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

I doubt I'm going to mysteriously develop that power, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

[Another roll of her eyes.]

I'm like, 75% sure we aren't dating. [After a few moments, she nods.] I do, yeah. Not sure if he does. I can't really blame him, I did kind of lie to him in a super huge way.

Fine, you win that round. [But he does drop his gaze for a moment.] We both kind of lied to him a lot, but I think he knows why. All I know is what happened after he read your letter. That's all I can base this off of so...[A shrug.] You have time to figure it all out. But I stand by he'll listen even if you're not dating or whatever.

[She pauses for a moment, before...]

Can I ask what happened?

[On the one hand...Natalie deserves to know the gravity of the situation. On the other, there's an unwritten guy code and he doesn't think Jason will like it? But on the other other hand they're both his friends and he wants them to be happy.]

...you remember what I was like after Annabeth's trial?

...Yeah. He wasn't that badly off, was he?

Uh. He spent the night on the roof of the hotel on Saturday. I didn't figure it out until Sunday night when I went up there myself and found him there. And I read him your letter and it was kind of like watching myself so...yes and no? [It's hard to shake the memory of Jason Todd broken and angry and sobbing into his shirt at like one in the morning.] He came inside after that at least though which meant he also stayed in bed for days after that.

[He raises an eyebrow.] I know you'll keep this to yourself, at least.

[She listens and then breathes out a harsh sigh, dragging her hands over her face once.]

I'm an idiot.

[But—]

Yeah, I won't tell anyone.

[He doesn't correct her, exactly.] I mean I'll agree you're kind of being an idiot by not really realizing how much you mean to him, but if you mean something else then I'll disagree on that.

[Just saying. Look, he had to sit through his other friends working out their feelings for each other awkwardly. This is old hat for him by now.] You're both coming home with me. You'll have all the time in the world to kind of figure stuff out if you want to. Annabeth and I took four years to get it together but that...was probably mostly my bad.

Wow, thanks.

[She's not exactly arguing that point, though. She knows.]

I really do not have the energy for four years of relationship drama, so let's hope it's not the same.

Who said that four years was all relationship drama? [Excuse you.] But I doubt it.

[A beat.] What'd Xion say about coming back with us anyway?

I'm willing to bet there was a sizable amount of relationship drama included. Sorry, not sorry.

She said she's going to.

[He makes a face.] Most of it was Luke's fault. [And Rachel's. And Percy's. And Annabeth's. But mostly Luke for being a jerk.]

But good. After everything I've heard about her world I don't really know what I'd do if she said no.

Luke, huh? So... Love triangle, or am I way off?

[She nods.]

I'm glad she agreed, too. Maybe more than anyone, she deserves to be happy.

[…A SIGH.] It's…something like that. She had a crush on him for a while and then he kind of betrayed everyone and started working under the lord of the titans and…it's a long story. [A beat.] He died as a hero. He's the one who taught me to fight, and he raised Annabeth since she was a kid when they were runaways. So it was partially Luke and maybe partially Rachel? [A shrug.] Maybe it did go on for four years.

As for Xion…yeah. She does. The city might freak her out because it's so many people but I think ultimately she'll be happy to be around so many new things. I can't imagine being her.

So... He betrayed everyone, but he's a decent person? Yeah, gotta say, that sounds pretty weird to me. Also, what did Rachel do? [A laugh.] See, told you.

We'll be there to help her through it. I think it'll be pretty weird to get used to for all three of us.

[Mmm.] No. I said he died as a hero. Those are two different things. [Luke is complicated enough.] He...Kronos, the Lord of the Titans, got in touch with him and started to brainwash him to turn him against the gods. By the time anyone realized it Luke was too far gone and became his vessel. He sacrificed himself to save the world because Annabeth finally got through to him, but that was after years of everything else. But she's known him since she was seven or something. That dagger I got from her? She got it from him. [But he smirks.] Rachel didn't do anything except exist. We're just friends now.

[He nods though.] At least you and Jason are from some version of Earth. That's an advantage isn't it?

Oh. Well... Yikes. Sucks to be that guy, I guess. So you and Rachel had a thing for a while, or no?

[A nod, and a shrug.]

Where I lived might as well have been in a different world, though. Pretty small town. It's going to be crazy to be somewhere so huge.

Yeah. You could say that. [There's a nod but he says nothing else. There are a lot of things to say about Luke and Kronos and what Kronos did to Luke but he doesn't want to get into it. It's too complicated to sort out outside of "Luke died as he lived: stupidly and fiercely." So. Rachel it is.] Rachel and I never really had a thing? I mean like...we never dated. She liked me? She kissed me? We went to the same high school for a while before she transferred out and she's still one of the only mortal friends I really have that knows everything. We hung out a lot and I always knew I could call her just to spend time with her when I felt like it which...was pretty nice. But like I said we never dated so no. Not a thing.

[His feelings for Rachel were kind of complicated, too.] Anyway it's not my fault you lived in the Pacific Northwest your whole life. Do you at least know how to navigate bus lines and subways?

Edited 2017-03-10 17:26 (UTC)

[ DEPARTURE ]

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