erika

[moonblades]

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week 1, extremely stupid late on tuesday?

[moonblades]

[Mio is still getting used to the sounds of Puffin Town, even the relative stillness of Corpse Flower Farm, but she knows the rustling coming from outside is no normal song of nature. Her sleep was only half-restful, anyway. Even camping in the middle of the wilderness, it had felt much safer surrounded by five other people (and two Nopons) she knew would fight to protect her.

So she leaves the farmhouse, carrying a garden trowel and hand rake with her. They're the closest in weight to the Blade she normally wielded, and she's confident enough in her speed to believe she could deflect an assault with them. And it's with trowel in hand that she comes across a rat girl already tilling the fields.]

Since you like solving mysteries, am I supposed to figure you're looking for clues?

[truthdefiler]

[Ah. Of all the candidates, it had to be this girl of all people. Erika sniffs derisively, levelling a scornful eye toward her through the dark.]

It's important to keep tabs on all the crops being grown by the would-be murderers.

[Not that she really thinks this girl is a likely culprit, but it would be funny if she was.]

[moonblades]

[She fixes Erika with a tired, somewhat baffled stare.]

No offense, but you sound a bit mental right now. It's the middle of the night...if I didn't know better I'd think you were sleepwalking or trying to set something up yourself.

[The derision raises her defenses a bit - naturally, given that she still wants to rally against Erika's dismal worldview. The other day Mio had spoken without fully understanding her, so she's trying to avoid a repeat of that.]

[truthdefiler]

Knox's 7th. The detective can't be the culprit.

Meaningless to you, but they're a fair bit more important to me than my life or escaping this place.

[She can't declare her status in red, though, so there's no way to set that in stone.]

If you want me off your farm, feel free to try and kill me.

[moonblades]

Hm. [Mio contemplates it, musing half to herself.] So those are the rules you live by.

[Erika might not be able to say it in red, but until Mio is given a reason to see things otherwise, she'll believe that she acts in accordance to whatever this Knox is.

Instead of giving in to the taunt, she gives her hand spade a twirl before folding it back against her forearm. There are a couple of digging tools right here, but... Mio crouches down to watch the dirt raid from a nearby rock.]

I'm trying not to kill anyone, but you're probably going to murder the seeds if anyone's planted something. Just what exactly are you looking for?

[truthdefiler]

[Now... what? This girl's trying to understand her? What the fuck is this?

Why would she believe her when Erika can't even confirm it? She can't wrap her head around it and it's pissing her off.]

I'm careful.

[One word for it.]

If you must know, I'm looking for Astera seeds.

[moonblades]

You think if someone's already planning to follow through with that twisted game, they would have planted one already?

[It's...a sloppy line of logic; they can't just assume that one means the other when plenty of people here are willing to try ridiculous things in the name of avoiding death. But more importantly... Mio lifts an arm from her knees and gives a short wave.]

I think someone planning that would have gone to some measure to hide their intentions...like a trap or a different crop laid overtop.

[truthdefiler]

[Erika is currently stood in the Saloon, facing forward and toward the bar. She stands there in utter silence, leaving one to wonder what she's even doing. Is she having some kind of breakdown?

That is until she raises one finger as soon as Mio enters.]

Stay there. I am doing detective work.

[moonblades]

[Mio draws up short, stopped by Erika's raised finger more out of surprise than anything else.

She stays still, though it's really only to humor her, as she begins leaning to the side to see if she can get Erika's perspective on...whatever's got her attention.]

Would you prefer that I leave and come back later?

[truthdefiler]

Nope.

[She snaps her fingers. There was nothing in particular that caught her attention.]

I was just verifying that nothing about the starting locations had changed. All done now.

[moonblades]

[Has she just been...snapped at? That does jerk her upright again, and Mio manages, at least this time, not to be staggered by the hurricane-force wind that is Erika's aggressive energy. The mottled flush of recent crying darkens her cheeks, but it's already starting to fade. She might've already wrung all the sadness she could out of her.]

Could've helped you look if you'd asked. This must have been keeping you busy for a while already.

[truthdefiler]

[More just a cool gesture to show that she was done than specifically pointed her way, but she doesn't care either way.

The girl's been crying, huh. Memories? Or because Sora got what was coming to him? Weird.]

I'm not really taking replacement assistants. It seems to have a fifty percent fatality rate. [Not that Mio offered. No, Mio's not trying to win her trust by posing as a harmless incompetent goon like Sampo was. Her motivations seem to be more built around a stubborn fixation on proving a point.] It didn't take me that long, anyway.

[moonblades]

Most of us have a 100% fatality rate, given enough time for it. [Mio's words are murmured a little too low to be only about detective's assistants. Not so above it all, all the time, is she? Even she can let the bitterness seize her now and then, faced with the infinite "forever" of life in this farming town.]

Has anything changed? I don't come here that often, but nothing seems out of sorts.

Week 2, Post-Trial

[truthdefiler]

[It's a little bit after the afterparty - which doesn't last particularly long for obvious reasons - that she finds herself coming back to Corpse Flower farm.

She could say she's returning to celebrate another success but. A perverse sentimentality settles within her, less rational. She wants to check in on Mio. Check if she's... okay? Who knows.

So she arrives, arms behind her back and finds her outside.]

I imagine your farm is about as lonely as ours is, by this point. [They technically have three vs Mio's two but. Still.]

[moonblades]

[The Corpse Flower farm is still a complete mess, but instead of waiting until tomorrow for the debris to clear, Mio is here cleaning it herself. It doesn't matter to anyone but her, and that's why it matters.

She's already prepared for Erika to hurl some judgment her way for engaging in something so outwardly fruitless. Mio is braced for the worst.]

It seems so quiet. Do you spend a lot of time together over there?

[truthdefiler]

[Erika doesn't comment on it. She walks past Mio and sits down.]

We never did.

We barely like eachother, truth be told.

[This farm always seemed so... chummy, in comparison. That's what Beelzebub said, right? He was happy?

She can't understand these feelings anymore.]

[moonblades]

We're mostly strangers, so I don't think that's unusual. It's probably more typical for people who have just met and have no reason to trust each other to get along.

[The night before this all happened, Mio had been thinking it was unlikely the others would miss her much. She didn't spend as much time at their farm as some of the rest did... in fact, she'd been meaning to ask if she could spend the night at Jade Vine more often. But that didn't mean Mio didn't care for the people in the house... all of them, she thought, were just doing their best.]

I don't think I was here enough. I was going to bring breakfast back.

[truthdefiler]

Incentive to distrust one another, even.

[Not that Erika has much in the way of distrust for those two in particular. They don't like her. She doesn't like them. But they seem roughly consistent.

She recalls Bibi cooking breakfast for her the one time. A small drop of envy in her rotten little heart.]

There's little I can offer by way of comfort. [She could say that Mio not being there as much - not being as entrenched in the dynamic - likely saved her life. She could also say she owed them nothing. But as much as Erika is a complete asshole, she's not socially incompetant. Neither of these facts would make Mio feel better. Which is... a priority? Weirdly enough?] But... I sincerely wish there was.

[moonblades]

[Is it that she really looks pathetic in Erika's eyes? That there's no game or enjoyment in saying something cruel or mocking?

Mio feels as small and helpless as a hox in a den full of predators, so maybe she's the one who sees herself that way. From Erika... She doesn't get that sense at all.

Mio lowers her gaze, holding the crushed remains of several plants across her lap, their bent leaves and stalled buds kissing her bent knees.]

... Thank you. But you've just said it. I mean, you just tried, so... you should see that's worth something.

Week 3, Post-Trial

[truthdefiler]

[Erika follows the sounds of Mio's music - distinct, now that she's heard her play - and finds her down at the beach. She keeps her distance for a while, just listening to her play.

Erika's not a musical person. Not by a long shot. She knows an academic amount about how to play various instruments, the history of orchestra and classical and even more modern types of music. It's often relevant to her cases after all.

Do you have no love?

Her jaw tightens. She doesn't interrupt, but she does approach.]

[moonblades]

[When Erika approaches, Mio's gaze slides over to her and she nods. It's a silent acknowledgment that she's there and that Mio sees her.

When she isn't interrupted, she finishes the next few bars of the song, letting it drift at last to its conclusion. The last notes lift up into the night air; she can imagine the motes of life energy that should be there but aren't. What if the music never meant anything at all?]

Hey. You left fast earlier.

[truthdefiler]

I didn't see much reason to stay. [She could have hovered over Healy, stressed about his health, but that's not their relationship. Others will do it. She could have offered a supportive pat on the head to Colette but, it's better for everyone if he left that to someone who sincerely cares about her and Zelos.

She walks further, takes a seat next to Mio. Erika isn't close to any one human being. Dlanor is a thousand fragments away, now and forever, and her master... well.

Is this what it was like before? Before he ruined it? Before she ruined it? Did it always hurt?]

This will end soon. One way or another.

[moonblades]

Yeah, suppose it will. [The "harvest" was coming, according to Makima. They'd known that all along, hadn't they? It would take a few weeks for the harvest to come, and flourishing Astera came from death.

It's funny to hear Erika say "One way or another" like that, when Mio can only see one way this entire thing has gone. She wonders if it was stupid of her to ever try finding another way.] Feels a bit weird... like we've been here forever and not long at all. We were just playing along the whole time, huh?

[truthdefiler]

Not playing wouldn't solve anything. Maybe you'd all feel better about yourselves, pat yourselves on the back and we'd land at the exact same destination, only we'd just end up killing the innocents.

These games are always horribly rigged.

[She doesn't care about the morality of it, really. That's never been the way her mind works. There's no right or wrong, just fair and unfair. You play the game and you ensure that you win by any means necessary. Nobody is innocent. Nobody can be trusted.]

...You mentioned that you can't be here for much longer. [Walter revealing at the end that he was dying of cancer made her think about it.]

[moonblades]

Still, we picked an outcome. At least I hope in the end I can say we did our best. [This entire time, Mio has been trying to fight back against the path constraining them. Imploring Adela to use her strengths to aid them, hesitating to vote for anyone to die...She couldn't even really bring herself to put down Walter's name when the things he had done were no worse than Adela and Makima or a Consul.

Mio's hand instinctively lifts to rub the grey mark on the side of her neck, its red center particularly faded in the darkness of night.]

Yeah. Just about a month.