newlydead r2 - day 13 - june

[jinglebros]

[ Late at night, Santa is fidgeting and upset and angry in his hospital bed. He's picking off most the blankets and thrown all his pillows. He's so upset and angry that his face is blotched red. He wants June is who he wants, but he doesn't see her. So he keeps glancing at the door to see if she'll come back, he's ready to send someone for her soon, but maybe she'll come back soon. He fucking hopes. He needs her. ]

Comments

[exequte]

[She comes back, of course, she's been in and out all day, ghostlike, staring at Santa in concern, leaving whenever it started to seem like one of them needed it. Now she's back again, feeling a little drunk still, though she pauses at the doorway at the sight Santa makes now, red and angry and with scattered bedding everywhere.

There's a thought again as she looks at him, one she still hasn't shaken, though heaven knows she's tried. She doesn't know how to behave around him like this any more. Once it would have been natural, but she seems to have lost the knack. Alcohol probably isn't helping.]

Should I go?

[jinglebros]

No. Come here.

[ He opens his good arm to her and looks at her with apology, worry and just a bit of desperation. ]

Please.

[exequte]

All right.

[Things feel strange, a little dreamlike, but she walks over and kneels neatly next to his bed, arms on the mattress and head on her arms, and looks up at him.]

Aoi, what's wrong?

[jinglebros]

[ He lets his arm fall down. ]

Kyrie's going to kill you.

[ It feels strange, upsetting, not to call her 'Mom', but what is he supposed to do in this case? ]

[exequte]

[There's a long pause at that because really what on earth is she supposed to say?]

What?

[jinglebros]

She's not voting for you like she said. She's a fucking liar.

[exequte]

What? I didn't think that she... How do you know?

[jinglebros]

Because she said as much. And she told me not to trust anyone, especially not her.

[exequte]

She said she wouldn't? That I was supposed to die?

[jinglebros]

She's not voting for you. We need to accept that and do damage control.

I've figured it out and provided for you, but you need to figure out what you're doing.

[exequte]

All right, well who is? I... I didn't win the bid, but I got a hotel pass. If I need to vote for myself, I need to know now. If I leave, no matter which way I do it, I die.

[jinglebros]

You're not going to die if you go to the hotel. I have to truly believe that, after some of the things I've seen here. I have to believe that.

[ Otherwise... ]

I have control of someone who did win the bid. Or rather, we have a mutual deal.

[exequte]

Most people wouldn't, maybe, but if I go home and everything is the same then I'll already be dead. That's what going to the hotel would be.

How sure are you that you do have control?

[jinglebros]

[ He just looks at her. ]

Because I've shown trust to him and he's shown trust to me. He could have hurt me when he had the chance, but he didn't. Not only that, but he made sure I stayed alive.

[exequte]

[She exhales slowly.]

Simon? I didn't think he had any of what had been done in him. I guess I was wrong, then.

[jinglebros]

He poisoned the alcohol bottles.

[exequte]

Yes, I thought so. My guess is that Mari was the one who had the idea to bring back the corpses - it's a show, and nobody actually got hurt doing it. She was a sweet girl, and a performer. It seems to fit. That means whoever was left over was the poisoner.

You said he. We know that only one of the pass holders died, and I got that pass, so whoever did something was the second winner. Okuyasu seems... Well, he doesn't seem like he'd do something like that, he just seems too straightforward. Rhys I barely know anything about, but you introduced him into the alliance, and in theory that means he's got as much of an interest in me as in you to begin with.

Besides, Money was the one who took me and Mary to you. I don't know of anything else, other than voting, that's helped you stay alive thus far.

[jinglebros]

[ He smiles. ]

Still a smart girl.

[exequte]

If you say so.

Are you absolutely sure you can trust him with me, though? Even if you would with yourself, that's not necessarily the same thing.

[jinglebros]

...I've already trusted him with you. He guessed what you're like during the truth serum. He figured out that you're not just sweet and innocent. He's told nobody.

[exequte]

[Well that's. News.]

... All right. As long as you're sure.

[jinglebros]

I'm sure.

[ He stares at his hands. ]

So you can... you can use your hotel pass on Mom, please, or you can use it on yourself and distrust Simon.

If you use it on Mom, I'll make a deal with you. I'll give you all my votes next round. You can control them all.

[exequte]

[She looks back up at him, and there's something cold about her now.]

If she was going to betray us, why do you care?

[jinglebros]

Because...

[ He covers his face. ]

Because I don't want to watch another mother die.

[exequte]

If she was planning to murder me, I don't think she was one.

[jinglebros]

[ He just keeps his face covered and says nothing. ]

[exequte]

That only makes what she's doing worse, right? If she pretended so that you'd want to save her regardless of anything else, so that she could betray you more effectively?

[jinglebros]

No, she didn't pretend! She just happened to decide that she thought better than me on something.That's what it was. Isn't that what all parents do?

It just usually doesn't lead to fucking murder.

[exequte]

Oh.

[Her lips feel numb with cold now. Her face becomes quite flat, and she turns a little away.]

So it's not you she doesn't like, it's me.

Fine. I'll vote for her. And then I never want to hear about her again.

[jinglebros]

[ he stares at her. ]

Do you really want to do this?

I'm not going to force you to do anything you don't want. Not even for votes.

[exequte]

[Her voice is as flat as her face. She feels so cold....]

If she's doing this because she thinks it's better for you, it's because she thinks I'm bad for you. That would mean she's trying to protect you. From me. That also means she does still care about you. I don't want you to watch someone you love, who was trying to protect you, get murdered.

[jinglebros]

[ He takes in a ragged breath and drops his hand into his lap, staring down at it. ]

She knows about the stabbing, Akane. She knows why it happened and whose idea it was in the first place.

[exequte]

Mmm, that makes sense.

All right. I'll keep you out of my plans going forward, if you want me to.

[She was trying to protect him too, even (especially?) with this latest plan, but she doesn't say that. If he doesn't know it already then her saying so isn't going to convince him, and she doesn't want to waste her breath. More than that, maybe, she doesn't want to know if he doesn't.]

[jinglebros]

I'd rather know about them, thanks.

[exequte]

That's not what I meant.

I'll keep you uninvolved.

[jinglebros]

[ He nods and keeps looking down at his lap. ]

Thanks.

[exequte]

All right.

Is there anything else?

[jinglebros]

...no. There's not.

[exequte]

All right.

I hope you feel better soon.

[She sounds very cold still, almost mechanical, and doesn't quite look at him. She hasn't quite been looking at him for a long time.

She pushes herself to her feet with a sort of mindlessness.]

I need to go cast my vote, then.

[And she turns around and leaves.]