week 3, wednesday w/ steph

[alchemenace]

[ hi steph wherever you are wobbling there varian is, leading her (slowly.) away to the first secluded area he can find. where? fuck you i didn't think that far. He speaks fast and in a hushed tone as he leads her: ]

I know what the Other Side is!

Comments

[vigilantics]

What?

[ it hasn't even been a week what the fuck ]

Wait. How?

[alchemenace]

[ here hello let varian take out a note from his NUMEROUS POCKETS. y'all mock the starbucks apron but i can carry an entire inventory in there fuck u. anyway ]

This was on my bed when I went back to my room earlier.

[vigilantics]

... [ well this is a lot of information to take in at once. ]

So we can save everyone who died, but... we'd need to accomplish our objectives to do it.

[alchemenace]

Yes. Which... may be a problem. It's my understanding that titles and objectives are linked, and that means one third of people's objectives are kind of... unsavory.

[vigilantics]

Great...

[ she folds her arms over her chest. ]

At least this gives us something to work with. I wonder how many people have actually completed their objectives?

[alchemenace]

Well, any extra ink we've gotten on Sundays is from that? And we know Miss Bunch did hers last week. So. At least a handful?

[ wowie. ]

But that's not the only thing I received. This one I received by owl.

[ and here comes another letter from his pocket. It's not the same handwriting. ]

[vigilantics]

[ her expression is the same as when she read the last letter, but her eyes widen when she reaches the end. ]

Beauty?

[alchemenace]

[ gestures vaguely with the letter ]

Apparently! Now, I believe the first letter might be from the Historians? It fits their agenda, or at least what we've learned about them so far. Though I don't know why Beauty contacted me specifically.

[ not that he minds, but. ]

More than that... That line, about the mirrors? I think it's about watching them.

[vigilantics]

I'm glad they want you to keep your limbs. How kind.

[ let them live. ]

But mirrors don't really have the best rep in fairy tales, so that makes sense.

[alchemenace]

I still have my arm, it's fine.

[ it is still nerve damaged. let's move on. ]

Right, like in Snow White. [ please let it be snow white. fuckin fairy tales ] So there's something nefarious going on with the mirrors here, probably.

[vigilantics]

Is this actually from Beauty or someone using their name? Or can people from the Other Side contact us?

[alchemenace]

I have reason to believe this is from the real Beauty.

[ he gonna... expand? no ]

I don't know if any of them can contact us, or if it's only her and the Beast, since they're more... important.

[vigilantics]

Uh huh.

[ SQUINTS. ]

Are you going to tell me why or is this going to be a mystery for the moment?

[alchemenace]

Oh. Um. It's from a source I'd rather remain anonymous for their own safety.

[ a beat ]

No offense? I, I trust you, obviously, but.

[ he trails off because he doesn't know how to explain this shit ]

[vigilantics]

[ she nods. ]

That's fair.

[ like... really. it's fair. ]

[alchemenace]

[ he smiles a bit, relieved. he didn't want to upset her ]

Anyway, um, this source, they also received a letter, this time sent by Beauty and Beast. It had two different handwritings, so I assume they both wrote on it. It corroborated a lot of what my first note said. Including the bit about fulfilling the objectives being important.

[vigilantics]

Did you all receive them around the same time?

[alchemenace]

Yeah. Today. We only unlocked the owlery this week, which I believe was a factor.

[vigilantics]

And since the first note wasn't delivered by an owl, you're probably right about it may be from a Historian...

I guess we need to look for all of the mirrors here.

[alchemenace]

Right. So, for now, we watch the mirrors carefully. Maybe we'll figure out the next step from there.

[vigilantics]

Hopefully you guys will receive another one from them, too.

[alchemenace]

That would be helpful. Maybe then I can figure out what the smudge after seeing is supposed to be.

[ frantically googles ten letter nouns ]

[vigilantics]

Right... and I assume the last three words might go with the mirror thing?

[ ... ]

Not like we have any idea what they could be. Thanks ink.

[alchemenace]

... Yeah.

[ he has no idea either smh ]

Either they were writing in a hurry, or something else messed with the ink.

[vigilantics]

A lot of the words that are blocked are don't seem to be like... too important? So I'm leaning towards none of it was meant to be messed up but it happened anyway.

But you never know.