pc catchall with connor (tootsiepop)

[requiemed]

Comments

[requiemed]

Right. Well, I’ll let you know what I find out when I talk to her.

[She tilts her head.]

And if not... It was still a good idea.

[tootsiepop]

Thank you. I appreciate the effort, nonetheless.

[A beat.]

There's something else I need to speak with you about, but you must promise not to be alarmed.

[requiemed]

[She pauses when he asks that, concern already spilling into her expression.]

I... promise to at least try not to be.

[tootsiepop]

I'm unaware if you already know of this, but I was targeted for murder on Thursday.

[That concern is unnecessary?]

[requiemed]

[IS IT!!

Her eyes are almost immediately widening despite his insistence that she not panic; she looks his way with a new scrutiny, trying to see if he has any injuries.]

Of course I didn’t know that! What happened? Who was it?

[tootsiepop]

[ZOE...

Connor is just giving her a look, almost as if insisting that she find some chill.]

I said not to panic.

[Gosh!!]

Luna and Newton had agreed to deactivate me after they were done killing Ruin. Clearly, that plan did not take off. And we have the person who protected Ruin from Luna's initial attempt to thank for it.

[requiemed]

[She still looks Shook, but she tries to reign that in, taking a deep breath.]

...If you’re asking me who it is, I actually don’t know. But... I’ll tell the person who does know to give whoever it was a big thank you.

[tootsiepop]

I wasn't, but thank you. I assume they only intended to protect Ruin, but they inadvertently spared me from deactivation as well.

[Not from death. For all the errors that have been cropping up in his programming since his arrival, he's not quite there yet.]

... However, this means we need to have several contingency plans in place. I could be targeted again, and so could you.

[requiemed]

[Barely a moment passes before she speaks.]

That isn’t going to happen.

[tootsiepop]

This again?

[Zoe, please. They had this conversation while Strung Red.]

[requiemed]

If we have time to talk about what to do if it happens, we have time to talk about how to make sure it doesn’t.

[tootsiepop]

That doesn't mean we shouldn't be prepared for the eventuality. Anything can happen.

[requiemed]

Okay, then. What’s your master plan for if you wake up in four days and I’m dead?

[tootsiepop]

The same "master plan" I am trying to devise with your help, if you would only cooperate.

[requiemed]

[Ughhhhh.]

What’s your idea?

[tootsiepop]

In the event that the bracelets fail, it would be wise to have a backup plan. Perhaps a piece of evidence we can leave behind that would be easily dismissed by the killer, that represents a code of some sort.

[requiemed]

[She tilts her head.]

Why would the bracelets fail?

[tootsiepop]

Do we know for certain that the transmission will arrive if we're asleep or otherwise incapacitated?

[requiemed]

...Oh.

[She hesitates for a few moments, but—]

I know someone who's going to be awake all night. I'd say one of us could give our bracelet to them, but...

[tootsiepop]

One of Merriment's?

[Or someone who's up and at them for murder, maybe. Still, he tilts his head, considering it.]

We wouldn't know which one of us would be targeted, which could render the entire exchange moot. But if you believe it's worth a try, I volunteer my own bracelet for the exchange.

[requiemed]

[She’s tempted to say no immediately, but...]

Why yours?

[tootsiepop]

There is a higher probability I could [hm] successfully escape from an encounter with a killer. Whereas, you...

[He doesn't want to say she can't protect herself, but. Squishy human??]

[requiemed]

...Wow, thanks.

[She can’t help but laugh, even if it sound stressed.]

[tootsiepop]

I'm not trying to insult you, but you're untrained in combat. It would be harder to deactivate a machine such as myself if anything should happen.

[It's fine? It's fine.]

[requiemed]

[After a moment, she holds out her hand for his bracelet.]

You better be okay on Friday morning or I’ll be really mad.