END GAME: THE COUNTDOWN STARTS

[sailmods]

[the prisoners wake up on cold, hard floors.

the lights are bright, glaring, a sterile cell with sterile bars facing a sterile hall. the prisoners with you, across from you, and no one else. no rocking of a ship in waves, nothing. just the prisoner and their prison.

time passes, one assumes. the rhythmic click of Friday’s heels down the hall. it’s almost like the ticking of a clock.]

Comments

OTA and also friday

[kingoftheanthill]

( 1. OTA )

[ Very suddenly, he's not in a bottle in Flan's pocket.

...

Change of plans!

Several of Victor run out between the cell bars and split up to explore. The corridor is open and boring and sucks, so a chunk of the exploration is going to be inside everyone's cells. Say hi as a handful of ants sniff their way into your prison, all wearing matching tiny adorable prison uniforms. He's definitely making a trip to find his best bunker buds, but there are plenty of other cells on the way.

Several more of Victor stay in his own cell to keep an eye on his cellmate, just in case Wilson is upset by the vanishing of his clever stores of food. Victor isn't upset yet; sure the lights are very exposing and the smells are unfriendly and there's nothing good to scuttle behind, but as long as he has a teleporting friend he's sure things will work out... right? ]

Ummmmm, was this supposed to happen?


( 2. Friday )

[ The click-click-click of Friday's heels gets approached swiftly by the patterpatterpatter of Victor's feet. ]

Hello! Hello? Miss Friday ma'am! Um, can it go back to normal now?

OTA, A Stranger Calls

[blindwatchersees]

As the ants pass by one of the cells closest to the storage room, someone calls out to them, albeit in a hushed and unfamiliar voice.

"Victor! Is that you?"

[kingoftheanthill]

"That's my name, don't wear it out!"

Victor would it kill you to take this situation seriously.

[blindwatchersees]

"Do you have any idea what's happening out there? Have you seen Fever?" There's really nothing familiar about this man- not the golden skin, not the pointed ears, even the sound and intonation of his voice are that of a complete stranger. But he's speaking to Victor as if he knows him with absolute genuineness.

OTA [Not Like I Like Him Or Anything]

[freedomsuitsme]

As Maxwell hovers at the bars, he notices the ants go by. Strange, he didn't think there were any ordinary animals on board the ship- wait.

Didn't Higgsbury say his roommate was a bunch of ants?

"Psst. You there, the ants. Have you seen Higgsbury?"

[kingoftheanthill]

It's him here! The ants!

"Nope," he announces, waving a few dozen feelers towards Maxwell. "I don't know a Higgsbury! The only person I really talked to yet was my roommate Wilson!"

[freedomsuitsme]

"That's who I mean. Wilson. Wilson Higgsbury. Wilson Higgsbury the self-proclaimed Gentleman Scientist. That one."

[palfriday]

[she continues her walk, not even showing a single sign that she heard him.]

[kingoftheanthill]

[ Well that's rude. Which means more ants run up, and the call gets louder and in surround-sound. ]

Hey! Hey! I'm down here! Hey!!

[palfriday]

[click click click]

1, obviously

[takethatnature]

Wilson peels himself off the floor. "What happened? Where's Maxwell?"

Getting knocked out during a boss fight isn't unprecedented (the contagious yawn of the Bearger is very, very potent) but this time it feels like the boss fight didn't even start.

"Hey, where's my stuff?!" He sticks his hands out in front of himself. He's wearing a prison uniform and his arm warmers are gone. "What happened to my clothes?"

[kingoftheanthill]

"So, okay, the lady with the huge bird did that I think--"

This establishes in one go two very important facts: one, that Victor knows what is going on always, and two, this totally wasn't his fault.

"Because the ass guy tried to shoot her, and that's the last thing Flan said about (I was in her pocket and she told me what was going on), so she magicked us all into cells so no-one could shoot her any more, and she took your stuff away in case there was more guns in it." Said with absolute confidence that he is correct.

[takethatnature]

"I didn't have any guns in the first place," Wilson protests, as if this is the most relevant problem with the way he and the rest of the passengers are being treated. He lets out an aggravated sigh. How did Smug Bird Lady manage to give him an outfit with fewer pockets than if he were to walk around in his underwear? Never mind, it's not like he has anything to store at the moment.

"I guess that explains it," Wilson says, still sounding nonplussed and resentful. Not mad at Victor, though.

He looks out the barred... not even a door, so the only way out is teleportation, a hidden mechanism, or destroying the walls. Or being ants, Wilson corrects himself, as the stream of Victors in teeny tiny prison uniforms (why does he need those, are there normal ants somewhere nearby that he would need to be distinguished from???) scurries out between them and into the hall. It takes him a second to recognise Ossie beginning to stir in the cell across from them. He stands up and leans against the bars, which frustratingly don't pop an Attack prompt while holding down Ctrl wobble in a destructible-feeling fashion and are too densely placed to wrap his whole hand around. There's Dedue on one side and Gwen and Darcy on the other, but past that the angle's too sharp to see in.

"We need to check whether everyone made it, and then find the door controls. And by we I mean you, because I won't fit." Wilson thwaps one hand against the bars.

[inhairently]

( steve's sitting on the floor at the front of the cell, watching the hallway while he takes a short break from trying to find a way to break out. he almost doesn't notice the ants at first but when he does his face contorts with disgust. it's probably the general shock of what's going on but in this moment he doesn't remember that these same little dudes once offered him pastries. he just sees insects and assumes it's another facet of their new prison's charm. )

Eugh. This place has bugs? ( what next, prison rats? ) Gross.

( and that's that. he stands and goes back to pacing, thinking, trying not to totally freak out. )

[kingoftheanthill]

Bugs? Where?

[ you'd think Victor was doing a bit, and yet....... ]

1.

[decohere]

"Ants go marching one by one, hurrah... hurrah..." Ava mumbles with her cheek pressed to the cold floor, waving her pinky finger as little Victors pass by.

[kingoftheanthill]

The ants shift their route closer to Ava, weaving through the cage bars, and lift their little feet to high-five her fingertip one by one as they go past.

1

[sabigoe]

[ Fio stands helplessly, staring off into the distance. She's less of a crybaby than when she first arrived. Still, her eyes grow watery and she needs a moment to take deep breaths, trying to keep calm and collected. Everyone's tough and so is she. They'll figure a way out.

She blinks, snapping out of her daze when she notices the trail of ants. ]

...Ants? [ A beat. Then she realizes...

She drops down into a crouch, peering through the bars. ] You must be... Victor? ...Hello. Flan told me about you. All of you.

[kingoftheanthill]

Hello! That's me!

[ This particular collection of Victor swarms towards the bars, pleased that once again his fame has preceded him. His little eyes aren't really up to picking up unshed tears, but all the same, he asks: ]

Are you okay in there?

[ ...because any friend of Flan's is a friend of his.

Also-- she's king of little as far as humans and human-adjacent things go, and she's got the sort of voice and face that thinking beings describe as cute, so a bell rings-- ]

Oh! Oh! Are you, um, Fio?

1

[saltwaterlungs]

[ ... is that those fucking ants they keep finding in the kitchen- that's a person?! ]

Hey- HEY- ANTS- can you get a message to someone?!

[kingoftheanthill]

My name's Victor!

[ Most important things first. ]

Victor King!

[ And don't forget it! ]

...and yeah, totally, no problem.

[hate_gettin_older]

"Oi, Victor! Over here!"

Edgar's managed to squeeze one hand out through the bars far enough to wave. They've only met once; he's hoping the ants remember him.

[kingoftheanthill]

Hurrah: the ants remember him! It helps that Flan's stories of conquest have kept Edgar fresh in Victor's memory.

"Oh hi! Hi! Hi! How have you been?"

[neverleave]

[So Natsuno probably knew one of the passengers is ants, in the way he's aware of all passengers, but never spoke to them.

After Victor is done talking to Steve (or even during, if they can split their attention), Natsuno says:]

Are you going to check what's out there?

[kingoftheanthill]

[ The group of ants talking to Steve is large; then it's half as big, because the other half has split neatly off to carry on a completely separate conversation with Natsuno. It's cool, it's all good, his attention span might suffer but he's still in big enough groups to compute cognitively.

In a proud whisper: ]

I'm following Friday right now! But I can't know everything I'm doing at once right now, which feels super weird by the way, so I won't know what I found until I come back and tell me!