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Who: Madoka and Waver
When: 4 January
Where: TBD
What: Infosharing
Warnings: None

It's four days into the New Year. That's enough time to have passed for all related shenanigans of the parties to have passed, and Waver has an agreement to take up. Around noon, after he's rolled out of bed, gotten himself straightened out and stared at the blizzard, he sends Madoka the following text:

Madoka--

If you're interested in mapping out the various known Rulers and seeing what we can make of them, today may be good. I can either attempt to head out to your house, or vice versa. I'd rather do this in person, given what we're discussing.

Reply whenever.
-WV

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Madoka had been using the quiet days to rewrite some things she lost in the fire and now she finally felt comfortable again. Waver's message was just right in timing, she was starting to run out of things to do. Especially with the snow outside. While it could be fun to take walks in winter, that was not something to be done in overdose.

Today's good! Either house is fine with me. Though if you come over here, I could prepare hot chocolate and maybe something to eat for later. Might help to think!

That sounds like a plan, I will come to you. God forbid if there's snowdrifts, I have a height advantage.

Ridiculous question, where do you live?

Lilac District, sole inhabitant of Unit Six. It's right next to a damaged Unit and hard to miss.

I hope the snow doesn't hinder you, too much.

En route now.

And, after a good forty five minutes later, Waver is on Madoka's door, knocking, and more or less covered in snow.

By that time, Madoka has prepared the house to warm someone up perfectly. It's nicely heated and hot cocoa of the finest kind is prepared on the table.

She rushes over to the door and quickly lets him in. "Come in! You look awfully cold!"

"Could be worse," he says, stepping in. His coat comes off first, as not to track any water into the house, followed by his shoes.

"I could be the kind of person to sneak snowballs into a house and throw them at those within."

"Oh, you'd regret that and be out in the snow again very quickly. Possibly not a good idea. I know this type."
She chuckles. The truth is, she'd definitely let even any trouble-maker back in after a little while, but the point stands that she has seen enough stupid boys to know how to handle them.

"Though you would have gotten surprise points, because I wouldn't have ever expected you to be that kind."

"There's maybe one person I'd even risk that sort of behaviour with," Waver says, nudging his shoes to the side. "Living room or kitchen?"

"Living room. Much more comfortable, who knows how long we'll get caught up in details."

On her own she most often just stayed in the kitchen, somehow even rather than in her bedroom, but for shared brainstorming she'd like to be a better host.

"Most likely."

Waver shuffles into the living room and picks a rather comfy looking spot on the floor. Well, at least a spot where he can hunch over the coffee table. He pulls a notebook out of mid air - he'll never stop enjoying that little island ability - as well as a pen, and rips a few sheets out. On the first sheet, he scribbles The World and then looks up at Madoka.

"Shall we begin?"

Madoka prefers using the same notebook at all times, but she's already got it out and on the table. With a nod, she sat down as well.

"Yes. The World first then? Makes sense, we know most about her after all..."

"We do," he concurs, and scribbles a few things down. They mostly consist of Visible, most direct contact, questionable ally. Motives ??? "What have your encounters with her been like? I've only spoken to her once."

"My most memorable one was the first, where I had a chance to sit down with her in the castle and talk a bit. She seemed incredibly calm and warm, but also slightly regretful." Madoka tilts her head and looks over at Waver's paper for a moment.
"That could relate to the motives part. She appears still shaken by the death of the original denizens, so she likely was attached to them. By protecting us she likely tries to prevent a return of the events, because she regrets having it let happen the first time?"

All of this gets written down. At the last period put on the page, Waver looks up and considers. "That would make the most sense. I'd be surprised if it was otherwise, really."

He takes a beat and at the bottom of the page adds Working hypothesis: motivated on regret, re: death of previous citizens who she was unable to protect. Source of conflict unknown.

"Now, this is where I rely on you more, as I don't know the others as well, down to lacking names."

"I think we can rule out the fool or the emperor for any manipulation, they never interact with us at all."

Madoka had started to feel something that maybe wasn't hatred but certainly a great deal of rage toward the Rulers. Sometimes she wondered if it would be better if they at least got to see them on a regular basis. Even if they behaved cruelly, she somehow imagined it easier to deal with them when knowing them as people.

"Which leaches us with Justice and Judgement, as we already predicted."

Both The Fool and The Emperor get their names written down on individual sheets of paper, each with the additional note of Distant below their names.

"It bothers me that that's only seven out of the deck," Waver mutters, scribbling Justice's and Judgement's names on different pieces of paper.

"It's possible that some of them died back with the denizens, isn't it? If they were mortal, I mean."
She taps her fingers on the table as she thinks. "Though there probably still are more of them in the castle who never interfered with us. I'd like to think some were allies, but..."

"We can't know for certain, and they haven't reached out. We can't take that risk."

"If they exist, I wonder if they are monitoring us as well or if there is a greater purpose they are busy with. Up to now we've assumed that the denizens were the key point of Arcanarum, but isn't it possible that they are just a part of something else which the other Rulers take care of?"
She doesn't really know what that something else might be, seeing an island to keep fairytales alive already didn't make too much sense, but by now Madoka's determined to just find any new starting point for thoughts. Running in circles was driving her mad.

Waver frowns. It is a completely valid point, one he barely considered until now. "The question I have though is what would that be? Their own upkeep, something else that they've not hinted at at all?"

"Huh... I've always wondered... why does this place exist? The original denizens seemed to be set on keeping up dreams for the children who got to here their stories... But the Rulers don't care about these things. Why do they need to replace the denizens anyway? Why is it important to this place? What is it's purpose?"
Maybe the Rulers had once, too, been wanting to spread messages of love and hope but that would certainly have been long ago.

Waver shakes his head. "I don't know. A great number of folktales and myths are hardly things for dreams and children. They're often violent, and full of allusions to if not outright references to abuse, rape, murder, and so on. Homer's Iliad is rife with all of the above."

But purpose, that's a fair point, one that he chews over the thought. "Is there anything they've done that hints at why this place exists at all?"

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So I said I'd be faster and then I wasn't OTL

It happens, don't worry!

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