[ch. 6] post-trial, w/ belph

[asswipe]

[Hey, Belph.

Veronica won't be doing much when he stumbles across her. Mostly, she's doing a whole lot of sitting and a whole lot of staring into the void. She does look up when she hears him approach, though, even if... she doesn't say anything. Doesn't seem like she's in a talkative mood tonight, huh.]

Comments

[axilium]

[he'll get straight to the point. as long as he focuses on business, he can hold himself together. that's what he tells himself.

it might be insensitive—veronica might not want to hear about this while she's grieving—but...]

Objectives don't have to be balanced. As long as each faction hits the minimum, it doesn't matter how many each achieves.

I asked Dragon just now.

[asswipe]

[Well, Belph continues to be a bad judge of Veronica's potential reactions. There's a pause between his words and her reaction, but once it sinks in, her expression is shifting. Instantly.]

—Wait. Are you serious?

[axilium]

[one day veronica will react the way he expects??]

Unless Dragon's lying to me about this for some reason? Yeah.

[also because jan oocly got this info by now:]

And we've hit the numbers. We've got at least eight for the villains, twelve for the civilians. The concern right now is screwing up the population numbers.

[asswipe]

[never.]

... How would we do that? Do we have to get all of them exactly down to three, or would any equal number be enough?

[axilium]

Exactly three. I mean, I can ask Dragon again, but I don't think her answer is suddenly going to change.

[asswipe]

[Ah.

She's quiet for a moment before she just... places her face in her hands.]

That means... Five more people need to die before all of this is over, doesn't it?

[axilium]

[...]

Yeah. ... And some people are planning on switching factions. I know there'll be a few announcements tomorrow on some things, so... guess we'll see what happens after that.

We all need to be on the same page.

[asswipe]

... I know. Souji and Ion are planning to switch, but—

[She's... so tired at this point.]

Is it really that good of an idea anymore? People will have to die, anyway, and it's not like we need the extra objectives.

[axilium]

... I don't know. Actually, there's a decent chance a hero will be dying next week, so we can't afford to have too many switching.

[...]

We'll see tomorrow. If you see either of them, tell them to wait. Tomorrow, I'm outing everything: everyone's factions, that we've completed enough objectives so we can all stop murdering each other, etc.

[well, he won't be the one doing the outing, but it'll be on his behalf.]

Then... we discuss it, I guess.

[asswipe]

... I'll speak to Souji when I see him. Ion and Stephanie should be meeting with me tonight so we can regroup, too, so... I'll see Ion there.

[...]

I hope this works, Belph. I'm scared to death that we're going to fuck up and doom all our friends.

[axilium]

Ha. Trust me, Veronica—I'm terrified too. I've invested way too much in this.

... And I'm sorry.

[asswipe]

... Haha.

You don't have to apologize. Someone had to die. I just got unlucky in that it wasn't me.

[axilium]

... No.

[...]

I'm apologizing because it should've been me.

[asswipe]

[just

looks at him.]

No, it shouldn't have been. Do you really want to turn this into an argument of which one of us has the biggest martyr complex?

[axilium]

[...]

I mean, no, not really, but just to make sure... you do understand what I'm saying, right?

[asswipe]

[no, she does not.


but after a moment—]

... Are you telling me you murdered someone this week?

[axilium]

[...

he smiles grimly.]

Last week. If I'd killed this week, I wouldn't have been allowed to confess, so it would be a moot point anyway.

[asswipe]

[immortalizes her mood for the people reading after unlocks]

You... [SHE HAS ONE (1) EMOTION AND IT'S YELLING.] Who?

[axilium]

... Melloi and Reyna had a deal: that if either of them was picked to be a Blotter, they'd kill the other.

[and again, that same, grim smile.]

I promised Reyna that I'd get away with it and win this. That I'd bring everyone back. That's all the more reason I can't fail now—I've literally killed for this purpose.

[... which he's in no way happy about, but it doesn't matter. he's long since given up on something as fragile as "happiness".]

[asswipe]

... Jesus Christ. I can't believe that asshole Zelos was right.

[rip, zelos. can't believe regina george is mcfucking dead tomorrow.]

That's all the more reason why you shouldn't have died, though. You made a promise, and now we're going to see it through.

[axilium]

Well, so was Melloi. Zelos did kill Monika.

[so there's that.]

... I guess. Feels kind of weird to be the only Blotter—aside from whoever killed Melloi—to be alive now, though.

[asswipe]

Of course he did...

[Yikes. Monika deserved better???]

Well, you won't have to be the only Blotter for long. There's still next week to think about.

[axilium]

[belph does not understand why he went around wearing her ribbon, but who knows, he might've had a death wish.]

... Yeah. Well, that can't be helped. They'll have to pick wisely. That's part of why I'm making sure everyone knows everything tomorrow.

So... look forward to it, I guess?

[asswipe]

... I'm not sure I'm physically capable of looking forward to anything tomorrow. [With, um, Varian potentially getting set on fire/cooked/vored/etc.] But I get what you mean. So I'll do my best.

I don't think we have anyone that's actively stupid or malicious left at this point, anyway. [...] Well— Besides Eichi, I guess. Asshole got both Varian and his boyfriend killed by being a drama queen.

[axilium]

... Akechi thinks he'll be more bark than bite, but yeah, we have to keep an eye on him. At the very least, Akechi of all people is still wishing for the best ending, so...

[he shrugs.]

Hopefully? That'll help?

[asswipe]

Hopefully.

[But she doesn't sound entirely convinced. Not after he outed Varian, who in turn outed Akechi, which... resulted in a three way tie.]

Worst case scenario — and I hate to say this... One of us kills him before he can become one of the last civilians standing.

[axilium]

[...]

I guess that's an option.

[asswipe]

An option that we hopefully won't have to explore.

[axilium]

... We'll see how he reacts to everything tomorrow.

[asswipe]

It's all we can do at this point, anyway.