WEEK 5.

[trustfellows]

WEEK 5 Tabitha Smith, Sigrun Eide, and Solf J Kimblee are all dead. Regardless of what you think of the trial or the events leading up to it, there's no denying that you can feel the dent in your numbers now. After all, ten people are gone now. It may be hard, but all you can do is keep going. Saturday is given to regrouping and sleep; come Sunday morning, the clock chimes the hour at seven o'clock and there are no dead bodies to be found, so it can be assumed that all of you are safe for the time being. That said, you'll be feeling a little groggy when you wake up; it seems you've regained something that you didn't realize you'd lost... What with Jericho's excitement at the last trial, it's evident now more than ever that the new floor that's opened up to you is a gift, a reward for a job well-done. Because while surviving is something that you'll continue to try to do of your own merit...well. Let's say that he's so, so very proud of you. PARTICIPANTS REMAINING: 25 PARTICIPANTS REMAINING: 24 PARTICIPANTS REMAINING: 23

SUNDAY | MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY
[OOC: Welcome to week five of Trustfell! Feel free to make as many top levels as you'd like and tag out to other characters! This post is for all of your interactions this week... at least until the weekend. Don't forget to save those threads for coins and the activity check!

If you'd like to get in contact with the Coordinators, you can do so through private meetings with Alena!]

Comments

[matchbreaker]

Mmm. I won't, not this specifically. James is dead, and I'd held him on far too short of leash for him to have pulled anything that theatrical.

[ . . . It's...

It's so odd, this conversation. ]

I won't pretend my understanding is perfect, as such. Rather... well. [ Mmm. ] Tell me more, Ushiromiya, about all these players. Let's begin there.

[chessturner]

What do you want to know?

[She's willing to talk, and while she stalls for time trying to order her thoughts, she asks that question. Give her a moment to compose herself, Elda!]

[matchbreaker]

Whatever you think is a fair introduction to them. You've given me a lot of names very rapidly. I can't pretend to know your life near so well.

[ and, well, walking through it from the basics might be helpful to her. ]

[chessturner]

[Kyrie, done putting back her usual kinda stone-faced expression, starts]

Rudolf is my husband. I met him long ago, when I left my family to be his business partner. He's always been like that, someone who'd try to pull the wool over your eyes. We got along, we grew closer the more we worked together, but he's a womanizer, women kept throwing themselves at him, until Asumu came by.

[Her face sours when she mentions Asumu. Take anything she says about Asumu with a grain of salt, here's a scorned woman talking!]

That bitch...she kept doing her little defenseless sensible woman act until she got Rudolf wrapped around her little finger, and he let her get away with it. I was his second pick. We both got pregnant at the same time, and she used that to force him to marry her. [She repeats for emphasis:] Asumu used Battler to get him to marry her.

[Kyrie doesn't mention how she'd have done the same]

Battler is...Battler is a nice kid. He listens and tries to be logical. Even if I hated him, I taught him everything he knows about logic. It was partly as a little revenge against Asumu, and Battler lets himself be led away by emotions, but at least he tries.

When Asumu died from sickness six years ago, Rudolf wasted no time in marrying me. That made Battler so upset he left the house and separated himself from the Ushiromiya family. I was...I actually was happy about that. It meant I wouldn't have to see him at all times. He never blamed me, he always thought it was Rudolf's fault. He kept coming after Rudolf and I had our daughter. This year he forgave Rudolf enough to return to the family, so...we'll now all be a family, I guess...

[That all pretty much covers the basics of Kyrie's family, yep]

[matchbreaker]

[ . . . Mmm. She wonders if Kyrie notices the contradiction her two stories have created there. ]

Huh. So it really all comes back to your resentment of that other woman, doesn't it?

[chessturner]

[She doesn't, hah]

Pretty much. Let's say that if her sickness hadn't gotten her out of the way, I'd have killed her sooner or later.

[That's a lot of resentment]

[matchbreaker]

You really love that Rudolf of yours so much?

[ Like holy shit girl she- well no, she would murder rivals for James but still. ]

[chessturner]

I do. You must have felt the same towards, James, didn't you? The drive to do anything just to keep yourself at his side.

[matchbreaker]

No, no, I did. [ . . . How does she put this? Mmm. ] Rather, I'm more surprised you would need to feel that, between your looks and obvious intellect. I suppose that's my surprise.

[ And, to some extent, that a human would understand the sentiment but no need to bring racism into it ]

[chessturner]

[Kyrie manages to smirk a bit]

A person needs to be prepared to kill for love at least once in their life.

[She shrugs]

Besides, I sacrificed my former life to follow him. The least I should do is make sure it's a decision I wouldn't regret, and so far, I don't, despite everything that has happened with him.

[Not that...she was that fond of her birth family. Surely she'd have left them no matter what]

[matchbreaker]

I don't entirely disagree...

Ah! One thing though, did you realize the contradiction yet?

[ Tapping her hand on the table. ]

[chessturner]

Contradiction? What do you mean?

[Nope, she still doesn't, hah]

[matchbreaker]

[ should she...? She considers and: ]

... The contradiction might lead to more painful things. If you wish, I can keep you ignorant.

[chessturner]

I'm a grown woman, Marker-san. I think I can endure it.

[She endured last night's dream, surely she can endure whatever Elda has to say!]

[matchbreaker]

[ She should hear this more from a friend than her... But ah well. She leans forward and folds her hands together, ]

If you gave birth to that Battler boy and then Rudolf decided to change the narrative about which baby was stillborn... then it stands to reason that it's impossible for that other woman to use the birth of her son to convince him to marry her.

[ It just makes sense, right? That only works if Rudolf was ignorant as well, even if that woman was in the dark as much as Kyrie. Rudolf would know full well that it was Kyrie's child. Unless... well, it's possible there's some fourth dimensional chess she can't comprehend, but it seems obvious to her. ]

[chessturner]

Oh, that. Sorry, looks like I missed a detail. [She shakes her head]

He bribed the doctors to swap the babies. That's how he did it. That gave Asumu the chance to force him to marry her.

[To any person that'd mean Rudolf chose Asumu as his wife instead of Kyrie, but Rudolf's cowardice and attachment to both Asumu and Kyrie was extraordinary]

[matchbreaker]

... That doesn't solve anything? That just means she was ignorant too. How could he possibly be blackmailed?

[chessturner]

That just means--

[It hit her right then and there. That'd be impossible. But Asumu had to have done something. There's no other reason why he'd pick her! It just...

Kyrie looks down, holding her head with a hand]

She's cunning enough to think of something. That devious woman...she must have thought of something.

[At this point that's no more than steadfast denial. At least she's not breaking down...? Not that denying it over and over is much better, is it?]

[matchbreaker]

[ Honestly... it's a cruel thing. To point that out, or even to dig a little more on it, to question the ideas and the affections of the woman's husband, even if their family does seem a little bit dramatic. But it would also be cruel to get to the heart of the matter: and the heart of the matter is that Rudolf not only was an asshole in Elda's eyes but furthermore irresponsible. To impregnate two women at once, then pick one of them to marry? How...

Disgusting, really.

But she won't question that, no more than she would tolerate someone questioning the more obtuse actions of her James or how she wouldn't dream to question Aligula's perverse love either. In the end, she can just sigh a little, and drum her fingers on the table. ]

... You're in a rough position then, Ushiromiya. Jericho's secret outs your opinions, and you said yourself that the Battler boy's quite sensitive.

[chessturner]

I'm going to have to...apologize to him once I return. That's the least I should do.

[That was unthinkable just 24 hours before. That's life, things change so fast...]

I have no idea what to do afterwards.

[matchbreaker]

Isn't that dependent on him.

[ She muses, putting a hand to her chin. ]

[chessturner]

Yes, it is, but I like having an idea of what I should do. That's...that's just how I am, I like to plan ahead.

[Which of course it doesn't work in times like these. That's something Kyrie will have to learn sooner or later]

[matchbreaker]

Mmm. But are humans and their relationships really all that logical?

[ to go back to what she said she mentored in him. ]

[chessturner]

[Kyrie sighs]

Unfortunately they are not.

[But somehow, thinking about how it's not logical doesn't make her feel as bad as she should feel. After all...]

That's a bit encouraging, now that I think about it. Emotions can be unpredictable, the situation may not be as disastrous as I fear it is. Battler-kun can be bothersome, but he's not so bad he'd reject someone forever. If he gets especially upset, I guess I'd just have to wait a few years until he calms down.

[matchbreaker]

Of course not.

... Nothing is so static. [ she nods at this, aware of the irony of her of all people saying this, with her sworn, unchanging hatred of two hundred years. But even that's gotten some patches. Even that's... made allowances. She drums her fingers one more time. ] It's entirely possible it will take years even if you do nothing, or it's possible that it will take no time at all. It might be the case that it'll be somewhere between the two. The main point is that effort taken, emotional shown and processed... that'll flow into others opinions of you.

[ ... Again, given she's. You know. Herself. That's mildly ironic. ]