Week 2 Post-Trial

[strictura]

[ The trial itself may have been pretty straightforward, but with how high emotional tensions were running afterward, there's probably no one feeling like organizing any kind of gathering right now.

So, go do your thing until a new week starts, and write down those memories you don't want to forget. ]

Comments

[prescience]

[Oriko pauses mid-descent, stopping on the stairs to return the wave.]

Ah, something like that. The future, the past, how they blur together in a place like this...

It must take a lot of energy to hold together a castle much larger than this.

[undershadow]

You're telling me.

[ Something that's only tangentially related occurs to her, and the realization flashes momentarily across her face. ]

And it looked like it was taking it out of her just to do the first floor. I mean, the murder hole was always there or whatever, but still.

[prescience]

Yes, I noticed that as well. The first week were here, it seemed that Queen Alice-san could hardly move at all, or was always just coming awake from some nap.

[The source of the two Alices' powers had come up before, in the meeting with Manaka at the start of this all. Though Manaka pointed out that a few children alone probably weren't enough to power a structure of this size, the behavior from the girls - the Queen - hasn't gone unnoticed by her.]

While it's regrettable, I do think my suspicions will be confirmed or denied within the next few days...

[undershadow]

So, uh, what are you thinking?

[prescience]

[Probably the same thing you are, Lena.]

Manaka Sajyou-san told me that only a handful of humans weren't likely to provide enough magical energy to sustain a magical structure of this size.

Therefore... what if we're sustaining something else?

[undershadow]

[ The use of the word human doesn't even register because, again, Ducktales Is Just Like This, but the hypothetical raised does. Her brow furrows, which is an incredibly weird sentence to write about a duck. ]

Like a person who's supposed to be dead?

But not everyone here's supposed to be a normal person. Manaka's a witch, Cori was a witch, the butter boys have their own thing going on, Gil's part god or something. And this magical monster I fought came out of the vending machine last week, only it's tiny now.

[prescience]

[It seemed slightly less offensive to use a singular term than to point to individual differences in species...]

Yes, though how this outcome would ultimately affect the remaining children, I can't even begin to guess... [For whatever reason, Oriko just can't conceive of a happy ending in her mind.] At the very least, returning to the dead to the land of the living can't be as easy as they claim.

[All of that checks out, though Oriko hasn't had the pleasure of meeting Tiffany yet, so that part, at least makes her look a little baffled. A what now? But her expression recovers quickly.]

You've noticed, too? I think all of us are a little further from "normal" than we might let on, even if we don't know it about ourselves yet.

[undershadow]

[ Lena nods! It does not look like she feels good about it! Like, at all. ]

You've gotta figure that makes for a better power source, right? That turning off people's powers to even the odds stuff is bull, obviously, but maybe they're not even turning them off. Maybe we're all just... drained, or something.

[prescience]

[Though they both seem to agree with the idea, neither of them look particularly pleased with it. Oriko crosses her arms beneath her chest.]

My understanding is that we'd lose our memories no matter what. Being here must protect us from it happening any faster...even if it can't protect us from anything else.

When one of us dies, that seems to provide the most power...but if we stay here long enough? Does it all fall down?

[undershadow]

I'd say I don't wanna find out? But the alternative is all of us dying, sooooo...

Realistically, though, if we're not enough of a fix for whatever they're doing, my guess is it's full speed ahead to round three.

[prescience]

[She lets out a somber little noise of agreement.] If they don't obtain what they want from this round, I have no doubts that the cycle will continue indefinitely. Until the obtain the result that they want.

We all hope we're the last remaining player, whether outwardly or subconsciously. But what happens to them, I wonder, once the last verdict has come to pass?

[undershadow]

Y'know, you're saying it in a super cryptic way, but I get the wildest feeling you don't think they're just getting sent on their way with some souvenirs.

... anyway, I don't know. The whole grail war thing made me think maybe they were looking for someone else to fight their battle when they go back to it? But it's not like "winning" here has anything to do with power.