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15strangers2019-08-04 10:27 pm
strangerpeople) wrote in 15strangers2019-08-04 10:27 pm
WEEK 4
[After the meeting, Lilac gives everyone a small vial of something red. Those who left the meeting receive it from the rats on the crew. She gives instructions as to how to take it. Take in a drink, preferably tea. Drink it slowly. Make sure you can get to your bed once you finish. The headache will come quickly.
Nevertheless, even as everyone slips into sleep, they are visited once more by the Conductor in what must have been a dream. Or was it? It's not clear.
She is quiet as she speaks, looking out the windows, even though the view is obscured by the glass.
"I know you think me as a monster. Maybe I am after all these years. I have no illusions. But I cannot regret the things I've done.
"Nor can I regret the Bazaar...it was so wonderful. It opened my eyes to the truth of things and opened doors I never could have seen on my own. It was the first time I felt true love for another. I wasn't the only one-my daughter, too, passed through the Wicket. Saw the sea more sunless within the Bazaar's body. Learned as I learned. She sought to rival me in symbols, in marking skin."
She closes her eyes.
"She is dead now, of course. Everyone I knew in the Neath-on our Earth-is. Well. Almost everyone. London endures, naturally. But the Echo Bazaar...it's beautiful promise...it's gone. The Seventh City will never fall, and it's Message will forever remain undelivered. Of all the creatures in the universe who might remember it, I am alone in honoring it.
"Perhaps it's noble. Perhaps it's foolish. In any case, maybe it doesn't matter. Maybe it's the thought that's important. As long as I am here, there is yet a possibility that the deed may be finished, somehow.
"Still, I wonder. Maybe you have the answer.
What happens to a Message, when neither the sender and receiver exist anymore?"
As the day dawns, everyone wakes up to the sound of howling winds and darkness. Their head hurts, but they do have a new memory to accompany the ache. They are also at a new port. It is a dark place, teetering on the edge of safe space and the unknown in between void, where those who enter rarely return. Or, so you have to assume, right? Either way, that blackness on the deep horizon doesn't look particularly fun to try to drive through.
There is a legitimate fear in Lilac's expression that betrays her for the first time, as she lets everyone disembark, including the unicorn and the young man, who quickly jump onto another train to get away from this place. She also refuses to leave the train. She does leave you with a fair warning.
The Synod of Carcels is dangerous, in its own way, and everyone can feel it. Everyone can feel something hanging in the air. It's not natural. It's bending reality. It's also not something that started with you or your arrival. Yet it threatens to become that way, to become part of you. You can feel the temptation gnaw at you. You can hear the winds whisper of it. There is a hunger here-and knowledge as well.
The question, of course, is whether the price to uncover those things is worth it-and what will be found here with the price that is paid. But as the Conductor said-a reckoning cannot be postponed. Not forever.
There are eleven strangers left in this place.]
((IMPORTANT OOC NOTE: This week and it's investigations involve major Fallen London spoilers, in particular spoilers regarding Seeking Mr. Eaten's Name and one of it's endings. If you, as a player here, are playing Fallen London and do not wish to be spoiled, let us know, and we will make sure you are not given any ending spoilers to the best of our ability. We will also be marking spoiler-filled comments with tags, and we request that our players do likewise, in consideration for those who might look through this post in the future.
With that said, have fun, and remember-all shall be well.))
MONDAY
INVESTIGATIONS
HALLUCINATIONS...?
Even taking that into consideration, something isn't quite right with these.]
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1/2
2/2
Oh dear lord
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should I just start putting CNTUAW, SHE DONE WENT FULL DRACULA, Y'ALL above these
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EVIDENCE
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Seven Stations
Either way he's going to take a stab at entering. If anyone wants to come along feel free. ]
EVIDENCE - FALLEN LONDON SPOILERS
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Seven Stations
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FALLEN LONDON SPOILERS
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He's not dead, he's just sleeping in. You'll find him at the dining car around lunch. He doesn't seem particularly hungry, but he's eating the food he got anyway because people need to do that to live. He also bothered to grab food from the mess for the menagerie of pokemon he's been saddled with. And the giant dog. Where it came from, who can tell, but try not to trip on it.
Later still, only Blaze the pidgey dares follow Zack into the Bazaar. The bird thing's perched on his shoulder as he glances about, taking note of the weirdos running around and the locked door to the church.] What kind of a place is this?
[After he's done investigating, he quickly decides he wants to stay on the train this week too, because this place is creepy as fuck. So he's spending the evening in the lounge, curled up at the edge of a couch snacking on a bowl of what can only be described as cereal drowning in warm soda. He's not particularly interested in conversation, but you can enjoy the random record he put on as it starts to play The Best of Queen--]
... Wait, what?
lounge;
...What?
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CW: Underage drinking in the second prompt & any threads there
It waits. It can't fulfill its purpose, so it waits, and if it can think it hopes until that starts to hurt.
[She may be talking less about the purple harridan's question than her own existence, but in any case, she doesn't expect an answer. Once dressed (wedding gown and combat boots and a sparkly, somehow ominous diamond ring to match them, today) she's going to head to the fancier bit of the dining car, where she'll pick at breakfast for a while. Company would be welcome.
Later in the day - early in the evening, really - she can be found perched at the bar in the lounge, drinking from a glass that seems to be full of ice and muddled fruit and something suspiciously close to The Forbidden Color, but translucent enough that it isn't quite. She's singing, again, though this time she's ignoring the wristcuff. It's actually sitting below her feet, as though she dropped it and didn't care to pick it up.]
They laid her in the old churchyard, and buried William by her; from William's heart there grew a rose, and Barbara's heart a briar - oh, damn it, those aren't the right words either.
[If there were a piano she'd punctuate that with a discordant swat across several keys, but as it is, all she can do is slump against the bar, discouraged, and pout at whoever it is that witnessed her defeat at the hands of a folk ballad with several hundred variations.]
Lounge
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That's the first thought that goes through his head. He remembers what he said, after the second motive was announced. He doesn't regret it. If she lost everything, she should know how he'd feel about nearly experiencing the same. Simple as that.
Then the second thought comes in.
That. Statue.
King is stomping his way through the apartment car, heading to one side of it, anger evident on his face. He looks about ready to rip into someone. Literally.
So when he stops in front of a golden statue of a kitsune at the end of the car...it may raise some eyebrows.
As well as what he says.]
So, were you just going to sit there for this whole thing? Doing nothing?
[The statue does not respond. It only continues making a face.]
Oh, yeah, pull the silent treatment. I'll totally buy it.
[The silence continues, before King suddenly grabs the statue by the shoulders, shaking it.]
ANSWER ME YOU NINE-TAILED SACK OF CRAP! I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME, SO ANSWER THE QUESTION!
[…is...someone going to stop this?]
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[Still, everything that's happened in the past few weeks weighs on him, and it's a bit slowly that he gets up and heads to the Dining Car to eat. His beard is unshaven and scraggly and the speed that he walks at makes him look a little older than he is. Even after eating he sits there, staring at where his food was for a long time.]
[Around midday he can be found dozing in the Lounge - he startles awake whenever he hears anyone come in, blinking sleepily.]
[Late in the day he's outside, starting at the Bazaar before glancing at the cavern, debating the wisdom of going in. The constant murmurs aren't helping.]
Dining Car
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TUESDAY
INVESTIGATIONS
HALLUCINATIONS...?
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Zack no.
1/2
2/2
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MOTIVE: A Chance Encounter?
It's Tuesday. It can only mean one thing. And indeed, Lilac has something fancy-looking in her hand as she stands in the lounge, waiting for you all to come.
Then again, no one probably expected the look of surprise on her face.]
Well. This has never happened before. I've just been delivered a Royal Dispensation. I haven't seen one of these since...ever, actually. The Empress must have really taken an interest in you all...
[She blinks.]
Oh. I guess I should explain what this is. It is a document that grants the bearer a private audience with the Empress herself, for any reason. The last time I heard of one used, it was for a Privilege of an Answer, but...really, you can ask for the audience for whatever you want it to be about. Asking for a favor, or...well, I suppose you can challenge her to a duel to the death or something like that if you're so inclined-I have no doubt some of you have been thinking it-but that would likely be an unwise waste of this.
[She gives the paper to one of the rats on the crew, who quickly scampers off with it.]
Anyways. I've been given explicit instructions from her Thrice-Renewed Majesty that only a person who successfully initiates the Little Courtesy and gets away with their crime may have the Royal Dispensation. Whereupon I am required, after dropping the rest of you off at your final destination, to bring said individual to the Throne of Hours. After this-if, of course, the person comes back out-I must also deposit them where you all shall be, unless of course I am told to take them elsewhere.
[Shrug.]
Well? I think you know what must happen next if I am not going to tear up that very lovely piece of paper in front of all of you come the end of the week.
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[Ris wakes a bit earlier than usual, which is to say it's still ostensibly morning when she sits up, putting a hand over her forehead just above her right eye.
She wonders if this will continue, these awful headaches that accompany these dreams. Ever since what she remembered yesterday...
She sighs and stands, brushing some of her long blonde hair over the right side of her face to hide it while she makes her way back to her room in the apartment car. Time to get ready for the day and hope, like after her nap yesterday, this will have dissipated by the time she's done.
Which is to say, feel free to stop the obviously tired and bedheaded girl on her way, if you want.]
[post motive - seven stations, entrance]
[Once she's done listening to whatever Lilac has to prattle on about this time, Ris makes her way out into the main cave and finds a place to take a seat not at all far in.
She's just kind of... staring out into the distance, and from the way she's pressing her lips into a fine line and wrinkling her nose a little, it's clear she's thinking about something.
But this time, there is no knife twirling to disrupt the darkness and the silence. Just Ris, staring out into the pitch-black nothing.
> Talk?]
[dining car, dinner time]
[Ris still has a handful of things she doesn't want, and so tonight, before she gets her dinner, she lays them out on a nearby table for the taking.
A pictobox group shot of seven girls and a white cat, a red glove, a big blue can bearing an "E" label, and a weird jar of walnuts.
Please take them, they're clutter and she hates it.]
Dining Car
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seven stations
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Seven Stations
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Dining Car
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seven stations
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So you'll find him sitting at the exit of the train post motive. He's leaning against the doorframe, dangling one leg out into the crazy world outside. He told himself he wasn't gonna spend too long out there, but... The things he saw...
Later on, he's in the armaments car idly messing with the ammo. Because what exactly goes in a glass cannon, anyway?]
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So today in the afternoon, McBurn can be found nearby the Lounge, with Tango, the robotic cat. He's sitting down and dangling a sock in front of the robotic cat who is batting at it like a real cat.
Even robotic, a cat's still a cat. Anyway, if someone walks by, he'll yawn loudly, probably obnoxiously so. ]
...Got any cat toys?
[ Later on in the day he can be found sitting on top of the train. How he managed to get up there is a mystery, and he appears to be boredly staring off to the distance.
Towards the evening, McBurn can be found nearby the cave... ]
Not much to this place.
lounge
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WEDNESDAY
DEEP CUT: A Place You Won't Leave (FALLEN LONDON SPOILERS)
Clue: Seven is the Number.[No one knows where the congregation came from. From the shadows? Perhaps. But they are here. And so is their priest, smiles and bees buzzing on his char-black face.
It is not a kind smile as those who are here are caught in a circle of prayer.]
The table is set. The Rushlight has died. Let us recite the sacred words and begin anew.
[The gathered begin to speak as the Smiling Priest brings his hand up, as if to bless the Strangers there.]
Now we have the wax, which is the streak beneath our skin
and the wick, which is the faith we have skeined
and the tinder, which is the harm we have done to those who loved us
and the flint, which is the name
the Name, the treasure of music stilled.
Now. It will hurt, we must render ourselves a little
there will be scars, but one more scar, what is that?
ZACK, NO!
ZACK, YES!
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Re: DEEP CUT: A Place You Won't Leave (FALLEN LONDON SPOILERS)
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INVESTIGATION
HALLUCINATIONS...?
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EVIDENCE
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Hey. Would you like some when I'm finished? I don't think I'll be able to eat it all.
[ He looks okay. But something about that smile ...
Later in the evening, a melody can be heard towards the entrance of the Seven Stations. If anyone were to walk closer it's Mithos playing on a panflute. Feel free to interrupt or just listen to him as he plays. ]
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Kitchen
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seven stations
Re: seven stations
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Kitchen
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THURSDAY
INVESTIGATION
HALLUCINATIONS...?
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So on Thursday-- she makes cookies. There's tea too, but it's the smell of the cookies that's taking over the entire kitchen. She's making enough to deliver some to everyone. But if you smell them first and find them before she finds you then that's just as well.
Otherwise, you might find her knocking at your door with a cute little package that smells like cookies and a small container of tea.]
knock knocking at his door!
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apartments
kitchen / also at some point during this thread she needs her eyepatch
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As he wakes up....his eyes open but he doesn't lift his head. And there's a glistening of moisture at his eyes.
...sometime later you might hear a small shout, a thud and a shattering noise accompanied by the smell of blood from near one of the doors off the train. Yes, it sounded like Minato.
For those who investigate - oh god there's blood everywhere and shattered glass all over the floor. Minato himself is....his hands are actually fine, but he's pinned under a very large dog that looks extremely pleased with itself.
Sometime later, he's back in the lounge, and - wait, is that the sound of modern music? He is positively jamming to the dulcet tones of Caramelldansen. Even if it's not the proper dance.
And, of course, in the evening you can find him in the dining car, with a veritable feast before him. He's got soup, he's got mushrooms, he's got cookies, he's got cat food, he's got toffee, he's got ice cream, he's got a sandwich, he's got coffee, he's got all the stuff from the first prompt minus one bottle of wine, he's got a blob of an unidentifiable and utterly unappetizing substance--
Is he seriously gonna eat that?!]
dog!
Re: dog!
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Lounge - morning - she wasn't watching him sleep, honest, that'd be unsettling, ha ha ha ha ha....
It's fine everyone watches him sleep
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