[Week 3, Friday: Ashikawa]

[fallbymyhands]

[. . . once things have calmed down, once others have taken care of Natsume and Clarke and the redheaded twins, Mitsuru. . . silently seeks Ashikawa out. wherever he may be in the camp, she approaches, arms folded and expression serious]

Ashikawa.

[. . .]

Are you all right?

Comments

[killtheanimals]

Hm?

[He's calm again - calmer than he's been the past couple days, due to the excessive amounts of Everything Happening. Being able to hear is definitely a plus as well.]

I'm well enough. [Another friday, another corpse, it's kind of the way of things here.] And yourself?

[fallbymyhands]

Well enough.

[she echoes his response with the tiniest and wryest of smiles]

It seems my patrolling last night was. . . not enough.

[killtheanimals]

You went out patrolling?

[Now that's a surprise.]

[fallbymyhands]

[ah. . . right. he lost hearing too, didn't he? he must have missed her Thursday morning announcement]

Yes, I did. To ensure that no one would harm each other. I thought I could be of assistance to everyone here if I did that.

. . . but I didn't see Griffin at all last night. And thus, was unable to help her.

[and for that, she looks a tad bit guilty]

[killtheanimals]

[Given everything that went down Wednesday night, it didn't seem especially prudent to run around whilst unable to hear one's surroundings, no.]

A shame. I wonder if she had a similar idea...?

[Though running around whilst unable to defend yourself seems unwise, too.]

[fallbymyhands]

. . . Griffin was headstrong and capable. I wouldn't be surprised if she did.

[which is a chilling thought, considering Mitsuru was out and about that night herself. what if she had been in Clarke's place. . .?]

Regardless. . . I imagine we'll discuss the case more tomorrow. For now, I'd like to inquire into the things you've learned from Red recently.

[killtheanimals]

Right.

[His expression darkens. The latest line of questioning was... not good.]

Was there any place you wanted to start?

[fallbymyhands]

From the beginning.

[vague]

What questions did you ask her this week?

[killtheanimals]

I asked about the final protocol.

[After reading that, he couldn't just... Not.]

[fallbymyhands]

[ah. . .]

As did I. But I didn't receive much information on it.

What did she tell you?

APPARENTLY I DIDN'T GET A NOTIF

[killtheanimals]

Candidates are those best suited for containing the campers in the case that Red dies.

[Which is, unsurprisingly, not something he's keen on.]

I'm told the hunters can take away my powers and simply be done with me should I resist as well.

DW THAT'S RUDE

[fallbymyhands]

[oh. oh]

I presume "containing" means "eliminating" if necessary?

[THAT'S WORRYING]

She seems to know quite a bit about the hunters for not being involved with them.

[killtheanimals]

She insists she doesn't know much more than that, though she did say they've been here since even before the camp.

...As you can imagine, that means they're aware that sometimes people here become partially stone, from their points of view.

[fallbymyhands]

[presses her lips together in a thin line]

What do you mean "their points of view?" That's how it works from our point of views as well, correct?

[killtheanimals]

What I mean is, outsiders keep appearing here and then becoming stone.

We're something to keep contained, away from the rest of society. It's like they're quarantining us to protect this world.

[fallbymyhands]

Ah, I see.

I noticed that as well, when I heard from Red what happened with Utsugi and the RV park. I asked her if they were protecting someone from us, and she said they were, in a manner of speaking.

But why do they feel the need to do that?

[killtheanimals]

Probably because we seem to be infected with some sort of stone that slowly spreads through our tissue until we are reanimated corpses.

[...Blunt.]

[fallbymyhands]

[. . . . . . fair point]

You're right. There is no point in beating around the bush.

[killtheanimals]

Pastor Dan acted strangely, but until he was injured, he looked more or less human. If someone fully infected got out... I could see why they would think of that as a problem.

[And they still don't even know how it spreads in the first place.]

[fallbymyhands]

[. . .]

There's something about our setup that reminds me of a certain sect of horror movies. Zombies. . .?

[she isn't sure. she's not a horror movie kind of person]

[killtheanimals]

You mean movies where people just keep getting infected by bites or whatever and slowly turn into a mass of the undead?

[fallbymyhands]

Yes, precisely. Those.

[those!]

Only as of right now, the method and manner of infection is unknown.

[killtheanimals]

[Those!]

We need to find the source.

[fallbymyhands]

We do. And hopefully, finding the source will give us direction to finding a cure.

[killtheanimals]

It would be a start. Then we'd really know what we're working with.

Magic, or a virus... or if there's a root that we need to eliminate, too. How we approach it all depends on that.

[fallbymyhands]

[AND THEN THEY LEARN THAT IT'S FROM A GOD]

You're right. Though if it is a virus, I feel a bit apprehensive that we don't seem to have any scientists among our numbers.

[killtheanimals]

Well, it isn't like you can really expect that from people our age...

[He's a smart eleven year old, but even he can't lay claim to knowing anything like that.]

We'll just need to keep digging.