Rufus Catch-All

[misstrust]

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Week 5, Friday

[misstrust]

[ Here we are.

Wherever Rufus is, Dorothy's horse will find him first. Though the mare appears irritable, tossing her mane back and forth, she at least pauses to nudge his leg.

And then there's Dorothy, nowhere near as fast, but present and accounted for.

Also she smells like delicious bread. ]

People certainly became serious this week.

[soulus]

[Rufus, on the other hand, is decorated with flowers in his hair and on his clothes. With her head hanging slightly low, the wolf trails behind him.]

It may have been necessary to prevent a repeat of the last time.

[misstrust]

[ Well, doesn't he look lovely.

She frowns quietly at his wolf companion, but chooses not to comment on it. ]

It's likely. I'm sure some of the Factions are panicking.

[soulus]

[There are even flowers around his ears. One must wonder how they're able to stay on.]

Most participants should know enough of their teammates by now to coordinate removals.

[misstrust]

[ They're so pretty!!! ]

I'm sure we could narrow down the suspects if we knew which of the Factions still needed a kill... but then there's also the matter of which one of these was due to someone's nova splintering, or if it was more than one.

[ Dorothy is saying this all rather calmly, but the horse still looks most distressed. ]

[soulus]

Only one team allegedly met the requirements before last night. Another was unable to participate this week.

[misstrust]

Unable to participate?

[ Dorothy blinks, tilting her head. ]

Can you elaborate?

[soulus]

Despite their attempts, they remained asleep.

[misstrust]

... How do you know that?

[soulus]

One of their members told me.

[misstrust]

[ Dorothy pinches the bridge of her nose.

She looks as though she's fending off a headache. ]

I see. So there's some form of restriction imposed... perhaps the Realm thought four bodies was sufficient enough for one night.

[soulus]

Regardless of the reason, it will narrow down the team votes tomorrow and next week.

[misstrust]

It means that for this week, we can rule out two Factions.

[ She doesn't even want to think about next week. ]

[soulus]

By extension, it shortens the list of suspects as well. But the possibility of choosing the wrong participant still remains.

[misstrust]

As it always does, unfortunately.

... Did you see the final realm contest report?

[soulus]

I've heard about it. What about it?

[misstrust]

[ Dorothy reaches into the voluminous folds of her dress, pulling out a piece of paper, written neatly, to hand to him, in the off-chance he wants to read it. ]

Are the participants of past cycles also something we need to be concerned about? Or are we actually those participants, but we don't remember?

[soulus]

[He takes the paper and reads it while she poses her questions.]

We are those participants. The only thing that's changed is our assigned teams.

[misstrust]

So we've been doing this? And if we can't succeed this time, there's no chance of returning home.

[ Great. ]

[soulus]

That was the price we were willing to pay then.

This time, we will have no choice but to face reality.

[misstrust]

Everyone has to do their part, in one way or another. As much as I enjoy your company, we do have other tasks to be attending.

[soulus]

Those tasks are priority. How enjoyable the company is shouldn't factor into decisions regarding them.

[misstrust]

Did I ever say it did?

[soulus]

I didn't say that you did.

[misstrust]

At any rate, I do believe I said I would do what I needed to do.

Regardless of whether-- hm. Well, really, that has no place here.