LUX;

[goalsides]

Comments

[illuminance]

[ ... she brightens! (less convincing this time, but is it ever?) ]

I'm fine! We were only able to vote for one, but we did catch two people, yesterday...! And today, the right person died.

[goalsides]

[....lux. normally he would let it slide but he's tired and trying.]

Okay. Wanna tell me the truth this time? [and then he falters a little.]

...you don't actually have to if you don't want to. I get that it's kind of a hard situation.

[illuminance]

[ she looks... torn, for a very long moment. ]

... No, it's... Just...

I'm afraid for Byleth.

[goalsides]

...[his shoulders drop.]

I am, too. Especially after the way everyone reacted yesterday... Did you get to talk to her?

[illuminance]

I did, yes.

[ ... ]

The way everyone reacted... Actually makes me less worried. If people would be in such disbelief and cry for her, it means those people are less likely to seek retributive justice on their own.

[goalsides]

I hope you're right. But there're still some people who seem like they're mad. Mandricardo still won't look at her. But I don't think he'll hurt her or anything.

[things are just going to be tense, he means. but then he takes a breath.]

...do you think she was telling the truth? That she was really only working alone?

[illuminance]

I can accept mad. Mad is fine.

... What do you think?

[goalsides]

[...]

I think if there was another person, she and her accomplice wouldn't be able to tell me. Byleth was able to confess on her own though, so I think that her accomplice could also say so if they felt like it'd be okay.

[...there's a light hum.]

I don't know. I don't think I'd be mad at that person either. It's pretty obvious our culprits are doing this and not enjoying it.

[illuminance]

That's what it seems like to me, too.

At first I was confident that there was some kind of compulsion, but I don't think that's right, after all. But just... Looking at the way some of our culprits have behaved. Looking at the kinds of people Rupert and Byleth are...

There has to be a reason.

[goalsides]

I've been wondering since the beginning if the deaths had to happen for us to actually get out of here. Like some sacrifice of some kind. It's not a good answer and I don't like it but...I do think there are cases that maybe sometimes you have to do the things you don't want to do.

Rupert and Byleth aren't people I would think of as serial killers. [there's a frown.] That's kind of why I want to find Byleth's accomplice and talk to them myself. Figure out a way to protect them if we have to.

[illuminance]

... Protect them?

I think Byleth is the one who needs protection.

[goalsides]

[he raises an eyebrow.]

Accomplices count as guilty parties, too. And if the pattern's right, the accomplice is going to have to keep killing until we either catch them or someone else kills them. Maybe that's not even true at all, but...there are already some people who are thinking it's better to keep Byleth alive now just so we can vote for her next time if we can't find a guilty party.

[illuminance]

Are they wrong about that?

Whether Byleth and her accomplice are killing for good reason or not, there's... [ she sighs. ] No knows enough to be sure of that. Someone has to be voted for, and no one wants someone innocent to be sacrificed instead of a known killer.

[goalsides]

They're not wrong. That's what the other person and I agreed on, too. We can't keep losing innocent people. [but? he tries to think this through.]

But what's wrong with wanting to know more before we lose the chance to try and understand what's going on? Maybe protect isn't the word I want, but I want to know how to make things right again.

[illuminance]

Mm. I won't say that we were lucky we had Caiman to vote for instead. I don't want to call any of what he did to the people I care for "lucky." But with him gone, if the only killers are Byleth and her accomplice... The correct choice will be to vote for them.

... But you're right. I want to know more, too, so... I hope that you find them.

[goalsides]

Then we'll have to do our best to find them. That's a Saturday problem though. Until then, I'll do what I can to make the most of the time we've got.

[to get information? to be friends? both? he doesn't say.]

...if I do, I'll let you know. [...] Plus it's a new week. We should be able to get new information anyway.

[illuminance]

[ who do you think lux is? of course, she assumes he means to get information! and gives a dutiful nod. ]

Thank you.

We're going to be better off if we share all the information we can with one another. Hopefully everyone here realizes that.

[goalsides]

[lux :unamused: but it's fine, it's fine.]

I should hope so. People are buying documents from the dorm heads and sharing that information, and I've been trying to show people the paper we got while we were gone. Even if it's all the same, it's better to know.

[illuminance]

Those papers feel like they're useless.

Still better to show them and share them, of course, but... I can't find anything useful in them.

[goalsides]

I don't know if I'd call them useless. They've given us some information, like the dorm heads real names.

[illuminance]

Fair enough.

But the most recent two that we got this week...

[goalsides]

They matched. That's what concerns me. [...] How did you guys get yours?

[illuminance]

It was just there waiting for us, when everything was over. Right before we left.

[goalsides]

[he makes a face.]

Ours was in my pocket once we left and after the mouse saved us.

[illuminance]

[ ............ sorry? ]

The mouse?