laurence

[rippled]

tsun baby

Comments

[outdistanced]

I think they did the last time it was two, but... I don't remember why. And it's such bull, anyway. It doesn't help us or show any care for the dead.

[rippled]

No...

[ they sigh. ]

None of this gets easier.

[outdistanced]

I don't think it's supposed to. And the longer we're here, the better we know each other... the more we don't might not want to believe that certain people are involved.

[ the anger's starting to bleed out of him now, giving way to resignation. ]

That was such an awful way to kill him, though. It could happen again.

[rippled]

... it was.

I think we all need to think more about what we can do if we get targeted by killers to protect ourselves. Or, at the very least, make it easier to catch them if that fails.

[outdistanced]

[ ...it's a grim thought, but not unfounded. maybe that's what makes it so scary. ]

If even Zhongli could be taken out like that, then I don't know what the rest of us could do for protection. But trying to leave clues... that's something anyone can do. They just need to be something we can understand.

[ thinks tiredly of waner's rock drawing ]

[rippled]

Something we can understand while at the same time not being obvious enough that the killer would notice...

[outdistanced]

[ grimaces. ]

Someone suggested Morse code to me last week or so, but everyone knows about it now. And who'd remember that while someone's trying to kill them, anyway?

[rippled]

Code in general is not a bad idea, but you're right... at this point any of us would be able to recognize that one.

[outdistanced]

Maybe. I think the problem is if just a few people know, then - what if something happens to them, too? Or what if the killer's one of the people who knows?

But maybe that's a risk with anything we'd try to leave behind.

[rippled]

[ they nod. ]

All we can do is try, I suppose. It's what we have been doing.

[outdistanced]

Apparently we need to try harder.

[rippled]

We are trying so hard...

[outdistanced]

Sure, but look at where we are now.

[ one murderer missing......... ]

[rippled]

Oh, the result isn't what we wanted it to be.

But I think we should still acknowledge how hard we worked. Isn't it a good sign for how we care for each other?

[outdistanced]

...I guess. That's just going to make it harder on us the longer this goes on, though.

[rippled]

Everything is going to make it harder for us, though. It's like you said. People only grow more attached.

[outdistanced]

[ he did say that but it's still hateful. ]

Maybe if we could find a way to stop this from happening in the first place...

[rippled]

I'm not sure how, since there don't seem to be any signs of when people are affected... and we can't get rid of the tree.

[outdistanced]

That's the weird thing, isn't it? How can there be no signs at all unless we find them? I don't understand how something so messed up can be hidden that well.

...I wonder if it'll get harder to hide, though. Since they said it'll get worse if we don't do something.

[rippled]

... maybe. Fidelio suggested that we keep an eye on people's appetites, since it's believed that this was... gluttony?

[outdistanced]

[ grimaces ]

Because of all the food involved...?

[rippled]

[ they nod. ]

So, paying attention if anyone has any obvious changes in appetite...

[outdistanced]

I've never really paid that much attention to anyone's appetites so far, honestly.

[ never thought it would matter. ]

[rippled]

Well, I think the only one that is obviously noticeable is mine, so I guess I'd be easy?

[outdistanced]

...Maybe. Unless more people are like Jacopo who only eats when they're alone.