6/19: rebecca

[randori]

[ He hasn't been back in this room in a while, the red one he shared with Dave. It's only been a day or two, but the signs of living aren't there at all— the blankets and pillows are gone, moved, and the mattress lies closer to the door than it was originally, like somebody had tried to move it too but couldn't fit it through the doorway. But it's on that lonely mattress that Natsuo waits at, a little fidgety and anxious enough that he barely hears the door open when Rebecca arrives. ]

Comments

[disclosures]

[It doesn't take her too long to make it there, but there are two anthologies under her arm. She does knock on the door to announce her presence.]

[randori]

[ The door swings open under the force of her knock, having been left slightly ajar in the first place, and he looks up— opens his mouth like he wants to say something, and then closes it again.

He scoots over on the bed and pats the space beside him: sit here and set your stuff down. ]

[disclosures]

[She takes a seat next to him and then drops the books on her other side.]

[randori]

[ It looks like she came here with something in mind, so Natsuo hesitates a little about speaking up first. But he'd come here to ask something important, and he doesn't want to drag it out, so.

It's not fair that he does it this way, but he speaks out loud, not wanting to tap something out when his hands won't stop shaking. ]

Be honest... Do you like me? As a person. A friend.

[disclosures]

[She's surprised and her face definitely shows it. Is she really so bad at having friends that she can't show them that she likes them?

Shit.

Maybe she can't. She hasn't had real friends for very long at home.

She takes his hand and taps out Y E S]

[randori]

[ He's left staring at his hand for a long time- or what feels like it, trying to thing while his mind sluggishly mills around and refuses to move. And then he looks back up and meets her eyes. ]

I do too. I like you and I trust you, so-

So that's why I'll ask: Are you a Historian?

[disclosures]

[There's only a short pause. If there's anybody else she trusts here it's Natsuo.

So she taps.

Y E S

R U]

[randori]

Yes! I am! I knew it!!

[ no he didn't. he suspected, maybe, but he wasn't sure- it's why he'd been nervous all day to ask, in case he was wrong. ]

You asked me about my objective— nobody else I've talked to even cares about it! They don't know how important it is!

[disclosures]

[She was wondering, ever since he said he was trying to make friends with everybody in the castle. There's no reason for anybody to do that unless they were trying to gain their trust. Unless they were trying to figure out the other people's objectives.

Rebecca smiles and gives him a thumbs up.

She holds up 3 fingers and taps M O R E.

There are supposed to be five Historians.]

[randori]

[ It's only partly why— he thought that's why she was so nice to him, but then he'd stopped doubting and only together restarted. Friends are things he genuinely wants, and to play a role like this in the story, he thought it was perfect for him. ]

I know one more. I need your help to find the other two.

[disclosures]

[Maybe a little bit, at the very beginning. But then he agreed to get revenge on Josh with her and there's no way she wasn't going to get attached to him after that.

W H O

Rebecca gives him another thumbs up. They'll work together to find the other two.]

[randori]

[ But would she be willing to work with this one? ]

...Akechi.

[ Natsuo's friend, somebody he'd proclaimed loudly and widely to be his friend, even after he'd turned out to be a damned murderer. What does she think? ]

[disclosures]

[There's a long pause as she considers this. She's not close to him, but she personally doesn't judge him that harshly.

He did kill, but... they're all working within the bounds of "the game". They all want this to be over with, to win the game, to go home.

Maybe if they work together they can get it done faster. It's better than doing it alone. If he's already killed, then he probably won't do it again while they're here.

Most importantly, she trusts Natsuo's judgement.

Y E S]

[randori]

[ "Yes"

Despite everything that Akechi has done, Rebecca accepts him. That has Natsuo breathing a lot easier, because it'd be best to work together with friends- people who trust each other, people who can be trusted. ]

Then that's three of us. I only know us three, but maybe you can help me with the other two.

[ He moves off the bed. It wasn't a blind guess that he'd made and decided to call her over after all- there was a reason why things clicked in the first place. He roots around underneath the bed for a second, and pulls out Fane's notebook, handing it over to her and motioning for her to open it. ]

[disclosures]

[What Akechi's done... it's a lot. But they need to work together, they need to finish this war game that the Creators have put them in. Maybe getting their objectives done will help, maybe the five historians together will help.

Akechi is going to have trouble getting the others to trust him after last week, and if a Historian is somebody a bit older or more closed off, they might not really click with Natsuo.

She might be able to fill in the gaps.

She'll take the notebook and flip it open.]

[randori]

[ That's what Natsuo is hoping too. He'd reached out a lot, forcibly grabbed peoples hands, had his slapped away on numerous occasions. His way of connecting doesn't work with everybody, and as much as he wants to gather everybody up and shield them behind his back, he can't do it all by himself. But with five Historians, they don't all have to get along. They can link arms and be a chain, and that'll be enough.

Inside the notebook, pressed in the pages exactly halfway through, are five pieces of fabric, torn apart at one point but now crudely sewn together to show an image on each.

The first one depicts a caricature of a rabbit— what Natsuo recognized immediately to be meant for him. Rebecca's was the one he recognized right after he'd pieced it together. The second, a Crow, which had led him to Akechi. ]

It's these two. I dunno what to think about them.

[ Some sort of symbol, and something else that looks like magic. But looking at the tapestries, there are too many people affiliated with either. ]

[disclosures]

[She feels more than a little called out with that black broken heart design. Look she's doing her best out here, looking for love and a guy she can actually trust. Love is so difficult.

Anyway. She'll point at the rabbit and the point at him.

Crow is obvious.

She's never seen a symbol like that before, a little bit like four sixes making a diamond inside of a circle.

The magic circle... There are so many people who use magic. Didn't Lord El-Melloi II say something about being magus though? That might be a good place to start.

She'll tap the circle and tap "L O R D" on Natsuo's hand, with a questioning look.]

[randori]

Lord... The Second? [ El-Melloi of a Thousand Names ]

I dunno, I thought it was something magic, but I've never really talked to him about that. Mostly, he just yells at me and calls me stupid, so...

[ So he sort of doesn't want to talk to him? But he'll probably have to, seeing as Rebecca physically can't this week. ]

He did say that he'll help me with whatever I need, though, so maybe... Do you think it'll be okay to just ask, like I asked you?

[ Point blank. What if it's not him? ]

[disclosures]

[Lord of Way Too Many Names. Lord of the Illuminati, maybe.

What's the worst that could happen? He could say no, but he's so private and polite. She doubts he'd tell anybody Natsuo asked.

And if he's willing to help then that's potentially a sign. Hmm...

Y E S.

And then she'll flip open one of the books "he" "kind" "of" "magic".

"in" "library" "often"]

[randori]

[ Magic in the library- that's more magic than Natsuo's seen out of anybody anywhere, so he looks excited about this tip. ]

I'll take the circle and show him! If it's not him, I can just ask if he can do any magic with it! If it is— we'd have found almost everybody! Maybe one of them's already found the last person! Maybe we're almost there! We did it!!

[ Jumping the gun a little, but! It honestly feels like the first good news he's had in a long time. The first time he's felt like they've made progress, instead of just sitting on their hands, and he can't help but be excited. ]

[disclosures]

[Those were supposed to be two different sentences, but eh. They can probably work with that. Lord El Melloi II is in the library a lot, and the lab, but she's seen him in the library more often... but that's where she usually is these days.

There's not an easy way to sign "don't jump the gun" and there's no way that "gun" is in any of these fairy tales.

She does tap the words "ask" "him" "first". Before Natsuo celebrates too much about it. There's a lot of magic users and she doesn't know what 'magecraft' entails.

"tell" "mermaid" "after". Tell her if Lord-of-too-many-names is one of the Historians.]

[randori]

[ Later, Natsuo goes to the library to seek Waver out, fully expecting him to be standing there waving his arms around doing magic amongst the books... ]

I'll ask him! And I'll come back and tell you! And then we can all meet together!

[ aka I just need to confirm Waver, and between Natsuo and Akechi, they've figured out the last person too, and we can bring all the Historians into one pp :3c ]

[disclosures]

[She'll take his hand again and tap O K.

He knows where to find her whenever he needs her!]