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

[sabigoe]

[ A skeleton's hug which is unlike the warmth from a human... and yet she always found comfort in his bony arms. She takes a quiet moment to enjoy the embrace. It feels like forever since they last hugged. Or even seen each other. After about a minute, Fio starts to squirm, wiggling her legs lightly. Though she can feel herself start to tear up again, she doesn't cry. ]

Daddy... you can put me down now. It was scary... but I'm okay. [ Fio smiles. ] Are you okay?

[light_mischief]

[Okay, yes. There are quite a few other things to get to before they can say things are truly settled. A list of casualties to be made, confrontations to defuse, and most importantly, the Captain's freedom to ensure. After that, it seems that they're at a literal crossroads -- it may be purely symbolic, or it may be a very real choice they have to make at some point.

He's finally convinced he needs to let go when she asks about his own well-being, setting her on the ground.]

I'm fine for now, Fio. You don't need to worry about me; it's supposed to be the other way around. [He tilts his skull.] Did you find Sparkles? What happened to you once we were separated?

[sabigoe]

We're family, so obviously I gotta worry.

[ An excited bounce of heels. ] So much happened when we all split up— [ She babbles on about the events that took place: the battle with Voyager obviously, the control room with many screens and buttons that seemingly did nothing no matter how many times they pushed it. (Fio makes little gestures in the air, as if Skulduggery would need an example of how much she wanted to slam the "pressy button.") And Ody the crab piloting mech... ]

We found Sparkles, in the same room as the eye patch lady. Everything was all weird in there... there was this half desk, half lamp, half everything. Sparkles was following orders from the eye patch lady and I thought it was gonna hurt Mister Pratt. [ The shadow was being mind controlled, so she thought at the time. And she'll later find out that wasn't the case. ] The smoke from her eye got all of us real good and made everything feel super scary... [ In case there's any worrying again, she quickly adds: ]

But, uh...! Like I said, I'm okay now.