week 0, friday

[vigilantics]

[ a little bit after the body announcement, steph will track belph down. it probably wouldn't look that weird, considering they were together during investigation. ]

Hey. Wanna take a walk with me?

[ it's really not a question. ]

Comments

[vigilantics]

Ugghhhhh.

[ why is this... hard... ]

Normally I would go towards suspicious, but I think it might be too early to decide on who might fit that?

[axilium]

[think hard, steph!!]

Yeah. Even Eichi's seeming pretty normal now, so I'm tentatively crossing him off my list of possibly sketchy people.

... If we get lucky, someone'll be obviously fishy in a non-murder way at the trial—like knowing a little too much, or something. Otherwise, we might have to go for the ally route.

[vigilantics]

And who are our potential allies? I guess the obvious answer would be our partners.

[ it would be a little unfortunate if it turns out the people they're tied to are #problematic ]

[axilium]

Shirasu's made it pretty clear that he has an investment in keeping me alive, at least.

[they all saw how he reacted when sharpay grabbed belph, too.]

Natsuo's still as sincere as ever—though the flip side of that is I'm not sure if the guy can keep a secret, so he might not be that useful to us.

[vigilantics]

He's probably friends with a lot of people though. We should still keep him close, even if we don't check him.

[ .... which steph would do anyway because she adores natsuo and would die for him, in week 0, but she's not saying that out loud. ]

I'm still getting to know Hikage.

[axilium]

[steph...........]

Hikage doesn't seem too bad, at least. [...] I feel like if it comes down to it, I can probably just do a "I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours" swap with my partner, so we probably don't need to spend a check on him yet.

But... related to what you just said—we should keep an eye on anyone who's friendly with a lot of people, or someone a lot of people seem to trust. We might get a sense of who those people are from tomorrow's trial, if nothing else.

[vigilantics]

[ she's going to be natsuo's mom shut up ]

Souji's like that, from what I can tell. I had fun with him. [ they terrorized npcs for science. ] And a few others. We have a lot of personality types.

[axilium]

Yeah, throw Souji on the list. ... With any luck, now that playtime's over, we'll start seeing people's real personalities—who they are when under pressure.

[vigilantics]

It'll be a lot easier if some of those real personalities were them being willing to confess to murder.

[ she does not think that will be the case. ]

[axilium]

[maybe this will be robowest all over again?]

... Ha.

[ah, that strikes a chord with him, as someone who once confessed to a murder he didn't even commit.]

If only. Somehow, though, I feel like Tiger and Dragon wouldn't be very pleased with just that.

[vigilantics]

[ 1. don't curse us like that; 2. BELPH?????? ]

Probably not. [ ... ] Hey, Belph?

[axilium]

[sometimes... things happen...]

Hmm?

[vigilantics]

What are your thoughts on chocolate?

[ ???? ]

[axilium]

... Because that isn't completely random or anything?

[vigilantics]

Just answer the question.

[axilium]

Yeah, I like it. Now can you tell me why?

[vigilantics]

We're on a walk, so we're about to have our first official best friend activity together.

[ she changes their course for the kitchen. ]

Sweets are good for stress. The sugar helps your brain process stuff better.

[ she doesn't actually know if that's true but she'll say it like it is. ]

[axilium]

... Gorging on sweets after a murder is a little morbid, but sure, why not?

[vigilantics]

It's not morbid and it's not gorging, shut up.

[ let her stuff her face in peace!! ]

It just makes me feel better.

[axilium]

Well, who am I to deny you your pleasures?

[vigilantics]

Trust me, it's definitely the other way around.

[ she made brownies!! completely from scratch!!! ]

[axilium]

[uwah]

Let's see what you've got, because I have no clue.

[vigilantics]

[ she will lead him to the kitchen where she has stashed away her... stash. of brownies. it probably would be safer to keep it in her room but she doesn't actually care if others eat them. ]

Tada! For you.

[axilium]

[this seems a tad questionable but whatever.

anyway he'll gasp and place his hand over his chest.]

For me? I'm honoured. [a beat.] As long as they aren't terrible or anything.

[vigilantics]

Do I look like the kind of person who would feed you something not delicious?

[ probably. ]

We have a long day tomorrow, so it's good to just take a moment and breathe.