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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.))
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[Could this be a cruel prank by a local? Maybe. Likely. But if it isn't - she has to treat it like it could be a way out. She can't not.]
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[Unfortunately he's not proving himself real yet. The voice trails off as he thinks about this, until suddenly he gasps.]
... Wait, wait wait. That sounds remarkably familiar!
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[She is way more frantic than the icon conveys, but it's as close as canon art ever got.]
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[He clears his throat, because this is a lot.]
Any time someone from the train has come here, a new island crops up amid the darkness, they're places that are familiar with the people here. I just escorted Beatrice to her "Rokkenjima" the other day.
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[She actually does fall down, then, her knees giving out at the thought. Islands, like the other ghost had said... sure, if this is radio anyone could be listening, but that kind of coordination between pranksters... it wouldn't make sense to use that detail.]
I... God, if it's someplace the one who died has clear memories of, then... I have to stay alive no matter what, you'll all be in danger there if I don't. But if he's dead then you will be anyway, I'm - oh God, tell me there isn't some chunk of Austin Texas floating out wherever you're broadcasting from! Please! Or... or if there is it's not Hyde Park, right? The hospital and the country club and a big yellow house right between them, it isn't that! It isn't, it can't be that! And it can't be the Castle, either, it - if it is you have to stay clear of there, please!
[But the answer will have to be "no, it's there" either way, because he has to be dead. Nothing makes sense otherwise. EIther he's dead and this isn't real or this is real and he isn't dead and she honestly isn't sure what's worse, and she's furious either way because her damned eyes are betraying her again, and her voice too....]
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[...She still looks pretty worried. He's feeling a bit awkward now.]
Do you, uh, want a hand?
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[She blinks, and has to just sit and breathe for a moment to compose herself.]
I would very much appreciate a hand, yes.
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[A moment after she asks, a literal hand starts to fade into view, followed by this ridiculous dude materializing physically. For a split second it'll look like he has white wings extending from his back and folding in, but they're gone in an instant. He's offering the hand up now, although his face is more focused on scanning the area they're in. It's good to see it with his own eyes.]
... Then again, this is the most alien world I've ever set foot in!
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Well, welcome to hell. We've got everything you could want, if it's... wind and candles and probably murder.
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[makes him want to grab his cross necklace honestly.]
But if you're asking, how about a sky? There's not one where we are. Just all of the black not-a-clouds.
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[She gestures up at the void, vaguely.]
So if you can cross worlds, why not just evacuate us?
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[He does wonder if he could though, looking up into the void... it's disturbing him.]
... Still, for something that let us through, that thing looks even worse.
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[Frankly that sounds ludicrous, but what th hell doesn't around here?]
Just... you really, honestly haven't seen a boy about two years older than me, last name of Morris, they made me forget his first name for some reason... tall, blond, probably flying off the handle at somebody?
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........ [He's making a weird face at that description, suddenly, but. He decides not to touch it.]
Believe me! If someone like that was around, I'd definitely know!
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[She's no stranger to odd strained expressions masking bad news, after all.]
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[He shrugs, acquiescing]
... if a hacker god's intuition means anything, that skyrockets the probability of him winding up in this place if he'd died. There's a limit to coincidences, especially where mutual killing's involved.
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I'm used to making sense of him, so... if there's still at least one of him alive and well, then... well, there's a world better than this for it.
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I know this is just a one-way ticket to migraineville for her, but...
[She can't help it, that smile is becoming a fierce grin, still somehow sad.]
I - you wouldn't happen to have his first name handy, would you? Like I said, I woke up here and couldn't remember.
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[it seems Kimi no na wa was popular in Korea. He's just joking around though.]