robowest | [ DEPARTURE ]

DEPARTURE

It's time to go.

Most people are on the train by now. Settled into their cabins and among friends and loved ones. There are only three new arrivals left to board and once they do, Hal pulls a conductor's hat out from underneath the bar, tugs it on, and steps around it to the middle of the train. He opens his mouth to talk, voice filling the train.

"It's time to go. Stops happen once a day until everyone's departed and I already have your stopped listed. If you'd like to be prioritized, let me know, otherwise we'll go in order of death. Settle in and enjoy the ride. If there's anything you need, don't hesitate to ask, folks."

This, of course, means that those who died earliest (Manfred, Higekiri) will depart first while those who died latest (Barnham, Damian, Percy) will depart last. There's a stop for everyone, though those who want to get off together are more than welcome to. Hal pulls a notepad and pen out of his pocket later and people will notice that he goes around the train confirming stops with everyone. Whatever feeling Hal may have had to a character back in town isn't noticeable here -- he is simply a robot assigned with a job.

After that, it's all a matter of settling in and enjoying the ride. If that's possible for you, at least.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

No worse the wear.

[She chuckles softly. She's used to the reaction, it can be such a strange thing to be speaking to someone you've seen dead. She squeezes his arm, a gesture of comfort and assurance.]

Better than when we last saw one another, I'd venture to say. And more than ready to start a new life - in great part, thanks to you.

[He'll take that comfort at this point; it reminds him that she really is alive and okay, and... he's grateful for that.

He's so grateful. After everything, everyone truly is--]

... I did nothing that no one else would have done in my position.

[Probably.

Maybe. Either way, he doesn't want to talk about what he did when he can talk about instead the more positive aspect of Lust starting a new life.]

You have decided on your life from here, then?

No. Not everyone is as strong as you.

[But she won't say anything more on it. She's grateful, he knows it. She isn't angry at him or disappointed in him. If anything, her respect for him has only grown.]

[She smiles then, nodding. She's found herself excited, now that all is done and her fate is assured.]

I have. Eliot's taking me home with him. To a place without my master. It's a foreign world, one I don't quite understand, but...he'll look after me.

And you?

["Strong" is a word he's not sure he believes in right now; he clung to what he saw as his "duty" until the end, though it led him to do truly horrifying things. Though he knows he broke, in the end, and did not do as a knight should.

It turned out as it must, though, and he doesn't feel the need to argue that--especially not when Lust is smiling like this, an expression that he didn't think he'd ever see from her.

He should be grateful, he thinks, to Eliot for bringing that expression out of her.

His own expression softens.]

I see. I am...glad for that as well. The chance to begin a new life is one that you have truly deserved. I shall hope for your happiness.

[him though....]

I... have not yet decided, myself. [He's not sure yet what he deserves.]

[Lust likes to think she deserves it. Despite the sins she's committed for her master. She purses her lips in thought. She had lied to Barnham, though it was small and harmless, in the grand scheme of things. But it sits unwell with her, that she knows of the blood on his hands and he knows nothing of the blood on hers. Even if she never shed it in the context of this 'game'.]

Thank you. I didn't speak much of my former life, for a variety of reasons. The foremost of which...it would have revealed me as a threat. I'm afraid I may have misled you, as to my abilities to take care of myself.

I was a specially trained assassin, among other things, for my master. I never put those skills to work here, I didn't want to be a weapon any longer, but...

[She shrugs. It doesn't matter now, she isn't going back to that. Her time of killing is done.]

In the interest of fairness. And you deserve happiness as well, Mr. Barnham. And a good, long rest.

[An assassin, huh. A tool of her master--as she'd said, she'd never really gotten to live her own life until now. That's something that...tugs at his heart, in a way. He thinks of the witches in Labyrinthia, who were used as tools to someone else's own ends and punished for it, and he sighs.]

...Thank you for your honesty.

[And then, quietly, he smiles at her.]

Though it does not change my opinion of you. Though I failed, I...still would have done what I could to protect you, Lust.

[Even if it kind of loses meaning when everyone had to die anyway...he still believes in that.]

As for myself, I... I shall come to a decision before the end of this trip, I believe. I...shall have time.

[Lots of time, considering how they'll be let off in order of death.]

You failed in nothing. The death I experienced is the price I paid for my new life. And to be perfectly honest, it was one of the least unpleasant deaths I've experienced. It was quick and painless, and she...stayed with me.

[A small gesture, and likely simply out of necessity, but still. Lust has been killed in a number of violent ways, her homunculus nature reviving her painfully each time. She's had the flesh melted from her body and been filled with bullets and blades. A quick, sedating poison was practically pleasant.]

And life here has been much more pleasant. I've been among friends and...people who are important to me.

At least it's a pleasant ride. I...will miss you, Mr. Barnham. I rather regret we won't see or speak to one another after this. I'd like...to know how you fare.

... Madam Walken is quite kind that way, despite her actions, I suppose.

[He appreciates Chane a lot, even if she did kill Lust. It's fine... it all worked out. Maybe. Sort of.]

But that you have come out of this stronger...is evidence of the strength you already have. I believe that you shall succeed in your own life from here.

[And he's so glad for her. She absolutely deserves it.

Quietly, he breathes out, and then he nods.]

I, too, wish there were a way to communicate; I would... like to know how your new life treats you.

Mmm. I'm not certain I'd call her kind, she did choose to kill me on her own accord. But as we believe in my world, what you give is returned to you. She made a poor choice in victims after all, and reaped what she sowed. I don't bear her much ill will.

[But she can't say she has any particularly positive feelings toward the woman, save a touch of respect at her duplicity. And Chane had found herself killed in turn, the circumstances of which still warm Lust's heart.]

It's easy to be strong when you have nothing to lose. There's nothing being risked, any gain that might be had is just an idea. I came out of this with things worth having, that's all.

Perhaps...there's a way. Surely, if all the other things offered are within their powers, that is.

[Well.

True. She did kill Lust, and not everyone had the same ulterior motives that he had. He had to remember that--much as he likes Chane, she still killed someone.

But they were all forced into this, weren't they?

He suspects that to be true. Either way...]

Perhaps there is. Perhaps... if nothing else, if it is a possibility... I should like to keep in touch. I have not yet decided upon--where I shall go from here, but... that is something I know for certain.

[Lust only offers a knowing smile. She couldn't help but point it out, she can't say she wasn't somewhat disappointed at how easily everyone seemed to forgive her murder when the killer was revealed. But who was she, to most of them?]

[It's all done and over with now. She's gained a greater reward than even her master had offered her.]

As would I. And I hope you find a home somewhere that will be kind to you, and let you rest. And find happiness. You've more than paid for as much.

[Has he... He's not sure that he's really paid for happiness so much as guaranteed that he does not deserve it, but--

On the other hand, when he sees so many smiling faces here, so many people who believe in the lives they are going to have now... he can't help but feel as though maybe, just maybe...

It really was the best he could have done.]

...Thank you. I appreciate it... and our time together, though it was short.

[He appreciates Lust a lot, honestly.]

I assure you--I shall find a proper place to go from here.

[ DEPARTURE ]

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