nowyouseeit | [WEEK 5: Thursday later morning, Room 104; Dirk]

[Dirk opens the door.

And witnesses this.

]

Dude. Seriously?

[IT'S A FUCKING TRASH CAN, KAITO.]

[LOOK. . . HE KNOWS SOME THINGS AND WAS A LITTLE AFRAID OF DIRK'S PUNCHES? he remembers Akira]

. . .

Can I come in? I'm weaponless, in case you're wondering.

If not, out here is-- uh. Fine.

You can come in. It ain't nightfall yet.

[Dirk is more guarded on Thursdays. When Kaito comes in, he'll see Dirk's room mostly as it was. But several of the SBAHJ comics have been gathered together and neatly stacked up. Someone had torn them in half. The pile is almost like a memorial.

He'll even shut the door behind them. Look at you, Kaito. He trusts you!

He trusts you not to kill him right now anyway.]

[THANKS?? he thinks. either way, he slips inside and leans against the door, lowering the trash can lid so it's propped up against one of his legs instead]

. . . can you tell me everything Andersen told you? Or Jake, and whatever Jake told you in return.

[STRAIGHT TO THE POINT]

I want to clear up any misconceptions that might be floating around.

Edited 2017-06-22 00:17 (UTC)

So we're not playin' telephone anymore? Cool, I was never big on that game.

[Dirk folds his arms.]

The Facilitators, called the Prophets, can travel through mirrors and can smuggle in any weapons they want. That's how they get into rooms, and that's why we can't identify them at murder trials.

You, the Hunters, were chosen to try to track down the Prophets. You were chosen by Craftly, if I understood correctly, to be people with strong convictions. Last week, you successfully found the Facilitators.

What you learned is that everyone can be brought back to life and returned to their worlds, but only if one of the three people left alive was willing to stay and be the Innkeeper for a different round. So you and the Facilitators made a deal: you would pick off the rest of us together until only the three Hunters were left, and then one of you would stay behind to make the deal and become the next Innkeeper. That's when you'll make the deal with the Unclean—Mother. And then the cycle starts all over again.

The remaining Facilitators are Girge and Tsurugi. The Detectives are Yukina, Kaito, and Jay. To you, we're all Sacrifices now. This week, you plan on killing Nagasone, Light, Knoll, Emily, Akira, and Saya.

That cover what you want to hear, Savior?

[. . . snorts, and leans his head back to thunk it against the wall]

Annnd this is why I wanted to come talk to you, because it seems like Andersen likes to play up the dramatics and make stupid assumptions.

[god damn it Andersen]

Please.

We're not saviors, heroes, or whatever Andersen tried to tell you we saw ourselves as. We never were, we know we arne't, and we never tried to pretend otherwise once we learned the truth.

And you're not Sacrifices, either. [he says that firmly, with conviction] Your lives are not things for us to play with, and definitely not things for the Unclean to play with, either.

Which is why! [he pushes away from the wall, training his gaze on Dirk firmly] We were doing this in the first place.

Because we don't want her to keep the souls of those she has already collected.

Edited 2017-06-22 00:32 (UTC)

[Dirk remains cold and distant, his expression impassive, his eyes set on Kaito.]

Dude, Andersen never called you heroes or saviours. He just gave us the facts and let us do what we would. I read between the fucking lines. You literally think you're saving us, and that's the literal definition of a saviour.

[Come on, Kaito. Learn words.]

Yeah, I know. You're trying to save the dead. Me and Yukina had a talk about how I want to tear this place down that makes a lot more sense now. She said she would want to break this place and end the cycle, but not at the expense of the lives here already. She said that she wanted a way to save everyone, all of us, and she put that first. You want to save every soul here. To do it, one of you will sacrifice yourselves to Craftly's miserable existence.

[he's tired give him a break!! he yelled at Andersen right before coming here, and that was an emotionally charged conversation]

. . . yeah.

[deflates, and leans against the wall again, folding an arm over himself. it's hard to cross said arms when one of his is in a sling. he also rests his head against his torso, eyes slipping shut and his bangs masking his expression]

We thought about this, long and hard. We knew the consequences when we made our choice. In the end. . . none of us can condemn those lives already stolen. Jason, Hana, Dave, Omega, Apollo, Kaiba, Ryou. . . and everyone else.

[. . .]

The cycle will continue, even if we stop this particular ritual by killing the Prophets and ending it all. It's just-- if we do that?

We abandon those who have died in this iteration of the game.

There is no way to stop this. There's gonna be another ritual after this one, whether the Unclean keeps the souls who have died or not. There's no way to stop it-- unless, y'know.

Someone figures out how to kill a god.

Edited 2017-06-22 00:54 (UTC)

It's been done. Maybe it can't be done here, but it sure as Hell has been done.

[He is calm, in a way that speaks of a cold anger. He is unflinching.]

I'm not angry because you're trying to save them. I might have made the same choice. Hell, I might still. But if I had had that information, I would have done a lot of things differently.

Andersen never lied, he just passed a message on that got passed on again and again. If the information was confused, that's on you for making it something that had to be leaked.

Now you owe everyone everything. All the information you have, everything you've learned. Everything we need to make an informed choice. Don't call us idiots for making assumptions on information you allowed to come to us in breadcrumbs and confusion. Don't call Andersen a liar because some kids had a panic attack in the face of this.

And don't ever fucking claim that you had to do everything the way you have chosen to when decided to let Tsurugi kill Emily. You know what Dipper asked? You know why he was so damn confused, so unwilling to believe this? He wondered if you had all the ability to get any weapon you want and move between rooms however you choose, why didn't you kill us all in one night, quick and easy and painless?

I told him I didn't know. You never told us.

[So.]

Tell me everything now. Get ready to tell it all again when you're put on trial. I've already decided I'll choose Tsurugi for the execution. You may be assholes, but even I wouldn't let people I like get killed that way.

For all I know, this week's execution would be a chainsaw or something. It's an unnecessarily brutal way to kill.

[wow]

[he pushes away from the wall again, tilts his chin up, and looks Dirk straight in the eyes]

. . .

Did Andersen tell you how he got his information?

[he asks quietly, because he sure is holding back some cool anger of his own]

That sure is not an answer to my question.

[fight me bro]

Yeah. He said you were talking and chose to trust him with it. Realizing something was going on, he went along with it and went to your meeting to gather that information to bring back to the rest of us. He said he never lied but no one asked him if he was actually okay with this.

He also said he made the suggestion to kill Jake to cripple me, and no one argued with him.

It sure isn't.

[HE'S READY!1 Kaito don't fight with a bum arm holy shit]

No one argued with him because we were far focused on other things, and we weren't paying attention to his suggestions. Now I'm convinced he said that just so he'd have more ammunition against us when running to you guys.

. . . but I told him in confidence because he's my friend. [or. was? Kaito isn't sure anymore] We discussed telling everyone else, too. But we weren't sure how to go about it without causing everyone to panic.

[turns away from him, facing the door, ready to leave. he collects the trash can lid first, at least]

Maybe people like Andersen. . . Kamui. . . Suzaku. . . even Velvet, to a degree, is why we didn't say anything before now.

If you want information, wait to hear it on Saturday.

No.

[He slams a hand on the door to keep it shut.]

Stop focusing on what Andersen did or didn't do; it doesn't matter. Account for your own damn self to me.

Tell me the truth before you let a psychopath kill a child I promised my brother I'd protect.

[just]

[gives Dirk a long, tired look, hand resting on the doorknob]

Blame the Unclean for that one. Not us. She told him to in order to save Dipper and Mabel. Rock, meet hard place.

Let me go or else I'm taking a nap on your floor.

And how the fuck does that make sense?

[He is not moving.]

For fuck's sake, stop being vague and ominous. Stop leaving those breadcrumb details. If you want people to side with you, come out with the damn truth. You said you came here to clear shit up but all you've done is blamed Andersen for twisting things and refused to give any more information that would clarify your stance. You haven't cleared up anything: not why you can't kill us all at once, not why you let Emily get killed by a psychopath, not a damn thing. All you've clarified is that my pain and suffering and Jake's death are just a fuckin' footnote in your grand plan, not worth your attention.

If you want me on your side at that trial, tell me what I need to know to agree with you. Do what you came here to do.

Edited 2017-06-22 01:31 (UTC)

[guuuuh he leans forward and presses his forehead against the door]

It means exactly how it sounds it means. The realm took Dipper and Mabel, and the Unclean told Tsurugi to kill Emily to save them. That's all there is to it. We didn't let him do anything; we had no say in the matter, and neither did he.

[he pulls away from the door and GOES FLOP ON DIRK'S BED I'm sorry he's tired and cranky and emotionally spent and rude]

You guys get angry at us for keeping information from you, but the truth is? We couldn't until now. Literally.

When we first started as Hunters, Craftly told us that we were a secret rebellion against the Unclean's Prophets. Even they weren't aware of our existence. He told us we couldn't trust you guys, because we didn't know who among you was a Prophet.

And so, we said nothing, for fear that outing our existence would put targets on our back. We used our contacts to gather roles, and we used that information to smoke out the Prophets.

Mira was the first, found during the trial. Shortly after that. . . we found Girge.

You could have this week. You could have done it before Jay guilted Jake into ever doubting him.

[He's quiet. He's still mad. He's going to stay mad. But it isn't like he doesn't understand Kaito's position, or that he might not make the same choices. The point is that none of them know what is happening, and Kaito hasn't told Dirk much more than he already knew.]

Sit on a bed, dude. Or the goddamned couch.

[Dirk wants the DEETS! Kaito said he came here to give them and Dirk intends to have them all from him.]

We did, Dirk.

We told Andersen.

[he chides gently, because his anger is spent. also he is on a bed, but he sits up, legs dangling over the edge]

And we were going to tell others, too. I know Jay trusts Jake. . . and I wanted to tell Hajime. And before you complain that telling Andersen isn't telling everyone, consider our position. Consider Kamui. Consider Suzaku. Hell, even consider Velvet for a little bit. The first two have proven they're willing to kill for their own selfish desires. Velvet didn't keep it a secret that she would be, too, as long as it sent her home. How many others are there?

How many people could've betrayed us all and gone straight for the Prophets to kill them, just to end the ritual and be sent home, ignoring and abandoning the souls of those who have died?

It's easy for you 'n Andersen to cast stones because you're angry about us "keeping secrets." But from our perspective. . .

[a deep exhale]

It's as that note said. We didn't approach people for help because they asked us to. We approached the people we could trust.

'Cause. . . this is a game about trust, all the way up until the very end.

And the question you guys hafta asked yourselves on Saturday is a pretty easy one: who do you trust most to take the deal for eternal servitude and raise the dead?

I'm pretty sure it was Percival who left you the note that you were treating us like children.

[Kaito takes the bed so Dirk sits opposite on the couch.]

Quer probably wouldn't agree, I don't know. Velvet would agree to go back home and finish getting her revenge. If everyone's going to die and get resurrected anyway, why wouldn't we kill? Why not bother to get an extra incentive out of Hell while we're here?

I trust the three of you to sacrifice yourselves. I also trust other people to do the same. Andersen, if he doesn't get killed before the end, would take the role easily, and would handle it a lot better than any of you.

Thing is, I'm not angry about the secret-keeping. I'm angry because you didn't give anyone a choice. And yeah, I know why, I'm not an idiot. It's about trust, and you don't know me well enough to give me that choice. Though I would've figured that my devotion to Dave would have swayed you one way at least.

You might not have known, though, but I'm pretty sure Dave wants to stay dead. You also might not know that if I get resurrected, all I'm going back to is my own eternal hell: an immortal life that's glitched out, alive forever and unable to die or do anything. You probably didn't know that Jake was already dead and that all you'd be giving him was the chance to be dead again.

You couldn't have, not without asking. And I don't know if you planned to ask or if you even could have. I don't know if it's possible to do anything about any of that. Sure, I'd go back to a personal Hell to save others here, but if there was a way to avoid it I sure as fuck would want to.

But I don't know. Not how the deal works, not why we can't all die at once, not any of it.

It's a good thing Andersen told us ahead of time. It gives you the opportunity to talk now, instead of at the chaos of the trial. Everyone knows that a person is smart, but people are dumb, panicky dangerous animals.

[can u believe he ended it with an MIB quote. goddammit Dirk]

[an extremely frustrated sigh escapes his mouth as he rests his chin in his palm and his elbow on his knee]

Well, to be quite frank, when we made up our minds we were pretty resigned to people being angry at us. So that's not a big deal.

[I mean, it kind of is, but that's something he was at least prepared for]

And I'm aware of Dave's circumstances-- I talked to him about it, before he. . . but it isn't like we have the option to save only some dead people and leave the rest? 'Sides, even we don't know what the Unclean is going to do with the souls of the dead people if we don't rescue them. We never asked.

[and quite frankly, he hates the Unclean so much and wouldn't put it past her to do something HORRIBLE with the dead people if they don't rescue them]

And you can be glad Andersen blabbed all you want, but I'm pretty pissed at him for doing something stupid like sending an angry mob at our group. You're right-- a person is smart, but people are dumb, panicky dangerous animals.

Which is another reason dumping all of this on you at once seemed like a bad idea! I mean. . . hell, Dirk. We didn't want kids like Dipper or Mabel or Violet to feel like they had to kill someone, y'know? We didn't want to make them feel like they were going to be forced into selling their soul into eternal servitude for an eternity, either.

We don't want people to die, but if they have to in order for everyone to go home, then. . . [that is that, though he still hates that he's already resigned to that fact] We know the stakes. . . we know these are lives, and we know they're precious, and that's why we proceeded as cautiously as we could.

We couldn't afford to mess up.

[except, with Andersen, they definitely already did]

He didn't send an angry mob at you, dude. None of you have been strung up and lynched. I invited you to sit on my bed and talk to me about it. Mabel and Dipper came running because they wanted their friend to reassure them.

People are dumb, panicky animals, so instead of treating us like that, you had an option to talk to us as individuals who could make decisions outside of a group. I wasn't even that angry that you were going to finish the ritual to its end, even if I still don't know if agree with it—the uncertainty's 'cause I still don't have all the information I want to make my decision. I'm angry that you were going to have me die on someone else's terms, for my own fuckin' good, without ever asking if that was what I wanted. That I wasted weeks trying to stay alive so I could keep a promise when none of it mattered and I could have started being a lot more risky about finding ways to stop this permanently. As it is, I plan on killing myself as soon as one of you pops up to take my life.

[He would have done things differently. He would have taken risks. He would have broken rules. He would have tried far less at the trials, trials that didn't even matter because there was never any way they'd catch the worst killers. It was never fair. It was always pointless and stupid.]

Ask the Unclean. Ask her what the limits of her deals are. Find out what happens to the dead if you don't save them. Get the information on why the ritual has to be done this way, help us understand how it works and why it works.

You have the opportunity to get information when the rest of us don't. The charade's up, and I'm sick of hearing things second hand and not knowing when someone misunderstood or didn't get the full picture. Find out everything for us and bring it back so we can decide how we'll die.

Edited (WORDS ARE REALLY HARD) 2017-06-22 03:01 (UTC)

How the heck d'you think we felt when Girge told us the truth behind this stupid ritual?

[the sense of defeat, of pointlessness. . . that all four weeks they spent trying to locate the Prophets to keep their heads down, to find the murderers every week in order to put an end to this charade. . . all for nothing. he still feels that very clearly sometimes. especially now]

[he tries to replace it with a hope for the future, and a determination to reach the best end to this ritual as possible. but sometimes even that's hard, when he thinks about the things they have to do to reach it]

And you can be mad about us takin' that choice away from you. 'Cause it's true; we would have.

But as of now? You've got every bit of information we have, as well as the power to help decide who the final three will be. So. . .

[a small, tired shrug]

On Saturday. . . make your choice.

I already told you, I'm going to vote for Tsurugi to be executed. No one else deserves that fate.

[Blunt and calm. Dirk doesn't like him or care about him. He'll let him die.]

Do you know why you can't just kill us all at once this week? And will you ask the Unclean for that information for us? Or if you aren't up for the task, I'm more than willing to do whatever it is that we have to to ask her. I'd guess it involves cutting off a body part and putting it in a bowl.

That's not the only choice I'm talking about. You guys also get to decide if you trust us enough to let us be your final three. Or if you'd rather trust someone else.

[they're 100% committed, but after learning that Andersen blabbed, the Hunter faction had decided to let the rest of the people here make that decision. if they wall wanted the Hunters dead for their secrecy. . . then so be it]

I don't know why there's a limitation, but I can ask. And it involves jumping through a mirror.

And also, headaches, nausea, nosebleeds and brain freezes.

I already told you that I trust you'd make the sacrifice. As it is, the easiest thing would be for us to all kill ourselves at the trial and end the bullshit now. If there's a reason not to, I need to know.

[Because why not? Why not die painlessly and of their own choice? Why not end it?]

I can handle all of that crap. If you can make it so I can do it, I will. We need to know everything about the Unclean: why the ritual is how it is, what she does with the dead, what the limits are on the wish or whatever of the final three.

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