FINAL WEEK

[strangerpeople]

FINAL WEEK

[Well. What else can be said? The Little Courtesy is over. You have all survived. You are now going to your final destination-with invitations to boot. And Charlotte will be getting that private audience, as promised.

But it's not over. Everyone knows it. Confrontation is inevitable. The question is what, exactly, will happen when that confrontation happens-or if anyone will in fact be able to go with Charlotte when it happens. But you've gone this far. There's no turning back. There has to be a way.

Nothing has been certain, or simple. Whatever happens will be no different from the horrors of the Little Courtesy. Perhaps the saying might still hold. Will all be well? Will it?

It must. God help everyone if it isn't.

Seven is the Number, but there are nine strangers left in this place.]

Comments

[strangerpeople]

DEAR MINATO,

I AM WRITING TO YOU UNDER AN ALIAS IN THE HOPES THAT YOU ARE STILL ALIVE.

IT APPEARS THAT YOUR POSITION WAS COMPROMISED AND GIVEN TO ONE OF OUR FELLOW COUNCIL MEMBERS, DECEMBER, WHOM I INTEND ON HAVING WORDS WITH. AND POSSIBLY BRANDY, DEPENDING ON HOW CHARITABLE I AM FEELING TOWARDS THEM. A SPECIAL VINTAGE YEAR AT THAT, DON'T YOU WORRY. HE WILL REGRET MESSING WITH MY OPERATIONS FOR A LONG TIME COMING!

AND DON'T WORRY ABOUT US, WE ARE MORE WORRIED ABOUT YOU. JULY AND I ARE ABSOLUTELY BESIDE OURSELVES WITH WHAT HAPPENED. IF YOU ARE ALIVE, PLEASE DO KEEP YOURSELF WARM AND FED WITH WHAT I AM SENDING YOU. JULY ALSO SENDS HIS REGARDS, AS WELL AS TO ASK A FAVOR.

YOU'RE NOT BEHOLDEN TO DO IT, NOT AFTER DECEMBER'S STUNT, BUT IF YOU ARE STILL ALIVE YOU MAY BE GOING SOMEWHERE THAT NEITHER OF US MAY ENTER. IF YOU ARE, AND WILLING, THERE'S A YOUNG MAN THAT POOR SAJULY WISHES TO CHECK ON. HIS BROTHER, WHO LOOKS JUST LIKE HIM, JUST DIFFERENT EYES. HE HAS BEEN CONFINED THERE FOR THE BETTER PART OF A DECADE SO FAR. IS HE ALIVE, STILL? WE DON'T KNOW.

I WILL BE SENDING SOMEONE THROUGH WITH AN INVITATION. YOU CAN'T MISS THEM. IF YOU SEE THEM, JUST GO TO THEM AND SAY "I HEARD ALASKA IS A GOOD PLACE TO VACATION IN THE SUMMER" IF YOU ARE AWARE THAT JULY'S BROTHER IS ALIVE. IF YOU DO NOT APPROACH, WE WILL KNOW HE IS NOT.

AGAIN, I AM VERY SORRY. HAD I KNOWN THIS WOULD HAVE HAPPENED I WOULD HAVE NOT INVOLVED YOU SO. BUT I DO HOPE THAT, IF YOU DO GET OUT, WE MIGHT MEET AGAIN UNDER BETTER CIRCUMSTANCES-AND THAT THE INFORMATION YOU GAVE ME WILL HAVE ENDED THIS NONSENSE BY THEM.



VERITAS NUMQUAM PERIT
-YOUR REVOLUTIONARY AUNT

[biddentodance]

[He reads the letter quietly....and then he'll. Put on that sweater. And then just awkwardly look at the others.]

Uh....anyone want a scone?

[charmingheroine]

[Why is he so blasted cute, why why why why why why - he's Towa's, not hers, why is he like this?

Naturally Charlotte doesn't show that internal flailing outwardly, but she does smile.]

Only if you eat at least one too. It's not fair to take food that was gifted to someone else if they're not eating it.

[biddentodance]

Plan on it, just get to share this time. Have probably had at least a hundred of these since we left Menahoven.

[He isn't even sure if he's exaggerating, or underestimating.]

[charmingheroine]

So you weren't starving... I'm glad.

[biddentodance]

Always eaten a lot. Been holding back a bit, since I'm not sure how well-stocked the train is...

[Considering the monstrous appetite he showed up until recently... He hasn't really been eating, since the bomb, but that's beside the point.]

[charmingheroine]

You always ate like you were famished - that was holding back? From the way these showed up, though, I'm guessing you didn't have a supply hidden to break into the past few days. Am I wrong?

[biddentodance]

[Minato is a pretty small guy, too. Where does it all go? It is a mystery.]

Yeah...probably don't want to see me go all-out.

You're right. Last got some...two weeks ago?

[charmingheroine]

[He hasn't got Death stuck in him now, so he can't say he's eating for two....]

So then you haven't been just... eating in your room, you haven't been - I swear if you and Jonathan meet I'm just going to go gray-haired all at once. Preemptively.

[biddentodance]

Ah?

[It is unclear how seriously Minato is taking this.]

Will stay away, when you rescue him.

[charmingheroine]

What? I - I was joking. Assuming that's possible, I know he'll want to meet you.

[Just in case he really is being serious, she'd better be clear, right?]

[biddentodance]

[A smile. It is still unclear.]

Look forward to it, then. Pretty sure they're all alive, have....have reason to believe that much.

[Even if he still doesn't know if they even have anyone of his...]

[charmingheroine]

[She'd engage with what she suspects is teasing a bit more, but there's another issue on the table now.]

One of the ghosts said something that made me hope, but... I don't even know if that was real, what do you know?

[biddentodance]

Know Auntie did what she could to get....whoever they were keeping, for me, still don't know... Auntie was arranging to have them released. Don't know why she'd do that if she suspected there weren't people to release.

[If, by some chance, he isn't the only person left from his world...his people are safe. But he still has no idea if there even was anyone, in that video.]