antumbrac | WEEK 6

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Five weeks. It's been five weeks, and twenty-seven has now dwindled down to eleven. And while only two passed this week, this trial may have been the most devastating in its own way, as threads of patience frayed and fragments of trust fractured. Nevertheless, if The Lady is to be believed, that may very well have been the final set of sacrifices that she was waiting for, so perhaps the end is in sight.

Of course, the fact that everyone is still stuck in Krakow means that it's not over yet, and who even knows what's happening over in the Twilight?

And so, some more changes are in store for this week, even if it may not be the same ones that you've gotten used to. For one thing, the fog stays put and no new areas of the city are revealed under the light of the lampposts. Secondly, The Lady is nowhere to be found in the city, with her bookstore office vacated and abandoned with nary a trace as to where she went. And third, the clock tower will no longer operate, which-- well. Actually that's not new at all, but it certainly may make it difficult to keep up with the facade of passing days. At least the moon still serves as a reminder of that, gibbous phase waxing into something fuller over the course of the week even if the color looks a bit off.

It may not be a fresh new start, but it's not time to give up yet, is it? After all, you are all Survivors.

[[Welcome to Week 6! Note that there are no new locations this week, but feel free to make top levels at your discretion, and remember to note it in your header if you plan on investigating any locations. As alluded above, The Lady will be unavailable, while Rembrandt will still be around on Monday and Tuesday before disappearing for the rest of the week.]]

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I don't know if this is her doing. When Dist and I spoke about it, he said she didn't know about the Twilight at all. She was baffled by the returning power.

[But that doesn't mean she didn't find out.]

From what I understand, these [gestures to all 83 of them] were left by Ulquiorra. It may be that they were able to leave these for us by melting them down.

[only sludge can pass through the twilight barrier???????]

This confirms once more that the manifestations are the key to all of this - somehow.

[ He stares at the sludge vials, counting them absentmindedly as if the number was going to help him figure this out in any way. ]

The currency... the manifestation in the mail chute... this... It all keeps coming back down to the scaley something you turn into when you sell your soul.

Did we ever actually confirm that the items we receive are related to the Lady at all?

[Hmm...]

I'm not sure if anyone ever asked Rembrandt or the Lady about it. It wasn't something I thought about.

I won't do anything with these until we've discussed it with the others, but I'm very curious what will happen if we leave them at the post office.

[will we get more weapons?? melted weapons?????]

We have nearing a hundred of these, so unless they came with instructions from the Twilight to not be damaged at any cost, I definitely think we should attempt it.

[ Thinking further... ]

I am also curious about the correlation of this substance and the affected parts of those of us who took the deal. I wonder if it would be possible to take a proper skin sample to experiment on and compare.

Oh, that's an excellent idea. There's no telling what we could learn from examining that. Perhaps you can find Seteth and convince him, though I doubt Shiro would decline either. I wonder if it would look the same for all of them...

[This is exciting!! Science is so cool!!!!]

If the pain sensitivity in their modified body parts isn't too high, then we should be able to... I'm not a doctor or chemist by any stretch of imagination, but I do know that the surface layer of skin does not contain many nerve endings, which is why kids can effortlessly do stupid things like stab sewing needles through it for fun.

Done carefully enough, they might not even need to get actually hurt.

[ It is exciting!! Mikami is not a super science person but he is very very happy for any kind of lead they could possibly find. The relevation that they all just kind of gave up on the main chute after Erik's adventure is getting his brain into gear. ]

[...you know, it probably says something terrible about him that he did not care at all whether this would actually hurt them. looks like he's fitting a bit too well into the mad scientist role his bf left behind??? SO UH ANYWAY—]

Of course. I was under the impression Seteth's spikes weren't capable of feeling pain at all, but I didn't study them very closely. [because that would've been Weird and seteth already thinks he's weird.] Would you care to ask them for me? I'm going to continue to study these for a bit.

[is this because he thinks it'll be hilarious to have mikami walk up to them and go "hey I need some of your lizard bits"?? yes.]

[ The 'bullying Mikami' position can never stay vacant for too long it seems, but the good news is that it goes completely over his head. Too euphoric about maybe getting some info out of things. ]

Of course. I've finished my investigations for the day - they were fairly useless, sadly.

I didn't find anything of value in the Lady's office either, but I'm certain someone will stumble on something.

[And since this is after a certain conversation and he definitely hasn't given back a certain walkie-talkie... He taps that with his nails; it's sitting close by, of course.]

I have learned that it's possible to communicate with those in the Twilight through this as well. Should you need to pass a message along, simply let me know.

[sorry dazai that's his walkie-talkie now???]

Edited 2020-02-10 22:00 (UTC)

You have? That's great news.

[ And good that this knowledge and ability went to Iago too. Mikami doesn't know the walkie talkie used to be Dazai's but if he did, this would please him. ]

I am assuming you already passed on all the general resolutions of ending the Lady and getting back those who deserve it.

[see mikami, you get him.]

Dist informed me that they have found a way to save themselves. They may not be able to communicate with us for some time, but he asked us to trust them. I have complete faith in him, so if they say they've worked out a way, then I'm certain it will be fine.

[It's not going to be easy for communication to be cut off so suddenly, but at least this time he's ready for it. It's not like Dist is dying again, after all.]

Unfortunately, it does seem likely that their method will save all of them, but at this point I would rather leave that to them than attempt to find anything on our end. It sounds as though they've learned quite a bit, after all.

[ Ugh. Mikami actually makes a face at the idea of everyone coming back together. What an unpleasant solution. It's better than no solution at all, but still. He can whine about it internally. ]

Yes, hearing this, I agree. If they have confidence they'll be able to return themselves, I believe them. It gives us more time to work against the Lady here with all resources available to us.

... there is always others methods to punish those who deserve it.

Precisely.

[It's not a nice smile.]

I don't particularly care if you want to take out any of the other killers, but I would prefer that bastard's fate be left in my hands. I'm sure you understand.

[Mikami's got plenty of reason to hate him too considering how important Cumore obviously is to him, but he's pretty damn justified in asking for this as far as he's concerned.]

Naturally. You have nothing to fear from me if you take action on him. As far as I am concerned, this is just righting an error in the execution process.

[ Normally this would fall under vigilante justice and vigilante justice is bad, but... a) this place is a wreck and normal trials are a lifetime away and b) Mikami's apparently extrajudicially killed thousands himself, so who is he to judge.

They both know Ango is guilty. It doesn't matter how he comes to be punished now. ]

Good. I meant what I said at the trial, I don't plan to make it a pleasant or quick death at all.

[jesus christ, apparently he has lost any and all filter along with dist]

After everything he put all of us through, it's what he deserves. But I'm not going to claim that's why I'm doing this. I'm doing this because he made the mistake of choosing Dist.

[...But then he sighs, forcing it all out and shaking his head.]

I won't get distracted by that, however. The most important thing is to handle what we can on our side and to put an end to the Lady.

[ Mikami hadn't expected differently, but he is going to turn a blind eye to the selfish motivation here. One way or another, Ango deserves it.

And Mikami is coming to appreciate the cruel honesty of villains in general, as horrid as it is. ]

Yes. I've been focusing on re-examining the locations we know the Lady has worked at previously. I searched the entire hotel first floor today - and by entire, I mean that. I moved every furniture and checked even within the backs of picture frames.

If you have an idea for which building to take tomorrow, I am open to it.

[He's assuming this is the perks of being Cumore's bff, but hey, he'll take it!!]

Your eye for detail is certainly appreciated. Even if you didn't turn up anything there, that sort of work will surely yield some results. It's just a matter of looking in the right place.

[He considers that carefully, mentally running through all the places he examined verses the ones that the others mentioned before. He doesn't remember everything perfectly, of course, but...]

The opera house is some place that could likely hide clues we've missed in the past. I believe that's perhaps the most important building to examine thoroughly. I do believe we're missing some places as well - the "football field", I think? I don't recall anyone mentioning examining that.

Oh, that is true. As far as places go, this seemed so unassuming that I never gave it more than a cursory glance. I will rectify this tomorrow.

[ He's not sure what could possibly be going on with a football field but if they all die because he was too disbelieving of the power of sports.... Nope, not risking that. ]

I likewise assumed it would be a dead end, but we can't afford to dismiss any location as unimportant.

You have my thanks, Teru Mikami. Try not to overwork yourself too much, Cumore will worry.

[is he serious or is this a joke........]

[ On Saturday Iago may have failed to elicit much of a reaction, but this time he is in luck. Mikami is visibly thrown off by the comment! He drops eye contact for a second because what even! ]

I... at the very least I sincerely doubt that.

[ Before this morning he'd have thought the answer is a decided 'no' but who knows anymore. ]

[fluster teru mikami: check!!]

Oh? You only doubt that? I would have expected you to refuse it outright.

[now he is definitely teasing!!!]

It sounds as though you two are getting quite close.

It's...

[ Wait a second.

Wait just a goddamn second. ]

It was you. You talked to him about going to his world.

I'm sure the two of you will be very happy in Terca Lumireis.

[no, cumore hasn't told him this, he's just bullshitting.]

[ There's more freezing up here because what is that phrasing. Even Mikami realizes this sounds like he's getting congratulated on an engagement and that's.... certainly something that is not what this is. ]

You-- I do not recall asking you to intervene.

[ Why!! ]

[can't believe mikami and cumore are getting hitched so soon, gasp!!!]

Oh, you didn't. But if I didn't, no one would and the two of you would be woefully confused about it forever. Someone had to speed up the process a little.

[..........this has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that he aggressively flirted with dist for weeks and only realized his feelings a day before dist died, shush.]

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