Week 4, post execution - All Reaper Meeting

[bladeisme]

[Today...

Had been a hell of a thing. He hadn't expected to get an extra execution and go down a member in the same day, but -

It was almost a blessing. Now, they could go all out - and not worry about what would happen next, or leaks from people they worked with. Now, everything was set - and they only had three more weeks to go.

The time for hiding and trying to kill each other had passed. Now? If they wanted the dead to come back, there was only one option available to them.

To work together, and lead the players to the conclusion the Composer wanted.

Ichigo tells everyone to meet up in the Bookstore, a few hours after the execution and everything has settled down. He's sitting on the couch in there, reading - or trying to read and failing - as everyone shuffles in, looking up whenever someone arrives. And when they're all there?

He takes a breath,and closes his book.]

...So.

Let's talk.

Comments

[purrtagonist]

[oh]

. . . what happened to him?

[allsetfree]

He drowned.

I - asked him to take me swimming. Before he moved away, when he graduated.

[purrtagonist]

[oh no]

Alex. . .

[god. it's natural for Jonas's death to hit her hard already. but in conjugation with that memory?]

Do you. . . blame yourself?

[allsetfree]

No.

[ yes. ]

[purrtagonist]

You shouldn't.

[like he sees right through that answer]

[allsetfree]

I said no.

[purrtagonist]

. . . all right.

[she says that forcefully enough for him to drop it there. this Confidant isn't high enough for him to push just yet]

[allsetfree]

It's just...

[ not pushing is sometimes the best way to get people to open up. ]

It's not like it was some cosmic destiny for it to happen. For anything to happen. Just bad luck, and you have to take things... As they are.

But I've seen what happens if I didn't ask him. If we didn't go, Michael lives. If I hadn't asked, he would still...

[purrtagonist]

[ah. . .]

Is this the time loop thing you mentioned to me before?

[it must be painful, to know that there are timelines where one, single choice changes everything]

[allsetfree]

Yeah. I mean. Sort of?

Time was... Flexible. In the loops. I'm not sure if it was always that way, or if it was me. But sometimes I got thrown back to before it happened. I got to talk to him. And I got to see the ripples of it, when I came back.

[purrtagonist]

That almost sounds terrifying.

[to have that much power. to be able to see that much. normal humans like Akira only got to see time as it marched forward. but to people like Alex. . . the knowledge of every unlimited possibility in the universe must be overwhelming]

[or, perhaps, it's just him?]

[allsetfree]

[ it is terrifying. seeing just how much control you had over every little thing that you did or said so thoughtlessly. having the power to erase people from existence, to kill people or to save them. controlling other people's relationships.

at least in the loops it wasn't entirely real. time marched on for the people she saved, only repeating itself and changing around her. that meant - mistakes stopped mattering. that meant you didn't really have to worry about consequences anymore, because the only time they mattered was done and gone forever.

but now things are real again. time moves forward, and your actions have consequences. and you don't get to know what you're doing right or wrong until it's too late. ]

... It wasn't so bad.

[ at least she got to see him again. talk to him again. ]

[purrtagonist]

Mmm.

[again, it's like. . . he can see between the lines of what she's really saying. but pressing earlier had gotten him a hostile response, and so. . .]

You're brave, Alex.

[allsetfree]

I don't think so. But... Everything's gotta be up to someone.

[ so, why not up to her? ]

[purrtagonist]

Maybe.

[but she could have turned away from it, couldn't she? he isn't exactly sure, so he asks for clarification]

Why were you involved with the time loops, anyway?

[allsetfree]

Me and Jonas - we were the ones that opened the rift back up. And someone had to close it.

[ well. the rift itself didn't necessarily require the loops. but... ]

The loops kept me grounded. Stopped me from... Losing myself the same way as the ghosts.

[purrtagonist]

So. . . were you the one trying to close it?

[it's interesting that she says the lops kept her grounded, though]

And how did they keep you from losing yourself?

[allsetfree]

Yeah. Someone had tried before, so we knew what to do - knew that it had to be closed from the inside.

It's just a - void. Without the loops. It's just so much nothing for so long, and... [ Alex gaze sort of drifts a bit. ] You lose parts of you. Your face, your name. Love...

[ she pauses for a second, and has to shake her head. ]

But if I kept repeating it I thought... Maybe I could find a way out. And if I kept living that night, I could remember myself and the people that I - loved. My friends.

[purrtagonist]

. . . but that didn't happen.

[because she became a Reaper, right? to escape the loops?]

[allsetfree]

I was in those loops for an eternity, before this. So. I don't know.

[ in times like these, it can be hard for her to tell what she's lost and what she's retained. ]