infreefall | redacted ★ claude

[ that's what ochako was afraid of. ]

How? My leader said there's no way to tell until... right before it gets really bad? [ what does that even mean. ] Or... did she know, somehow?

I think that's usually the case but she also knew what to look out for in case it happened.

You lose your memories quickly, far faster than we have been. I know she lost a lot but... I think it got worse and she knew what that meant.

[ well this sucks! but at least there's an idea of what to look for now, i guess. ]

So someone was asked to remove her. And you think they might know something about what's taking the nova from the Realm, or...?

Not quite.

(Oh boy.)

Ochako, you're training to be a hero. Do you think you can always do the right thing? Would you hurt someone to help more people?

[ she doesn't answer at first, instead just staring at claude in confusion. but she seems to brush whatever's bothering her off to focus on the question at hand, even if she can't seem to meet his eyes. ]

I have already. So I think I could do it again, if I have to... but I'd rather find a better way.

(The smile he gives her is sympathetic but really, his eyes are just sorry and understanding,)

I have too. Both at home and here.

I suspect this will come up at trial. Hikaru really put me in a spot with her last message so I'll have to explain what I can. But there are things I won't say if I can help it. Not to everyone. Not yet.

If I tell you what I can now, can I trust you to do the right thing? Trust our leaders no matter what and believe everyone here is doing their best to help, even if they do terrible things?

[ ochako, so often overflowing with smiles and laughter, stares back at him, stone-faced. claude's never really given her a real reason to trust him, and honestly? she's still not sure she can. he's always hiding something, even if it isn't malicious, and that's... a little unsettling, to her.

but hikaru trusted him, and hilda does, too. ochako knows she can believe in both of them, at least. ]

...Okay. I'll try my best.

(It's true and as much as Claude might ~enjoy~ being someone people seem to rely on and trust for some strange reason in this realm, the truth is, they really shouldn't. He's the schemer, after all.)

I don't know how long Hikaru was splintering. She's lost so many memories... it's really hard to tell but she suspected she was and told someone who then told me on Thursday. There was a chance she could have been okay and recovered the next day like I did. (Just casually dropping that little piece of information in this conversation,) But if it was too late, someone would have likely been tasked to remove her before it got worse.

When you splinter, you lose your memories quickly until eventually, there's nothing left. You're just an empty person. It also puts a lot of stress on the Realm which his already weak. Usually, the Realm would be able to correct it but now, it can't. So instead, it just gets worse and spreads to more people after the first.

If you're a secondary case, you're in "luck." ("Luck.") You remove the source. Once the source is removed, you'll recover.

You were--

[ hm. hmhmhmhmhm. ochako did know some of this already, but... ]

I didn't know it could spread. But they did say it's like a disease... [ guess that makes sense. it explains some things. ] So if you're a secondary case, you remove the first case, and it'll cure you. But if you're the first case, then the only way to stop the splintering is to fix what's making the Realm sick, but we can't do that yet. Is that right?

Yeah, after what happened to me, I was able to get a leader to confirm.

(But yup, seems like Ochako is following along,)

Basically and since we can't do that yet, some people get tasked with removing the first case like Shima was told to remove Laine. If someone was told to remove Hikaru, we need to find that person and find out who told them.

It's probably one of the leaders. Mine said they already know who to ask, if it comes to that.

But that doesn't necessarily get us much closer to fixing the Realm itself if they don't know much... or if their rules are keeping them from telling us more.

Virid's and Shima's leaders asked them to do it. I know one other leader who made the same order. So I think we can assume at least one of the murders each week is because a leader told them to.

I know some people know this already and others are are starting to suspect it. The last thing we need is for everyone to start turning on the leaders, though. They don't want to to make these requests and they're trying to help us. They're just limited in what they can do right now.

As for how to fix the Realm... we've known part of that answer since the beginning. We collect nova so the Realm can recover. And now, we know there's a monster draining nova so we need to stop that, too. It's possible some leaders know more than others... each one seems to have their own "area" of knowledge but they can't discuss it freely without revealing who is on their team which, as you know, strains the Realm, too.

Edited 2020-10-31 09:15 (UTC)

But if we find thr rest of the team they'll be able to talk as much as they want with them...

Is that still all that anyone knows, though - that this "monster" is there? Nothing about how to get rid of it? I haven't even heard anyone mention it since Elsa-san first did.

Basically, yes.

(Ah, and now he's at a point where talking is going to get complicated. He's quiet for a moment and he looks at Ochako, considering something for a moment and moves on,)

When someone on our teams kill, the team regains a memory. That includes our leaders. Given how many people have been killed so far, it's safe to assume most if not all leaders here have remembered something more since we've been here. As we come to them with more information, they're probably able to figure out more things.

My leader doesn't seem to know as much about the monster. At least, everyone on my team seems to be pretty lost on this particular topic. Elsa was the second time I'd heard about the monster. The first time... It was just knowing there was a monster. Elsa seemed to know more. Or at least, know someone who knew more.

[ something about what he says is clearly bothering her. whatever it is, though, it must not be important enough to mention. moving on. ]

And we can't know exactly who knows about what, because we can't openly claim our teams... [ frustrating. ] There has to be a better way to gather everything we know without putting that at risk, though. The longer we keep it all separate, the harder finding and defeating that monster will be.

(Very frustrating.)

That's the situation we're in. (Unfortunately! And he shrugs, scratching the pterodactyl's belly idly,) This is... more or less what I know so far.

Tomorrow, I want to try to find Hikaru’s killer so I can talk to their leader and see what they noticed this week or if they remembered anything. Maybe, if they work together, they can find a way to prevent this.

If we can’t find Hikaru’s killer… then Alyssa’s killer should still remember something later this week.

Either way, we can gain something from this and hopefully get closer to finding answers.

(And this... is what he's focusing on.)

Yeah but couldn't we at least try to compile everything anonymously? Maybe the same way that Hikaru set up her memory book? It wouldn't be perfect, but even that's better than only knowing what our own leaders can tell us. Keeping all that secret forever because it's dangerous won't work - we have to take some kind of risk if we're going to get anywhere.

And you can't guarantee that either of the people who killed them will tell you anything, either. Because if they out their leader to you, they're putting the Realm in more danger, and admitting they've remembered something could paint a target on their backs. Most people wouldn't do that, especially if they killed for their own reasons and not to help us.

Yeah, compiling the information anonymously might be our best shot. I know there are people here, like us, who are frustrated by how disjointed everything is. We can't guarantee everyone will participate but... we have nothing to lose from trying.

(He's been thinking about this for a couple of weeks at least so honestly? Hearing Ochako has the same thought feels great.)

It's frustrating but worth trying because, again, we have nothing to lose from trying. Some of us might have better luck than others, too given our relationships with the killers or victims.

(BUT IMPORTANTLY, THIS BOOK,)

Are you serious about finding a way to collet information for everyone?

Trying and failing is better than doing nothing at all. And I want to help, so... if there's anything I can do, I'll do it.

And if anyone's worried about someone seeing them write something down [ especially since they've used hikaru's book to compare handwriting ] then there are ways to fix that, too. We could set up something like a dropbox for information. That way, no one has to know who it came from.

It's easy enough to disguise your writing if you make an effort at it so that shouldn't stop anyone.

(Hmmm,)

We can put someone in charge to compile the information after a certain time. Maybe two or three to keep each other accountable. I think there are a few people here most would agree on trusting.

They'd have to agree to it first. It is extra work for something that may not even help.

...But I guess that's something to figure out after this weekend.

(Something else to figure out over the weekend. Something else to focus on and work towards instead of staying still.)

We'll see what happens. Until then, let's focus on the weekend.

(He'll be fine!!!)

redacted ★ claude

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