AUDIENCE: YONA

[retellers]

Comments

[dawnblushed]

[yona grabs the apple to bring it with her, then considers it for a moment before she offers it to them.]

...hey.

[...]

You were in the castle this week, but... could you see what was happening?

[retellers]

[ they hesitate but they do grab it, rolling it in their palm a little ]

Yeah. I can see what my team is up to. [ they pause ] Something about this week you wanted to talk about?

[dawnblushed]

Well, it's just... it must have been hard to watch.

[it was hard enough to experience it, but at least she'd have been able to change the outcome if she could have come up with an idea.]

...are you holding up okay?

[retellers]

[ this is apparently not the question they expected, considering they stare silently for a beat before sighing ]

I'm fine. All this week proved was that there's not much we can do about it when things go wrong. Have to leave it to you. [ they put the apple in their cloak ] So there's no point lingering on it.

[dawnblushed]

...I was sort of hoping it wouldn't go wrong again, but...

[well. it has!]

I guess we're going to have to step it up. [...] I still feel like we overlooked something important yesterday.

[retellers]

Probably. [ that's reassuring?? ] Anyone who goes through with killing someone in this setting will make sure they aren't suspicious.

[dawnblushed]

...why do you think someone would go through with it, Wolf? Just to get their memories back?

[retellers]

Maybe. Maybe they just wanted to eliminate the competition. Or maybe it was another case like Virid. [ they shake their head ] Can't tell a motive without a culprit, but it doesn't seem like it was personal.

[dawnblushed]

I wonder if that's better or worse. [yona frowns.] To lose your life just because you happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, rather than because it was personal...

...well, losing your life at all isn't a good thing, regardless.

[retellers]

It's not, but everyone wants their deaths to mean something. [ they tilt their head up to look at the sky ] Extent of wanting their lives to have meaning, I guess.

[dawnblushed]

...I guess so.

[she's quiet for a few long moments, and then she sighs.]

It just seems unfair that it has to happen this way at all, but... there's no changing it at this point. All we can do is try to make sure it goes better next time.

[retellers]

... Yeah. Patterns usually starts at three, but I think we've got enough bodies to call it. [ sighs ] My advice? Get organized quicker. Make sure you double check any information you learn. In this scenario, if you want the truth, you can't trust people to tell you outright.

[dawnblushed]

...right. And we need to make sure we don't focus on the first suspicious thing we see, too. Even if someone is acting really [shady] stubborn.

[retellers]

I have no clue what that kid was thinking. [ they lift a hand towards their mask like they have a headache ] Even if not now, this might have happened later anyway, if he didn't change his attitude.

[dawnblushed]

I don't understand it, either. I tried to talk to him yesterday, but - what he said then, and what he did today... it's just made me more confused.

[retellers]

[ ... sighs ]

Faced with that kind of death, I don't know that I wouldn't want to keep fighting, too.

[dawnblushed]

I can't blame him or anyone for wanting to fight. It's just - he told me yesterday that his death was something he could accept, so... I didn't expect him to act the way he did.

Maybe he was just trying to act tough when he said that.

[retellers]

Accepting death's not as easy as just saying it. It's a different thing when you actually face it.

[dawnblushed]

[virid accepted it pretty well though]

...mhm. There's that, too.

I guess it's just... Fighting for your life is one thing. But trying to survive by stabbing someone in the back... I think I would have fought if it was me, too, but...

[she sighs.]

...I don't know. Part of me feels like I should be angry because of how he did it, but I can't really be angry that he did it. It's normal to want to live.

[retellers]

Fighting with honor isn't always an option. Sometimes you take the opportunities you get.

[ they look towards the inn for a second ]

Do you want to be angry, or is it just that you feel you should be?

[dawnblushed]

...it's that I am angry, but I don't feel like I'm angry at the right person, I guess.

[she sighs again.]

Sorry. I know this isn't making a lot of sense.

[retellers]

This whole place doesn't make sense. [ it's blunt ] So who do you want to be mad at? The actual killers? Or what's causing all of this?

[dawnblushed]

Whatever it is that disturbed the nova in the first place. ...not since we arrived here, but - whatever caused the problem that made the Realm decide to bring us here.

[retellers]

[ oh ]

Seems like it's some kind of being that devours memories.

[dawnblushed]

I want to punch it in the stomach and make it spit them back up.