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

WELL-STARS (Fallen London spoilers)

[thricerenewed]

[When all is said and done, the creature on the Throne shifts. The golem holds the cat she received close, and closed her eyes.]

{ . . .I'm ready. }

[At this, the eyes of the "Messengers of Magic" come back to the golem.]

"Then finally. You have decided to make a wish!"

{ . . . I have. }

[The eye looks down at each of the strangers.]

{ The Clockwork Sun was created through a science that can subvert the Law. It was...through this Science that V's soul was merged with it by the Amaranthine Conjunction. Through which the Unclear Bombs were born. How space travel was made. And an accident remade me as this.

. . .

My wish. . .the power of Red Science.

The power to understand and control it completely...for everyone's sake! }

[There is a bright light that appears above the Throne of Hours. Now, the true form of the Empress can be seen in full. A massive, needle-infested, tentacled creature, and it's eye glows before its irrigo core flashes-and a large Soul Gem appears.

From behind, there is an inhuman, loud screech from outside the windows, followed by loud smashing sounds.]

"I see! So you intend to fix the Sun using the Red Science.

"But it is a pity. To change a God will guarantee your Gem will change into a Witch. So, you have doomed your universe with such short-sightedness."

[Indeed, the Gem is already starting to darken as the golem tightens her hold on the cat.]

{ Strangers, hurry! Please touch the base of the Throne and focus on the Soul Gem, if you please! }

[It's clear that she is planning something, but...who knows what...]

[overworker]

[Towa is still a little shaky, but she's not about to give up now. She places her hand on the Throne and focuses with everything she has on the Soul Gem. This is the decision they made and she doesn't want to waste it, for the sake of those that are trusting the majority's decision.]

[katzenpfote]

[He watches, inhaling sharply as the gem appears. It's clear the process is affecting her but -]

Move!

[He darts forward, rushing to the throne's base and touching it, attempting to focus on the gem like he would channel arcane energy normally.]

[Hopefully, it will be enough.]

[otherworldlyking]

[ McBurn already committed to his answer, so he'll reach out to touch the base of the throne and focus on the Soul Gem without much hesitation.

Seems like it's damned or be damned at this point anyway so who cares. ]

[technicolourdifficulties]

[Aaaaand he's off at a sprint to touch the Throne, ending up power-sliding to avoid actually faceplanting into it, and focuses on the Soul Gem for all he's worth.]

[unwittingking]

[Okay, Wow. He expected it to next go well, but not this badly.

He won’t be saying “I told you so!” because that’d be stupid, but he will be thinking it as he picks up the two people nearest to him and carries them to the throne with him.

Cheetahs. Not only are they strong, but they are fast!~]

[higanbana]

[Well, those two people happen to be Ris and Mithos, who are still tethered by one hand...

You know, until a speeding cheetah runs into both of them to pick them up. Which is not a thing Ris thought would ever happen to her in any of her lives, but here she is, she guesses.

The jolt of it all is enough to cause that contact between them to break, and before she gives even half a thought to the Soul Gem, Ris is reaching out desperately to get it back.]

[unwittingking]

[He is so sorry and will say as much later but now it's just TO THE THRONE]

[eternaldivide]

[ THIS IS THE SECOND THING King needs to apologize about now!!

But yes here he is also suddenly being carried by a cheetah and breaking contact with Ris' hand. The moment Ris reaches her hand out though, Mithos is doing the same to grab her hand again.

Ris' hand first, and then touching the Soul Gem. ]

[higanbana]

[They have their priorities in order. Once they've reached the Gem, Ris is all but stumbling off Cheetah-King's back, still clinging to Mithos for dear life and slamming her other hand up against the Gem.

This is how she goes, she guesses. Well, at least if she has this much... it's more than enough for her.

You have her power or whatever, Witch-Empress. Don't fuck it up.]

[charmingheroine]

Well, that's seven, then.

[Only if betraying her friends by admitting to fear counted as four and five, and if betraying herself was six. But this would be the seventh, if they all die.

If it means Jonathan can live, well, it's nothing she never expected to do. She's back where she was. It seems she's just spinning in circles... she isn't sure what fancy strikes her to do so physically, but she does twirl in one on her way towards the Throne, pulling her hand free from Minato's and laughing.

It is not a happy sound.

She's still laughing (if it can be called that) as she stumbles to a halt with the stone-not-stone before her, and catches herself against it with both hands. She leans against it, and cranes her neck to look up at the "Messengers", or where they might be.]

Heeee-eeeey! What's the guarantee? How does that work?

[thricerenewed]

{ !-ghhk- }

[The creature lets out a roar, its sound becoming language, bright irrigo Correspondence. Outside, the Sun fights, screams, begs and hates and loves and screams-

There is something forming around the darkening Soul Gem, as the moments go by and the Strangers cumulatively touch the Throne.]

[otherworldlyking]

[ What even is that...?

Hopefully not a sign that they're fucked sideways. ]

[15unknowns]

[It...looks like a barrier of blues and purples.

If the red eyes could widen, they would.]

What are you intending? What is this? You're...even as you're using your magic, you're slowing down time!?

[And indeed, the Soul Gem's darkening is slowing down significantly.]

This isn't proper causality! Your Soul Gem should be collapsing right now! Chaesun Moon...do you intend to use the Throne to become immortal to avoid your fate!?

[katzenpfote]

Leave every place better than you found it. Leave every place better than you found it. Leave every place better than you found it...

[He's chanting it over and over under his breath like a prayer, looking up at the gem.]

[unwittingking]

THIS BETTER NOT SCREW US OVER EVEN MORE!

[Said after putting down the smols and pressing both paws against the throne. Please...!]

[technicolourdifficulties]

[He doesn't know if it's helping or not, or if this is the end... But you know, if this is the end, then damnit, he's going out singing.]

[unwittingking]

[He's...kind of questioning it, but screw it, he doesn't want his death to be completely sad so he'll be humming along worriedly.]

[technicolourdifficulties]

[If you might die horribly, might as well go out with a reference to Dr. Strangelove, right?]

[charmingheroine]

[This cannot be real.

It is, of course, but there is a perfect gentleman of a cowardly television singing that Vera Lynn song she's heard enough times to know it backwards. How is this real? Dracula is real, though. Was real. Will be again. Maybe she'll be there to kick his ass back into the coffin one last time, maybe she will live to be older than forty.

Charlotte looks at Minato, and places one of her hands over his, even as she can't - doesn't want to - banish thoughts of Jonathan from her mind. She's fickle, and probably crazy, but she does have reasons to live. More than one friend. Maybe a boyfriend, if she hasn't ruined things.

She just has to force her voice to cooperate....]

Don't know where... don't know when....

[overworker]

[...Towa giggles, because it's just so normal compared to everything going on around them. But when she composes herself, she joins in.]

[katzenpfote]

[It takes Caleb a bit, partly because he doesn't know this song or style at all, but he does eventually join in, quietly. It's about a half step behind everyone else, and his Zemnian accent is mangling some of the timing, but his vocal quality is actually... pretty good.]

[biddentodance]

[He doesn't want to let go of Charlotte, but things are happening, they need to move. He loosens his hold a little to address her better - but by then she's pulling away on her own, and it hurts.

He's afraid. Not of the death that may well await them, but of the way she tugs free and the sound in her laugh.]

Charlotte--!

[And he follows after, stumbling a little. He has to help. Together, not together, he'd been sure but apparently not. It hurts.

Think about it later. Shove it away, you're good at that, right?

He touches the throne and focuses on the Soul Gem. It helps him ignore the threat of selfish tears that will help no one.]

[charmingheroine]

[Oh thank Whoever, he caught up. The wildness is falling away from her now; she's still not sure where it came from, only that she shouldn't have let it take hold. It was fear. That's what it was, it was fear, and Betrayal Number Seven, and she's herself again now, maybe, hopefully -

Charlotte edges sideways, keeping one hand in contact with the Throne. She isn't sure if she's crying again or if she's just gotten used to the feeling and now her brain's convinced it's happening always. He's focused, head down, might not even be able to hear her, but... she feels like she's falling again. Minato was steady, and she ran away....]

I've hurt you how many times, and now, when we're going to die, even if she manages to pull power evenly - I've done it again, haven't I?

You were never the selfish one. All you wanted was normal - a life, a girlfriend, not to have to kill family. I wish I could give you that.

[That wish might be going up along with whatever it is she's letting the Gem unspool from her. Part of her hopes it is.]

I love you, I think. Hell of a time to figure it out for real, isn't it?

[biddentodance]

[He's focusing. He's focused and intense, and it's not terribly unlike late in a Tartarus run. He's surrounded by horror and things that Should Not Be, he's exhausted, he's accompanied by important people, their lives are on the line as they try to protect so many others, but he has a mission and he cannot afford to falter. He hears her, can tell it's Charlotte's voice, but he's not processing words--

until he heads one specific word. It's not one he treats lightly. No one has said this word to him, not in this way, since his parents, and it's different when your parents do it. So many people he's gotten close to since returning to Iwatodai, and he can't recall any of them using it. Even Towa. He knows, now, what she'd been trying to tell him, what he'd been unable to comprehend, but she hadn't....said it like this. She hadn't used this word.]

L-Love...? Me?

[It's still so hard to believe. That anyone ever could.]