[ch. 3] wednesday night, w/ evan

[asswipe]

[At dinnertime, Veronica is going to slide a folded napkin at Evan shortly before exiting the dining hall. If he unfolds it, he'll find that she's written something on it:]

Meet me in the owlery when you're done eating.
- Veronica

[... This seems fine.]

Comments

[selfinserting]

[He tries to be as discreet as possible as he reads it, tucking it into his pants pocket once he's done. He wonders if this has something to do with Monday evening and even considers not going for a few moments out of sheer embarrassment, but - no. That wouldn't be fair to Veronica.

He eats the rest of his food so it doesn't seem like he's leaving in a rush for any reason, and then heads to the owlery. He raises a gloved hand when he sees her there.]

...Hey. Is, um, is everything okay?

[asswipe]

[Evan will find her hunched over the table, writing away on a piece of parchment. She looks up when she hears him, pulling away from the table and fishing for something in her pockets.]

Depends on your definition of "okay." Come take a look at this.

[And assuming that he does, Veronica will show him this. It's noticeably written in two sets of handwriting.]

[selfinserting]

[He blinks, heading over and moving so he can read what's written here. The longer he looks at the paper, the more nervous he appears, especially after he gets to the part about objectives.]

...Who, who gave this to you?

[asswipe]

... An owl delivered it. I don't know where it came from, but— I think it's legitimate, Evan.

[And good news, in a certain way. It means they have options.]

[selfinserting]

[He reads over it again, trying to take out the most important pieces of information.]

So... Beauty and the Beast are here and can, um, actually talk to us. They don't want us to make the same mistakes they did, so they - were in this war at some point in the past? And... T-They want to make sure we don't get too caught up on the idea of who wins, and trust each other, and cooperate.

[It's the next part he's having trouble with, and it shows in his voice.]

...And we have to, to work on our objectives.

[asswipe]

That's the abridged version, yeah. And... That's not all. If all villains die, the war ends and we lose. Same with the heroes. The Historians are working together to avoid that... I think. [Which bodes well, considering that they're going to trip over a dead villain tomorrow. This is fine, truly.

Wringing her hands together, she looks at him in the eye. She needs to ask this, even if the look on his face makes her expect nothing but the worst.]

Evan, what's your objective?

[selfinserting]

[He hesitates for a few moments before he answers.]

I, um, I'm supposed to convince three people to break the rules. [A beat.] It's not - mine that I'm worried about.

[He'd be lying if he said it didn't concern him, given that it could include a punishment with unknown severity if he follows through on it. Still, given the other that he knows, it seems meager in comparison.]

...Can I, can I ask what yours is?

[asswipe]

[For someone who was ready to shake him down until he told her his objective, she sure clamps up when he asks about hers. It takes her a moment before she speaks again.]

... So they like their sets of three, huh. [And then she's chewing on her lips, not quite looking at him anymore.] I'll tell you mine, but you have to promise that you'll never bring it up with anyone else. I— I kind of gave permission to someone else to claim it as their own objective, and I don't want them to get in trouble for it.

[selfinserting]

[Without hesitation:]

Yeah, of course. I promise.

[asswipe]

They want me to make three friends, and genuinely acknowledge them as my friends.

[... Which implies a lot of things that Veronica isn't entirely comfortable about, but there we go!!]

[selfinserting]

T-That... seems like, like a nice one, compared to what I've, um, heard.

[asswipe]

... Let me guess, the ones you've heard have to do with murdering or maiming someone else.

[selfinserting]

Only one person has told me theirs so far, but - yeah. Y-You aren't wrong.

[asswipe]

God... I don't get why there are some that are harmless, and then— other people got saddled with crap like that. We need an equal amount of people in each faction to complete their objectives, but...

[Hrm.]

It's going to be hard if more of us keep dying. Those with more harmless objectives could be among the dead already.

[selfinserting]

...It has to be equal? [Hm.] I guess that makes sense, if the goal isn't for, for one group to come out above each other.

[He sighs, though.]

...More of us are, are going to.

[asswipe]

[She nods.]

I don't have them, but... there are another two letters. One says that we need to question what we're seeing and look at the mirrors more closely. The other says that we need a "near-equal" amount of people from each faction to do their objectives, or... We won't be able to revive the dead.

[Which, hm. Yikes.]

That's what I'm worried about. I know more of us are going to die, but if we're stuck with only the deadlier objectives... it's going to be hard to get equal amounts of ink.

[selfinserting]

Then... Do you think I should wait to fill my objective if I get another one after the one I have now, or - should I be doing as many of them as I can.

[He's asking her honestly. He trusts her judgment call on this more than his own.]