woofus

[bisouled]

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week 0, friday night

[bisouled]

-- Oh! Rufus! Hold on a moment!

[ where is he?! It doesn't matter. Truthfully, Fiora is still shaken by what's transpired here this afternoon, but she's doing a good job of not showing it; it's better to focus on protecting the others, and she figures she may as well start with someone who's already been in danger. ]

I want to talk to you.

[soulus]

[He's cleaned up since the investigation. While the scratches are still open to air, he's at least washed the dried blood off the edges. They really don't resemble cat scratches; they're much too thick for that, and look more like someone raked their fingers across his face, tearing skin.

But he doesn't look bothered as he stops in the middle of the road at Fiora's call.]

What is it?

[bisouled]

[ well, she's bothered - she didn't really get a look at him earlier, since they were preoccupied, but now that it's more clear they're not from some animal in the woods, the scratches are more concerning than ever. She frowns. ]

Your face... You really don't know what happened?

[soulus]

[His eyes narrow.]

No.

[bisouled]

That's terrible... I mean, someone really got you.

[ he's kind of an ass, but he doesn't deserve that! ]

It looks like it hurts. [ ... ] ... After what they found earlier, I'm glad a scratch is all you got.

[soulus]

[He continues to narrow his eyes. She's rubbing salt into the jagged wound.]

Not to worry. It'll take more than this to kill me.

[bisouled]

[ she's just concerned pls ]

Just because it didn't kill you doesn't mean it's okay. Have you cleaned it and all?

[soulus]

Of course. I've managed worse injuries than this before.

[bisouled]

Good. We don't need anyone getting sick while there's no ether around.

[ a beat. ]

Can I ask you something else about it? It's okay if you don't want to talk about it more, too. I understand.

[soulus]

That depends on the question.

[bisouled]

Were you sleeping outside? Not in the inn?

[soulus]

I slept at the station.

[bisouled]

You were there...? And the glass shattering didn't wake you up...

[ frowns. ]

I think something was done to us last night so we wouldn't remember. Either that, or our memories are already slipping.

[soulus]

[Wouldn't that be grand?]

Where were you?

[bisouled]

[ she is really hoping she's wrong. ]

I was in my room. Nothing happened to me... at least, as far as I can tell. Everything's reading normal.

[soulus]

Then it's unlikely that last night's involved parties were there.

[bisouled]

Maybe they don't have to be there to make us forget.

[ she doesn't want to admit it, but their 6 "leaders" are very suspect at the moment. ]

[soulus]

Whom are you suspecting?

[bisouled]

... There's no way around the fact that those 6 in the masks are the most suspicious. They've been nice to us and all, so I didn't want to say it, but... they know a lot more than we do, and they can do things that we can't do, too. And we don't really know what they're up to.

[soulus]

If all goes as planned, we should be hearing about part of it tomorrow. The nature of the competition may even be changed then.

[bisouled]

... You're so calm about all of this. The competition, the murderer, your face...

[ Fiora sighs, shaking her head. ]

I wish I could be more like that. [ a pause. ] Aren't you worried that they'll think you're suspicious?

[soulus]

Do you suspect me?

[bisouled]

[ she shakes her head. ]

I don't. You're rude once in a while, but you don't seem like a bad guy.

[soulus]

That's a bold claim to make about someone you've just met.

[bisouled]

Well, I'm a bold kind of girl! It wasn't you, right?