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

[inhairently]

( he's still not convinced he's not the normal-sized one here but an idea strikes him — )

Wait — what if I just go back the way I came? I wasn't tiny in the prison cells. Maybe it works like, ah... ( he snaps his gross, bloody fingers as he tries to recall the name of a specific, well-known piece of media. ) Alice in Wonderland. I crawl back through the vent and boom, I'm regular-sized again.

( does something like that actually happen in alice in wonderland? he thinks so, but he's not sure. little does he know the solution really is wonderland-adjacent and currently in fever's (or natsuno's or valdis's) pocket. )

[sailmods]

[long pause.]

... Vent?

[inhairently]

...Yeah?

( not-quite-as-long pause )

We couldn't see it. A cat had to show us.

[sailmods]

Ah. [just sort of. a tone like he's decided this mortal is insane.]

-- Oh, you've seen our brother! Where is he? I didn't see him with you...

[inhairently]

( steve is quiet for what feels like approximately a month and three weeks as he contemplates whether or not he should break it to a couple of giants that their cat-brother is probably dead. )

Uh. We got separated. ( a beat, in which he decides to swiftly move the subject along: ) Look, I think we should just try to find the others. If we do that, maybe we can all take on this creep and actually get out of here.