Now we’ve got a big, big mess on our hands tonight [W6, Thursday, Pre-Curfew]

[hydrokinetics]

[Another day, another meeting. This one's more tense than usual especially with the lack of a small bat-child. Percy's right hand is sloppily bandaged up and his jaw is tight as his eyes burn with anger.]

Dr. Lecter knows we know. He's known since Saturday. Hal confirmed with me he's the Deputy, just like Hal confirmed to Dr. Lecter that we were onto him.

[A shaky sigh.] What the fuck do we do now?

Comments

[insincerely]

[Shinnosuke's holding some letters, since he went and fetched them today so that someone can read them now (+ Higekiri's ???, if that one wasn't in his mailbox, then let's just say that he swiped it from the counter because he's not above stealing letters, whoops).

But before that—well, shit.]

We have to move quickly, though.

[impulsiveness]

Let's just get this over with. If Hannibal knows and Damian's in the STOCKS, someone has to stay with him.

[His own letters are on the table, but. Uh. He's definitely distracted, knees drown up to his chest as he keeps glancing towards the nearest window.]

[robitussin]

Not quickly enough that we don't have a good plan, though. Don't forget about Will.

[insincerely]

[Ugggggh.]

Anyone know what he's thinking? Percy talked to him, right?

[thatsthespirit]

[eyeing the bandaged hand. . . Percy did you punch a robot]

[closes her eyes and takes in a deep breath (slowly, not to agitate her injuries) which she then lets out slowly]

So it's likely he knows about Damian too.

[well that's just great. opens her eyes again]

I spoke to the Sheriff about the conditions for winning the game. There are no other win conditions other than the ones we've already spoken about. [so either the Bounty Leader dies, the Deputy dies, or they get creative with their solutions]

The Deputy can be alive when we end the game, and to rule out that ending being the one versus one duel scenario, I asked for clarification.

The game can be ended with the Deputy dead and the Bounty Leader not killing them, but that's another alternative scenario solution. The game can also be ended with the Deputy alive, but of course we'd have to convince Dr. Lecter to work with us.

All that doesn't surprise me. What did, however. . .

[folds her arms]

The Sheriff would prefer that the winner decide to do with those who have died. However, if he deems the choice "unfair," then he'll step in to override their choice. He told me he generally wants everyone to go home after this game is over, because that is "easier." So. . . if everyone worked hard, and the winner of the game cheated and picked the "no one goes home" option, he stated he would step in. I suppose that is a small comfort.

[AND FINALLY, since she knows everyone is all worked up about Damian being in the stocks, her included. . .]

Has anyone here besides me broken curfew and spent the night outside?

[insincerely]

[... Huh. Well, it's good to know that they're not necessarily doomed if Ash or Hannibal wins the game.]

Does being locked in the stocks count?

[thatsthespirit]

[shakes her head]

I didn't ask, but to be on the safe side I would count it.

The reason I ask is because the Sheriff told me part of the reason why Yuna died that night.

[impulsiveness]

[Well. Good to know they can murder the shit out of Hannibal and still end this game.

But. Raises hand, obviously.]

[thatsthespirit]

[does that make you feel better, Jason]

[affixes him with a stern look, because she knows about the other two times he was outside]

You need to stay inside tonight. I know it may be difficult, but if you try to guard the stocks, you'll die.

Just as Yuna did last week.

[hydrokinetics]

...I already talked to Dr. Lecter about working with us. As an alternate route. I didn't know that could be a win condition.

But Milla's right about the strike system. I think...the only ones who haven't really been outside are me, Natalie and Noctis. Right?

[elemancy]

[noct nods in turn.]

We'd be the safest bets. [he'd be willing to do it as well, even if they have to worry about ash and his suspicions.]

[thatsthespirit]

[surprise, and then a small hint of relief]

So he's willing to work with us. . .? What did he say, exactly?

[that would make this so much easier]

[insincerely]

[THIS MEETING IS OFF TO A GOOD START (no) but on a less murder-y note:]

So, seems like our dead pals have a lot to say, huh? [He holds up his letters.] For obvious reasons, I am now illiterate, so if someone could read mine for me...

I'm also going to assume that at least someone received a letter with clues.

[elemancy]

Probably. We'll have to look hard.

[and so noct read out shinnosuke's letters from yuna, felix, and the one labeled "???" from higekiri like a bro.]

[insincerely]

[Thanks, Noct.

... Felix's letter doesn't seem especially useful (it's also hard to tell with Felix), and he looks like he's about to have an aneurysm during Yuna's letter, but Higekiri's...]

Higekiri's sounds like bullshit. I don't buy for a second that even in hindsight, he'd make a different decision. He killed to protect his brother and his brother's friend, and after just a couple of weeks—especially to someone over a thousand years old—he suddenly decides that he'd be okay with their deaths? That doesn't make sense to me.

I'm pretty sure he's trying to say something else there, especially since I asked for help in my letter to him.

[impulsiveness]

I got one from Seizaburo and one from Yuna.

[Which... he'll be sliding to everyone else, so they can take a look.]

Seizaburo's has some oddly capitalized words. He might be trying to say something, but I don't know what.

[insincerely]

... Can someone read Jason's letters out loud for him? Or at least tell me which words he's talking about?

[thatsthespirit]

[slides her letters (Felix, Higekiri, Sara and Yuna) to everyone for their reading pleasure, although she does read them aloud for Shinnosuke]

I specifically asked Sara for help the night before she died, so I'm certain there is some kind of clue in her letter. But. . . I can't say I know much, if anything, about flowers.

[elemancy]

Flowers...

[he doesn't really know much about them either, but... he'll pull out his bookmark and motion towards the back.]

Maybe what those flowers are supposed to mean are really some kind hint. But... I don't know anything about those, either. Just the ones on mine.

[impulsiveness]

[On Milla's letter from Felix, Jason traces the following part with his finger:

"██████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ Just letting you know ahead of time."]

Not sure about Sara's for now. But think Felix was trying to say something?

[insincerely]

[...]

Hey, refresh my memory: did Higekiri write to you the first week we got letters?

[elemancy]

[noct's got no problem (mostly) with offering up his letters from riku and sara.

but there's really not much there, so he just kind of sighs.]

Seems like what I got back isn't going to do much. [but make fun of him for sara's comments because she's savage.]

[hydrokinetics]

[A headtilt.]

Riku's never gonna learn to get around the filters, is he? [But a frown.] He's really that worried about Xion, huh?

[There's a grin though.] On the other hand, Sara's got a point. [He'll even reach out with his good hand and pat Noctis's scruffy face.]

[hydrokinetics]

Dunno about clues, but I got letters from Seizaburo, Felix, Sara and...obviously Annabeth. [Which he'll read out loud.]

Annabeth saying there's still a lot we're missing isn't settling...plus mine from Seizaburo has a bunch of capitalized stuff, too. There's a part for Shinnosuke on his letter to me, too. Same thing.

[insincerely]

I really don't want to know what he said to me.