craven castle: private conversation, week 2, tuesday

[lullabytes]

WHO: Nanami & Kuzuryuu.
WHEN: Week 2, Tuesday, 8:30PM.
WHAT: Nanami wants to test a theory and volunteers Kuzuryuu.

[ Around half an hour after dinner ends, there's impatient knocking at Kuzuryuu's door - to the tune of the forest song from Ocarina of Time, because it's Nanami. She has some clothes folded nearly under her arms for some reason. ]

Kuzuryuu-kun? Kuzuryuu-kun, it's me. Open up.

Comments

[impheired]

Did she seem to go for it?

[lullabytes]

...I don't know. I don't think so...currently, everyone seems to disbelieve anyone will actually kill. Since the first killer wasn't a player...

[ thanks marlowe ]

[impheired]

Yeah...Cyke's little speech at dinner the other night didn't really help with that.

[Nanami, you had the worst assistant. She's made things so much harder on them from the get-go.]

But I think after this week...we might have an easier time of pushing some of 'em. After Peixes does her thing.

[lullabytes]

...Yeah. We need to hope...that the people who won't murder at all...

[ get...murdered...? Otherwise they're shit out of luck after a certain point. But. ]

...You're not wrong, though. This will be...a player murder.

[ And even if she fails - though Nanami refuses to believe Feferi can or will fail, because if she thinks about that, it'll be too hard to focus - that fact...won't have changed. ]

[impheired]

Mmm...

[On some level...this conversation actually does bother him. It just...feels wrong.]

...That's the way this sort of situation goes, though. The strong pick off the weak. If you're not willing to kill, you're not going to survive long in this game unless you're popular. So...I don't think that's the part we need to worry about in all this. We just need to worry about providing a sufficient enough push to get them started...which is going to be easier for some than it is for others.

[lullabytes]

[ That's because it is wrong. ]

...Mm. I'm...going to continue to do my best to see you guys through this. Even if it means saying things like this. [ Her demeanor switches again, as though she's quoting - which she is. ] I don't wanna fight you...but I must destroy those who defy Malpercio! You're gonna die here...

[ ... ]

Anyway, thinking about it...Kuzuryuu-kun going to an arcade with his sister, Feferi going home to her friends, alive again to save them, Yukimura-san saving that person who would die, Mr. Wright saving his daughter and becoming the person he wanted to be once again, Kurashiki-san saving his sister's life, Norway returning to a country full of happy people...those pictures are the ones I like to keep in my mind. You, too, should focus on those pictures.

[impheired]

[He chuckles lightly.]

What's that even supposed to mean?

[No seriously, Nanami. You know he doesn't get your references.]

...But I guess...I can start thinking about that instead.

[Pretend you're surprised that he's been focused more on the NEGATIVE outcome, rather than the positive...]

[lullabytes]

...It's a quote from Baten Kaitos. Ah, you know - no one at home would have gotten these quotes, either.

[ She's used to it, almost. ]

But...you should. Those are the pictures I keep fixed in my mind all the time. It's...better than the alternatives that you could use to keep yourself moving forward. That future, you...absolutely must reach it, all of you.

[impheired]

[Jesus Christ, Nanami, how are you a real person. oh wait.]

[Kuzuryuu grimaces at her mention of "alternatives" he could keep in mind. Look, it's just easier to focus on what he saw in the fireplace than to think happy thoughts.]

[For a few moments, he doesn't say anything at all. He just seems to mull over her words in his head.]

Oy, Nanami...what does your brother do, if you don't mind me asking. You keep saying he's too busy to spend time with you but... You don't have to answer if you don't want to, I'm just curious.

[And he wants to steer the conversation back into something that might be slightly more normal.]

[lullabytes]

I don't mind talking about him. My big brother...he's...sort of an administrator? He runs a really important computer network and program, back home. He's often really busy with that, so...I never wanted to bother him too much. He does make time for us, but he's...just busy, especially now, I think.

[ She pauses, clearly uncertain. ]

I've never gone this long without talking to him. Or Usami-chan. It's...weird.

[impheired]

[Watch and be amazed as he completely misses yet another hint that there is Something Up With Nanami. It's just like back on the island that he doesn't remember. Ah, good times.]

Ah. Well...you'll get to see 'em again soon enough. Since we're all going to make it out of here, right?

['all' being their little murder family...]

[lullabytes]

...Mhmm. I'm going to give everything I have to make sure you all make it out of here alive.

[ Every last one of you. ]

[impheired]

[Kuzuryuu falls silent for a minute or so, just staring at the floor with a weirdly unreadable look on his face.]

She tell you what she's planning? Peixes, I mean.

[lullabytes]

[ And we will never know if that was a Dangan blind spot or a subtle topic change...

Nanami shakes her head. ]

Nope. But...she was very confident. I think...that she's given it a lot of thought.

[impheired]

[probably the former, who are we kidding.]

Well I sure as hell hope she's done that much at least! You can't just go and do something like this without a plan. She may have us on her side, but there's only so much we can do...

[lullabytes]

...But we'll give it our all. So...we have to believe in Feferi.

[ Nanami doesn't want to see any of them die. ]

[impheired]

Tch, yeah, well that goes without saying now doesn't it? She's just gotta give us something to work with.

[They can only hope.]

...so how long has it been, anyway?

[Have you been keeping track, Nanami?]

[lullabytes]

[ She glances at the clock. ]

...We have a few minutes left, but we're almost timed out.

[impheired]

This better fucking work. I am not looking forward to having to explain this if I actually am breaking the damn rules here.

[So much ridicule...he can already tell.]

[lullabytes]

...Wouldn't it just be..."We talked for a while about our families and lost track of time"? I don't think that's too odd.

[impheired]

Yeah, that rule isn't the awkward one. [He takes the skirt between his fingers and lifts it slightly, as if he were curtseying while still sitting down.] This is the awkward one.

[He lets the skirt fall.]

Technically, if this doesn't work, I'm breaking two damn rules here.

[lullabytes]

..."Nanami made me do it"?

[ SINCE...

SHE DID. ]

[impheired]

...you have no fucking clue what pride means to a man, do you?

[WELL SHE'S A GIRL, KUZURYUU.]

[lullabytes]

I'm not a man, so why would I have such a thing...?

[ HONESTLY... ]

[impheired]

You've got a brother, don't you? Doesn't matter if you're actually the one who...oh fuck it. Just forget it.

[Kuzuryuu, stop sulking.]