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Limbo – Executor House

[ So with the Destroy Esme plan well underway, Rei's decided it's time for her to buckle down and get busy too. She's more or less fully recovered from Esme's last attempt to get rid of the group and knowing that makes her even more determined to actually help out, rather than just lay around being a burden. How she's actually going to do that, though...

Uh, she'll figure it out as she goes.

The fellow occupants of Executor House will find Rei's back in her usual spot in the room with All Her Idol Material and this time she's taking furious notes. She's got a couple of fashion magazines too, that she's tabbed and highlighted like a goddamn college textbook and she's muttering to herself over her notes as she goes. ]

[ Please get her out of her head. ]

Invidia – Mall

[ Rei's second least favourite place in all of Purgatory! Yay! But she's got to at least get an outfit together if they're going to perform as idols so here she is. She's got a little list in hand of everyone's colours and what she thinks they might look good in and she's hauling a whole backpack full of random crud from Limbo to trade for it. She's fully prepared!

... Except she's also a little paralyzed for choice. She's glancing back and forth between all the billion and one shops, list clutched in an iron grip, and starting to look a little panicked. ]

Invidia – Streets

[ So. Now she's all dressed up, Rei know what she needs to do. She's made up and photocopied a bunch of fliers for the group and now she's stood anywhere that looks busy and is doing her best to hand them out. What? They do it on TV! She's seen it herself! So it's certain to work.

... is what she's like to think, but even in her very cutest idol getup, none of the Spectres are paying attention to her, even as she tries to hand them fliers. It's maybe not helped by the fact that Rei... has anxiety. ]

[ This goes on for a bit, until Rei finally reaches the end of her patience. She sucks in a breath and then, without looking, she thrusts out a flier directly into a passer-by and just... yells at them. ]

[ This all comes out in a rush, like she's worried whoever she's managed to stop will just walk off before she can finish. A little out of breath, she looks up to see who it is that's finally stopped to pay attention and...

Oh. That's just one of her fellow Executors. ]

Invidia – Park

has

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

That's certainly not helping. Well, how did Esme get popular? She was manufactured. It would seem the rest of us ought to put in the work spreading your word, too. Amid guerilla concerts and such, of course, given you're still underground.

You really sound like you know what you're talking about...

[ Has Wolfsbane secretly been an idol this whole time?? ]

I'll admit I doubt I was ever an idol. But that's no excuse not to go into this with a plan, don't you think? Just like adapting to combat or anything else.

[ Rei splutters in protest, going a little pink. ]

W–we do have a plan! ... it's just going a little differently than I expected.

And that means we ought to examine the approach and see if anything needs to change. Have you been getting any attention whatsoever?

A little bit here and there. It's... strange, though. Some of them seem interested when I'm talking but then they just move on without taking a flyer. Or they don't even acknowledge me at all.

[ ... She's never encountered 'polite disinterest' before, huh. ]

Well, if they don't care and are too polite to say it, we make them care. Esme's entire modus operandi is making people want her, want to be her, isn't that right? And for you, as beginning idols, wouldn't that put you as saying they are you, and if you can succeed, so can they?

Oh...!

[ Now she thinks she gets it. ]

So, maybe... if we make ourselves seem a little more relatable, especially in comparison to Esme, it might appeal to people more?

Exactly. Besides, we aren't staying on this level forever. If you're here to give them dreams too, that won't disappoint them so much. Don't you think?

[ Rei just blinks at her for a moment – and then she gives a little giggle she can't suppress. ]

I didn't expect you to be so worried about their dreams.

What? I -- [She sputters.] It's for the mission! Everything depends on us, you know this!

[ Sorry, Anna, that's making her laugh even more. ]

I know, I know! It's just nice to see you taking part, that's all. I know this idol thing isn't really for everybody...

No, it isn't, but I want to tear Esme down from her high horse just as much as anyone else. At least you seem happy about this.

Really?

[ she looks a little embarrassed but... it's not like it's a lie. ]

I guess... it's just nice to feel like there's something we can do without having to fight all the time.

...I suppose. I'm fine with fighting and training as much as we do. But it looks like right now, at least, this multi-pronged approach is the best strategy.

Mm. I'm just glad it is... if it wasn't working out and we had no other way to go against her, I don't know what we'd do. After what happened to Autumn... there's no way we could go against her in a fight.

She's got power over this level. Which means we hit her with what she can't control.

Mmm. I hope so.

[ She looks a little thoughtful, though ]

But it's strange... with as much control as she has, I wonder why she can't stop us doing this.

In GRANBELM, we could only enter Magiaconatus' realm and fight on the night of the full moon. Maybe there are caveats to Esme's power, too. Or it could be that she's waiting to strike or she's doing her own investigating, given she clearly knows by now that we're still alive, as it were.

Mhm. That's strange to me as well. You'd think after her first attempt didn't work out, she'd do whatever she could to get rid of us for real as soon as she could. After all, we're all walking proof now of what kind of person she really is.

So unless she's got some weakness we aren't aware of and is waiting it out, she's got a plan. Which means we're stuck again not knowing what it is.

[ Rei looks thoughtful. ]

You know, come to think of it... isn't she sort of in the same position as us right now?

What? How? She's the queen of this place. She said herself that she could easily command these people. Not to mention she basically soloed some of our strongest fighters, or at least enough to keep them from causing a scene.

That's exactly my point, though. If she could do all that, why hasn't she taken us out herself?

I think... maybe, she's scared. And more importantly, I think she's scared because she doesn't fully understand what we can do as Executors. She doesn't know what the full scope of our powers are so she doesn't know how to face us.

Do you think it's because she only knows Executors by reputation? Or just because our abilities are all over the place?

(no subject)

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