Rufus Catch-All

[misstrust]

Comments

[soulus]

Do you know how many constitutes too few?

[misstrust]

Not officially... but it's probably around three or four.

[soulus]

What do you plan to do?

[misstrust]

[ Dorothy takes a drink from her glass. ]

Keep moving forward until I stop moving. What else would I do?

[soulus]

. . . Have you confirmed your status with Fox?

[misstrust]

I have.

Regarding the threshold, there is no minimum of nova that each team needs to gather. Fox verified we were fine.

[ She rests an elbow on the counter. ]

So you shouldn't be affected, if anything happens to me.

[soulus]

[He stares at her before taking a sip of water.]

Have you learned anything else?

[misstrust]

[ Dorothy gazes back, looking a little tired. ]

I found my teammates. And I know whoever killed this week was from another Faction.

And you?

[soulus]

[Their eyes lock for a fleeting second. Then he averts his gaze to the wall of drinks before them.]

The icon didn't flash on this side.

[misstrust]

[ Dorothy doesn't question it, merely glances down. ]

And we know at least one was due to splintering nova... perhaps the other was mostly to fulfill a murder requirement.

[soulus]

Are you talking about Alyssa?

[misstrust]

I am.

[soulus]

If she was a voluntary target, the culprit is unlikely to strike twice.

[misstrust]

I suppose there's no way to truly know now-- the way this seems to be going, any one of us could be a victim simply because our nova started splintering and anyone could be a killer for having to address it. To say nothing of killing for a different motive, like fulfilling a murder requirement or trying to get a memory back.

[ Dorothy pauses to take another drink. ]

It's best not to get tangled up in the details, I know. Or we won't figure out a thing.

[soulus]

[He takes small, frequent sips of water between her musings.]

What's important is figuring out the teams at risk, as well as how many have yet to meet the requirement.

[misstrust]

Are the Wolves fine?

[soulus]

At present, I have no reason to believe otherwise.

[misstrust]

I wonder if there have been any Factions that have yet to kill at all... people are more eager to ask me about my own than they are to offer up anything in return.

[ Which doesn't usually work out for them. ]

[soulus]

Information can't be exchanged unless both parties volunteer.

[It's their loss.]

[misstrust]

Yes. A pity that isn't as common sense to people as I would have thought.

[soulus]

If it's such a struggle, why don't you make it a transaction?

[misstrust]

Because I don't necessarily trust people with the information.

[soulus]

. . . Then asking was fruitless from the start.

[misstrust]

Probably.

[ Dorothy's sigh is quieter. ]

Making an agreement with you in the beginning was fine-- because I knew you'd give me information as long as I did the same.

But now people are... [ She waves a hand ] ... trying to insist it's about trust and relying on each other and I think it's two very different things.

[soulus]

The disruption has always been a matter of necessity. Trust has nothing to do with it.