Yeah... but I think if you wake up on a Thursday night, at that point you probably figure it's inevitable, so you might as well make it mean something.

I don't know why so many keep waking up in the first place, though.

[ she pulls a face at that because that's... genuinely kinda depressing. like "going down in a blaze of glory" levels of depressing. ]

...

It's been consistently three people for so long now. [ lies down ] I mean, there's possession, sure but-- [ people are so murder happy in this chilly's and she's not sure what she thinks about it. ]

It's... well. Some of the letters coming in still seem like they're encouraging it.

[ ... ]

Or maybe it's just specific people they're saying that to.

...

I don't really know what they want. I had Boot telling me to do one thing and then messaging me like "never mind don't worry about it actually". And Strohl's being so cryptic I can literally see him fake winking at the camera as I read his letters.

[ leonie strohlie you're a good guy and she likes you a lot but she's not above making your life hell for cryptic letter crimes ]

I am sooo sick of the cryptic shit. Like, I'm sorry, I know you think you're being obvious, but I have no context for what you're talking about??

What was he saying to you before?

I guess if they're trying to stop it from not going through? But... I haven't seen anything suggesting censorship? [ it will be so funny if we get to endgame and the mods are like oh no you could've send anything beyond a certain point. ]

Uh... the first thing was... hang on.

[ she'll just get out her phone and show him:

Keep what we talked about in mind, yeah? Our theories? Everything ought to be read over twice. Double actions make for double understanding. One's a lonely number, or something along those lines. ]

I think this might've been because Vi sent us coded messages. It was to do with framing someone, but I'm pretty sure it's about sharing letter information.

And then today he sent me this one:

[ By the way. We're all sort of hoping to receive a bit of education from you all. I feel like you'd be the best at it. Trying to learn a bit about the future and the world you live in, too many references that fly over my head. The best time for us to see you all is during trials, so.... perhaps you'll use some of that extra time early for a lesson for us? Food for thought. ]

[ reads... ]

First one kind of sounds like he's talking about a double murder, at least out of context? But yeah, that one's already taken care of anyway...

[ and then the next one... ]

...Huh. Yeah, Manwol-san sent me a similar one about talking about and doing certain things during trial?

[ takes out his own phone to show her this one:

I don't normally wear shirts like this, you know. But I am still fond of our group, so I'll wear this one just for you. The gifts are nice, but I do miss talking to you. Do you have any gossip or stories? They can be about anything, and you don't have to write them in a letter. We can see all of you whenever you're in public and during trials, so maybe then? Trial would be better, since we're all in the same place and we don't miss anything.

Oh, you and your team should send us finger hearts during trial. If anyone asks, then you can explain that it's a popular pose from Korea and Japan.

I'd send something nice to you too, but there's nothing we have here that you don't have or will have. Besides giant murderous lobsters. ]

...Also "We just have lobsters and cages" at the end of the new one from today, I don't know if she's just really sick of these giant lobsters or if that's also supposed to mean something? Were we not supposed to eat those ones that got sent over here???

... The heart thing's not so bad? We can do that pretty easily.

[ ... ]

They do remember we're trying to solve a three body problem, most of the time, right...? Although they're not wrong, we do tend to have some down time during the early hours. Do they just want us to talk about our homes and gossip about stuff publicly?

[ ... huh. ]

We're going to need more if they want us to put them in cages...

Yeah, I figured we could do the heart thing no problem, even if I didn't really get why. The gossip thing, though?? I mean, I don't even really have any, first of all, but also what kind of achievement could that possibly get us?

I have no idea? Are we meant to just be sharing stories from home? Maybe I should just yell at them while they can see us. They want drama? I'll give them drama.

[ aaaaaa ]

[ that gets a little smile because yeah!! he understands the frustration!!! ]

Well, if you do, I'll support you 100%.

Essek especially. [ essek is just catching strays. ] Maybe I should live read one of those stories about him from the library.

[ delighted spite vibes just kind of overpower everything else for a few seconds ]

Oh, you absolutely should.

[ lmao help. the totty spite out in full force. ]

Astolfo— [ … ] They mentioned that the dead mentioned using the books as inspiration for drama, but— some of them are really, weirdly, out there. Still.

If we didn’t have three cases to solve, then I’d think about doing a long form dramatic reading or something.

Just do it at the very beginning before anyone starts bringing evidence back. We're usually sitting around and waiting for puzzles for the first two hours anyway.

[ … she just giggles. ]

It’s the fact we don’t even know that’d do anything for an achievement. Ugh, maybe Andy could just tell us if they have a hint list or something. I didn’t even think to ask.