alchemenace | week 5; wednesday w/ veronica and orion

... That's quite the opener.

[ here we are! mysterious location, mildly bemused ion, possibly slightly bewildered dragon and pegasus attache. ]

Not that that is a bad thing, though... you've been quite busy, haven't you?

[ except what's the bad news in that case. ]

... I feel like I should start off by asking how you got that information.

[Because, boy, she's had enough consecutive heart attacks since last Tuesday. Still—]

But you said those were the good news. What are the bad news?

[ varian just. shrugs. ]

I didn't, um, I didn't murder anyone. If that's what you're asking? But, but anyway, the bad news is that I know the descriptions, but we still have to guess which is attached to which. Since I didn't get that part.

[ he's. annoyed a bit. god. ]

But, um, here.

[ and he takes out a piece of parchment in which he obviously transcribed himself:

"One role holds the power to protect whomever they wish, and may offer another up or themselves as an alternative sacrifice.

One role may inquire into a Narrator's personal business, into their privacy, and receive answers on their allegiance.

One role is tasked with making choices that affect the castle each week.

One role holds the responsibility to answer to the Crafters' assigned tasks, and they cannot be faulted for that."

there's a letter next to each of the lines, in order-- S, V, A, E. ]

The, the letters are my current guesses for which role corresponds to which.

[ he's going to. let them read now. ]

[ ion studies the parchment briefly, then settles back heavily once he is done.

well then. ]

So the Shield cannot prevent a murder, per se-- merely deflect it unto another.

[ there's a flash of something in his eyes as he says this, as if something's just occurred to him, but... no, he can't be sure of it. ]

As for the others. They really are quite vague, aren't they? What allegiances, exactly, do we even have that the Viziers might want to know of?

[MAKES. A FACE AT HIM.]

I wasn't saying you did, Jesus!

[Varian, why.

Anyway, looking through the parchment. It's... a lot. And she glances at Ion, catching his expression.]

... Allegiance could refer to factions. [It fits into the snooping theme, at least.] But... Are you thinking what I'm thinking? About— About Natsuo and Dave.

[ raises his hands in a placating gesture. well. one hand. the other is stubbornly still down there. ha ha. as usual. anyway. ]

Sorry. Um. I agree with Veronica that allegiance probably refers to factions. Now, I guessed Viziers on those because viziers are meant to know things? And that fit the best out of all of them.

[ his brow furrows a bit at their dave&natsuo talk ]

I think I know what you guys are thinking. Personally, I don't believe Dave was the Shield. I mean, he could've been, but if the Shield was out of play, I think the Crafters would be a lot more open about the role? He could've had Natsuo's murder redirected onto him ... but it seems odd to choose Natsuo's partner if you're trying to protect him. But it's a definitely a possibility.

That does make sense... [ re: the factions and all ]

But no, I think I must agree with Varian. I asked the Tiger about it, after all, and while we know to take the Crafters' words with a grain of salt, she did say to me that they would let us know if any of the extra roles were removed from play. But- only if they would no longer play a part in any capacity for the remainder of the war.

[ so that brings up the question- would any of these roles be able to play a part, even posthumously? lingering aftereffects of their actions, perhaps? ]

It would be odd to redirect something onto the victim's partner if the intent was to save their life, that's true... It might help if we had more knowledge of how this decision is made, but I don't think there's much we can really do for that.

I understand it may be a bit prying, and you needn't answer if you would rather not, but... how was it that you received this information? [ 'would the source be good for more?' ]

Edited 2018-07-10 04:44 (UTC)

[She shakes her head.]

Sorry, I wasn't clear enough. I meant... What if the Shield chose to protect Natsuo, and offered Dave as a sacrifice in his place? [Which is super duper awful, tbh.] Natsuo survived even though he stayed partnerless after Dave's death. There was that— Um. That doll, remember? I don't know how the decision is made, either, but... What if the Shield knew that Natsuo, specifically, would be spared even if his partner died?

[Spaghetti launching intensifies.]

... I'm curious, too, if you're willing to share. This is, again, not an accusation of murder. God.

[ varian frowns in thought at the mention of the doll ]

Natsuo got that doll on Wednesday of that week, I'm sure of it. It's when we lit up the lanterns? Fane and Stephie took the path first, and they got an item. We got something out of it, too, so it makes sense? Any kind of special item like that, or any information, needs some effort to get. So it'd have to be someone who knew he got that doll the same week?

[ ... and speaking of information. varian hesitates before shrugging. ]

... I think they used their token to get the information? [ he sounds. unsure. ] It was relayed to me from someone else.

[ thats a lot of degrees of separation, wowie ]

Was that what happened then? In that case, it limits our pool of potential candidates greatly, I would think. I only learned about the doll afterwards.

[ that said, he has to also play the role of pessimist or dissenting opinion; ]

Still, I might not hinge our logic solely on that-- it's entirely possible the Shield may have also simply made a mistake, or wasn't thinking carefully enough at the time, if it was a decision made under duress or in panic.

That you received this information presumably from a wish... [ that's. kind of a steep price, knowing what they do still. ] Well. Let us hope that we can do enough with it to make the effort worth it. I might have something to share, too, but I'm afraid it is likely to raise more questions than anything else.

So... Shirasu and anyone else who might have found out by talking to them? [Hm.] You're right, though. There's... There's a lot of different variables, and we don't know what was going through the Shield's head when they made their choice.

[tmw you want answers but only get struggles :// smh]

It's not as if we don't have a bunch of questions, already. Go ahead, Ion. Maybe one of us will have something that fills in the blanks?

... It also depends on when they have to make that decision, right? Though ... now that I think about it, isn't it just as likely Shirasu or whoever else knew about the doll could have the title that spares partners? Whoever it was didn't give one to Natsuo, which I thought was lucky at the time, since V and Magnus got partnered up, but he still lived because of it.

[ now they're just going in speculation hell so he's going to move on to comment wryly: ]

Questions is about all we have. Just... less than we used to. What have you got?

[ he'll just purse his mouth, look mildly, dubiously unsure, then wordlessly unfurl one of the parchments i'm saying he grabbed and tucked away when varian tried to grab the both of them.

it isn't the original, as that was torn into pieces and he's not in possession of it, but what does show up instead is essentially a recreation of this. ]

This was brought to my attention torn up beyond recognition. After piecing it back together, this was all that the... message? contained.

[ 'message.' ]

... Uh. [UH??] Let me guess, you have no idea what that's supposed to mean.

[Those sure are. Numbers. Whoa.]

[ ........... nani the fuck ]

... Is, um, are numbers a big thing in fairy tales?

[ he's. he's trying. ]

[ nani? thefuck is going to haunt me until i die. ]

None at all. It could be anything from a code of some sort, or a combination, or perhaps even locations or objects, some order of things we must investigate... and I wouldn't know what any of it might mean.

[ so many questions so few answers ]

As for the fairy tales, I'm not aware of any mentioned in our titles that have much to do with numbers.

I... I don't remember any fairy tale where those numbers were important. I could check the library out. See if there's anything that stands out, but...

[The library is big and nani the fuck is never not accurate. Veronica frowns, looking at the numbers again.]

But if we can't figure it out by ourselves, I have a token we can use. I don't have anything I want for myself, anyway.

A combination or code might be our best bet... V, when you guys broke into Tiger's room, you didn't happen to see any secret locks or anything, did you?

[ listen. he is TRYING. ]

... A wishing well token... It's worth considering. When did you get this, Ion?

Edited 2018-07-10 07:03 (UTC)

It was brought to my attention on Undineda... ah, pardon, early Wednesday morning, but I was told it had actually arrived the day prior. That time was needed for assembly, however.

[ they are all doing their best. but maybe, beauty and the beast should have picked varian and two smarter people. ]

A wishing well token... is as good as any a place to start, I suppose, considering I wouldn't know where else to begin with this.

... There were a couple of locks, but we found all the keys for them. I didn't see anything that would need a code to be unlocked. If Evan, Dazai or Souji did, they haven't brought it up.

[Since, uh, she only got to explore part of Tiger's living space before she got yeeted out. It's okay.]

So... Tuesday. But no hour? [She has uno concern.] I can throw the coin in after we're done. How should I word my wish? I don't want to leave any room for mistakes.

[ varian gives that question a legitimate thought or two. he's. honestly varian is not exactly the person to go to for eloquent and succinct words ]

... Maybe ask for the exact meaning of the numbered message? Oh, but if it's a code to unlock something, that might not work.

I wasn't informed of any particular arrival time. Perhaps asking for an intended meaning and purpose, if any...?

[ he's also trying, but cryptography is not one of the things you teach a child pope, it turns out ]

To understand the intended meaning and purpose of the numbered message... [Cryptography is not a thing you teach anyone, period.] Maybe that'll cover our bases enough?

I think that's about as good as it gets. Hopefully it won't waste your token.

[ why does information suck. ]

Oh, I almost forgot. I wrote to Beauty and got a letter back. I mainly asked about them trying to kill Tiger and us fulfilling objectives?

[ he takes out the letter ]

... Hm. I've received a few things too, this being perhaps the most relevant.

[ here's another one of the parchments he brought along! he's got several, but this seems to be the longest. ]

I wrote to them asking about whether we should be spreading this around, or trying to keep it a more subtle affair.

[ ... ]

I also asked about the mistakes they made reference to, but I think I may have upset Beauty. Beast answered the rest of the questions I had about some of the details of the flow of ink.

[She looks a little surprised when they start pulling their new letters out, but it's not until she's skimmed through them that she realizes something.]

Wait. [WAIT...] If you got a letter from Beauty, and you got a letter from Beauty and the Beast— Then who got a letter from just Beast?

[Because she sure didn't get one herself.]

Oh. I, I actually know who it is? I thought Beast had just managed to ... send two, somehow.

[ it just made sense to him that they could write more than one letter. for reasons. ]

... They said we should share this information, right? I can, I can ask them if they want to meet up tomorrow, all four of us?

... I don't think they can. I think it says- they can only write to us as many things as we send them.

[ time to live in the owlery and send them a bunch of spam mail i mean what ]

... Given what we've been told, I would not be opposed to that, I suppose.

week 5; wednesday w/ veronica and orion

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