tevinteriscoming | week 11; tuesday; afternoon

[ Adam is in the viewport, staring off into space like the Nuwa might come into sight at any moment. When he sees Dorian's hands up, he gives a slight smile. ]

It's hard to believe no one's ever tried that tactic before. [ A pause. ] I promise? What's going on?

[Closing the viewport door behind them.]

I was hoping to catch you alone. Get your thoughts. That was your -- [awkward pause because he has no idea what you call a relationship between two men] -- your young man on the ship, yes? [Nailed it.]

[ There is a long, blank look. ]

You mean Ronan? I'm dating him. [ Because he has no idea what Dorian meant. ] And your friend's there too, right? Kind of funny they all just happen to be important to us.

[Listen. He could have said paramour. He could have said that.]

Mm, well. Funny as well that all of us here who are from the same worlds happen to already know one another.

Edited 2016-08-18 02:39 (UTC)

And are very, very close.

I'm not entirely sure I trust this. Don't get me wrong, it seems pretty likely that they're there, but can both AI really afford to wipe us out? The dead have been telling us that we're the Pygmalion's last hope. For that matter, where's the crew of the Nuwa if they didn't have to deal with aliens? [ Looks like he's been waiting to talk about this. He sighs. ]

Do you still want us to sacrifice ourselves?

Yes, I do. I wonder if you have any idea why I might want that?

[He's obviously choosing his words carefully. Sorry for being cryptical.]

[ Not in the mood for this! ] You've been feeling guilty since Bull's death and you're trying to atone by dying a hero?

[Just. Wrinkling his nose.]

No. If I wanted to die as a hero, I'd have done it by now. It's not all that difficult. It's simpler than that, actually. I'm not really certain Alice intends to kill us, I'm not at all certain I trust anything she's told us about the Nuwa, but I do know that there are only fourteen of us left, and possibly two souvlaki. If we keep messing about playing Alice's games, losing two of us per week, we aren't going to survive them anyway.

... No, we wouldn't. It'd be a lot simpler if she actually just executed the souvlaki as soon as they revealed themselves instead of watching people run in to get slaughtered. [ He doesn't even see the point of fighting them but people try anyway. ]

I'm not sure I'd like to risk our lives on a hunch, though.

No? Do you plan on doing anything about it?

I don't know if I have to. People have killed every single week before when we were trying to avoid it. For something like this, where quite a few of us would be alright with a death to prevent it? It's going to happen.

I'm glad you think so. It would take quite an endeavor to stop it. Particular as some of us presumably care less about helping the Nuwa than we do, but presumably care quite a bit about not being purged.

[Starting to pick up what he's getting at?]

If someone has to kill this week, let the souvlaki thin their own numbers on it for once. Let's not help them by thinning our own ranks for them.

[ That's something he hasn't thought about. He seems to become a bit less defensive. There's a reason why he still respects Dorian. ]

I see. Are you going to tell everyone this or did you suspect me in particular?

Can't it be that I trust you in particular? I've no idea how to make this work on my own, you know.

[ He might be more suspicious, but in fact he's kind of easy on Dorian. Sometimes he just wants to trust some people, even if they're accomplices to murder and have tried to scapegoat his best friend on the ship. ]

You want me to spread the word? I don't have any better idea of who is and isn't an alien. [ There's a pause and he glances around. ] There is a group who might.

I'm not sure whether should be spreading it. But a group? Go on.

[ He's been debating telling Dorian this, but this seems like a good time for it. ]

Did Bull ever tell you about someone who was hunting for the souvlaki from the start? Not given the role by River, but someone else.

...No. He didn't. I know there are other Kampff, but not of anything like that.

So it must be entirely separate. But it exists. They're the highest ranking member on the ship or whatever, they got a different datapad with information on it, they're not even a human but some AI and— [ he sounds kind of angry and this probably wasn't what he meant to say, but oh well. He's not actually too concerned about the safety of this person. ]

And the worst part is, they're not even doing their job right. All those people who tried to fight Dave? All the kids who were killed and dismembered? Well, it's not them.

[Well. That's something. He doesn't exactly look pleased at this either; more suspicious than anything.]

But you know who this person is. I'm not asking you to tell me, just. You know their identity. For how long.

Since Sunday. [ He raises an eyebrow. ]

It's Jack. If you're possessed and end up killing him, I don't really care. I still don't trust him and it doesn't matter to me how important he is when he's not actually helping us at all.

Vishante Kaffas! Of course it is.

[He'd actually had a vague suspicious that perhaps Jack was Kampff, based on how confidently he'd told everyone at the meeting that he knew he wasn't a souvlaki. It wasn't subtle.]

What an idiot. How many people has he told? Anyone who has known longer than a week is most likely not souvlaki. That's the part that matters to me, not whatever he may or may not be saying to save his own life.

[Wait, something occurs to him.] But he may be telling the truth. I wanted him to be the one we killed or framed. The Bull wouldn't allow it. He helped him after he was injured by Elizabeth, too. I'm a fool not to have seen he knew something about Jack I didn't.

But then... You should ask Bull about that. How long he knew about the role. I don't know why he'd keep it from you unless there was a threat in place. [ Well, maybe not, but he likes to believe they trusted each other well enough. ]

Anyway, he's only told a few people. I guess he's been keeping quiet about it. Which I can't say I agree with—even if he can't reveal himself, some message about it before Elizabeth's trial could have saved Frankenstein, even something about how best to kill them. He has to have information like that, but he's watching us die instead.

I'll ask, but if he could tell me, I think he would have. It's clear there were restrictions he couldn't break, and maybe this was one of them. Still, the Bull is clever. He'll know a way around it if I know what to ask.

[He does actually trust that at this point, the Bull has shared anything he's able to share.]

Who else knows? Do you feel that you can tell me that without putting them at risk? If it helps, I happen to know I'm not possessed. I knew Bull was Kampff for two weeks before his trial. And there's other information I know, that I haven't shared with anyone, that the souvlaki don't have. But I can't tell you what it is, and you needn't take my word for it.

Edited 2016-08-18 05:06 (UTC)

Elizabeth was obviously one of them. He probably told her after she was exorcised. Dave, I think, will get the same treatment. More than that, I don't know. I'm not actually a part of it.

... But I do trust you. I don't know what to do with all of this, but I thought it might help whatever you're thinking. [ He won't push for that information. It's fair enough to let Dorian be wary. ] You know, just don't tell Jack that I'm the one who told you. I don't think he'd hesitate to pretend I'm souvlaki and do what he did to Rhys.

Of course. If I approach him, easy enough to blame it on the Bull.

[If he thought the information would help Adam, he'd shared it.]

Do you have any sense why you? Does he have some effective means to narrow it down? If he's cleared you somehow I should be interested to know of it.

I'm sure he does and he's not telling us. Or maybe he's desperate enough for the wait-and-see method. I don't know, he's keeping a lot to himself.

[ And Adam doesn't exactly look happy about being kept out of the loop. It's probably why he told Dorian so much. ]

So—your plan. If you don't think it should be spread, what should I do?

Of course he is. Well, if he does, I don't see why he'd share it. He certainly didn't think it fit to share his information with the Bull. [It's not Dorian's style to ever appear particularly angry. You can usually only tell his worse moods from his somewhat more cutting tone and tendency for bitter jokes and stern proclamations. Now, too, he doesn't express any emotion beyond irritable nonchalance, with an extra edge to his voice and an exaggerated air of disdain. But his fists are clenched tightly. This is where he ordinarily might start setting drapes on fire, but he'd rather not waste mana on dramatics.]

Best for me to avoid approaching him, I think, until I've had a chance to speak to Bull. [And cool off a bit.] But if you've a mind to do it, you may as well let him know. Credit it as your own idea. Otherwise, keep an eye out for anyone who seems likely to act this week. That includes Luke.

Edited 2016-08-18 20:54 (UTC)

[ Chalk up another reason to hate Jack. Of course he could have helped Bull. He had to know, he probably knows about all the roles. He must enjoy watching them flounder. ]

If I see him. [ It doesn't sound like he particularly wants to, but he'll try. The mention of Luke gets a raised eyebrow. ] Don't worry, he won't. We talked.

[ And he sounds pretty confident of it. He stands up and takes one last look out the window. Still no Nuwa. ] I'm going to take a walk. But... thanks for letting me know. [ It probably helped more than Dorian realizes. ]

week 11; tuesday; afternoon

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