livestudioaudience | R4 Viewing Party - no crying til the end (if you can help it)

[Arianna is so excited, she doesn't even think. Doesn't even consider what else Yuuri will see.]

Of course. Here.

[ And Yuuri doesn't consider either -- it's not that she's forgotten, it's just that there's so much else going on that Kurumi doesn't immediately come to mind. She'll probably regret it.

She takes the tablet and watches for a few moments with steely, surprisingly suspicious eyes. They've been tricked before -- those robots had seemed so much like the real thing that they'd been tempted into unbelievable danger on the off chance they might've been the real thing. There's nothing to say the network couldn't pull a stunt like that again.

But after a few moments, she seems to relax. This girl -- she's too much like the real thing. Too wound up and panicked and human to be a fake of any kind, she thinks. This is the real Chloe -- which means she can still be saved. ]

Why now, I wonder...? I know with the re-run it must've seemed like the perfect time but if they had everyone the entire time the show was running, why not put them in here before?

[Arianna peers at the tablet at the same time, still curious to see what happens. Chloe sure isn't happy about all this! Understandable.

There's no doubt in her mind that this is real. She doesn't have room in her heart right now for doubts. But... Yuuri's words are a cause for concern.]

Could it... simply not have occurred to them until the second season? Perhaps it was only then that the network had the idea, and then they chose to delay introducing the first group until the rerun.

[...okay, but now that she's said that, it seems wrong. Like something doesn't add up somewhere.]

... Maybe... but...

[ She purses her lips in thought. ]

Wasn't one of them there for a while before the others started showing up? [ she hasn't been watching deadland but she's heard enough chatter to be keeping up. ] Maybe they couldn't load the others in for some reason but--

[ And then she stops talking all of a sudden like someone's hit a pause button. It's hard to tell why when she goes to stock still and silent like that but

well.

that's a familiar looking twintailed girl who's just showed up to greet Chloe, isn't it? ]

...Rii-san?

[...oh. That sure is a familiar twintail, yep.

She'll just set a hand on Yuuri's shoulder again. It seems appropriate.]

... I'm... it's fine.

[ But when she sounds so distant and she's staring at Kurumi so hard, it's a little hard to fully believe her. ]

I just... I haven't seen her since... that episode. And even then...

[Rii-san, you seem like you're having an "episode" now.

Arianna thinks.]

...would you like to see more of her?

...I don't...

[ I don't know if that's a good idea, she almost says because she doesn't trust herself to be able to do it in moderation. She could've seen Kurumi at any time before now but she doesn't think she'd be able to just watch. She'd have to devour every scrap of this bonus content, every single bit of proof that Kurumi Ebisuzawa was still alive in some way shape or form.

But even as she thinks that, she knows she couldn't possibly say no. Not when just the sound of Kurumi's voice on the tablet is enough to make her heart lurch in her chest. She needs to see this.

She gives Arianna a wobbly, barely-there smile. ]

I don't really think I have much of a choice.

[Arianna has doubts about what she's thinking. Taking care of Rii-san, above all, is an area where she can't afford to make mistakes, but there's no path that doesn't seem like it could be one. All she can do is be careful, and make suggestions.]

Aside from this... I could go back through the second season, and select some episodes.

... I wouldn't want to make you do something like that. Watching along like this... it's rough for all of us. And... it's not like you'd be watching strangers.

[ But as much as she knows that she should, Yuuri can't bring herself to say no to this. It'd be an opportunity to see more of Kurumi. Nothing from a trial, or a day they found a body, but... ]

I'm not sure about full episodes, but... if you ever find her laughing or smiling or... just happy. Would you show me?

[She shakes her head.]

I will know what to expect, and I can skip investigation and trial episodes entirely. Under such conditions, I am certain I can endure this. There were times when she was happy, and I will find them.

[ Yuuri smiles at her. It's worn so thin it's barely there but then without another word she nods and just -- holds out her arms, so Arianna can step forward into a hug.

She loves this princess so, so much. ]

[And Arianna loves her sister. Enough that she'd go to the ends of the earth (er, the galaxy?) for her, if that was what it took to make sure she was all right. So of course she'll accept the offered hug, as always.]

R4 Viewing Party - no crying til the end (if you can help it)

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