( week 0, friday night )

[venomosity]

[she knows he's in on her schtick, but what the hell. who says she's barred from having fun now that a body's been found?]

Oh, Mr. Kurusu... coming to check on me? I'm... honored.

Comments

[purrtagonist]

[that anger and shock? that hadn't been faked. Reapers they may both be, but their approach to this game couldn't be any more different]

[and to Akira. . . Utena was a good person. he isn't 100% sure that it was Dahlia, but out of all the Reapers he's met so far, he's willing to place bets on her and Junko. it's just Dahlia that he happens to meet first]

[his greeting is cool, like water frozen over]

Are you?

[venomosity]

[she can't help but laugh at the way he carries himself around her. oh, the irony.]

I actually am. That you would immediately suspect that I had something to do with today's incident, out of all the souls gathered in this game... why is that?

[purrtagonist]

[. . .]

Instinct.

[the knowledge that one of their number had received some "special orders." the hope that no one else outside of the Reapers who were a little looser with their morals would act this soon]

Max said one of us got "special orders." And I know it wasn't me. My first thoughts were either you-- [the woman who willingly hid her true self, in order to strike when people least expected it] -- or Enoshima-san.

[the woman who reveled in despair, and sought to cause it wherever she went]

[venomosity]

That girl... she's a hell of a case, isn't she? [laugh] She actually deserves to be called crazy. I'd love to know what made her the way she is.

[but it's not about junko. it's about her.]

What if it was me who drove that sword through Utena's chest? Our methods may be different, but our goals are the same—we are both Reapers, Mr. Kurusu.

[purrtagonist]

[his answer is quick and firm]

No. Our goals aren't the same. Reapers, or not.

[they share a title but to Akira? as far as he knows. . . they don't share a common objective]

[venomosity]

But you cannot prove my guilt without incriminating yourself. Without jeopardizing the mission our Composers have given us. You remember the rules, don't you?

[as if reading straight from the rulebook itself, she calmly recites,]

For us Reapers, it's erase or be erased.

[purrtagonist]

[his expression flickers, brows furrowing. she isn't wrong about that. according to the rules of this game, the Reapers are here only to promote violence and act as targets. their deaths are the fastest way to end this farce, and Akira knows it]

[but even so. . .]

I believe there's another route for us.

[he has to. he has to, he has to, he has to]

And when I find it, that's the path I intend to take.

[venomosity]

[this is fucking rich. who the hell does this kid think he is?]

You're a Reaper, and yet you're still trying to find a loophole? Are you trying to be a hero? It's almost like you didn't listen to the introduction spiel at all.

[which, given akira's reaction in the first meeting, he might not have even gotten the spiel in the first place. but that isn't dahlia's problem, now is it?]

The Reaper's Game doesn't exist to grant all its participants a second chance—only the ones who prove themselves worthy. [her eyes narrow.] You can't save everyone, Akira Kurusu. Either you let yourself be erased, or you help erase the Players. Those are immutable facts. There is no "other route."

[purrtagonist]

[some punk who fights far too much for his own good. all he does in response is tilt his chin up, full of defiance]

I'm not trying to be a hero. But I became a Reaper for a reason, and I want to follow that path. Not one some unfamiliar Composer is trying to build for me.

[this is what happens when Reapers from relatively safe(ish) games get dragged into totally unsafe ones by Composers to whom they have no loyalty]

Reapers can't save everyone. I know. I know. Not even the Game from which I come was completely without casualties.

But a Reaper's job shouldn't be to spread despair, or to fight for survival against ordinary Players. It should be to guide Players towards new character growth. To give them reason to reflect on their lives, so they can become better people if they do win their second chance.

1/3

[venomosity]

[considering dahlia's home—not even her previous game, what happened while she was still alive—"safety" isn't even a concept that exists to her. she's had to fight for herself, by herself, her whole life. if she could truly feel pity, perhaps akira would be the first recipient of it.

unfortunately, she can't.]

Do you even understand? If we don't erase Players, then we lose our jobs. We lose our jobs, we're the ones who get erased. If you wish to continue your existence, you must survive against them.

[venomosity]

[she surveys him closely.]

[venomosity]

Unless you care more about their "character growth" than your own life.

If you do, you're the stupidest Reaper I've ever met.

[purrtagonist]

I wasn't lying when I said I wouldn't do anything to put us in danger.

[and that includes himself]

I simply refuse to believe this is a matter of "us or them."

[that's all. there's something about this Game. . . something about it that stinks, that is off and wrong, and he can't place his finger on it. until he can? he will steadfastly refuse to give in]

[venomosity]

That's how the Games have always been run.

[ her eyes narrow. ]

You had to have known that when you agreed to become a Reaper in the first place, right?

[purrtagonist]

That isn't how it was in my Game.

[he, of course, learns pretty quickly that his Composer is an anomaly in the universe]

. . . support NPCs. That's what we were. There to guide, build puzzles, and help. Players were Erased, and Erased frequently, but not by our hands.

[just by the Noise they summoned and the dangerous puzzles and dungeons they built, oops]

[venomosity]

... Wow. What a boring game.

How unfortunate for you, seeing as how this is maybe the most violent game that's been run so far.

[purrtagonist]

It's the ideal Game.

[for him, anyway. and his gaze narrows]

There's something wrong with this entire setup, needless violence aside. What I intend to do is get to the bottom of it while I can.

[while he's still alive-- for lack of a better word. because he knows this is a fox hunt, and he knows it may only be a matter of time]

[venomosity]

Once again—our orders.

Either you're complicit in at least one erasure per week, or you endanger the other Reapers.

[purrtagonist]

[. . . tch. . .]

[his hands flex into fists, and then loosen again, his glare as sharp as knives. but he says nothing]

[because she's right]