ACE

[ballies]

(pirate noises)

Comments

[selfimmolation]

Right, the konbini message didn't seem like the same thing as everything else... It seemed similar to that text we got this week, about "the mole".

[ballies]

We assumed Chiemi wrote it because we didn't have a sample of her writing, but I don't think that theory held up very long after the trial. I really think someone else is awake on Thursdays, although it doesn't seem like they've been successful in preventing things from happening.

If they can prevent them at all.

[selfimmolation]

... I never thought Chiemi wrote it, but I couldn't figure out who else it could have been. But that the way it's written, they only know some of what goes down on Thursday, not all of it, which was what made it weird.

[ballies]

General “we” then. It was referring to the medal, wasn’t it? [ … she frowns slightly. ] Ugggh. There must be something that means they can’t just leave a blunt note like “this was used for this reason”, otherwise wouldn’t they do that?

[ nine hour trials are going to be the end of her. ]

Well. Maybe not? There’s usually a few places we find evidence in. Imagine you’re awake at the same time as two other people — you’re not attacked, so you go looking to see if you can see what’s going on. This isn’t a small place, the chances of you coming across something aren’t going to be high, exactly. You might see the end of something, you might see the aftermath of something.

[selfimmolation]

Maybe. Nico thought it was possible maybe whoever wrote this just... saw a vision, or something. So they've got partial information but no context, or something.

[ballies]

[ thinks. ]

... That could do it too. Like you were watching security camera footage. Partial context and no chance to intervene.

[selfimmolation]

Right. And it'd explain why they didn't try to give us any other detail, like who it was used on or why.

[ballies]

Yeah! [ their brains are huge ("nico thought of this") huge. ] It would add up.

... I'm not sure how it helps us outside of knowing someone can do that, and knowing the hints are important but that's better than nothing.

[selfimmolation]

... It's a start, I guess. Doesn't help with any of the other papers, though.

[ballies]

[ she groans and goes back to looking at the candles. are these supposed to be stress relieving? she could do with stress relieving. ]

Some weird anonymous informant? If it's the same person I have no idea why they have such a big urge to help us. Maybe they're just a secret super-fan or something.

[selfimmolation]

Where did they even get that information anyway? And why give it to us?

[ballies]

And what's the catch?

[selfimmolation]

Us having to decipher them, maybe.

[ballies]

[ she just pulls a full on :nyeh: face. ]


Right. Right… Like the whole moon thing.

[selfimmolation]

Can we not go over whether the moon is real or not again...

[ballies]

Ohhh no, I’m going to tech talk you and you’re going to like it. Or pretend you do.

[ threat.


actually it’s not that bad. ]

I don’t think it’s “whether it’s real” or not, of course it’s real, it destroyed half the city. But when I asked Phoenix about it, they mentioned something about it attacking people but they didn’t see it transform.

[selfimmolation]

[ HE'S NOT GOING TO LIKE IT HE HATES IT ]

Are we sure the moon and the guy in white aren't the same thing...?

[ballies]

[ it’s fiiiiine.


but she does snap her fingers and point at that. ]

Yup. The moon falls out of the sky and suddenly there’s a super strong guy in white who kills four heroes and vanishes? Suspicious.

[selfimmolation]

They're always talking about the moon listening in, too...

[ballies]

Oh, ewww. What?

[selfimmolation]

Yeah. It's been in one of the notes and the leaders talk about it sometimes, apparently. Everything the moonlight touches... or something?

[ballies]

[ … ]

Gross, the moon’s a creep.

[ helpful. ]

So, what? We just need to stop talking about anything potentially important at nighttime? [ said like she’s an avid intellectual conversationalist here. ]

[selfimmolation]

I guess? I don't get how it works. It's not like there's no moon during the day, you just can't see it.

[ballies]

Yeah, but there’s bound to be points where it’s “weaker”, especially around midday.

[ ……. ]

But you’re right, it’s not like we know anything about how it works. Just rumours.

[selfimmolation]

We don't know how anything works here. We're just guessing.