[LP CYOA] Spiral

[treave]

Nope, nothing historical at the moment. Too research-intensive for me, coming fresh off Spiral, which had quite a lot going on in the background even if you guys didn't get to see it. Also why I'm not too keen on starting up Generations immediately, I might burn out too fast on that one.

 

[Baltika9]

Damn, now I'm sorry that it didn't come to that.
Any interest in a crime setting? Anything from goofy Yakuza-Triad-Eeloomanatee hijinks to more serious themes, all up to you.

 

[Nevill]

How would you feel about making a historical CYOA?

Alternative history is where it's at.

Electrical bayonets at the ready!

Remember this?

Spoiler

The Empire of the Blazing Sun:

The Federated States of America:

The Kingdom of Britannia:

The Prussian Empire:

The Covenant of Antarctica:

The Russian Coalition:

And finally, the Republique of France:

 

[treave]

Hong Kong 80s era undercover cop cat & mouse in the Kowloon Walled City might be interesting to try. Maybe.

 

[Baltika9]

Alternative history is where it's at.

Who says we can't make our own?

 

[Azira]

Those mechanized slingshots, from France?

 

[Kz3r0]

I dunno what interests me at the moment, though I feel like I need to just keep writing.

This one, is hilarious that Nevill pretends to care so much and then settles for every shitty ending coming his way.
I propose a rollback to
A, we are in the mansion with Yukina.
Or at least a synopse of the whole affair explaining some of the mysteries, like the unexplained Uehara's death for example, even if in hindsight that looked like the work of the Witch.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

I'll go with superhero

 

[Nevill]

This one, is hilarious that Nevill pretends to care so much and then settles for every shitty ending coming his way.

I don't think continuing is in the cards.

Besides, Seiji diplomacy was just a few updates ago. We barely avoided another end with Yukina a couple of updates back. It did not teach us anything.

So I am just wrapping it up before we kill everyone with our own hands and spit on their corpses. Because that was the option that we serioulsly considered just now.

 

[Kz3r0]

Nope, nothing historical at the moment. Too research-intensive for me, coming fresh off Spiral, which had quite a lot going on in the background even if you guys didn't get to see it

Let us see it then, as snippets or simply tell us about it.

 

[treave]

Nope, no rollbacks. I might answer a few questions, though.

 

[Kz3r0]

I don't think continuing is in the cards.

Treave said that there was just two or three chapter after A, not very long isn't it?
And C was the best option, start all anew, but I guess I am the only one interested in that.

 

[Kz3r0]

Nope, no rollbacks. I might answer a few questions, though.

Well:
Was the unexplained Uehara's death the Witch's work, what really happened?
Can you give a general outline of what happened?
For examplewhat of this is right and what of this is wrong:

All right here is my theory of what happened until now, don't worry, it is not very long:
Baron Sakaguchi performs his own version of the ritual and becomes the new guardian spirit, Fox Guy, EIna becomes the new Maiden.

Fast forward, Juuzo&Seiji perform a new ritual while using a Quantum Simulation, Fox Guy is sidelined, Eina is replaced by Seika.

Something happens, Juuzo decides to perform the ritual again and replace Seika with Mitsuki.
Seiji hijack the ritual/simulation and becomes the focal point of the whole affair.
Fox Guy hijack Seiji himself, being possessed by the dead seems to be a normal occurence for whom starts the ritual, here we enter the picture by possessing Seiji's body.

Fast forward to now, Fox Guy send us and Maeda to spectral Yomiki village, situated outside of the bubble of the simulation.
He does something simila to what Juuzo did by enering the Quanrum Simulation and taking Mitsuki, in this case it's us who took Maeda out of the simulation/spectral world, unfortunately Maeda decides to jump from the roof of the hospital and is 'captured' by Fox Guy.

Now, to insediate a new Maiden is possible only through the ritual and can only be made by the person who initiated the ritual, Seiji/us, and said maiden can only be chosen among the twelve parteciparing in the ritual.
At this point Fox Guy has both the key to the current ritual, us, and a Maiden, Maeda.
Yukina, an agent of Fox Guy, probably the Maid, separates us from Maeda, something happen in the mansion, I suspect is the doing of EIna, Maeda is turned into the new Maiden and we get possessed by the malice.

The Ritual time approaches the end, at this point we have the choice between two fake endings and a gruesome real one.

What I expect by voting C, that we manage to put an end to all this and to free the trapped souls, dead people stays dead, if someone of the twelve is dead in the real/material world can't be saved.
Or we take the place of Fox Guy as the new Guardian Spirit of the Juunimon Tree.

 

[treave]

Can you give a general outline of what happened?
For examplewhat of this is right and what of this is wrong:
All right here is my theory of what happened until now, don't worry, it is not very long:
Baron Sakaguchi performs his own version of the ritual and becomes the new guardian spirit, Fox Guy, EIna becomes the new Maiden.

He tried his own version of the ritual, but you're not right about the consequences.

Fast forward, Juuzo&Seiji perform a new ritual while using a Quantum Simulation, Fox Guy is sidelined, Eina is replaced by Seika.

First half is mostly correct, they performed a new 'ritual'. Second half is incorrect.

Something happens, Juuzo decides to perform the ritual again and replace Seika with Mitsuki.

Mostly correct.

Seiji hijack the ritual/simulation and becomes the focal point of the whole affair.

Nope. He did something, but it wasn't a hijacking. He has no real control over it.

Fox Guy hijack Seiji himself, being possessed by the dead seems to be a normal occurence for whom starts the ritual, here we enter the picture by possessing Seiji's body.

Nope. This is what Shinoseki is:

Shinoseki Adachi is merely a shell, carved from the dead husk of a boy’s memory, and then filled with the thoughts of many. There is no place that he can exist, except in a dream.

Fast forward to now, Fox Guy send us and Maeda to spectral Yomiki village, situated outside of the bubble of the simulation.
He does something simila to what Juuzo did by enering the Quanrum Simulation and taking Mitsuki, in this case it's us who took Maeda out of the simulation/spectral world, unfortunately Maeda decides to jump from the roof of the hospital and is 'captured' by Fox Guy.

Nope, Maeda actually made her way to Yomiki herself through her willpower.

Now, to insediate a new Maiden is possible only through the ritual and can only be made by the person who initiated the ritual, Seiji/us, and said maiden can only be chosen among the twelve parteciparing in the ritual.
At this point Fox Guy has both the key to the current ritual, us, and a Maiden, Maeda.
Yukina, an agent of Fox Guy, probably the Maid, separates us from Maeda, something happen in the mansion, I suspect is the doing of EIna, Maeda is turned into the new Maiden and we get possessed by the malice.

Nope.

The Ritual time approaches the end, at this point we have the choice between two fake endings and a gruesome real one.

What I expect by voting C, that we manage to put an end to all this and to free the trapped souls, dead people stays dead, if someone of the twelve is dead in the real/material world can't be saved.
Or we take the place of Fox Guy as the new Guardian Spirit of the Juunimon Tree.

Nope.

 

[Kz3r0]

Can we have a brief outline of what really happened then?

 

[treave]

Ask me the right questions and you might be able to piece together an outline.

 

[Kz3r0]

Even before you revealed that the Maiden of Dead is some sort of cosmic horror it dawned on me that maybe everyone got the ritual wrong, the girl that becomes the maiden acts just as a ward AGAINST the malice of dead spilling over the world of the living, in short is some kind of way to control the Maiden of Dead, a perpetual sacrifice so to speak, this means that becoming the maiden is the worst of fates, could be that Seiji got second thoughts after realizing to what he condemned Seika?

 

[Nevill]

Alright, let me try my hand at this.

First, some questions that I have no way of knowing.

1) What are the relationships between the Maiden and the Witch? They are two parts of one whole, but what is their purpose? To serve as a 'bad cop, good cop'? What did Hidetaka mean when he said 'the Witch dances for the Maiden'?

Second, the questions I've put some guesses about.

2) Did Seiji die in his youth? Is it correct that the Omoikane project was undertaken 10 years in the past when Seiji died? How many 'Seijis' were there? We know about the boy who was in love with Maeda, about the young man in love with Seika, and then ourselves. Was there someone in between the last two? If Adachi can't exist outside of a dream, then who was the 2nd man? What is our relation to him, are we just a fragment of his personality, or are we something else entirely (say, an entity given form by the guardian spirit)?

3) Did we have Seiji's body, or was our scar from an incision? Some fictional works deal with transplanting organs from a dead man to a new host which then provides the host with the abilities and/or memory of the deceased.

4) The Baron attempted the ritual. Was that to revive his wife? What went wrong? Then it was Maruo, apparently he did it for his daughter who hanged herself. This looks like someone on the other side is very eager to come out and wants any excuse to tempt the mortals into trying. Did they create these excuses as well? The deaths of the Baron's wife and Michuru look like they may have been orchestrated by that entity, is that so?

The rituals deal with opening a passage to the world of the dead. Leaving aside the question of why would a cosmic horror want this (why would they not?), I wonder what the possible motivations and the consequences were for the parties who attempted it.

Is there a way to successfully complete the ritual's purpose in a way that a human would want?

5) Were there other attempts in-between Yomiki and Ikei? Say, in the war era? There was something in the interludes about 12 girls committing 'suicide', does that count?

6) What is the place of the Ward169 in the plot? There was the gold to serve as a bait, and there were dead children we've seen... was there anything else of note? Are there any backstories tied to it?

7) The last known party to try the rituals were Juuzo and 'Seiji'. What did Juuzo want? What was the Project about and why were several parties so interested in it? What kind of potential that could interest foreign intelligence was there? Dead ghoul soldiers? Conquering the nations with necromancy?

8) What was 'Seiji's' plan to retrieve an observer? Or did he not want to retrieve her, but instead be reunited with her by uniting both worlds?

9) Not really a serious question, but what is the point of having a Guardian Spirit who can't guard his realm? I've never seen anyone more lazy and laid back! Come on, man, the fate of the world depends on you!

10) Is an 'observer' an entity different from the Maiden/Witch? Was Seika never a Maiden? What is the 'hospital's chosen' that Mitsuki was? It is someone who disappears to an unknown fate... but what is their purpose? The ones we've seen served as guardian angels (there was also someone in the interlude), but I can't imagine that's all there is to it. Why didn't Seika suit Juuzo's plan? Was she not a chosen, but instead put there by 'Seiji' to protect her? Were those souls 'accidentally' lost in Ikei Seiji's fault as he tried to preserve his sweetheart, or are they a direct result of the accident that occured during the ritual/experiment? Or were they a part of the experiment all along?

11) Was Kayano Rina Kagusa's daughter? Who was the father? Why did she fell in with Juuzo? Was there a bigger purpose to her visit in Ikei than to serve her master?

12) Was Sawada aware of Seiji's real plan? Why did he call us Seiji during the bad end, but Adachi in the interlude?

13) What are the interludes? Some are 'what ifs', but I have a hard time placing the others. Ritual suicides? A ghost family? I have no clue.

14) The books we've seen during the 5th chapter, were they 'real' - in a sense 'did they have a real prototype that could have been at Kaimei at that time'? I am interested in Madoka's (I didn't get this, sorry, was she an early writer after all?) and Adachi's.

15) The ritual that resulted in Uehara's mother's exile, what was it for? Why would anyone who knew anything about the place want to purify it? Was it a result of incompetence/lack of knowledge, or was there a malicious intent on the part of people who hired her?

16) How was the Kaimei group founded? If it wasn't the nazi gold that made Maedas a prominent family, then what was?

17) Who is Ei? Is she a guest entity from the West that is connected to the book by the same name? Does she have an agenda, or was her role to serve as our hintbook? Was it possible to end on her bad side or have her make us do something we didn't want? Why did she look like Mitsuki? Is there some kind of connection between her and the hospital's chosens? I don't think there is, she is a foreign power, and I've never seen her exhibiting Seika's traits. Why was the book important? Time-travel? What were Kayano's plans for it? If we didn't find it, or if we lost it, how were we supposed to play?

Minor things.

18) Were there really two revolvers in play during the 1st night? Did Mori run into Juuzo?
19) What was the deal with the 7th floor?
20) Who was it that promised Taketatsu salvation during the 1st night? Was it us? Was it Juuzo? What happened to our memory?
21) What was the mechanics behind our search for the talismans? We lose our memory briefly, and the next thing we know, we are in a possession of a talisman or in the process of retrieving it. Who is it that controls our body then?
22) Was there any significance to the cauldron during the 4th night?
23) What was it that happened at the end of the 4th night?
24) What were the requirements for a happy ending? When did we miss the last one?
25) What was Okuyama's connection to the plot? What was the external factor that made her special, made 'Seiji' choose her?

 

[Nevill]

the girl that becomes the maiden acts just as a ward AGAINST the malice of dead spilling over the world of the living, in short is some kind of way to control the Maiden of Dead

Anyone who thinks they can control a Lovecraftian horror is delusional.

The Maiden and the Witch want the gates open, that much is clear from the penultimate update. They are not wards, but accomplices.

 

[Kz3r0]

Anyone who thinks they can control a Lovecraftian horror is delusional.

In short Cool Seiji was a fucking moron, feels good from Shinoseki low self-esteem perspective.

The Maiden and the Witch want the gates open, that much is clear from a penultimate update. They are not wards, but accomplices.

What withessed was also the result of consecutive attempts at meddling with the ritual, I think that originally the purpose was to have a human maiden to contain the real Maiden.
Then someone got ideas and probably strenghtened the real Maiden and weakened the human one.
Cultists, cultists never change.

 

[Nevill]

The timeline goes something like this:

Ages unknown (5000 BC?). The Juunimoun sprouts, Yomiki village is found on sacred grounds.
Tendou, Maeda and Shinohara families are established. Tendou family makes contact with the Maiden of the dead with the Guarduian Spirit's blessing. (?!) That is quite a 'blessing'.
1000 AD. Kimura family is established.
1800s. The families shift their roles. Sakaguchi family moves to Kyoto, though they still visit Yomiki occasionally.
1880s. Sakaguchi Kuroki is granted the title of Baron, travels across Europe, finds a rare occult book.
1888. Sakaguchi Kuroki returns from Europe, builds the mansion. (Why did he kill the workers?)
1889. Sakaguchi Kuroki marries Tendou Shizune
1891. Eina and Mina Sakaguchi are born. Shizuin moves in the Mansion. Yukina's mother is hired for help.
1900 - Shizune dies in mysterious circumstances. The Baron goes lethargic for a month, then goes mad.
1903? - people start disappearing, then the incident happens. Shizuin and Mina are the only survivors. Shizuin is a likely accomplice (presumably in an attempt to get her sister back), goes mad from the experience. (Why Mina? Were there any people missing?)
Larger consequences are unknown.
1907 - Sakaguchi Maruo moves in with his family.
1908 - Sakaguchi Michuru, Maruo's daughter hangs herself. Maruo goes on a rampage in an attempt to perform yet another ritual. (When did his mother fall into a well? Did the mansion burn down?)
Nothing important seemingly comes out of this unless we missed it.
1917 - Maeda Keiji is born. (Who are the parents?)
1908-1937? - Maeda family rises to prominence. (How? Did Yukina marry? Was it her brother?)
1937-1945? - The Ward169 chapter. Experimenting on children. Maeda Keiji gets his degree in pedoatrics. Somehow, the German gold is buried in the Ward and does not feature in the plot again until the present day.
(What was that flashback of two people talking how Adachi told them about the gold - they don't sound like Tokigawa and Sawada. Who are they? Was the good doc not the first one lured here? For what purpose?)
1950s - Shinohara Juuzo is born.
1953 - Kayano Kagusa is born.
1966 - Kaimei hospital is founded in the place of Ward169. (A coincidence? Was the land so good that it couldn't have been left alone? Or was it a conscious decision by Maeda Keiji to become a director there? Was he drawn to it?)
1970s? - Shinohara Madoka is born. (When exactly?)
1974 - Kayano Kagusa is hired. Transferred to a paediatrics ward.
1975 - Kayano Kagusa talks to a patient and has a breakdown, presumably due to discovering Keiji's antics. Is transferred to a psychiatric ward.
1976 - a high-profile murder case occurs, prompting a series of fatal accidents and disappearances. (Sachiko Nakajima's case. Could be that it was always the same, but anything before went unreported? We never found about its significance)
1975-1979? - Kayano Rina is born. (In captivity? Is Juuzo the father? Why did Kagusa call him a betrayer?)
1979 - Kayano Kagusa is terminated in February. In April, Maeda Keiji sets fire to the paediatrics ward after chaining the exit, then goes missing. The hospital is closed down in May. (Why did she become the pool ghost? Why is she so powerful? Did Juuzo kill her? Who is the author of the note we found in a locker?)
1990? - Maeda Nami is born.
1992? - Shinohara Seiji is born. (Who is the father? Is it important?)
1997? - Tendou Shizuka and Seika are born.
2000s? - Shinohara Madoka dies. (What are the circumstances, any relation with the curse of the land?)
2004 - Maeda family declines, Uehara's mother gets exiled after a failed cleansing ritual attempt, Shinohara Seiji 'dies' saving Maeda Nami. (Are any of those connected?)
2010 - IAE and Kaimei join forces due to Dr. Bryan Cooper's discovery. Ikei is rebuilt for that purpose. Foreign intelligence takes keen interest in the Project. (What is the Project?)
2010-2012? - OMOIKANE Project? The birth of Shinoseki Adachi, or 'Shinohara Seiji'? (Doubt it was before 2010. What would the files do in Ikei if they were from a project undertaken before its construction? Yet Sawada indicates that 'Seiji' attended a university with him, meaning they go way back. So when did it happen, exactly?)
2012 - 'Shinohara Seiji' and Seika meet, fall in love. The Project test run happens. Everything goes FUBAR. Seiji preserves Seika, but is marked for death. He still manages to give Sawada his notes. (What happens to Seiji? Is he replaced by yet another copy? Who is the man in the hospital Uehara saw?)
2010-2014? - Kana Akio dies in the hospital in unknown circumstances. (What was her connection to the plot? What could we do for her or her father?)
2014 - Shinohara Juuzo plans to lauch another experiment related to the Project that has to do something with Mitsuki, but Seiji beats him to it and launches his own. Mass murder ensues as 12 people go missing while the rest simply die.

Anyone remembers any noteworthy events that are missing?

What were Seiji's goals, reuniting the realms? Was it in accordance to the goals of Maiden of the Dead? What happened to Kozaka, Shiba, Murano etc? How did Juuzo end up with us, was he alive in a sense that the 12 were alive? What determines if you are one of the 12 or not? Was he trying to wrestle control to stop Seiji, or did he have another goal in mind? What was supposed to be Mitsuki's role?

Was a streak of disappearances that Mori was investigating connected to the Project, or was it due to the curse in general?

Who was that 'she' Juuzo saw during the end of 3rd night?

While I have the timeline, I am still fuzzy about the major characters' motives, and most of the occult stuff is incomprehensible to me.

 

[treave]

Well, I'm not going to answer every question in depth, I'll pick a few more fun ones to do, and leave the rest up to your imagination.

Even before you revealed that the Maiden of Dead is some sort of cosmic horror it dawned on me that maybe everyone got the ritual wrong, the girl that becomes the maiden acts just as a ward AGAINST the malice of dead spilling over the world of the living, in short is some kind of way to control the Maiden of Dead, a perpetual sacrifice so to speak, this means that becoming the maiden is the worst of fates, could be that Seiji got second thoughts after realizing to what he condemned Seika?

He didn't condemn Seika to anything. Seika's fate was unintended, yet at the same time ordered by Juuzo.

1) What are the relationships between the Maiden and the Witch? They are two parts of one whole, but what is their purpose? To serve as a 'bad cop, good cop'? What did Hidetaka mean when he said 'the Witch dances for the Maiden'?

The Witch acts as a sacrifice and medium for the Maiden, who in turn is an emissary for the Maiden of the Dead. In the original, ancient ritual, once they are chosen, the Maiden will be sent ahead to the underworld, and 12 years later, brought back by the Witch's sacrifice.

2) Did Seiji die in his youth? Is it correct that the Omoikane project was undertaken 10 years in the past when Seiji died? How many 'Seijis' were there? We know about the boy who was in love with Maeda, about the young man in love with Seika, and then ourselves. Was there someone in between the last two? If Adachi can't exist outside of a dream, then who was the 2nd man? What is our relation to him, are we just a fragment of his personality, or are we something else entirely (say, an entity given form by the guardian spirit)?

Omoikane started during his time at Ikei. Seiji 'died' once at old Kaimei, though it didn't take. He woke up without his previous memories. Who or what you actually are has been explained, I think.

4) The Baron attempted the ritual. Was that to revive his wife? What went wrong? Then it was Maruo, apparently he did it for his daughter who hanged herself. This looks like someone on the other side is very eager to come out and wants any excuse to tempt the mortals into trying. Did they create these excuses as well? The deaths of the Baron's wife and Michuru look like they may have been orchestrated by that entity, is that so?

Yes, to get his wife back. Maruo did not even think about attempting the ritual at all, at least not consciously. Not all of his words were his own.

Is there a way to successfully complete the ritual's purpose in a way that a human would want?

Yes. The ritual, as it was meant to be, was mutually beneficial, albeit heavily lopsided in the actual benefits. Actually, the failures can usually be ascribed to attempts at cheating the ritual.

6) What is the place of the Ward169 in the plot? There was the gold to serve as a bait, and there were dead children we've seen... was there anything else of note? Are there any backstories tied to it?

There was no ritual conducted during wartime, but the malice remains.

7) The last known party to try the rituals were Juuzo and 'Seiji'. What did Juuzo want? What was the Project about and why were several parties so interested in it? What kind of potential that could interest foreign intelligence was there? Dead ghoul soldiers? Conquering the nations with necromancy?

Juuzo's motives were not world domination or anything of the sort. It was more personal. IAE's interest in it is explored in the sequel.

9) Not really a serious question, but what is the point of having a Guardian Spirit who can't guard his realm? I've never seen anyone more lazy and laid back! Come on, man, the fate of the world depends on you!

If you think the gentleman in white is actually a guardian spirit of any sort, you're wrong.

10) Is an 'observer' an entity different from the Maiden/Witch? Was Seika never a Maiden? What is the 'hospital's chosen' that Mitsuki was? It is someone who disappears to an unknown fate... but what is their purpose? The ones we've seen served as guardian angels (there was also someone in the interlude), but I can't imagine that's all there is to it. Why didn't Seika suit Juuzo's plan? Was she not a chosen, but instead put there by 'Seiji' to protect her? Were those souls 'accidentally' lost in Ikei Seiji's fault as he tried to preserve his sweetheart, or are they a direct result of the accident that occured during the ritual/experiment? Or were they a part of the experiment all along?

The concept of an 'observer' does not exist in the original ritual. That was introduced by IAE and manipulated by Juuzo for his own ends. It is, in essence, an attempt to cheat the ritual. Seika and Mitsuki were being groomed to serve the same roles.

12) Was Sawada aware of Seiji's real plan? Why did he call us Seiji during the bad end, but Adachi in the interlude?

Echoes of an alternate timeline.

13) What are the interludes? Some are 'what ifs', but I have a hard time placing the others. Ritual suicides? A ghost family? I have no clue.

Echoes of the countless fragments that make up Shinoseki's psyche.

17) Who is Ei? Is she a guest entity from the West that is connected to the book by the same name? Does she have an agenda, or was her role to serve as our hintbook? Was it possible to end on her bad side or have her make us do something we didn't want? Why did she look like Mitsuki? Is there some kind of connection between her and the hospital's chosens? I don't think there is, she is a foreign power, and I've never seen her exhibiting Seika's traits. Why was the book important? Time-travel? What were Kayano's plans for it? If we didn't find it, or if we lost it, how were we supposed to play?

A Japanese copy of the Book of Eibon made by Baron Sakaguchi. Eina's soul is its core, although she does not retain much, if any, memories of being human. Understandable, as the process was traumatic. Also an attempt to cheat.

Anyone who thinks they can control a Lovecraftian horror is delusional.

In short Cool Seiji was a fucking moron, feels good from Shinoseki low self-esteem perspective.

Seiji was never under the illusion that he could exert any sort of real control. He, or rather, the fragment of him that you see, is very single-minded in his purpose.

How did Juuzo end up with us, was he alive in a sense that the 12 were alive?

No, he is definitely at least as dead as Seiji is. It might sound strange, but he actually died on the same night Seiji did.

 

[Nevill]

Juuzo's motives were not world domination or anything of the sort. It was more personal.

Anything to do with Madoka or Kagusa?

No, he is definitely at least as dead as Seiji is. It might sound strange, but he actually died on the same night Seiji did.

That's probably the biggest surprise among the answers. Shinohara Kinzo indeed. So who was running the show for the last 2 years?

And for what purpose did they run it?

 

[treave]

Anything to do with Madoka or Kagusa?

Madoka, yes.

 

[Nevill]

Any connection between Kagusa and Juuzo, beyond the working relationship and being the one who contacted her family to tell them the bad news?