WEEK 2

[strangerpeople]

WEEK 2

[It is again early morning when the train docks next. This time, however, the dock is not as busy. There are few trains to be seen, and even fewer people. Only a man stands at the dock, teeth sharp in his smile, scelera a deep gold as he stares beneath his fedora.

"Unexpected," he said with a smile. A two-dimensional dog with the head of a scribbled black cloud hops by, ignoring him. "But not unwanted. Do make yourselves comfortable."

This new place is known as Victoria's Chasm, named after an Empress. No, not that one. Her Thrice-Renewed Majesty is quite comfortable on her Throne, and rulled for much longer than 99 days, thank you very much.

In the distance, black begins to erupt like tendrils. Lightning flashes through the clouds. This is the land of monsters; tread carefully. And do not despair, whatever you do.


There are fifteen strangers left in this place.]

Comments

[overworker]

That's what I was thinking. The train is nice, but the facilities here would be even better, if we wanted to hold another meeting. I think there are plenty of new things to talk about after all.

[whitemoontiger]

Mm-hm! Not just us being in this new place but we could do with discussing the... well... whatever attacked us on the train.

[ He still remembers the weird, gnarled-looking hands he'd gotten a glimpse of during all that mess. Not something he remembers fondly. ]

[overworker]

Yeah... I'm still worried that something like that might attack again if we stay on that train. But if we take what we learned from that experience I'm sure we'll be even better prepared if anything else comes.

[whitemoontiger]

I agree. We might be able to take it down quicker if another one tries to attack the train again.

[ There's an air of positivity there before he deflates a little, looking down in the middle of dusting off one of the chairs. ]

I'm worried about Minato. What if he himself is... made of glass? What happened on the train made me realize that and it's... worse than what's wrong with me.

[overworker]

I'm... worried too. That stunt he pulled back there was... well, it was many things. He certainly helped us, but at a terrible cost. It was reckless. But I'm going to try and talk to him later.

We should do everything in our power to support him. I'm sure this is difficult for him.

[whitemoontiger]

Good. I hope maybe you're able to talk some sense into him. We don't want him breaking himself again like that.

[ Yeah he's not gonna forget hearing that scream of Minato's when it had happened, either. It's not something one can just erase from their minds, after all. ]

I agree. I mean.. we need to support each other just... because all of this is so wrong and we have no real control over any of it.

[overworker]

I'll do my best. If not me, maybe there's someone closer to him that can... well, we'll take it one step at a time.

It's easy to feel overwhelmed in a situation like this. We should just keep doing everything we can to find answers for now. At least until another option arises.

[whitemoontiger]

I'm just hoping that with so many of us here that someone's able to. Definitely going slow is key.

[ Something in his expression twists briefly before he just nods in agreement. ]

I agree. If we just look hard enough, we should be able to get answers and then put them together. [ A soft sigh escapes him and he looks around the room they're tidying up, hanging his head afterwards. ] If it wasn't for these weird circumstances, i'd kind of like visiting all these places.

[overworker]

Eliza and I were talking about the same thing actually. I'm glad that I was able to meet everyone here, but-- if things were different, I would have liked it if we could have all met under better circumstances.

[Towa laughs. She can almost imagine it.]

I don't think anyone back home would have let me run off on my own though, so you probably would have had to put up with several of my classmates too.

[whitemoontiger]

Me too. We probably would have gotten along a bit better with things being much less tense as they are now.

[ His expression turns soft, a smile forming on his lips shortly as a light laugh escaped him. ]

I know how that is. I mean... I go off on my own all the time, but it isn't like I would mind introducing you to my friends if I had the chance. They're... strange, but still good people.