[ch. 5] post-investigation, w/ the scooby gang

[asswipe]

[SETTING THIS UP IN ZIA'S PLACE, AS ZIA IS CURRENTLY PERISHING.

Anyway— After everyone has the time to get together again, the Scooby Gang will be ushered into Veronica's room.]

... So, um. I shared the numbers thing with Souji, Dazai and Evan. Just— Just thought I should tell you now, in case it comes up later. [And y'all don't freak!!] What else do we have? Besides the crippling knowledge that we, somehow, missed a whole fucking dead body.

Comments

[alchemenace]

Don't look at me. I found one.

[ it. sucked. anyway oh good that means he's not the only one who spilled, so: ]

I told Sanji. He seemed determined to bring everyone back to life already, so. Yeah. But that's not the most interesting that happened to me this week. I'd spoken to Akechi about writing to Beauty and the Beast, as a, well at first because I was curious whether he had, and then why he hadn't, but-- anyway, he gave me this today.

[ he takes out a letter! heyo. ]

He asked me to share it publicly in trial tomorrow in his stead. I'm going to censor part of it and try to decrypt the rest, but. Oh, and, um, Eichi is our Shield.

[ he's. he's trying to remember everything. this has been a Day. ]

[fonlines]

[ ion takes. a moment to take in everything varian says. wow. you've done. a lot since yesterday, haven't you. he's been trying, too, but... ]

... I informed the person who originally gave me the numeric message of what its meaning turned out to be. I also informed both my partner and Miss Kyouka most of what we knew up to this point. The most important parts, at least, though at least one of them... was already aware of a fair amount of it.

[ he inclines his head toward Veronica, assuming that she's. why. ]

Kyouka has expressed to me that she doesn't want to keep losing the ones dear to her. I would expect that she is willing to help, considering.

My counterpart, on the other hand, has informed me of several different correspondences that he's received. They seem to be a little less... [ he pauses a little, but then goes with what he was thinking in his mind anyway, ] --informative, than what we've received ourselves, but they may still help to an extent.

[ honestly he's starting to write on the backs of some of his previous things, considering he hadn't snagged some of the parchment from in the owlery earlier today via self-mail. but here they are, his copies of what the other ion had shown him. ]

[vigilantics]

I told the person that I had gotten my info from. [ and then i fell asleep so that thread did not get far yet so we're moving on ]

I'm still on the fence about telling my partner it I think I should.

[ probably. why is her partnership the way that it is. ]

I can't believe Akechi trusted you with all of this.

[asswipe]

Do you think Hikage would take it well?

[Because, to be honest, Hikage makes her go ??????? every single time she sees him in a trial. But, more importantly — she's giving Varian a look.]

Uh, ditto on the disbelief. No offense, but what the hell did you offer him to get him to trust you that much? [Since it's, uh, Akechi.]

[alchemenace]

I think ... it's because I encouraged him to write to them in the first place?

[ listen. he doesn't know either. but let him just back up and try to remember this convo ]

So, I told him the details about the roles, because apparently Historians don't have the information we do about those right now [ he's. he's literally still in shock over that ], then I told him about the numbers in exchange for the Shield because we're going public with those anyway, and then we exchanged titles. Oh, right, he's the, um, the Swan Princess. And he knows a Vizier who's a villain. And also Sousei was a Historian.

[ THIS IS SO MUCH. he pauses. ]

Akechi is kind of a blabbermouth?

[fonlines]

The... Historians don't know at all? Were they not aware of their existences, or simply the details?

[ all that fuss about how they knew more about the game, and yet--

they've been riding on his partner's coattails for this long and they still know more than the Historians do??? what ]

I... what have they been doing, all this time? What have they done with their knowledge? I knew Sousei was a Historian, at least-- Souji told me that. And while I'm aware that their memories of the previous game were shaky, that's...

[ he shakes his head ]

In any case, the most pertinent information from Sousei would have been simply to trust neither the Dragon nor the Tiger's win conditions. Tiger's is to eliminate a faction. Dragon's is... to collect a specific amount of ink?

What, then, are our other options?

[vigilantics]

I think that... as of now we should probably aim more towards Dragon's, because at the very least it buys us more time than Tiger's. If there is some other way to end this game in a way that we want it to aside from what we already know, having that extra time will help.

[ because, as they know, it is really fucking easy to kill off everyone in a single faction. rip villains. ]

I wonder if the other Historians are under orders not to reveal themselves? Since we seem to be just getting the same names a lot.

[asswipe]

I agree with Stephanie. I think... A lot more people are aware that objectives are important now, so at least we're on the right track if we want to aim for Dragon's. The only problem is figuring out how to deter future Blotters from aiming for the Villains. We already have one third of us in this room.

[rip, indeed.]

... That, or they selected one member to "represent" them. Akechi's already in hot water with most of us, so maybe this is meant to be a strategic choice. Pick the one person who everyone already suspects, and push them further into the limelight? It's less risky than making all of their identities public, if the rest of them have kept a low profile until now.

[alchemenace]

That depends on whether Akechi was lying to me or not. [ let's just. go over htat. ] When he asked me to share that letter for him, he told he wasn't allowed to talk about his role in public. He didn't so much share his role with me as just ... handed the letter, so I'm inclined to believe it.

[ also akechi is not great at lying ]

[fonlines]

I suppose they're under similar restrictions as the Blotters, then- or even the rest of us in public, considering.

[ thanks, ic handbook. thanks, literally confronting your own partner on whether or not he did anything, only to be blown off. ]

[vigilantics]

That would make sense, wouldn't it? And using Akechi is the smart choice, since he still has the largest target on his back. If people knew he had a role, they would be less likely to kill him.

[ especially when the other historians are still mostly hiding. ]

[asswipe]

Not to mention, Eichi's our shield. If the other Historians know about that, too, it makes more sense that they're risking Akechi's neck if Eichi can protect him every week.

[a beat.]

... Assuming the Shield can pick the same person each week, anyway. Do we know if that's possible?

[alchemenace]

I didn't ask... But since Akechi is still alive, I'd say the probability of it is pretty high.