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

SUNDAY

[strangerpeople]

MONDAY

[strangerpeople]

TUESDAY

[strangerpeople]

WEDNESDAY

[strangerpeople]

Looking for rats. Politely.

[charmingheroine]

Um, excuse me, but... is there a member of the crew nearby?

[It's not like their rooms have call buttons... or if they do, she's overlooked it.]

Re: Looking for rats. Politely.

[strangerpeople]

...

[There's a grumble from the walls.]

What you want?

[charmingheroine]

We -

Well, Towa, really -

There's a sort of memorial set up for our dead, in the Lounge. Orpheus saved everyone onboard here, and I wanted to know if it'd be all right if I set something out for him alongside them. You've all done a lot for us, and... I feel like a colossal jerk having not said anything to thank you until someone died.

[katzenpfote]

[Caleb spends a good portion of the morning puttering around the mess in the dining car, making some soup with vegetables and mushrooms. He's singing children's songs, but unless you speak German Zemnian, they're likely largely incomprehensible.]

[The large pot of soup is set out in the dining car by lunchtime, and Caleb even encourages the rat crew to go get some, if it's okay for them to eat. He also quietly asks them to take some to the Conductor, though not to tell her who it's from. It's not the most extravagant meal, but it's surprisingly good. The flavors are actually really well balanced.]

[In the afternoon, Caleb can be found reading a book in the lounge. There's also a truly ridiculous number of things sitting near him. Some of them are food, and some of them are not. Some of them may even belong to other people!]

lounge

[eternaldivide]

[ Mithos steps into the lounge since staying in his room all day he's learn only leads people to worry and ... there was enough worry to go around that he didn't need anyone extend it to him. Just existing somewhere have people worry less, right?

And everything is fine, until Mithos notices the staff that Caleb has near him. ]

Th... That's....

[ Why did that have to be here? The panflute was one thing but her staff? He's just ... going to slowly be reaching for it now.]

[katzenpfote]

[He looks up at Mithos and smiles.]

Ah. Did I finally get something of yours? Go ahead and take it.

[eternaldivide]

[ Mithos finishes grabbing the staff and clutches it tightly in his hands with Caleb's permission. ]

Thank you ... This ... this was my Sister's staff... Of all things to appear...

[strangerpeople]

Hmph. Not like that isn't normal. People forget us all the time.

[Still, the rat's nose twitches.]

...I'll let everyone know, so they can go take a look.

[biddentodance]

[Well... Things are a bit awkward now, aren't they? The observant may have noticed, Minato hasn't been going to meals since the trial - or if he has, hasn't had more than water. And today, at least for the first half of the day (unless someone makes him leave), he can be found sitting seiza style to the side in the dining car - near the path to the front of the train. He....wants to give the rats an opportunity to get some vengeance, but also doubts they want him anywhere near the armaments or locomotive cars. And there isn't really room, in the luggage car. So here he is.

A bit later you can catch him carrying his haul back toward his room! Feel free to grab him for a chat as he passes through the dining hall again. Dining haul?

It's as he's entering the apartments car, headed for his own, that disaster strikes. See, most of the things he got are inconvenient to carry all as once. He's managed! But it's a different story when Yarnball, asshole cat that he is, gets quite literally underfoot. See Minato. See Minato trip and fall and the things he was carrying fly from his arms, scattering on the floor. Yarnball, for his part, runs yowling for the lounge - not in a "help my human he fell" way, in more of a "HOW DARE STARTLE ME" way.

Unfortunately for said human? When he tries to push himself up, his hand lands on the business end of that purple knitting needle. It's not much of an injury, but the thing is sharp, and it does break the skin. That's probably fine.]

[katzenpfote]

... Do you want to sit down for a minute? I'm here if you want to talk. If you'd rather me not say anything, that's also all right.

[katzenpfote]

[A bowl of soup gets placed in front of Minato.]

Eat something. Please.

[1/2]

[strangerpeople]

[The first thing he will feel is pain.

The second thing he will feel is agony.

The third is-]

[2/2]

[strangerpeople]

[Sorrow.

It is not your sorrow, but it courses through you so strongly, for the moment you think it is. It is a sorrow of a lost planet. A beautiful planet, of blue waters and lush green. A city of skyscrapers with gleaming steel piercing the sky. It is so like Earth it is uncanny. Almost like it could, indeed, be Earth.

A man with kind eyes, holding you, promising that everything will be all right.

Your hands intertwine.

"I love you. No matter what happens."

It is all gone. All those moments, all of those wonderful things that had made you so happy.

The sky turned red. The countless lights descended. The lights were concepts born, and they howled in a language you did not yet know. The other Earth loomed. Your Earth cried.

If only you could have done something, beforehand. If only you had been warned.

If only you had been strong enough.

If only all could at last, after all manner of thing, be well-]

[eternaldivide]

[ He hesitates for a moment, before a small nod and taking a seat. He doesn't say anything but oh yep those are tears again why does this keep happening. ]

[biddentodance]

[He blinks. His stomach growls. He is hungry, it's just that....every time he tries...]

Haven't...been able to eat more than a bite or two....

[biddentodance]

[I guess we're just going to lie on the floor reeling for a bit then!]

CW: mild invocation of the whole genocide matter

[charmingheroine]

Wait, before you do - what should I set out, aside from a card with his name? I know the spiritualists put out a glass of water on memorial tables, so I was going to do that too, but I didn't know him, and it seems like he was one of those guys everybody liked.

[She knew one of those herself, once.]

And... just because it's normal doesn't mean it's right....

[If she ends this world, the rats would go with it. And she hadn't given that a second thought until being reminded they were there... was it this place affecting her mind, or has nothing changed, and it's just that she's trying to take the easy way out of having to choose between a solution and revenge?]

[katzenpfote]

Fortunately for you, soup is more sipping than anything else.

[katzenpfote]

[He pulls off a strip of bandage from the roll and hands it over to Mithos for tissue use.]

[biddentodance]

....

[He...still feels so guilty... But he lifts the bowl. He'll try. He gets about two and a half mouthfuls, before guilt rises to choke him, leaving him coughing.]

[eternaldivide]

[ Mithos will take it but his hand just... goes back to gripping the staff instead. He does finally speak though. ]

They ... shouldn't have been able to get this. And yet ... somehow they did. I wonder how...