speed dating 2.0

[idolpro]

WHO: More idols looking to have a good time
WHERE: Game Tower
WHEN: Day 120, morning

[ Hello, Idols! Are you ready for a game?

Some of you may have played this before! The area is familiar for sure: today's playing field is an expansive balcony with several mini-tables paired with two patio chairs each, garden umbrellas planted to keep the heat away. You can see the rest of the city from up here, too - it turns out you're pretty high up as you can even see the start of the Rainbow Bridge from here, though the railings are high so there's not a high likelihood of accidentally falling down.

There are a few pink lemonade pitchers scattered around with paper cups if you're thirsty, and some bite-sized chocolates if you're hungry. Cute snack food!

The instructions look familiar, too: it's a light game, with no enforced truth-telling even. No status effects! Just dates!

There are cards on the table, too! ]

INSTRUCTIONS | SIGN-UPS | TURN-IN | OVERFLOW

Comments

[nihilmancy]

...We're probably from different worlds.

[She shrugs nonchalantly. Like, chill, dude.]

[thinkoutsidethebox]

That's no excuse.

[Erika has never had a chill in her life.]

[nihilmancy]

Perhaps you could teach me about "true" mystery, then?

[thinkoutsidethebox]

...If you'd like.

[she doesn't wait for her to confirm that's what she'd like]

Then, obviously... the goal of reading any mystery is to solve it. That's 'whodunnit,' 'howdunnit,' 'whydunnit' — culprit, means and motive. All of the three must be answered to get the full answer. Hopefully you know at least that much.

[nihilmancy]

Mm, that would make sense. A mystery story is a puzzle, after all.

[thinkoutsidethebox]

Precisely. And, in the same way it wouldn't be fair for a jigsaw puzzle to be solved by cutting the pieces to fit, there are certain rules of the mystery genre which must be followed for it to be a fair competition.

[nihilmancy]

That is an interesting perspective. So what sort of rules do you mean?

[thinkoutsidethebox]

To some extent they're unwritten rules of the genre, in the same way that no jigsaw puzzle comes with a note saying the pieces don't need to be cut. But certain writers of the Golden Age of detective fiction attempted to write them, from their perspective. Ronald Knox and S.S. Van Dine, most notably. Their 'Commandments' are often referred to as the definition of the traditional genre, though they're of course open to interpretation.

"It is forbidden for supernatural agencies to be employed as a detective technique." That's the one I referred to earlier, Knox's 2nd. "It is forbidden for the culprit to be anyone not mentioned in the early part of the story." "It is forbidden for the case to be resolved with clues that are not presented." "It is forbidden for the detective to be the culprit." And so on.

[nihilmancy]

Continued!