FINAL WEEK

[strangerpeople]

FINAL WEEK

[Four weeks. Nine survivors.

Everything is...very quiet now. Like, surprisingly so. The lack of Marie's voice is both refreshing and strange after three weeks. But, she is gone, and even if Bottson updates the profiles to reflect that, yes, you still lost someone, you are finally free.

But are you really? There's still a lot of questions that need to be answered. For one thing, were they really inside someone's body? If so, what does it mean for the universe? Who, exactly, is Ivy, and why is her death so important? And--who is really in charge of this?

Whatever the answers are, there are still floors left to explore, with no warning as to what might be on them. It's best to rest and prepare before you do anything more, especially with one of your number still injured. There is still time left, after all, and you'll all want to be ready for whatever might be next.

There are nine strangers in this place.]


SUNDAY | MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY

Comments

TUESDAY

[strangerpeople]

[theserpentsmiles]

[What is up my fellow survivors, let's play another game of Whose Stuff Is That? It's all laid out on a table in the mess hall, Nagisa beside it, poking curiously at the stew - though once again without the weapons. The guidebook also isn't there. He's...pretty sure there are going to be people with questions about the 'I'm an assassin' confession a few days ago, too.

And just like last time, if it's the weapons you're after, he's easily found in the theater trying them out.

Those visiting the library late tonight might...hear something unusual. It sounds like crying. Like someone trying to cry as quietly as possible, since crying is altogether unavoidable.]

[mementodagger]

[Yurick is always in the library, or at least when he's not hiding in the room previously used by Akira and Naoya. It feels more prudent to sleep alone now, even without anyone giving him much in the way of grief. If they won't punish him, it might be simple logic leading him to punish himself, or it's merely his tendency to fall back on old habits. He's been alone for so much of his life, it doesn't feel strange to be alone now.

Maybe if he keeps telling himself that, he'll believe it.

But when he hears that sound, it wrenches at him. It's the same strangled, muffled sobs that choked him so many times as the other mercenaries slept around him. Those are the kind of tears one would shed when they didn't want anyone else to be bothered by their pain. Who here would cry like that? So he steps quietly, not wanting to alert whoever it is, not certain why he should care except he does.]

also library - is it brother ambush o'clock?

[backuphero]

[Jonathan has murdered his sleep cycle, nothing more and nothing less. If that'll still be the only thing he's killed by the time they all get out of here, he's happy with that.

There were a few paperback Westerns in the library; all seemed to be different parts of the same longrunning series, but they were entertaining enough. He was aiming for one of those, and to find someplace to curl up with it until he felt properly tired again, and that was when he heard the first muffled sound. Before he'd taught himself not to cry (and now again since he's relearned it) he'd made noises like that, more gasp than sob, breath hitching like a hook caught in one's throat. He can't see anyone past the shelves, and before he stands back up and tries to look over them...

Well, there's one person who's been avoiding him lately whenever he can manage it, one who always seems to be here. He keeps his voice hushed - ]

Yurick? You okay?

Evidently so!

[theserpentsmiles]

[Naturally, the sobbing cuts off when Jonathan speaks up. Nagisa hadn't wanted to be caught, should have chosen the theater or Mecha repair or somewhere - but then, few places bring as much comfort to him as libraries and classrooms. Places of learning.

It takes a few moments to find his voice, and then it's all he can do yo keep it remotely steady.]

S-Sorry! [That probably isn't who either of them wanted to hear.

He's tucked himself in a corner deep in the library, clinging to a massive book like his life depends on it. It's not a book either will recognize - it wasn't here before, and it would have stood out. It's bigger than Nagisa's head.]

[mementodagger]

[No, that is very much not the voice Yurick wanted to hear. He winces and almost walks quickly away, but... he's done enough to abandon his brothers already. He abandoned them that first night, before they were ever family. He has to try to make up for all his sins.]

You don't need to apologize. We didn't mean to eavesdrop. Please forgive us.

[backuphero]

[So Yurick is here, but that wasn't - oh, Hell. That was Nagisa, finally breaking down.

The guilt Jonathan feels is compounded by a sense that it's selfish to assume this is his fault, but he can't rid himself of the thought that if he hadn't put so much on Nagisa's shoulders he wouldn't be hiding here. Somewhere here. It takes him a bit to make his way through the stacks, peering around every shelf, before he finds the corner where his brother is curled up.

On the way, he passes Yurick, and motions at him to follow, only pausing long enough to know his eyes have met that singular gaze and that his gesture was seen. He knows he'll follow, even if it's only out of his own guilt.]

Hey. No apologies for tears, all right? Not someplace like this, and... and not anyplace else.

[Refusing to weep didn't seem to have saved Wind any regrets, anyway, and it didn't seem to have done anything good to his grandfather's friends, either. It had turned him into a monster-hunting machine, sure, but one running on rage that would spill over and burn even the people he cared about. He doesn't want to return to living like that.

Even knowing that, though he's still so very uncertain when it comes to how to comfort people who aren't - her. It probably shows in the way his hand settles featherlight on Nagisa's shoulder, and the way he gently slips it around to rub his back.]

[theserpentsmiles]

[Both of his brothers are here. Both of them - one asking forgiveness, the other forgiving him. If it were anyone else, Nagisa could've brushed away his tears and deflected concern, but he can't hide from them.

He's known for a while now that there would come a time he'd have to talk to them about his training as an assassin. He'd thought it could come up on its own, but...but getting the book back changed that. All this time he's been longing for Korosensei's advice, questioning what his teacher would want him to do even while knowing there was no way even he could have predicted this situation. Now that he has sensei's words and encouragement and...and everything he'd left for his students, now that Nagisa has made his choice, it's almost too much to bear.]

I- I didn't want to bother Tealeaf-san, so.... I... [He knew he probably wouldn't be able to read the book without crying. It's been over a month now, and they'd all accepted the fact of it beforehand, but Korosensei's death was still too recent. The wound is too fresh.] I could have chosen somewhere else.

[mementodagger]

Or maybe you wanted to be found, at least by someone you trust.

[Yurick glances at Jonathan when he says that. He won't take any of that for himself, not when he still feels he doesn't deserve it.]

I'm not really much of a good listener, but if you need to talk....

[backuphero]

I'm not that great of a talker, but I can try if you need that, too.

[He holds Yurick's gaze until he glances away again, and keeps his eyes trained on the mage.]

It's okay you came here instead of staying in bed... I mean, that makes three of us.

[His voice is soft, fond, trying for reassuring. Hopefully he doesn't miss and hit patronizing. He just wants Nagisa to be well, to be okay, to be able to grow up and look back on this as something horrible that happened a long time ago. He wants Yurick to let them trust him again, he wants things to go back to how they were before Marie nearly broke his brain.

He also knows full well he can't have these wants, and the ache is almost more than he can bear.]

[theserpentsmiles]

...Sensei wrote this book. [So. Maybe that explains some of what's finally cracked the dam.] During the last week of his life, when he was trapped all alone on our mountain, he...wrote twenty-eight of these. One for each of us. Personalized and customized, tailored specifically to our strengths, weaknesses, desires, personalities...

[Korosensei knew each and every one of his students inside and out, after all. Better than they knew themselves it sometimes seemed. He was truly the world's greatest teacher. Able to really see his students for who their were and tailor his teaching style to what worked best for each of them. And he, himself, never stopped learning, never stopped finding new ways to teach them better. "Jump as many times as you like"....

There's no one to catch them anymore. No one to catch him.]

All the guidance and advice he knew he wouldn't live to give us.

[mementodagger]

[How many of them go through life with no safety net, no one to catch them? It's part of life, sad and terrible as it is, and all they can do is continue to struggle or die. But maybe it's a little easier with people who care by your side, even when they drift in and out of a person's life.]

He left a mark on you, a good one. Sometimes it's all we get. Sometimes it's more than others get. You're allowed to feel the pain and even cry, we won't mock you for it.

[backuphero]

You're allowed to grieve.

[His voice is like it would be when reading a prayer, soft but strong. It's taken one of the craziest months of his life to realize those words can - no, not just can, they should apply to anyone, even to him.

"You'll understand when you're old enough."
"I don't want to understand! He's dead, what's even there to understand?!"

"There must have been a reason. You have to understand...."
"Maybe so... but... I can't even use the power I'm meant to use!"

He's even more powerless here. He's had to find other kinds of strength, he's had to learn to control the anger that kept him going for so long. One moment of true clarity, at Nagisa's hands, had let him see how far he'd fallen. Just because he was well outside a state of grace didn't mean he needed to make it worse and take it out on everyone else. Getting killed in the middle of a reckless rage would serve nothing - and hadn't he had to learn that more than once in these few weeks? He's angry again, now, but not in that aimless way he was before he got here. He's not even angry at Marie - what use is hating the dead, after all? He can't even really hate his own father, now, after all this useless death.

He's furious at a world not his own. He's furious that the same people who would tell children they were acceptable losses would trap someone like Nagisa's teacher in such a way. "They weren't going to let him live, even though... even though we found out he didn't have to die." Those words chilled him when he heard them, and now they serve to fuel a tempering forge. His anger blazes, but he controls it, now. He has to use it to make his words clear, and so he will. A man who cared so much about his students that he'd leave them with volumes of help, every last thing he knew about them, and every thing he thought they'd need once he was gone....]

It's... that book, that's what a... [father, he almost said father, God...] that's what someone who takes care of you when you're young is supposed to leave you with. Maybe not as a book, not as something you can hold in your hands, but if they trapped him like that... you were right, he didn't get a choice, so he had to. No parent wants to outlive their children, and no teacher who's really good at it wants to see their students fail. During the trial, you... you said something about being good for one thing only, but... he believed in you.

So do we. That's why we're both here. We're getting down to the wire, things might still get worse from here, but... if you stumble, we'll catch you and pull you back up. I promise.

[fashionfever]

SWAG

[That's announced by the light box mounted over this little booth. A bowl of Hershey's kisses is on the counter for snacking along with New Coke and Diet Rite. Chess video game tape, Tetris video game tape, Oregon Trail video game floppy, Donkey Kong video game tape... yes, those may not be the original labels, but Angela made little covers for them and labeled them the way she saw fit. The Joker costume is on a clotheshanger nearby.

After all, what better way for Angela to cope with her distress at Yurick's absolution than a fifteen-tape video game binge? Other than the incinerator, nothing comes to mind.]

incinerator

[backuphero]

[Jonathan's taken to carefully wandering the accessible parts of the base, over the past couple of days. He's got most of his balance back; though he isn't exactly eager to try sparring with anyone they've got left, walking can only help.

The sound of the elevator, and then a door opening and closing around the curve gives him a moment's pause. No one in the theater, no one in the winery, but in the room with the furnace....]

...Angela, what are you doing?

[He's not suspicious, he's baffled.]

[fashionfever]

[There's a loud thud inside the incinerator right around when he gets through the door, and then she turns around, hiding something with one hand behind her back.]

Nothing! Nothing! [She waves her free hand, forcing a smile very poorly.] I just had some trash, but, uh, I threw away all the trash now! All those icky fabric scraps are gone!! Nothing to worry about!!!

[backuphero]

[That's a very, very forced smile, but he's not going to push too hard at it. Definitely notices that hand behind her back, though, but he's not going to say so.]

You've been kind of... look, I've unloaded enough on you, you know you can talk to me if something's wrong, right?

[fashionfever]

Why would anything be wrong? It's all going great! You don't think I'm in the way of the happy party we're having while we're still totally stuck in here, do you?

[backuphero]

[Okay, she's... like she was when he was really out of it. Only it's worse now that he's not, because now he doesn't have that as an excuse to fall back on if he messes up and says the wrong thing. He disguises a frustrated sigh as a yawn.]

Sorry, I'm just... messed up my sleep times, I'm still a little out of it. Sounded like that was a lot of fabric, though, wish you'd asked me to help. Feel kinda useless sometimes, you know?

[fashionfever]

...

[She honestly had already forgotten the fabric lie. That's how This she is. She has to take a moment to really think about how to answer in light of this. Lying. Thing. That she's doing.]

I... like having help, but... there are a lot of venues where I've had to carry heavy boxes of tools and stuff like that by myself, too. I'm sure you can find something else to do.

[backuphero]

Didn't mean to imply you couldn't, just... it takes less time when you share the work, or at least it's always felt that way to me.

[Yet again, he has no idea what he's done wrong.]

[fashionfever]

...

[The angel and the devil bicker among themselves for a little while. They don't get anywhere. Angela presents the item from behind her back.

A single geta, impaled on all sides with the sewing pins that she also got out of the machine.]

[backuphero]

[That's definitely not something he's familiar with, but it looks like... a Japanese shoe treated like a voodoo doll?]

Ange, what on Earth?

[fashionfever]

What else am I supposed to take it out on? The trash compactor wall things?

[backuphero]

[He shakes his head, and stares down at the floor as though maybe a cue card will pop up with something safe and reassuring to say.

Naturally, no such thing happens.]

Better that than breaking your hand on the walls or poking yourself full of holes, that's for sure.

[And he takes a deep breath, and then looks back up.]

I'm sorry. I... I guess I'm more of a kid than I'd like to admit. Maybe most of us are. It's like we all want someone else to be "the adult", and it keeps falling on you, and that's not fair to dump on one person.

[Just maybe he's making some pretty significant leaps in logic as to why Shoe Murderation happened, but he's trying....]