alchemenace | week 5, thursday w/ THE GANG im tired

[poor fane, kicked to the common room while the scooby gang discusses.

but anyway—]

... Huh. [JUST. HUH.] I'm not sure if I'm surprised, or...?

Oh. Hey.

[ she just. waves? hello. ]

[ and here's Ion, looking like a somewhat wary cat as he trails on in with his miniature menagerie and an assortment of parchments. ]

... oh. I suppose we shouldn't be surprised, really...

Ha. Yeah. Um. I should probably expand my social circle, but most people treat me like a child?

[ it's hard to get info out there in the wild, guys. ]

Their loss.

[SHRUGS!! congrats steph on now being the oldest member of the shady teen squad.]

Anyway... Let's get to the point. Do we need to catch Stephanie up on the other letters we've received, or can we cut to seeing Beast's letter?

I only know about his.

[ she gestures at varian

so. yes show her your letters. :/ ]

Edited 2018-07-12 05:11 (UTC)

[ he's carrying a bunch of parchment where do you even want him to start, steph. ]

... Would it be best to start from the very beginning, or...? How much are you aware of?

[ like, did Varian catch her up on the letter he showed off at trial or. ]

I... didn't share that much with her. I told her the most important things? About the roles.

[ sharing info is delicate!! and also she lost a leg he got distracted from telling her things ]

So let's just put all the letters out for now? I think seeing all of them together might help us keep some of our information straight, anyway.

[ also that way we can just link to the gdoc ]

... Okay. So it'll be best if we start from the beginning, then. Get everything in order.

[Handwaving that she grabbed this before they started this conversation, Veronica takes out two pieces of parchment from her pockets. One seems to be a letter written by both Beauty and the Beast, written in Beast's handwriting for the first two paragraphs and in Beauty's for the last. The other seems to be a "fixed" version in Veronica's handwriting.]

I got this letter two weeks ago, the... um. The day before I found Hijikata's body. I didn't write to them first or anything.

[ and she'll pull this out. it's... ripped on the top, like she tore a piece off it. ]

I got this yesterday. Uh, sorry. They outed my title, so... It's basically just telling us that we need to actually work with our partners.

[ ion quietly sighs, and first unfurls the transcription in fonic script that he'd made of his first letter from Beast, then the original copy. then he unfurls the 'corrected' translation into common he made for everyone else here, now plus stephanie. ]

I must have received this at about the same time. Two weeks ago, that is, before sir Hijikata, Monika, and my own partner were killed. I hadn't written to them either.

[ he'll glance over stephanie's letter, mentally going over a few of the blanks and subbing in what he thinks might fit as he does, but then pulls out the second major thing he has to share: this transcription of beauty and the beast's second letter in common. of the things he has with him (a fair few), it's... clearly the longest. a moment of rifling through his things and he also pulls out both his attempt at a cleaner copy, and this nonsense. ]

The second letter I received yesterday as well.

The last of these... was brought to my attention last week, after having arrived torn into pieces.

I hadn't contacted anyone when I got my first letter, either. Which is... strange.

[ that all three of them just got free letters. still, varian gives out a sigh when he sees the numbers and turns to Veronica because he is the only person in this room that has read all of these letters lmao he doesn't need to look!!! though he takes out both of his letters and the historian one but fuck if I'll link them here. i refuse to find the plurk pastes i did thanks ]

Right. Did, did you get the answer about those, V?

[Yeah. Hm. About that... She nods, but her face is pinched as she stares at the numbered message for longer than is strictly necessary. After a moment, she sighs.]

I did. And... I have good news, and bad news. [As is the norm.] The good news is that I woke up this morning suddenly knowing what the hell the numbers mean. The... The bad news is the meaning itself.

[Which is, you know, fun.]

One set of number is how many objectives need to be done per faction. The other set is how many survivors we need in each faction. But... I don't know which is which, and even if I did, seven and three are odd numbers. One person is going to be partnerless. So unless there's another one of those dolls laying around...

[Someone's going to be partnerless? Which means death??? So.]

[ she's mostly just listening to what they're all saying, as she is very much not in the loop of what their previous conversations have been about. when veronica mentions the numbers, though, she frowns. ]

There needs to be three survivors from each faction. So... seven has to be the objective one.

[ ion just... stares blankly, for a moment, trying to take that information in. that's. that's a lot. nine survivors, out of their twenty-six still? ]

... How do you... no, no- never mind that.

[ he shakes his head. more importantly: ]

Can anyone recall if we've ever had a particularly strong flow of- red ink, after any one of the executions? Not-- proportionate to the amount spilled during the week, I mean.

As for the letters- apparently they can only send as many as they receive, so how did we receive anything, that first time...?

[ WELL that. that is a new development. varian is just as blank as ion for a bit. that's. not great. he also frowns in thought over the letters sent vs received because. that was his question in the first place. howst the fucketh ]

Wow. Okay. [ welp. ] Um-- no, I've never. The only red I remember seeing was from, well, the three civilian deaths? But there might have been some objectives done during the off week we haven't been made aware of.

[ he shakes his head ] I... I think this is information everyone should know. At this point, we all need to find a way to keep track of numbers for both of these.

... Jesus Christ.

[This is fine. This is all fine. They're fine!! She rubs at her face, stressed the hell out already.]

In order: No, I don't know, and that's a good idea. [God.] It's— We need to confirm everyone's faction, and... how many objectives they've completed. I'm more worried about the former than the latter, given that four villains died the other week. It's going to be bad if the Blotters keep taking a stab in the dark. Literally.

Some people I've been speaking to already thought we should be sharing titles or factions with each other even before this reveal, so. It might not be that hard to convince people if they were already on board with it?

... even if we don't get everyone, as long as at least three of each become public knowledge, it's okay. But more than that is a good cushion. [ ... ] We should share ours with each other then?

[ ion looks. vaguely uncomfortable with this, but, eventually, after a brief pause, he slumps against scott and relents. ]

... I suppose that might be the only way to go from here.

[ a deep sigh, then a firm, sharp glance at each of them in turn-- don't make him regret this. ]

Then, in that case. I am Aladdin. [ ... ] I can make things. A single object, each week, out of the things it is that I am wearing.

[ guess what, the extra bandages he was wearing all the time were. relevant to something other than just how everyone keeps getting injured. ]

[ oh. okay. guess we're. doing this then. varian frowns a bit, as if mulling it over. he grabs at his arm and shrugs the other shoulder ]

Okay. Well. If we're doing this. I'm, um. The Gingerbread Witch. [ he looks to the floor and heaves out a sigh ] And I can-- I can, um. I can make poisoned food.

[... Veronica gently places a hand on Varian's shoulder in an attempt to ease his discomfort, but either way? She's sighing, her expression pinched despite the fact she knows this is necessary.]

Okay. Okay, okay. We're doing this. [LORD.] I'm the Snow Queen. I can, um. I can make ice.

[ she frowns when varian says his, but then raises an eyebrow when veronica announces hers. ]

... are you the reason there was ice in the kitchen?

[ huh. anyway. there's a pause before she speaks again. ]

I'm the Bear. I... can check evidence. [ hm. she should explain. ] How many items I can check changes per week, and what information I get from it varies? During the last trial one of the items I picked was the sword and I found out the Crafters gave it to the killer.

[ Mildly: ] That kitchen certainly has seen quite a lot, hasn't it...

[ From being set on fire one week and then being iced over the very next, poor Sanji is going to have a conniption if this keeps up. ]

... Hm. [ He searches his memory, trying to recall whether Steph had ever seemed to simply know more than the rest of them for some reason, but; ] And in the trials before that?

[ but hey, now they've all outed themselves. One small step forward. Where do we go from here. ]

[ Varian looks pensive, though he'll wait for Stephanie and Veronica's answers before voicing his thoughts for anyone wondering what that conversation actually sounds like in real time: ]

It's all well and good for us to share our titles, but we can't expect everyone in the Castle to go along with that publicly. It might just give easy victims to anyone looking to end the war quickly? Except we need real numbers if we want any chance to actually coordinate this, this 333-777 thing properly, both for titles and for number of objectives done.

[ howst the fucketh are they going to keep track of something they arent aware of ]

[She gives Steph a wry smile.]

It was for an objective. Sorry?

[Well. She's not as sorry as she could be, considering two people slipped and fell flat on their asses. Still!!]

... Maybe we can put out our feelers. Not to everyone, but to the people who trust us. [Very specific wording, Veronica.] The worst that could happen is that they won't give us a clear answer, or that they'll lie — but we have to start somewhere. We really, really need those numbers if we want to end this war the right way.

[They're gonna have a bad time, tho.]

I knew that one door was opened by an actual lock pick, the exact time one piece of evidence was dropped, that Fitzgerald's fingers were cut by the sword and not the knife...

[ she trails off, mostly since oocly i do not remember what else i picked. ]

Maybe we can try something anonymously? People might be willing to volunteer information if their name isn't attached to it.

week 5, thursday w/ THE GANG im tired

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