Rufus Catch-All

[misstrust]

Comments

[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.

[soulus]

. . . Are you familiar with computers?

[misstrust]

No.

[ She's from the beginning of the 20th century, they're not that far yet. ]

[soulus]

Do you know if anyone has been able to operate the computer at the inn?

[misstrust]

[ She blinks. ]

If they have, no one's said anything to me. But there ought to be people familiar with it, given the wide range of experiences here.

[soulus]

Yes . . . that ought to be the case.