week 1, friday

[vigilantics]

[ sometime after all of the commotion with dead people, steph will make her way over to belph's room. she figures that wanting to check in on someone after they had to deal with a corpse is perfectly normal and isn't suspicious at all.

although she does genuinely want to check in on him. she knocks. ]

I swear if you're not in here...

[ don't make her wobble back please. ]

Comments

[axilium]

[shirasu jumps from the shadows to stab her.]

Great.

[he says it breezily.]

[vigilantics]

[ good kill her :/

she raises an eyebrow at his answer.

after a moment though, instead of responding to that, steph just lifts one of her hands and undos the cloth that's around her wrist. the injury from wednesday is gone from it. ]

[axilium]

[...

huh.]

I hope this dramatic reveal is accompanied by an explanation, Steph.

[vigilantics]

Ion. The one who was passed out last Friday.

[ she winds the cloth back around her wrist. ]

I would not recommend going to him for healing though. It's less healing and more that he takes the injury. It's going to be really obvious in trial tomorrow once you see his face.

[ akechi's scars are gone and someone else has them. ]

He only healed that one wrist. I didn't let him touch my other injuries after I figured out what happened.

[axilium]

[... belph lets out a quiet laugh.]

I did see him earlier today, actually. That little liar...

[good on him, though. belph approves.]

It's too bad, though. That's a boring answer.

[vigilantics]

[ steph just momed him really hard. she'll now die for ion, but that's neither here nor die. ]

We're back to square one with figuring out their abilities then.

[axilium]

[okay but who wouldn't steph die for.]

Pretty much. [...] I was thinking of telling Shirasu what mine is, though—a secret for a secret.

[vigilantics]

[ ..... look. she'll die harder for ion. ]

I think that would work out. Honestly, it would probably be more helpful if you had more help with the whole... time... thing...

[axilium]

Yeah, that too. In any case, it's probably safe to say Shirasu isn't plotting my death right now, so I should be fine.

... Especially since this week might demonstrate that we can't expect all the leftovers to make it out safely.

[two dead already, and someone to be executed tomorrow. three partners.]

[vigilantics]

[ dave and soo-won. she liked dave, from when they spoke during the first week. ]

There's the item that Shirasu and Natsuo found. They could use that.

[axilium]

We'll see.

[given how pragmatic shirasu is, belph can't say for sure what move he'll make.]

Who knows? As unlikely as it is, maybe Veronica or Natsuo is one of our killers, or we'll vote off two people.

[vigilantics]

We'd probably only manage that if we tie it, and I'm not too sure how we'll manage that.

[ she still remembers dazai voting for one of the ions even after they figured out it was sharpay. ]

But you're right. We won't actually know til tomorrow. [ ... ] You sure you're alright?

[axilium]

... Shouldn't you be asking someone else that?

[vigilantics]

Well, right now I'm with you.

[ otherwise there are lots of someone she could asking. ]

[axilium]

You don't need to worry about me.

[vigilantics]

Okay, cool, I'll just turn off that little worry switch them. No problem!

[ sorry she's not the CONCEAL DON'T FEEL kind of protag. ]

[axilium]

[ :/ ]

It's a very convenient switch, isn't it?

[vigilantics]

Very. Kudos to the inventor.

... one day I will ask you that, and you will definitely open up to me and we'll have a nice moment.

[axilium]

I don't know what you're talking about.

[vigilantics]

I'm sure.

[ she'll lean on a wall. this is hard. ]

But, I'll have you know, I've been told I'm very annoying in this regard.

[axilium]

I've been told I'm very annoying in general.

[vigilantics]

You are and I love you anyway.

[ she cannot legally deny that he is a shit. ]

[axilium]

[...ha...]

Of course. Besties, right?

[it's so much easier to pretend it's all right.]

[vigilantics]

Besties.

The offer is always there, you know. Even when all of... this [ she shrugs. the murders. the weekend. ] isn't happening. You don't really seem like the type to talk about that kind of stuff. But sometimes it's good to.

[axilium]

[internally, belph vows never, ever to talk about that kind of stuff. nope, nope, nope.]

A hero and a therapist? You really do have so many talents.

[vigilantics]

[ why is every man in her life like this i s2g ]

I'm very impressive, I know. But one of my favorite talents is aggressively wanting to be there for my friends. And like it or not, nerd, you're one of them now.

[axilium]

[rip steph.

for a moment, belph freezes. he knows they have their "besties" joke. but... she really sees him as a friend, doesn't she?

without his uncle here, he's free to be himself. and yet, he's terrified.]

... Heh. They should've put that on your profile, then.

[vigilantics]

They must feel ridiculous for forgetting it.

[ her smile softens. steph knows that she can't actually force him to confide in her, so there's a limit to how much she can insist here. ]