vigilantics | week 6, friday

No. I just wanted to see you.

[ she lost some really good friends, and she can't hide the very real fear that things might go wrong at the trial tomorrow and she'll lose varian, too.

that can't happen. ]

[ he obviously didn't expect that answer, so he sits up, slowly, to give rudiger time to roll onto his lap instead as he sits cross-legged and stares at steph. ]

... I'm still here.

[ somehow. still. even though two other pairs got taken out. ]

[ steph just sits down on the bed because at this point who cares about being polite. ]

And you're going to stay here.

[ i mean fane never used the bed anyway so who cares! ha ha. ]

... Stephie...

[ she sounds a lot more confident than he feels right now ]

[ she's not going to hug him because she does not want to disturb rudiger too much, but she will reach over to grab his hand. ]

We're a team.

... Yeah.

[ he squeezes her hand back ]

I'm. Thanks.

Are you... okay with staying here on your own?

... Rudiger's here.

[ but that's not a yes or no ]

Well... are both of you okay with it?

[ the fact is, Varian's been alone with Rudiger in worst circumstances for months, before. He could deal with one night.

... But he doesn't really want to be alone with his thoughts right now. ]

... I wouldn't mind if you stayed.

Edited 2018-07-21 11:16 (UTC)

I'll stay.

[ she'll even drag him to her room with hikage, if he doesn't want to stay in this one alone. ]

I'm sorry. About Fane.

... yeah. So am I.

[ wordlessly, he takes out Fane's fucking face ripper ]

He gave this to me the other day. For, for protection. I keep thinking, maybe if he'd had it...

[ well that is. certainly one thing she hoped to never see again. ]

You don't know if it would have helped or not. A lot of the people who had been killed before were... really strong fighters, even without weapons.

[ honestly that's a mood but now it's a horrifying memento it's great? Varian toys with it a bit but doesn't lose a finger because he wears gloves ]

I guess. Maybe he could've at least... hit them back, though. I don't, I don't even know how to use it? [ ... ] I know he wasn't always nice, and he-- he wasn't innocent, either, but--

He was nice to me. Not because he felt he had to? He just. Liked me.

[ Varian's selfish, ultimately. He's never had a lot of people who believed in him, and fane was one of them. ]

[ steph actually does know how to use it considering she saw him do it; it's a very simple process of just shoving it into faces. she does not say this though. ]

A lot of the time he was rude just because he didn't understand humans.

[ culture shock is a thing. ]

He didn't... deserve that.

[ definitely do not tell him ]

... Yeah. [ welp enough about that-- ] Are you okay?

[ he didn't get to ask during their shady tween meeting, but. he saw her break down. ]

I'm fin-- [ she stops herself.

it's a little obvious that she isn't, and it's varian. there's no point in lying. ]

I hung out with Evan and Ion yesterday.

[ ... he pauses at that, swallowing and looking down ]

Oh. Oh, wow. I'm-- sorry.

Why would... someone even do that to Evan? Or to Fane, and--

[ well. she has some suspicions about waver, considering what had gone on last trial. ]

... I don't know.

[ but she doesn't say the last name and he can guess where she's going with this ]

One of those had to be a grudge. Right? The body parts, the sewed mouth...

It's... really not too hard to think of who might have had a grudge against him. Last week's trial showed us pretty well.

[ zelos. nico, too, honestly, but stephanie really does not want to think that nico would do something like that. ]

Right. He really... wasn't hiding it. [ but still. ] I get revenge [ and he does, more than he'd ever admit to Steph, ] but this is... That was like he was begging us to find him.

The other option is that someone is framing him

[ which... is a lot worse. ]

But who still wanted Lord El-Melloi dead? There isn't a lot of overlap there.

It might not have to do with them actually specifically wanting him dead, they just needed to make it look like they did.

[ that's how you do a proper frame job, anyway. ]

The only other people who might be mad enough at him would be Nico and Magnus, but um... I don't think they'd. Do that?

[ hopefully?? ]

They'd still have to be okay with him dying, and... doing that to the body.

[ he's. Going to puke. any WAY ]

I really don't think it's either of them either.

Even if Zelos is an Editor, those kills are decided on by the Crafters, right? So if he's behind this one then...

[ she pauses, frowning. ]

The signs are pointing to a revenge move, right? I'm not sure if the Crafters would have told him to do this then.