week 4, tuesday w/ veronica

[alchemenace]

[ so once everyone else has gotten to veronica and she's trying to get back, there's varian! casually leaning against something in her path and surprisingly sneaky for such a clumsy child ]

Sooo, I take it Evan's objective fulfilling quest did not go great?

Comments

[asswipe]

Then you're not going to like this, but I'm glad he didn't let you.

[At least. She doesn't sound condescending about it, just... tired.]

His objective's done but it was such a mess, Varian. We— I? I think Tiger was napping...? And we woke her up. And I told everyone to run, but when I turned around those stupid assholes weren't behind me!

[Waiting for them to come back shaved 20 years off her life. :')]

[alchemenace]

[ he lets it go because he gets it, but that doesn't mean he likes it. still. ]

So Tiger injured them. [ their scars mostly fit claws, so... ] You didn't just go in her room and wake her up, though, did you?

[asswipe]

No... We, um... After we ended up inside, Souji and Dazai decided to take a look around.

[While Veronica and her one brain cell shrieked in the background, but. Details. She runs a hand through her hair, shifting her weight slightly.]

We found a cabinet full of really weird stuff. I can tell you more about that, but— Look. Dazai threw this at me before the door locked behind me.

[And from her jacket, she pulls out one (1) very old looking journal. It looks severely mistreated, like it's one bad decision away from crumbling and falling apart.]

... I haven't looked through it yet.

[alchemenace]

[ well. alright then. ]

Oh, wow. That's... Can, can I see? [ he holds out a hand. he's used to handling old delicate papers because tangled is dumb so he's not about to just grab it from veronica ] If that's Tiger's personal journal... Well, maybe Evan's objective wasn't a total waste.

[ he'll ask about the cabinet later ]

[asswipe]

[She frowns.]

You know as well as I do that completing our objectives is important, Varian. [Even if they're a little on the dumb side.

Regardless, Veronica carefully deposits the journal in his hand. Unfortunately for him, there's a side effect from this. Varian will be cursed the moment his hand makes contact with it; he will hear Tiger's heartbeat beating in his ears whenever he opens a new door for the following 24 hours. Whoops!

As she hands the journal over:]

... Speaking of which. Can you... ugh. Can you refer to me as your Queen? Just once should do the trick. It's for my third objective.

[alchemenace]

I meant that you guys got injured for it, not that he did it at all.

[ the injuries are worth it for plot! that's how he feels about those and she should know that. also, ha ha. what a fun curse. ]

Oh, hey. You did your first one then? Congrats, Your Majesty. [ a beat ] Or, um, does it have to be literally Queen? I can do that too.

[ as he says that, he's also delicately (very delicately) opening the journal after observing it from all sides ]

[asswipe]

I'm not injured. [Rolling her eyes!!] Just say "Okay, my Queen" literally once so we can forget about this. My second objective was bad enough as it is, don't make this one even worse.

[Either way, she moves to stand next to him. There's a frown on her face as he opens the journal up, and it only gets worse as they see what's inside. Yikes.]

1/2 solely for the icon

[alchemenace]

Okay, my Queen.

[alchemenace]

[ anyway wow let's read the journal and it ... gets ... worse and worse and worse. varian frowns too, though his is more distressed ]

This is... Is this really her journal? It's... [ depressing. ]

cursed

[asswipe]

... It's one hell of a mental breakdown, Jesus.

[She doesn't know what she was expecting, but this wasn't it. She covers her mouth with her hand, trying to make out as much of the text as she can even with all the rips and tears and smudges.]

Do you think it has anything to do with what Beauty did to her?

[alchemenace]

I don't know. Beauty and the Beast both only came from the latest iteration of this war. But Dragon and Tiger have been at it for a long time and... [ he brushes a hand over "come too far now" as they get to it ] And I don't think either of them have been happy with it for a long time.

[ it's not pity in his voice, more contemplation ]

[asswipe]

So something happened to make her meltdown before Beauty took a dagger to her heart. Got it. That's—

[Hm. Yikes?]

... That's actually really depressing. They really are bound to the rules of this shitty place as much as we are, aren't they?

[alchemenace]

That's what they told me. [ hmm ] Even if we get out of here, this, this whole thing, it'll still happen again. It's a cycle. ... I'd go crazy if I was stuck in it too.

[asswipe]

I figured as much, but...

[Yikes, yikes, yikes.]

What... What if there's a way to get them out of this cycle? Break it, replace them, or— I don't know. Why is this cycle happening at all?

[alchemenace]

It's got to be that someone is, is "writing" them into it. I don't know why, or how we could even begin to stop them. We also have to be realistic, V. Getting ourselves out of this has to be our first priority. If it was easy for Tiger and Dragon to get out of the cycle, they'd have done it already.

[asswipe]

... I know. You're right. It's just— I wish there was something we could do for them, you know? Even if we only get as far as trying, I feel bad knowing that they're getting screwed over just as much as we are.

[alchemenace]

... No, I agree. I'm not saying we shouldn't try, just... At this point, I don't even know where we'd start.

[asswipe]

Well... I have two coins now. Maybe we could try asking the wishing well for ideas, clues, something?

[alchemenace]

If we're asking the wishing well for anything, I kinda feel like we should start asking about the killers we missed the last few weeks. As a start.

[ it's mostly sarcastic. ]

[asswipe]

... Um, about that.

[She's. Cringing for a second here.]

I know who killed Fitzgerald.

[alchemenace]

[ and varian himself is freezing in place suddenly, eyes wide as he stares at veronica ]

You... you do?

[asswipe]

Akechi told me.

[BECAUSE. OF COURSE HE DID.]

He talked to 2B after the trial, and... she confessed to killing Fitzgerald, even if she apparently didn't know who killed Monika. [...] So, uh. That's one less killer to worry about?

[alchemenace]

[ akechi is... the worst.

he heaves out a breath at that reveal, turning away and running a hand through his bangs ]

Oh. [ that's a bit blank and he shakes his head ] Oh, wow. Okay. That. That makes sense. [ ... ] So, was she one of the Blotters?