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Owner	Pose
Kale Hearthward	NOW ENTERING: The Line The sentiment today is, essentially, "We should go give the conductor a piece of our minds" with the subtext today being, essentially, "It is fine if that is a sword or bullet shaped piece". This was discussed last week, but there'd been some other things going on, and at least one person needed to take a breather (and have a talk) before continuing. In terms of getting on the train this time, in addition to any methods that may have been established or tested previously, Kale's in full possession of his gear and crew now. Rides aboard the East Wind, a high capacity VTOL craft, are provided to anyone else embarking on this effort. It can't outrace the train, but it's quick and agile enough to intercept and land on it. (The East Wind also has comfortable seating and a really good self-service coffee bar, it should be mentioned.) Kale himself is in higher spirits than he was previously. He's still wearing a glove on one hand, underneath which something glowing can be periodically glimpsed but never fully observed. For those who aren't interested in talking to the manager about the situation, there's the rest of the train to explore. It's just a matter of picking a car and getting on it. There's bridges connecting each of the cars that aspiring explorers can land on and then make their way inside via the unlocked doors, and there's all manner of things inside, probably. Treasure? Adventure? Friendship? Unusual food? This train seems to have all manner of things in it, so who knows what one can find.
Futaba Nuki	Futaba's riding with Kale today! After that little stunt jumping off of the train last time and providing a jelly-like landing for whoever else needed it at the cost of smearing herself goddamn everywhere, she's a little more reserved today about how she's going to show up. It'll be easier to come in from a drop like this, at least, and... She needed an excuse to talk to Kale, anyway. "Hey, Mister Hearthward? Are you going to be okay?" She asks while checking her own gear: Gloves, scarf, ninja outfit, tied boots, big pouch of stuff. "After what happened last time, I don't think anyone's gonna blame you if you'd rather... Stay up here for a while?" There's a brief pause as she realizes she could have worded that better, and Futaba sighs a moment later before getting up to check on him a little more upfront. "Look. I know I haven't been the best person to you, or Miss Rook, or ishirou, or..." She trails off, already knowing that she'd be here all day if she mentioned the Paladins she hasn't been as friendly with as she could have been before everything started blowing up. "But... We're still gonna be here for ya, okay?" It's not her best work, but she's still going to try awkwardly fumbling through it anyway. Unless Kale or whoever else is riding halts her, Futaba's going to get something to drink from the coffee bar before disembarking and checking out where she is and how far ahead it looks like the front might be.
Ishirou	There is no place in the Multiverse Ishirou would rather be today, than here.  But... he is here.  He is here and is only smiling softly.  He isn't here for himself, but rather for other people who were tied to this insane train through some sort of 'giving a number to character flaws' which is insane if you think about it.   There were more than a few things weighing on him.  Things he didn't quite internalize.  He wanted to return things to what they were before... but they couldn't do that.  He didn't realize the people who had to see his dead and rotting body.  What they had gone through.  He didn't realize the pain people went through to help him with Indus, but could only think about how it hurt him. They even /told/ him it'd turn out like that, and he promised he could handle it.  He couldn't.  He didn't.  Instead he... found someone who he could blame through it all.  He turned to look out a window, pretending to scan for the Train.  He really just didn't want people to see the self-loathing aimed at himself.   Then he... demanded things from others.  He mistreated more... he... Looked at his hand.  His body.  He deserved this, he thinks.  Only right... no, he says, putting it out of his mind.  She can hear you if she wants.  He... has to put these thoughts away today, he's here for Kale and (ostensively) Petra.  He can hate himself on his own time.  He can tell himself he deserves what he is now when he's alone.   Ishirou shares his flight capability with others so they can land on the train with added safety, and walks with the others towards the front.  He will take the rear, without argument this time.  Using his sensors to scan things ahead, trying to see if there were ways they could push faster to the front.   Likely not.
Arcadia	Was the train that dangerous? Not really. Unless you did something to cause it to abduct you for it's existential correctional efforts. Some would even argue it's a good thing, keeping such individuals away from the rest of the Multiverse. It was still a curiousity though. Why and how did it do what it did? That was enough for the Elders to want Arcadia to continue assisting in investigating the matter.
Petra Soroka	NOW ENTERING: THE PIT FULL OF FOAM POOL NOODLES BUT SOME OF THEM ARE SNAKES (WHO STILL LOOK LIKE FOAM POOL NOODLES) CAR     Petra is, to her immense shame, on the train again. One single slip-up, opening the door to her apartment after work, too tired from a breach at work to remember to check before walking through. The next thing she knows, she's in a vibrantly-colored train car, the exit behind her gone, stumbling with the vertigo of feeling her speed change so drastically so quickly.     At least she's not unconscious, robbed, or with Kale Hearthward.     Perhaps more importantly, the second expedition to the train is already planned-- all Petra has to do is wait for the others to arrive, and hope that she meets up with them. Preferably, with as little fanfare as possible, to avoid looking like an idiot for getting trapped on the train again.     Petra wades across the pool noodle ocean, brass cartridges flying through the air each time one of them moves. When she reaches the other side, the door informs her that she needs a key-- found somewhere on the bottom of the foam pit. After a round of aggravated kicks to the unyielding door, Petra is forced to relent, taking the shortcut of using a cloud of morphmetal flechettes to shred the pool noodles into scrap.     Once out of the car, Petra looks out to the flat expanse of the Line, weighing her chances of getting to a Warpgate alive and in time to join up with the expedition in a few hours. Then she looks at the doors to the next car in front of her, weighing her chances of getting through a series of cars without being visibly marked with some embarrassing evidence of being on the train before everyone else.     In the end, she takes the third option, gravitational inversion pulses letting her clamber on top of the train car. For a while, she walks across the tops of cars, towards the front, hoping to spot the others as they appear so she can meet up with them.
Father Berislav	THE CAR THAT'S A GEOMETRICALLY IMPOSSIBLE FANTASY TAVERN WHERE EVERY ADVENTURER IS SITTING AT THE END OF THE BAR (SO THEY CAN ALL BE BROODING AND STANDOFFISH)      Berislav has indeed decided to take things up with the 'manager' and hasn't left since then. He has, instead, taken the time to alternate between exploring the cars (really, less so 'exploring' than 'progressing from one to the next') and leafing through his Bible in search of means with which to convince whatever authority figure awaits.      His 'gear' as it were is contained nebulously 'near' him at any given moment, and so he doesn't seem especially concerned to be doing this seemingly unarmed. With his nose buried in the book, he nearly misses the shadow cast across the floor, from the skylight.      'Hm?' The Bible is closed with a little -thump,- and he looks up, to see Petra, partially occluded due to perspective. He smiles, and tucks the book under his right arm. His left hand presses through a burning orange tear in space, reappearing with a fist-sized plastic explosive in hand. The Bible is put away through that same tear, which closes with a wave of his hand. An old flip phone is then procured from the pocket of his cassock, opened up with a flick of the wrist. Berislav sends a text, one handed. Hello, Petra. Terribly drafty out there, isn't it? Look out below! : )      Berislav closes the phone. His cassock rustles when he darts forward, the soles of unassuming black dress shoes creaking softly as they grip the edge of the non-Euclidean tavern's bar. With a push, he leaps from the bartop, his thumb racing across a keypad on the explosive to arm and set the timer. It's slapped against the rim of the skylight, such that the explosion is angled away from Petra.      Landing with an impact that sets a few flagons of ale bouncing briefly, Berislav smooths his cassock with both hands, as the shaped charge detonates two seconds later, its roar briefly washing out the clink of pewter mugs and the playing of minstrels.      Metal groans and screeches, wood splinters, as a hole is blown in the roof, tearing the skylight and a portion of metal surrounding it clean off. With roaring air from outside now forming a portion of the car's ambience, Berislav waves up at Petra.
Hibiki Tachibana	The last trip to the Infinity Train didn't exactly end great for everyone involved. But at least one sentiment still holds true: '...Well, we won't know either way until it's looked into more.'     That, and because personally, she'd like if they could deal with whoever or whatever is responsible without needing to resort to said sword or bullet-shaped piece of mind. She really would.     Because this time around is not a dramatic rescue, Hibiki is...actually taking Kale's offer of riding along? Huh. It serves the dual purpose of letting her get back on board without needing to do a hundred-meter drop straight through a roof, and lets her get a moment in with Kale, too. Before all the groups coming converge inside.     "...You're looking a little better than last time, Kale," is the first thing she comments, after Futaba speaks up. She's getting some extremely sugar-loaded coffee to basically down in one go. "Something happened? Or...you figured something out?" Given what he said before, she feels like thinking it involved Persephone might be a reasonable assumption to make.     Although she doesn't say that part out loud. "Whatever the case, I..." Hibiki grimaces a bit, trying to feel out what she even wants to express. "...know everything has been really rough lately. Maybe saying we're 'friends' is a stretch, but we've been working towards--caring about the same things a lot." Kayoko and Meika's world. Rita's. Petra and Lilian, in a way.     "So...I'm glad to see that, I guess, is what I'm trying to say. Let's keep at it, yeah?"     The now-drained coffee cup is set aside where it should be, and as they close in, she makes the necessary transformation to be able to exist on top of the high-speed Infinity Train without being at risk of getting blown away and breaking every bone in her body - and disembarks from the East Wind with her eye towards the front car.     Getting there from outside will probably be way easier than...well, she remembers the inside of all those carriages.
Kupot	FOR TWO YEARS A single moment. Someone had fired from the crowd first. GARLAND Soldiers fire weapons back, mowing down protestors. Protestors fire rocks and bricks back. GARLAND Soldiers who refuse to fight are seemingly cut down by protestor fire. It's mayhem. Blood everywhere. A Mithrilsoldier moogle reaches a hand out for another from the back of a truck. Freedom from this madness. A hand grabbed. A smile exchanged, then a great sweeping sword cutting the younger in half. Then repeat. A WEEK AGO. A freezer opens, and a tall armored figure looks in. Their armor matches the armor of fantasy stories, plate mail, though sleeker, not quite masculine, but not shapely to be feminine, with two large metallic wings behind. The figure leans over the freezer to where a moogle has been placed. "Ah, good, you found him. Looks like they didn't try hard enough to kill him. Get him back into fighting shape." A DAY AGO. Kupot sits in a dingy underground apartment, going over the last two years of reports, finding a ping for a distress signal. Slightly old, but not enough to not be concerning. He gets up with a grunt, picking up his katana, and strapping it to his back. He straps the wakashazi to his waist, and loads his 'Breaking And Entering' tools into the space where his forearm bones should be. NOW A grappling hook slams into the side of the Infinity Train. It starts reeling in rapidly, the microfilament cable pulling in the moogle. Inertia drags him to the side of the train, ready to SLAM the small figure up against the train and turn him into paste. Motion dampeners in the balls of his feet land first, cushioning and preventing him from shattering his legs. Then a matter of ninja climbing to the top of the train and peering over it at... the ride everyone used to get here. The moogle looks up at Hibiki and then Kale. "Do you still need aid, kupo?" He is not so sure about this, moderately confused since there is a ride right there. At least this will certainly be a completely normal experience.
Kale Hearthward	> Futaba Kale gives her an odd look. "I don't think you've been... all that bad? At least not that I've seen or heard?" "Anyway, I'm fine, and I don't really like running away from my problems." He pauses. "At the same time I don't really like being stuck in one place either, so I wouldn't be back here without the East Wind or some allies." He pauses again. Then, just as awkwardly, he gives her a thumbs up. "Thanks, though!" > Ishirou, Arcadia The approach via the Line is about the same as it was last week. Different terrain hazards, different themed motorbike pirate crews, but the Line is still the Line. Landing on top isn't too difficult. Berislav,Petra It's a bit harder to blast a hole *out of* a car than it is to blast one *into* it, as it turns out. The dimensional whatever that's making the cars bigger on the inside, even for cars that are close to the same size inside as out, seems to toughen them up a bit from internal damage. Petra, if she's standing on the roof of the car Bersilav's trying to blast open, can hear something from below her but a hole fails to explosively appear. Berislav will just have to climb up the normal boring way, on the outside. The East Wind's pilot seems to notice them - the craft flashes a morse code message that equates to 'landing 2 ahead' at them as it comes in. > Hibiki "... Bit of both. I'm... figuring things out. And some things happened." "... And yeah. Let's keep at it. And thank you," he adds, as he gets up to start his own final preparations. >All The East Wind lands, and sets up a pressurized air shield bubble to help with the wind speeds from being on top of the train. Kale gives nods to most of the people here - hesitating a moment when he sees Petra, before deciding that if he doesn't have anything nice to say he shouldn't say anything at all. "Okay. Weapons ready. We don't know what we're going to find-" Kupot makes his appearance via grappling hook. Kale almost draws on him, before lowering his hand. "Oh. Well, yeah, could use everyone we can get." "Okay. Are we all ready for-" He gets cut off. Just in front of the group, the top of the engine car opens up, and there's something emerging from it, at an angle. It's... another train car, emerging from the top of the engine? It is another train car emerging from the top of the engine, and pushing out onto the roof of the engine and then pushing onto the top of the car behind the engine - the car that everyone's standing on top of. The newly emerged train car starts traveling backwards across the top of the train, picking up speed as it heads right towards the group...!
Petra Soroka	NOW ENTERING (THROUGH THE ROOF): THE CAR THAT'S A GEOMETRICALLY IMPOSSIBLE FANTASY TAVERN WHERE EVERY ADVENTURER IS SITTING AT THE END OF THE BAR     Looking up through the skylight, Petra is walking, boots thumping heavily against the glass, with surprisingly little stress. She's upright, without her usual slouch, bomber jacket worn over her slim Lobotomy Corporation suit, and the wind whipping through her hair doesn't really seem to bother her.     When her phone buzzes in her pocket, she quickly pulls it out and checks the caller ID before flipping it open. Seeing that it's Berislav-- maybe him specifically, maybe just because it isn't one of the vanishingly few girls that seem to have Petra's loyalty-- she doesn't bother checking the message, sliding it back in her pocket to keep looking around the horizon for the arrival of the other Elites.     Then she hears a clink on the glass under her feet, and reflexively whirls around, revolver in hand, to shoot the offending object. The bullet splinters the roof of the train car, piercing through the dimensional boundary, just in time for the bomb to go off and blow Petra up with less control than Berislav intended. The explosion occludes Berislav from her sight before she notices him, and Petra tumbles headfirst down into the car, colliding forehead-first with a hanging lamp, trying to use her propulsors to right herself, and ending up suspended by her jacket on a pair of crossed swords on the wall.     After a bit of helpless writhing with a brandished gun, Petra slumps, and finally sees Berislav. "... Oh. Well, what the fuck was that for?"     Petra grabs onto a wooden beam of the ceiling, pulling herself up and off the swords with one hand, then swings to the ground. "Hey, Berislav. I, uh--" Petra shakes her head to dislodge a cloud of explosion-related dust, and suddenly gets extremely self-conscious about how pathetic that entrance was. "Um. I, just got here. On the train. For the mission. Uh. Since, the others are here, too, and I was meeting with them. They're just up ahead, I think."
Kupot	Kupot stares down the end of the barrel, but fortunately his eye optics make it hard to see if he flinched or not. His ears twitch briefly, and his pom lights up with a series of traced cybernetics. He sees people arriving. With weapons. Hmm. He nods towards Kale. "Kupo." He does not immediately draw his blade, but he does turn his head. A woman and a pastor. They both get a nod. Kupot has been in a freezer for a while and only has a vague idea of what is going on with her. Ah. "Jump!" No, Kupot HAS seen weirder, and more existential horror. Regardless, this is lethal. Kupot leaps immediately towards the door, thrusting the pommel of his blade out to burst it open and provide an entrance. And start running into the car to be the head of dealing with whatever is within and whether or not it requires a blade to cut through.
Father Berislav	Berislav steps down from the impossible bar and looks at the lack of a hole with a sigh. Several adventurers look over from brooding, breaking kayfabe.      "I suppose it makes sense. This is a glorified prison, after all." He steps out onto the door, removing his reading glasses and brushing a bit of splintered wood from his shoulder. He smiles, when he notices her trying from above, and steps clear. Thankfully, all of the brooding adventurers are clear enough from the skylight (because it would mean the potential for eyes on them, you see).      "Hi, Petra," he says, kindly indulging her attempt to (socially) get back on her feet. "I sent you a text to warn you, but you must not have seen it. It was probably my service provider," he fibs benignly. No matter how pathetic Petra is, so long as it's harmless, Berislav will gladly give her room to spread her gangly wings.      He nods, when she mentions the others. "I assumed that was the case," he says with a nod. "I've been moving through the cars myself, since last time. Even under the circumstances of this repugnant place, it's good to see you again." The priest smiles warmly at her. "We didn't get much of a chance, last time," he says, artfully alluding to the whirlwind of accusations, insults and emotions from 'last time,' "But it would be wonderful to catch up as we go along--if you'd like, of course." He gestures to the door, with a swept palm.      "What's this company you're working for?"
Ishirou	Ishirou hits the roof with the others.  Things are looking like they are going to go well...   Until the train is... releasing a car to drive on top of the train.  Ishirou tilts his head to one side as if to say 'Really?'  Kupot seems to be focused on making a way inside, so Ishirou... Holds a hand up, and fires a blast of electromagnetic force to try and force the car that is coming towards them to stay right where it is.  He can at least buy Kupot the time to make a hole for them to get in, and then they can... Not get run over.   "...If we get ran over, fall off, and dragged across the Line..." he says, suddenly.  "I'm sorry for treating you like a piece of shit Kale," he says, finally.
Arcadia	The activity up ahead draws attention very quickly. Especially when another train car is pushed out of the train, unto the train. Where they also are. "I think this crazy train is onto us." Arcadia at least can just bolt out of the way, since her speed and mobility would allow her to keep up with the high speed train. "Get out of the way before you become a recreation of the trolley problem!" Instead of shooting at the new car she helps in blasting open the entrance made so everyone can get inside.
Futaba Nuki	Kale's reply actually has Futaba lightening up a bit, and she hangs by the exit a little longer to look back at him. "Not that bad, but I could've been better, too. I'll make it up to you and everyone else. Just you watch!" She calls out before heading out with the rest of the group,  giving Hibiki a noncommital hand waggle at her question, as though she's trying to help Kale with the answer. It probably doesn't help at all, but at least it slows her down enough to actually catch that transformation up close and go starry-eyed for a few moments. "... Siiick." Upon getting off the train, Futaba spots some more familiar-ish faces! She still recognizes Berislav as the one with the cool mech from last time, and Petra's practically impossible for her not to recognize by now. Kupot's a new face, though, and the tanuki gives him a curious stare for several moments before raising her hand in an awkward wave to those that didn't come aboard via Kale's ride. "Hey, guys! Arrived just in time, huh?" She announces loudly, trying to brush off whatever awkwardness might still be lingering before turning her attention to the oncoming train car. "Whoa... In here!" Futaba shouts while sprinting for the side of the roof and transforms into an oversized scooping arm of a front-loader. With her tail extending and wrapping itself around part of the bridge, she hangs off the side to provide a convenient spot to take cover in by staying firmly out of the train's expected path.  If it looks like anyone's in danger of actually getting hit, she'll even sprout out a silver ribbon-like tendril or ten to yoink them right into her scooping arm!
Hibiki Tachibana	Hibiki gives Kale a final nod as they all depart - Futaba too, with that hand-waggle - and is immediately thankful for the air shield. Gives her a moment to get used to everything, get a look at everyone who's coming along today. She figured Berislav would have stayed behind, with how he was talking last time.     ...Petra's with him, too. Wait, if she didn't ride in, how did she...?     Thankfully (for Petra), that line of thought is broken by Kupot's entrance via a whole ass grappling hook. She's half-impressed that that actually worked, and half--...wow, that's a /lot/ of fluff. And he's even shorter than her. It contrasts with the extremely combat-ready outfit and the sword, but still.     "...Ah, yeah. Any help is welcome he--"     Oh. Wait a second. That's a train car. On top of...the train. And it's coming back...at...them. Really, really fast. She blinks once, before reality kicks in and her eyes go wide.     "Who the heck even MADE this thing to think of that!? Get out of the way!"     It looks like Kupot and friends have blowing a way in already on lock. So Hibiki is going to take the path of least resistance herself here; that is to say, she's going to run /towards/ the incoming train car, as a set of spiked pistons jut forward out of her Symphogear's leg armoring. She's not seriously going to try to hit it with something, is she?     Not this time. The magical girl leaps straight up to do exactly as Kupot said and /jump/ over the incoming car, the leg jacks slamming back into place at the top of her ascent - and expelling a shockwave of force behind her that abruptly sends her flying forward against the intense winds that come with the speed they're all moving at. Her feet make contact with the carriage driving backwards, and she sprints full-speed across its length as it goes the other direction beneath her, before springing off again as she reaches the back of it.     That thing came out of...the top of the engine car. Could that be an easy way in. "Don't tell me that's how they add more cars onto the back of this thing!? Or--is the conductor trying to force us off!?"
Petra Soroka	"I mean, I saw you texted me, I just didn't think you were going to plant a bomb at my feet." Petra, as usual, refuses the grace that people extend her way. She looks around the car to find the exit, but at the end of each of the more-than-possible extensions of the bar, shrouded in shadows that also hide the brooding adventurers' faces beneath their hooded robes, are identical doors. Petra groans, approaching the center of the bar to lean on it. "This is so stupid, what is this nerd shit?"     "...Yeah, I guess, neither of the times we've talked have really, let us catch up." Petra levels her eyes at Berislav, with the steady hostility that's one step below a glare. "You asked about my new job before you asked about what happened with me and Lilian, though. Everyone's done that. Literally, everyone is more curious about me getting a job than they are about my fucking huge shift in-- in how I treat her, from before. It's like everyone's avoiding it. It's not even that I particularly *want* to talk about that with all of these fucking braindead losers, but it really-- I don't know. Makes me feel weird that everyone seems to treat it like, like they expected it."     The bartender, rubbing the same glass with a cloth for the entire time that the pair has been in the car, calls out to Petra. "What'll you have, miss?"     Petra looks over her shoulder with a dismissive glare. "Back off, we're talking about something important." Immediately, every brooding adventurer raises their head and looks at them, interest piqued by a secretive conversation.
Kale Hearthward	Ishirou freezes the car in place for a moment, and then Kupot busts through the door. Everyone else scatters above or to the sides. "If you're going through - hurry to the exit! Otherwise the car's gonna keep going with you in it!" calls Kale, to those going through. NOW ENTERING: The Logic Problem World Car "Okay, so I was thinking, we'll start off with you being the guard who always lies and then we'll switch off for each new passenger," says guard one. "Does that sound good to you?" "Yes," says guard two. "Good. Wait, does that mean you're fine with it or are we starting already-" says guard one, cutting off as the group runs through. "Hey! You're supposed to go through one of our-" "Okay, you say you're not going to eat me 'for real', but that raises more questions than-" says a chicken on the side of a river to a fox (also there's a bale of hay) as the group blows through and into or over the river. "Ahoy, do you think you can help me and my four mates divide up these hundred gold coins- okay nevermind," calls a pirate from a ship as the group blazes past towards and through the exit door on the other side of the river. NOW ENTERING: The Line Whether going through or around the incoming car, everyone reassembles. "... Ahem. Like I was saying. Let's go speak to the management." NOW ENTERING: The Engine Car The engine car interior looks relatively normal. It's one large room, proportionate to the outside, with terminals and control panels spaced throughout. The focal point of the room is at the very front, with one large but monitor-less control panel that appears to have some direct interface. (There wouldn't be enough room in here to hold the entire train car that just got ejected at you, but you should be used to that by now.) The room has a single occupant, who had been moving from control panel to control panel when the group makes their way in. She's an older woman, in a gray uniform. https://ibb.co/37VKSSj Immediately, she reaches for an iron pipe that's resting on a nearby desk, but then pauses, her eyes glancing at Kale's and Petra's glowing gloved hands, and the similarly unglowing hands of the others. "Oh, just more passengers and a couple companions," she says to herself, and then goes back to what she was doing. "Look, if you're trying to get off of this train, you need to get your number down to zero, alright? Now, I need you to turn back around and head back, find some new... heartfelt adventure to go on, or something." "Yes, you're supposed to be here, no I will not help you get off the train, no your number isn't malfunctioning, no this isn't a puzzle I actually am very busy and you need to leave, and no there isn't a... complaints department for whatever else you're here to say." She goes to another control panel, and glares at the readout. "... I'm very busy here, in case you haven't noticed."
Kale Hearthward	> "...If we get ran over, fall off, and dragged across the Line..." he says, suddenly. "I'm sorry for treating you like a piece of shit Kale," Kale pauses. "... Thank you," he finally says. "I appreciate you."
Ishirou	Ishirou dives the moment the way inside is clear. Oh god, that was scary! They didn't die though... Wait. Oh. He... didn't really want to die. He... the fuck was wrong with him?! Why did he feel this way, and then when push comes to shove he ... ugh...!!! "... Thank you," he finally says. "I appreciate you." Ishirou can't help himself, he nearly throws himself at Kale's waist and hugs the bird. He's sobbing a little... "I'm... I'm sorry... I just..." he pulls back after a minute. "...You didn't deserve it. And..." he says, wiping his eyes, or trying to. "I'm not good at being like you... or Futaba, or Hibiki, or Lilian." Of course, this is broken up by the Conductor. He's wiping his eyes and frowns. "Let my friend of this car..." he says and looks at the controls. He raises a hand, electromagnetic energy coursing off of it. Too high from his emotions going from one state to the other, he does something very ill-advised. What he can hack, he attempts to gain control over. What he can't hack, electromagnetic energy wraps around and locks up. "If you're too busy, then I can take things over while you hear my friends out. They can be very... persuasive."
Father Berislav	"What is there to say, about you and Lilian?" he asks, hands folded before him. Suddenly aware of all the eyes on the two of them, he sighs. "Let's just..." The priest steps forward and opens the door, stepping into the next car. The two of them will still be a ways behind the rest of the party, owing to how everyone else traversed--but Berislav is fine with that. THE BLACK PAINTINGS CAR      This car is quiet, save for the inherent ambience of a train car. It is an art gallery, comprised of fourteen haunting, intense paintings evidently lifted from someone's home, for the fact that many of them appear to have been chiseled from plaster walls to be affixed to the walls of the car.      Berislav pauses, before a painting of a huddled mass sat before a dark figure robed in black, wearing the hollowed head of a goat as a hood. "...as I was saying," he says, looking around to ensure there are no other 'patrons' in the gallery. "I don't know that I 'expected' it, this shift with you and Lilian. If anything, I try not to have expectations about anyone. Faith and love are better things to hold for other people, I think."      "I just assumed, a moment ago, that it would be easier for you to talk about your job than your relationship with someone who's been the source of so many different, difficult emotions in the past."      "Do you *want* to talk about Lilian? Or, maybe, some of your friends as of late?"
Futaba Nuki	Letting out a relieved sigh at the train not splattering anyone (and an indignant little huff at Petra refusing to acknowledge her), Futaba slides along the side of the train in jellyfish-form until she can rejoin the group in the next car and promptly try to figure out the gimmicks in the Logic Problem World Car with what little time she has! Naturally, she's kind of terrible at it. The two guards get a long look, and then Futaba goes with her gut and trusts the one on the right. If it inevitably leads her astray, she shrinks herself to slip by anyway (and maybe inadvertently create even more confusion for the guards). The chicken gets put on the hay bale, and Futaba just carries the fox. She might not remember to actually put them back down by the time she's across, or even by the time she gets to the Engine Car. She's actually pretty good at division, though, so the pirates' math problem should be a cinch! If there's one coin left over, she just claims it as a tip. Better to let them unify in their anger at her than let them tear each other apart! Besides, it's a pirate coin. She always wanted a pirate coin. In the Engine Car proper (with or without the fox in tow), Futaba takes her time to gawk around at everything, and she doesn't even look like she's expecting a fight with the way she just saunters in with a clueless look on her face upon spotting the (proable) Conductor. "Hey there! Neat train you've got here, Miss Conductor. I'm Futaba. Nice to meetcha!" Now that the greetings are done with, she can move right onto trying to figure some things out, and without trying to threaten her. "What if my friends really gotta go? Like... World-ending need to get off this train?" She glances over at Ishirou, recalling what he said moments ago to Kale and (indirectly) to her, then at his hand for a moment before turning to the Conductor again. "Isn't there some other way to get that number down for them?" She notices the Conductor's glare, she notices Ishirou's attempts at hacking the thing, and then she looks back at the control panel in question. "You... Um. Need a hand with that?" Futaba raises her hands, and her fingers transform into their own miniature hands with even more creepy fingers. "I've got plenty!" Nothing she's done and nothing she wears indicates she's ever worked on a train before.
Hibiki Tachibana	Man, it's a good thing Hibiki didn't go through that car, too. She'd have felt slightly bad about leaving the pirates, even knowing about this train's gimmicks.     Into the engine car.     Which...isn't exactly what she was imagining it would be. What /was/ she imagining? Something more extravagant for how over-the-top all of the carriages are? Someone as bombastic as you'd imagine the conductor of this crazy place would have to be? Maybe. But definitely not...     ...a mostly normal-looking control room and a plainly-dressed woman who doesn't seem especially enthused about much at all. Whether it's her job or the fact they all just kind of barged their way in here. Did she only not go for the pipe because of...?     It honestly leaves her kind of unsure of how to engage with this right away. But Hibiki does find it after a moment, stepping forward. "--Our friends /aren't/ supposed to be here," she starts. "And if someone thinks they should be, we wanted to talk to them. Is that you, or are you just...working for them or something?"     Seriously, there's not even one of those big conductors hat or anything. Hibiki continues gesturing with her hands as she speaks. "I know they have problems they have to work through, and that's apparently what this train is supposed to be for, but they've got lives and people outside of this place. And what if they're not even the kind of person where being locked in here will even help...?"     Huh. Wait a second. Look, if you're trying to get off of this train, you need to get your number down to zero, alright?     "...You...didn't know they had already left?"
Kupot	The moogle lands on the edge of the car, rushing forward. If it weren't for the fact that they were running for their life, Kupot might actually stop. Sadly, the car might never stop and they would be at the end of the train. Kupot assumes this is bad. This likely seems bad. Kupot leaps over the gate, skipping forward to the river to leap on the raft, then over the side of the river. He grabs at the chicken, "Excuse me, miss, Kupo." One mighty leap to the top of a tree, then another! And Kupot slowly glides out to the pirate ship, chicken flapping over his head. One cannon blast later, Kupot lands outside the car as it skates past. Then into the engine car. The moogle stands behind the pack, listening quietly. "Another Gungeon... except one must learn acceptance." Kupot's optic covers focus on his hands, quickly scanning it. This... would not go well for him. He looks at Kale, "Violence is not the path, kupo. This is... the opposite of the Gungeon." There is a slight catch in his voice at such an idea. "Maybe you should just... wal-" Everyone starts trying to hack the train, "Wait!!"
Kale Hearthward	Ishirou freezes up the controls. The old woman doesn't notice at first, and just assumes something's wrong with them. Futaba's hands having hands actually gets her to pause, though. "Wait..." "... Are you *elites*?" She takes a second look at the group, in more detail now than just glancing at their hands. (Aside from Futaba's, which keep catching her attention.) Random assortment of species, outfits, powersets, and temperaments all gathered into one somehow cohesive group... yelp, those are elites. "You're not supposed to be elites. And be on here. Tell me you at least haven't-" She focuses on Kale. "You're just a passenger, right? Not an elite?" Wordlessly, Kale waves a finger around, and a breeze flows through the room. This confirmation of an elite with a number makes the woman frown harder. "You're right," she says to Hibiki, facepalming. "You're *not* supposed to be here. The train's supposed to filter out elites and not pick them up as passengers. For... a lot of reasons. I'm pretty sure I don't need to list all of those reasons out." "Look." She turns to Kupot, who seems to be one of the voices of reason for the group. "If everyone can just calm down a minute, I can try to explain what's going on. My name is Amelia. The train is... having some problems, and I'm trying to fix it. If you all start blowing it all up, or whatever, it's just gonna make everything worse."
Petra Soroka	"...Oh, this one is creepy. This sucks." Petra shrinks down in the Black Paintings Car, following after Berislav. She wraps her arms around herself as if suddenly cold, and when her hand touches the armband labeled 'M' on her bicep, she tugs on it gently with two fingers, then straightens up again, relaxing a bit.     "That's such a cop out answer. Saying you didn't expect anything. And I don't just mean you, obviously, but everyone has their own little justifications that they always come up with after I push them. And for some reason, they always lead to the exact same behavior. It just makes me wonder." 'They're like that with you now, aren't they?'     Petra walks up to the painting that Berislav is by, withdrawing a red glove from her pocket to pull over her hand, the same shade as her red tie. With her hand upraised, before the glove covers it, the glowing green {1998} can be briefly seen. "It's more like... what's the point in catching up about my job, when there's a huge gap before that where no one wants to talk about the most important thing? Sure. I got a job. With Lobotomy Corporation. Because I helped Angela out. Because she's my friend. Because of Lilian. It just-- how much 'catching up' is even possible, when you avoid the middle part for being 'difficult'? It's condescending."     Petra presses her gloved hand to the painting, pushing through the surface. With a finger, she delicately pulls the goat head off of the figure, putting it off to the side, and then reaches into the corner of the frame to drag out a sun, brightening the whole scene. The mass of people each grab onto her finger to pull themselves up, and by the time she pulls back, they're all smiling. Muttered under her breath, quiet enough that Berislav struggles to hear it, "Because that's the kind of fixing this place wants."     The door opens, and Petra proceeds to the Engine Car, a bit after the rest of the group, in time to see Amelia introduce herself.     "Elites *are* usually the people with the fewest problems, so of course you'd want to avoid us. I mean, just look at this bunch of saints." Petra's glove is returned to her pocket, four-digit number still glowing brightly. "But seriously, why the fuck does us being Elites make it a problem? It's a problem for *anyone*. This place is *fucked*."
Ishirou	'I mean, just look at this bunch of saints.' Ishirou's hands stop glowing, and he stops controlling the train. This is mostly because he tries to take what the conductor says at face value. Why would she lie? There wouldn't be a point to it, so something is wrong with the train. Though Petra isn't wrong either. "...Yeah that's deserved," Ishirou says, calming down. Responding to Petra's jab. He takes in a breath. "The beginning, Ma'am," he says to the conductor. "What is the train's purpose, why, and what's going on with it? Break these problems down so we can try and see what's going on. Nevermind..." he looks at the number on Kale's hand. "That. That's a thing we will probably want to talk about once the immediate concern is fixed..." "Or I mean, the Watch probably won't mind blowing the train up."
Kupot	Having TWO BLADES is a bit aggressive, but Kupot keeps his hands away from them. Petra enters, making Kupot's ears stand tall. He glances back, targets immediately locking on Petra and identifying her. It is hard to tell directly, with the eye optics covering them so thoroughly. "Are we, kupo? The soldier only has to worry about what is in front of him, kupo. The leader must demand sacrifice and death." He turns back to Amelia, one ear twitching. "I see no reason to blow the train up, kupo." Pause. "Do people die on this train?"
Futaba Nuki	"I mean... Yeah. Didn't you know that when you-" Futaba looks over at Kale and Petra, pointing at and between them with several of her tiny finger-hand-fingers. "-picked them up? Heck, a bunch of us didn't even get picked up." She pantomimes an aircraft landing on the train by transforming one hand into a small crude replica of the East Wind and another into one of the train cars, just to really make it clear that whatever process usually happens didn't. "Except for them, anyway. Uh. So, Miss Amelia!" Futaba sounds relieved to actually have a name, and then she gestures at Ishirou to cut it out (presumably the hacking thing). "Yeah, no, no, don't worry. We're not gonna blow this train up. That'd be nuts." Futaba laughs, but Petra's making her just a smidge more worried about that. "Last thing we wanna do is make things worse, you know? I mean, even if there is a lot of space for cool fights to happen..." She gets distracted momentarily glancing back at the countless cars behind this one, then smacks her cheeks lightly before turning to Amelia again. "What kind of problems are we talking about here, anyway? Is it something mechanical, or maybe something we can... Hit? A lot?"
Hibiki Tachibana	Well. This isn't quite the misunderstanding of the year, but it probably ranks decently high up there.     It takes a moment for Hibiki to process that Kale and Petra were never meant to be here at all, which elicits a frown beneath her scarf followed by rubbing the back of her neck. When Petra and Berislav enter--she closes her eyes as her sigh is muffled by the fabric, but makes herself remain on topic.     "Okay, um...Miss Amelia. We'll hear you out. I don't think there's anybody else on this whole train who could explain it to us, so go right ahead. Maybe it's not supposed to pick up Elites, sure, but what about everybody else? And what kind of problems is it having...?"     She glances to Ishirou. And then to Kupot. And then back to Amelia.     "...We're not going to blow the train up. Especially because there's who knows how many people on here."
Arcadia	At the mention of blowing things up Arcadia achems softly, collapsing her wings and folding her arms behind her back to (poorly) conceal the glow of her magitech weapons still being charged up. "Nooneisexplodinganythingthere'snotevenanexposedcoreformetoshootimean--" then cuts off her own high speed ramble. It's impressive that she stayed quiet that long, because for once she was actually trying to observe what's going on and not just charge headfirst into everything. Takes a breath. "I mean, what reason is there to blow it up? Why would you suggest such a thing?"
Father Berislav	"I'm vaguely familiar with these," says Berislav, of the creepy paintings. "These were made towards the end of the artist's life, when his patience with the rest of humanity was worn very thin, and fear was a constant companion."      He's called out on a cop-out answer. "Mm. Maybe you're right. But you were in prison for that time. Isn't it voyeuristic to want to ask about that? How is it my place to ask you about that at all, much less where other people can hear it? Hasn't that tendency of other people--to treat your life, and hardships, and joys, and hers, like a story they can open and close any time they want--been a major point of pain for you?"      Berislav doesn't hear what Petra says, regarding the 'fixing' of the Witches' Sabbath. If she had wanted him to hear it, she would have spoken it loudly enough. He pointedly avoids looking at her number.      "I'm afraid I have to agree with Petra," says Berislav to Amelia. I wouldn't blame you, but I'd still try to stop you.      "That isn't good enough," says Berislav, frowning. "In the first place, because your estimation of the good this place does is lacking."      "In the story of Joseph, I think there is something to be learned about this Train. Are you familiar? Joseph was a slave in the land of Egypt--someone inherently more vulnerable to societal abuse than most. Sure enough, one day, his master had him thrown into prison for an offense he didn't commit. The master's wealth and influence greatly outstripped that of a slave, and no court official would take the word of a poor, foreign slave over a respected figure like Joseph's master. But that isn't all. You see, Joseph soon found that he had company in his cell--the Pharaoh's personal baker and cupbearer had both offended him, and were thrown in as well. Joseph languished there for two years, only released on the say-so of the cupbearer, who himself only served three days."     "We are always told that prisons are places of just punishment, but that's not true in practice, is it? They're fantastic for political enemies, for cheap labor, but their use as a means of justice is questionable at best and incredibly arbitrary at worst. Truth be told, I have a hard time believing that this is a place of healing. In the first case because healing requires consent--in the second, because even if it didn't, that your conductor has some grand vision or special insight is irrelevant to any of the people affected by it. These abductions are as arbitrary as Joseph's imprisonment. I'm concerned--because what I've seen, and what I've heard, leads me to believe that however well-intentioned this place is, it is *actually* nothing more than an exercise in power."
Petra Soroka	'Voyeuristic' is, actually, a pretty good reason for Berislav to not have asked. Especially in the context of the Train, where there's no opportunity to sit down and talk earnestly. Petra struggles for a little bit, quiet, still trying to put a name to the indistinct disgust that the topic pulled up in her.     Maybe Berislav is just better than the rest, a little bit. That's the best way for Petra to resolve the dissonance. Still, though, he gets a dismissive response with an undercurrent of venom. "Sure. Fine. Then that's what you get. I got a job, and I'm doing great. Nice catching up with you."     In the engine room, Petra feels considerably more certain about her resolution that everyone else is just worse. "*God*, you're all so easily fucking manipulated. Suddenly you put a face to the train and back off from the idea of doing anything at all. Obviously we weren't going to blow it up-- she said that to make you all reassure her that you *wouldn't*. To stop you from being aggressive at all towards her. Dumbasses."     Petra shoulders her way further into the room, walking past the naturally distanced arc of Elites to confront Amelia directly. "What gives you the fucking right to decide how people need to be fixed? What gives you the right to *trap* them here until they do? Just because all of these spineless bitches-- who weren't even *sent* here!-- are patting you on the back for your good fucking intentions doesn't mean I will."     Petra reflexively grips the sleeve of her jacket shut, then glances around the group to make sure Rita isn't here. When she isn't, and Petra loosens her hand, quicksilver pours out onto the ground, stiffly jagged and unnatural, but not actively threatening yet.
Kale Hearthward	> "What is the train's purpose, why, and what's going on with it?" Amelia rubs her face. "Starting with the hard one. I'll *try*. The conductor tried to explain this to me once but he's not... the best at communication." Oh, so she's not the conductor? "This is a fate alteration engine, is the best way I've found to describe it. It finds... turning points in the world. People whose actions or position would make the world worse due to not being able to solve their own problems, but that have the capability to improve if given a little push." > "Do people die on this train?" "Yes." > "Didn't you know that when you picked them up?" "Passenger pickup and departures, that part's running on an automated process, in another car that's been lost, and that can only be altered by the conductor - who's also lost." "I shouldn't say totally lost. I know what happened to him, just not where he is. Yet." "This place is *fucked*." "Yes." Amelia glances Petra up and down. "It's fucked. It's essentially kidnapping people, holding them here for extended periods, and demanding improvement from them while not taking no for an answer. It is, honestly, barely better for the world - our original world, or the multiverse as a whole - than it would be by its absence. It's a force for good by a hair's edge." "If you all decide it's better if it's... blown up, I wouldn't blame you." She pauses. "I wouldn't blame you, but I'd still try to stop you." "... That said. If you'll help me with this situation, I'll get those numbers off your hands by any means necessary." When Petra starts pouring out quicksilver, Amelia reaches for the pipe, and takes a few steps back.
Arcadia	Fate alteration engine. No it's the first time Arcadia has heard that, but the term strikes enough of a concept description to get the point across. Powered by the intention to correct the potential fate of others. "Dues ex locomotive," she mutters. It sounds like the thing's selection process is what's off. The criteria it's going by. Or something. Whatever is empowering the Train doesn't grasp that you have to encourage change, not try to forcefully enact it. Then she holds up one finger in a questioning manner. "It's a train. How to do you -lose- a car?" Though after a moment of consideration she holds one hand out to one side, the other out to the opposite side. Then moves it out farther. Then when she can't hold her arms out any more, holds the lion-like tip of her tail up to one side as well. "Granted, an unfathomable, infinitly even, long train. With each car being a world or theme until itself...." She's so busy trying to puzzle over the matter than she doesn't pay entire attention to Petra confronting Amelia more directly. "...Okay I take it back, losing one car amongst this expodentially eternally expanding railway line would actually be easy." As would be losing someone amongst said cars. "Besides, if it was blown up it would also blow up all the people that live on and crew the train, like the cats in that cafe." Being part cat herself no surprise she'd bring that back up. "So we should probably try to fix it first... -Then- blow it up if that doesn't work." She nods, as much convincing herself as anyone else. Then tilts her head towards Berislav. "How does the saying go? The road to Hell is paved with Good Intentions... Or in this case, the railway is... uh... however you establish a railway. Is this train even actually running on a rail? Hard to determine at this speed." She chffs softly. The sphinx is annoyed that she can't reword a proper idiom.
Ishirou	Ishirou takes a breath, letting Petra's anger boil off and lets her get her feelings out.  He takes a step, between Petra and Amelia.  He looks up at her, but he doesn't raise a weapon or anything, instead holding up a hand.  "I won't stop you from this, Petra.  I won't help you either." "BUT... hear me out first.  She just mentioned there is a fate alteration engine.  She, I think, is one of the few people who can actually operate it.  Killing her means..." he struggles to think.   "Well, it doesn't do us any favors.  It'll take us time to figure out how to operate the train, even longer to figure out how the engine works..." "Even then, she's /not/ the conductor.  She's a minion of his.  She's just operating the controls, not who's responsible for you being here or the number on your hands..." "Again, if you really want to do this... I won't stop you, but it'll make things harder for freeing you from this in the long term, and worse, we might cause a problem out here if we can't control the train in time..." "So..." he takes a step back.  "I'll get on learning about the engine right now.  You're right to be angry about how things are being done here.  I can't really say it's wrong to not want to do something about it... I just..." "Think that it'll create a huge mess if go loud... especially as she's listening right now, right?"
Futaba Nuki	"So you're... Not the conductor? But you're in the front handling the controls." The mystery deepens! Stroking her chin, Futaba eventually settles in place long enough to start listening to Amelia intently, taking a few mental notes the more she hears. It's an automated process that isn't even in Amelia's control, but that of the lost conductor. "Lost like 'he got off the train' or lost like 'he's missing somewhere in the train'? Because if we could slow this thing down and get more hands on deck, I bet we could find them!" Futaba suggests, clearly not realizing that the excessive length of this locomotive means that might not actually be feasible. Also, because people have died on the train. Groaning lightly to herself, Futaba looks over at Petra when Amelia actually concurs about how befuckened the train's situation is, and she curls her lips in distaste at the thought of blowing it up. "We're not blowing up the train. There's way too many people on this thing to do that right now, and..." She trails off as Berislav starts to tell the story of Joseph, and once again her attention is ensnared. It was pretty easy to figure from Futaba's expression earlier that she wasn't keen on blowing up the train, but now? Now she's stroking her chin slowly instead of affirming that she won't. "... Well, anyway. We've gotta get these people off the train first, because nothing's blowing up while they're still stuck here and in danger if it does. You know if there's anything stopping them from getting off if we just grab 'em, Miss Amelia?" Futaba's eyes widen at Petra's unveiled threat, but not in surprise or horror. Instead she slides over to Petra, perhaps even being a bit too familiar as a silver ribbon slides out from her tail to tiptoe (on the corners) on the floor around Petra's own quicksilver formation. "Whoa, hey! You met Miss Dimo, too? Bet she helped you like she helped me, eh?" Part of it's to try and calm down the situation a bit, but part of it is also just pure excitement.
Kupot	There is a lot of thinking here required almost immediately. He squats down suddenly, moving to simply sit, cross legged, looking up at Amelia. "A computer is still made by man, kupo. Someone chose this." Kupot IMMEDIATELY is quiet for Berislav's tale, his ears turning towards it, then his face. He listens quietly, nodding along. Storytellers are rare in his world. Most people are on TV. Orators are valued, as they usually aren't saying something for a profit. "The idea is... seductive. I wish someone could aid everyone in the world. Guide them, kupo. But there must also be free choice." Kupot turns just slightly towards Ishirou, his breathing sharp, a reprimand on his tongue, then it slides out in a slow breath until his voice is a gentle reminder, "There are ways to incapacitate someone that are not killing, kupo." His face turns back around to Amelia and Petra, addressing the former, than the latter. "The train must be stopped. But no one needs to die."
Ishirou	Ishirou takes a breath, looking at Kupot. "I used to think like that. But.." he says, with a sigh, "There are people who don't deserve it. Who... if allowed to exist will just twist things again and again..." he sits down. "I might not be the person who does it, but there is a time when I will step aside and let those who are wronged choose what is right." "And... it's not my place to tell them to forgive or not. I can't forgive someone on behalf of someone else. They... have to."
Father Berislav	Berislav eyes Amelia, his silver eyes flicking towards the pipe. He sighs. The priest turns, as if to leave, stepping around Petra. Rather than open the door, however, he surges forward, running up the wall with unnatural speed. In a heartbeat, he's pushed himself backwards through the air, cassock rustling as he sails overhead to land, pointedly, on the pipe, or otherwise reach for her hand to put his strength at issue and strip the weapon.      "Please don't."
Hibiki Tachibana	Hibiki's expression twitches and tenses. From multiple things, actually. The confirmation that people can and /do/ die here. Berislav's story with its lessons to take away - even Amelia herself admits this place is messed up in the way it does things, and it is. And of course...Petra.     That seems to be what gets her to step forward herself, and she's not quite as logic driven as Ishirou - following up on his 'I won't stop you from this' by grimacing as she also moves in a position where she's partially blocking off the woman and Petra from one another.     "If she's telling the truth, she's not even the real reason anybody has been sent here. Complicit in this place being so messed up, yeah, sure, but not that. It doesn't sound like she could have stopped it from doing this even if she wanted to. And nobody is patting anyone on the back if you want to keep putting words into everybody's mouth, /Petra./ I get that you're angry with being put in here, but what the hell is yelling at someone who's already agreed with you going to do? We don't even know the full story yet."     Her lips are pursed tight, before she closes her eyes and shakes her head. She's already steeled herself for the inevitable clapback that comes with speaking before she's able to stop herself, but she has to make herself keep going.     Her eyes shift back to Amelia, whom Berislav is in the process of making sure she can't reach her weapon. She sort of wishes he didn't, but if it prevents things from escalating to an actual fight, then that's fine.     "...If we want to do something about this train for good, anything, it would mean getting everyone it's taken off of it before anything else. And it also means--telling us everything you know about the actual conductor and what happened to him. Even if we stop this one, the guy responsible for it is still out there somewhere. So--"     She sideglances Amelia again. "When you say the conductor, and one of these other cars were 'lost', what did you mean by that?"
Kale Hearthward	> "You know if there's anything stopping them from getting off if we just grab 'em, Miss Amelia?" "No... aside from it being a very large train. I'd need the conductor to help locate everyone." > "Please don't." Amelia tries to maintain her grip onto the iron pipe. "I'm not about to let you all kill me without a fight, either." > "A computer is still made by man, kupo. Someone chose this." "I can't say for sure. I think the train's running for longer than there have been computers. Or trains. > "It's a train. How to do you -lose- a car?" "When someone's hiding it from you. Among all of the other cars." Amelia's more focused on her own safety right now, but Arcadia's asked a pertinent question. "The conductor picked up a VIP passenger. He wouldn't tell me the details, and I've only been able to learn some of them. But ever since then, everything's gone to pot. It's not hard to connect the dots." > "When you say the conductor, and one of these other cars were 'lost', what did you mean by that?" "It was... someone powerful. The Conductor had a meeting with someone, and then we took a trip to the Tape Car - that's the car we're looking for - to make a special pickup... " "... I think the filters were changed, to make the pickup. The filters that would keep you lot from becoming passengers. But then they didn't get changed back, or at least not fast enough to keep you from being picked up."
Arcadia	Arcadia bobs her head. "Someone is actively hiding it, that makes more sense." She doesn't question how someone would have the power to do so, that's not the weirdest thing she's ever had to contend with. "This is starting to sound more like a conspiracy, with every answer bringing up more question." It's followed by a sigh, and a brief moment of slouching with the acceptance that she can't just solve that issue with her speed like she otherwise would in chasing down a specific vehicle on The Line. "It -is- a very long train. Long enough even I can't just go fly outside to search for the right rail car. So if you've got any other details that can be used to determine this 'Tape Car'," yes she did just do the air quotes as she said that, shush, "That would certainly be helpful as well."
Petra Soroka	"'Fate alteration engine...'" Lilian would have something to say about that, from a magical standpoint. Petra, however, doesn't have experience with that, or with any kind of tactically-relevant application of fate. What she does know, though she hasn't thought about it in long months, is astrology, the hope that every person is special to the universe and can do something meaningful within it, as long as they listened to what the cosmos were trying to tell them.     Let the universe tell you what to do, because it knows best. If you don't change yourself inm the way it demands, you're making the world worse. "I don't care if it's a force for good. You-- you can't grade people, on this. You can't kidnap them and then grade them based on standards they don't get to have input on."     Petra looks between Ishirou and Hibiki, sneering slightly. "I'm not going to randomly start murdering people. I'm not a fucking time bomb. And yeah, I heard. She's not the conductor. Big fucking deal." She stares at Ishirou for a couple seconds, processing the rest of his words, and then her lips twist into a pout, saying nothing else to him-- which is probably a good thing.     Hibiki gets a half-smile, like a snarl, baring a thin glimpse of platinum-white teeth. "She made all of you promise to not do any harm to the train, just by saying you wouldn't blow it up-- which *she* was the first one to suggest. *I* was just reminding her that there's still something between blowing the train up and being her fucking friend, *Tachibana*."     When Berislav jumps on the pipe, Petra tilts her head at him and lets her writhing morphmetal soften down to a low, smooth boil on the ground. "If I decide to kill you there won't be a fight. Don't be stupid. Did this 'VIP' actually get *invited*, or was he kidnapped, too?" Her eyes track over to Kupot, and then down to actually look at his face. "Who the fuck is this tiny furry brat? Who brought him?"     Then, Futaba, and Petra instinctively flinches back from her with a wave of morphmetal arcing up to shield her up to waist-height before stopping. "What the fuck is wrong with you? Helped me? That's-- what the *fuck*? Why would you think I *asked* for this?"
Ishirou	"He...uh.." Ishirou says, "Grappled into the train when we air jumped onto it. He offered to help so Kale brought him along. He actually got us a way inside before the train tried to run us over.." he says looking towards the operator. "Also... we couldn't leave him there, he's kinda cute," Ishirou says, revealing his bias. Towards fluffy cute things.
Father Berislav	I'm not about to let you all kill me without a fight, either.     "Whether or not you live is entirely in your control," Berislav says with chilling calm. "This train, its conductor, engineers, architects and whatever myrmidons wander its cars, are perpetuating sin. You aren't doing 'good by a hair's breadth,' you've simply reinvented prison without the profit motive. Dying for that is a pitiable decision, and one which your Father in heaven will see--but it is *your* decision."     He maintains his stance on the pipe, just enough to keep Amelia from wresting it free. "It would be just as easy, and much less wasteful, to let us pass and be on our business with this conductor. This train *will* stop," he says. "Without derailment, without harming the passengers. Its passengers will be passengers no longer, and, yes, will be free to make their own mistakes, just like any other person fortunate enough not to have been *abducted*."      He frowns, meeting her eyes with his. "This will happen, and I will give anyone else wearing a uniform like yours the chance to let it happen, or, to decide that this garden of sin is worth throwing their life away. Which is it, for you?" he asks, stepping off of the pipe.
Kupot	Kupot just makes an effort to make sure that Petra's reflection can be seen in his optic piece when she asks such a question. He keeps his face neutral, before turning back towards the conductor. "Thank you, Ishirou." To the defense of his character. A pause, a consideration, and a subtle pink rush to his ears. It is not something one hears while planting bombs. It is... refreshing, in a way, one that causes a great deal of silence from the moogle. "I am not certain she was looking for an answer." "Kupo, there is a way to stop this train. And to fix the train. They are one and the same." He nods along with Berislav with a soft 'kupo' of agreement. "Help us find the conductor," he asks of Amelia.
Petra Soroka	The tiny furry brat stares Petra down and then talks past her to Ishirou, standing behind her. Petra's own optics narrow at Kupot in a resting glare, then slide over to his fluffy ears.     "He'd be cute if he didn't talk. It's kind of unsettling to hear that voice come from something so tiny. Nice of him not to introduce himself, either." Petra, hypocritically or dismissively, doesn't introduce herself either.
Futaba Nuki	Petra's reaction to Futaba's excitement actually gets a confused look out of Futaba. "... Huh? Wait, then how'd you get this stuff?" That silver ribbon comes back to the tanuki's face as she waggles it around for emphasis, perhaps only then noticing the shape of Petra's compared to her own. "I mean... Didn't she talk to you and help you figure out some stuff? That's what she did for me before I could do this, so..." There's definitely some leaps in logic there. Speaking of leaps, Berislav leaps over with his wall stunts and goes for the intercept of that donut holer, and Futaba's attention is split between making excited noises at the stunt, making excited noises at Petra's quicksilveryness, and trying to sound at least vaguely disapproving of the semi-threat. Hibiki snapping back at Petra has her circling around a bit, too, to try and get a little more between Petra and Hibiki next. "Whoa, hey! Come on, everyone. We shouldn't get into a fight in here. We should at least do it on the roof if-" Futaba stops herself. She's got priorities, darn it! "... Besides, we're Elites, and she's... Like." Futaba narrows her eyes at Amelia. "... Fifty? When do humans usually start getting grayer hair? Anyway. Nobody's killing her, either!" If nothing else, at least Futaba has that much decided so far. The answer to Arcadia's question, though, has her head coming back to the matter at hand. "If the conductor's car is being hidden by this VIP, and it happened when the filters were different... Could more of us getting picked up be the trick to finding them, then?" Futaba suggests, looking over at the rest of the group as though she was suddenly assessing them. "... I know a couple of us would be easy picks, if that's the case. And then once we snag them, we can figure out where everyone else is, and then get them all out of here!"
Hibiki Tachibana	"No one called you one," Hibiki murmurs back to Petra, making a sound like a disgruntled scoff that's once again muffled into her scarf. Those two words are to blame, of course. "So don't act like it. There's no reason to threaten anyone who can barely defend themselves."     A narrow-eyed stare is held for all of three seconds before briefly shifts it to Ishirou with an unreadable look on her face, then shuts her eyes again and turns back in Amelia and Berislav's direction. Away from that snarl. Ugh. She was able to talk candidly to Angela, but she just can't bring herself to do it now. "There is something between those two things," she agrees at least, while doing so. "So let's find out what it is." The Conductor had a meeting with someone, and then we took a trip to the Tape Car - that's the car we're looking for - to make a special pickup... ... I think the filters were changed, to make the pickup. The filters that would keep you lot from becoming passengers.     She connects some dots, at least as best as someone like her can. "...Which means he took on an Elite, or someone like us, and disappeared afterwards. Or--it sounds like you think they're still here, but there's no way to locate the car while it's being hidden away the way it is."     And after Kupot's comment - and Berislav's - she adds on with a nod towards Amelia, "...And you need our help to be able to find the conductor, because all your searching until now hasn't worked out, right? It sounds like all of us want to know where this guy went. So let's all find this Tape Car, and then work from there."     Although despite her attempt to refocus, she can't help but glance over her shoulder at Futaba's comment...and Petra's reaction.
Kale Hearthward	> "I don't care if it's a force for good. You-- you can't grade people, on this. You can't kidnap them and then grade them based on standards they don't get to have input on." "I think you're looking for 'may', not 'can', dear, because obviously that's what this damn train is pulling off already." > "Whether or not you live is entirely in your control," Amelia glares at him. But it's not her that speaks up first. "Respectfully," says Kale, who up until now had just been watching all this unfold from near the door, "I'm going to advise against threatening our currently only lead. Unless you're sure we're all in alignment on this." "We find this conductor, and this missing 'Tape Car', since they're key to all this. *Then* we work out what gets done about the train. Take care of the parts we agree on first, then get to the ones we might disagree on." > "Could more of us getting picked up be the trick to finding them, then?" "It's not exactly a pleasant experience," comments Kale. > "So let's all find this Tape Car, and then work from there." That, at least, seems to get general agreement from Amelia, as well as Kale.
Arcadia	Arcadia clasps her hands together. "Alright, a search it is!" This is getting back to being an investigation and that gets the sphinx to spark back up to her ususal energeticness. Aetheral energy briefly flickers across her face as her visor manifests so she can make use of her alternate visual functions. "The sooner we find the Tape Car the sooner we can do something about the other problems."
Father Berislav	Amelia doesn't have to say it. That she doesn't immediately attack, when given the opportunity, nor attempt to obstruct, given the talk of stopping the train, is enough.      "Thank you, Amelia," he says, before turning to Kale. "And thank *you,* Mr. Hearthward, for your candor. I'd be happy to help search for the conductor," the priest adds.
Futaba Nuki	"May? Can?" The intricacies of grammar are still a bit of a mystery for Futaba. She can at least understand what Kale's getting at when it comes to getting everyone on the same page, though, looking rather satisfied with herself when he doesn't object to the act of getting picked up so much as he warns about the experience. "Ah, how bad could it be?" She asks, almost sounding dismissive at first if not for the fact that she's staring right at Kale and Petra as though she's actually expecting an answer to that question.
Petra Soroka	"Didn't she talk to you and help you figure out some stuff?"}     Petra flinches away from Futaba with a look of loathing, even a little bit of alarm. Then her eyes narrow and she wraps her arms around herself again, tugging on the armband. Silver crawls up the black suit pants to rejoin with Petra's body, while a crackle of hot, buzzing synaptic energy jumps between her and Futaba, a brute-forced semisynthetic ping, just to confirm what Petra already guessed.     "... She broke into my non-Commonwealth cell to declare Paladins authority to murder me and turn me into a robot drone." Petra says flatly, shifting her shoulders to face away from Futaba with her full torso. "Nice of you to ask, though. No one ever does."     Petra matches Hibiki's glare for exactly as long as Hibiki herself is able to hold it before turning away, before the scoff takes its toll. Petra winces and closes her eyes, her lips parting to breathe evenly through her mouth. After a few seconds of that, a faint prickling itch crawls across everyone's skin, like tiny needles buried directly inside nerves, and Petra shivers and reopens her eyes. "I think you're looking for 'may', not 'can', dear, because obviously that's what this damn train is pulling off already."     "It *is* 'can', actually. Because the grades are made up. The rules don't actually exist for everyone, they're arbitrarily forced on people who they arbitrarily decide aren't good enough. Fuck that. Fuck this train. Don't correct me on my fucking grammar."     "We'll look for the conductor, sure. Of course. We have to. And I'm not going to kill an old woman just because she's in the front of this fucking thing." Petra turns away from Amelia, to the back of the car, hands in her jacket pockets. She takes a few steps forwards, putting herself behind the other Elites, and then wavers, feeling queasy. When did she get so violent? When did Hibiki start managing to glare back at her, and look so disgusted with her?     Petra presses a hand to her mouth and coincidentally glances up to lock eyes with Kale. Fingers dig into her cheek as she tries to steady herself, shoulders subtly trembling. It's impossible to back down, ever. Petra knows she's right-- finally, actually understands she's right, and has words for the unbearable choking feeling that the others always suffocate her with. But this, without Lilian, or anyone, it's impossible, too.     "We'll look for the conductor. Until then, I'm getting off this fucking train." Petra pushes past Kale, head down and shoulders hunched, and leaves.
Kale Hearthward	> "Nice of you to ask, though. No one ever does." "I *literally*-" Kale exclaims, turning around to face Petra, but then decides to just drop it. "... Nevermind."
Ishirou	"He did. He was going to talk to Dimo more about it, but... I interupted it. So... please don't blame Kale for that," Ishirou pipes up.
Petra Soroka	"Glad to know you're still looking out for me, Ishirou. Really always got my best interests at heart." Petra pauses by the door, not turning back to face them.     "... It's... good to hear that you actually bothered, Hearthward." Still no eye contact, her tone soft more from the hollow creep of exhaustion than from friendliness, and Petra leaves before letting anyone else share their thoughts.
Ishirou	Ishirou nods, taking that one on the chin. "...Sorry. I'll... keep trying to do better and right by you, Petra."
Hibiki Tachibana	... She broke into my non-Commonwealth cell to declare Paladins authority to murder me and turn me into a robot drone. Nice of you to ask, though. No one ever does.     It doesn't show on her face while that stare is being held, or even after, but once Petra is already on her way out, and that prickling sensation has had time to settle--she lets out a shuddering exhale into her scarf, muffled into near silence while a hand clenches white-knuckled at her side.     There's that creeping feeling in her stomach again. She would have been damned if she did before, now she's damned because she didn't.     This sucks. She's gone from being unable to say a thing around her to only being able to get out the things she hates about her. Maybe she has it coming. A long time coming, even. But it still feels awful.     A lot of the things she talked about with Angela really are sinking in now. But she's not stopping Petra from leaving. This time. Maybe...next time.     There's something she has to figure out before then.
Futaba Nuki	Petra's reaction tells Futaba a lot, and what she says tells her a lot more. None of it makes sense, of course, since that doesn't sound like the Dimo Futaba knows, so... Clearly, there had to be some kind of mistake here. She opens her mouth and jerks back a bit at the ping, but there's a rather clear look of disbelief on her face regardless. She doesn't even come up with a proper response until after Petra's already turned to leave, but... No, it's definitely a misunderstanding. It has to be.