the one with junpei;

[oraculi]

someday i'll put gifs or something here but not right now!!

Comments

[oraculi]

[Another pause.]

Yeah. You got that one right.

[Ugh. This backfired. Oh, well. It's Junpei, and it's not like he's immune, but . . . he's another Victor, or at least close. That counts for something.]

[crashout]

[...he lifts both eyebrows before there's a slow nod.]

So did you. [Hey Haymitch. Congratulations, you weren't wrong.] Sorry, things have to be done this way now that people are starting to learn about them.

[You want to trust everyone, but it's always safer to keep a distance anyway.]

[oraculi]

[There's a moment's pause, and then he barks out a laugh.]

We're real good at this, aren't we?

[On the heels of that last trial, it's sort of a tongue in cheek statement.]

So I guess we can guess what the other can do, yeah?

[crashout]

I don't think either of us would've gotten this far in life without a little caution. [There's a smirk that isn't quite amused, but it's still a little more relaxed. It helps that it's Haymitch and that Junpei likes him enough, but that trial definitely had his head spinning. As it is, he shrugs with both hands up this time.]

I've been playing twenty questions with the people I've been confronting and nothing bad's happened so far. Seems to be in everybody's rules and stuff. It might help to know exactly where we're standing here.

[oraculi]

Yeah.

So let's start like this: your role involves getting to know what people are up to in some kinda way.

[crashout]

More or less. [He's thinking over the base questions he could be asking here.] Yours is targeted toward an individual instead of the group at large.

[oraculi]

More or less.

[For once-- for once!-- he's not being a dick and parroting shit back. Just being extremely cautious. He honestly is more worried about their dear kidnappers than Junpei, though.]

Yours targets an individual.

[crashout]

Yes. [Given that he's already been warned that if they skirt the rules and break them there's nothing to protect them, caution's a great idea right now.] Yours can help or hurt an individual.

[oraculi]

[He hesitates, but--]

Yeah. Yours involves location.

[crashout]

[That one gets him to stop because he has to really think about it.]

Nope. [Though location gives him an idea.] You can make a person more or less vulnerable on Thursday nights to protect them from the demons, or to swap them out for another victim. Like a trade.

[oraculi]

No.

[God, he wishes.]

Yours involves something to do with keeping them alive, but not hurting them.

[crashout]

I don't actually know. [Which is funny to say, but.] Let's say "not exactly" on that for now.

Yours...involves sending anonymous messages or gifts?

[oraculi]

[Hm.]

Nope.

You know, I didn't actually set out to solve another mystery today. [Wry.] Yours involves getting to see who slept with who.

[crashout]

[There's a light laugh.]

No, that's just an unfortunate perk of talking to as many people as I do. [He runs a hand through his hair.] This questioning thing is a lot harder when we're starting from ground zero.

[Hm...] So. Something that can target one person, it can help or hurt them, and it doesn't involve items or notes.

...yours is different than anything you've ever done before.

[oraculi]

No. Not quite. I've done it in one part of my life, but just the once.

[Hmm. Getting to know what people are up to, targets an individual, doesn't know if it helps keep them alive . . . am I writing this for my sake, yes.]

Yours involves knowing who talked to who.

[crashout]

[He shakes his head.] Still just a part of me being...me, I guess. But it can help to know that part.

[One part of his life was something similar, it can help or hurt one person...admittedly he doesn't know as much about Haymitch as he wants, but. He ponders.]

Yours involves potentially mercy-killing someone. [A shot in the dark? Yes.]

[oraculi]

Nope.

[Not even close, if the way he says it is any indication.]

Yours helps you first and foremost.

[crashout]

Alright, alright. Sorry. [An apologetic grin.

But okay.] In short? Yes. But it's not just about that.

Yours allows you to...plant evidence or meddle with our crime scenes. Manipulate the environment around us somehow. [Target one person to either help hide a murder or pin a murder on them.]

[oraculi]

No. None of that, nothing around that kinda thing.

Yours involves the trial specifically.

[crashout]

No, but it can help with leading trials in a way. [Time to get creative with his questioning.]

Yours was responsible for the mystery marks on our three shipmates today. [Kagachi, Beck and Escha, he means.]

[oraculi]

Nope.

[That's as much a mystery to him as anyone. Almost anyone. Whatever. But . . . hm.]

Yours takes place a certain night a week.

[crashout]

Nope. But yours does. [...] Well, actually, the answer to that is maybe. It's a certain day a week though.

[oraculi]

Same here.

Yours involves planting evidence.

[crashout]

No. [...hm.] Yours involves checking into the whereabouts of a person. Places they've gone and people they've talked to.

[oraculi]

[Ah, and he pauses for a long, deliberate moment.]

Some of that is true. Some isn't.