AUDIENCE FOR: Harrowhark

[guestservices]

Comments

[outsidebones]

Ugh. Okay. But I notice the contract addendum says I can't tell anyone other than Hotel Staff, does it not?

May I...tell someone? Or amend the contract to be permitted to tell someone?

[guestservices]

I did say last time it was a little too soon to expect your contract to change... but this week isn't quite so early, no?

Come see me in person. If we're amending it, I'll need you to sign off on the changes.

[outsidebones]

Yes, alright.

[goes to see her in person.]

Vulpecula, may I also...may I try to get her to choose a specific person if I know I intend to target them? Or even to get her to choose me? Or would that...not work, or be a breach of contract, or disappoint the host?

[guestservices]

[vulpecula is ready and waiting with a copy of harrow's contract.

they write something out quickly at the bottom of the list of terms -

9. In acknowledgment of the Housekeeper's work, they are permitted to discuss it with one other guest in the hotel. It may not spread any further than that, or else it will be considered a breach of contract.

and then hand it to harrow to sign.]

...you can try to. To be clear - you'd want to be very careful in how you did it. Make the conversation quick and keep it as... I think the term is "on the down-low" as you can, because if he notices you had a hand in it, might not be good. But a coincidence is a coincidence, and if you just happen to say something that makes her think someone might be a good pick, who could blame her for taking it that way?

But if it's too obvious that you're trying to keep the bloodshed to a minimum, or if people keep not staying dead when they're supposed to, he... might get bored. And I think he'd look for any way to frame it as a breach of contract, in that case.

[outsidebones]

[she sticks a fountain pen in her mouth, draws blood, and signs in blood. that's still a thing.]

So don't tell her outright I plan to kill someone. But I can help her think of ideas this week and hopefully she'll choose one of my suggestions...?

[guestservices]

I think that would be alright. Just - make sure there's some sort of... How did Gemini say it... Plausible deniability. As long as you're not saying, "You should definitely pick this person because I have a very strong feeling they'll be in danger," that should be fine.

Depending on who you're thinking of, they might even provide their own reasons with the way they act, you know?

[outsidebones]

Quite. Well. It's difficult. I imagine Kim Dokja is already considering whether I would come after him, so he's out of the question, and Rin is too young. So the obvious targets are out, but perhaps Aikawa...? She was suspicious of him, too.

[guestservices]

Is that so? Then it sounds like there would be quite a lot of plausible deniability there. If she was suspicious, others might be too. And it wouldn't necessarily be just you who might be considering...

[wait.

they look at harrow, cross their arms, and then look up at about where aikawa's height would be.]

Harrow...

[outsidebones]

I'm going to buy a gun and use my power to command them to do the deed themselves. The size discrepancy will only work to my advantage.

[guestservices]

[they make a whining noise in the back of their throat]

...you have a point, but still...!

[outsidebones]

I do know what I'm doing. [a sigh.]

I know you will hate me saying this, but it feels almost wrong to ask her to choose me this week. There was something poetic about the notion of dying for my house.

[guestservices]

...oh, who gives a crap about what is and isn't poetic!

[heLLO.]

You think that's going to comfort any of the people here you care about you? You think your friends from the station are just going to say "Oh, she died a poetic death, so it's okay"? No! They won't! So get that stupid thought out of your head!

[well



she was not wrong in that they would hate her saying this!]

[outsidebones]

[she seems a bit stunned by the outburst for a moment, and then she laughs slightly, rubbing at her face.]

I'm sorry. I'm taking advantage of you, aren't I? Saying these things, knowing you can't do anything about them.

[guestservices]

You're not the type of person who says things thoughtlessly, so if you're saying them, then in some way they need to be said - but really, Harrow! Value your own life a little more!

[outsidebones]

I do value my life. [a small wry smile.] Too much. I've always chosen to live, even when I wasn't supposed to.

I'm not really a person, Vulpecula. I'm the souls of two hundred dead children, and I exist to serve my House. The notion of putting those souls to rest, finally, in service of their home is...there's a justice in it.

But I don't want to die.

[guestservices]

Then don't die! They're a part of you, it sounds like, but - Harrow, that's not all you are. You're also you. Whatever your circumstances, whatever you went through that brought you to this moment - I'm talking to Harrowhark Nonagesimus, who is right in front of me right now.

And that's that!

[outsidebones]

[...she glances away, embarrassed and a bit miserable, something needy and ashamed about her.]

I told Lup to choose me, so...you needn't worry.

[guestservices]

Good!

[they



sound like they're sulking a little. god. stupid.]

...sorry. I just - I shouldn't have gotten so worked up. That's not really fair to you either, when you're the one who's going to be... you know...

[committing a murder... doing all the hard work...?]

[outsidebones]

Don't be sorry. [she's chewing her lip hard enough to draw blood.] I'm the one who...I don't know how to be someone else, besides all of that, and still...

[guestservices]

...it takes time, that's all. You'll definitely figure it out. And you've got good people around you to help you figure it out... it's okay to rely on them, you know.

[outsidebones]

...I am not so good at doing so.

[also, i'm giving you a memory.]

[guestservices]

I know. It's a learned skill, but you—

[—have time, they would say, if they had enough time to get the words out before the stardust engulfed them and the memory began to play out before their eyes.

...

why is harrow's life suffering. god. god!!! this canon is so mean to her! so fucking mean!! all this to say, even with the way vulpecula's expression is obscured by their veil, they seem affected by the memory.]

Harrow...

[outsidebones]

[she wipes at her face, but in some ways, that memory is a fond one.]

...He felt so differently about all of it than I expected him to.

[guestservices]

People are... like that, aren't they? If there's anything that's predictable about people, it's how unpredictable they are.

[outsidebones]

Yes. [a slightly wet laugh.] I was always dreadful to him. My parents killed his father. [...] They didn't only kill him, they demanded that he kill himself, and he did it without question.

All Ortus cared about was his poetry, and I forced him to be my cavalier, and I put him in the situation that eventually led to his death for my own personal, petty reason. He would have been well within his rights to hate me.