don't wait for a knight in shinin' armor, your savior's reflected in the mirror

[perpend]

[That sure was a fucking thing. That execution was a fucking thing. Those secrets are a fucking thing.

Cabanela retreats to his room, but not for all that long. Everyone will get a note eventually, written in very neat handwriting

I do not plan on bowing down to threats and intimidation. If you did not act, it means you were, like me, aware of the risk, but decided against it. Your reasons are entirely your own.

Join me in the dining room if you agree enough is enough, and that you won't acquiesce to threats. I don't plan to let this stop me, and neither should you.

-C

In the dining room itself, Cabanela has set up coffee and tea for those who want it-- there's no food, because to be honest, he doesn't know how to cook. Two more candles have been lit-- he wasn't really sure what to do about the whole... parasite thing... so Fern's candle will have to make due.]

Comments

infirmary

[sleepytimegal]

[ Alex kind of thinks she'll be the only one in here, but...oh. Well. ]

...Hey, Rin.

[heritrix]

[There was a reason Rin came up here first thing in the morning, for something she never ended up getting. After what was found here, she wasn't expecting anyone else either, so she blinks at Alex in surprise.]

Alex. What brings you up here?

[sleepytimegal]

Call me morbid? But uh...checking for painkillers.

[ She was also looking for something this morning, it seems. ]

[heritrix]

...are you still feeling off?

[Because you know. Wednesday.]

[sleepytimegal]

Aw, I just...woke up like this. Yesterday was okay.

[ Are there painkillers...? Oh god thank you. ]

[heritrix]

[Sure seems like everything restocked, anyways.]

That's good.

[Rin takes the cold compress out of the fridge thing in here, and... Well, she can't really do anything with it now, so maybe she should just put it back. Or hold it until she makes up her mind.]

So on a scale of 1 to 10, how bad would you rate your current migraine? [She tilts her head.] Wait, they're using smiley face charts these days. Maybe I should have you make a face to represent the pain.

1/2

[sleepytimegal]

Hm.

[ Considers. ]

2/2

[sleepytimegal]

[ ...THIS SMILE IS ABSOLUTELY A "SCREAMING AT THE WORLD SMILE" ]

Mmmmyep. [ She takes a painkiller. ] Iiit was worse Wednesday, so.

[heritrix]

[Pfft, Rin's going to laugh.]

Yes, that's clearly a five compared to the nine back then.

[sleepytimegal]

[ A wink, and she gets some water for her painkillers. ]

Yeah, see, we're- doing pretty well, relatively. [ ... ] I, uh...I'm actually glad I ran into you?

[heritrix]

Oh? Why's that?

[sleepytimegal]

Because...I wasn't being fair to you, the last few days. Especially with the radio, you... You're wrapped up in this, and I know- I knew more than I was letting on.

So...I'm sorry. I owe you an explanation.

[heritrix]

[She's wrapped up in this, huh. That's a weird way to put it. It stops Rin from highlighting that Alex doesn't technically owe her anything, because now her curiosity is piqued.]

That sounds like the sort of thing we should sit for.

[There's some beds here that can work for that. Want to get comfy, or go somewhere else, Alex?]

[sleepytimegal]

[ The beds are fine, honestly. ...It's strange if she starts to think about the grisly scene that was in here hours before, but. She won't start imagining that.

Once they're sitting: ]

They're called the Sunken. At least...that's what they referred to themselves as. They're... They're what's left of soldiers and passengers killed on a US submarine during World War II. It was, uh...friendly fire. A mistake of some kind. I didn't find out the full details, but...because of everything that happened, they stayed there, and...well, with that radio...me and my friends, we...made contact with them.

[heritrix]

[As they sit, Rin ends up staring at the space in the back of the room where Walt's body was found. Alex never made it in here, so she wouldn't know the difference.

Lightly massaging the back of her neck through her turtleneck, Rin listen's to Alex's story.]

Friendly fire, huh...? [She frowns.] That's definitely something to hold a grudge over. Communication through electronic devices is also typical of wraiths, who are creatures that naturally cause interference.

[...yes, she just talks like a wikipedia article all the time, it comes with the Ms. Exposition territory. Hold on, she's getting back on the right track. Because there's something very important about that. Something that stands out to her about today's trial too.]

But that was back home for you, wasn't it? It shouldn't be causing you such difficulties here, you know. Unless they came along with you, in that radio.

[sleepytimegal]

[ Yeah, she knows quite a bit of this...sort of. At least she's intuited it. The thing about wraiths, that's new, but well- yeah, ghosts, interference.

She sits and she listens, though, and she tenses up and prepares herself, here we go... ]

Well, yeah. They aren't in the radio.

[ She fights to keep herself from looking away. ]

They're...more in me.

[heritrix]

[Rin glances sharply at Alex, but she doesn't actually look shocked. That was the other possibility she thought of (she caught on to how that thing could be controlling Fern's body faster than anyone), but she didn't want to consider it.]

How many of them?

[She speaks calmly; get the facts, keep Alex comfortable.]

[sleepytimegal]

All of them.

[ She's speaking evenly. ]

Ninety-seven.

1/4

[heritrix]

[Rin stares at Alex. There's no way she heard that right.]

2/4

[heritrix]

[Any second now, Alex will realize she made a mistake and give her the right number.]

3/4

[heritrix]

[...Come on, seriously?]

[heritrix]

[It's only after several seconds that she jerks her head back, eyes rounding with shock.]

Ninety-seven? H-Hold on a second, that can't be right. I was preparing myself for something as unusual as three ghosts, but even that was a stretch!

[She sounds more bewildered than panicky, gesticulating with her hands and trying to make sense of this.] Putting aside how impossible that is, a normal human body wouldn't be able to handle it!

[sleepytimegal]

[ Should she be so calm-looking? A ghost (ha) of a smile rests on her face as Rin's surprise comes to a head. She just... ]

What do you want me to tell you? I can... I started feeling them in there this week. Since the radio, it's been more... [ She wets her lips. ] I guess it's 'cause most of them don't seem to have...a lot left of themselves.

[heritrix]

[Rin presses a fist to her mouth, considering this. If the wraiths don't have much left of themselves, as Alex says, does that mean they're lacking much of their identity?]

If they're weak, that could explain how you can still function as yourself. It's the only thing I can think of, but even then it's amazing nothing worse has happened.

[Rin's frown deepens, so severe it tugs at her eyebrows. While she addresses Alex, it sounds more like she's thinking out loud to herself with the following words.]

I should take you to Kirei so we can consult him on the matter, but I don't know what to make of him right now.

[sleepytimegal]

They were strong on the island. At least...as the night went on, they were strong, each time. Here they- they're like this...whisper, even though they usually weren't in my head there.

[ She sighs and rubs her temples. Are they talking to her right now? Are they... ]

...Kirei. That guy. You know him, right? You're...from the same place?