we interrupt your regularly scheduled Babish rip-off for this important announcement

[otomechapilot]

I'll do the cooking show after the Jaunt, I didn't have time to prepare it, but...

What's this I hear about Tower falling?

Comments

[tookashirototheknee]

[Matt sighs, he can't help it.]

Sorry. That kind of thing just hits me hard. Most of the time when someone says 'this is slavery!' it's just... a hindrance of freedom. Which sucks, but it's not the worst that can happen.

what is protection when you are but an innocent child who assumes the best of everyone

[chalicejoker]

[It's not Hajime who's speaking, but Ryo, as evidenced by the high, childlike voice and far more innocent tone.]

But what if they thought Tower was very bad and dangerous?

[He is genuinely curious and concerned! Somewhere Hajime is now dying internally a little.]

Does Hajime need to have the talk. Also PSI PROTECT II

[otomechapilot]

...Ryo.

(Sara sounds frayed on the other end, serious and anxious.)

Then you remind him that there are a lot of dangerous things we keep around for a reason. Medicine is dangerous... if you don’t know what the dose is.

If you don’t exercise Temperance.

And I would also tell him and you that maybe this is a hypothetical question you should ask where the Arcana can’t read too much into it. They’re very mad that their creepy uncle died, you know.

He does, and psy protection II forever to protect the baby from himself

[chalicejoker]

...what's Temperance?

[Is anyone really surprised that he doesn't know what that is after hanging around Hajime all this time?]

Can fight to protect ourselves if they get too mad!

[Also an unsurprising reaction, Hajime continues to be the worst example.]

Re: He does, and psy protection II forever to protect the baby from himself

[otomechapilot]

Balance. The way Tower was Ruin.

The entire Arcana game started because the things that attacked Harrogate killed Temperance. It’s to get him back.

When the Arcana don’t have him, they aren’t balanced. Just like they aren’t moral without Heirophant.

[chalicejoker]

But if there's no balance and there's no ruin, doesn't that mean everything evens out again?

And don't people get hurt in ruin?

Into action because oh my god.

[otomechapilot]

...do you and Hajime know much about the Tarot?

I think maybe we should talk in person at his restaurant.

At least Ryo is happy to share food

[chalicejoker]

Hajime knows some! Mostly focuses on normal deck of playing cards, fifty-two and a Joker!

Yes! Come to restaurant, get ramen, is good ramen!

[canbebrave]

A few decided to throw away any small sliver of decorum we still had for all of us.

[reallymean]

"Your courtesy does you credit," the lioness replies, a low, strangely musical purr running beneath the words. She rises to greet them both, circling to brush against Gabriel's flank and Sara's hip in feline approval. "My Champion is in her garden. I'll take you to her."

[rustyhonesty]

Keeping the game going. The sound of that wasn't very reassuring. Nor was the acting on the idioms.

"Reminds me which idioms those are, other than the ones you already mention. What's Star for example?"

[otomechapilot]

"Hope," she says, very quietly. "Maybe the most important. Hope, and working for something better. After the tower falls, you can see the stars: reach for them."

[rustyhonesty]

"... all this time, the Arcana have been lacking hope, of all things?"

[otomechapilot]

Sara closes her eyes. The loss of Star is what prompted the Arcana to send the veterans to Moebius. And experiencing that secondhand from Allura's dungeon was enough to tell her that Moebius was a monstrous crime.

The death of hope for the death of Hope. But two wrongs don't make a right.

"...damn it," is what she says out loud, suddenly very tired. "Yeah. No balance, no morals, no hope, and now no revolution."

[otomechapilot]

Decorum is probably the least of our problems, but yeah, murder seems a little rude.

[otomechapilot]

Well. Sara can't say no to that - though rather than arriving with food, as she's known to do, she comes bearing a deck of cards.

Hers has 77 cards, and a Fool.

"Hey, Ryo," Sara says. "Is Hajime around too? We all need to talk."

[otomechapilot]

"Lead on, Companion," Sara says. It seems right.

She's playing with the Fool card of the deck she called up as she walks.

[otomechapilot]

Mmmn. No. Not by far.

...you and the Paladins had a real bad time, huh.

[rustyhonesty]

Jean doesn't say anything and instead comes over to Sara to hug her. Because it seems like she might need a hug and heck - he needs one too to be honest.

[chalicejoker]

And the deck Ryo is most familiar with is literally just the suit of Hearts of a traditional deck, plus one Joker that does things like fight Tower and make everyone ramen afterwards and is not actually a card. "Yeah," Ryo says, "he's here!"

Hajime hadn't been paying attention to the network. If he had, maybe he'd have stopped Ryo before things got to this point. He sticks his head out from the back room where he's got the dishwasher and stores extra dishes. "What's going on?"

[otomechapilot]

Sara, once she makes sure the shop is otherwise empty, jerks a thumb at Ryo.

She mutters, “Maybe tell your Companion how not to say ‘Hajime didn’t kill Tower, but here’s a bunch of good reasons why he might want to.’ Over the Network. When I didn’t even accuse anyone specific.”

Normally she’d be much more chill and much less flat, but between the Dungeon and going mad with the revelation she’s out of fucks to give.

[otomechapilot]

Sara eeps? at the sudden touch but hugs back almost immediately after.

She did need it.

...so does ROSE, probably. Damn.

Jean can forgive her for being distracted, right?

[chalicejoker]

Hajime slowly turns to look at Ryo, who scuttles from side to side on the counter. "But he doesn't know if he killed Tower or not," Ryo protests, "went too berserk to remember! Plausible deniability! And everyone here nice anyway!"

Hajime now looks as though he's got a headache. "Ryo. We talked about secrets, remember?"

"Didn't go out and say anything! Was hypothetical!" He pauses. "Did I use that word right? But not name anyone!"

[otomechapilot]

“Ryo, that’s a confession,” Sara says, her voice raising despite herself.

“I’m not going to sell you out, Hajime - I’ve seen what happens to people the Arcana want to punish, and I wouldn’t wanna put going through that even secondhand from a Dungeon on anyone - but first off, maybe shut up the bug, and second, we need to talk about what a dead Tower actually means.”

This may be the angriest anyone who wasn’t Hebe has seen any given Sara.

[chalicejoker]

"I can handle myself, but thanks." Hajime resists the urge to say he's flattered she thinks he pulled that off by himself, but Ryo's dug the conversational hole too deep, and unlike some bugs, he's not about to implicate anyone else.

At this point, he's scooped the little mantis up. "No more talking about that, alright? Not even in hypotheticals. It's a secret, I told you. The kind of thing you shouldn't talk about even if Kenzaki were to walk in here. There's a reason I wasn't saying anything any time anyone talked about it."

Ryo, though he's cheerfully innocent, is not quite stupid enough not to pick up on the anger here. His antenna are drooping now. "Okay."