Yeah, exactly. It's just like, why are we even bothering to delay it at this point? I think I'd rather just start it now and get it over with faster.

We know what they want but not necessarily the motivations. So it could just be... giving us time to get to know each other. Wanting to make it hurt more.

Or there could be some—currently unknowable limitation that makes it adhere to a schedule, and it's got nothing to do with cruelty.

[ or the schedule could actually be different but she doesn't believe it will be. ]

Or they're just sticking to this schedule for the sake of tradition when they really don't have to.

Right, yeah. It could just be repetition because this whole thing is about repetition.

It definitely seems to be, right?

[ pauses to take a sip of his coffee. ]

It's kind of weird, the whole setup almost feels more like it's meant for an audience who's familiar with all these incidents.

I agree. It feels like entertainment for someone. It's almost worse if it's only for a few people. [ she doesn't totally mean that. ]

And... If the hosts we can talk to have been through similar things, maybe the auditors have too.

Maybe. I figure there has to be a reason they're even aware that all these things happened at all. Which, like, across multiple universes... that's not exactly a small feat.

[ well. it could be, if he assumed everyone else here was fictional too, and that someone was just writing them all into a crossover of some kind. he's not necessarily ruling that out, but he's also not going to offer it as a suggestion. ]

[ totty pierces the veil and perceives the players... the real auditors is us... ]

Sometimes power just—it doesn't fall into your lap, exactly, but the situation that grants it does, so... I don't know, it's hard to think about it too much before we learn more.