Aftergathering 6

[clearasmud]

Rule 17 hits like a gutpunch. The plan she'd talked about, as improbable as it already was, had just become much harder.

But something - someone - digs its heels in inside her, the same way it did prior to their most recent trial. The presence of their latest, insurmountable hurdle, has the odd effect of only making Youko more determined.

They're going to win.

There's hot soup, rice, and tea in the kitchen. We're holding a meeting tomorrow morning in the conference room. I want you to be there.

- Youko

Comments

[sunsong]

We weren't wrong about all of them, though. I mean - the people who didn't kill, who died. They never betrayed us at all, did they? And some of the killers...were trying to help, even if it wasn't the best way to go about it. Tabby was tryin' to take out that monster for us. She wanted to be caught...

[ So, belief hasn't always ruined them. ]

And, well. You can still always believe in me, like I told you before.

[announcemyvictory]

Thank you, Sol. I just... it's difficult. I always try to pretend I know everything, but I don't even feel like my old self anymore.

[sunsong]

In a good or bad way? I mean - there's no reason to pretend you know everythin' with us. We're all in the same boat, here.

[announcemyvictory]

I'm not sure. How am I supposed to care about things like dances and sweets when people are dying? I've made a lot of mistakes in here, Sol, and I don't know how to fix it.

[sunsong]

Wanting to fix it is the first step! And...well, all you have to do is try, Elise. No one is going to hold your mistakes against you. You haven't killed anyone, and you don't want to, right? What we all want is to get out of this...and to save the ghosts.

[ so...mistakes? Whatever. They can fix them. ]

[announcemyvictory]

I hope there's still a way. They deserve to get out of this place, too.

[sunsong]

If he can give us that as motives, there has to be a way to do it...we just have to do it ourselves, without Himself.

[announcemyvictory]

You mean the Conductor's god?

[sunsong]

Oh, no. I just meant...him. The Conductor.

[ Whatever the hell they want to call him. ]

I don't think he's god. I just think he's got tech we don't.

[announcemyvictory]

Well, that's rude of him if he's got us locked up in an antique dump.

[sunsong]

I mean, has anyone really accused the guy of bein' polite?

[announcemyvictory]

He seemed to be at first, despite the... murder thing. Now it seems that he's just stopped caring.

[sunsong]

Really? I always kinda thought bein' involved in us comin' here was rude. I mean, sure, he says he didn't kidnap us himself. But he fuckin' volunteered for this job lookin' over us and encouragin' us to murder one another.

[announcemyvictory]

I don't know if he was forced or not. Either way, he's an enemy now, whatever he might have come off as before.

[sunsong]

He told me he volunteered for the job.

[ Accepted it. ]

[announcemyvictory]

Is that so... I never asked. I wonder about this, really. All of it.

[sunsong]

It just kinda came up once. Weeks ago, now. I feel like I've got less information on him than other people, though...I'm not much of a correspondent.

[announcemyvictory]

And now I doubt he'll cooperate with anyone.

[sunsong]

Like that's a change of pace...when has he really tried to work with us?

[announcemyvictory]

He's given us the occasional answer. Just never enough.