Week 5, Wednesday; Hiro

[sylfied]

[ She honestly isn't sure what Serph's letter means-- and she knows it's from him, she'd know that symbol anywhere.

She's also not exactly sure she wants to enlist help figuring out what he's trying to tell her, but Serph is just like her: he wouldn't go through the trouble of doing something if it wasn't important.

So Fie squares her shoulders, wraps her scarf around her neck because that is currently the warmest thing she owns in her short shorts, and goes to possibly regret some things. Besides the weather. ]

... Hiro. I need your help.

Comments

[zerotohiro]

[Internal shrieking intensifies.]

I don't know who knows, exactly. Vriska told me she had a lead that she trusts--"the only person left I completely trust." She told me that on Saturday which I'm guessing means they know everything. I don't know who they are though. There's also people who maybe think differently. Jacopo thought Vriska was the item role. That's how I knew she had a role. By then, Kyouko had sent me to talk to Jacopo and make sure he knew nothing.

Vriska and I both lied to him. I don't know who else she might have lied to though and who else might know the truth. With our luck, we might have a whole island full of people who know too many different endings and we pick the wrong one.

[sylfied]

[ Fie is just going to gracelessly flop over on the bed, sheets and all. At least the nice part about not talking to people was that they didn't confide in you, you didn't have to confide in them, and you didn't even have to think about really lying to them. She knows Vriska's lied to a lot of people, and additionally knows that isn't going to end well, and just listening to Hiro now has her wishing she could just scrunch into a ball and sleep the rest of this game off. ]

Ugh.

[ sums it up nicely enough. ]

[zerotohiro]

[There's a short almost-laugh.]

Tell me about it. [He doesn't even seem bothered that she's flopped over and he's sitting cross-legged on the trunk still, seemingly staring at the door while watching from the corner of his eye.]

It'll be over soon. One way or another. I can practically feel it, which is weird. But taking Serph's advice is definitely not the worst thing you could do, I think.

[sylfied]

Believe me, it's not like I don't want to.

[ But from what Hal had said, she's wondering if she's even got a choice here. ]

[zerotohiro]

There's two ways this could happen. Three, maybe, if you believe in fate being a thing. One, you could ask someone to kill you or throw yourself into the volcano. Two, we vote for you and an execution happens. Or three, someone happens to target you on accident and that's that.

...I don't like any of those options though. So I want to maybe think of a new plan.

[sylfied]

The rest of those endings mean more people have to die, though. Or someone else throws themselves into the volcano.

[zerotohiro]

A volcano would be warmer than this, at least. [Look. There's a bright side.] But I know. I know...but let's say you really were okay with your life ending to end the game. Is she? [Vriska, he means. There's literally no point in Fie throwing her life away to end a game if Vriska has another agenda.]

[sylfied]

With all the talking she's done, I'm pretty sure she'll have condemned herself... if nothing else.

[ So that's not really much of a concern. ]

[zerotohiro]

Give someone enough rope, they'll hang themselves. [Giving Vriska this kind of leeway would probably lead to her downfall. She's right.] There's sixteen of us left. I know a few people know her role already, so if we don't out her somebody else will. Especially if they know how the game can end.

The one thing that bothers me is how simple it seems. After everything they've put us through in this game, the ending is very straight-forward. Am I looking into this too much...?

[sylfied]

No... taking things for granted is what made this a mess in the first place. I dont think he was lying about how to end the game, but he didn't say what choice would lead to what end.

... Don't let your guard down.

[zerotohiro]

Then maybe that's what we should use our last question on in the trial. We have one more round of two truths and a lie. It might be our best shot.

And...I know. You've been telling me that from the beginning and I think I might've failed by letting you in in the first place. But I don't regret that either.

[sylfied]

If anyone was going to befriend a Siren, of course it'd be you. I even tried to warn you.

[ and here she is, flopped on his bed. ]

[zerotohiro]

I know. I think that's probably the funniest part of it, if you can still find any humor in this stupid game. ...I ended up befriending three of them, and one of them is the only person on this island who knew everything about me. A weird set of chances, right?

[There's a pause.] But it's not like I can say I'm a completely good person all the time either. So maybe it makes sense.

[sylfied]

Entirely good people are boring. Even if I don't know everything about you, I know that much.

[zerotohiro]

[He grins in spite of himself.]

So what you're saying is I'm not boring. I'll take that as a compliment. [He props his chin in his hand, this time actually looking at her.] At this point? I'm not even sure there's anything left to hide about myself.

[sylfied]

Same here. My past doesn't matter as much if you already know my role here.

[ ... She's a little relieved he's looking at her, at least. ]

[zerotohiro]

You've told me a little about it and...some things make sense. Why they might have selected you. It's a stupid way of playing this game but I've told you enough about how robots work and their programming.

[He's still fairly calm through this conversation, watching her curiously then.] I've been thinking about my past, too. And for a while I thought maybe I was sent to this island as a punishment for what I did before I got here. The good thing is that it's not true. We're all on this island for reasons out of our control. But...we got to meet some pretty okay people and if the game ends the way we think it will? We'll get to see them again.

[sylfied]

I'm not sure what you did was bad enough to get a punishment like this, so I'm glad it wasn't that.

[ maybe it's casually stated, but she thinks it's not something she should raise a fuss over or pry into if he doesn't want to share the details himself. ]

[zerotohiro]

[He lifts an eyebrow.]

Would you believe me if I said it was sort of like what we're doing here?

[sylfied]

... What part?

[zerotohiro]

Working with a team that I created, tracking down the guy responsible for the fire that killed my brother and trying to execute him myself...?

[sylfied]

...

I can't say I ever took you for the revenge type, Hiro.

[ that... sure is a lot to take in. ]

[zerotohiro]

[Yep. Sure is!! He's settling for rubbing the back of his neck nervously because:]

Raven's the only other person I've told here. And I'm not...usually. We didn't go after him with the idea of killing him. We pinpointed the wrong guy, too. Thought he was someone else, so when we realized we were wrong...and when he said it was Tadashi's own fault for running into the fire to save him, I guess I thought that some people just weren't worth saving.

Obviously I know that's not true now and whenever I get back I really, really need to apologize to my team and incapacitate Callaghan another way, but...you can see why I thought that's why I was here.

[And a shrug.] "Bad things happen to good people all the time because they're told something different or they believe something that isn't true." It's also part of why I haven't turned in Vriska yet and why I'm not going to be the one to turn you in.

[sylfied]

[ ... Interesting, that it really is two Sirens he's telling this backstory to, but Fie's already learned by now that trust isn't something you can easily predict in any kind of relationship. That he's telling her now could just mean that he thinks she won't live much longer, but she'd prefer to give him the benefit of the doubt here.

For some reason, he's willing to believe in her. Fie can't guarantee half the island won't know who she is by the end of the week, but...

She trusts Hiro. ]

... People can get really emotional when their family's involved. If you realize now you were wrong, that's already improvement... but I also think no one would blame you for getting that angry.

That's why we have friends, to keep us from doing stupid things when it gets to be too much.

[zerotohiro]

[He told Raven long before he knew what she was. He didn't even find out from Raven. He learned from Vriska herself. Fie, on the other hand...maybe it's because he fears she won't be around much longer. Maybe it's because in a way he sympathizes with her, some weird attempt at proving she's not a bad person for getting sucked into the role.

Or maybe it's just...nice...to talk to people. It's hard to say.]

I guess so, yeah. I have no idea what I'm supposed to tell my aunt so I'm pretty sure it's better not to say anything at all. And...I left my friends abandoned on an island. They're awesome people and I think they'll probably forgive me but...[Yikes.]

...weapons of mass destruction, by the way. I turned my brother's nursing robot into a war machine and tried to kill a professor. Raven made me promise it wasn't as bad as the profile page made it sound, and that's part of why I finally explained it to her.

But you're right, you know? We have friends to keep us from doing stupid things. Sometimes I think about what would have happened on the island if people had befriended other people sooner. I can't tell if there's still time or if we're all locked in to an ending already.