EDELGARD & KAGACHI;

[crashout]

Comments

[hegemonstrous]

No, not that. There's - [She's getting frustrated about this! Ugh!!]

I'm not certain how something works. I've been unable to obtain clarification and I find it very concerning.

I think that's a good idea.

[crashout]

...[...ah.]

I wonder...if the reason is because there's three of you and you just don't have enough power yet. [Just throwing that out there.]

[preceptive]

[well, he'll leave theorizing to junpei, so.]

[hegemonstrous]

I'm - sorry, I'm not really sure what you mean by that. What I mean is that I'm not entirely sure what I'm meant to be doing with this role.

[crashout]

Oh. [...] You got the rulebook, right? I wasn't sure if that passed when the role itself did. I think we got ours right at the beginning.

[preceptive]

Not that the rulebooks necessarily say much either.

[hegemonstrous]

[Rolling her damn eyes at Junpei!]

Precisely. I have the rules and I understand how it technically works. The question is, if my purpose is to prevent another situation like Escha's, I'm uncertain how I'm meant to accomplish that. There's another possibility for what I'm meant to do, but -

How were you and Escha coordinating, Kagachi? Why did she want to know what you found?

[crashout]

[ALRIGHT WELL. He'll just let Kagachi answer.]

[preceptive]

If I did find a host, she'd know who to protect. And if I didn't, then she'd know not to choose whoever I'd cleared, since the assumption was that they likely wouldn't be voted for that week.

Like I said, it didn't work out well because of the timing, and because in the following week, Escha ended up in her forgetful state. But that was the idea.

[hegemonstrous]

So I take it Escha believed that if she protected a host, the host would live and we could still kill the demon?

[crashout]

Something along those lines. She made a pick last week and tried to frame them with the thought that her ability would kick in if the vote worked. Unfortunately, it didn't work that way.

[preceptive]

[he just nods, grim.]

[hegemonstrous]

But - say we do pick a person who is possessed. The host is saved, but - what do you imagine will happen to the demon?

[crashout]

If we think about what happened when Hizamaru tried to exorcise Monika, the demon can't leave the barrier that easily. We don't actually know, but if we can separate the host from the demon, likely we can trap it and kill it ourselves while it's still stuck in the ritual circle. Or I'd hope so, anyway.

[preceptive]

In any case, that sounds like an answer for you to get from your host, somehow. It's your role, so if anyone has the best chance of getting more info on how it works, it's you.

[hegemonstrous]

My suggestion would be, either skip the assumptions and ask questions if you want to learn things, or at least make better assumptions. For example, a good assumption would be that if I was unclear how my role worked, I would have already asked the host for clarification.

From that assumption, do you want to make a guess about what I was told?

[crashout]

[...well. He defaults to Kagachi because like. He's busy thinking over some stuff but he shrugs.]

You were told your role could save a life if you pick right? [Deadpanned. The roles are a lot.]

[preceptive]

I didn't say you hadn't already asked, and in fact I figured you had. Stones in glass houses, Edelgard.

If it wasn't info they could give, I was thinking more about requesting a task or something along those lines.

[hegemonstrous]

[Ignoring the admonition because she’s just relieved they finally got to this point.]

I’m so unused to trying to communicate in riddles. Exactly. I asked her what would happen to the demon if I protected the host - if we’d still be able to exorcise it or if it would be spared too - and she was unable to answer me. Because of that, I’ve been trying to find a way to avoid using this on a host.

You may think me cold for this, but I would rather sacrifice a person like Monika and kill the demon inside than render an exorcism useless. In the long term, killing those things will prevent further bloodshed, even if human beings are lost along the way.

I can see that wasn’t Escha’s strategy, but for me, it’s a concern.

What do you mean by a task?

[crashout]

If only there was a guarantee we were actually killing the demons. [It's mumbled, but still a concern.] It's like I told somebody else. We unfortunately have to expect a few casualties in order to proceed. But the ones we're losing are safe somewhere else for now.

[A glance to Kagachi.] I think I know what you mean, but I'll let you explain the tasks.

[preceptive]

You can ask the hosts for a task and get a reward for completing it. It doesn't sound like they can grant anything, but giving info—however little—or getting around censors is something they can potentially do.

[hegemonstrous]

[She nods at Junpei.]

I agree entirely. It would be wonderful if we could save the people possessed...but is it worth it to risk one of those creatures escaping?

On the other hand, this would be a truly useless role if it can only be used to protect someone in Escha’s precise circumstances. So I have to wonder whether it isn’t worth trying to catch one of them all the same, to see if it can help us. We certainly haven’t had any luck in exorcism as it stands.

What do you think?

[Turning back to Kagachi.]

I can do that. I asked Polly to find out what she can, so...we’ll see. Next week, you ought to ask me about it again.

[crashout]

...you mean catching a demon and seeing if we can utilize it? I can see the appeal but there's also, you know, the part where it might not work.

I think it makes sense to ask though. We have nothing else to lose right now.

[preceptive]

I think she meant seeing if we could exorcise one while saving the host, since there's already a chance of the demon getting away regardless.

[but it's up to edelgard to clarify.]

Got it.