week 5, graveyard, monday (eleanor, chuuya, & caren)

[doublesmall]

[it takes a minute for chuuya to open the door for her-- there's some muffled noise on the other side of it in the meantime-- but when he finally does, he gives eleanor a little grin, gesturing for her to come in.]

Hey. Feels like forever since the three of us got to talk like this, right...? You missed a few things.

Comments

[exorcismo]

[ Chuuya grips her hand, and Caren offers her comfort— she's reminded all too easily of that day she'd stumbled out of the Livehouse, gaping hole in her stomach and nothing but the object of her near demise keeping her standing.

They'd been there, and truthfully that had surprised her more than the fact that she was still standing. ]

I don't want Shinssin to kill— I don't want him to have any reason to even possibly join us here. But I'm not foolish enough to scold you all for not dissuading him, nor do I wish for him to be a sitting duck.

[ She wipes at her eyes with her free hand, a dry sort of laugh following. ]

Isn't it funny— every single one of their ilk who I've had the misfortune of speaking to, they've been so righteous. They had the audacity to scold me for being upset. They say we should all work together but the thought of it is enough to make me retch.

[doublesmall]

He's going to have to kill before someone kills him. Sooner or later, they're going to figure out they aren't safe as long as he's around.

[chuuya is fairly sure now, knowing that ranpo told the others about him, that it was kill or be killed for himself too. "I was trying to protect you from the others," she'd said; he must have been a target, if that was the case.

he keeps a hold on eleanor's hand, grip tightening a little at those last comments.]

They were saying shit like that to me, too. Things like how they didn't want to do it, how they were trying to save the erased-- I don't buy into it. It's got to be some kind of play to keep themselves alive, try to get everyone not to kill them while they just keep picking us off.

[sexorcism]

If that was their goal, they might have made fewer enemies with their erasures.

[Caren knows all too well that the people who died at their hands weren't alone here No, as far as she sees it, the need to kill so that a few others more might live is one of those few transgressions some players inevitably had to make. She'd shouldered it for the sake of ending this game, for the sake of Chuuya's salvation. Foolish word for it. Entering their bubble finally, Caren steps closer to the both of them, arm outstretched.]

If they had this knowledge about saving the erased ahead of the rest of us, then their techniques confuse me even more.

Of them all, the Reapers, Jacopo had been the most openly assertive about moving things toward an end. He pressed your killer up against the wall -- and through it, I'd wager, if he had more time.

[exorcismo]

[ She lets out a shaky breath, their combined presences grounding her, making the angry haze in her head subside gradually. In their intimate little circle, she feels more whole than she has in weeks.

More like human being than she has in weeks. ]

You both.. you know for sure then, that Shinssin will kill this week?

[ She's very blatantly unhappy about the prospect. But she's not foolish enough to say anything about it. This is the nature of this game and they've all been victims for far too long. ]

He can't be found, he can't end up here. He has to win. He has to—

[ Her grip on Chuuya's hand strengthens, her knuckles are white. ]

[doublesmall]

We don't know for sure, but I'd be surprised if he didn't act. He's been holding off for long enough-- we were going to go after Kurusu together, actually.

[he shares eleanor's sentiments though, honestly. he wants to see assassin win, if the three of them won't be able to-- wants him to have what he's been missing, wants him to get payback.

it's just unfortunate that it'd mean they'd be here without him for however long this game lasts.

with her grip on his hand strengthening, though, chuuya breathes out a sigh, tugging lightly at her hand to just-- pull her closer.]

That's all up to him now, all right, Eleanor? He's good at what he does. If he doesn't want to get caught, he'll get away with it.

[what he leaves unsaid is this: if assassin joins them, chuuya thinks it'll be his own decision, no matter how it might happen.]