week 5; saturday ( stephanie )

[axilium]

[so, steph was probably wondering what the hell was up, when pre-trial, belph pulled her aside and warned her not to focus on jae-ha and sousei's deaths.

...

belph looks absolutely exhausted right now, but they need to talk business.]

Hey.

Comments

[vigilantics]

Sorry.

[ she runs a hand through her hair nervously. ]

I know any of us can get killed. I just... really don't want it to be you.

[axilium]

[...

he almost says something, but thinks better of it. does steph really need to know?]

Well, we'll see. Maybe I'm just being paranoid...

Anyway, keep on working on Varian and the others. I'll be talking to him, so let me know what he says about me.

[vigilantics]

I will. It'll probably be funny.

[ she loves varian but man. it's gonna be something listening to them theorize on vizier stuff. ]

... Belph?

[axilium]

Hmm?

[vigilantics]

I really do love you, you know.

[ whenever she's said it before it's been in the joking sense. but she needs to say it completely seriously, especially if he might die. ]

[axilium]

[...]

You shouldn't.

[vigilantics]

I do a lot of things I shouldn't.

[ much to the aggregation of everyone here. ]

But that's not one of them.

[axilium]

If you and I were from the same place, Steph, we would probably be enemies.

[vigilantics]

It's a good thing we didn't meet in a different place then.

[ there's no point in thinking about it that way. the fact is, this is their lives, not some hypothetical scenario. ]

Anyway, I told you before during our first Vizier meeting. We're Romeo and Juliet except without all that stuff at the end.

[axilium]

I can't say I'm a big fan of Romeo and Juliet.

[vigilantics]

I'm not too big on Shakespeare in general.

[ she's an uncultured peasant. ]

My point is that we don't know what would have happened if we met in different circumstances. What matters is that we're together now.

[axilium]

... How optimistic of you.

[though maybe she's not wrong.]

[vigilantics]

You may call it optimism but I think it's more like our actual reality.

[axilium]

... Well, whatever.

[MOVING ON.]

By the way—sorry, but I cashed in my reward for finding Sanji already. Dragon told me about the other two endings, which are... worse, to be honest.

One is that we might be able to revive everyone, but we don't have enough ink to go home, so we're all stuck here.

And the worst-case scenario—though we've gathered enough ink to avoid this one, apparently—is that we can't revive the dead, we're stuck here, and this castle becomes like the Other Side.

[vigilantics]

[ she pouts slightly at the "whatever" but then her expression turns grim when he gives her the news. ]

Well. At least it won't be completely awful for us then.

[axilium]

Still probably best to avoid that. Sanji and I are hoping we can find an ending that the Tiger and Dragon won't tell us about, since even the Dragon's kind of sucks—and that's assuming she's telling us the complete truth—but I've got no idea how.

[a beat.]

Also, your partner continues to be concerning.

[vigilantics]

No, I agree. If there is any chance we can find something that's better then...

[ it wouldn't hurt to try. ]

... what did he do?

[axilium]

So apparently, if he's ever picked as a Blotter, he'll probably kill Varian because Varian's smart? You might want to hint to him that the guy's a friend of yours.

[vigilantics]

[ her eyes widen. ]

He can't. I promised to protect him.

[axilium]

Yeah, in that case, you might want to tell Hikage that?

[vigilantics]

What, so I just suddenly start talking about how much I like Varian out of nowhere?

[axilium]

... Maybe I should just tell him about me. Hinting didn't get me anywhere.

[vigilantics]

He's kind of dense sometimes.

[ example: truth or dare ]

[axilium]

Yeaaaaah... anyway, I'm pretty sure he doesn't want me dead? So? It should be fine?

[vigilantics]

Considering everything he's told you I'm pretty sure you're like, the last person he wants dead.

[axilium]

I don't know how this happened...

[vigilantics]

He thinks you're a cutie pie.

[ no

or maybe. she doesn't know their relationship :/ ]

[axilium]

Please never say those words again.

[vigilantics]

Eh. You are.

[ but more seriously: ]

You seriously do need to just tell him at this point.

[axilium]

... Yeah, I guess.

[he's not looking forward to the conversation, though, even if he knows it's hypocritical—he's the one who told steph to tell hikage, after all.]

[vigilantics]

He really likes you, so... I'm sure it'll be fine.

[ maybe.

she doesn't think that hikage won't be at least a little upset, but... it'll definitely be worse if he finds out elsewhere. ]