week 3, saturday

[ninjay]

[ so, soon after that clusterfuck of a trial ends, the three hunters will all find their way back to room 112. even though their next meeting is just a few days away, sometimes you just can't wait that long.

as soon as the door closes behind him, jay will look at his two companions, not looking very pleased. ]

All three of us were sloppy tonight. We may have painted targets on ourselves if anyone was watching too closely.

Comments

[ninjay]

[ jay's expression sours when yukina says she revealed her role. ]

Regarding what you said to Percival... what exactly did you say? We need to know all the details so we can figure out a way to run with this.

[nowyouseeit]

[he. . . looks a bit irritated too, but that irritation is mostly directed at Percy anyway]

Yeah. We wanna keep our story straight. And I guess we'd better hope that Perc isn't a Prophet.

[thawedheart]

...he's the Doctor. But I don't know if he's a Prophet or not.

[She got that much out of him, at least. But at their irritation, she winces.]

I told him that I was the Paranoid, and that... that was how I managed to survive our encounter with the monsters in the library. He already knew we'd been there, after all... And I don't think he has much faith in my ability to come out on top in a fight, so I knew I had to come up with something.

...it wouldn't be so strange to suggest that those monsters were soulless, would it?

[ninjay]

[ he's not annoyed at yukina, he's annoyed at literally everyone else. it's probably hard to tell though. ]

No, that makes sense. When Jake had asked me how we defeated the monster, I hesitated and implied I couldn't tell him. He didn't prod further, but we can definitely use that as an excuse as to why I couldn't explain. I didn't want to out you.

... This means that there's really no point in lying about our roles though. In regards to me and Kaito, they'd want to see our items as proof, and even if we claim we don't have them on us, they'd probably want us to show them later.

[nowyouseeit]

And when I talked to Andersen, I mentioned the monster exploded, but didn't say how. I could attribute that vagueness to Yukina's role being the cause of the monster's demise.

[okay, they can make this work. they can.]

But Jay is right. While his maps are easily replicated, my handgun. . . isn't.

[thawedheart]

...I know.

[She lowers her head.]

I didn't mean to ruin that for you... but, I didn't know what else to say. At that point, it really seemed likely that any lie I tried to tell would come out the next day.

[ninjay]

We're not upset with you, Yukina. I am angry, but it's towards everyone who put us in this position for pointing fingers without any real thought into what they were doing. You're fine.

[ he looks less mad when he says this, at least. ]

[nowyouseeit]

. . . yeah. There's no reason to be angry with you. Velvet painted you into a corner, for no reason whatsoever.

[. . .]

I think there's one important thing we can take away from Mira's last ditch effort at saving herself, too.

Her group-- the Prophets-- know about Craftly's rebellion.

[thawedheart]

...either they know or they suspect.

[She can't help but think that, either. And what Mira kept saying to her keeps playing through her mind -

I wasn't pretending in that moment. I was giving you a warning.]

Either way, we're in more danger than we were before. Especially after... the way we reacted. [Or. Overreacted.] The others were... probably watching to see how people would react to Mira-san's suggestion about voting for Craftly-san...

[ninjay]

Luckily for us, a lot of other people were vehemently against executing Craftly. That definitely worked in our favor.

[ jay doesn't know what they would have done if there were more people on the fence. it could have gone either way. ]

But now that option is on the table, and people may return to it in later trials. Especially ones where we don't know who the murderer is. I'm sure people would prefer to vote for him versus voting blindly. If we lose him, we may be unable to check for Prophets, and if that happens...

[nowyouseeit]

We're screwed.

[putting it bluntly]

If the Prophets already suspect that there's a rebellion, then maybe it can't hurt to finally let everyone know we're here.

Craftly wanted to keep it on the down low, but. . .

[can they, while also keeping him safe?]

[thawedheart]

...what if we didn't make ourselves known, exactly?

[Yukina's voice is a little hesitant.]

What if we called out the Prophets, instead?

[ninjay]

We can make the message vague enough so that it won't point fingers directly at us, but it'll still give out information. Like... "One down, two to go," or something along those lines? If the Prophets do suspect us, that will basically confirm that we exist for them. But the others may not piece that bit together.

[ which is fine. as long as they give some sort of hint about the prophets' existence, and that there may be another way to solve this without murdering everyone until there's only three left. ]

[nowyouseeit]

[mrrrrgh. he scowls]

No. That's too vague. That's enough for people to assume that Mira was right, and that they should have voted for Craftly instead of her.

We need something more concrete. Something. . .

[he pauses. things. tests the words out on his lips, before speaking them]

"To those who have sold their humanity to a bloodthirsty god to satisfy their selfish desires: I know Mira was not the only one. I will stop you."

First person singular, to throw people off the scent. Sign it with an explorer's name. Ferdinand Magellan, to allude to the Explorer's role.

[thawedheart]

...you sound like you've done this before, Kaito-san.

[Is this the skillset of a thief?]

[ninjay]

I'm impressed. And pointing it at me instead of the two of you does make sense. I'm the most expendable of the group.

[ he thinks it over, before nodding. ]

Let's do it. How will we deliver the message?

[nowyouseeit]

[. . . DUDE!!]

That's not why I--! We just talked about pretending the Explorer role was capable of learning more about the game, that's all!

[SHEESH]

. . . we ask Craftly to post it on the bulletin board. Monday morning, before everyone wakes up. We also make sure someone other than us scribes it.

[thawedheart]

Don't say that! You aren't expendable...

[Yukina's voice is a little sharp - sorry, Jay. She's just really touchy about the idea of her friends (friends? When did they become friends, not just allies?) dying.

...once she's managed to take a breath and calm down, though, she nods.]

Craftly-san could probably write it... we'd just have to tell him what we wanted written.

[ninjay]

[ he presses his lips into a thin line. jay thinks it's obvious that his role is the more useless one when compared to theirs, but this isn't really a hill he cares about enough to die on. ]

He wrote out the note for the Ghost for the trial. His handwriting should be recognizable, which means that people shouldn't waste time pointing fingers. [ ... ] Then again, they enjoy wasting time, so who knows. But let's do it.

[nowyouseeit]

[a curt nod]

Right. Let's. Tonight, even. So we can get it out of the way and prepare ourselves for Monday.

[thawedheart]

...mm. Do you think he'll answer the door now, if we knock...?

[Well, only one way to find out.]

[ninjay]

We might as well try.

[ and interrupt him drinking himself to an early death ig ]

[nowyouseeit]

All right. Let's go.

-- and when we're done, remind me to tell you guys what Andersen told me after the trial.

[thawedheart]

...what Andersen-san told you...?

[ONWARD THEY GO who wants to do the honors]

[ninjay]

[ not it ]

You can tell us now.