh2Club6b]]] (if: $PantryTime is >2)[(text-colour:yellow)[[You hear the slap of the pantry door--time to skidaddle!->Chapter3Title]]]

(if:visits>1)[Pete has put down her phone. Santine and Clarissa have stopped shooting each other dirty looks. Your head is full of new information, yet there are still so many gaps. Who is the Poisoner? Where is the Founder? Where is your missing partner? You've got *almost* enough to make an accusation. You have the tokens, you have the missing button. You have a club-sandwich in your pocket and you know the Poisoner left their apartment and went to ground.]{ }(else:)[You slip away just as the club-sandwich-seminar-presenter emerges with a breadknife and begins re-cutting sandwiches into triangles. Your head is full of new information, yet there are still so many gaps. Where is the Poisoner? Where is the Founder? Where is your missing partner? You've got *almost* enough to make an accusation. You have the tokens, you have the missing button. You have a club-sandwich in your pocket and you know the Poisoner left their apartment and went to ground.] (text-colour:orange)[[(Go to the jukebox.)->JukeboxCh2V2]] (text-colour:yellow)[[(Investigate the club-sandwich.)->PoisonClub]] (text-colour:red)[[(Leave the bar.)->FactoryInvest]]

1. (text-colour:blue)[[//Coconuts in my Heart// - Porthole Pam and the Privateers->Ch2CoconutsV2]] 2. (text-colour:red)[[//On My Side of the Isola// - Sunny Skies Revival Troupe->Ch2MySideV2]] 3. (text-colour:magenta)[[//Eight Times a Fool// - Gambler in the Rain->Ch2GamblerV2]] 4. (text-colour:yellow)[[//Cucumber Times// - Zuchini Tim and Wintermelon Sam->Ch2CucumberV2]] 5. (text-colour:grey)[[????->Ch2????V2]] (text-colour:cyan)[[(Back.)->Ch3Bar]]

Pete can listen to her favourite bop whenever she wants. (text-colour:orange)[[Back.->JukeboxCh2V2]]

Maybe Clarissa doesn't need any more reminders of her home tonight. (text-colour:orange)[[Back.->JukeboxCh2V2]]

Santine's had enough of his nasty jazz for one night. (text-colour:orange)[[Back.->JukeboxCh2V2]]

This song has already made everyone uncomfortable enough. (text-colour:orange)[[Back.->JukeboxCh2V2]]

It is early Autumn and Pete's is bustling. Couples flock to the display of sandwiches in the centre of the room. People are happy. People are alive. You and Sere Winters are screaming at each other in the middle of a pile of sandwiches. (text-colour:green)[[(Next.)->FB3]]

You ignore Pete as she calls after you. Ignore Santine's raised eyebrows and Clarissa's scowl. Ignore the sulky chopping of the club-sandwich-seminar-presenter. You follow Sere's footsteps run out of the bar, into the pouring rain. (text-colour:red)[[(Next.)->Factory2]]

Sere had frozen, mouth full of bread. (Sock puppet speaking) "What *big case* Sere?" (text-colour:green)[[(Next.)->FB5]]

You brush off the last of the salmon, and insert the button into the rough hole. The screen lights up, and the jukebox's final song scrolls across the screen. 5. (text-colour:green)[[//Ceviche Days, Midori Nights// - Unknown->FB1]]

Sere had made a perfect egg and tomato stack, and you had made a sock-puppet out of capsicum. They'd said something like, "Just one activity Faith just one thing without the sock puppets and the alphabet necklaces and the I don't know, I mean--" (taking an anger-bite of sandwich) "--this is why I can't trust you with the big case!" And you had said--(through the sock puppet, also out of anger)--"What big case." (text-colour:green)[[(Next.)->FB4]]

Sere points to the sock-puppet. They're near tears. "This is the problem. People's lives are on the line, and every time we investigate together you want to chat and make wooden-jewellery based puns." (Sock-puppet) "That's a lie. I only have one wooden-jewellery based pun, and I haven't had the chance to make it yet." (text-colour:green)[[(Next.)->FB6]]

Sere ran their hands through their neat black hair until it stuck up like a panicking dandelion. "I can't," they said, but not to you. "I can't do this anymore. I need to get back to work. I need to help people. I need things to be *serious* for once." And they packed up their club-sandwiches and left. (text-colour:green)[[(Next.)->FB7]]

(text-colour:green)[[*Ceviche Days, Midori Nights*->Ceviche Days, Midori Nights]] finishes its first loop, and the present slams back into you smelling of chips. The bar's (text-colour:yellow)[[other patrons->Ch3BarClarSanClub]] don't seem to have noticed anything. Only (text-colour:blue)[[Pete->Ch3Pete]] is saying something, asking if you're ok. You step back from the jukebox, eyes wet. You have to follow Sere Winters. You have to find out what they were investigating down at the Factory--and who they met there. (text-colour:red)[[(Follow Sere Winters.)->Chapter4Title]]

You race down the narrow, flooded streets, soot and sewage burning in your icy lungs. Threads and Flowers hulks over the soft brown waters of the Lower Inlet. Its dead chimneys black against the sky. (text-colour:red)[[(Next.)->Factory3]]

A sewage pipe juts out of the Factory foundations, feeding sludge into the soft, polluted waves of the Lower Inlet. A stale breeze that smells of metal and festering wounds whispers from its mouth. (text-colour:red)[[(Go inside.)->Factory4]] (text-colour:magenta)[[(Find another way in.)->Factory4b]]

The figure perches atop their hats, as tense and nervous as a sparrow. Their wrists tremble on their knees. Bloated, rotting lumps of stinking flesh dangle from their coat-hanger arms like the last persimmons on a winter's branch. Their face is hard, but their eyes are not. In them, you see the cracks. This person has broken apart so many times over so many years they aren't a splintered window they're a handful of glittering sand. (text-colour:#f94ea9)[[(Tip-toe closer and whisper very calmly) "Excuse me, I'm Fa--"->Ch3Milliner2]]

Grime crunches under your knees as you sink down. The boxes have melted apart, spilling paper flowers and clumping together over a limp, human shape. (text-colour:yellow)[[Half a club sandwhich->Sando1B]] lies nearby, as though fallen from cramping fingers. (text-colour:green)[[(Sweep aside the dying cardboard.)->SW3a]]

"Just call me K," they whisper. "It's what the Founder called me. I don't remember any other name." (text-colour:blue)[["Is that what you would //like// to be called?"->Name2]] (text-colour:yellow)[["You know...it would be //really// easy to make you a themed wooden necklace."->Name2K]]

(set:$Noname to true, $Name to "the milliner", $Nickname to "your new bro", $Lastname to "my new bro", $NameCap to "The milliner")"Maybe I don't need anyone to call me anything." Rain runs into their yellowed eyes and they don't blink. (text-colour:cyan)[["I feel this may be a bigger hurdle for your new life than you realise, but it is also extremely hardcore, and I will respect that."->Ch5Bar]] (text-colour:blue)[["But have you considered //novelty wooden name jewellery//?"->Name3]]

"What is that?" (text-colour:yellow)[["Ok so it's a mixture of traditional whittling and fridge magnet art. It's mostly about technique, but it's also about vision. See, these are your standard names, and these ones here would be considered more cutting edge... Oh, there's a K! And a pretty good one."->Name3K]]

They stare hard at the K for so long you give them a gentle poke to make sure they haven't died. "I don't want this." (text-colour:yellow)[[(Throw the K into the night with such force you nearly dislocate your shoulder.) "There are like 25 other letters."->Name4K]]

"What is that?" (text-colour:blue)[["Ok so it's a mixture of traditional whittling and fridge magnet art. It's mostly about technique, but it's also about vision. See, these are your standard names, and these ones here would be considered more cutting edge in the whittling community...->Name4]]

Gently, you turn their pockets out. They are empty but for aniseed balls and library tickets. Then you feel something deep in their chest pocket, next to their heart. (text-colour:red)[[It is a letter addressed to you.->SWPock2]]

(set:$SWSand to true)You carefully lift the sandwich from their fleshless fingers. It is slightly heavier than it should be. You strip back the layers. Protected by their fierce detective's grip, the mayonaise has broken down and washed away, leaving a thick gleam of silver within the mould.(if:$SWHead is not true)[ (text-colour:green)[[(Investigate their head.)->SWHead1]]](if:$SWPock is not true)[ (text-colour:red)[[(Investigate their pockets.)->SWPock1]]](if:$SWPock is true)[ (text-colour:cyan)[[(Take the letter and the library tickets and leave your dead friend in the flowers.)->GreCh3Mil2]]]

(set:$SWHead to true)You brush stray flowers away from the remains of their face. They look pained, but no more so than when you told a joke. You were afraid they would look terrifying, all dead and decayed. But they don't. They look beautiful.(if:$SWSand is not true)[ (text-colour:yellow)[[(Investigate their sandwich.)->SWSand1]]](if:$SWPock is not true)[ (text-colour:red)[[(Investigate their pockets.)->SWPock1]]](if:$SWPock is true)[ (text-colour:cyan)[[(Take the letter and the library tickets and leave your dead friend in the flowers.)->GreCh3Mil2]]]

(set:$SWPock to true)(text-colour:green)[|A>[*Dear Faith, Was it something I did? Was there some specific reason you felt the need to stick your hands in a capsicum and pretend it had an Australian accent? I just... I did everything right. I went to dentist school, I got top marks in the private detective's quiz on QuizMaker.com... I once saw *you* try to intimidate a witness by drinking a lime-milkshake through your nose.*] ](click-replace:?A)+(t8n:'dissolve')[|B>[*So yeah, I've been investigating Threads and Flowers on my own. And I've found things. I talked to a delivery driver called Alex who told me the Founder has requested one extra box of mercury be shipped to their mansion every week for ten years. I found a fake club-sandwich-seminar company registered to 'New Awesome Isola Factory' that recently put in an order for five-thousand litres of mayonnaise under the name 'club-sandwich-king.' I just ate a club-sandwich that tasted like tinfoil.*] ](click-replace:?B)+(t8n:'dissolve')[|C>[*I don't understand. It's just so diabolical. Why? Who? I've saved the rest of the sandwich for evidence, and I have proof of the mayonnaise and mercury purchases disguised as library tickets. I'm coming back up now, and I'm going to fill you in on everything, I promise.*] ](click-replace:?C)+(t8n:'dissolve')[|X>[*P.S. I just stumbled upon someone else down here! A runaway milliner in serious need of a hospital; I believe they're a victim of the Founder. I'm going to talk to them more before I come up. I'm feeling a little unwell. I'm over the capsicum thing. I can't wait to hear that wooden alphabet pun when you finally get to make it. See you soon.*] ](click-replace:?X)+(t8n:'dissolve')[(text-colour:cyan)[[(Take the letter and the library tickets and leave your dead friend in the flowers.)->GreCh3Mil2]] (text-colour:blue)[[(Take a moment.)->SWMoment]](if:$SWHead is not true)[ (text-colour:green)[[(Investigate their head.)->SWHead1]]](if:$SWSand is not true)[ (text-colour:yellow)[[(Investigate their sandwich.)->SWSand1]]]]

For a moment, you make eye-contact with whatever dark thing lurks beneath the club-sandwich-seminar-presenter's rainhat. Then they drop their sandwich, and send their tables of finger food flying into you and $Nickname. (text-colour:red)[[(Next.)->Reveal2]]

(if:$Noname is true or $KName is true or $Steamy is true)[(if:$KName is true)[$NameCap pins the ''m'' firmly onto the centre of their uniform. ](if:$Steamy is true)[The large, shaky letters hang gaudily around their narrow collarbones. It looks fucking *sick.* ]$NameCap adjusts their assortment of berets. They face the neon doorway, shoulders square. "Is this it?" they whisper. (text-colour:cyan)[["Yes, $Lastname. I think it is."->Ch4Bar]]](else:)[You and the not-Mercury-Poisoner stand in the rain, the neon lights of Pirate Pete's streaming over you. Somewhere between the Factory and here, the milliner has collected about six more hats. (text-colour:blue)[["Say, what's your name? I've just been calling you the Mercury Poisoner, and that won't do now."->Name1]]]

Despite themselves, they hover over a name that makes your heart ache. It was one you'd whittled for Sere Winters, back when you'd been really into coming up with code-names for people. Sere Winters had not liked it as much as you'd expected. (Yours had been Hope Delish.) "This one," they whisper. (text-colour:blue)[["You...don't want to know what it says?"->Name6]]

(set:$Steamy to true, $Name to "Steamy Summers", $Nickname to "Steamy", $Lastname to "Summers", $NameCap to "Steamy")"No. I like the way the wood splinters on the curves." (text-colour:cyan)[[(Blushing a little you thread Sere Winters's *slightly* splintery codename around Steamy Summers's neck.)->Ch5Bar]]

Incredibly, it is Santine's stiff and bespoke-suited body that launches itself in front of you and absorbs the main splatter of soggy bread and cucumber. He sits up amidst the crumbs, looking shaken but smug. A piece of tomato slides off your face. (text-colour:red)[[(Next.)->Reveal3]]

"Well that was an interesting thing I did for no reason," he muses, looking everywhere but at $Name. "I suppose I'm not such a horrible and selfish person after all." "They're getting away!" Clarissa shrieks, and you look up to see the club-sandwich-seminar-presenter sprinting across the bar towards the door. (text-colour:red)[[(Next.)->Reveal4]]

You leap for them, but you slip on a piece of decorative parsley. Pete swings a bottle of rum, but her muscular arms are too non-aerodynamic. Santine is still dazed from taking five-dozen mercury-laced club-sandwiches to the face, and $Name is standing frozen. An awful sadness in their jaundiced eyes. (text-colour:red)[[(Next.)->Reveal5]]

Clarissa casts her beautiful shawl out like a fishing net and sweeps the club-sandwich-seminar-presenter's feet out from under them, sending them crashing to the surface of the bar. (text-colour:red)[[(Next.)->Reveal6]]

Pete grabs them by the back of their lab-coat and hauls them up off the bar, pinning their arms. "Alright, what is this?" Pete demands, in a much shriller register than usual. "What is all this that is happening right now?" She is looking at $Nickname's hands. (text-colour:red)[[(Next.)->Reveal7]]

You half expect $Name to step forward, but they seem paralysed. You clear your throat. "Ahem! The person you all believed to be the Poisoner was actually just a harmless milliner! *This* is the *real* poisoner. Kay Flowers! The Founder of Threads and Flowers!" You point to the club-sandwich-seminar-presenter with a flourish. (text-colour:red)[[(Next.)->Reveal9]]

The club-sandwich-seminar-presenter rolls what passes for their eyes. "Oh, sure, just point to the first person making sandwiches for everyone and shout 'serial killer'. As *if*. The Poisoner is obviously the person with the insanely fucked up hands and the clear case of mild heavy-metal poisoning!" (text-colour:red)[[(Next.)->Reveal10]]

"How dare you say that about $Lastname!" You cry. "You are the Poisoner and I can prove it!" You slam the library tickets onto the bar along with the two sandwiches--the fresh one you stole from their table earlier, and the decayed one that killed Sere Winters. (text-colour:red)[[(Next.)->Reveal11]]

Everyone except $Nickname cranes to look at them. The Mercury Poisoner scoffs. "That proves nothing. I never ordered those items. Those are clearly deranged freak purchases, like what someone with no hands would order." (text-colour:red)[[(Next.)->Reveal12]]

You walk over to the blue chilly-bin that is sitting innocently where the table used to be. "So explain the fact that you have forty-two bottles of mayonnaise in a chilly-bin for a seminar on sandwiches that *don't even traditionally use mayonnaise*!" (text-colour:red)[[(Next.)->Reveal13]]

Someone gasps. The Mercury Poisoner looks nervous. "Those bottles don't have mercury in them," they say. "That's pure mayonnaise, I just like to have back-ups. And you have to take my word for it, because if they *do* have mercury in them, they'll poison you!" They smile triumphantly. (text-colour:red)[[(Next.)->Reveal14]]

"But not me." $NameCap's voice, as they step forward, is ice cold. "Didn't you always say I was remarkably resistant? That not every hatter could sleep next to a workbench of mercury every night for half a century and stay sane? Well, I'm not sure I have, but I don't think a little more is going to kill me now." (text-colour:red)[[(Next.)->Reveal15]]

"Would you please present the mayonnaise?" $Name asks. You bring over a bottle, and with slightly trembling hands, you squeeze a fat, creamy stripe onto the dark varnish of Pete's bartop. (text-colour:red)[[(Next.)->Reveal16]]

Everyone's eyes follow $Nickname as they raise one badly decaying hand and hover it over the mayonnaise. They run it slowly back and forth, about an inch away from the condiment, a look of calm concentration on their face. (text-colour:red)[[(Next.)->Reveal17]]

"Ridiculous!" scoffs the Mercury Poisoner, but Pete elbows them in the ribs. Under $Name's steady hand, you can all see what the Mercury Poisoner is afraid of. The mayonnaise is moving. Shifting, magnetised, under the pull of the metal in $Nickname's body. The highly magnetic mercury in them is attracting the mercury in the mayonnaise. (text-colour:red)[[(Next.)->Reveal18]]

The Poisoner screams, spitting sticky egg-based mercury sauce. They wrench themselves free of Pete's momentarily slackened embrace, and dive blindly across the bar, gloved hands reaching for $Nickname's neck. (text-colour:red)[[(Next.)->Reveal25]]

The two of them land in a heap, with the Poisoner's strong latexed fingers tight around $Nickname's throat. (text-colour:red)[[(Next.)->Reveal26]]

"Stop it!" the Poisoner gasps, shaking mayonaise out of their eyes. "Stop *doing* things! You're my K! You don't *do* things, I fixed that about you." They seem to be having trouble focusing. $NameCap scrabbles and twists but while their milliner's spirit is indomitable, their milliner's frame is extremely domitable. (text-colour:blue)[[(Look to Pete for muscular aid.)->Reveal27a]] (text-colour:green)[[(Think of Sere, and kick the Poisoner in the face.)->Reveal27b]]

"They have not had enough." $NameCap steps up to the minifridge. The Poisoner's hat has half come off and the dark shadows of their face are covered in mayonnaise. They look up at their erstwhile victim in silence. (text-colour:yellow)[[(Do nothing.)->Reveal30a]] (text-colour:orange)[["It's over, $Lastname. We've got them. You're free of them now."->Reveal30b]]

(set:$colour to orange)(set:$NoKill to true)Fury flashes across $Nickname's gentle face and for a moment you think they're going to scream at you. Then their tired eyes fill with tears, and they sink to their knees in a pile of shredded arugula. They cradle their bloody hands in their lap, and start to cry. (text-colour:$colour)[[(Next.)->Epilogue BarTitle]]

(set:$colour to yellow)(set:$Kill to true)$NameCap opens the fridge, and removes their horrible bundle of fingers. The scent of metal makes your eyes water. The Founder shrinks back, as $Name carefully tucks the little package down beside them, next to the frozen melon balls. "These are yours," they say. (text-colour:$colour)[[(Next.)->Reveal30a1]]

One by one, you all look to the creature in the yellow rainhat. "Oh *fine*," the Poisoner bursts out. "Yes, it was me. I did it blah blah blah. But so what? It was just a couple hundred factory workers. And I mean, who actually eats the sandwiches at a sandwich seminar? I'm not to blame for my plan working so well." (text-colour:red)[[(Next.)->Reveal19]]

"But *why*?" Clarissa asks, fists clenched, face sweaty. "Why would you murder all your workers?" "Oh you people are all the same, aren't you?" the Poisoner rolls their void-eyes. "Why kill my mum, why murder my cousin, etc etc. Because I was sick of you all, ok?" They nod at $Name. "*They* were the only worker who was ever worth anything to me." (text-colour:red)[[(Next.)->Reveal20]]

"Old K. Worked 19 straight hours a day for *forty years*. How crazy is that? Never cost me a cent." $NameCap's face has crumpled. Only their sad eyes burn. The Poisoner continues blithely. "I was looking out at my factory floor one day, seeing all these fussy little workers who went home after 12 hours and stopped making me hats, and I was thinking about how much they all wanted me to pay them every day, and I realised what I really needed to do was set up a factory of Ks instead! Outstanding work, around the clock, no overheads. That would really get things going." (text-colour:red)[[(Next.)->Reveal21]]

"*This* K was about at its use-by date, so I let Santine blunder around until he'd completely cracked them, and then I started handing out sandwiches. The plan was to gut the factory, and blame it on the crazy shut-in who cut off their fingers. That way all the loose ends are tied up, and no crimes are traced back to me. *I'm* free to start afresh on the Isola. It was so easy to cut off some random worker's fingers and send them to Santine. I mean, K practically framed themself!" (text-colour:red)[[(Next.)->Reveal22]]

They sound thrilled with themselves, despite Pete now having them in an arm bar. Clarissa looks like she's estimating how many times she could stab them with her funky brooches before they died. Santine looks like he's going to throw up. "Why'd you have to go and survive for so long anyway, K?" the Poisoner complains. "If you'd died of sepsis like a normal self-mutilating freak this could still have worked." (text-colour:red)[[(Next.)->Reveal23]]

"Maybe I will not live much longer," $Name says. "But I am here now. And I have not been here for so long." And they pluck the bottle of mercury-naise out of your hands and empty the entire thing into the Mercury Poisoner's face-hole. (text-colour:red)[[(Next.)->Reveal24]]

Thank you for playing!

|A>[(text-colour:#f94ea9)[The Mercury Poisoner.]](click-append:?A)[ Miliner, murderer, mystery. Their skill was the bedrock of Threads and Flowers' success, yet no one seems to have worked with them directly, and no name or physical description exists. You'd think they were a myth...if it weren't for the 114 mercury poisoned bodies they've left in their wake.] |B>[(text-colour:lime)[Faith Deluxe (you).]](click-append:?B)[ Hot, smooth, charismatic, not weird. People naturally open up to you and don't find you embarassing. You have an interest in novelty wooden name jewellery.] |C>[(text-colour:green)[Sere Winters.]](click-append:?C)[ The greatest former dentist turned PI this side of the Isola. Your partner. Your best friend. You haven't seen them in six months.] |E>[(text-colour:blue)[*Pirate Pete's.*]](click-append:?E)[ A pirate bar in a milliner's town. The last time you were here was six months ago, the night the Poisonings started. The night Sere Winters disappeared. All you remember is midori, something about a jukebox, and your knees hitting the curb at 4am.] |F>[(text-colour:yellow)[Threads and Flowers.]](click-append:?F)[ The original mercury poisoner. The blot on all your lives. Bad pay, bad work, worse health outcomes. It is run by a mysterious Founder, who moved here some 40 years ago.] |D>[(text-colour:purple)[The Lower Inlet.]](click-append:?D)[ The gutter of the peninsula. Sewage and smoke dominate your lives. The bright lights of the Upper Inlet and the placid beaches of the Isola feel very far away.] (text-colour:cyan)[[(Back.)->Outside Bar]]

They look up at you sharply, face shadowed. They are wearing *many* latex gloves, a labcoat, a yellow rainhat, and several facemasks. You suddenly feel very exposed, out here in the centre of the bar. Maybe you should get a drink. (text-colour:cyan)[[(Back.)->IntroBar]]

"This is a bad town, Deluxe, even when we weren't all being poisoned. I've made a safe harbour here, and I am holding it together by...by a thread." Strain enters her voice. "Don't ruin that, Deluxe. Don't bring the Poisoner in here." (text-colour:blue)[[(Very softly) "But Pete...Soon there won't be anyone left to need any harbour at all."->BluCh1Pet5]]

"Make it up to me by clearing out of here after you finish your child's drink." (text-colour:green)[["I'm honestly still just so sorry for that awful lapse of judgement. I never wanted my name necklaces to cause pain."->GreCh1Pet3]]

"Forget it. It's against the pirate code to wear any jewellery that isn't made from bones or precious gems anyway. Or driftwood," she adds, quickly.(if:$PetCh1Blue is not true)[ (text-colour:blue)[["I hate to bring this up now, but I'm looking for two former factory employees. You know who they are?"->BluCh1Pet2]]](if:$PetCh1Blue and $PetCh1Orange is true)[ (text-colour:cyan)[["I'm on it." (Scoop up your melting midori sour and go hit the bar.) ->Ch1BarTitle]]](if:$PetCh1Orange is not true and $PetCh1Blue is true)[(text-colour:orange) [["About that jukebox in the corner. You reckon I can buy some tokens for it?"->OrCh1Pet1]]]

She nods to the woman at the far end of the bar. "That's Clarissa. She drove deliveries for Threads and Flowers, moved here from the Isola a year ago. Her cousin was killed by the Poisoner back in the original wave." (text-colour:blue)[[(Next.)->BluCh1Pet7]]

(set: $PetCh1Blue to true)Pete leans back and shrugs. "And that's all I know. If you can talk to them without having a drunken meltdown I'll consider taking your picture off the 'do not approach' wall."(if:$PetCh1Orange is true)[ (text-colour:cyan)[["Thank you, Pete." (Scoop up your melting midori sour and go hit the bar.)->Ch1BarTitle]]](if:$PetCh1Orange is not true)+(text-colour:orange)[ [["About that jukebox in the corner. You reckon I can buy some tokens for it?"->OrCh1Pet1]]](if:$PetCh1Green is not true)[ (text-colour:green)[[(Maybe a personalised necklace will make Pete like you?) "How do you spell 'Pete' anyway? Is it with the traditional 'P'?"->GreCh1Pet1]]]

She jerks her chin at the man chain-smoking by the window. "Santine. An investor in Threads and Flowers, and an utter bastard. Word is, the factory's pinning the blame for this mess on him. If anyone knows the Poisoner, he does." (text-colour:blue)[[(Next.)->BluCh1Pet8]]

You both look to the last person in the room. The one carefully dusting crumbs off their platters and onto the floor. "They're from the club-sandwich people. I keep letting them give their presentations here to boost morale. I can't eat the things myself, gluten intolerant." (text-colour:blue)[[(Next.)->BluCh1Pet9]]

You remember flickers of that night. Sere Winters, a fight, a...sadness. You woke up the next day in a changed town, and Sere Winters was gone. (text-colour:orange)[["Actually, did you see where my partner went, that night?"->OrCh1Pet6]]

"Are we done here? I'm trying to message a pirate friend right now." She looks a little over-warm.(if:$PetCh1Blue is not true)[ (text-colour:blue)[["We *have* to circle back to that but fine, hit me with a midori sour, please and thank you."->BluCh1Pet1]]](if:$PetCh1Blue is true)[ (text-colour:cyan)[["Tell me about her when I come back." (Scoop up your melting midori sour and go hit the bar.) ->Ch1BarTitle]]](if:$PetCh1Blue is true and $PetCh1Green is not true)[ (text-colour:green)[[(Maybe a personalised necklace will make Pete like you?) "How do you spell 'Pete' anyway? Is it with the traditional 'P'?"->GreCh1Pet1]]]

"Pity? Charity? Greed? The Mercury Poisoner produced 50% of all Threads and Flowers hats *on their own*. Who wouldn't accomodate some weird behaviour for that?" She shivers. There's more to 'weird behaviour' than she's letting on. (text-colour:red)[["So you've seen their apartment for yourself?"->RedCh1Clar4]]

(css: "font-size: 120%;")[(text-colour:blue)[''ABSOLUTE FAITH:''] (text-colour:green)[''THE CASE''] (text-colour:orange)[''OF THE''] (text-colour:red)[''MERCURY POISONER'']] (text-colour:magenta)[An interactive fiction.] (text-colour:cyan)[[(Start.)->Outside Bar]]

"Second off, I kept that ancient money-sink of a factory //alive//. Maybe I did set quotas that were a //teensy// bit illegal, but how will people know their limits if I don't incentivise them?" (text-colour:magenta)[["And these 'incentivised' quotas applied to the Poisoner?" ->MagCh1San5]]

(set:$SanCh1Red to true)"I'm sorry, that's simply all I have for you at this time. Any further queries can be directed to my lawyer--who is now imaginary, due to murder." The club-sandwich-seminar-presenter has been slicing the same sandwich for over 30 seconds.(if:$SanCh1Magenta is not true)[ (text-colour:magenta)[["So how //did// the Poisoner respond to these new quotas?"->MagCh1San8]]](if:$SanCh1Orange is not true)[ (text-colour:orange)[["I saw you tapping a tune earlier, are you into music?"->OrCh1San1]]](if:$SanCh1Purple is not true and $SanCh1Orange is true)[ (text-colour:blue)[["Hey, how about some hand carved wooden jewellery? Fair warning, I can't really do 'S'."->PurCh1San1]]](if:$SanCh1Magenta is true)[ (text-colour:cyan)[[(Go check out the other patrons.)->Ch1Bar]]]

"Jazz is not an answer, it is a question. It is the absence of hope and of despair. Jazz isn't expensive, jazz has no need. Jazz is simply horror and freedom." (text-colour:orange)[["Wow."->OrCh1San6]]

"You know //nothing// about jazz, and when the incomprehensible, unbearable notes of life's final piano rise up around you, you will realise how ignorant you truly are." He's kind of crying. He flicks ash at his ashtray and misses. (text-colour:orange)[[(In awe) "You have totally made me excited to listen to jazz. I had no idea that was possible."->OrCh1San7]]

"Finally, we will cover sandwich principles. What do we owe our sandwiches, and what do they owe us? We ask much from our finger food, and I encourage participants to ask themselves: is it //too// much?" (text-colour:yellow)[[(Looking around the empty bar) "Are you really expecting anyone to come?"->YelCh1Club3]] (text-colour:lime)[["What are you saying? That we don't deserve to find happiness in fancy lunch foods or melon cocktails?"->LimCh1Club1]]

"But um...well, when you've worked in the club-sandwich-seminar-presentation industry as long as I have, you know it's not about people eating the sandwiches. It's about the sandwiches being there for people to eat." (text-colour:yellow)[["Can //I// eat one?"->YelCh1Club4]]

|A>[(text-colour:#f94ea9)[The Mercury Poisoner.]](click-append:?A)[ Miliner, murderer, mystery. Their skill was the bedrock of Threads and Flowers' success, yet no one seems to have worked with them directly, and no name or physical description exists.] |D>[(text-colour:red)[Clarissa.]](click-append:?D)[ A delivery driver from the Isola. Her cousin was killed by the Poisoner.] |B>[(text-colour:magenta)[Santine.]](click-append:?B)[ An investor in Threads and Flowers. Word has it he may have worked with the Poisoner.] |C>[(text-colour:green)[Sere Winters.]](click-append:?C)[ Something happened the night they left. Something that makes your ears ring and your chest hurt. Something hidden behind that missing jukebox button.] |E>[(text-colour:blue)[Pirate Pete.]](click-append:?E)[ Pete's getting a lot of texts tonight. Maybe she's got a pirate in another port.] |F>[(text-colour:yellow)[Threads and Flowers.]](click-append:?F)[ The sheer quantity of murdered employees has caused it to shut down. No sign of its enigmatic Founder, though.] |P>[(text-colour:lime)[Faith Deluxe's Special Pun.]](click-append:?P)[ A theoretical pun involving wooden letters you have been preparing for all your life. Sere didn't believe it was possible.] (text-colour:cyan)[[(Back.)->Ch1Bar]]

|A>[(text-colour:#f94ea9)[The Mercury Poisoner.]](click-append:?A)[ Overworked, a shut-in, hurting themselves? Clarissa and Santine have both met them, but neither will talk unless you change the music.] |C>[(text-colour:green)[Sere Winters.]](click-append:?C)[ Their absence is like a rising tide of darkness. Playing that broken song might bring the waves in--and you aren't sure you'll be able to swim.] |F>[(text-colour:yellow)[Threads and Flowers.]](click-append:?F)[ Who *is* the Founder? It seems Santine may know more.] |P>[(text-colour:lime)[Faith Deluxe's Special Pun.]](click-append:?P)[ Some days it feels the right moment for the greatest alphabet-jewellery pun in the universe will never come. And then you think of Sere, and you hold on.] (text-colour:cyan)[[(Back.)->Ch2Bar]]

(set:$YellowSeen to true)"It was an afternoon run. 3pm on the dot, always. You don't fuck around picking up *that milliner's* work, as we used to call them. It was too important. Anyway, that day some idiot comes up and demands I go as soon as I clock in. At 6am!" (text-colour:red)[["Whaaat?"->RedCh2Clar4]](if:$Ch2ClarYellow is not true)[ (text-colour:yellow)[["What idiot told you to go early?"->YelCh2Clar1]]]

"I know! They clearly hadn't let the Poisoner know, because they hadn't set out the product yet. I went to knock on the door, and I saw it was ajar. I should have just left. But instead, I looked inside." (text-colour:red)[["Good call!"->RedCh2Clar5]]

"The Poisoner was sitting at their workbench. A little nightlight was taped to their forehead; the kind you give children." She swallows. "They had one hand stretched out before them...and a pair of felting shears in the other." (text-colour:red)+(css:"font-size:75%;")[["Were they doing some fun crafting activity?"->RedCh2Clar7]]

"But it's whatever, because they're not a murderer yet. They're just the weird milliner who works from home and makes more hats than should be humanly possible. I run the route for six months, no issue. I pick up the hats and move on, never so much as glimpse the Poisoner." (text-colour:red)[[(Next.)->RedCh2Clar3]]

"I couldn't feel my skin. Couldn't even try to look away. Then my legs gave and they looked up." She rubs her solar plexus, her eyes unfocused. (text-colour:red)[["What did they look like?"->RedCh2Clar9]] (text-colour:lime)[["Butwhhyy."->LimCh2Clar1]]

They stared up at me for a long time, their hands spurting these little streams of blood. Then they said, in the softest, coldest voice, "Go. There is nothing more for you to deliver." (text-colour:red)[[(Next.)->RedCh2Clar11]]

"I ran away. I think I even shut the door. I don't remember it much, I was so out of it. I went and did half my deliveries and then just went home. Didn't clock out. Just waited for Alex in the kitchen--but he never came home." (text-colour:red)[["When did you find out he had been Poisoned?"->RedCh2Clar12]]

"The next day, when I went into work and everything was in uproar. 'The crazy milliner who does all our work is missing! We don't have our hats! Oh and 20 people have been poisoned.'" (text-colour:red)[[(Next.)->RedCh2Clar13]]

"The Poisoner did a runner after cutting off their fingers, and they must have Poisoned a bunch of people on their way out. That night was the night the Poisoning started, and I was just sitting at home, waiting for my cousin. If I'd just told someone immediately, maybe none of this would have happened." (text-colour:red)[["I really don't think there is anyone you *could* have told."->RedCh2Clar14]]

"Ew indeed. Anyway, after I finished hyperventilating I went to the Poisoner's house. Fresh blood everywhere, but they were nowhere in sight. Still, I saw how they lived. Forty years in that room? There was barely space to lie down." (text-colour:magenta)[["Why didn't they just quit?"->MagCh2San3]]

"What did you expect? A hat-related enterprise *without* some sort of sadistic human rights abuse at it's core?" Santine snorts excessively. "For what it's worth, the Poisoner was never *locked* in that apartment. I think that after forty years they just didn't know how to leave." (text-colour:magenta)[["But they came to see you, didn't they?"->MagCh2San12]]

"No. They weren't ok. They weren't ok at all." He glances at Clarissa and lowers his voice. "You see, a week before all this happened the Poisoner came to me." (text-colour:magenta)[[(Next.)->MagCh2San5]]

"The entire thing disturbed me. So the next day, I went looking through their old Threads and Flowers file. It was *full* of old newspaper clippings. Almost everything is redacted, but I managed to piece some of it together." (text-colour:magenta)[[(Next.)->MagCh2San9]]

"I explained I couldn't just fire them--that there were processes. They began nodding to themself as though they had expected this. As though steeling themselves against some awful act they knew they had to go through with. That was the last I saw of them." (text-colour:magenta)[[(Next.)->MagCh2San8]]

You peel back the sticky, salty layers. Tomato and egg slides between your detective fingers. Is the mayonnaise layer in here meant to be this thick? It moves strangely. Gloopily. And it smells odd. A little like iron. But its oil and egg makeup is so powerful and fresh it is impossible to tell. (text-colour:cyan)[[(Back.)->Ch3Bar]]

The door swooshes open to the chill rain and black night. The Factory hulks in the distance, over the water. Mangled streets mish-mash their dark way between you and it. A tangle of unknowns. Bleak and wet. You shiver in your supermarket trenchcoat. Where are you going, again? (text-colour:cyan)[[(Back.)->Ch3Bar]]

Ukulele washes over you like summer surf. You float back, into the song. Into that night. (text-colour:green)[[(Next.)->FB2]]

You stood, stunned, capsicum dripping off your fingers, for almost too long. But you *did* run after them. In time to see them heading down to the water. Towards the Factory. They had their notebook and spyglass in hand. (text-colour:green)[[(Next.)->FB8]]

You slip into the pipe. Sticky concrete scrapes your hair and shoulders. Frozen sewage paws at your boots. The pipe is choked with discarded hats. Thousands of them. The air is thick with metal and urine and meat. (text-colour:red)[[(Next.)->Foundations1]]

The doors are boarded up, the windows are smashed and jagged, and too high to reach. The place is still. It is peaceful in death. Less a monument to its Poisoned workers than a broken chain, slowly rusting back into the earth. There's no sign of anyone having come this way. (text-colour:magenta)[[(Back.)->Factory3]]

You push forward until you stumble out of the pipe into a chill, open space. The bowels of the factory expand in blackness around you. Your torch falls over dripping beams and rivers of millinary material swept into corners by past tides. Mounds of ruined hats concentrate and compound into an island in the centre of the space. Crouching atop it is an (text-colour:#f94ea9)[[emaciated figure->Ch3Milliner1]] in a filthy Threads and Flowers uniform. Is that (text-colour:yellow)[[half a club-sandwich->Sando1A]] lying beside a hundred boxes of paper flowers?

The sandwich is dried up but strangely heavy, just like the one you got from the seminar. It's black with mould, and there's a whiff of metal amongst the spores. (text-colour:yellow)[[(Investigate the sandwich further.)->Sando2A]] (text-colour:cyan)[[(Back.)->Foundations1]]

Sere is dead. Scum-lines wave across their still face; many tides have washed them into this corner. Paper flowers lodge in their nostrils. Little crabs crawl beneath their eyelids. (text-colour:green)[[(Investigate their head.)->SWHead1]] (text-colour:yellow)[[(Investigate their sandwich.)->SWSand1]] (text-colour:red)[[(Investigate their pockets.)->SWPock1]]

The crust crumbles as you pry open the layers. The inside flitters away like glitter. Is that...rust? This sandwhich was left out in the open for too long; whatever secrets it held have eroded. (text-colour:cyan)[[(Back.)->Foundations1]]

(if:$Ch3MilPink is true)["Did you find Bear?"](else:)["Did you find your friend?"] (text-colour:green)[[(Blink until your eyes stop burning) "You were with them when they died?"->GreCh3Mil3]]

"Yes. I tried to bite them. But then they told me they were trying to stop the Founder." (text-colour:green)[[(Next.)->GreCh3Mil4]]

Sere lies in the mud, haloed in grey flowers, the other half of the club-sandwich clutched in their cramped hand. (text-colour:green)[[(Look closer.)->SW3]]

"What about...m?" The haunting world of double rounded edges gapes before you. (text-colour:yellow)[["You know you can have whole words for a name."->Nam4aK]]

"I don't like that one, it's too spiky. Make me one that's rounded and smooth." You're getting slightly annoyed, but you're a professional. (text-colour:yellow)[[(Get out your emergency teak.)->Nam6K]]

(set:$KName to true, $Name to "''m''", $Nickname to "''m''", $Lastname to "''m''", $NameCap to "''m''")On the flooded doorstep of Pirate Pete's you whittle the biggest, best, and fastest lower-case m of your life. (text-colour:cyan)[[(Present it to $Name, sweating and bleeding from multiple thumbpricks, but glowing.)->Ch5Bar]]

You burst into the bar, $Name at your side. The whimsical beachtowel swing of Sandwich Days, Ceviche Nights is still playing. Clarissa screams. Santine drops his cigarette, and Pete intakes breath sharply. The club-sandwich-seminar-presenter freezes while pouring mayonnaise onto a piece of bread. (text-colour:red)[[(Next.)->Reveal1]]

(set:$colour to blue)Pete is way ahead of you. With a flash of anchors, she has her arms around the Poisoner's neck, and lifts them bodily off $Name, turning and stuffing them firmly into the bar's minifridge. (text-colour:$colour)[[(Next.)->Reveal27a1]]

(set:$colour to green)Your foot connects with a thunk that is more satisfying than you'd expect from your supermarket rubbersoles. The Poisoner cuts off mid-sentence and falls backward off $Name. For a moment, your feel a darkness sucking at your toes, and the uninterpretable void of their face shifts, revealing a disinterest so profound it could suck out the hearts of a thousand people. And then Pete has them tucked under her muscled arms, and is stuffing them inside her minifridge. (text-colour:$colour)[[(Next.)->Reveal27a1]]

*It's over. The Poisoner has been stopped. You found your partner, and you helped a milliner. Time to have a last chat with all your cool buds, then see what $Nickname's plans are to wrap up this little number up for good.* A token clunks into the jukebox. The gentle, happy sound of *Coconuts in my Heart* warms Pete's bar like the first rays of the sun. (text-colour:blue)[[Pete->EndPete]] looks up from the old wurtlizer. "I think we all need some coconuts in our hearts about now." (text-colour:red)[[Clarissa->EndClarissa]] hovers, as though torn between offering $Nickname a hand, and asking for her shawl back. (text-colour:magenta)[[Santine->EndSantine]] looks like he really just wants to leave, but can't decide if that will make Pete yell at him. (if:$NoKill is true)[(text-colour:$colour)[[$NameCap->EndM]] has stopped crying, but they are sitting in the remains of the sandwich-presentation, eyes vacant. They have lettuce in their hair, and they have draped Clarissa's shawl over their head. ](if:$Kill is true)[(text-colour:$colour)[[$NameCap->EndM]] stands very still, looking out at the rain. Dark blood drips from their hand where the fight split their wounds open. They have draped Clarissa's shawl over their head. ](visited:"EndNotes")[(text-colour:lime)[[(Review the case.)->EndNotes]]](else:)[(text-colour:lime)[[(*Case updated.)->EndNotes]]]

Trembling, you whisper, "*Would I!*" (text-colour:cyan)[[THE END.->End]]

"Forty years ago, a milliner's child went missing in the Upper Inlet. At the exact same time, the Founder started Threads and Flowers down here. It wasn't the first hat business the Founder founded, but it was the first to succeed." (text-colour:magenta)[["So the Founder's hat empire is built on the back of one millinary child genius, shut up in a room, producing hats around the clock for half a century?->MagCh2San11]]

You would have run after them. You started to--but what they'd said held you back. Sere was right. You weren't a real detective. You were a midori-sour in a supermarket trenchcoat. Maybe it was better for you to just stay inside the bar, where everything was green and happy, and let Sere do their serious work like a real detective. So you let them go out there alone, where there was a serial killer--though you didn't know it then--and you never saw your friend again. (text-colour:green)[[(Next.)->Ch3BarIsh]]

A little ukulele and panpipe song with no lyrics, composer unknown. You and Sere used to play it on a pocket radio at the ocean, while you chopped fish for ceviche on beach towels under stripy umbrellas. It flutters over you like holidays, rolling surf, tart fish, and sunshine. (text-colour:cyan)[[(Back.)->Ch3BarIsh]]

While Pete might seem hard on you, her eyes show her concern. At least 30% of her brusqueness tonight was probably because she didn't want you to get hurt.(if:$PetCh2Green is true)[ Also, by the warmth in her cheeks and the pings of her phone, negotiations with Chester seem to be going well, which is totally your doing.] (text-colour:cyan)[[(Back.)->Ch3BarIsh]]

Santine and Clarissa are glaring at each other between increasingly frenzied sips of cigarette and wine, respectively. The club-sandwhich-seminar-presenter has now gotten out a ruler and is muttering about hypoteneuses. (text-colour:cyan)[[(Back.)->Ch3BarIsh]]

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''](text-colour:red)['' . . . ''](text-colour:yellow)['' . . . ''] (text-colour:blue)['' . . . ''] (text-colour:magenta)['' . . . ''](text-colour: orange)['' . . . ''](text-colour:green)['' <3 ''] (text-colour:cyan)[[(Take the letter and the library tickets and leave your dead friend in the flowers.)->GreCh3Mil2]](if:$SWHead is not true)[ (text-colour:green)[[(Investigate their head.)->SWHead1]]](if:$SWSand is not true)[ (text-colour:yellow)[[(Investigate their sandwich.)->SWSand1]]]]

"Did Pete say what she was going to do with *that*?" Santine jerks his thumb at the minifridge, an unlit cigarette dangling from his mouth. "I can't be hanging around here while any pirate friends turn up if you get my drift." (if:$EndSan1 is not true)[(text-colour:magenta)[["So what's the Santine plan, now we're all out of danger?"->EndSanA2]] ](if:$Ch2SanRed is true and $EndSan2 is not true)[(text-colour:yellow)[["So that loser in the minifridge...you used to *do* that..."->EndSanB1]] ](text-colour:cyan)[[(Back.)->Epilogue Bar]]

Clarissa shoots a pointed look at $Name as you sit down next to her. "They're not going to try and keep it, right? I put alot of work into that shawl." (if:$EndClar1 is not true)[(text-colour:red)[["Thanks for your help tonight. You really put your shawl on the line."->EndClarA1]] ](if:$EndClar2 is not true and $Ch1ClarBlue is true)[(text-colour:blue)[[(Reach into your whittlin' bag) "Here's something I made for you. For when you do eventually make it to the Upper Inlet."->ClarEndB1]] ](text-colour:cyan)[[(Back.)->Epilogue Bar]]

"I've called someone to deal with that." Pete jerks her thumb at the minifridge. "Call it a pirate favour." (if:$EndPete1 is not true)[(text-colour:blue)[["Thank you Pete, I really needed you on my detective side tonight."->EndPeteB1]] ](if:$PetCh2Green is true and $EndPete2 is not true)[(text-colour:green)[["I take it you and Chester have worked things out?"->EndPeteA1]] ](text-colour:cyan)[[(Back.)->Epilogue Bar]]

(if:$Kill is true)[You approach the milliner. They peek at you from beneath the beads and tassels on Clarissa's shawl. Their eyes are very bright. "The Founder is dead," they whisper, with an edge of excitement you only heard when they were asking you about the Lower Inlet. (text-colour:$colour)[["They definitely are! How are we feeling about things like hospitals right now?"->EndMFounder1]] ](if:$NoKill is true)[You crouch down beside the quiet, salad-covered milliner. They look up at you. Their eyes are red-rimmed, but very clear. As though all the jaundice has been washed away, like rust from metal. (text-colour:$colour)[["So...how are we feeling?"->EndMNo1]]] (text-colour:cyan)[["Actually, I'm just going to check in with someone else one last time, brb." (Back.)->Epilogue Bar]]

"I am in the light now. I do not want to get trapped again." They look into the neon-caught rain. Searching. "I have a thing I must do." (text-colour:$colour)[["It's good to have goals!"->EndMFounder3]] (text-colour:green)[["What's fun about things is that they can be achieved alongside seeking professional medical treatment."->EndMFounder2a]]

"No! I am *here now*. I am here! And even if I cannot stay here long I must search. I must learn." They are facing away from the fridge, where the Founder's body lies, and you get the sense they will never look back. That everything that happened has been cut off, and locked behind some line in the sand that you helped to draw. (text-colour:$colour)[["Cool! Cool..."->EndMFounder3]]

"I want to find the hat shop I came from. I want to know if my parents are alive, and why they never came looking for me. I want to learn who the Founder was. I want to know everything." (text-colour:$colour)[[(Next.)->EndMFounder4]]

"How can I know? How can I begin? My eyes are wide open and I see myself nowhere in this big world." They keep looking to where the Founder lies trapped in the mini-fridge. You sense the fear and loss that still weeps, like an unhealable wound. (text-colour:$colour)[["Well first off, some pirate is going to come sort out that serial killer in no time, so you won't have to worry about them."->EndMF1]] (text-colour:blue)[["Don't worry, you can stay with me, I have a normal house."->EndMPet1]]

"I've lived here for so long already. It's all just more darkness. More Founder. More pain." Their teeth are chattering. (text-colour:$colour)[[(Reach out to them.)->EndMF2]]

"I don't think I will ever stop worrying about them." They look at their hands. Endless brackish blood seeps into the cracks in their flaky skin. "In my head I will always be their prisoner, in that endless black room." (text-colour:$colour)[[(Reach out and put a hand on their shoulder.)->EndMF2]]

The lettuce slips off their head and onto their nose. They don't seem to notice. "I want there to be more in me than that. Something else inside, too. A rainy night. The wind from the sea." Their eyes mist over as they turn to you, shaking all over, the lettuce wobbling wildly. "I have come to a very important decision." (text-colour:$colour)[[(Lean in.)->EndMF3]]

"Would you take me to a hospital?" You are so overcome with relief you almost miss it. As you realise what has just happened a warm flush prickles your scalp, as though Sere is watching you in sheer amazement. (text-colour:cyan)[[(Reach into your trenchcoat pocket and bring out the foot long 'I' you whittled years ago, specifically for such an occasion.)->Reveal39]]

Pink neon glints off their eyes as they turn to look at you. "You are Bear Winters's partner. You are the greatest detective. Would you help me?" You almost miss it. Your mouth is halfway open when you slowly shut it, a flush coming over your entire body. Somewhere, you know Sere is watching you, and crying. (text-colour:cyan)[[(Reach into your trenchcoat pocket and bring out the foot long 'I' you whittled years ago, specifically for such an occasion.)->Reveal39]]

"She said she wouldn't be any kind of pirate at all if she didn't take up a new adventure every now and them." Pete pretends she has something in her eye. "Thanks for the encouragement. (text-colour:green)[["I'm just waiting on that sick coconut hookup when you start your minimarts."->EndPeteA2]]

"No. We needed you on ours. If it weren't for you, the Poisoner would still be out there Poisoning. Another week, and all of this might have been gone." (text-colour:blue)[[(Modestly) "I barely understood what was happening the whole time."->EndPeteB2a]]

"I'm sorry about your partner Faith, I really am. Winters was a bright one. A bit anal, but a good detective, and a good person." (text-colour:blue)[["And a great dentist."->EndPeteB3]]

"After tonight? I'll throw in a free pineapple voucher as well. And don't forget to whittle me that sign. Oh, and while you're at it, the marts will need name tags. Probably alot of name tags." (text-colour:green)[[(Give Pete a hug.)->EndPeteA3]]

(set:$EndPete2 to true)It's a bit like embracing an anchor-covered shelf. Pete pats you firmly on the back. "Don't be a stranger, Faith. I'll take your photo off the do-not-approach wall." (text-colour:cyan)[["Don't worry. If I'm going to be whittling for your minimarts you will be seeing me all. The. Time." (Turn back to the rest of the bar before Pete's smile has time to fade.)->Epilogue Bar]] (if:$EndPete1 is not true)[(text-colour:blue)[["Thank you Pete. I really needed you on my detective side tonight."->EndPeteB1]]]

"What are your plans now?" Pete asks, carefully placing a fresh new midori sour in front of you, this time overflowing with cherries. (text-colour:blue)[["I'm going to check in on $Lastname. And then...well, I'll keep you posted."->EndPeteB4]]

(set:$EndPete1 to true)Pete claps you on the shoulder. It hurts a lot. "You're always welcome at Pirate Pete's." (text-colour:cyan)[[(Back.)->Epilogue Bar]] (if:$EndPete2 is not true and $PetCh2Green is true)[(text-colour:green)[["I take it you and Chester have worked things out?"->EndPeteA1]]]

Clarissa sniffs. "Just doing what anyone would. Is our friend going to be alright?" She looks doubtfully at $Name, who is whispering to themselves and scowling. (text-colour:red)[["Maaaaybe?"->EndClarA2]]

You had to cobble the necklace together from letters you'd already made, and the fresh varnish has already collected some lint, but as Clarissa takes the shiny, slightly sticky 'KLArIZZA' she can barely suppress her emotion. "This is *so dope*," she whispers, stringing the necklace around her neck. You have never felt more seen as an artist. (text-colour:blue)[["You'll make it. But until then, I'll be around here for midoris pretty often from now on, if you want the company."->ClarEndB2]]

(set:$EndClar2 to true)Clarissa hugs you, and you hug her back. "Oh I'm sure I'll have time for a few more pirate brews before I make it big in the city." (text-colour:cyan)[["Late, KLArIZZA." (Turn back to the bar at large.)->Epilogue Bar]] (if:$EndClar1 is not true)[(text-colour:red)[["Thanks for your help tonight. You really put your shawl on the line."->EndClarA1]]]

"God. To think they were just living like that, all those months, while I just picked up their work and drove off. Never again. I'm never working for someone else ever." (text-colour:red)[["That sounds like an achieveable goal."->EndClarA3]]

(set:$EndClar1 to true)"You wait. I'm going to open up a shawl shop like the Upper Inlet's never seen. It's going to go inter-Inlet. Maybe even reach the Isola. Those people can rig a fishing net that won't quit, but sartorialists they are not." (text-colour:cyan)[["Wherever you end up, you can count me as a customer." (Give her a fist bump and turn back to the bar.)->Epilogue Bar]] (if:$Ch1ClarBlue is true and $EndClar2 is not true)[(text-colour:blue)[[(Reach into your whittlin' bag) "Actually, here's something I made for you. For when you do eventually make it to the Upper Inlet."->ClarEndB1]]]

"Oh I don't know. Set up another off-Inlet casino? Start my own firm? I've always thought I would be good at motivational speaking." (text-colour:magenta)[["Well I'm glad you're feeling better."->EndSanA3]]

Santine looks ashamed. "If it wasn't for me, none of this might have happened at all." (text-colour:magenta)[["Maybe you could put that in your motivational speeches!"->EndSanA4]]

(set:$EndSan1 to true)He looks at you like you're an idiot clam. "Why would *anyone* want to hear about something embarassing like that?" (text-colour:cyan)[["Well, thanks for taking a table full of club-sandwiches in the face for me anyway." (Give him a high five so he won't notice you don't shake hands with people who don't believe in weekends.)->Epilogue Bar]] (if:$Ch2SanRed is true and $EndSan2 is not true)[(text-colour:yellow)[["So that loser in the minifridge...you used to *do* that..."->EndSanB1]]]

Santine eyes the fridge with distaste. "Unfortunately, yes." (text-colour:yellow)[["Are you like, *OK*?"->EndSanB2]]

He gives you a sarcastic look. (text-colour:yellow)[["Well anyway, I'm glad you helped us out when it counted."->EndSanB3]]

(set:$EndSan2 to true)"I am too. It may strain your image of me, but I also wanted this Poisoner business to end. It has been the most abysmal financial year of my life, and that includes the flood in the blackmarket laundromat. And I'm pleased that milliner isn't trapped any longer because of me," he adds quickly. (text-colour:cyan)[[(Back.)->Epilogue Bar]] (if:$EndSan1 is not true)[(text-colour:magenta)[["So what's the Santine plan, now we're all out of danger?"->EndSanA2]]]

|A>[(text-colour:#f94ea9)[$NameCap.]](click-append:?A)[ Not a poisoner, just a talented milliner who's ready to read some boring infographics on civic history. (if:$Kill is true)[Killing their tormentor seems to have changed them. For better or worse is hard to say, but maybe it doesn't matter. It was something they needed to do.](if:$NoKill is true)[Leaving their tormentor in the minifridge seems to have unblocked some emotional plug in them. It may be too much. But you have faith.]] |F>[(text-colour:yellow)[The Mercury Poisoner.]](click-append:?F)[ (if:$Kill is true)[Ded.](if:$NoKill is true)[Consigned to the mercy of the minifridge.]] |D>[(text-colour:red)[Clarissa.]](click-append:?D)[ She's got a scarf, a dream, and a hell of a throwing arm. She'll go far.] |B>[(text-colour:magenta)[Santine.]](click-append:?B)[ Just a pretty strange, not ok guy. Will he survive out there? Probably. Will he thrive? Very likely. Will he learn from this? He will THINK he did.] |E>[(text-colour:blue)[Pirate Pete.]](click-append:?E)[ What a champ. (if:$PetCh2Green is true)[You have already picked out the wood for the gigantic pink couple's necklaces you're going to make her and Chester.]] |C>[(text-colour:green)[Sere Winters.]](click-append:?C)[ Your special dentist. The best detective. Godspeed.] |G>[(text-colour:Lime)[Faith Deluxe.]](click-append:?G)[ You know, people DO like you. You ARE a good detective. And at the end of the day, people appreciate having a few novelty name necklaces in their lives, even if they don't always want to wear them.] (text-colour:cyan)[[(Back.)->Epilogue Bar]]

The figure launches themselves under a pile of discounted fedoras. (text-colour:#f94ea9)[[(Strike a disarming pose) "I'm sorry to bother you and your pile of hats, but I'm looking for a milliner known as the Mercury Poisoner."->PinkCh3Mil1]] (text-colour:green)[[(Squint to locate them under the shuffling pile of 50% off felt) "I didn't mean to startle you, can you tell me if a stressed former dentist has ever come this way?"->GreCh3Mil1]]

(if:$SWPock is true)[They look at you blankly.](else:)[Angry, frightened eyes follow you from behind a snapback. "Go away." Their voice is a chill, delicate rasp. Like flakes of lemon granita.] (if:$SWPock is true)[(text-colour:#f94ea9)[["There are 114 dead people above me...and one in my heart. Everyone I've talked to thinks you're behind it. Could you tell me your side of the story?"->PinkCh3Mil2]]](else:)[(text-colour:#f94ea9)[["There are 114 dead factory workers, and one missing former dentist. Everyone I've talked to thinks you're behind it. Could you tell me your side of the story?"->PinkCh3Mil2]]]

(if:$Ch3MilPink is true)[They look away. "You should check the boxes against the far wall," they say, softly.](else:)[The hats wiggle a little, and then a disused voice whispers, "Check the boxes against the far wall."] You look at the melted, half-frozen pile of decaying carboard swept up against the earthen foundation wall, and your heart starts to thunder. (text-colour:green)[[(Investigate the boxes.)->SW2]]

(if:$SWPock is true)[They continue to stare at you, uncertainly.](else:)[The eyes continue to glare in anxious silence.] (text-colour:#f94ea9)[["Do you...*know* about what's been going on up in the city?"->PinkCh3Mil3]]

(if:$SWPock is true)[They sit up a little, shedding fedoras, a snapback balanced on their head, back to front.](else:)[Their head emerges slowly, the snapback settled on top, back to front.] "You can tell me about the city?" they whisper. And you hear it. The curiosity. A fiendish itch eclipsing their confusion and suspicion. And sepsis. (text-colour:#f94ea9)[["Oh sure I could tell you about the Lower Inlet! It was founded in--" (go on about the Lower Inlet and its sad, short history for a while) "--where was I? Oh yeah. Over the last six months almost everyone who worked at the factory has been Poisoned, and it's showing no sign of letting up. It started the day you disappeared, and, well, fingers have been pointed." (Allow yourself only one quick look at their hands.)->PinkCh3Mil4]]

They are sitting up properly now, and seem less poised for flight. A lump has entered their raspy shaved ice voice. "All these years and I never knew what place I was living in. How different it is to know." (text-colour:#f94ea9)[["Could you tell me what happened that day? The day you left your apartment?"->PinkCh3Mil5]]

They shut their eyes. "I saw the city. For the second time, but the first time in the daylight. I saw the daylight." (text-colour:#f94ea9)[[(Next.)->PinkCh3Mil6]]

"I don't remember how I came down here. I don't know how I knew the way. I just knew I had to leave, and I had to hide, and I had to be safe. I think this Factory is my shadow. The one I have cast these forty years, and it called me home. And it sheltered me, after I did what I had to do." They look at their hands. The dark flesh is open and raw--it hasn't healed at all. (text-colour:#f94ea9)[["So after you left your apartment you didn't see anyone, didn't do anything, other than come here? And you've been here alone, ever since?->PinkCh3Mil7]]

"Yes precisely. I left that day. I saw the deliverer--I think I saw her. It was...hard. To see. Through it all. After that I have been just here, in the hats. I have done no work. Done no things. Just sat. The only one I have seen since that day was Bear Winters." (text-colour:#f94ea9)[["Tell me what lead up to you deciding to leave that day. Why *that* day?"->PinkCh3Mil8]] (text-colour:lime)[[(Quietly) "It's *Sere* Winters."->LimCh3Mil1]]

Their eyes narrow in thought. "There was no reason. I just could not. Every day I could. I could stitch, I could cut, I could paste. I could sit in the dark and I could feel myself standing completely still, while the world out there that I could not see or know turned and turned. I could, I could, and then I could not." (text-colour:#f94ea9)[["Santine said you came to him first."->PinkCh3Mil9]]

"No, it is pronounced Bear." (text-colour:#f94ea9)[["Ok fine. Tell me what lead up to you deciding to leave that day. Why *that* day?"->PinkCh3Mil8]]

"Yes, I came to the hat man. The Founder had stopped coming to see me. For months and months, I was alone. Only the quotas, and the materials. I knew they came from the hat man now, so one night, as things were drawing to an end, I went to him." (text-colour:#f94ea9)[[(Next.)->PinkCh3Mil10]]

"It was like a dream. To see the stars. To see a different face. When I asked him for it to stop now I knew that if he said no, that I could not go on. That I would have to end things myself." (text-colour:#f94ea9)[[(Next.)->PinkCh3Mil11]]

"And he said no, and I went back. And every day I woke up and made hats, and then one day I woke up and knew. So I shed the part of me the Founder had claimed, and I was free." (text-colour:#f94ea9)[["Wow. Thank you for filling me in on all that."->PinkCh3Mil12]]

(set:$Ch3MilPink to true)"You are welcome. I have enjoyed watching the large mole on your nose. This is very new to me." (if:$SWPock is not true)[(text-colour:green)[["Can you tell me what happened to Sere Winters?"->GreCh3Mil1]] ](text-colour:yellow)[["Would you be able to tell me about your relationship with the Founder?"->YelCh3Mil1]] (if:$SWPock is true)[(text-colour:red)[["Why did you send your fingers to Santine?"->RedCh3Mil1]]]

"I didn't." (text-colour:red)[["Well he feels like you did."->RedCh3Mil2]]

"I made them a hat." (text-colour:yellow)[["Was it...the best hat in the universe?"->YelCh3Mil2]]

"They said they were part of a duo of the best ever detectives, and they would come back with their great detective friend, and they would help me. But then they became very sick. They became very sick very fast." You aren't sure what your face is doing, but the milliner is speaking softer and softer. (text-colour:green)[[(Next.)->GreCh3Mil5]]

"I didn't know what to do." They are barely audible. "But before they died they said to give you this. They said you needed it." They take out a little package. (text-colour:green)[[(Take the object.)->GreCh3Mil6]]

It is a box of industrial grade dental floss. (if:$Ch3MilPink is not true)[(text-colour:#f94ea9)[[(When your voice comes back) "I'm looking for a milliner known as the Mercury Poisoner"->PinkCh3Mil1]] ](if:$Ch3MilPink is true and $Ch3MilYellow is not true)[(text-colour:yellow)[["Can you tell me about your relationship with the Founder?"->YelCh3Mil1]] ](if:$Ch3MilPink is true and $Ch3MilRed is not true)[(text-colour:red)[["Why did you send your fingers to Santine?"->RedCh3Mil1]]]

"I was eight. It was my entry into the Upper Inlet under-15s milliner of the year award." They are now mumbling from somewhere in the middle of a pile of toques. "I won." (text-colour:yellow)[["Sick!"->YelCh3Mill3]]

"The Founder was the judge. The prize was to go and live in the Lower Inlet in the newly founded Young Milliner's academy." (text-colour:yellow)[["Oh no."->YelCh3Mil4]]

"The academy was...different that I had expected. I had a room with the windows taken out, and did not see anyone again except for the Founder who visited me once a week. And then once a month, because they didn't like the smell." (text-colour:yellow)[[(Next.)->YelCh3Mil5]]

"In my heart I knew I had become a prisoner. But I didn't know how to escape. And then time...happened...and I think I changed somehow." (text-colour:yellow)[["So the Founder sort of...headhunted you and turned you into a private hat factory?"->YelCh3Mil6]]

(set:$Ch3MilYellow to true)They peek out from the hat mountain cradling their fragile body. "I don't know what they turned me into." (if:$SWPock is not true)[(text-colour:green)[["Can you tell me what happened to Sere Winters?"->GreCh3Mil1]] ](if:$SWPock is true and $Ch3MilRed is not true)[(text-colour:red)[["Why did you send your fingers to Santine?"->RedCh3Mil1]] ](if:$SWPock is true and $Ch3MilPink is true and $Ch3MilRed is true)[(text-colour:cyan)[["Don't worry. Whatever happens, I've got your back." (*Roll out*.)->Chapter5Title]]]

They bring out an awful little bundle from under their shirt. "I didn't give them to anyone. They're right here with me, as they always have been." You can smell the mercury radiating from the rotting digits. Their whole body is probably full of mercury after a life of exposure, but their fingers are something else. It's incredible they're still alive. (text-colour:red)[["Oh dear lord. Ok. Right. Well someone sent *someone's* fingers to him, and made it look like you'd done it."->RedCh3Mil3]]

"That is not my problem." (text-colour:red)[["Well it sort of is because everyone really seriously thinks you're the murderer."->RedCh3Mil4]]

"I am not." (text-colour:red)[["No, and thanks to Sere, I know who it was. Would you be able to come with me so we can confront them and clear your name?"->RedCh3Mil5]]

They nibble on a mangled knuckled with a grey canine. You wonder if they used to be a nail-biter, like Santine. "I cannot. I don't think I can." (text-colour:red)[["I know this is a big ask. But after tonight the Founder won't be out there, keeping you in the dark."->RedCh3Mil6]]

They gnaw more fervently. (text-colour:red)[["And there's a lot of information on cities up there. Mostly other cities. But there's a plaque down by the old dockworkers union that hasn't been vandalised."->RedCh3Mil7]]

"I forgot how to read." (text-colour:red)[["I'll read it to you."->RedCh3Mil8]]

(set:$Ch3MilRed to true)They shudder, pressing their forehead to their wrists. Then they stand up and, in an avalanche of all-weather berets, slide to the ground beside you. "Ok," they whisper, in that scraped and unspoken voice. "I will help you Faith." (if:$SWPock is not true)[(text-colour:green)[["Can you tell me what happened to Sere Winters?"->GreCh3Mil1]] ](if:$Ch3MilYellow is not true)[(text-colour:yellow)[["Real quick before we go, would you be able to tell me about your relationship with the Founder?"->YelCh3Mil1]] ](if:$SWPock is true and $Ch3MilPink is true)[(text-colour:cyan)[["That was so cool." (ROLL OUT.)->Chapter5Title]]]

"I want an m. A big m. For milliner." (text-colour:yellow)[[(Snap an M off a stray Meredith) "Here!"->Name5K]]

$NameCap locks the door, and walks away. From within, you hear the Mercury Poisoner start to thump, and gurgle. After a very long time they fall silent. (text-colour:$colour)[[(Next.)->Epilogue BarTitle]]

"Does anyone have anything to tie them up with?" Pete grunts, squashing down on the Poisoner's head. In a fit of inspiration, you remember Sere's final parting gift. (text-colour:$colour)[["Here!" (Toss Pete the floss. You were never going to use it anyway.)->Reveal28q]]

Pete trusses the Founder from the shoulders down until they are a minty coccon. She slams the minifridge shut. "Wait." $NameCap steps forward. There are bruises around their neck and a chill note in their voice. For the first time, you feel afraid of them. (text-colour:$colour)[[(Next.)->Reveal29]]

(css: "font-size: 120%;")[(text-colour:magenta)[''CHAPTER TWO'']] (text-colour:green)[''Sandwiches and Self-mutilation''] (text-colour:cyan)[[(Hit it!)->Ch2Bar]]

(css: "font-size: 120%;")[(text-colour:blue)[''CHAPTER ONE'']] (text-colour:green)[''Sour Witnesses and Sweet Midoris''] (text-colour:cyan)[[(Hit it!)->Ch1Bar]]

(css: "font-size: 120%;")[(text-colour:orange)[''CHAPTER THREE'']] (text-colour:green)[''Simple Melodies and Tangled Memories''] (text-colour:cyan)[[(Hit it...)->Ch3Bar]]

(css: "font-size: 120%;")[(text-colour:red)[''CHAPTER FOUR'']] (text-colour:green)[''A Hat in the Dark''] (text-colour:cyan)[[(Hit it.)->Factory1]]

(css: "font-size: 120%;")[(text-colour:YELLOW)[''CHAPTER FIVE'']] (text-colour:green)[''Hot Tempers and Quick Silver''] (text-colour:cyan)[[(Hit. It.)->Ch5Bar]]

(css: "font-size: 120%;")[(text-colour:lime)[''EPILOGUE'']] (text-colour:green)[''A Milliner Aided, a Pirate Befriended, and a Town of Tailors and Frauds Saved''] (text-colour:cyan)[[(Wrap it.)->Epilogue Bar]]

(text-colour:cyan)[[(End of Chapter One.)->Ch2BarTitle]]