unknownseas | WEEK 7

Another Saturday gone and just like that you wake on Sunday, down five of your number. The largest dent taken out of you at once so far - it's surely noticeable, the head count being cut by a third. Almost enough to make you wonder how many of you will even be left by the next motive or two. Surely this isn't a sustainable rate for body counts to increase... right?

There's a new and, it looks like, final wing of the building to explore, bringing everything full circle. Maybe you'll get some more answers to some of the questions and mysteries of this place there - or at least, you can certainly hope for them. Time to turn your investigative eyes towards one last batch of rooms, who knows what you might find?

Angel remains around at night, her appearances much more common now that... well, she's certainly seen a downtick in necessary surveillance work, hasn't she? The app giving you a line to The Professor remains open, and well... whatever's going on with that ouija in the library continues to happen! You're not suffering from a shortage of leads, at least, even as things get more bizarre.

Something's going to have to give here, eventually. Right?

SUNDAY | MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY

[ ooc: Welcome to your last player case week! AC is over here, regains as always are over here, and... well, enjoy! After this we get to take our big turn towards the Serious. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ fun fact did you know zeus was almost a swan before they all decided that would be Too Much ]

Uh. Well. [ Della crosses the chapel to him and holds out a photo. ] I didn't know you had a kid.

[literally what the FUCK is ducktales]

What did you just-

[Kirei stopped abruptly, face instantly turning pale in something that was not quite recognition and colored by shock as he stared at the photo.]

...what...did you say?

[ Too Powerful ]

This...is you, right? If it's an...uncle situation, or something, I...don't mean to overstep.

N-....that is...

[Words had, for the first time in god only knew how long, utterly failed him.]

[That woman...that woman, he knew her name. Knew the child's name as well, and yet both had been locked away in a corner of his mind that could never be opened again. To think on that woman and what she had done for him was to unravel a shade of gray in a starkly black and white worldview.]

[That could not be allowed, and so he had refused to think on any of it. To see something like this again, so unexpectedly felt like being pushed under an icy waterfall.]

It...that's me, yes. From...fifteen or sixteen years ago, I think.

[ He...thinks? For the first time in conversation with him, Della looks...concerned. ]

It took me a moment. You look...so young, in it.

That is how aging usually works.

[Though he made an effort to scrape together the usual sarcasm, it sounded like his heart wasn't quite in it.]

I'm well past thirty, after all.

So am I, but, I mean... That's a long time, for some people.

[ He...hasn't taken the photo, has he? ]

Is, uh...is it a boy, or a girl?

A girl.

[it might as well be growing fangs and growling at him for how much he has not yet taken it]

...Caren. [He hadn't been the one to name her; even if he had, prying that memory loose had taken a second or two.]

[ Well, she's...still holding it out, that's for sure! ]

Does she live with you?

...She doesn't. [He blinked a couple of times, as if registering that he had outright forgotten to take the offered picture. As though he'd forgotten how exactly to move, he accepted it and it vanished into a pocket of his coat. At least then he didn't have to see it.]

I had no ability to raise her, so she went to her mother's family. I have no doubt she would not even remember me.

[ It's a good thing, that's she's not just stretching her arm out for nothing, but still, this seems...off. ]

She doesn't know you at all? I'm... [ Sorry, she would say, in normal circumstances. ] Do you miss her?

What an odd question.

[Kirei, seeming to have...'recovered' for lack of a better word, folded his arms behind his back with an impassive answer.]

No.

Is it really that odd? I...am a mother, after all. It's only natural that I'd ask.

I see. Well, I simply wouldn't know how to miss someone practically a stranger to me.

[ ...Oh, well, she just walked into danger, didn't she? Della takes a long, long moment. ]

Haven't you ever wondered about her?

...I said I had no ability to raise her. I rather meant that in more than the sense of merely being preoccupied.

[As in, 'do I look like anything but an unfit parent?']

That doesn't mean... Being a parent isn't something you develop over night. I- I'm not...trying to say you're wrong, for letting her grow up with her mother's family. It's just...surprising to me, that she wouldn't cross your mind.

[ This conversation's going places she doesn't like! For reasons! ]

...It would seem odd, wouldn't it?

[At least he could admit that much.]

You keep...surprising me, Father Kotomine. Did you ever want a kid?

[oh jesus literal christ della did he though?]

It is an ordinary thing, to pursue the most basic of mundane happiness as most would define it. Near anyone would wish for a simple life with a family.

...But you're not just anyone. Right?

[ She can see where this is going. The expression in that photo alone gives a hint. ]

...

[della the fact that he's keeping his mouth shut is a wide open escape route for you right now]

[ hahahaha you're right, but she's stupid ]

...It doesn't matter, Della. You have no reason to concern yourself with that you can not understand.

I still don't think there's anything wrong with trying. Just giving up isn't in my nature.

(no subject)

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