Looks like this will be a weekly thing

[forcegalactic]

[This whole week has been awful. This whole experience has been awful. Mordecai wants to go straight to his room and deal with his frustrations, but that's not what a mayor does. A mayor takes charge, a mayor fixes what's wrong, a mayor makes things better. Even if he can't do everything on his own, he's has to do something.

Two hours after the end of the trial, the living will find another note slipped underneath their doors.]

There's cookies in the kitchen. The dining room is ready for anyone who needs a quiet place to talk it out. I'll be in the bar if you need a drink, alcoholic or something more appropriate for the underage crowd.

-Mordecai Benmont Jiminy

[There's a pile of warm chocolate chip cookies in the kitchen. Two more candles are lit at the memorial - one for the victim, one for the culprit - and Mordecai has left a pile of blankets from the storage room on one of the dining room tables.]

Comments

[charcoalfeather]

[Wordlessly, she slides into the seat to his right, subconsciously leaning a bit to look at that paper he's writing on.]

M-me? Well....

[All she could offer was an aimless shrug.]

I really, really don't like it here.

[decrees]

[It looks like a list! It's sort of confusingly vague right now.]

...I know. None of us do. This isn't the sort of place any of us should be trapped.

[Even Rick. Even Dio. Even Reaver.]

But we will find a way out, Rakka. We may be closer than we think.

[charcoalfeather]

[A list... how, like Logan.]

...I know. No one should have to be here, doing this...

[Not Rick, not Dio, Not Reaver. If they weren't here, then Kaneki wouldn't be dead... Ashley and Asuka wouldn't be dead... Sol's sister wouldn't be dead.

More interesting things ahead, anyways. She perks up a bit at that last statement.]

Really? You think so?

[decrees]

[He's nothing if not totally predictable!]

I do, yes. That shadow creature is obviously how the Conductor stages the executions. We've seen signs of it since the beginning.

[He can't think about that for too long though, because he'll never forget the image of the guillotine and the blade coming down and--]

If we can find a way to remove that from the picture, then perhaps the Conductor will not be able to continue this exercise.

[charcoalfeather]

The... shadow? You mean, that tentacle that... [Totally murdered Chie in that horrifying way. Geeze...] And, it was the one that doing those things to everyone else?

[...Yeah, no. She can't think about it too much. It's too gruesome.]

.... I noticed, that it was having a problem with Chie's camera.

[And then it cut her arm off, so Rakka stopped watching.]

[decrees]

Yes, exactly. Light hurts it. Fire probably does as well, if it is anything like the shadows I have fought in the past. I would like to eliminate it, but for the time being all we can do is gather information. I sincerely hope we will not have to face that again next week.

[But the chances are pretty low that we'll go a week without anyone dying.]

[charcoalfeather]

I hope so... [She sounds so tired, saying that. It's been the same way, every week.]

...If we can actually defeat that monster, do you think we'll be able to go home again?

[decrees]

I'm not sure. It's impossible to tell how it's connected to the Conductor at this point. It might be the Conductor, but there's no way to tell right now. Regardless, I believe eliminating that will render this exercise pointless. The Conductor uses it to... to execute people. Without that, I'm not sure how he'd manage it.

[Undyne's execution used spears loaded into the wall, but presumably the shadow monster was in charge of that.]