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

[stormpirate]

No. [pause] I don't even know if there is anything outside of here.

[a moment of visible concentration, and a plain doors materializes just to the side of the broken robot.]

[teethoftherisk]

Thank you.

[He gives the side of her leg a soft bunt of his head, a half-hearted cat thank you. Then, softly, just to Jenny-] Do anything you can to keep Friday safe. Please.

[Then he pads to the plain doors, rears up to put both paws on them, and pushes them open.]

[sailmods]

[the door opens

and they can see inside the room it leads to, for once. a dimly lit room, with exactly half of a wooden bookshelf leaning against the closest wall. there is a light clacking and scratching noise from within.]

[theweakhavepurpose]

[ Dropping back down to earth after floating along after Flan in a truly disgusting lovesick haze, Pratt is now brandishing one of the plastic bars from the cell doors as if that will do anything other than make a comical BONK sound when swung.

He pauses without getting closer to the bookshelf, plastic tube held at the ready.]

We're all hearing that right?

[sabigoe]

[ Fio finishes up her conversations with the new arrivals, going back into business once Siffleur pushes open the doors. She follows the others to the next room, shuffling closer towards the front, but remaining behind those much bigger than her. She doesn't really have anything to defend herself with after all... ]

Yeah... I hear it. [ She stares in the direction of the noise. ] ...Hello? Is someone there?

[sailmods]

[the room is large, bigger than the one they had been in before. half a lamp barely illuminates the half table it sits on, the plain carpet and wall with a half clock ticking along.

deeper into the room sits Victoria Malin, sitting at half a desk with her back to them. she writes on something with a quill pen - scratch scratch - and, every once in a while, moves the beads of an abacus - clack clack.]

[teethoftherisk]

[The moment Siffleur spots the figure, his ears go flat and his tail puffs up. He quickly stops, tail swishing furiously as a signal to the others behind him to be quiet.

He starts to move into a crouch - the distance would be easy for him to cover and he's quiet, so fucking quiet, that he could hit her from behind easily-

But there are harder hitters than Siffleur here and if they couldn't take her on, then he has to show restraint. He carefully backs up, giving the others a chance to see what's ahead of them, and to hopefully come up with a plan better than simply coming at her with teeth and claws.]

[redlightgreenlight]

[Valdis slowly creeps in behind Siffleur. She wishes they had time to check in on each other more, but Malin must be defeated before she can properly mourn what she’s lost.]

[theweakhavepurpose]

[He lowers his tube a little. Malin has to know they're there - there's no way she's actually that engrossed with her work to not notice that a bunch of people have piled into this room. He assumes that she's waiting for them to make a move or to speak. He glances over at Siffleur, spreading his arms in a should we say something? kind of gesture. Because he's all for the cougar ripping her head off, though he's pretty sure that won't work.

He opts to move closer to see what she's doing, keeping to the shadow along the wall. ]

[not_the_last]

Cassandra, on the other hand, steps back and aside -- trying for a broader angle to see what else, if anything, is in the room. Furniture, objects lying about, boxes or chests of any kind. Any other prisoners, or anything that might hold them; any of their missing belongings, or anything that might be affecting their missing powers.

(She's heard the story of what turned that particular table back at the Village. A big red button may be too much to hope for here; still, she's hoping.)

[decohere]

"Why's everything in half?" Ava whispers to Cassandra, warily. Malin must know they're there, anticipating the first shot, so she's not so inclined to make one.

jk. going into aggro range instead. will edit again if anyone has an issue!

[sabigoe]

[ Fio falls entirely silent upon seeing Malin. In the few moments of silence as everyone contemplates their next move, she grows antsy. She thinks about the time she stayed behind when cracks in reality appeared all around the ship, how she had to stay behind instead of seeking out her shadowy friend... and during the labyrinth...

A deep breath and then...

She slips out from the darkness, doing nothing to conceal the patter of footsteps as she briskly brushes past her companions and towards the half desk. As close as she possibly can. It's very dangerous, but if anything happens to her, she knows she can rely on her friends. ]

Hey, eyepatch lady! [ Calling out and looking about ready to throw her entire tiny form at the woman. ] Where's my friend? Let us all free and give me my friend back!

[teethoftherisk]

[Shit. It's good that children have such strong moral cores but sometimes it's inconvenient. But still - they had to do this eventually.

He's not letting her go alone so soon as Fio makes it clear that she's confronting Malin, Siffleur pads silently behind her and takes up a spot beside her once she stops. His ears stay flat on his head and his tail swishes from side to side, agitated but holding himself in check for Fio's sake.]

[sailmods]

[the office is messy: lots of piles of curios and artifacts, none of which seem very familiar, and a legitimately concerning amount of partially unwrapped chocolate bars. there are (halved) cabinets and (halved) boxes containing similar objects. the aesthetic choice doesn't make them very useful for storage. stuff is just pouring out.

Malin doesn't respond, or even pause in her work. but, from the other side of the desk, a shadowy head pops up to stare at them impassively.]

[configuration_birdwatcher]

// Sparkles?

[ Is it why everything's been cut in half? They're not sure what's going on here. ]

[sabigoe]

[ Fio pays very little mind to the mess. Her full attention is on the shadow the moment it makes its appearance. Suddenly nothing else matters. No thought whether or not this may be a trap. ] Sparkles? ...Hi. Is it really you?

[ Her expression softens and she makes a beeline towards the other side of the desk. ]

[theweakhavepurpose]

Shiiiii [Does not finish that because he's still a cop and he's not gonna curse in front of a child. Instead he drops the plastic tube and makes a grab for Fio.]

Whoa whoa, wait a sec, that's a trap that's definitely a trap.

[sailmods]

[Sparkles vanishes from the desk, but returns in just a bit longer than a single blink of an eye.

only Pratt is close enough to see the shadow that slips behind Fio, takes the scruff of her shirt and, gently, tugs her until she's moved farther away from the desk, closer to the nearest wall.

Malin does not stir.]

[yourexoduslaughing]

[Flan's been watching carefully since Fio headed to the table to speak to Sparkles. She moves quickly and quietly, setting a hand on Pratt's arm and gesturing for him to follow her.

She carefully walks around the table where Malin is sitting, ignoring them - or, more likely, unaware. Flan walks her and Pratt closer to the wall and Fio, then she carefully crouches down with her hands on her knees. She's about to sound soooooo stupid if she's misunderstood what's going on.]

Hey Sparkles? Are you keeping her from seeing us?

[sailmods]

[for a moment, Malin's pen pauses, long enough to say:]

Kill them.

[before returning to her work.

Sparkles gives Flan a long, impassive look. before vanishing.

and reappearing behind them.]

[yourexoduslaughing]

[Flan sighs softly.] Wah-wah. [Nothing she can do without the ability to fall to safety. Man... dying sucks.]

[abhorrently]

[she's working, and Fever feels an incandescent rage rise up in her, clawing and choking and limbs trembling and then -

everything falls back into place. she walks not with fury but with dignity, with careful steps and her head held high. no fear. until she's standing in front of Malin's desk, and undoes her makeshift pocket. retrieves the button stitched eyes she brought with her, and holds them out in her burned, bloodstained hand. not with disdain, but in the same vein as her holding out a cup of coffee down for someone working after hours.]

Killing us won't stop us, Malin. The smart woman you are, you know that.

[calm. serene. ignoring that she's in large amounts of pain at the moment.

she's not actually going to let the woman take the eyes back.]

[sailmods]

[a slight grin]

You're all rather confident for people that will no longer be replaced if you die.

[abhorrently]

There probably shouldn't be two of me running around in the great collection of worlds, anyway. One's bad enough.

[Fever shrugs, putting the button eyes back away.]

Will you get replaced, if you die? Seems like we're all on even footing with that.

[sailmods]

I couldn't tell you how many there have been. He didn't seem to keep very detailed records. Or any records, really.

[she glances over to where Sparkles still looms behind Flan and Pratt.] Killing that one may actually keep several timelines from collapsing...