Part 57: Blackwell Deception - Update 16

Update 16

Yesterday, Rosa spoke with Seb, Jamie's ex-boyfriend, who mentioned that Jamie was a drug addict who flew off the rails. The next step is to get Jamie's side of the story, but first, we'll need to get Joey to put her in the mood to talk.

Jamie's Song



First thing's first, though. That "In The Club" track was getting on my nerves yesterday, so Rosa hits up the jukebox. In Jamie's apartment there was a band poster for Epileptic Fish, so we try looking them up - and find a much catchier piece of dance music. Actually, it's a dance version of the Blackwell theme.



When Joey asked Jamie to ask last time, she said she didn't want to because the music sucked. Hopefully, she'll be more amenable to her favourite band! The Steam Achievement certainly seems to suggest as much.



Oh. What?
Care to dance?
Why not? I love this song.



Sure enough, Jamie heads out to the dance floor and bops around, while Joey floats stoically back and forth.

She's quite, ah, limber.

Now that she's out here dancing, Jamie is more open to chatting. Joey takes advantage and starts asking questions.

So what's the deal with this place, anyway?
What do you mean?
It's loud. It's got zero class. Why come here?
To be FREE, of course. To be really alive, you need to let yourself go. I used to be so scared of places like this. But they're so liberating, don't you think? I could die tomorrow. Life's too short.

Well, we've definitely confirmed she isn't aware of her own death.

So you think you're... liberated?
Yes. I... I feel so free now. I always felt something was missing. I needed to get out of my stuffy room and LIVE.
And you do that by coming here?
I have FUN. I've never had so much fun before.
And I'm happy, dammit.
So much happier.

Jamie sounds like she's trying to convince herself, rather than Joey. It's pretty clear what happened here. She obviously told Gavin the same thing, that she felt trapped and bored, and he convinced her to get out and "live a little", which apparently meant overdosing nightly on Ecstacy and partying until you literally drop dead. What is still not clear is why he bothered.



Joey tries to prod Jamie into recognise her death, as is his usual approach.

Geez, what's with the doom and gloom?
You brought it up. Not me.
I can't think about that. If and when I go, I want to say I enjoyed my life.
And have you?
What kind of question is that? Of course I have.

I guess the implication here is that she wasn't enjoying her life before she started coming to seedy nightclubs.

You were scared of this place?
Places like it. I didn't think it was me. I never would have thought of going to a place like this a year ago.



That's pretty creepy Jamie's ghost doesn't seem to have stuck around for anything other than continuing to party. Somehow Gavin has convinced her so heavily that she needed to get out and loosen up that she can't even move on to the next world because she's too busy partying.

Joey tries asking Jamie about Gavin...

Do you know anyone named Gavin?
Shhh. Shut up and dance.
So who is Gavin, anyway? Can you tell me where I can find him?
Shhh. Shut up and dance.
You really can't tell me where Gavin is?
Shhh. Shut up and dance.

...but it's like she's been programmed not to respond. She absolutely does not want to talk about him.

Tell me about Professor Appleton.
Um. No. I don't come here to talk about school.

Actually, Jamie's doesn't really seem interested in talking about anything in her life outside of partying.



For now. I'll move on eventually, but for now? This is where I want to be.

Joey checks up on Jamie's supposed links to drugs.

So I hear you like to party.
Why, you got something?
No. Do you?
No, but I could if I wanted to. Anytime.

Alright, that's enough small talk. Time to get into the meat of this puzzle. Now, bear with me here, because this is a touch creepy. Jamie can't move on because she is utterly obsessed with partying. It's pretty clear that she isn't going to recognise her own death unless we can get her out of this nightclub. However, she has absolutely no interest in leaving. So what's the solution?

The solution is to get Joey to flirt like crazy with Jamie, so that she gets so damn hot on him that she wants to take him back to her dorm. Seriously. Of course, Joey might be charming, but he's not quite that charming. So the solution is to cyberstalk Jamie, learn all of her hobbies and preferences, and basically pose as her ideal soulmate. Yeah, it's pretty damn creepy, but I guess in some sense it's not really that much different that pretending to be Mavis' son. Or Isaac's sister, for that matter. Or Allen's wife.

Right. So, tell me about yourself.
You got a question, ask it.

Actually... it probably is just a little bit creepier



We'll need to successfully chat up Jamie in these three areas. As soon as Joey asks a question about Jamie, she will immediately turn it back into a question about him.

So what are you studying?
Nothing important. How about you? What did you study back in the dark ages?

Joey has a whole bunch of choices:

I... never went to a University.
Oh. Sorry.
Girls, mostly.
Hah. Right.
English.
For a guy who studied English, you sure talk funny.

And more choices...

Politics.
Really. I can see that. You've got the smooth-talking part down, I'll give you that.
Too bad. We might have gotten along.
Science.
And you wear that?
What's wrong with this suit?
Most science geeks I know don't have your dress sense.
Hey, who're you calling a geek?
Oh. Sorry.

And even more choices...

Business.
Yeah, the suit. The attitude. I can see that.
Too bad. We might have gotten along.
Entertainment. You know, pictures. I was gonna be the next Cecil B. DeMille.
Who?
Eh. Forget it. Kids today don't know they're born.



But from talking to Professor Appleton, we know that Jamie absolutely loved history, at least at one point.

Really? What kind of history?

It was Middle-Eastern history, but of course, Joey can pretend to be interested in the history of other areas of the world by mistake:

American.
Really? Hm.
European.
That's quite broad. Europe is quite diverse.
Well I did my best.
I'm sure.

Hilariously, Joey can even claim to have studied dinosaur history

Prehistoric.
What, like dinosaurs?
Yeah. Those things are great.
Riight.



Alright, let's do this.

You know, I used to be the same way. Everyone has their own opinion about what goes on there, but it's so ancient. But you can never truly understand anything unless you know where it came from.
I know what you mean. Things move so fast nowadays.

Joey is just talking some bullshit here, but Jamie buys it.

I know, right? Nobody else gets it.
And you do?
I thought I did. Once.
Maybe we can talk some more about it sometime?
I'd like that.

Bingo. That's the first objective ticked off. And to think I've been wasting my best years trying to woo girls by buying them drinks like a sucker!



Next up, Joey tries asking about Jamie's hobbies. Once again, she immediately turns it back around to a question aimed at Joey.

Nothing much. How about you?

Like last time, Joey has a bunch of responses, though in this case most of them just boil down to him blatantly flirting:

I come to places like this.
Really? You don't seem the type.
Maybe there's more to me than meets the eye.
Somehow, I doubt that.
Go to concerts. Maybe take in a show.
So you're a watcher, huh?
Well, I like watching you.
Ouch.

And even more flirting...

I talk to pretty girls like you.
Ouch. That was awful.
Really? I thought it was pretty smooth, myself.
Look at me, I'm swooning.

I love this



There is this amusing option as well, but Joey decides the better of it.

She said SPARE time.

Unfortunately, we haven't learned enough about Jamie yet to pull off this PUA bullshit. We'll have to cyberstalk her a bit more and learn her hobbies before we can blatantly lie about sharing the exact same ones like an enormous creep.



The last objective to tick off is about Jamie's hometown. As you have probably guessed, she immediately spins the question back around at Joey.

Nowhere special. Where are you from?

Joey has plenty of choices, as usual:

New York, born and raised.
Somehow, I could tell.
Far down south.
Really? I wouldn't have guessed that. I thought southerners were gentlemen.
I'm many things, sweetheart. But a gentleman isn't one of them.
Right.

Yet more choices...

Up north.
I see.
I'm what you'd call a citizen of the world.
Fine. Be all mysterious. I don't care.

But, as we know, Jamie is from Illinois, out west.

Out west.
Really? Whereabouts?



Most of the incorrect options here just lead to Jamie saying "Oh. I don't know that area," so I won't bother showing them. The bottom option is amusing, though

They all kinda look the same, you know?
Sure.

Okay, so Illinois is the correct choice.

Illinois.
No way! So am I. Where in Illinois?

Um. Hm. Joey thinks of the first place he can from Illinois.

Chicago?
Oh. From city to city, huh?
Somehow I could tell.

That didn't work...

Some little place. You've never heard of it.
Fine. Be all mysterious. I don't care.

The solution, of course, is to pick a place right near where Jamie spent her childhood.



From Sarah's email last update, we know that Mattoon is close to Jamie's hometown.

No. Way. I grew up twenty minutes from there!
Really.

Joey doesn't even try to sound surprised here, but Jamie misses it entirely.

Really! Mattoon. That's even a smaller town than mine.
Yeah, well, that's why I left.
I know the feeling. Although... I miss it, in a way. We should talk about the old place sometime.
I'd like that very much.

Well, two out of three aint bad. We'll need to do a bit more, ahem, "research" before Joey can seal the deal here.

Rosa's Theme



Back home, Rosa and Joey confer regarding Jamie.

At first glance? She seems happy to spend eternity in that nightclub, but I'm not sure I buy it. Her smiles seem false. Put on. I dunno. I should talk to her more.

I guess this is in reference to that one line where she seemed more keen to convince herself of her happiness than anything else.

Jamie seems like quite the party girl.
That does it for you, huh?
A gentleman never tells, sweetheart.
But seriously. I said she SEEMS like one. Whatever fun she's having, it seems a bit forced. We need to learn more about her.

We all know why you want to "learn" more about her, Joey.

Seb doesn't have a lot of nice things to say about Jamie. You think she was really into those things?
She doesn't seem the type, but you never know. You think he was on the level?
I don't know. I think he's still better and angry about Jamie. But is he telling the truth? I think he believes he is.

Well, we'll need to get some more information about Jamie before we can say for sure. But who would have more information about her that we haven't already spoken to?



Oh yeah, that's right. Professor Appleton mentioned that Durkin was investigating Jamie's death, even though it was caused by natural causes. Perhaps he'll know something?

I wanted to talk to you about Jamie Graham.
Who?
Jamie. A Columbia student. I was told you were looking into it.
You get around, don't you?

Hahaha, Durkin must be wondering who the hell Rosa is by this point

I think Jamie and Jeremy might be connected. Could we talk somewhere?
Why should I do that?



Hahaha, "you owe me" Rosa is pretty brazen these days. Well, when she's not getting ignored in nightclubs, anyway.

You could, huh?
Like you said, I get around.

Now we just need Durkin to get assigned to investigate Tiffany's death so we can watch his reaction when he finds Rosa's business card in her mailbox

What the hell. I need a cup of coffee anyway. You know a place in Alphabet City? Called "Cup of Clay?"
I've been there.
Right. See you there.

Excellent. Hopefully he'll have some info for us!




Join me tomorrow as we continue this LP of PUA Simulator X-treme!!