eisenundblut | week two - sunday, post execution (lief)

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lief,
tikirobo

week two - sunday, post execution (lief)

[It's hours later by the time Prussia returns to their shared hut, still covered in Austria's blood. It's dried by now, at least, so she's not tracking (real) blood into their hut. Their poor hut has seen enough hallucinated blood without adding any real blood to it. There's blood dried in a stripe across her stomach, too; the clean sword she's holding loosely in her left hand probably has something to do with it.]

Hey.

[She just sounds tired as she enters the hut and sits down on the edge of the bed. There's no sign of her usual careless flop or loud complaining about how tired or hungry she is. She's a great roommate if you like loud people?? But right now, she's not very loud at all. Her back is straight with military precision as she methodically starts untying her boots.]

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[As soon as Prussia enters, Lief sits up—this isn't an encounter he was looking forward to (because oh, does the guilt make it hard to look at Prussia in the eye), but it's one he needs to have.

And above all, he's worried about her. He takes in a breath, and though there are so many things he could ask or say, he goes for the direct route. Prussia wouldn't appreciate platitudes or talking around the subject, he thinks.]

... Prussia. [...] I know you do not want to talk about it, most likely, but—please be honest. I will not ask if you are all right [because he knows she isn't, no matter what she might say] but... are you able to hold yourself together?

Been through worse.

[She toes off one boot and sets it carefully at her bedside without looking at him before starting on the second one.]

Talked to the robots. Last night while everybody was sleeping. Wanted to find out more about the particularities of my role in light of everybody being willing to kill the innocent to protect other people who might not be.

[Yeah she's. Still sore about the dogpiling on Austria, but it doesn't register in her voice. If anything, her voice is cool and calm, as if delivering a report that she has no personal part of.]

If I break somebody's partnership and their partner gets offed, that'd make the person who's alone the most likely victim, right? So I decided hey. What if people who were alone got paired with someone else. Was gonna try it by breaking ours and have Austria reassigned as your partner so she wouldn't get her ass killed in next week's trial, but the robots wouldn't take it. Trial had already reached its verdict, you know? She was gonna die one way or another.

[-So. She was willing to kill herself to save Austria which is. Stable.]

[...

Quietly,]

You would have Austria live with the guilt of your death?

Ja, of course.

[She yanks her other boot off and sets it beside its friend, then just kind of stays sitting there, hands between her knees, eyes on her hands.]

Austria's got a country. People. Responsibilities. I'm--

[Her voice catches for a moment, but she forces herself to press on.]

I'm a soldier the world forgot because it moved on. I've got no country. No land. No citizens. West handles everything for Germany.

Austria's important.

[...]

Perhaps I cannot fully understand. I am not a country, but a mere human, after all.

[And over the last two years, he's heard nothing about how important he is, and how, if anyone has to live, it must be him—to the extent that it's suffocating. In a sense, he's in the opposite situation. No one will let him sacrifice himself for anything.]

And so this may be presumptuous of me to say, but you are important here as well, Prussia. I care about you. So many people here do. We are all worried for you.

I will not claim that you should have done differently, for... I would have likely made the same choice in your situation. [To die in someone else's place.] But let me ask: does any of that mean anything? Or has it all been discarded with Austria's life?

...Any of what?

[Her voice is a little softer now, but her hair is obscuring her face as she stares past her hands, into the floor.]

What's there to discard?

... That there are others here for you. [...] To be frank, Prussia, I have been—and still am—concerned that you may do something foolish in your grief, and I say that not out of fear for my own life.

For however long this game lasts, I do not want you to feel that you are alone.

...

[Well, that's fair. She'd probably give that same kind of speech to one of her cute little soldiers. She remains silent for a few long seconds.]

I die now, it makes that aristocrat's death for nothing. I couldn't stop it, so I gotta do what I can to make sure we win.

...That goes for you, too.

[She looks up, eyes hard, trying to meet Lief's.]

I won't die here. So that means you won't, either.

I have something I must do in my world. Until then, I have no intention of letting anywhere else be my grave.

[...]

Indeed—as I have said before, if there is any chance that the dead can be revived upon our victory, then we must fight for that. Hal said to Yona during the trial that he returned the previous group home, if nothing else.

[Of course, he could be lying (except spoilers, he wasn't), or he could choose not to do the same for this group, but...]

Yeah, I heard that. Maybe it's a lie, maybe not. But it's all we have when it comes to hope, so I guess I'll fight for that. Fought for worse things.

[She scratches her fingers roughly through her hair.]

I'll work as hard as I can. I've been a soldier all my life. Maybe there's something I can do to help. Diplomatic poses haven't worked but...

[He nods, slowly.]

I think... you will be a strong force in trials, Prussia.

Wirklich?? Really?

[She sounds startled, blinking at him with visible surprise and suspicion.]

How? I can't figure all this shit out. I had a whole police force when I was East Germany who made it their business to study every detail about people. I'm not good at that shit unless you gave me like... mics and cameras. Shit to surveil with.

[That's. That's not even a word but alright.]

You are—strong of will. We could all read into one another's character and it would mean nothing if no one was willing to speak up and stand their ground.

...

[She laughs, sudden and loud, a genuine kesesese of laughter.]

Think that's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me, kid.

[Most people don't phrase it quite so, uh, delicately.]

While we're on that subject, though... [she sobers, frowns, and glances to Lief again.]

Herr-oder-Frau Basket. Is there anyone you talked to that gave any hints? There's nobody I talked to who hinted at... I don't know, even giving us something useful. There has to be a reason we were picked.

[... It's nice to see Prussia laugh.

But to focus on the question:]

Not that I can think of... The ones I spoke to when they appeared were—let me think.

Kirigiri, Keith, and Lelouch seemed confused. Akira made jokes but also seemed bewildered—and concerned that we may have been chosen for malicious reasons. Magilou merely made jokes as well. Vriska and Jacopo quickly decided that the baskets could be useful.

Of course, it is also possible that whoever was behind them did not approach us at all then. In any case, if I had to fathom a reason, it may be that the baskets were to assist with food-gathering efforts, but if so, then it could be nearly anyone.

Nein. Nein, nein, I mean...

[She frowns, rubbing her hand through her hair again.]

Before the baskets even showed up. Nobody said anything that could have been interpreted as like... I don't know, "I'm going to give you something to prove I'm on your side"... or something. If we're assuming it's an item role, then...

It has to be somebody we talked to. And the robots would have told us if it was Austria not that she'd ever give me anything anyway or any of the others who aren't, uh...

[She falters. Nope, too fresh to crack jokes about. Her heart isn't in it.]

Magilou seems like the kind of person who'd fill a whole hut with something. Just to make herself laugh. She's a lot like me, I think. Not as cool. Didn't talk to Kirigiri, but she seems pretty... boring. Stuffy like an old bird. Same with Keith and Lelouch. They're too serious to shove fifty-odd baskets in a single hut. Akira? He'd do it. He's a great baby ninja. Vriska or Jacopo...

[She scowls.]

Don't think Vriska would give us something that could help, if she wanted to make a point. I kind of like the kid, she's a ruthless one. Jacopo...

[¯\_(ツ)_/¯]

Anyway, what I'm getting at is if we can figure out who our Korbfreund is, then we've got another confirmed person on our side. Somebody we can defend in a trial without revealing their role to the killer. Ja?

[Well, Lief's... talked to a lot of people, so he's not sure how much he can narrow it down with that.]

I cannot think of anyone like that.

[...]

It may have been the Chiefs who put the baskets in our huts, and them who chose the excess, perhaps. If the baskets truly were the work of the item role, then whoever it is may only choose the item.

... And I am not so certain if it was the item role. It is also possible that they chose the blowdart, and the baskets are something else entirely.

Mmmmmm.... Gott!!!

[She shakes her head, hair flying in wispy waves around her.]

This is what I'm talking about, this shit is too confusing for me. Just point me at the enemy and let me fight them!!

[He lets out a light, though mirthless, laugh.]

I truly wish we could simply do that, instead of all this.

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week two - sunday, post execution (lief)

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