week 1; saturday, post-trial illchangethedateifwemust

[alchemenace]

[ so obviously akechi was. probably highly requested after THAT huge mess, but that's fine because Varian waits until it's as late as humanly possible to catch Akechi and corner him in some private location somehow shut up. Him seeking out Akechi is not something he wants to be public knowledge for multiple reasons, but.

But Varian needs to know a few things, and Akechi's his better shot at answers, hilariously enough.

Not only that, but...

Well. He knows what desperation looks and feels like, and seeing it mirrored on someone else was...

Either way. ]

Soooooo, are you too emotionally unstable for a talk right now? I can come back later if you need more time to breathe.

[ get it. ]

Comments

[doublecrows]

[well, Varian probably catches him super late at night, after he's finally left his room to pad down into the kitchen for something to drink. he's pale and wan, exhausted with bags under his eyes, and otherwise not at all wearing his normally pleasant mask]

What?

[that's all he gets in response, a short and staccato and (still breathless) answer]

[alchemenace]

Great, awesome! I will take that as a yes!

[ he's flippant the way he has to be when he's doing something like this, something he knows isn't right but he has to do because he has no choice. he's given himself no choice. time's running out, and he can't be wasting it. he's almost skipping to akechi, leaning on the counter casually and smirking ]

Rough go on the curse, but good job getting away with it somehow. I mean. "Good" is sorta pushing it, but it doesn't really matter. Everyone was asking Ann, but I get the feeling she's got a different opinion on it than you. So. "So much left to do", right? So why go along with it? [ and then, a touch more serious: ]

Why frame Ann?

[doublecrows]

[WHY ARE YOU SO PEPPY, VARIAN. Akechi gives him a tired, dubious look. but what's the point in lying anymore?]

I didn't frame her.

[that one is immediate, at least]

She was just as involved as I was. You heard Tiger-san confirm her guilt.

[alchemenace]

Obviously. But the hair? I'm pretty sure she didn't actually leave that there. You wanted her to take the fall for it. I'm sure there was a reason.

[ and then he hesitates because if he's wrong-- but after a quick glance away he just shrugs ]

I mean, unless you didn't have one and just wanted to make sure you didn't die. I guess that's fair too.

[doublecrows]

. . . no. Her hair being in the maze was an accident.

[not his fault!!]

[he hesitates for a moment, before he just. . . gives in, and decides there's no point to lying anymore]

She must have got it caught there when we were fleeing from the minotaur, after depositing Soo-Won's body there.

[alchemenace]

[ varian deflates a bit. it doesn't matter. that part wasn't important. and-- and since obviously this isn't helping-- he tries to be less flippant. more... honest. ]

I did warn you he was pretty scary. [ varian looks away ] Look. The truth is, I. I know... what it's like. To feel desperate. To-- to have something to get back to. No matter what. [ there's a short, broken laugh ] I mean-- everyone does, right? Everyone has someone they want to, to impress, or to prove themselves to, or show your worth, or to... [ save. he closes his eyes. that was too much. he should dial it back, probably. he feels like he's always this close to bursting. ] Or to get revenge on, if you're into that.

[ he is. he is. he burns with it. but that's not important, varian. ]

So, so I don't understand. You guys were made to do this, right? Is that all that was?

[doublecrows]

[. . . . . .]

[Akechi lifts his gaze to meet Varian's, the words seeming to pierce right through him. he doesn't look away]

Yes. We were chosen by the Crafters to kill this week. We had no choice.

["no choice," Akechi says, as though he hadn't been 100% fine with it from the very beginning]

[alchemenace]

[ there's a breath that shudders out of him. if they were picked... was the third one, too...? It doesn't matter right now. It doesn't even matter whatever happens to varian so long as he can possibly, finally, get this right. he's done so much already. ]

... Sharpay said she got something out of it. Did they do the same to you guys? Give you a reason to hesitate less? Or was it just kill or die?

[doublecrows]

[quietly]

It was worse than kill or die.

[. . . thinking about it, he may not have needed the motivator. but if he had? then, yeah. it would've been a good one]

They would have erased us from our worlds entirely. Ripped us from our stories. Watched everyone else's who are connected to us fall apart at the seams.

I have-- [a breath, sucked in sharply] -- I have so much still I have to do.

[alchemenace]

[ and that-- that, that is so much worse than anything varian could've imagined. "everyone else connected to them"...

he's already the only one trying anything for his dad. he can't be the cause of his death. not on top of-- not when he's already-- varian trips over himself to talk, stuttering, always one step ahead in order to dodge that guilt: ]

So, so, so what-- what happens now, that you were caught? Or Ann, I guess. What happens to your "stories"?

[doublecrows]

I don't know. I suppose I technically got away with it, so the Crafters will do nothing to me.

[wow, that was something neither of them asked. but Akechi's hands curl into fists, gloves creaking with the movement]

But as for Takamaki, you all chose to execute her with a "happily ever after." I imagine that means her story comes to an end.

[. . .]

How cruel can you all be? To cut her off before giving her a chance to redeem herself, or explain her reasoning?

[Akechi sure as shit doesn't deserve to sit on that moral high horse. but it makes him feel better]

[alchemenace]

[ Varian rolls his eyes at that. He's not too bothered by being questioned morally (if he has to be the bad guy, that's fine), but. ]

"Cut her off"? I'm pretty sure you guys were too busy yelling at each other to let anyone else understand. [ that drama tho. Still: ] And, and not to mention that you're really expecting me to believe you thought any better of this, this mob mentality?

[doublecrows]

[THAT DRAMA INDEED]

I had the decency to put down "to be continued."

[you killed a man, Akechi]

[alchemenace]

What a charming redemption after killing a man and denying it, calling your accomplice a liar.

[ no judgment. Ok a little judgment ]

[doublecrows]

[LOOK!!]

You yourself said you understood desperation. The desire to prove oneself. To have something to go back to.

[alchemenace]

I do. I do. [ more than anything and anyone else here, according to varian. ] But you can't pretend you're unaware that, that just because you know it had to be that way, that anyone will agree. You can't argue moral superiority.

[ he rolls his eyes, tapping at the counter ]

And, and what does it even matter? That kind of thing is always decided by the people in charge. In this place? That's a mob and two messed up women.

[doublecrows]

[ugh. Varian is right about that. and if there's one thing Akechi hates about mob mentality. . .]

And the mercy of the whole is fickle and untrustworthy.

[. . .]

Perhaps that's why it's easier for me to simply look after myself.

[alchemenace]

Well, she obviously wasn't going to.

[ if he looks at the facts, which for varian is how fast ann threw akechi under the bus alongside her. ]

[doublecrows]

No. She wasn't.

[of course she wasn't. she was one of Kurusu's, with no loyalty to Akechi whatsoever. he had been lucky, for her to arrive here without any memories of his betrayal]

[. . . he should have killed her after they disposed of Soo-Won, to keep her silent]

[alchemenace]

People like that... They, they can talk a big game, but the second you need something that's inconvenient for them, they'll turn on you.

[ Varian stop projecting Ann did nothing wrong ]

[doublecrows]

[ANN DID NOTHING WRONG AND SHE DOES NOT DESERVE THIS AT ALL]

Yes. You're right. And I suppose everyone saw that today.

[to be fair Akechi sold her out first. with the hair]

[alchemenace]

[ what is logic?? only project and guilt shift ]

They saw something, alright, but I doubt they'll see it like that. Was there... was there anything actually stopping her from explaining herself? The choice you two were given?

[doublecrows]

[this is why they'll be friends]

I don't know why she didn't.

[smh Ann. . . should've told people you were forced into it like Akechi did!1]

[(it's because Ann has a conscious about murder and understood the consequences of her actions, regardless of motivation)]

[alchemenace]

[ I don't understand these words you're using about accepting consequences ]

You'd think she'd at least consider it important information for people to know.

[doublecrows]

[ikr what even is that?? can you eat it??]

It doesn't matter now.

Tomorrow, she will die. And that will be that.

[alchemenace]

For her. You ... What are you going to do?