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

[charmingheroine]

[In the morning, Charlotte expected to see the usual fluff of blonde hair peeking out from a pile of blankets in the lounge - but no, Ris wasn't there.

A quick search also found no Ris anywhere else - a search a bit abbreviated by how much Charlotte was carrying, true, but she really did look. She would have knocked first, if not for the roll of cloth and the dress and the sewing kit in her arms. Might have called out, but for whatever reason, she leaned against the door to listen first. Just because she'd never heard Ris snore didn't mean she couldn't when sleeping in a proper bed, and if for some reason she was sleeping in her room, she obviously needed the rest, and -

And Charlotte knows the sound of someone crying and trying not to be heard all too well. The Conductor had made them all tea, yesterday; the math does itself. Ris got something back that caused this.

She doesn't drop everything, but sets it down, and then knocks gently at the door.]

Ris? Are you hurt?

[Stupid question, but this is a hideously stupid world, it's appropriate.]

cw: disassociation, depersonalization

[higanbana]

[The sound Charlotte gets in return is a squeak of fright, the sound of someone startled back into reality.

Somewhere close to reality, anyway. Frankly, Ris isn't anywhere close to lucid right now, but despite everything she does her best to respond. Her voice is clearly shaking, her words tentative like she's almost having trouble forming them.]

We are... physically unharmed. At present?

[charmingheroine]

[That is not the kind of answer you want to hear in that tone of voice - or any tone, really, but even if she's physically unharmed Ris sounds like she's just been tortured.]

That's good. Is it okay if I come in there with you?

[Charlotte doesn't want to sound patronizing, but there's a sort of kindergarten-teacher singsong tone to her voice when she asks. Like so many times over these weeks they've spent trapped in the same place, she has no idea what to do, only secondhand knowledge from books - not experience.]

[higanbana]

[There's a long pause of consideration, before:]

...The door is unlocked. Please close it behind you. It is very loud.

[charmingheroine]

[The train is as disturbingly quiet as ever. Her heart sinks.]

Okay, I will. I'm coming in now, all right?

[And as she does - what is it she sees?]

cw: eye squick

[higanbana]

[The room itself is mostly fine. It's the bed where damage has been done, and even that's just a complete deconstruction of the sheets. Like she's been constantly pulling them on and off, until they've started almost knotting together.

Ris herself is under a sheet, at present, and if Charlotte's seen her with bedhead before, this is ten times worse. Tossing and turning will do that.

She's a bit wild-eyed, for the one eye that's there. The other socket is uncovered and empty, for a change, although for the most part her eyelid just falls down to cover the socket without anything in place to help it stay open. Her undereyes are dark and puffed up, which is probably unsurprising given what Charlotte was hearing.

Ris doesn't say anything once Charlotte is inside, she just sits up. She looks smaller now than ever.]