FINAL TRIAL

[strangerpeople]

FINAL TRIAL

[The Strangers manage to escape. By the time anyone has realized they have left, the Analemma is already on a course to a new destination, one not intended by their Conductor-who was certainly surprised to find their ride gone, hours later.

Cardia has turned off radar and other equipment that would allow anyone to find the train easily. There is no barrier around this train, so everyone can see the Clockwork Sun as it gets closer and closer.

They aren't going to London, obviously. Cardia manages to explain that, originally, the Throne of Hours was located there, but after Victoria became Twice-Renewed, the Throne was ordered moved closer to the Sun. Now, it is connected to the station called Sunspur-a desolate place, formerly an exhibition hall, where only the Sun's engineers and wayward captains now go. No one dares to cross the bridge that connects the Throne to it, when they are there.

That will change, but not immediately. Even at top speed, it will take several hours for the train to reach its destination. Cardia suggests everyone relax in the Lounge of this new train. Apparently, this one was going to pick up its newest passengers very shortly, and so the bar and kitchens are stocked with food and drink, at least.

There is much to talk about. Much to look through, and much to consider. The past four weeks have been difficult to process, but the evidence from Perdurance has been especially daunting. It only shows just how stark the situation is-and it's up to the Strangers to figure out just what they will do when they do, at last, confront Her Enduring Majesty.
After all.

Whatever happens, a reckoning cannot be postponed. Not indefinitely. And the bill is almost due...]





[It's time! The objectives are simple in this trial: untangle the story of this place and decide what to ultimately do when they finally confront Victoria, the Mastermind of the Little Courtesy! It will not be easy and the truth, as ever, will not be a light one.

Will they triumph? Will they go home? What else might happen? What else could be in store? There's only way to find out!

Have fun, and good luck! And remember-

All shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.]

Comments

[overworker]

[Towa bites her lip and reaches out and gently takes his hand. She doesn't know if it will be any comfort but... after all they've gone through it's the least she can do.]

That may be part of the reason why she shut herself away... maybe... it was easier to be alone. Or... she wanted to hide what she'd become...

[biddentodance]

...Sounds sort of like who I was, a year ago. Or...year and a half, with time in this universe factored in, I guess.

[Mmmmm that's uncomfortable.]

Not a good way to live, if that is the case.

[overworker]

At least some part of her wants to keep living. But I have to wonder... really... what kind of person her majesty is.

I can't forgive her for what she's done to all of my friends here. But... I would like to understand, I guess.

[You don't have to be inherently evil to do something like this. You could be, but--]

cw: suicide discussion??? idk words

[biddentodance]

Not...necessarily. Back then...didn't really want to live. Didn't care. But killing myself was too much effort - didn't care about that, either. Just....didn't care, at all, about anything. Apathetic and empty.

[He has come a very long way from that.]

But....wouldn't have gone to any lengths to preserve my own life, either...still bad at that. But maybe - it's less wanting to live, for her, and more that she's afraid of dying? Knowing what it means here....couldn't blame her one bit.

If I've misremembered and he DID describe it just tell me to delete

[charmingheroine]

All you said was you wouldn't let it happen to us, that you'd seen it.

[She's already been incalculably cruel to him once today. She shouldn't press.

But Charlotte is, despite everything, still herself. She has to know, even as her better nature says she oughtn't to ask.]

What does dying here mean?

[biddentodance]

Christian, right? ....It's nothing like anything Western religion teaches. Or Eastern, for that matter. There is no Heaven, or Hell, or anything in between - there isn't anything, at all, but it isn't so peaceful as you die and then you're just gone. You die, and you travel. To a different Sun - a different Judgement. It's - cold, unfeeling. Even the Fall - the end my world is facing - is still based in mercy...

This....isn't. It's swift, methodical. Souls taken apart piece by piece like clockwork in the light of the Sapphir'd King. Unmaking. Have...seen some pretty maddening things, know Death better than anyone, but that.......

["Horror is the act of understanding perfectly", isn't it? So that would be the word for what he's feeling. Pure horror.]

[charmingheroine]

[She already has a headache, she already feels sick. The confirmation that this place does to people what she's almost certain it has done to their worlds adds nothing but an extra layer of exhaustion.

It makes it hurt worse, to shake her head, but she does. Words barely suffice. Horror upon horror upon horror - physically, she feels like hell. But sorrow and horror with nothing to relieve them eventually feel like nothing but a void, and so when she speaks, she only sounds weary.]

They just pulled you out of the fire and put you back in the frying pan, didn't they?

[biddentodance]

[He knows that weariness well. It's coded into his soul by now, with thing after thing after thing.... the events of early October, the betrayal in early November, the tragedy in late November, the revelation in early December, the choice bearing down on him.....and then the Vespertine, and his interrupted execution, and then the Eventide, and everything that's happened...

There is no rest. There is peace only in death. He already knew that...]

Sure feels like it... Know 'sorry' will never be enough, but....it's all I've got.

[overworker]

Minato...

[What a mess.]

[charmingheroine]

Not your fault. Wasn't ever your fault, not here and not there.

[He has Towa to support him, hopefully. Charlotte has the absence of a partner, and a headache that won't stop. Though - headaches - ]

That's gaoler's honey, isn't it? In those jars, I mean.

[katzenpfote]

[He goes pale, making his beard and hair stand out all the more.]

I... I did that to you...

[biddentodance]

[...He won't put the weight of this on Caleb.]

Saw it when I used the needle. Don't remember getting executed.

[But his hands are the proof he was, and he doesn't know how close to that date he actually came.]

[katzenpfote]

[He just gives Minato a Look. He knows what he did.]

[technicolourdifficulties]

Mm. People are social creatures, whether or not they are human. And isolation- it tends to drive people a bit batty after prolonged periods.

Whatever her true nature, I doubt that the Empress is quite all there anymore.

[biddentodance]

[...Here comes a thought.]

Could....the Sun just be using her? Like a puppet?

[otherworldlyking]

Where'd you get that idea from?

[biddentodance]

The Empress isn't a judgement, but her behavior, from what I can tell, has similarities. She's in a position of power with more direct control over the everyday happenings of the world - law in a practical sense, as opposed to the Judgements' more theoretical command over the laws of reality. Many things that've bothered or disturbed us have been a result of the Sun's power, rather than her use of it, as far as I can tell...

Rather than someone ostensibly mostly mortal managing to control something that powerful, wouldn't it make more sense for the Sun to control her, for finer control over Albion? Maybe it started with her in control, but....look how people exposed to the Sun behave. Like they're brainwashed. Maybe...she is, too.

[otherworldlyking]

Guess it's possible, over a long time.

Or the Empress could have something that'd protect her from the Sun's influence.

[biddentodance]

[Oho! An idea. A more comforting one, in some ways.]

You have any idea what that might be?

[technicolourdifficulties]

[...that might alarm you.]

Or something else, perhaps. The Sun does seem the most likely culprit, however.

[biddentodance]

Think she has closer proximity to it than anyone, and....know from experience. Can't stay that close to a god for that long without....changing, one way or another.

[katzenpfote]

If we eliminate the puppet, what happens to all of the power that she wields? Will it go unchecked?

[biddentodance]

Don't know. Depends how it works, I guess...

[katzenpfote]

I know arcane power, but this is... something else. Caduceus might have a bit of a better sense, but... I am not sure I am the right person for this job...

[biddentodance]

Deal in gods and Death... Saw it plenty, in my world. Those who tried to control forces beyond their understanding just got controlled instead.