Day 10 - NEW FEAR'S EVE

[pandatrash]

THREE! TWO! ONE! HAPPPPPY NEW FEAR!

This is the last raccoon holiday for a while, so if you'd like a vacation from this murder game before the KILLING NIGHT, check your tablets! We'll even let you leave the campus, so you'd better praise our generosity!

[There's a new app on the tablets that cannot be removed. It will only activate when you are alone in your room, but click the cute carrot icon and you'll be given a simple prompt: "TAKE A VACATION?" with yes/no prompts. If you click "no," nothing happens; the app simply closes, ready for you to click on it again. But if you choose "yes," you'll become a bit lightheaded, and the next thing you know, you'll be back home. But not just any home: The home in which your murder carrot(s) (the best one, the newest one, or maybe even both of them? It's up to player discretion) has already been made reality. You'll be there for a full three hours before you're brought back to Nope's Peak, holding the tablet as if you never left. After that, the app will only say, "You know what to do."]

By the way, if it ain't obvious, that killing night is tonight! If you're thinking about doing a murder, rest assured: We will NOT let the dead mess up a trial like that again!

[In other news, the science lab has been restocked, and the raccoons made a HUGE mess eating out of the kitchen trash, like worse than usual.]

((Game nav
Day 10 Recyclr
Vacation time!
Trust sheets - get those submitted by tomorrow evening!))

Comments

[purrtagonist]

Wrong again, Great Detective. I thought you were supposed to be good at deductions?

[he gestures to her blood detective solution]

Teach me how to make chemicals like this. Ones that will be useful in investigations.

[very_good_end]

[Hmphs]

You jeer me, then beg for me to teach you my skills? You realize of course that this means we will be in competition for the supplies here in that case? --Well, I suppose it can't hurt. It'd be an improvement if this became a scientific mystery now. I will do so, with the understanding that you are to share your results with me, without any falsification.

[tilts her head]

But, hold on, Kurusu-san. What are you wanting to know? How to detect blood specifically, or just general knowledge of what evidence to look for and how to collect it?

[purrtagonist]

[shakes out his thumb, which still stings, as he speaks]

I didn't jeer you. I just asked you to be cognizant of the flaws in your plan, that's all.

[tilts his head at her in return]

You're the detective. What knowledge do you think a novice like me should learn first?

[very_good_end]

[side-eyes him] Playing the "if you're such a Great Detective..." game is always a jeer.

That depends... do you even know how to dust for fingerprints?

[purrtagonist]

[flashes her a grin, and shakes his head]

Nope.

[very_good_end]

You don't?

[makes a distasteful sound]

You can't expect to do any investigation without at least being able to do that! No one will respect you if you can't do something so simple as dust for fingerprints!

[Least of all, her.]

Fine, I see we'll have to start from the very beginning...

[purrtagonist]

I'm not a detective, Erika. I'm a barista.

[and a thief. but he isn't saying that]

Treat me gently, senpai.

[very_good_end]

Part-time job, Kurusu-san?

[she just smiles at being called 'senpai']

Anyone can... possibly, be the detective, Kurusu-san. It's hardly limited by your, shall we say, profession.

Come with me. I shall show you the basics of fingerprinting at least. I would say 'you must crawl before you can walk,' but with this most rudimentary of knowledge, it is more akin to saying 'you must have mobile appendages before you can even begin to make an attempt at movement.'

Yes, this is more akin to the movement of a single-celled organism. That is how simple fingerprints are.

Do you know where fingerprinting originated, Kurusu-san?

[purrtagonist]

One of many.

[. . . also, thanks Erika]

And, nope. But I get the feeling you're about to tell me.

[very_good_end]

You may be surprised. It arises from the British Empire and colonialism. An Englishman named Sir William Herschel was acting as a magistrate in the Bengali region of India. He noted that many contracts signed by native Indians were broken, and reasoned that the natives were not taking a signed contract 'seriously,' as a binding agreement. So, on a whim, he devised a method of impressing further relevance beyond a simple signature. In July, 1858, he entered a contract with a local businessman named Rajyadhar Konai to provide construction materials for roads used by the government. At signing, he also had him dip his hand in ink, and press it to the paper he signed, creating a perfect hand-print. Sir Herschel surely didn't realize what he was doing... he only wished to create a little ceremony to incite superstition. Giving the native peoples a more 'personal contact' feel to the document, he reasoned it would frighten them and make it less likely they would possibly break them. It worked, so he started making it a requirement in all of his dealings.

...It was over time he realized that more than simply being a scare tactic, the markings had practical value that could indeed be reliably retraced to each individual... and that this was both permanent and consistent an identification. Furthermore, the process could be refined to simply keeping track of the tips of the fingers, without the need of an entire hand-print. The references could therefore easily be stored and referred to later.

[shrugs, taking the moment to breathe]

There are certainly other examples of it in history, but the first practical use of fingerprints as identification came from the records of Sir Herschel's dealings over the decades he spent collecting them.

An interesting notion, isn't it? That a 'superstition' lead to something practical, completely by accident.