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Downtime at Oletus Manor wasn’t rare. One could even argue that the punishment of the trials included their absence (part of the punishment of the trials was the lack of them).Taking up hobbies and building relationships were just as important as kiting strategies and decoding skills, even though they were used on different battlegrounds. Time had never been a particularly kind mistress to any of the survivors even before the trials, so the persistence of such a fact surprised no one.
Aesop was reluctantly thankful for the time. The extra hours afforded him plenty of time to both recuperate and hone his skills. He finally had the time to pursue his interest in scientific illustration, a luxury he hadn’t been able to afford before.
The only drawback of this time was the freedom it afforded others in the manor.
Aesop's free time required a certain level of solitude. Learning new skills, or even practicing old ones, required a large amount of distraction free concentration. With a manor full of drunkards, demolitionists and acrobats, it proved to be a very difficult feat to even achieve a smidge of the quiet required.
Aesop knew his needs were unfair. Even as a young boy, he’d been severely impeded by even the breathing of his fellow classmates. Many of his tests had been spent discreetly covering his ears in order to even write his name on the damn thing. This knowledge ultimately didn’t aid him at all. He could know and understand all he wanted, but it wouldn’t change what he needed to function with minimal stress.
The noise wasn’t the only issue. Social interactions were often the bane of his existence. Lots of guessing was required, and even the tiniest mishap could turn into a shitshow even if he was careful. On a good day, he found he could manage at least a couple of hours of interactions with the tamer manor residents. “Bad” or “Downer” days often took any hope of successful conversations completely off the table.
As a result of these limitations, Aesop had given up on salvaging his reputation. He was relatively certain that the majority of people simply tolerated him, and those who did harbor a pointed dislike for him were used to hiding such feelings. It didn’t matter much to him, as he’d given up hope on the most surface level of friendships long ago.
His need for solitude was due largely in part to the matches. Even without the constant stress of a match and all it entailed, the fact of the matter was he had to cooperate with his teammates. Talking, strategizing, and following orders took a lot out of Aesop even at his normal job, so doing the same in such a high octane setting was even more taxing. The chance that a hunter could taunt or even strike up conversation with him could easily double that stress. Overall, the matches were a 3 tier shit cake, and needed to be prepared for accordingly. Aesop found the best way to manage the stress of a game boiled down to two things. Solitude, and doing what he loved. If he couldn’t get the right amount of either, it could really fuck up his performance in games, which he couldn’t risk. Having a mid-game stress meltdown just couldn’t happen. The last thing he needed was to get berated in such a vulnerable state by his teammates for his actions, regardless of if it was his fault or not. Staying on his A-game would keep his teammates off his back, and thus his minimal needs would have to be prioritized on days that he could take care of them. Maintaining both solitude and his interests was easier said than done, and often needed a lot of work.
To keep his necessary solitude, Aesop had to do a decent amount of research. Maps of the interior and exterior of the manor, profiles of character, and loose schedules for the others had been meticulously gathered and updated throughout his stay. Such items had proved invaluable for the creation of his own “Schedule”. The thing could barely be called that, as it was more of a tailored set of guidelines for the goings on in the manor. Each “risk” was noted along with its severity, in order to give Aesop an understanding of any situation. Even if he couldn’t avoid something, he could at least minimize the stress of a potential surprise by removing its edge of uncertainty.
The schedule for days he didn’t have a match (match days were even WORSE when it came to planning), was built at the start of the day. At 8 am sharp, after reading or thinking for an hour, Aesop would make his way to his desk. All of the necessary materials would be laid out, and an hour would be spent weighing options, noting paths, and creating escape routes. After careful deliberation, a loose hourly schedule of activities would be penned. Another paper would have a map, which had been labeled with the rough idea of paths the other residents would normally make. A third slip of paper would have a couple of conversation starters, next to a list of everyone in the manor and what their interests were.
The only issue resided in the certainty of the information. Aesop wasn’t a stalker, and didn’t care for knowing every little thing about every survivor. Most of the information was based on what he’d observed in passing. He’d taken note of people that had entered the rooms he was in, or where they liked to spend their time based on passing conversations. Times were rougher, and were frequently subject to change. The schedules he’d built for a specific resident were based on chance, basically boiling down to the likelihood of finding someone somewhere.
Interests were much easier to glean than schedules. Each survivor was named by their role, a role which often represented who they were as a person. Vera had her perfumes, Luca had his inventions, Margaretha was a skilled dancer, and so on and so forth. Only light research in the manors expansive library was needed, in order to build educated opinions on topics of interest. Aesop felt this gave him an edge in potential conversations, as he could hold in-depth conversations on the things any resident was interested in. Being able to talk with others about the things he truly enjoyed made Aesop content, and he figured the same must apply to others.
After preparing the necessary information, Aesop would move onto the tools he would require. Pretty much anything that was necessary for the day's activities, along with a baseline of some food, water and medicine, would be arranged and neatly packed. All of the papers would be stowed in his pockets and then he could finally set out for the day.
Keeping to this routine of carefully skirting around most of the residents in order to function on game days, had served him well thus far. He had always been reluctant to change what worked well for him, and this was no different.
–
“Does anyone know what's up with Aesop?”
Edgar’s declaration had filled the previously quiet dining room, and stirred the inhabitants into movement. Andrew paused mid bite, Victor questioningly cocked his head, and Luca continued to shamelessly devour the remaining half of his baguette. Satisfied with the reactions of the first two, Edgar drummed his fingers on the table. He watched as Luca finished his baguette, waiting patiently for a response. Luca’s response was to victimize the next item on his plate, a shockingly red apple.
With a sigh, Edgar placed his spoon down, and leaned closer to Luca’s good ear.
“Luca.”
The inventor startled, glancing around the room before looking at Edgar.
“Do you know what’s up with Aesop?” Edgar repeated, now at a relatively normal volume.
“Nope!” Luca chirped, before continuing to maul his apple. After a pause his brows furrowed and he leaned slightly towards Edgar.
“Why, is something wrong?”
Andrew, who had been silently freaking out the entire time, paled (somehow). Victor looked at the two with worry, and pushed his meal aside.
“What, you guys haven’t noticed?”
Upon seeing 3 faces of bafflement, Edgar sighed dramatically.
“Calm down, I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t going crazy.”
“WHAT??” Victor signed curiously. “He didn’t grow wings or anything, right?” [Potential Signage] “AESOP-GROW-WINGS-NO, RIGHT?”
Luca snickered, before verbally relaying the message to the rest of the table.
“Ugh, no, I wish. It’s just that we see so little of him, I’m starting to wonder if he’s nocturnal, or if he's hiding some terrible secret.”
Luca rolled his eyes. “Edgar, really? Everyone knows that the guy pretty much got his masters in avoiding people.”
Victor snorted, before getting elbowed by Andrew. Andrew leaned to look at Edgar over Victor's head.
“Why do you think he has a secret?”
“Well, besides the fact that he hides like it's his job, he’s always carrying these weird pieces of paper around. Whenever I do see him, he’s always either looking at one of them or writing something down.”
“Huh. That is pretty unusual.” [WHAT? THAT-VERY-UNUSUAL] Victor signed.
“That’s what I’m saying! He’s an embalmer, not a writer. What would he even need that stuff for?”
“I think I know why.” Luca chimed in. He had brought out a beat up pad of paper, and was furiously scribbling on it.
“How often has everyone seen him?”
Everyone chimed in.
“Twice since I showed up here.” “Only around the holidays.”[HOLIDAYS-ONLY] “Once a month, but to be fair I’ve made it a game to go looking for him.”
Luca noted all of this down.
“And I really don’t remember, but I’m pretty sure I only see him during matches.”
With a final flourish, Luca sets down his pencil, and turns his pad of paper around for everyone to look at.
A relatively neat bust drawing of Aesop was there, and next to it was a bulleted list. The list branched out, and had a variety of crossed out pathways and options. One had been circled and underlined, and it read “KNOWS EVERYONE'S SCHEDULE”. Some of the crossed out branches from that option read “SPYING”, “INSIDE SOURCE”, and “PSYCHIC??”.
Everyone reacted with a general sense of confusion and light acceptance.
“That’s a good idea. But that doesn’t explain why we still see him. If he knew everyone's schedule, he’d be basically invisible.”
Luca gave a sharp nod, and smirked.
“Ah but Edgar, he’s probably given that some thought. In order to not appear totally suspicious, he must be planning chance encounters, in order to throw people off his trail.”
“But why would he be writing stuff down?” [STUFF-WHY-HE-WRITE?] Victor signed. “You can’t be saying that's a ruse too?” [THAT-RUSE-YOU-NO-SAY?]
“Well, maybe he’s updating his knowledge as he goes.” Edgar chimed in.
“Oh that's so creepy..”
Andrew slammed his fist on the table.
“Don’t say that!”
Everyone's eyes snapped to Andrew. He passionately continued on, instead of crumpling under the pressure.
“Aesop is a very shy person. And clearly, something has made hiding a necessary part of his life.” Andrew looked down.
“He’s probably not doing all of that, any of that, for fun, you know.”
A silence fell over the table. The implication of Andrew's words rang loud and clear. Luca subconsciously rubbed the back of his neck.
“Apologies, Andrew. I got too caught up in everything. I should have thought about what I said.” said Luca.
Edgar and Victor also issued apologies.
Andrew gathered his confidence, and raised his head. He didn’t feel the need to meekly apologize, as he had done in the past.
“Please, just keep what I said in mind. Pointin’ fingers is easy, but there's always another side to these things.”
“I definitely will. And in fact, I think you made a really good point Andrew.” Luca had brought his pad back out, and was again furiously writing.
Andrew blinked incredulously.
“He did?” [HE-DID?] Victor signed.
“Yup! He actually doesn’t know our schedules!” Luca paused.
“Well, not in the way we might think he does. Aesop isn’t a huge fan of other people, so there's no way he’d go out and plot what people do. I think he’s just observing everyone, if they happen to be close to him, and only notes down what he needs to avoid them. If he can’t observe someone first hand, he may just take note of who talks about meeting whom, and where.”
Luca takes a sip of water.
“He’s just finding out what he needs to eke by. Now, we don’t know why he wants to avoid everyone so bad, but like Andrew said..”
“..It’s probably nothing we would know about, or even understand.” Edgar finished.
Luca snaps his fingers. “Exactly!”
“How can you be sure though?” Victor signed.
“Well, he hasn’t done anything to be worried about, has he? I highly doubt he’s pulling the strings behind the scenes, or trying to instigate fights. He always looks so tired after matches, and I don’t think he’s faking that.” Luca remarks thoughtfully.
“True. He probably just wants to enjoy his down time away from everyone.” Edgar added.
“That makes him sound so lonely, though.” Andrew says, fidgeting with his tattered ascot.
“Sure, but if he works so hard to be alone, wouldn’t it be cruel to seek him out?”
“Yes, but..I just wish I knew why..” Andrew muttered, mostly to himself. “I don’t want him to go around thinking he’s hated. It is such a cruel burden to bear.”
Edgar, having partially checked out of the conversation in order to finish his soup, raised his head.
“Well, what can we even do? Luca has a point, you know.”
“Hold on, hold on. I’m sure we can think of something. Like..” Luca taps his pencil.
“Maybe it’s just talking that takes a toll on him? Writing letters like Victor does could prove beneficial, especially if it’s something just left at his door.”
Luca waves his hand around.
“Then you just, go from there.”
“That’s not a bad idea. Andrew, it could give you some good writing practice too.” [IDEA-NOT-BAD.GOOD-WRITING-PRACTICE-IDEA-GIVE-ANDREW] Victor added.
“So what, we’re going to start a pity club for him? Write little letters and beg him not to like, kill all of us?”
Edgar lifted his spoon.
“Count. Me. Out.”
“Wow. It’s SO kind of you to offer your services after no one asked you to do anything.”
“LUCA!” Victor signed incredulously.
“Besides. Aren’t you even a little curious about the guy? Maybe he’s secretly the most interesting person in the world, and no one’s found out yet.”
“Hey” Andrew interjected. “This isn’t about pity, Edgar. I’m jus’ extending a kindness I wished had been extended to me a lot sooner in my life.”
Andrew shrugs.
“He can take it or leave it. It’s as simple as that.”
“Whatever.” Edgar replied tersely.
“Just don’t let him hurt you.”
Luca made exaggerated kissy faces at Andrew behind Edgar’s back.
“Yeah you never know Andrew, maybe he’ll find a way to put a GUN into a piece of paper!”[ANDREW-NEVER-KNOW, AESOP-FIND-GUN-PUT-PAPER]
Victor signed menacingly, mockingly wiggling his fingers at the man.
“Whatever, just don’t come crying to me when this all goes to shit.”