I found the safest place to keep all our old mistakes [W3 Post-Trial]

[zerotohiro]

[He finally returns back to the cluster of huts and near the longhouse where people are lingering, having finally calmed enough to catch a second wind. The trial was exhausting, the results were devastating and they still had another day of this.

He spots his new target ahead though and he suddenly jogs up to Hayner, pausing once he realizes it's a lot harder to think of how to phrase what he wants to say. "Goodbye" seems cheap and "I'm sorry" seems unfair.]

...hey dude. Wanna go for a walk? Everyone's still way too active right now.

Comments

[thewinner]

[ Hayner is having fun just digging his foot into the sand and thinking about how sharing almost all of the list wound up being a very bad idea.

He jerks his head up when he hears Hiro's voice and then stuffs his hands in his pocket. ]

Yeah, that would be good. [ Or something something. ] How's your partner?

[zerotohiro]

Yona? I don't know yet...I was going to check in with her after everything. I think we both have a lot of people we want to say goodbye to first. [There's a frown, but he tilts his head and begins to walk, making sure Hayner follows.]

...but she'll be okay. Somehow she's managed so far. That's the important part. [A pause.] It's probably a dumb question to ask how you're doing, huh?

[thewinner]

[ He already had a conversation with her the previous night, and doesn't plan on repeating it. He does wince a little at the word goodbye as he shuffles after Hiro. ]

Yeah, I know she will be. [ He's actually pretty glad Hiro is her partner. ]

Just a bit. I'm pretty angry and... [ Scared. ] This whole thing is a stupid mess.

[zerotohiro]

[Thanks for that, Hayner. He either doesn't notice the wince or he doesn't call him on it, but he nods along because it is stupid.]

Stupid mess is putting it likely. I want to say the bright side is at least we found a couple of the roles, but like...at what cost, you know? That's where the whole thing gets so messed up.

[thewinner]

[ Huffing. ] I should have kept my mouth shut. Maybe then...

[ It wouldn't have been as big of a number. Making fists in his pocket as he grunts in response. ]

Like sure we know, but maybe we could have found out who really took out Lelouch, you know?

[zerotohiro]

Dude, no way. That's the last thing we need is people keeping more secrets. You heard the Chief. Everybody's lying. Without you giving us a place to start we wouldn't have started looking in that direction and we would have wasted even more time.

We might not have found Lelouch's killer yet, but with what just happened? We have a place to start.

[thewinner]

[ Looking away from Hiro. It does make him feel a little bit better but... ]

I did leave off a name. [ And quickly repeating what he said in the tiral: ] He didn't actually think most of them were capable of murder, but he was worried. He took to heart the whole don't trust anyone, thing. And there were people he didn't want to be up against.

[ So it's a compliment in it's own way, right? ]

[zerotohiro]

[Just. A flat look?]

Dude. What if that was a name that could have helped us narrow down the list further? We can't leave anything out in these things or we're just going to lose more people! [A hand scrubs through his hair as they're walking. It's not fair to be frustrated with Hayner, not when he knows what's going to happen. At the same time...]

...until we figure out how to end this game, we have to keep playing. And to do that, we could use all of the information anybody has. So...why'd you leave out a name?

[thewinner]

[ Hiro. Hiro. Just giving a look. Giving a long stare before he reaches up to muss with his hair. ]

Because I believe in you. I know of everyone in there, it'll be you and probably even Vriska who have the smarts to actually solve this whole stupid thing!

[zerotohiro]

...[Yeah okay he's not stupid, but that's not something he expected. He doesn't react for a moment because what. What? What?

What.]

...you left out my name. [Lelouch what the hell.] ...thanks, I think. I don't know what else to say. [...] If that's true...why mention Vriska then?

[thewinner]

[ His partner was super smart but sketchy and paranoid, dude.

Sighing as his shoulders slump. ]

Vriska does a great job at acting like she doesn't care.

[ But... after seeing her with Battler, he now knows that isn't true. ]

People don't give her enough credit. I sure as hell didn't until during the investigation.

[ Hiro on the other end... cares. And asks questions. And tries to puzzle it out pretty obviously. ]

[zerotohiro]

[Lelouch was a good--no you know what, that's fair. Lelouch had ideas and Hiro listened to him, but he's also curious why precisely Lelouch was suspicious in the first place.]

Yeah, she does. Vriska puts on a good show and that makes it way harder to read what she can do. Both for the good and the bad. And so by not mentioning me it's a fail-safe to make sure eyes are off of me and that I'll stick around long enough to solve what's up. Is that it?

[He's not mad, but now he's just more disappointed things are ending this way. This many people shouldn't be dying, especially people like Hayner who definitely didn't deserve this. Not somebody who obviously cared enough about Hiro's partner to try to help, not somebody who cared even more about his own partner. It's just another flaw in the game, isn't it.]

[thewinner]

[ It's cause of Hiro's dokis for the robots ]

Most likely [ and he hates that he's saying this ] the killers will keep her around as a scapegoat or something.

[ And then nodding. ] I think you get plenty of attention aready. [ Lelouch noticed him and Hayner has heard him ask stuff during trials and stuff. ]

In case you didn't notice, you do ask a lot of questions. Besides all of that, you're also Yona's partner. [ And the more he sees and talks to Hiro, the more he likes him too. Admitting to that seems lame though. ]

[zerotohiro]

[At least he doesn't say that it's possible Vriska is one of the killers. Not now. This isn't the time to debate that.]

Hasn't worked so far, but you could be right. We're running out of shady people to use as options. [He rubs the back of his neck though.] I just want to find answers and I know that's probably drawing way more attention than necessary. But unless somebody else feels like being upfront, I'm doing what I can. On the other hand...I'm not doing everything I could do and that's because of her.

[He doesn't want to endanger Yona, basically.] It's how the game's designed. [There's a small frown.] Did Lelouch tell you why me...?

teal deer sorry Hiro

[thewinner]

I didn't have the specifics.

[ Looking up as he counts on his fingers. ]

Let me back up. He said he wanted to keep any eye on those who jumped out as more suspicious to him. I agreed with him about Vriska and the Jacks.

[ A pause and quickly explaining ] Told him that Vriska was nuts. Almost as bad as Laura. [ He feels bad about saying that now but... ] I mean even Battler seemed nervous of her for whatever reason during the investigation.

[ Which was weird but he's chalking it up to Battler being a weirdo in general. He's nice, but weird. ]

Anyways, I told him Akira and Jacopo seem cool and I didn't really ask about you. He did offer an broad explanation about you all being smart or how some of you handle things oddly. Like some of the names seem to know more or are pretty used to this stuff. And it just came down to you all being bad news if you were working to kill us.

[zerotohiro]

Vriska's crafty, I'll give her that. On the other hand, I'm not sure how much of it is an act and how much of it is real. I agree she's someone to watch out for based on circumstance, but...I don't know if I'd put her on the same level as Laura. Vriska didn't try to light the building on fire, at least.

Akira and Jacopo seem to be interested in helping us more than anything. But that doesn't surprise me. I've been told that a few times before. [A shrug.] It's not a bad idea to look at the list more closely. He suspected the Jacks and we found Battler who was partnered with a Jack. And one of the Jacks was a Wickie which explains why he was shady. He was operating under the idea of trying to find information without being caught.

...I'm going to do what I can to learn more about the people. I don't know if his list is an end-all, but it's a better start. And if people want to be suspicious of me, fine. I don't have anything else to hide.

sponge bob image

[thewinner]

[ That's true. ]

I do believe that she thinks- thought highly of Lelouch.

[ She seems really earnest about that! ]

Yeah, it's something. And whomever he was investigating might have killed him. [ And then huffing as his expression turns to annoyed. ]

Man, it just ticks me off thinking about it. He made this big deal about making sure I didn't run off and do anything stupid or trust the wrong people and he winds up getting himself killed.

[ He wants to hit him or something. Next time. If there is a next time after all of this... ]