[Week 6, Monday: Varian]

[doublecrows]

. . . Hikage-san is unkillable this week.

[THAT'S. HOW HE STARTS THIS??? GOOD JOB, AKECHI. he seems a little disappointed but not devastated]

Our alternatives?

Comments

[doublecrows]

I do.

[confident!!]

With that business taken care of, I'd also like to share with you a bit of information we Historians gleaned from the memory we recalled today.

[alchemenace]

What was it?

[ rapt!! attention!!! ]

[doublecrows]

Hiro Hamada and Yona.

Those are the names of Beauty and the Beast. They were Editors, as you know. And I learned from this memory that even when Editors are voted for execution at trial, even when they are technically culpable of homicide. . .

They will not be executed, nor considered truly "guilty," because their murders were committed at the request of Tiger-san and Dragon-san.

[alchemenace]

[ ...... ]

Oh. That's what "they can't be held responsible" means. They literally can't. But-- is that only if they're actually guilty?

[doublecrows]

I presume so, since Hamada-san in the memory was guilty. By now, I'm sure both of our Editors have completed at least one kill.

[alchemenace]

Dave and Hijikata, at the very least, were two outliers. Do you think anyone else might've been hit?

[doublecrows]

. . . Monika, perhaps. I can't be sure about her, though.

[alchemenace]

We... can't really be sure about any of them. [ because this game sucks at solving murders thanks. ] Still, Monika's death did fit their usual patterns.

[doublecrows]

[something about his gaze grows distant]

I'd like to find out who they are.

[alchemenace]

... That's right. You and Monika were close, weren't you?

[doublecrows]

[yes]

. . .

She and I had a mutual understanding.

[alchemenace]

[ ... hm ... ]

Well, whatever it was, there's a lot of reasons we should look into the loose canons around here.

[ ... what hypocrisy???? ]

[doublecrows]

[AS THOUGH AKECHI IS NOT ALSO A LOOSE CANNON]

I agree. Particularly if we're to be careful about maintaining faction populations.

[alchemenace]

Which they will have hopefully gotten the message about now.

[ hopes and dreams, honestly. ]

[doublecrows]

[THIS THREAD IS HILARIOUS IN HINDSIGHT OH MY GOD]

I would hope that hearing it three times over is enough to pound it into their heads.

[alchemenace]

You'd think so, but the part about killing an entire faction was in the book, yet everyone seemed to have forgotten that one.

[doublecrows]

Possibly because it was too atrocious to even consider? Not that Dragon-san's ending is particularly better. As a matter of fact, hers requires far more casualties than Tiger-san's does.

[alchemenace]

Sure, but one version's casualties are theoretically temporary. I know which one I'd rather have if it's an either or situation.

[ if, because, well, obviously they can still get screwed over, but ]

[doublecrows]

Yes, yes.

[he's fairly certain anyone would prefer the "temporary death" option to the "permanent death" one]

Everyone here is quite dead set on receiving that happy ending.

[alchemenace]

... Are they?

[ he shrugs ]

I still don't think it's completely out of the question for someone to be working towards Tiger's.