week 5 | saturday, post trial

[concasse]

[Seeing as the guy Sanji would cook for every night is no longer with them, guess it's time to hit that bottle of alcohol. Hard.

So uh. Veronica should not be surprised to find him in the kitchen drinking his woes away, to be honest, even if he doesn't look particularly upset. Just. Thoughtful. And a little worn around the edges.

Wow they keep fucking up, don't they?]

Comments

[asswipe]

[It definitely warrants it. She chugs down her glass, expression pinched once she's done. This is fine. Everything is fine. Surely, things can't get worse after tonight?]

... They deserved so much better than this. [They messed up, spectacularly. God.] But— We're going to make this right. We have to. There's no other choice.

[concasse]

We will.

[Sanji has no choice to believe, just as Veronica says. The other options... he can't weather through it.]

I know this shit hardly matters with the trial over, but... did you have any idea who could have done this?

[asswipe]

[She shakes her head.]

No... I don't. There wasn't anything that stuck out to me during the trial. And nothing that anyone said during the previous weeks came to mind, either, like... Like last time.

[concasse]

[So they were doomed to make the same mistake, is what she's saying.

Sanji closes his eyes, taking another drink]

We're not very good at this shit, are we?

[asswipe]

... No, we're not. I get the feeling we used up all of our luck the first three times.

[And now they're on their own, fucked.]

[concasse]

Right? And we had people who were all too happy to give up after applying a bit of pressure.

[Not so much anymore. Their killers aren't interested in dying for the cause]

[asswipe]

I know. Looks like the Crafters smartened up and stopped picking Blotters with a conscience.

[Which is, you know, awesome. Great. Fantastic for them.]

... On the other hand, it's going to get really bad if our "best" strategy is voting for someone based on their faction.

[concasse]

... I'm worried about the Villain faction.

[Just gonna be frank about it.]

Their numbers are low and we've been warned not to wipe them out. But I think them coming forward would be a shittier problem if any one of us got it in our heads that faster is better, and targets them all.

[Rubbing his forehead in frustration.]

[asswipe]

Me, too. [It's been stressing her out since the previous trial, honestly, and knowing that Sousei was a villain...] I... Some people shared the letters they received from the dead with me, and I get the feeling some of us might have been told by the Crafters that wiping out a whole faction is the easiest way to get out of here.

[Just. Going to take another sip here, weary.]

[concasse]

... They were working on faulty information from the very start.

[Lovely.]

Did we figure out how many of each faction needs to be left?

[asswipe]

... I don't know. But we should try to avoid finding out the hard way. The villains are getting dangerously low, already, and there isn't any way to protect them unless they're willing to trust the others.

[This is fine.]

[concasse]

... I know a few of them.

[Lifting his fingers]

Three. So I'll do my best on that end.

[asswipe]

[Oh. Huh. That gets her to look up from her drinking, looking at him in surprise.]

Really? [Veronica...] I— I only know of two. I've been trying to find the other villains so I can help them, but... It's been like looking for a needle in a haystack.

[concasse]

[A nod.]

I didn't think much of it at the time -- but it's only now I realize I gotta ask them what their objectives are, if they'll tell me. [Rubbing his neck]

Their objectives might be shit though, who knows.

[asswipe]

... It's possible. One of the villains I know of has a really bad objective, so they're stuck.

[Which is bad, considering that... well. Gestures at the w6 mingle?? Nani, the fuck?]

What about you, Sanji? Have you been working on yours?

[concasse]

... I got through a few before running into the same problem as that villain you know.

[His current one? Hahahaha.

Ha.

Yeah no.]

So that's it for me. Just hope I did my part.

[asswipe]

... And here I thought that was a villains only problem. This sucks.

[Save them from shitty objectives. God.]

Look, um... You don't have to confirm anything for me, but... Are you a hero? Like I said, I'm trying to help with people's objectives, and— Keeping track of what factions need it helps a lot.

[concasse]

Yeah, I'm one of them.

[He offers the information pretty freely at least]

[asswipe]

[Sanji, please. Veronica's a little surprised at how easily he offers that, before she just... huffs out a laugh. It's pretty humorless, though.]

... I guess you know four villains now, then.

[concasse]

[Wow just this concerned face]

... Oh.

[YEAH. OH.]

N-not that many people know, right?

[He's just saying, Veronica, the villains keep dying and it's straight-up worrisome at this point not that it's gonna matter in a week]

[asswipe]

[It's definitely not gonna matter in a week. This is hilarious.]

A few. But they're all people I know wouldn't sabotage us by being idiots.

[concasse]

[he nods in acceptance of that. At the end of the day, he's got no choice but to trust her]

... If you ever need any help with your objective, lemme know, alright?

[Assuming it doesn't involve killing people.

He sure hopes not.]