come_sailaway | JULY EVENT: SCREAMING, AND THEN SILENCE

[Damn girl this level of detachment is too much even for him. Natsuno was going to find another corner to hide in (avoiding sunlight, face hidden under a dark hoodie, the Ritanaga doll floating behind him), but pauses at Tayrey's idle commentary.]

Isn't panic the point? Same as these screens. No suffering, no fuel.

[Not that he sounds upset. There's no emotion in his voice either.]

[She glances over at Natsuno. That's an interesting fashion choice he has there. Not that she's judging, given the strong opinions she has on people being able to wear what they want without criticism from conformists. Still, her gaze lingers a little longer on him than it should.]

Do you think they're indulging in it on purpose, then?

[These are people she knows, some of whom she quite likes, but there's nothing but idle curiosity in the question.]

[She's lucky it's the dark hoodie and not the clown mask.]

I think that no matter how much they prepared, it's different when they experience it.

[He glances at the screen. Darcy screams, Dimitri is frantic. Only Ava seems to be having a good time.]

Why are you watching? To indulge?

What would I be indulging in, exactly?

[She's more confused than offended.] I can't get away from the sight or that stupid music, even in my own cabin. I'm staying clear of the sympathy group in the bar.

[Tayrey shrugs.] I've run plenty of disaster simulations shipside. Starship, that is. Assessed a few as well.

"Sympathy group," huh. I guess if anyone's indulging, it's them.

[Sitting there with drinks, celebrating their own misery like a sacrifice to the ship.]

I'm sure this doesn't meet the standards you had back home. We all know he's a lazy hack.

[Pause.]

That's how it was on the first excursion. Live feed first, and then highlights.

[Ari's experienced more than her fair share of misery here, but she did her best to keep it to herself, as far as she could. And now it seems like the feeling has all been burnt out of her. All she is really focused on is either escape or proper death, and she's past caring which it is. She'll take whichever she can get. Prolonging her torment on this ship isn't something she's going to be grateful to anyone for.]

Yes, they are. I'd feel sorry for anyone mixed up in that business against their will, but every one of them is a volunteer who knew exactly what would happen.

[She thinks for a moment.] My first breach simulation, I took too long deciding what to do, and then tried to save absolutely everyone. With the result that almost everyone died. [A beat.] I was thirteen standard years. I got better at it. Not that I'm judging them for that, particularly. It's a simulation they can't possibly win, why go to the bother of trying to save the ship? [A quick death is the best option, logically. More cold spacer rationality.]

The first time. Was that all volunteers, too?

Maybe because going down fighting makes them feel better. Getting more fuel by prolonging the torment. [He shrugs, disaffected.] I wouldn't bother thinking too hard on what goes through their mind.

[He's past arguments. Natsuno doesn't like seeing them suffer, but if it keeps his friends safer, so be it.]

We all signed up willingly, yes, but we had no idea what would happen. All we were told is that it's three days on a tropical island, activity level "strenuous." We hardly knew anything back then - thought it'd be a chance to gather information and maybe find a way to escape.

[They still thought they'd be going to a real place and not a fabricated realm. He and Palamedes discussed collecting samples like idiots.]

And then we woke up with collars around our necks and told we had three days to fight each other to the death. If more than one person survived, the collars would kill us all slowly and painfully.

[They aren't going down fighting, in her eyes. With a few exceptions, it looks like panic and poor performance so far. Not that she'll be quite so blunt with Natsuno, as he doesn't seem to want to discuss it. He's focusing on the past, and that makes her think that he might need to talk about it.]

You had less information back then. You were making the best decisions based on what you knew. Escape could have been possible, and how devastating if it had been, but you hadn't gone. It wasn't the same as this situation. Not beyond the superficial.

[She won't ask him what he did personally. It would be intrusive, unkind. He'll tell her if he wants to - but there's something she does want to know.]

Did anyone refuse to play along? [She suspects they'd have simply been killed by one of the more enthusiastic among the prisoners, but it still matters to her.]

[...it's weird to explain the battle royale to someone who wasn't there. Maybe doesn't even know about it, with so many old passengers gone and so much new information uncovered. Natsuno's tone is clinical, like he's giving a report about things that happened to someone else.]

Some did. [Clarke begged everyone before they dispersed to just wait it out together, tried to walk away right until the moment a scythe came down and she bled to death in his arms.] We tried to stay hidden and wait it out, so no one would win. But others were all too eager to play.

[He hopes Ebalon's soul was torn asunder and burnt into nothing for this.]

[Ari has heard that people were made to fight to the death, and that they did it, but none of the awful details. She'd thought better of trying to delve into anyone's trauma by asking about such things, so much of this is new information.]

Not much has changed, then. Some people trying to stand against violence and cruelty, or just to avoid becoming a madman's plaything - while others feel compelled to do just as their captor tells them.

Some just wanted an excuse to go on a murder spree.

[Jinx with her delusional notion to prove herself strong, Ebalon's - fucking everything, really.]

But yeah, not a lot changed. If this excursion turned out to be another battle royale, they'd fight to the death. Only difference is that they'd pat each other's backs after and tell themselves how good and self sacrificing they are.

[She tilts her head.] Siffleur? At least he's honest about it. [Ari wasn't around to meet Jinx or Ebalon, although she's certainly heard about the latter.]

But you're right, that's exactly what they'd do. [She frowns, darkly.] I understand co-operating with your captor's demands if you're afraid of what will happen otherwise. But it's not something to congratulate yourself over. And the others don't help. There's going to be so much fussing over the martyrs when they wake up.

[Erin had wanted Ari to join in with that. Even offered to pay her - but she has her principles. No chance of it, even for the ones among them that she likes. They made their choice and signed their names.]

Not Siffleur. [The cougar man is indeed honest, if the signs outside the Tommy Bahama are anything to go by. Natsuno thinks anyone who signs up for it is insane, but at least Siffleur doesn't force his bullshit on people, which can't be said on the likes of Ebalon and Jinx.] These people are long gone.

[Well, except Maximillien. Poor guy is still robbed of a second shooting spree.]

I don't care if they fuss over them or not. [He'd fuss over his friends as well, but not before punching them for getting killed.] As long as they don't rub their self-righteous bullshit in my face.

JULY EVENT: SCREAMING, AND THEN SILENCE

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