TAKE ME TO THE MOON (End Game Investigation)

[whimsicalism]

[Friday arrives uneventfully. The fog is growing stronger, it's true, but nothing obvious has happened. It's probably a relief not to have Kakuya's presence or a monster breathing down your neck. That doesn't help the sense that something has changed. Not one but two areas have opened up. A large skyscraper now towers over everything in the east, it's large bulk casting shadows over the entire 'city'. In the west, a park surrounding a lake sprawls out; a solemn looking Japanese shrine sits on an island in the middle of the lake.

Two large new areas are open to you... it's a bit disorienting but you probably should spread out.]

((Welcome to the final investigation for the dead! It's entirely optional so don't feel pressured to join in. ICly, this will be happening at the same time as the living's investigation and trial. Something may happen near the end of the investigation not involving these locations so keep an eye out.))

Comments

[bellabellabella]

[He hesitates, because this isn't really a thing he wants to or is supposed to say, but he told everyone else when he thought that would help them get over his dying faster only then this happened instead, and it doesn't seem very fair...

He just shrugs eventually.]

[noblesnow]

..............................I see. I suppose it doesn't really matter.

[Reika's voice sounds a little uneven, in a way that suggests her smile might be a bit forced. One might speculate that she thinks it might actually matter a lot and she just feels obligated to politely accept the non-answer but is a little too stressed to be completely convincing.]

[bellabellabella]

[That pause and little forced smile makes him feel suddenly and intensely guilty. He's told everyone else, after all. And perhaps he feels he owes Reika something. He had given her a very hard time, only to immediately follow her crime with one of his own.

Still, he gives it one last try.]

You're probably happier not knowing.

[But his air as he speaks now is slightly resigned, instead of unwilling.

Does it even matter anymore? He's certainly earned a punishment for revealing this much to as many as he has, if it ever gets back. And yet, she truly would probably be happier to live in ignorance. That seemed to be the usual way with humans.]

[noblesnow]

[There is absolutely no change in Reika's expression.]

I actually think I've had enough of "not knowing" for a while.

[bellabellabella]

[He shrugs, then, and suddenly is angry enough at how people keep ignoring this good advice that he tries to give that he doesn't care anymore. He doesn't sound angry when he answers, however, and the word is half challenge and half resignation.]

Vampire.

1/2

[noblesnow]

You're--

[noblesnow]

[Reika pauses for a moment.]

No, actually, that makes sense. And you must have admitted it during the trial, right?

[bellabellabella]

[He looks over very quickly at that, startled that she'd worked that out, then tilts his head a little, a careless motion.]

Of course.

[noblesnow]

[Honestly, she's just kind of assuming. That's when her secret came out, after all.]

If this is what happens, I can see why people would think you burned.

[bellabellabella]

[He laughs, a little disbelieving, because how can this be the only reaction to seeing someone so transparently and obviously not human, someone who has something so wrong with them, and who then confesses to being a monster? And moreover how can it keep happening? Reika certainly isn't the only person to react with this kind of unconcern. But he shrugs at her assertion, finally, feeling slightly lost.]

I expect that's part of it. Most of the stories are wrong to one degree or another, but there's occasionally something with some basis in reality.

[noblesnow]

That's true. I really expected people like Little Red Riding Hood to be human, for instance.

[...hm, she wonders if Dracula counts as a fairy tale.]

[bellabellabella]

[... what]

[noblesnow]

[She just smiles like what she said was perfectly normal.]

[bellabellabella]

[He is left floundering slightly at that. Finally he manages:]

I'd not really ever thought of her as real.

[noblesnow]

Until recently, neither had I. Nor Momotaro, Puss-in-Boots...

[...hm.]

I suppose I never really explained much about my experiences as a Precure, did I?