Week 0: post trial

[disclosures]

[That was one very long trial, a good nine hours of floundering around and trying to decide who the culprit was. Rebecca wasn't close to Sharpay, but she's hardly close to anyone at all.

Once they're back she's taking Natsuo aside and checking in on him.

If she cares about anybody in murder castle, it's this dumb kid.

How did she get here?]

You didn't end up licking your shoe, right? You aren't hallucinating from that?

Comments

[randori]

[ He peers around her, sees that everything is just as fine as she says, and only then slips inside, taking care not to actually touch anything as he makes his way across the floor and finds a stool to sit on so he can peel off his gross socks. ]

Thank god... Almost doesn't seem real, huh? Like none of that ever happened.

[disclosures]

[She takes a seat across from him.]

If we could forget, we could just pretend. But memories aren't that easy.

[randori]

They're not, but... I think I'm pretty good at making myself forget, and moving on from stuff. Especially things where there's nothing more I can do about it.

[ He bunches up his socks and sort of... tosses them into a corner, before looking around for another pair. Maybe knee socks or something that'll help keep his shins from getting busted- he goes to paw through a pile of those. ]

Anyways, that thing I wanted to talk to you about, any why I didn't want to talk about it out there where everybody else was around. It's about that task you're supposed to do- the not talking for a week one.

[disclosures]

I think you're better at that than I am.

[She watches him but she looks over at the missing dresses before her attention drifts back to him.]

Right. What about it?

[randori]

[ Being able to forget isn't something to be proud of, but he almost cracks a smile anyways. ]

I was thinking about how when Gi-Gan died, [ his voice drops to a whisper at her name, but then stubbornly picks right back up to a normal volume, though soft enough that nobody would overhear. ] She was killed but nobody heard her shout. I was thinking about if that happened to you, you should scream, right? You wouldn't let something like a task keep you from calling for help?

[disclosures]

I hope I'd still be able to scream. But it really depends on how that silence works. If I'm enchanted to be silent, I don't really get a choice do I?

I can always try my vow of silence again. ... I think.

[randori]

Starting over a whole week would be such a waste, though... Did you ever get to talk to Tiger or Dragon? About whether you're just supposed to not speak, or if you go to them and say you're ready and they do something about it?

[disclosures]

It hasn't really come up. If I get a chance to speak to them alone, I'll check then.

[randori]

That's a good idea. A spell would make it easier, but that's more dangerous... If something happens and you can't speak, that'd be really bad! But there's ways to talk without speaking— I was teaching Reyna too! If you want to learn morse code! That way, we can still talk to each other if something happens.

[ And they wouldn't leave a paper trail either, if it's something sensitive like this. ]

[disclosures]

Why do you know Morse code? I mean, yeah, I'll learn it, but I'm surprised you picked it up.

[randori]

It's not that surprising!

[ Is it that surprising...... Yes it is. He's slow enough that it seems there's no way he could have picked up something like Morse code over a handful of days, but that isn't the case either. ]

It's something like a hobby I had before. It's just memorizing, and I'm really good at memorizing!

[ Understanding is a separate issue from memorizing, but with Morse code, as long as you understand the language it's being transcribed into, that's a moot point. ]

[disclosures]

Honestly I thought everybody who used it was in the military. [Pointed! Look! He doesn't look like he's old enough for that!]

It'll be useful. If I can learn it over this week, then I'll be more comfortable with going completely silent.

[She's still nervous though.]

[randori]

[ One more year of high school, so soon... If he survives this place, anyways, then he might find himself in a place where his various """talents""" of shouting, fighting, and Morse Coding are actually useful. ]

You're smart, so I know you can learn it! The basics are easy, and then all you need to do is keep practicing it- I'll come practice with you all the time!

[disclosures]

Thanks. I think... I'll try the vow of silence next week. That gives us plenty of time for you to teach it.

[randori]

Yeah! Just tell me when you plan to start so I won't accidentally make you talk out loud too!

[disclosures]

Let's try for Monday of next week.

[randori]

Monday, then! I'll make sure you have everything down by Monday!

[ Which we could probably handwave since it's like... dots and dashes and their corresponding letters. But now they can Morse Code at each other in tags...! ]

[disclosures]

[ What a good child. She'd kill a man for this child specifically. ]