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(Final!) Priority Log - Part 1
Log 08 Priority (Part I)
As passengers enjoy their time drinking hot chocolate and/or getting dive-bombed by bats, they may realize that the usual strange survey is nowhere to be seen
Eventually, everyone receives the same text:
FROM: clownductor one
Hello. This is your conductors speaking.
Due to your (frankly very rude) reviews of Danaca, we have decided to leave the train. While I suggest all of you stay until your hearts change, bud, and blossom to their fullest potential, we know that you all likely miss your family and friends as we do.
As you may have noticed, much of the time the train works beyond our influence. Because in the end, we too are nothing but passengers along this eternal journey of enlightenment. But we have worked to find our doors home, and have succeeded brilliantly.
FROM: clownductor two
It's a little more than brilliant, Yusuke. I mean, just closing up shop, hanging up our hats and going our separate ways… That's a little cold, isn't it? I'm sure all our friends here know exactly what I'm talking about.
Which is why we've figured out a way to hold onto our bonds. :J This way, we don't have to choose between our fans on the train and our fans back home. Just watch— this is something you need to see for yourself.
Sincerely,
The Conductors
The Door Car
As passengers enter, they will find themselves in a vast, lonesome space with pure white walls. It gives off the impression of a blank canvas, especially since there is no objective. However, this seemingly unfinished car is not empty: it's filled with doors.
In the distance, passengers will see two suspicious figures…
Clownductor 2: How do we know which one is the right door?
Clownductor 1: If they truly point home, then our hearts will lead the way. Also, they have our names on them.
Clownductor 2: Of course! Brilliant as always— Okay, we've got the doors, and I've got the string. This should let us both go through the same door together.
Clownductor 1: Wonderful.
… But not for long, before they open up a door and disappear inside it.
The typical exit door is lost in the sea of other doors, all free-standing and coming in a huge variety of shapes, colors, and sizes. Amongst them are doors passengers will recognize: doors to their rooms, stores they frequent, etc., painstakingly recreated to look like the real things. Others have small name plaques and welcoming decorations. Opening the door and stepping through will, as promised, take characters back home.
...Or some version of it, anyway. They'll find that the worlds beyond the doors are not right. Here are some examples:
- The dominant species is suddenly different (i.e. talking fish instead of humans).
- Instead of speaking with words, everyone communicates with charades.
- The food chain has reversed! Now cheese eats you.
- Walls exist, but they're invisible.
- For some reason people are asking if you're an alpha, beta or omega?
- Whatever you want! The bizarro worlds are your oyster.
NOTE: Players are welcome to create their own bizarro worlds — they do not have to be from your character's canon — but we've included a few as prompts below. Also, characters that are ICly resistant to opening doors can be suddenly sucked inside one with no warning.
The Ire Femblem Door
As characters pass through the doorway, they might just receive a text...
> 𝕬𝖈𝖍𝖎𝖊𝖛𝖊 𝖆 P𝖊𝖗𝖋𝖊𝖈𝖙 𝖙ea 𝖙𝖎𝖒𝖊.
This perfectly pleasant world consists of only a courtyard garden. Lush rose bushes surround a stone gazebo, which shelters a table truly fit for high tea! As they settle in, characters will find that the lovely sweets, snacks and teas do more than just satisfy their appetite: some have magical effects. There are scones that make you unbearably sweet (or unbearably mean 🙁), teas that turn you into cats, dogs, and horses, sandwiches that will make you feel tipsy... The possibilities are endless!
And if they wouldn't do so willingly, characters will feel compelled to sit down with a partner... and they'll be stuck there, of course. Tea time is mandatory.
Alongside an expansive tea menu is a seemingly endless list of questions. From here on out, it's basically the newlywed game. Characters will need to try and guess their partner's answers correctly to achieve a perfect tea time and escape! Small, thoughtful gestures like brewing their partner's favorite kind of tea or giving them the last scone will count towards their total as well. Once passengers have reached an (indeterminate) amount of points, they'll be free to go!
The Dang it, Grandpa Door
As characters pass through the doorway, they might just receive a text...
It's the Despair High opening ceremony!
Upon tumbling into this world, characters will find themselves paired (or more) with another passenger, standing in an abandoned classroom. On the blackboard, they'll find the profiles of other passengers, along with the instructions: One must die to live! and a cutesy bear face. After selecting their victim from the pool, there are three sections where they can chalk in the murder weapon, method, and body disposal.
The windows are boarded up with metal sheets, and the doors are locked — no amount of superhuman power will damage the room. Looks like there's nothing to do but play along!
After their murder planning, most passengers will be free to go. But for a little optional spice, some characters will hear a clatter behind them: the murder weapon they specified will drop innocently atop a desk. They will not be able to exit unless someone dies. Powers will be nerfed enough to allow both a fair fight and death to any immortal beings.
Characters that are killed this way will immediately be revived back on the train, but will feel violently ill for the rest of the day. For the squeamish, getting rid of doppelgangers also counts!
The 'Digimon' Door
As characters pass through the doorway, they might just receive a text...
Welcome to the wonderful world of Pokemon! This is a world where creatures known as Pokemon roam free, capturing the humans (and other passenger species) to live and battle alongside them.
In this world, passengers will find that they're… smaller. Tall grass and Pokemon of all species will tower above them, so their first challenge will be making sure that they're not stepped on!
The second challenge will be avoiding capture! Pokemon trainers can appear without much warning, unleashing powerful humans from small circular devices in an attempt to defeat and capture you.
Or perhaps you want to be captured? In which case, welcome to the team and good luck on your journey toward championship!
Whatever the case may be, this world seems to be particularly unstable, pieces of the environment disappearing and reappearing at random. Passengers will need to do their best to stay in one piece until they're eventually spit back out.
OOC Notes
This is the first part of our final event — time really flies! As such, there will be no AC this month. Go nuts, but feel free to reach out with any questions on Discord!
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locomo e2 traincationFAQ & Game Info / Calendar / Taken
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no subject
Predictably, it doesn't leave so much as a dent on the door, but the show of macho strength is required before he can take a step back, breathe, and really start analyzing the situation that he and his sorry partner have found themselves in.
His conclusion? This situation sucks. ]
Seems a little contrary to all the other messages of the train, wouldn't you say?
[ He pinches the bridge of his nose before running a hand through his hair with a sigh. ]
b. gotta catch 'em all
It's a lot easier to keep from being stepped on too, when there isn't all this tall grass blocking his vision.
Which is more than he can say for you, his hapless friend, who is right in the path of a jolly sudowoodo.
It takes some quick manoeuvring and nice flying from his wyvern to change course and dive toward you, and you might feel Claude's hand closing in on the back of your shirt before you're yanked into the air. Or perhaps you dodge and choose death.
Regardless of which - ] Be careful there!
c. wildcard
b!
—Are you mad? [ He asks, not really sounding angry, but just bewildered by this turn of events. A lteast he doesn't put up a fight against being swept away, because even if he won't admit it, he's afraid of falling to his death in this car if he thrashes around too much. ] Or just too used to doing this to others?
no subject
He means to say more, he has to jerk hard to the left when to avoid the sudowoodo when it changes directions, the Pokemon chirping happily and as of yet unaware of their presence given just how low in the grass they're flying.
Claude peers down at Kurapika. ]
You're not choking, are you?
no subject
[ It's mostly his pride that inspires him to answer that way— that, and upon gathering his bearings again after the initial shock, he realizes it's not actually as perilous as it first had seemed. At the very least, the other man doesn't give off the impression he's going to drop him by accident, and that's about all he can ask for. ]
But I'd prefer to be put down sooner rather than later. Unless there's some way for me to come up there.
[ He cranes his neck to try and look up at Claude (he looks familiar??), and by proxy, his wyvern. The idea of going up there doesn't scare him so much; actually, it'd even be a little nostalgic to ride around on such a huge winged beast - maybe that's why he sounds so sure of himself when he suggests it. ]
pikachu
I!!
Suffice to say Toko would have given him a jagged piece of her mind if it weren't for the surprise that had settled in her arms. She's gobsmacked. And then wholly endeared, coddling the tiny thing close. She's always wanted to be a mother...]
Huh? [Toko blinks up at him, running his message back twice before she catches the implication.] You know this ship? Th-then...
[Her gaze lights on the uh. Ant-folk. Eating little human things. She flinches, edging behind him a tad.]
You know all this. These insane b-bug-people? [Okay she now has a sliver of sympathy for him. Like half a millimeter. This seems like a terrible alien world to be trapped in.] And just whose baby is this?
[Not his, surely. Surely.]
no subject
[ He replies, dryly, making sure to stand in front of Toko and the baby to obscure them from view. Familiar with the ants, yes, but he's never seen one in real life - jesus, these things look horrible. But he reminds himself that there's probably worse things that could happen aboard the ship— this is quite literally the tip of the ice berg. He sighs, looking to the child at her question. ]
Do you remember what I said? About the killing game. There's a battle aboard this ship between a king's fourteen children for the throne. Prince Woble is the youngest among them...
[ And she still seems to be sleeping soundly, still unaware she's even in the midst of such a gruesome fate. What's a baby to do in a battle royale, anyway? It's just cruel. It's all a terrible situation, he realizes again as he describes it. But it's one he's used to at this point. ]
I'm her guard for the duration of the battle. So even if this is just an illusion... [ His brows tense up, looking at Toko pleadingly. ] I don't want anything to happen to her.
[ He knows he's asking a lot of someone he basically drove into a lake, but look... desperate times call for desperate measures. ]
I understand if you can't trust me. But if you agree, I'll protect you both with my life.
Danganronpa Spoilers, 100% forgot to label this
[That's good. Or it would be, if it meant they didn't have to deal with the creepy ant folk right now. She appreciates that he blocks the view, but her shoulders still hunch to her ears. Just look at those carapaces. Revolting.
Her focus is back on him just the same, and deservedly so. The very mention of the game shocks her, jolts her upright. Darkens her gaze. Disgust of a wholly different sort overcomes her.]
Wh-what the hell? What kind of maniac puts a baby in the line of fire like that? Not even that p-pigtailed bitch—
[Aaaah, not so fast. She could, and she has. Towa City was close enough, all its children had been turned into living bombs. Enoshima had no qualms about breaching human decency. The only reason no one Toko knows had to watch a literal infant die is because there were none in the family. Probably not the case for the rest of the world.
Toko shoots a scowl to the side. She bites back her words. Glances at him askance.]
...So even you have a s-soft-spot, huh? Who'd have guessed.
But fine. I'm not a monster. I p-practically have no choice, do I? Twist my arm why don't you.
[Sharp words for someone who melts the second she looks at that pudgy face.]
D-don't be a pain in my ass, you little brat.
[The baby yawns in its sleep, stretching out a wee hand, and Toko can't even play at sour grapes. Her smile is brief, but soft and sweet.
She looks to her guide and gives a terse nod.]
Well? We can't waste all day here. Get us out of this d-dump.
no subject
We'll go through the kitchen. There's a shortcut there through an employee only door...
[ Because walking through the actual hall just seems like suicide. Maybe this way, they'll run into less trouble... that's what he's convincing himself of, anyway. ]
We can't go anywhere too loud, or she'll wake up. It could be bad for us if she does.
[ He doesn't want to scare Toko off when he just got her to come aboard on this horrible mission, but like, it feels like it's only fair if she has a warning? Of what, he doesn't elaborate - and it seems like talking at this volume, at the very least, doesn't disturb the sleeping child. Kurapika takes the lead to bring them into a narrow corridor to the right of the dining hall's entrance, the commotion from the dinner inside fairly muted from the thick, gilded wall that separates them. Ahead through the corridor is a single white door with a circle window - looking through shows that it's a way too fancy kitchen, with no one inside. ]
no subject
[Yeah. The last thing she wants is all that twitching insectoid attention on them. She gives a tight nod and scurries along after him, thankful when the revelry is safely muffled behind the hall door. She wonders if this will be the worst of it, eyeing the empty kitchen ahead with the baby clutched tight to her chest.
Haha. As if she could ever be that stupid. After all—]
W-weren't they eating people in there? [Like some scene from a messed up manga. This is why she hates them. And more poignantly, it's why she hates the train. Every waking day feels more like an absurdist fantasy beatdown than a therapeutic getaway.] If we get caught they'll dice us up and s-sprinkle us over a salad. Or slice us into sashimi...
[ugh ugh UGH!!!! Okay come on Toko. Do it for Her.
They slip through the door, silent as shadows. Toko haunts the back of him as he takes the lead, peering timidly past his head for a view. The coast still seems to be clear. Of living things, at least. Extravagant kitchen paraphernalia is a different matter.
Her nose wrinkles. They'll have to move very, very carefully. So many protruding pots and pans and gadgets. One fumble and there could be an ambush on them, whether from the clatter or the sudden cry of a waking baby.]
After you. [Whispered, very hush-hush. Toko dogs his steps every inch of the way, but can't shake the mounting sense of dread. The other shoe's about to drop, isn't it? She has a sixth sense for these things...]
no subject
A) War Crimes Tea Times
[Your date is disgruntled. Perhaps she is just nervous?]
Of all the insulting, t-trivial crap they can pull...whatever. Just answer the question already. I'm sure you're dying to get away from me.
[Yay. What was the question again?]
I s-said, what's my favourite animal? Can't believe this...what a complete w-waste of time...
[The answers float in the air in front of you. Which do you pick?
Bonne Chance.]
B) The OTHER Dangit Grandpa Car
I can't believe it...I'm f-finally home...
[So to speak. Welcome to Towa City! An artificial island constructed off shore of Japan, all state of the art tech and transit — or at least it was. More like state of decay now, AM I RIGHT LADIES???????
Whatever might be off about this place is not immediately apparent. That's probably why Toko is sticking close to her unwitting company. To protect them.]
D-Don't step in that! Can't you see it's blood?
[By the way there's dead bodies everywhere. All adults, all slashed to ribbons. And most curiously, chewed. Hmm.
There's a mischievous giggle behind an upturned car. Two children peek out from behind, both with black and white bear helmets snapped over their whole head. That's when there's a sudden roar. From around the bend, over the balconies, through busted windows and doors, they come.
Black and white bears. Except this time, they're lumbering, real life bears. Polar bears. With fricking laser beams attached to their heads. Toko squawks, backing up a step as the blood drops clean from her face.]
Wh-what the hell?! They're supposed to be robots!
C) I Do What I Want
H-Hello?
[This place is kind of spooky. Some kind of hotel? Except there's no one here. Her voice echoes throughout the halls, and now that she's wandered away from the train's door she's having trouble finding her way back. The place feels like a maze. Almost as if the layout shifts when she's not looking. But that can't be right. Right?
As you enter, you may hear Toko's timid calls. You may find yourself similarly confused. Or you may find yourself swelling with an irrational anger. Or more alarming, you may find yourself somewhat...incorporeal. You've always been here. And the scent of fresh life, that tantalizing lost soul? It calls to you.
The objective appears on your phone. For those who are still themselves, it simply reads ESCAPE. For the rest?
This girl desires to leave. She may need to be..."corrected."]
JILL
D) Aw Shit Here We Go Again
[It's the proper Dang-It Grandpa car! Congrats! Still, Jill is decidedly unimpressed.]
Maaaaaan...if they were going to lock us in one room this time, it should have been Master's dorm. [She hugs her arms and sighs salaciously, kicking her feet. She'd immediately taken a seat atop the desk and ignored the challenge at hand. It's all been said and done before.] Ooooooh, I would have loved to take a good sniff of his underwear drawer! But c'est la vie.
Now. Who ya gonna kill? [She grins at you, bright eyed and mischievous.] C'mon. I've already played this game! It's your turn buddy.
E) War Crimes Tea Times 2: Back in the Hood
[Your date is elated to be here. Good job!]
Oh this will be a piece of cake! A spin around the carousel! A beating around the bush!
[That's not how you use that phrase.
Jill laces her hands and drops her chin atop them, batting some serious lashes. Under the table there seems to be a something on your leg —
Oh that's her foot. Tracing up your calf. Uh.]
Go ahead! Ask me anything! I'm an open book. Liiiike, what's my favorite way to get the blood pumping?
[She means physical activity. Though your choices appear and they might be a little...
Good luck.]
F) WILDCARD
((yadda yadda yadda))
B and a half
But there's not much time to speculate on the impact being on Toko's world will have, because from the blown out buildings great white bears come. Obi-Wan's lightsaber is in his hand and ignited, glowing a dazzling cerulean against the carnelian landscape, before he's even made the conscious decision to do so. Reflex, faster than choice. ]
If they are meant to be robots then this cannot be your world!
[ A parallel universe? The glow of a laser beam becomes bright and Obi-Wan flashes toward it with uncanny speed. His blade reflects the attack back at the shooter almost quick as a blink. What had been intended likely as a killing shot for them becomes a killing shot on the bear, who's momentum carries it's massive body forward before crashing down. A few of the others predators behind it trip over the unexpected body, causing momentary chaos.
Obi-Wan puts himself between Toko and the bears and urges her to move as he walks backwards with saber held height. ]
We need to find cover!
no subject
[She shouldn't expect anything from those bozos. From the brief glimpse at the end of the hall they didn't look much older than her, and sounded pretty stupid to boot.
No matter. Cursing them won't help their situation now. She'd flinched at the electric buzz, familiar only from the haze of memories she'd swam through weeks ago. Now, it's here in the flesh: the cauterizing blade of light, glowing vivid green.
She has a brief flash of Qui-Gon, run through clean. Of Anakin's mad fury, cutting raiders and interlopers alike.
She shrieks when he deflects the laser. Stunned more than anything. What else could it do? Deflect bullets? God, she does not want to find out.]
Uh — um... [She twists on the spot, then snaps a finger to the north.] Th-there! Towa Tower is that way, it won't take long to reach!
[If the layout of the city hasn't changed, too. She's darting ahead, heart pounding in her ears. After all she's seen so far, she knows he's good to keep up.]
no subject
[ It's a snappy order, bringing out the military groove he's fallen into ever since gaining a battalion of his own. The thought cannot even bring with it the usual bout of melancholy because Obi-Wan can be no place but in this moment if he wants them both to survive. He is a Jedi, and as such much more resilient than most, but he is not invincible. No person was, and he has seen enough war and death to know it intimately well.
As their pursuers briefly scuffle with one another, trying to reorganize and find their targets again, he takes off after Toko.
Were these bears some fascimile of what destroyed her world? Obi-Wan had never the chance to ask how it happened. Or rather, how does one even ask after such a genocide? It does not make for polite conversation.
Towa Tower might be just north but it isn't a straight shot — not for a normal person as the crow flies, anyway — but before Obi-Wan can think to act on this they are attacked from a side street. He senses the danger coming seconds before it arrives, and where he had been some paces behind her letting her take the lead, suddenly he leaps and is at her side. The brilliant blue of his light saber finishes at an upward angle, and for a moment the bear that had pounded from the street stands dumbfounded. Then it slumps sideways in two pieces, cut diagonally through the middle like a knife had gone through butter. The instant cauterization of the wound means no blood pools out of the body, but the sliced flesh is briefly incandescent from the molten heat of plasma.
He has no time to stay still, because another beast appears behind it and Obi-Wan has to duck under a swiping paw that would have taken his head off and spins his blade through the self-same arm. The bear bellows in pain as the limb hits the ground with a thud and Obi-Wan dances neatly around it: slices through a leg to bring it down to size and then slices it's head off without batting an eyelash.
Only then does he whirl to see where Toko is. ]
Danganronpa Spoilers, light gore
Is that seriously the reality she wants to come back to?]
Gwah!!
[There's an ambush off the side, and before she's even done squawking Obi-Wan is there. Toko had immediately flung her arms up to cover her head, but they don't obscure the view. He sweeps the saber down and the bear folds open like the pages in a book. It's bloodless. A perfect bisection. The innards are charred, sizzling, a light sear on a wok that leaves the meat rare.
He takes the blade to the next bear, dodging its swipe and claiming its arm. How can it cut the bone like that?
Toko feels dizzy. Her knees wobble. She's never been good with this stuff. Used to faint all the time, and never woke up as herself. She averts her eyes. Has to capitalize on the adrenaline, breathe deep and assess and stay upright. Were there more coming?
She spots a gleam of red. She darts towards Obi-Wan, shoving him through his own carnage.
There's a blast. The laser cuts a rip in cement that would have sliced a leg off. The culprit is another bear lumbering over a toppled delivery truck, just a short run ahead. Toko snarls against his back, fingers knotted in his tunic. They're still upright, they're not down yet, but for the love of GOD.]
How the h-hell are they even aiming those things?! They're animals!
no subject
She clutches the back of his tunic, and he fights the urge to put his hand back to keep her safe behind him to instead keep his focus forward. ]
I think it is quite clear they are more than just animals.
[ Though it is strange and interesting that Toko had previously mentioned bears, and here they are, though not in the way she remembers. Obi-Wan can only surmise that this is either a literal alternate dimension, or another case like Danaca.
Obi-Wan puts his hand out and the bear climbing over the delivery truck freezes, then lifts clear off the ground. It's legs pinwheel in confusion as it floats five, ten feet off the ruined ground — and then with a sweep of Obi-Wan's hand, goes careening into a cement wall. The wall cracks under the force, and the bear slumps either unconscious or dead to the ground.
Without waiting to see if it will get back up, he takes her smaller hand in his free one and starts running that same direction. It is, unfortunately, the direction of the tower. His lightsaber stays ignited at his side, prepared to deflect any of those lasers that might come their direction. ]
no subject
[She really is going to strangle the conductors when she gets her hands on them. How did they take a burning dystopia and make it worse?
Obi-Wan, perhaps because he has less to expect from Towa City, or he's all-too-familiar with strange and unusual emergencies, wastes no time on bewilderment. He raises a hand and — to Toko's jaw-dropping awe — chucks the bear into a forbidding building. The crack of its hefty body is unkind, the limp drop thereafter even more so. She lingers, just for a moment, thinking of Anakin's life-saving trick between cars, how Cal had expelled that gnashing severed face in the Museum, and wonders how she never predicted this most natural escalation. She feels terribly stupid and alight with possibility.
Could she learn how to do that? Life would be so much simpler. Any time that human stain Hagakure opened his mouth, she could simply eject him out of a window.
No time for lessons now. He's dashing ahead with her hand locked in his. Their goal isn't far off, they can make it if they step lively. There are roars of fury but from far behind, and only once Toko feels the hiss of a laser skimming her ankle. There's one more sharp turn to make.
And upon rounding that corner there's a cadre of bears to meet them. All along the tower steps they're lumbering, fifteen or twenty shaggy beasts of unholy size. Their heads turn in near perfect unison, and if Toko hadn't just seen them bleed she'd wonder if they were robots after all.]
Shit. [Language. He's her senior, she should watch her mouth, but this has got to be a joke.
Most lurch ahead, teeth bared. A few fire off lasers, and Toko has to hurl herself out of Obi-Wan's reach or else lose a limb. It's lucky they're poor shots and most would rather attack head on, but even a Jedi isn't a one-man army.
Toko stumbles to the right, hands clutched to heart and wide-eyed in horror. This is bad. This is bad, this is so bad, and she doesn't have much of a choice.]
Obi-Wan! [She's already got a lock of hair in her trembling hand, raising it to her face. Without her taser or a well-timed faint, there's only one way left to swap.] I'm r-really sorry about this!
no subject
Then they're moving, lasers firing, and Obi-Wan lets her go in order to spin his saber in a blue blur, reflecting the attacks back at the group. He darts half a glance at Toko as she yanks herself put of his immediate circle of safety. His heart leaps into his throat, he can't protect her effectively if she's at that distance. With the onslaught, though, he can't keep an eye on her and the bears. The feeling of urgency only intensifies with her words. ]
Toko! What-
[ But he doesn't have time to give her his undivided attention, lunging forward to engage the quickest opponent that charges for them. ]
1/2
All it takes is a tiny tickle from the ends of her hair to the tip of her nose.]
Ah-choo!
2/2
SCHHPT!
The roar that follows is of a deathly anguish. A bear stumbles and slides to a halt, bewildered, fading fast. A dainty pair of metal handles play tip of the iceberg, scissors sunk to the hilt in the dying bear's eye. Who knows how far the blades went?]
Oh me oh my! Home already?!
[Geez, weren't they still sitting at eight hundred and something? Gloomy must have snatched a band of orphans from the jaws of death. Except — hang on.
There's more metallic swishes, more roars and growls and hard-swung paws. And with it, more blood. She lops a paw off and her face is speckled in the spray, she sweeps her blades through another's throat and her front takes the brunt thereafter. Jill isn't phased. She's got that look in her eye, madcap grin on, scissors threaded over her knuckles: two pairs per hand like she's fitted with claws.
Look, she's used to waking up neck deep in shit. That's par for the course, and once she might have been stunned by the literal bears, but at this point why question it? That dumpy mine town gave her lots of practice dissecting beasties, and before that she was slicing through steel, lean mean killing machines turned sparking wrecks at her feet.
No no no, the real problem is standing tall to the left, deflecting laser beams with a jumbo glowstick. Jill hurls herself into a charging bear and jabs it swift in the throat, one-two-three times for safety. She's still crouched against it as it falls, a carnivorous creature in her own right, but her eyes are all on him.]
Just who the fuck are you?
[He doesn't belong here. That much is for sure.]
é
Beneath the table they touch, the top of her foot catching on his calf before it begins a very deliberate climb up his leg. Anakin, who knows that this isn't Toko, who knows that the sharp smile and equally sharp gaze is coming from Jill- finds himself unhappily flustered anyway. He frowns at her from his side of the table, but there's no jerk of retreat that follows. Tiny porcelain cups on tiny porcelain plates dot the tablecloth between them, untouched for their strange standoff.]
It's manslaughter isn't it.
no subject
Well. The table would do in a pinch.]
BINGO! [She slaps the table (the china rattles precariously) and gives a pitchy cackle, pleased as punch.] Oh my goodness, you know me so well! And it's only the second date, too.
[Funny thing, that. She only ever operates with half the picture, but she can feel the results. Something's been brewing between him and her other self. Something big. She can't keep her eyes off him. God, she could just eat him up. Run her hand through that unruly hair and just rip.
The toe of her patent black heels wedges just a little higher. Up and around, fishing for the top of his boot. He's swaddled up in so many damn clothes, it'll be tough to find a soft spot. But she likes a challenge. He'd give her a good one. She can tell.]
You really like to play with fire, don't you cutie? What did I say to you last time?
BANANAKIN
More pressing (stroking??) is the covered foot prodding at him, like she's trying to dip inside his boot. Anakin doesn't stand, instead, he reaches one hand beneath the table and finds her ankle- closes his wide palm around it. The fabric of her stocking is smooth beneath the pad of his thumb. Anakin neither squeezes or releases. He simply holds Jill there, as if his hand is a living shackle.
You really like to play with fire, don't you, Anakin makes an effort to control the tug at the corner of his mouth, but when she's right she's right. Probably isn't going to do him any favors when he actually tries to answer though.]
Mostly I remember the dinosaur. But I've been a little busy since then, sorry.
yeah bc she wants to peel his skin off
What exactly is he playing at?
She gets a worse surprise the next second. The air sours in a snap.]
Are you calling me forgettable?! [Her lip curls. A snarl bigger and meaner than Toko's stymied sneers. Everything about her is exaggeration: gesticulation, enunciation, mood swings and trains of thought. He might be unimpressed with the show, but he's still gotta hang tight until the end credits. Especially if her suspicions are true.]
I told you to leave us alone, idiot. But this fluttering feeling! These stars in my eyes! [She tilts away, chair keeling back as she clutches her cheeks in a pseudo-swoon. All with one foot still suspended.] You've just gone and made it all worse! Haven't you?
[CRACK!
The chair slaps back into place and she's braced over the table again. Elated. This time a trio of cream puffs topple off the top tier and mangle the finger sandwiches.]
I think I love you more now than ever I did before!
just wait till the end of rots like everyone else!!
The air itself changes, and so does Jill's expression. This is what makes her so different from Toko, there's a transparency to the great swing of her dramatics. There's no filter it's running through, no editor trying to scribble out evidence and present the right final draft. Her lip curls, a flash of teeth, and Jill recoils on the legs of her chair- as far as the tether of his grip will allow.
But being confronted by her now is different than it was before. He can't separate Toko and Jill into their own categories, to take one without the other. And it's a realization he's only just now beginning to accept. It's imperfect. And so is he. The fairness feels right.
The chair's legs come back down like a crack of thunder; the cups wobble again, cream puffs tumble across the surface, a whole strawberry rolls towards him. If Jill is a storm, the only thing to do is weather her. And he can do that.]
Really? [It isn't sarcastic, but the opener doesn't hide his skepticism either. With his opposite hand Anakin reaches for the pot of tea and begins pouring her a cup.] How would you define love?
no she wants it now!!!!!!!!!
Nope. No way. Nuh uh. She's got an eye for this stuff. There's a boiling point there. He, like so many of the freaks and geeks on the train, is inured to madness and mayhem in a way her sweet civilian paramours had not been. He's meeting her overtures with confidence. He knows killers, and he's not afraid.
He's a killer himself.]
Me? [Her head tilts and her gaze drifts. Watching the tea hit the porcelain, pooling in peaceful swirls. She almost seems to melt with it, dreamy eyed and rolling her shoulders like some winsome lass of old.]
Obsession.
[She doesn't pull her foot back. She punches it forward, towards his thigh. How far it gets is up to him, but she needs to know the limits. Whether or not he's got inhuman strength, or if he'll pull some supernatural shit. You know, all the stuff she never had to worry about before. Oh how the mighty have fallen.]
When the very thought of that special someone takes you whole, consumes your whole body, your mind, your soul! When you just can't get enough, can't live without them. When the minutes drag in solitude, and quicken when they draw near!
[When he's quite done with the tea, she plonks in that fallen cube of sugar. Miss Morose might like it black and bitter, but Jill likes it sweet as honey.]
I cannot let you burn me up, nor can I resist you. No mere human can stand in a fire and not be consumed.
[Apologies to A. S. Byatt. Nobody likes the thought that maniac would co-opt your creative works. Just ask the Beatles!]
what do u think this is amazon prime??
Her foot pushes forward, a short burst like she means to kick him. Using his flesh hand, not the metal and gold of his prosthetic, its his own strength that keeps her there- not the brutal efficiency of the inhuman. Anakin brings her ankle to rest on top of his thigh the way one might settle a child or a pet on their lap. A sugar cube plonks over the side of the cup, rippling the surface and doing away with formalities; Anakin, playing the role of a server, lifts the saucer and deposits it gently on her side of the table. The thoughtful frown isn't just clear on his face, its in his voice too.]
So what makes it different from obsession?
Maybe.......
[That goes for both accounts. The foot and the philosophizing. She won't fight the hold any longer, seems pretty pointless for now. It's not a jailer's cuff so much as a...hmm. Well, if he's getting a stiffy over her lil ol' feets who is she to judge? It's just awful generous of him to keep the damn thing close. Most people would rather eat glass than let any part of her near. That's all.
No, there's a more pressing fallacy in the logic here.]
Didn't you ask me what I thought love was? I gave you my answer. They're one and the same. Two luscious peas in an amorous pod! At least for me. [Jill swishes a spoon through the tea then hooks a finger into the handle to raise her cup, pinky extended. She tips it ever so slightly to him. Cheers baby, thanks you're a peach.]
Sounds like you're the guy with all the hold ups. What's the issue, Ani my man-y? What's love to you? Or rather...
[She puts the cup to her lips, but her dark eyes are pinned on him. Sharp as needles and just as precise.]
What am I to you?
no subject
She lifts her cup to her mouth, watching him over the rim, and Anakin takes his time pouring his own cup. Like the tea served in the temple, the color and smell are nothing like the tzai of his childhood, and his preference these days is almost exclusively caf. But far be it from Anakin to decline ritual for ritual's sake.] I thought it was the things that made love different that made it special.
[Love and selflessness. Love and sacrifice. Love is supposed to make a person better than they are... isn't it? Anakin too reaches for a cube of sugar, putting one directly into his mouth only to drop another into his tea. It clicks against his teeth as he rolls it around on his tongue- but it's now that his eyes flick up to Jill's face, as if they're sharing a kind of private joke.] But I don't know what you are to me yet, Jill. It's only the second time we've met.
no subject
[As if that weren't immediately evident. Just watch her, watching him, plucking sugar from the dish and popping it onto his mouth. That ghastly tongue licks up her cheek, as if catching a rogue crumb, and she flexes her foot in his lap. The heel scrapes his linens, pressing a fine point into sheltered skin below.
Then she's rolling her eyes to the heavens.]
Maaaaan. Even I'm getting sick of hearing that crap. So nice of you to use my name, though, I can't stand being confused for Gloomy. But pretending there's no link at all? [She pouts, dropping her cup back to the saucer.] Are you really that naïve? I don't remember what she does, but I feel what she feels. We've got joint custody on this bag of bones! Heart and soul!
So let's try it this way. What!
Do you want.
With her?
a (1/2)
Not to mention there are "students" walking around. ]
I'm surprised you're happy to play along, Toko.
[ He straightens up to pay attention to her again, looking trouble as he does so. Not that this stops him from munching on the cookie he's holding, pausing briefly. ]
no subject
He turns into a frog. ]