SWANS...2 ✬

[reconnective]

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w5 friday, post-investigation

[supremity]

[ Hua Cheng is still just vibing in this fancy dress. He's honestly completely unbothered by it, especially since there's far more pressing matters to attend to than the fact that his curfew location decided he needed a comfort dress. He's sitting this time because he is mcfucking tired still, and has the side of his head in his hand, eye closed, pensive.

But, he'll sit up once they've all gathered in their hangout spot of the day, huli jing companion on his lap press his PHS into his hand when he lowers it. He has no pockets in this getup, sue him. ]

I found Fiora. [ That's that. ] And I might know who killed her. I just have to confirm it, before I send you all on a witch hunt.

[ Said while he's pulling up something on his PHS. Hua Cheng isn't a note taker, so there's only three things: a now-empty note from when he was mute, and two that are much bigger. ]

We have a few things we have to talk about, on top of that. Swan didn't come to me about someone's nova splintering this week, so we're going to have to make a kill next Thursday, regardless of whether she tells us that someone's splintering or not. Because we're running out of time.

[ The first note is one that is familiar to Sora, at least, if not anyone else. The second one? Brand new, and far less censored. The redacted sections on both are dashes. ]

And I mean we're really running out of time.

[reconnective]

[well this has been a day. he's seated on the floor of wherever, half-lounging on the floor and half sitting up as he thinks through that.]

...well, we did have one of the bigger teams left. It was bound to happen. [he isn't sure how to feel about any of this, but he reads the second note.]

Do we still think these notes were written by a leader themselves?

[horologia]

Where did you retrieve these notes from?

Your respective excursions, or something else?

[supremity]

I still think it might be possible, but the way this new one is written leads me to question it, now. [ Because why write it like this? Unless the redacted section gives away who wrote it and someone came in after the leaders might have seen the reports... ]

It was bound to happen, though. Better us than a team at risk. We'll just have to not screw this up so that we don't fail the dead.

[reconnective]

We're not gonna screw up. We can't. [just...first and foremost.] I think it's weird though, the way the last one's written. It sounds like a report to the leaders instead of from.

[supremity]

[ Yeah he sure does not want to screw up. For the dead, for themselves - they can't. ]

Unless it's a message from their previous attempt. A report to themselves, knowing that they would forget.

[reconnective]

It's possible. The most we could do is show the leaders and see if they recognize it as something they would have said before. If it sounds like them at all.

[supremity]

You're going to speak to Swan regardless - if you'd like to take it to her, then feel free to copy it down, Sora. Otherwise I can reach out to her after tomorrow is over with.

[reconnective]

Depending on how tomorrow goes, I might ask to see her tomorrow night or Sunday morning.

Or all of us could go together if you guys want. [but he's not a moron and he knows that he's the favorite swan.]

[horologia]

[ ... ]

"Do you believe you can change destiny? Time has already been written. There's nothing you can do, is there? Except try, try again. But you'll never make it."

That's multiple things now that confirm we won't get another chance after this.

[supremity]

En, that's what I was thinking, as well. [ He's so tired of this. ] Perhaps that's even why the Realm's integrity seems to falter at times - this has all been done before. Perhaps multiple times.

[horologia]

If you can go back and do things again, why would anyone stop at simply one time? The only reason would be a pitiful lack of will.

No. We've certainly done this multiple times. The mockery I repeated as much as implies it.

[supremity]

I agree. But if the Realm can no longer support the attempts, then we need to ensure this final one is the successful one.

Lest we become that very mockery.

[horologia]

[ something flashes in her eyes at that. ]

I assure you that you do not have to impress the gravity of the situation on me. I was only saying that it's likely that we've failed multiple times.

To that end, we can't afford to be careless.

[ so they agree. ]

[supremity]

[ A dismissive gesture of his hand, but not rudely. ]

Make no mistake, I believe we're all on the same page when it comes to the gravity of the situation - this is more an observation than an implication that you aren't well aware of where we stand at this point.

[ They do agree. ]

[uhhhmagic]

That-- Guy who keeps showing up at the end of our Murder Dungeons. I bet they're the person who's writing these cryptic ass notes.

And I know. We've got until next week, so it's fine. That's like longer than I took to write my thesis. Don't worry about it.

[supremity]

It was a woman, in ours. I don't want to jump to conclusions, but I think... [ hm, ] Because these expeditions might be related to the leaders' memories, I think she might have been related to Swan in some way.

[ He has no idea what a thesis is, but he's used to not understanding half the things that come out of Taako and Lup's mouths. ]

I imagine we get to wait and see who dies on Sunday, and make a decision based on that to figure out who we kill.

[reconnective]

...one really important thing is we can't wait until Swan tells us somebody's splintering. Since Alyssa counted as a splinter kill, the next one has to be independent and our own choice.

That's the last I've heard. In order for the two to count, one has to be a splinter and one has to be without the leader asking us.

[horologia]

... I am the only one here who hasn't been on a trip through one of these memory labyrinths, so pardon me if I'm a bit lost as to what you all are referring to.

But we do have options, if our kill mustn't be because of splintering. There's no specifics on who we should or shouldn't kill, are there?

[reconnective]

Oh that didn't come from one of the memories. That came from someone who said this is what their leader told them.

We have to kill two people to save our dead. Two kills per team. One kill can be killing someone who's splintering and when asked by the leader. But the other has to be our own choice without Swan's involvement at all.

My only thing is...there are people I refuse to kill, and those are people I'm gonna ask you guys not to kill either.

[supremity]

I imagine we all have our list of people that we'd refuse to kill.

[ If y'all can't guess that Xie Lian is off limits then idk fam. ]

We can compare lists.

[uhhhmagic]

We have to be careful. There's teams that are really low on people, that can't afford to lose anyone else.

[supremity]

There was a woman who spoke to us during our expedition, at various points. She was more vague than helpful, and it seemed she was speaking through us more than to us. But what she did say matched up with the knowledge from the report that Shigeo sent to his PHS.

[ A part of him stares into the void, because if he'd known this sooner he would've just killed someone long before now. ]

But we can find someone from a team that's better off, and take care of it. I'm still willing to do it, but I... [ his hand comes up to his shoulder, but he doesn't touch the nothing that's there ] Well, I'll need some help to get it done, in that case.

[horologia]

... Better off implies the Tigers and the Rabbits, doesn't it? I saw no mention of them on the message Yoshizawa-san sent.

In any case. I'm probably the most uninjured of all of us.

[ since SOMEONE hasn't been picked for cyoa, and kept rolling too well in miniadventure. ]

[uhhhmagic]

I already said I'd help. That's fine or whatever.