week 6; saturday ( stephanie )

[axilium]

[so. if steph happens to approach the lounge.

she might hear the sound of glass breaking! which is nothing to be suspicious of. definitely not.]

Comments

[vigilantics]

[ yeah she was ready to get as blackout drunk as humanly possible, but hm. can't do that if someone's breaking stuff.

steph will make her way inside to see what is happening in here. ]

[axilium]

[well, she can probably still order stuff as long as she ignores the vandalizer??

anyway, it's just belph! just... belph smashing bottles around the area. his fingers sure are bleeding, but it's fine, a kind and gentle soul will take care of that later, so.

he's muttering under his breath—the same set of words, as if it's all that's holding onto his sanity.]

Should've confessed, should've confessed, should've confessed...

[if he had, maybe none of this would've happened.]

[vigilantics]

[ oh

well, she is running towards him as fast as her wooden leg will allow her to. ]

Belph! Stop, what are you doing?!

[ yeah she is just going to, block his way from grabbing any more showers. ]

[axilium]

[...

he just laughs, but hey, at least he stops.]

Hey, Steph. Good news—we've completed enough objectives. We don't have to be balanced. We're all fucking fine, I guess!

[vigilantics]

[ she blinks, not really sure what to say at first. ]

So it was just... seven minimum?

[axilium]

Yeah. I asked Dragon.

[vigilantics]

[ that's... good to know. but more importantly (at this exact moment): ]

What are you doing.

[axilium]

[he smiles.]

Ah, don't worry about this.

[it's fine, everything's fine.]

How are you holding up?

[vigilantics]

[ she shakes her head. ]

You're bleeding! You can't tell me not to worry.

[axilium]

It's not like this'll kill me.

[vigilantics]

That's not the point!

[ she has to take a breath, and then another. ]

You're not okay.

[axilium]

... Neither are you.

[vigilantics]

[ honestly, as soon as she saw that evan had been burnt, stephanie had a feeling varian was somehow involved. it wasn't until he started yelling about it not being his fault in trial that she knew for sure though.

she really does not want to think about it. ]

I'm still not the one bleeding.

[axilium]

Physical pain is easier than emotional, isn't it? I'm not the one losing a friend tomorrow.

[well, maybe he is. he doesn't know? ha. he can't figure out his own thoughts right now.]

[vigilantics]

[ her expression crumples for a second, but then she smacks her own face to snap out of it. ]

Don't say you should have confessed.

[axilium]

It would've solved a lot, wouldn't it?

[vigilantics]

You don't actually know that.

[ zelos still got votes even after akechi and varian were confirmed. ]

[axilium]

Zelos and Nico definitely would've voted for me, at least.

[vigilantics]

And there are a lot of people who wouldn't have.

[ people care about him a lot, whether he accepts that fact or not. ]

We can do the "what if?" scenarios all night. What if you confessed, and then it still ended up in a tie?

[axilium]

... Aren't you the least bit bitter over this? Damn it, Steph—why do you have to be so freakin' gracious all the time!?

[vigilantics]

Belph, I'm so angry that I could explode.

[ she doesn't even blame him for breaking those bottles. ]

But we're not done yet. We just have to keep going.

[axilium]

I know that!

[he makes a move to sit down somewhere. he feels like he's going to collapse if he's on his feet for much longer.]

I've been running around, making as many plans as I can! I'm doing what I can. Damn it...

[vigilantics]

I didn't say that you're not. I know that you're trying.

[ even if he doesn't tell her half of it.

she needs to do something. she bends down and just starts picking up glass from the floor, even though it'll just get cleaned up later anyway. ]

So you can't just... go out and confess like that.

[axilium]

[...

he doesn't know what else to do. he just buries his face in his hand.]

[vigilantics]

[ she drops the glass at that, and moves to close the distance between them. ]

Belph, I'm sorry. I know that what I'm saying is really... really selfish.