WEEK 4

[strangerpeople]

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.))

Comments

[higanbana]

[late morning - lounge]

[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

[dragonmouth]

[Tali's face is a bit hidden by the cat and the various food items on the table in that photo, so you'd be forgiven for not knowing who it belonged to. She picks it up and studies it closely.]

This...

[higanbana]

[Ris pauses, midway through bringing a bite of food to her mouth.]

Ah, is that yours? You may take it.

[dragonmouth]

Thanks.

It's... been so long since I've seen any of their faces.

[higanbana]

They are your friends, then? The ones you fought the frozen dessert alongside?

[Naturally, that's all she remembers.]

[dragonmouth]

Erm, yes!

[ She guides her finger across the picture. The table seems to be in an eatery where the service includes a bunch of stuff brought to the center of the table for everyone to share, there's drinks, there's a white cat who by all means shouldn't be there. Everyone seems to be goofing off. ]

I forgot what town this exactly was, but... Nakari had stumbled upon a most marvelous contraption. You pushed one of the buttons, and it prints out a picture...

[ Basically a magic Polaroid. ]

seven stations

[eternaldivide]

Deep in thought? Or just gazing out into the darkness.

[ Mithos had found his way out into the main cave after the motive himself. Not that this place was much better than the train he somehow ... finds some sort of strange comfort in the pitch-black nothing. ]

[higanbana]

[Ris starts, just a little, but she's smiling when she turns to look at Mithos.]

Both, really.

I think I mentioned it before, back at the mansion we'd stopped at. How the wastes reminded me of something?

[She looks back out, her smile fading and her brows knitting a little.]

This, even moreso. But I couldn't tell you what.

It's like trying to look through something opaque.

[A bit of a callback to that first night, dealing with everything with her eye. That seems more apt than ever, now, especially with what she's remembered...]

[eternaldivide]

[ Mithos smiles back before going and taking a seat next to Ris. ]

I remember.

[ He looks back out at the darkness himself ]

Whenever you seem like you're looking through something opaque ... do you think it's something that you cannot recall?

[ Now that it's certain that something was done with their memories ... ]

[higanbana]

Mm. At first, I wasn't sure what it meant, but now... I'm almost certain that's what it is.

So I can't help but wonder, what is it that's been taken from me that the darkness makes me yearn for? If "yearning" is even quite the right word...

[eternaldivide]

If it's darkness you're "yearning" for [ for lack of a better word ] is it something that is better off forgotten? At least, it's what most people would think when they think about the darkness, isn't it.

[ He stretches out his hand, as if reaching for said darkness ]

But ... maybe it isn't. After all, there's something about this darkness is ... comforting to me. So maybe it's the same for you. Or will be.

Seven Stations

[otherworldlyking]

[ Here he is, hanging around dubious places as usual and he's watching for a bit. ]

If you're thinking about going in, you probably shouldn't bother.

[higanbana]

[Ris jumps. Jeez, warn a girl, McBurn! But she does turn back to him after a second.]

I'm not. I'd tell you not to worry about it, but I'm sure you weren't, anyway.

[Listen, she knows McBurn well enough for that.]

Just thinking. But from the sounds of it, you've already gone ahead?

[otherworldlyking]

[ Surprise, like a sudden electrical fire!

...Except probably more pleasant. ]

Yeah, I have. Someone decided it was a good idea to place tablets in a cave of darkness.

[ He guesses some people just don't have better things to do with their lives. ]

[higanbana]

[Definitely more pleasant. McBurn is a different sort of hot. Right now, anyway.]

Oh, did they? And I imagine they're writ with the mystique of the makings of a world I care not a bit about except for how I'd like to see it as a pile of mere threads. How frightfully boring.

[The way she says "threads" is... not comforting. Nice people talking about nice things.]

You have my sympathies.

[otherworldlyking]

A pile of mere threads?

[ If he had a say in how he'd like the world to end up in it'd probably be in some kind of hell fire. That'd make an intetesting sight.

...He doesn't care too much about it though. Just that it'd make things more lively. ]

It was something to do for awhile in a place like this. Least I can't say I was forced to hear one of our captors monologue again.

Dining Car

[katzenpfote]

[Caleb blinks at the glove on the table and picks it up.]

Interesting. It's useless here, but I guess it came with us.

[higanbana]

Oh, so you're its owner.

I'd been wondering what use a single glove could have, if I'm honest...

[katzenpfote]

[He tugs it on, feeling the material stretch slightly as he does.]

It is called a Glove of Blasting. Normally, it would allow one to fire three Scorching Ray spells in quick succession.

[higanbana]

I assume that spell is exactly what it sounds like?

[katzenpfote]

A ray-shaped spell that does fire damage? That is correct.

seven stations

[technicolourdifficulties]

[It's no accident that RGB finds Ris in the cave; he sought her out quite on purpose, though for what reason exactly even he couldn't say. To commiserate perhaps.

When he does find her though, he can't bring himself to interrupt her thoughts for a time, instead sitting next to her in silence for a time. Eventually though, a thought of his own occurs to him, expressed musically, echoing off the walls of the cave.]

I went down among the dust and pollen
To the old stone fountain in the morning after dawn
Underneath were all these pennies fallen from the hands of children
They were there and then were gone

[higanbana]

[Ris notices RGB when he sits beside her, but doesn't say anything other than to simply nod to acknowledge him.

When he starts singing, though, that's when she starts paying attention, although she doesn't turn her gaze to RGB. She just listens, staring forward and taking it in.

There's more to this song, she can tell, and so she withholds her applause for now. But it's clear from how her eyes have brightened that he has his audience's rapt attention, so even if she doesn't look at him directly, he ought to be able to tell he's welcome to continue.]

[technicolourdifficulties]

And I wonder what became of them
What became of them

Sunlight over me no matter what I do...

[He trails off into silence for a moment. He begins drumming his fingers on his leg, the pattern perhaps random or perhaps deliberate.]

A penny for your thoughts?

[higanbana]

[Unfortunately, Ris does not understand morse code, so the tapping is lost on her.]

Hm. Where to begin? I have a number, at present.

One, that you have a lovely singing voice. Two, that I now wonder what it might sound like if I sang the song Charlotte taught me in here, or if I even remember it well enough to pull it off. Three, that I've no interest in what, exactly, lies out there proper, but I find the darkness strangely alluring and I can't help but wonder why.

Not that I've any currency, but a penny for yours in return?