hydrokinetics | Don't think you're more than this, or above all this [W6, Monday Afternoon]

[She is, luckily, staying very far away from the corpse pile fiasco. People who have both arms can deal with that, she's out. When he approaches her, she nods.]

Yeah, of course. Here, or somewhere more private?

[He tilts his head.]

Post Office? I have something I need to send out and everybody should leave us alone for just long enough.

Sounds good.

[She nods, then, and starts heading that way. As she goes:]

Good news or bad news?

That depends on what you consider good and bad. [But it's all he says until they get to the post office and he marches up to Annabeth's mailbox. He doesn't immediately drop his letter in though.]

...did you know that Will carries love letters from Dr. Lecter?

[She pauses, taking that in. The implication isn't lost on her.]

It was a match, wasn't it?

[There's very little doubt in her mind at this point.]

Did Will give you the letter willingly, or did you take them somehow?

[A nod.] Of course it was. Why wouldn't it be at this point?

[He's so tired of everything being complicated.] We found our Deputy. I think. [They did, he still just doesn't want to believe it's true despite the fact it makes a scary amount of sense.] You can see why I told you first. And weirdly...yeah. I was talking to him about something and he offered to show me a letter Dr. Lecter wrote to him.

Knowing Will, he knows exactly what we're doing. That's what I'm not sure about. Why help us?

I don't know, they have some weird and horrifying thing going on, but the important part isn't why he would help us.

[She sighs.]

The important part is whether or not he's going to tell Hannibal. If he knows you know, which he probably does by now, he might. During one of the trials, he said Hannibal was vital to him, remember? We have to do something.

Caught in a bad romance. [Listen he's from 2010, that song came out like a year prior to that.] It's important if we want to calculate Will's next moves.

But...well. That's why I said I'd take Will. If Dr. Lecter's going to come after anybody, it might as well be me. I got the information we needed and that's going to help us come up with a better plan. I know that Dr. Lecter's vital to him and that he relies on him. That's what the real problem is.

What can we do?

...Okay, we'll get back to you being a complete idiot in a second. For now, let's walk through this.

[She thinks for a few seconds, vocalizing her thought process.]

If Will tells Hannibal, I could see him telling him about Damian, and we absolutely can't let that happen. If Hannibal gets killed, we lose the only sure way we have to end this game with the fewest casualties. But, knowing Damian, that isn't an option that's going to be taken advantage of anyways, so maybe that's a moot point.

That would leave us with either a last man standing kind of thing which isn't acceptable, or the option you mentioned where nobody left alive will kill each other and the game ends. That ending basically isn't possible if Hannibal and Will are still around, I don't think. On the other hand, if either one of them dies without the other, we're probably in for a complete shitshow.

Natalie, I'll be honest. I'm exhausted. I don't want to talk about me being a complete idiot because I already know.

[So, the plan.] While I agree with most of that, I don't think Will's going to tell him about Damian. Not if he was willing to show me Dr. Lecter's note and give us the advantage. Doesn't that seem more incriminating toward Dr. Lecter instead? For all we know, Will thinks this is hilarious and he's going to let Dr. Lecter do the guesswork himself while Will sits back and watches.

We really need to clarify other ways to end the game, especially now that we know who has what roles. We have most of the pieces we need but...with everything we know about this world and the labyrinth and everything? Do you feel like we're missing something really, really big? It seems too simple now to think of the last man standing route.

And what you're suggesting is to knock them both out at the same time which is also probably dangerous. How could we even do that? [He holds up the envelope in his hand.] ...I'm asking her what they know on the other side. Maybe that'll help.

Yeah, well, I feel the need to tell you about what a complete idiot you're being, so.

[She frowns.]

What if he only showed you the note so he could know for certain you were onto him? Like, if he needed to see your reaction to seeing the handwriting to work his weird emotion powers. I don't know. [She sighs.] Will has a weird hate romance thing with Hannibal, yeah, but... It's hard to imagine him sitting back and letting him get killed. That's the entire reason killing just Dr. Lecter would be a bad move, right? Will would go ballistic on whoever did it.

[She sighs.]

We probably are missing something big, but... Until we have enough merit to clarify all the possible winning conditions with the Sheriff, it still seems like our best bet is to fall back on the group of people who absolutely won't kill each other. So, trying to knock Will and Hannibal out at the same time is risky, but... Don't you wonder if it's the least risky option? As for how - I don't know. But, if Hannibal was gone, there'd be no more people in the stocks, right? No more people who have to sit around and get killed by coyotes to make sure their friends don't.

Sorry, can't hear you.

[He shoves the letter in Annabeth's mailbox finally, closing the door and leaning his forehead against it.]

...well then I screwed up. Whatever. I got what we needed and we can move. Will and Hannibal can focus on me having too much information and you guys can work on the side to either get a plan in order or figure out what Damian will do. I don't know if it's that he'll let Dr. Lecter get killed so much as maybe he wants to watch him work for it? Annabeth makes me do everything myself, too.

All seven of us won't kill each other. I know that. But who else? Who else can we include? That's seven other people out there...I trust Papika and Mr. Barnham, so that turns into nine out of fourteen. [This is the worst.] ...it might be the least risky option as long as we don't need the Deputy alive in order to win. That's the real thing we need to ask Hal.

[But yeah...no more people who have to get killed by coyotes.] ...that was why I told you and Jason I didn't want anyone else spending the night out at the stocks anymore. If people are meant to die, the town will make sure of it somehow. Or Hal. Whoever. The town isn't sentient? I don't know anymore.

[She shakes her head.]

Damian isn't going to do it. The rest of us will have to figure out a plan. Either way... If one of them dies without the other, I could see them taking it out on everyone else, including some of the kids. We can't let that happen, so if we decide to go for him, we have to be careful about how we do it. No rushing into things.

I can ask Hal about that when I see him on Wednesday. Maybe we'll find a better option, but I kind of doubt it at this point. So, unless some miracle solution comes along - I agree. Least risky option.

Honestly, fingers crossed we don't need the Deputy for that scenario, because if we do, we're fucked. Damian won't kill him, and I think it's impossible to hit that criteria while Hannibal is included among it.

I'm not letting more kids die. [He stands upright, turning to lean against the mailboxes and folding his arms over his chest.] So okay. They go together. It's what we did for Chane and Felix, it's exactly the same situation only ten times worse.

That's not a bad idea. Asking Hal if there are other options. You think you have enough merit built up from him to get a real answer? I still don't even know how he judges that.

[He sighs to himself.] Why can't we just elect a new Deputy or something? I mean besides the fact that Hal told me roles don't get replaced, but maybe there's some kind of loophole to that.

Yeah, I don't think any of us are particularly interested in that option. [She sighs.] Once I have confirmation about whether this can end early if Hannibal is dead, I'll let you know, but... Do you think we should tell the rest of the group what we're thinking? I know Milla and Damian would probably be against it, but it seems like the best solution we have if it's available to us.

I think I do, yeah. Most of the answers he's given me, he's given me willingly without me telling him I'm getting the information as a reward. [She scoffs.] I doubt there's a loophole. He told me if I died that would be it, no more items.

We're meeting again on Thursday. I think it's something we should at least talk about as soon as we know if Dr. Lecter has to be alive. I know Milla and Damian will object, but we can't ignore it. I want it out there to see what we can figure out. I know a lot of us are asking questions now from Hal and the dead. Something's gotta give.

[He hopes. He's also strangely quiet for a moment.] ...yeah. That makes sense. But that's only part of the reason we're going to fight to keep you alive. And Jason should have an option to keep living, given...[That he's dead. He shakes his head.] Hal gives information based on what we already know. Guess we just know a lot combined.

...I guess so. My concern is that they'll try to stop us, I guess, and if we're right about him not needing to be alive - it's too important. They're both dangerous.

[A snort.]

Don't worry, I'm not feeling particularly suicidal. I'll be fine. But... Jason's more important than I am, even with the items. [She nods.] I think we've gotten a lot better at figuring out the right kind of questions to ask him to get as many answers as possible.

We'll have an answer before then. We can counter it with an argument. We have to. We have to work together on this but we can at least be prepared to talk it out.

[...] You're both more important than me, items, no items, everything. Let me just do what I'm doing and we'll be okay. I think you're right though. Hal's arguing with us less. Maybe he thinks the whole thing's funny.

[She takes all of that into consideration, but—]

No. If we're doing this, we're doing it together. You're not running off to get yourself killed.

Natalie, please. [There's a deep inhale.] I'm not trying to die, but if one of us has to, it has to be me. Okay? Trust me. You trust me, don't you?

I trust that you want what's best for all of us, but you think you're more expendable than you are. If all of us work together, the chances of something horrible happening go way down.

[A pause, and it's quieter when she speaks.]

I'm not losing you or Jason. I fucking refuse.

[...she's right, of course. But he has so much to say, so much he needs to make her understand. But maybe now isn't the right time? It's confusing.]

We'll work together as long as we can. I promise you that. [But...there's a sad look before he turns, gesturing for her to follow him out.] You're not going to lose Jason. And like I said, I'm not trying to die.

[Still will though.]

There's no such thing as as long as we can. We're all making it out, Percy.

[She follows him out obediently, though.]

Is there something else up, though?

Yeah. I know we are one way or another. [His hands are in his pockets, and there's a small, funny little grin even as he keeps his eyes forward. Mrs. O'Leary's still following dutifully as well, as one does as an NPC dog.]

I'm just a little tired of dealing with corpses, I guess. [Well.] I might go lay down for a while? I don't know. I feel like that's like giving up. Now that we know who our target is we can't slow down.

[Another pause.] You ever feel like you've broken apart so much there's no point in holding pieces together all the time?

Edited 2017-02-20 21:10 (UTC)

No, not one way or another, I'm not letting you die.

[He might be looking straight ahead, but he can probably tell from her tone that she's glaring at him.]

...Yeah, I know. But resting isn't giving up, seriously. [A sigh.] Probably not as much as you. But that's what we're all here for, if you let us.

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