trustfell | Week 3.

Week 3.

WEEK 3
Two more people are dead. Byakuren Hijiri has been murdered and Undyne has been executed. That brings us up to four deaths and twenty-five remaining Participants.

You're doing well.

Take all of Saturday to rest and sleep. You've earned it. On Sunday morning, the clock chimes the hour at seven o'clock. With no more bodies to be discovered, it seems you're safe for the time being. That said, you'll be feeling a little groggy when you wake up; it seems you've remembered something else. Or was that another really bizarre dream?

Like last week, there's a new floor to explore. A reward for your efforts, of course. There's something else new, however, and as you approach the foyer you might hear the beautiful sound of... chickens? Chickens. Those are definitely chickens. It looks like Tabby's petition has worked, you have chosen chickens.

Perhaps even more important are the rule changes, effective immediately. You might want to take note of them.

PARTICIPANTS REMAINING: 25

SUNDAY | MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY

[OOC: Welcome to week three of Trustfell! Save your threads for coins and the coming week's activity check; don't forget to check in to this week's activity check and submit your memory regains as well!

The Letters and Switchboard posts are still active, for the sake of contacting the jerk who's keeping you here, to be used at your leisure!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Something to do? She's glad for it. Dutifully, she walks on over, and...it means she has to let go of the dolls, oh. Well, alright. She kneels by Asuka's side and puts both hands on her feet.]

A workout room. [She even sounds drained.]

This floor's certainly an interesting one. Between this, the gym and the, mmph, archery room...

[She starts talking to her as she lifts her torso up off the ground, hands behind her head to reach her knees...]

Well, I guess the Conductor really wants us to get fit, huh? Among other things.

[Ashley simply echoes faintly:] Archery. Great. Just wonderful.

It's something we'll just have to deal with for now.

We're getting swords and shit from the machine. I don't think bows and arrows are our biggest threat.

That's true. It's just...one more thing, isn't it? Always...one more thing.

...Don't let it get to you. Things are already getting insane enough around here.

We just...have to keep on fighting, basically.

...I...remembered something again...this Sunday. Did...you too?

...

I'm still sort of hoping it was just a nightmare. ...But I know that's wishful thinking.

...Yours was bad too, huh?

...Yeah.

I don't remember how I got there, but...I didn't escape. There was another choice a-and this time- ...he had to choose between me and himself.

[Her eyes shine bright.]

[ Shit, Ashley, you really can't catch a break, can you...she stops doing her crunches, putting her hands on her knees to look her in the face. ]

Well, you're still here, so his choice was obvious, but...

[ She sees Ashley on the verge of tears...and she doesn't know what to do.

There are the needles again. ]

...I'm so sorry.

[ She knows she was looking forward to getting out of here and seeing him again... ]

[At least she's not wailing this time. At least she's not incoherent and unintelligible, but it's hard for Ashley to keep the tears in. Ah...]

He told me, right before...that he loved me. He all but said the words. I'd been waiting...for so long to hear that.

[She blinks quickly, trying to catch- damn it. One falls. And another.]

But, then he had to sh-shoot himself in the head. At least I d-didn't see anything this time, right?

If the fact that he did it wasn't proof of that enough...

[ That's...something Asuka can't exactly relate to, not in the slightest. But she knows the importance of those words, of just how much hearing them can be a solace..

Asuka's not judging her for crying. She doesn't have anything to give her to wipe the tears away, but she certainly pities her nonetheless. ]

...He wouldn't have wanted you to see it, in any case. And you still have no idea who the bastard that made him do that is?

[She removes one hand from Asuka's ankles and wipes her eyes with it. Crying again, as usual, isn't this just always the case?]

No. I don't even remember getting grabbed, just- when I woke up in that r-room...Chris asked what he did to me, and...I think the guy hit me. All injuries accounted for.

[Is it- is it okay if she leans a little on Asuka's legs? Not too much to cause pressure, but just a little bit?]

The creep was filming it. He had cameras, all around.

[ For what it's worth, she doesn't seem to mind it, too enraged to really sort of care. ]

Filming it...was he gonna fucking watch it on his own time, the goddamn psychopath? And hitting you, too...

[ Scum. The lowest of the fucking low. Not to say the Conductor, or whoever he works for, isn't just as bad, but that's just... ]

That bastard. ...If I could, I'd go to your world and kill him myself.

[Asuka's not the only one mad; sure, she's still really sad, but after a day, a bit of the rage is starting to come through.]

I wanna get a few good shots in at the sicko too. God he- oh... God, I hope the others aren't... I hope they didn't go through this too.

[She bites down on her lip and wipes at her watery eyes again.]

But... Asuka- what about...you said yours was bad too.

You deserve them more than I do. But I suppose even if you remember it at all now, you'll find out one way or another. I don't think the order of events for these memories is exactly set in stone...pieces could be missing, and there could be more. ...No, there must be more, actually.

[ She adjusts herself a bit on the mat, sitting up a bit more comfortably, but keeping her legs up so Ashley can stay where she is. ]

There was a huge gap between this one and my last one. And I had no idea what was going on in it, for the most part, but...I do know what it meant.

...Long story short, I'm not quite sure if I have a world to go back to, now.

[Really, it is true- Ashley knows there's things she's missing. She hopes and prays one of those things is the man in the mask getting his damn head blown off. ...She wouldn't mind watching that.

...However.]

Ohh. Oh, no no no no.

[Her mouth hangs open and she places a shaking hand on Asuka's.]

No, oh God, Asuka.

Honestly, just by looking at it, I could tell. It wasn't like anything I ever saw before. The sky opened straight through, a big black hole and rainbow rings, the ground was shaking, and everything was just red...

[ Asuka's hand clenches into a tight fist; she'll pop a vein in her wrist if she's not careful. ]

They won. The Angels won. And my idiot co-worker did it all. I don't get how or why, but he actually fucking did it. And whatever happened after that...well, my memory cut off there, but it can't be good. Not for me, not for anyone.

And I couldn't fucking do anything about it.

No... No, oh. Asuka, no.

[Both hands on Asuka's, holding it, the one clenched- oh, honey, stop, you're going to hurt yourself.

And she just starts crying again, not for herself this time, but for Asuka.]

But... But you're still alive. Something- you- something had to have happened to- to stop it, right? Oh... Oh, God. I'm so sorry.

[ Asuka, to her credit, is still making good on her promise, her vow from when she was five years old. Her eyes are dry, bitter...almost resigned. There's no doubting what she saw, and if it wasn't a dream... ]

I don't know. Maybe I was safe, because I was inside my Eva. But the last time that happened, 15 years ago, it wiped out two billion people from the explosion and the tsunamis alone, not including the people that died in the coastal flooding afterwards, and the global wars that came out of the food and resource shortages. When all was said and done, the global population was just about cut in half.

...That's because it was in Antarctica. An event of that scale taking place in Japan...Asia and Europe must be a wasteland by this point, if not the entire world, assuming it wasn't stopped.

[ But how could they possibly stop it..? ]

And I couldn't fucking do anything!

[ She repeats it to herself; she's been berating herself like this since yesterday. This is the first time she's finally getting it off of her chest, though. ]

All of that time I put in to be a pilot and fight those Scheisskerl Angels! Everything I did! Fucking wasted!

[Wasted. This isn't like hers-- this is nothing like with Chris, because-- every moment of theirs, it was different. But God, she has to- something she--]

You- I- I'm so-- [A shaking voice, still crying.] Asuka, you... You protected people for s-so long. They lived years they might never have-- they wouldn't have be- because of you. You--

...I'm sorry. I- I don't know what to do. I'm so, so sorry.

[And I couldn't fucking do anything.

Ha.

What a disgustingly familiar feeling.]

[ It isn't until she stops and realizes that she's shouting that she...just sort of breathes to herself. Flying off the handle like this as if she knows the whole story...that typically doesn't do anything for her but get her hurt, and this time is really no exception. She has no choice but to wait until she gets the next memory, but to be stuck in a situation like this...

Ashley's still crying. Asuka...doesn't know what to do, either. ]

Ashley.

[ She can't help but shake her head, at the assumption that Asuka pilots to protect people, that she fights for such noble reasons, that she does what she does for anyone other than herself. But she's not in the mood to argue right now. And letting her cry out like this...

Fuck it. Fuck this whole thing.

She unclenches her fist and pulls her hand out of Ashley's grasp, if only to reach over to the crying girl's face and wipe away a tear or two.

The hedgehog dilemma wasn't entirely accurate. This is more like an iron maiden. ]

Don't apologize. ...It's a sign of weakness.

[Of everything, she is not expecting this. She blinks in surprise, almost forms another apology-- but stops before it even reaches her tongue. Her hands stay suspended there, in shock and surprise.

And... Asuka would know about this, wouldn't she? So Ashley just nods dumbly.

(But she has so much to apologize for, so much to atone for-)

Her jaw clenches. Stop crying. Do something.]

I'll... I'll do anything I can to help you.

I've gotten by on my own for almost as long as I can remember. ...I'll figure something out for this, too.

You, on the other hand...

[ She's glad to see that she calmed down a bit. She's...pretty bad at the whole physical contact thing, but letting her keep crying like that wasn't doing either of them any favors. ]

You'll rise above it, I'm certain.

[She's literally been shocked out of crying, congrats.]

I don't want to rise above it! And- I don't want to leave you alone with this! No one should have to be alone with this!

Week 3.

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cw: suicide implications

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