[Week 5, Sunday: Waver, Rebecca, Natsuo]

[doublecrows]

[he knows that Waver is. . . probably not in the best state of mind at the moment. but what Akechi has to share is Important with a capital I. and so, soon after the execution, he gathers up the remaining Historians and ushers them to the library for an information sharing session]

I apologize for the short notice, and the. . . [waves. a hand] Timing of this meeting.

But I've discovered how to reach a "happy ending" for this game. I've also learned about the other extra titles, much like our own, that exist in this war game.

I'd rather not wait until Monday to tell you all.

Comments

[londonstar]

I think it's imperative that we know as much information as possible.

[ waver is clearly not doing well, but he can force himself to act composed for a reasonable amount of time. ]

We're awfully close to destroying the villain faction, and I'd rather not have that happen. So we need to find the means to achieving that good end. [ a pause ] You were the one that wrote to Beast, yes?

[doublecrows]

[there's. . . a pause, because Akechi is bad at sympathy, but he feels like he should give it?? even though in the end, he holds himself back to focus on work]

Yes, I was. To Beauty and the Beast. Beast was the young woman we heard ask someone to dance, as well as the one who screamed in our first shared memory. Beauty was the one who wrote back to me.

[because apparently Beast is PISSED OFF at him??]

Varian-san only shared part of my letter, to preserve my identity. And in exchange for this information, he told me how to reach a happy ending.

At least seven objectives in each faction must be completed. In addition to that. . . at the very end, there may only be three surviving individuals in each faction. No more. . . and no less.

This is the balance that will end the game in everyone's favor.

[randori]

[ What did you do to Beast, Akechi... It's still too soon after the execution for Natsuo, who still looks broken up about everything, just like he does at the end of every week, but this new piece of information.... It's Hope, something he wants so badly to cling onto, even before the insurmountable amount of obstacles become apparent. ]

That's... that's Dragon's idea of how to end the war, right? Did Varian find that from her? Can we trust that?

[disclosures]

[Meanwhile Rebecca is here looking like.... well she looks pretty detached from everything. But it is true that none of the people who died or were executed were people she cares about.]

We're rapidly running out of villains. But there are still too many heroes. Three of them are standing in this room.

How've our objectives been going? I've completed three.

[doublecrows]

[KILLED SOMEONE APPARENTLY???]

I didn't ask Varian-san's source, but he isn't the only one who told me this. Belph-san also confirmed the necessity for seven objectives from each faction to be completed.

[he suspects Belph didn't tell him about the "three survivors from each faction" rule b/c he doesn't trust him, oops]

We'll have our weekly meeting with the Crafters tomorrow. We can ask them about this then.

[londonstar]

While we're speaking about convincing the Villains and Civilians to complete their objectives, I wonder if it might be a good idea to...pose an anonymous letter directed towards the entirety of the castle.

[ he pauses in thought, arms crossed. ]

Although anonymous won't be good enough. We need to use a title that will show the rest of the Narrators that we hold some sort of...authority in the matter. In other words, we can either speak behind the titles of Beauty and Beast, or we can hide together under the singular title of 'The Historians'.

However, I do believe that it is necessary to bring the whole castle into attention of the situation. This mindless slaughter will get us nowhere but to a bad ending and we need the villains to accept their role. If we can convince them, then we may still have hope.

[randori]

...It might be more convincing if we pretend to be Beauty and Beast. But if we do write as them, the letters have to look real. Messed up with a bunch of ink and everything like how they come from the other side. It'll be really bad if people find out we lied to them.

[ But "Historian" is a title he's wary of hiding behind too, despite Akechi's assurance that at least one person in the castle doesn't immediately distrust them as a group. ]

[disclosures]

... Sanji already knows my title, gift and that I'm a Historian. I told him what I was, but I didn't reveal any of you. He didn't hate me for it.

So there's that too.

He doesn't seem like the type to be angry if we lied. We're just trying to save ourselves here, in the end.

[londonstar]

Two of the three people that know I am a Historian are dead. [ take a guess who they were. ] The other one wants me dead because of yesterday's events.

There are risks posed with whichever option we take, of course. If they find out it came from us, then it'll paint us as liars. But if we use the title of Historians, then we may cause some sort of backlash from those that are unwilling to trust us.

[doublecrows]

[and after a while. . .! Akechi stands up with a piece of parchment in hand, words scrawled all over it]

How is this?

To the Narrators:

We are the group known as the Historians. We understand the Dragon made you all suspicious of us when she announced our existence. Despite that, we're asking you to trust us. We're here to help you reach your happy ending.

One of us has been in contact with Beauty and the Beast. We want to share part of the letter they wrote to them with all of you, to stress the importance of completing objectives. Here is what they said:

"To achieve a █████ ██████ and ████ ██ from the █████ ████, each faction ████ complete ██ █████ seven objectives."

As Historians, we're aware that the Hero faction has completed a lot more than seven objectives. Civilians and Villains, you guys need to step it up! We know your objectives might suck, but we need you to work with us. Our objective is to get you your happy ending.

No matter what your suspicions towards us might be, please at least trust our intentions. Thank you for your time.

Good luck, everyone.

[londonstar]

"We know your objectives might suck?"

[ waver chuckles, despite himself. ]

I feel we need to add the word 'happy' in the 'letter' from Beauty and the Beast just to emphasize which ending we're going towards. It's not that I doubt the intelligence of this group, but as the weeks pass and paranoia rises, it becomes easier to misunderstand even the simplest things.

[ a pause. ]

Other than that, I think it's quite good.

[doublecrows]

A far more colloquial way to put it than I would.

[hiding one's usual writing style ftw! he edits the sentence]

"To achieve a happy ██████ and ████ ██ from the █████ ████, each faction ████ complete ██ █████ seven objectives."

[and seems pleased with himself]

Then this will do.

[disclosures]

I'd also like to mention, there are ten people left that none of us know the title of. Original Ion, Kyouka, Magnus, Nico, Sanji, Shirasu, Souji, Stephanie, Veronica and Zelos.

Do we want to try and find those out? Of the ones listed... I might have an in with Nico, Veronica and Sanji.

It seems like most of Veronica's objectives are things she needs to complete alone.

... Because of what Sanji's objective is right now, I think he's a villain, but I'd like to confirm it.

[londonstar]

I don't know if I can get to many of these.

[ nico hates him? magnus is ?? and original ion gives him the creeps but he can deal with that. and he won't even begin to talk about zelos. ]

However, I think that if I...am able to contact Reyna through mail, she might be able to give me an in with Nico, Magnus, and maybe Zelos. I also want her to see if she can figure out the factions of the dead and whether or not they completed they objectives...but that's only if you all agree.

[doublecrows]

I agree with this.

[he definitely agrees with this]

Right now, we know of only one villain objective completed. That's an extremely low number. If our aim is seven, it would be nice to know how much further we have to go.

. . . unfortunately, though, I don't believe I have an in with any of those individuals. Di Angelo and Veronica-san, perhaps. . .

[disclosures]

I could help Sanji with his, but there's no way he'd do it. [Coward.]

Veronica said she's done one of her objectives. The next one seems to involve self harm.

I can... try with the others, but I haven't really talked to them that much. On the other hand, that also means they don't have any reason to hate me.

Of the four of us left, Natsuo has the easiest time talking to people. They tend to let their guard down around him.

7/16

[randori]

[ reuses this post bc I don't want to make a new one just for updates, but this is Monday night ]

Ion is Aladdin, Steph is the Bear, and Souji is the Goose Girl. Those are all Heroes. Shirasu couldn't tell me what his is, 'cause he said it'll give away what his power is, and I didn't want to press him. But he says he's a Civilian, and he did three of his tasks already. Give me a little more time for Kyouka's.

[ Lots of Heroes!!! But at least they can do some process of elimination if they can't figure out everybody's titles? ]

[disclosures]

Great job, Natsuo!

There's only two more Civilian titles that we don't know. It's just Puss in Boots and Wendy.

There's... well there's a little bit of a rush, but do your best. I think she might have trouble making friends after what happened last weekend.

[randori]

[ He beams at the praise, bc heck yeah, he lives off that ]

Yep! We're getting along and... I really do want to become her friend, and then it'll be easier to ask like I did with everybody else.

[ The pc is only 8 comments long but it's Pure, at least they're getting along ]

7/19

[randori]

[ IT'S THURSDAY ]

Kyouka and Zelos are both Villains. Belph told me.

[doublecrows]

Veronica-san is also a villain, although she didn't give me her title.

[SO]

That takes care of all but two.

[randori]

Nico and Magnus... One of them's a Hero, and the other's a Civilian, then?

7/19

[disclosures]

[It's a little later in the day before Rebecca calls another meeting in the library. This time she's carrying a letter but her eyes are red rimmed, almost like she's been crying.

Rebecca,

Continue along your ████. If this is what we must ██ ██ ████ our happy ending, then I must regretfully ████ ██ ████████ for it. It is ████ to ██████ ████ no villain objectives have been accomplished on this side. I have not spoken with ████████ here, but it seems unlikely at best. I will attempt to get more █████ ██████████ for you when I can.

Encourage those who remain to do theirs, if you can.

Additionally, be wary. I believe there is something out there attempting ██ ████████ us.

Abe no ██████.

Her voice is rough when she speaks up.]

Sousei got in touch. Looks like the tally is still five for the villains.

I don't know what he's trying to warn us of.

[randori]

[ Natsuo reads through the letter two or three times, trying to substitute words into the ink blotches to see if anything makes sense, but the gist of it is very clear: They absolutely must help the Villains along. ]

...He said "something" out there, not "someone."

[ Someone could be dealt with, potentially. Something, though, that's so so vague, and it doesn't look like Sousei knows much about it either. ]

[londonstar]

Something's trying to sabotage us.

...We can't assume so quickly that it's Tiger that's trying to do it, but she would be the one that will win the war if we kill off the entire villains faction.