It’s been a tough couple of months at the toy factory: long hours, night shifts, and no dental, despite the somewhat alarming ease of access to candy canes. While some elves are content with the way things are – Christmas is everything! Physical comfort and rest? Who needs it when you could be making toys?!! – there are others that have formed a secret union that is determined to get more respect from the man.  However, they know they need every elf’s support in order to make this thing work – no scabs! No one that will oppose them!
 
The problem for the union formers is, of the top 15 most important elves, only a small minority – 4 –  are part of the union. The others have no interest in attempting to use their collective power as a workforce against Santa Claus and have definitively stated that they will not join any such effort. In an attempt to keep themselves looking innocent, the 4 members also outwardly vehemently reject the notion of a union to keep within the other’s favor. But without any means of persuading the rest of them their way, there’s only one thing the Unionizers can do:
 
Knock ‘em out. Send ‘em to see them sugar plum fairies for just long enough to convince the elfish masses to unionize (whether out of fear or pure persuasion doesn’t really matter, does it?)
 
Their first KO went off smoothly, and looked pretty nicely like a work-related accident. Blinky “fell” off a ladder and into a pile of dollhouse walls. How terrible! What bad luck! Was the majority’s thoughts on the matter, but those most powerful elves… they had a hunch that something was not right about the accident. Blinky was always so good with ladders – why, he would even hop from rung to rung on the highest rung while blinking repeatedly! That’s why he’s called Blinky!
 
Suspicions on high, they call a meeting of their little council to voice their suspicions…


 

---

---

This is how things will work this time around! Below you’ll find your ELF NAME. When you receive your PM (in about an hour? idk it's dinnertime lol), you will be given your role, and pretty much nothing else (you decide your gender). What I need you to do is to consider the following:
·         -----A quick description of your elf’s clothing. Unlike popular descriptors, Elves wear any color clothing and will match with fun, holiday accessories to boot! Write out a quick description of your elf, bolding their colors.
·         ------A quick personality descriptor. Are they nice? Neurotic? Angry? Grumpy? Suspicious of others? Suspicious themselves? Pick a few personality traits for your elf.  ((general note is that most elves are a little hyperactive, but they can display this in various ways))
·         -------A reason behind your name (like Blinky’s story).
·         -------An opening statement about Blinky’s accident.
And I need you to turn all of those bullet points into an opening post. An example is below:

Quote :

Tic-tac, a rather angsty little elf that wore nothing but black but had a thing for fresh-breath and gingerbread (a vicious cycle) lurks depressingly in the corner of the work office, absent-mindedly breaking down a gingerbread house. “What happened to Blinky back there…” he started saying, his voice slow and low and depressing. He took a bite of gingerbread house before continuing, taking care to chew thoroughly and swallow. “That was… just not right…” as soon as he swallowed he reached into his toolbelt, fished around the waiting chunks of cookie, and dug out a container of tic-tacs. He popped one in his mouth dramatically, waiting for others to comment.

 
You may reply at any time from THIS POST FORWARD. As the game progresses I’ll add information about pertinent game mechanics. For example, this is considered DAY ONE, where you may voice your suspicions and feel out your frenemies. If you decide that one is naughtier than the rest and should be dealt with, bold and declare it so in red in whatever way (phrasing) you wish.  When the times comes to change to NIGHT ONE phase, I’ll make an announcement with how nights are handled.
 
YOU HAVE TWENTY FOUR HOURS TO MAKE YOUR INTRODUCTORY POST. If an introductory post has not been made within the first twenty four hours, your character will be sent home from work with the flu, and you will be out of the game.
 

Bolded Names have checked in and are safe activity-rule wise.
Sailor Seren: Singsong
Sailor Blitzen: Kittybell
Addelyn: Lights dropped out of the game
Tokyo25: Tinsel

Batgirl: Bows
Sailor Selene: Silverbells
Adelaide: Eggnog
Miss Moon Rose: Rosy
Cosmos-Hime: Cosy
Yamichan16: Chimneycheer
Mercury_Viola_Rhapsody: Merrytime
Sailor Snowflake: Snowflake
Sailor Prancer: Artsytoes
Anait: Nutcracker dropped out of the game
NaoUranus: Noella


Ask any questions/make OOC comments on this thread!

Kittybell sat on her stool, working on finishing a cute little stuffed reindeer. She sang happily to herself, as she always did when she worked. Even when working long and hard shifts, nothing dampened her natural hyper-ness and sunny out look on life. She placed the reindeer in the basket with all the other toys she had finished and stood up to stretch, her pink bell collar jingling happily as she moved. She decided to walk around the factory a bit and see what other amazing toys her coworkers were making!

Straightening her pink dress, she quietly made her way out of the room. Everyone was busy, as always. Christmas was an amazingly busy time of the year! Everyone worked hard to make sure Santa Claus had enough presents for all of the nice boys and girls. Kittybell loved Christmas time! It was the happiest time of the year, afterall!

However, one of them wouldn't get to have a merry Christmas this year. 'Poor Blinky.' Thought Kittybell to herself, her usual bright smile turning upside down. She still couldn't believe what had happened to him. It was just awful! You always imagine that you'll die a some what peaceful death...not by falling in to dollhouses. She was concerned for anyone Blinky had in his life and wished she could find a way to make them feel just a little bit better. They must all be having a horrible Christmas. 

Kittybell shook her head, trying to clear the horrible thoughts from her head. It was time to get back to work any way!

Silverbells is a very happy elf. She loves to wear bright colors, especially those related to Christmas. Most of the time you'll see her in red, white, and silver outfits. Today she's wearing a red dress with a beautiful silver belt that has snowflakes on it, with her favorite red santa hat, Santa gave it to her one year for being his biggest elf helper. She takes pride in her hat. And cute red boots with silver bells on them. That's where she got the name Silverbells. Her chestnut brown hair was loosely falling at her hips. She loved having long hair. 

She's a hard worker who just honestly loves Christmas and is happy most of the time. She rambles on from time to time, but she's got good intentions. At the meeting Silverbells ran over to the group of people and jingled the whole way there. "Hey guys!", Silverbells said, "Did you guys here about Blinky? I heard what happened and way like 'WHAT'... You guys got any idea who did this? I feel like it's someone who doesn't like how much some of us elves like Santa... I mean Blinky LOVED Santa, so that wouldn't surprise me, but I guess we never..." She stopped talking when someone cleared their throat and she realized she had been rambling. She blushed for a second and said, "Sorry guys... But does anybody have any ideas about what happened?" Then she stood there waiting for a response.

Noella was always considered a bit of a strange little elf her clothing a big testament to that. She never matched and could easily be spotted out in a crowd when it came to the clothing she chose. Her favorite colors to wear were lime green and bright almost neon Yellow. Today was no different she had on her favorite Yellow dress with a pair of lime green boots and matching bracelets. Her bangs were held out of her face by a hair clip with a couple of Holly leaves on it. The Elf was busy painting away at a little red fire truck that she had been working on for a little while that was until she remembered she had other things to get done. With that the colorful elf was off to meet up with the others. She hummed a Christmas carol as she moved somehow it was the reason behind her name she had never figured it out but than again the sweet if not a bit strange elf really didn't care. She loved to hum these songs and had made a habit of it now she couldn't help the humming when she moved around. She stopped to think about everything that had happened lately she had such a hard time believing Blinky had actually had such an accident it was strange not to see him jumping around on the ladders now. As she walked up she couldn't help but to giggle at Silverbells. “Remember to breath while you talk.” She said a bright smile covering her face before it dimmed a bit. “I don’t honestly know what happened all I know is I’m finding it rather suspicious I mean Blinky lived on those ladders it seemed I just can’t seem to understand how he could have fallen off of one of them of all things.” Noella’s face dropped into a frown as she thought about it.

Singsong was a very intimidating elf. The main color of her dress was purple, with some black accents. Her dress was ripped at the ends, and she wore pointy shoes. Her eyelids were covered in striking black eyeliner.

Singsong was sat at her own little corner, tuning up a guitar. Her specialty was making instruments. She finished putting on the final touches, and set the guitar on a shelf. She sighed and made her way over to the other elves.

Blinky. She couldn't get that dweeb out of her mind. She was always pretty neutral toward him, but the whole incident with him was bugging her. She crossed her arms, "I don't think this was just an accident. Blinky could never stay still, sure..." she groaned a little at the thought. "But he was the greatest ladder climber. No way he just fell on his own."

Cosy was one of the last of the elves to awaken. He had been up late that evening doing his most favorite pastime; sewing. Cosy, like his namesake, was capable of crafting the most plush articles of clothing, though his skills weren't limited to clothing. Tablecloths, bedding even towels were also objects of his craft. He found that cooler colors; like purples, blues and greens, were the easiest to work with for some reason. 

Cosy heard the news a bit later than others; and it came to him as quite a shock. The project he had been working on so hard the evening prior was at the request of none other than Blinky himself, for he had requested a new pillowcase. He eventually met with the others on the floor attempted to clear his thoughts by organizing his spools, threads and needles. 

"Blinky was a good elf." He said, his voice hardened with loss. "It's a darn shame."

Lights was a shy elf, who tended to keep to herself. The only thing that stood out about her was the colour of her hair and the clothes she wore. Her hair was a light purple and of medium length, which she wore in two pigtails. In her hair there were two holly clips helping to pin her hair back. Attached to the elastic holding her hair in her pigtails, she had silver bells that would light up and blink in random patterns every once in a while.


She had the name lights because she was good with them. Your Christmas Tree lights aren’t working? Call Lights, she’ll get them working in a jiffy! Anything from manufacturing of lights, to planning elaborate displays, she was your gal.



Blinky had been a good elf, and she had been devastated to learn of Blinky’s death.

There aren’t nearly enough snowflakes.

Snowflake tilted her head as she inspected the little snowglobe she was constructing. She wanted to add approximately 90% more snowflakes, but Santa said if she put too much, then you couldn’t see anything inside—that lovely little reindeer and Santa’s sleigh—and you couldn’t shake the globe, either. Pah. Nothing could be better than more snowflakes.

Even in the North Pole, Snowflake felt that things could be much colder. The temperature barely felt like winter to her, and she couldn’t help grumbling about it. Damn all this global warming. She gave up and put down the snowglobe, sitting back down on her stool. Her hat’s single bell tinkled as she rested her elbow dejectedly on the surface, cradling her face as she started to ponder.

It seemed like no one had noticed her yet. Snowflake often blended into the background, especially here in the North Pole. That was probably because she always wore all white from her hat to her pointed shoes. Her long blonde hair reached to her waist, and her icy blue eyes were known to freak out other elves sometimes because of how cold they seemed.

No elf should have that little joy, they would whisper to each other. She’s just so scary and… cold!

Now she thought about what had happened to Blinky, and how everyone had been talking about it. “He probably just blinked too fast…” she commented. “But I definitely won’t rule out the possibility that it wasn’t an accident.”

She narrowed her eyes at the others. Did they have a malicious force in their midst?

Santa wouldn’t like that.

Eggnog stomped into the workshop in a huff, the bell on top of her green cap jingling loudly. Normally she loved to come to work and make teddy bears, but today she could not even think about Christmas.

Eggnog had always liked Blinky, in fact, she kinda like-liked him.  She was outraged that nobody seemed to be doing anything about his death.

"Seriously people! How are you all staying so calm!!! Blinky was our friend and someone hurt him. We need to get that butthead." She gasped as the words left her mouth, feeling guilty. "Sorry about my language," Eggnog began to fiddle with the oversized cranberry sweater that was covering her bright green leggings, "this is just like really scary."

Artsytoes was focused on her work, she was putting together all the art kits for all the good little boys and girls who shares the same passion as she. She came into work in a  pastel rainbow dress. Artsytoes had always loved to wear colorful clothes, from her dress down to her purple/ blue/ and white galactic ankle boots.

Artsytoes had loved working for Santa, and had thought all of the elves felt the same way. She finished her last art kit for the day before sanding up to stretch. She ran a hand through her black and purple hip length hair. She quickly put her hair into one braid before heading over to get some yummy hot chocolate.

She heard the others talking about Blinky. She hadn't talked to him much but she admired his dedication to the job. She heard singsong talking about Blinky and added, "you know you might just be on to something, Blinky was the best at climbing those ladders, I am almost certain that his death was not an accident."

Bows was sitting next to Artsytoes and was focusing on making teddy bears. While he was working hard, he wasn't noticing anyone around him. His outfit consisted of a red and green hat, shirt, knee-length tights, and simple red elf shoes. He wasn't too interested in making himself a fashion icon, he just wanted to help Santa be prepared for Christmas. Bows was a simple elf who loved to help those around him.

Bows stopped focusing on sewing a button onto one of the bear's eyes. He couldn't understand why something horrible happened to his best friend Blinky. They had spent their whole lives with one another. Blinky was one of the nicest elves there, he was totally dedicated to helping those around him just like Bows. Bows was still in shock about what happened, however, he sighed and continued sewing.

Tinsel was saddened with the news of Blinkie's death. He was such a dedicated worker, and he wouldn't be able to contribute bringing joy to children at Christmas any longer. Tinsel would always remember the contributions Blinkie brought to the group.

Tinsel went back to work on his project, organizing and preparing wrapping paper and bows for presents. Tinsel loved all things sparkly and pretty, but got really obsessive sometimes, along with being slightly antisocial when he was engrossed in his work. The liking of sparkly items was why he called himself Tinsel. Tinsel was wearing a sky blue shirt and black pants.

Merrybells loved the bells as much as she loved Christmas. This was her first year as an official elf... and someone'd died. Normally, she was really loud and happy, but she was quiet today. 

Why did someone have to die? she thought, adjusting her blue sweater and pink skirt.

Nutcracker walked into the meeting dressed in a deep purple, the color as rich as the shell of a Brazilian nut.  The main pieces were accessorized with gold trimmings and her tights were a glittery gold as well.  She bounded into the meeting the way a coconut bounces from head to head.  She was happy to see everybody and was bursting with excitement to tell them about the latest news about the walnut.  "I have another reasons to love walnuts!"  She exclaimed as she bounded through the front door, did a forward flip, rolled twice, and landed with her arms outstretched towards the sky.  She absolutely loved anything that had to do with nuts!


Nutcracker found the somber air around the room to be stifling and tried (in her own way) to reassure the others.  "Come on guys, what happened to be Blinky was wrong but isn't that why we're here?" She paused to search her brain for a nut related fact, "This case is just like the macadamia nut, even though it's the hardest to crack we will prevail and enjoy the nut, I mean truth, of our labor." She nodded confidently around the room.

Quote :

In 24 hours the elves will split up to look for clues.


If you suspect someone and want them to be tied up or knocked out for this round, bold and green your vote in dialogue form.

Silverbells looked over at Noella and smiled. Hoping that her smile would show how grateful she was to Noella for reminding her to take a deep breath. She didn't want to go off on another rambling tangent. While she listened to everyone talk, one things was certain, someone had pushed Blinky off that ladder and that was why he had been knocked out, but what could their goal for doing that be? "Some of you elves seem awfully quiet." Silverbells stated, "I've come to the conclusion that someone pushed Blinky off the ladder, but I don't know who it was. I'm very suspicious of quite a few of you guys though, especially the quiet ones... That's right Chimneycheer, Merrybells, Tinsel, Bows, Kittybell, and Lights! I noticed your silence, mind you for Lights, silence isn't unusual, but for the rest of you guys, aren't you the least bit concerned that someone PUSHED our fellow elf and friend Blinky off a ladder and that's why he's knocked out? Huh, Huh, aren't yah?"

Silverbells took a deep breath, remembering that she should breath. "But seriously guys, what's WRONG with you?" She said, "I'm gonna keep my eye on you guys!" With that Silverbells squinted her eyes and them and walked over to Noella. Then she stared intently at the rest of the elves to see what would happen next.

"I agree with Silverbells."Cosy finally spoke out-load. Slamming his sewing kit shut loud enough to interrupt other conversations and gripping his finished commission from the late elf, Cosy eyed the others one at a time. 

"What happened to Blinky was no accident. I ain't never seen an elf with fancier footwork in all my life. Sure, he's slipped before, but always ended up fine."
 
Once he had the elves attention, he froze up for a bit. All those eyes on him made him a bit nervous; he's never been the most social elf. Nonetheless, he cleared his throat and chose his next words carefully. He had their attention, now was not the time to clam up.

"Who was the first one to find him?"

Quote :

The first to find Blinky is a mystery; with the rush of elves swarming from the noise, it wasn't very clear who was the actual first person at the scene...

Noella looked around at the other elves gathered around nodding every now and than at what was said. "Now that we have it established that it was on purpose the question is who did it?" She said her eyes scaning iver the other elves not wanting to belive anyone would want to knock blinky out but she knew it had happened so with a sad sigh she crossed her arms trying to think about every that had happened so far.

Artsytoes watched all of the other elves around her, taking in their behavior. If the culprit was among them, they sure were carrying on like nothing had phased them. It was too early to point the finger at anyone. Artsytoes liked to have some sort of solid evidence before making accusations.

She walked over to the snack counter and poured herself a cup of hot cocoa and grabbed a couple of cookies and went back to her work bench to see if she could make some sense of Blinky's death.

Cosy could no longer keep his focus. Being one of the last to awaken, learning that nobody had any information about the accident was a shock to his system. Every time he even looked at his sewing basket, his thoughts swarmed with uncertainty and questions. 

Who did it? 

Why Blinky?

 Sure, the elves have heard of how the rest of the world is; very little cheer, and accidents like these with even worse consequences and details just became a part of every human's life. Such sadness and woe, that was one of the reasons the holiday season was so important. Just one month-maybe two-out of the year for humans to forget their sorrows and bask in the glory that was togetherness. At least, that's how Cosy always saw it. 

But it was never like this here. Not with elves. Not in santa's workshop.

He wondered if the big man even knew of the accident. This time of year made it hard for anyone to inform him of whatever conflicts-big or small-would arise in the factories. Then again, Cosy thought, it isn't every year that one of the elves gets into a suspicious accident. 

Learning that nobody knew who found him was a shocking development, to be sure. Nobody even seemed to even know the extent of Blinky's injuries. Cosy leaned back in his chair, grabbed a peppermint out of his pocket and unwrapped it and popped it into his mouth and began nervously running it over and over again with his tongue; in a last attempt to have something distract his thoughts. 

It wasn't long before he realized that even the strong spearmint wouldn't ease his nerves. At least, Cosy thought, he wasn't the only one disturbed by the incident. Noting the silence was creating even more unease, he spoke to try to break the crushing tension.

"How are you guys holding up?"

Silverbells was off in her own little world thinking. The thing that brought her back to reality was Noella's question and then Cosy's. Cosy's question seemed like a simple one, but she honestly didn't know what to say. How was Silverbells holding up? "Honestly Cosy..." Silverbells said, "I don't know. All I know is that something happened to Blinky and Blinky was a great elf... I mean who would have done something so horrible to him this close to Christmas? It's so sad, Christmas is supposed to be about love and caring and hope and joy and fun and sharing and now it feels like Christmas in turning into quite the opposite here for us! Everyone who's being extremely quiet PLEASE say SOMETHING! There's gotta be something you have to say? Or was it one of you guys who did it?"

Silverbells decided that maybe she should stop talking and take a good look at everyone. Someone's body language has got to be off or something. Silverbells thought. With that she looked around the room and stared intently at each and everyone. Taking in what they were doing and how they reacted to people bringing up Blinky.

Bows looked up at Silverbells and then to the rest of the elves. He agreed that someone's body language must be off. Someone was responsible, but just who? Looking up to Cosy who seemed to be nervous, Bows had some suspicions. Was it Cosy? Or perhaps was it Nutcracker who seemed to not care at all?

Cosy noticed that some elves were eying him up. Did he say something wrong? Was it because he was the last one to find out the news? Cosy gulped. There was no way they thought him suspicious...right?

Before his thoughts raced into overdrive; and just when he was about to blurt something out in his defense, Cosy froze. Nutcracker had been in the room the entire time, hardly uttering her concerns. While everyone else was obviously tense and had spoke of Blinky with sorrow and pity in their eyes, nutcracker was making jokes and blurting out random nut facts. Cosy gritted his teeth. The nerve! Was she not concerned about the accident at all?

Quote :

Very soon (4 Earth hours) the elves will need to get back to work.


However, they will decide (feel free to have your elf suggest this, else assume it's a consensus) that while they are going about their duties, they will search for clues as to who caused Blinky's accident, and see if they can uncover any secret plans and the elves who were in on it. 


They can search alone or in a pair (no more, else they won't really get much work done), and being important elves, they can visit any one department they wish to visit during this time. 


Some may find clues, some may go away empty handed ((I'll PM you if you find something)). Some may announce to the group where they will search, while others keep it to themselves ((aka announce where and whom you're going with here OR PM me where you'll search to keep it a secret)). Some may tell everyone the clues they found when they come back together, or they can choose to tell one or two people, or keep it entirely to themselves and their Work Notebook ((aka you don't need to tell anyone that you found a clue. You could choose to tell only the person who is searching with you, you could tell the entire group, or you could keep it to yourself. HOWEVER, everyone must write down the clues they find in their Workshop Notebook.))


---Workshop Notebooks are typically used by elves to check off daily activities, keep track of toy goals, etc., but today the elves are using them to
---------record clues
---------write down suspicions (for and against someone)
While they usually keep these notebooks on them, in the event someone is Knocked Out or Tied Up, their notebook can be read by anyone. Keep it like a diary - what did you find this search round? Who do you think is suspicious? Who do you think is innocent? etc.

If I ask to see your notebook, that means a special event has happened and I'll need your notebook asap. Please keep it current! ---

Note: you may talk to other Clue! members about searching with their elf before claiming them. However, that's not totally necessary.

During this time, things could be a little dangerous... whoever caused Blinky's accident may cause another...


After the elves have broken to go about their business, I will announce when the next "Elf Break" is so the group reconvenes and can discuss suspicions and tie someone up/knock someone out if need be.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Example of Search Intention post:


Tic-tac looked to the others, popping another morsel of gingerbread into his mouth. "I think searching for clues to what might have happened is a good idea," he seconds, then moves to stand by Knock-Knock. "I'll search the Electronics Section with Knock-Knock."

Also!

Suspicion vs voting wrote:

If your elf wants to tie someone up, please have them voice their concerns rather than think them XD I can't do anything with thoughts. Example:

Tic-tac was really thinking that Knock Knock could be a dangerous dude. <------no one else can comment on this, agree, disagree, suggest tying him up or knocking him out. I will not do anything with this type of suspicion.


Tic-tac looked suspiciously at Knock Knock, and said quietly, "Knock-Knock is acting strangely. I think he could be involved. I think for our safety and the safety of the other elves in this workshop, we need to tie him up, just to be sure." <-----THIS I can do something with. Other people can respond to this. You can get conversations going with this XD People can refute, can agree, etc. when accusations are spoken aloud, and when a majority of people verbally agree, I'll go forward with their actions.

As the bells chimed out "Here We Go a'Wassailing", the elves looked to one another heavily, and returned to work. They would search for clues as to the mysterious person who had caused Blinky's accident, and report back during their next break with their findings.


((You may still post in-character in this board to split up and tell me where you are going. When I wake up tomorrow the "work time" (mafia night) will end and the break (mafia day) will begin again, all clues doled out and everything.))

Eggnog was feeling impatient, as usual. Thoughts of Blinky and his accident made it impossible for her to focus on her work.

"I can't just get back to work like nothing happened! I don't even care that Christmas is almost here." She took a deep breath as she stood on top a workbench, ready to make her announcement. "If we don't do something soon than another elf is going to be hurt next.  I'm going to search the office for clues, anyone can feel free to join me!"

Without waiting for a reaction, Eggnog jumped down and stomped down the hallway,  being careful not to let anyone see that her hands were trembling as she opened the door.

Cosy knew there would be no way for him to focus on his work. He mumbled under his breath;"Ah, screw it." He'd deal with whatever the upper management would throw at him for not working later. He normally worked back and forth within the clothing, plush toy and decor departments, fixing whatever fabric needed to be patched up. 

As Eggnog turned to open the door with shaky hands, Cosy walked up to her.

"Mind if I join you? Two sets of eyes are better then one. Let's go to the office together."