eastbound | un: ut malum pluvia

[ Five is at the dining car, drinking coffee and writing on various napkins, as he's inclined to do when a time anomaly fucks with his ability to relax for more than a day. There's no denying he has more energy than he has in a long time — which means he's generally been harassing the staff, who have called him 'young man' one too many times and keep refusing to add whiskey to his coffee. He hasn't ended that war yet; they'll regret forcing him to get regular sleep.

Frustrated after he's crossed out yet another equation, he finally does something he rarely does: addresses the network. ]

I couldn't care less about a wedding, but there's obviously more going on here besides stealing dreams and sealing away powers to keep the train running smoothly. [ And no, he isn't letting that slide either. ] I spoke to the conductor, and didn't get a damn thing out of him. He's obsessed with the wellbeing of the train and wasn't concerned about Prassenze going missing that first night, which I can only assume he doesn't remember happening.

[ If he'd known that day would be effectively erased, he could have taken advantage. He's been going over his conversation with the conductor more times than he cares to count, and he's decided that he went far too easy on him. ]

He mentioned that we have 'old-issue' tickets, along with most of the wedding party, meaning at least a few of them are frequent travelers who have renewed their tickets over a long period of time. No bodies are missing from the train, because apparently they can track us, by our dreams or otherwise. There were no acts of violence, nothing came through the open window, and there's nothing that would explain why the bride keeps changing forms or what caused a time loop that only we could perceive. [ Which doesn't make sense. That's not how time loops work. ] Logic would say that she's the one behind the anomaly, but enough people were against the wedding that there could be other suspects who are lying about not remembering the first two weddings.

[ He's one cup of coffee away from taking his paranoia too far, but in his opinion they're not taking this seriously enough. They should be grateful that he's at least opening it up to theories. ]

Who here has been in a time loop before, show of hands? Who knows that messing with time is dangerous? Even something as innocent as rewinding a wedding. [ He would know. ] We survived an apocalypse. I don't have to tell you that our odds were not in our favor. Let's keep that streak going, and stop the next one before it gets that close, shall we?

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[ He seems to have confirmed that, and Five has to debate if manipulating reality is better or worse. And he's not any more fond of memories being altered. It still means they need to track her down and make sure she can't do it again. ]

Any idea why we're the only ones immune?

Theories, but I suggest asking our resident witches for their thoughts first.

[ ...Hermione or Emilia, then. ]

How did you learn about the dream boxes?

( ... karsa or a certain dead woman to remain unnamed for the moment, but. you know. also hermione or emilia! )

A little friend you're familiar with went looking.

( paper.

man. )

[ Hell hasn't frozen over enough yet for Five to ask Karsa, he'll stick to the witches who don't hate him with a passion thanks. It takes him a minute to make the connection to paper man. Funny how often he forgets about that.

He just doesn't know what that's implying. ]

Inside them?

In a room, to witness the search and claiming of what likely was one.

[ He'll try not to be bothered that he hasn't been able to teleport while Wei Wuxian is over here putting his soul into paper again. Not important right now. ]

Did you see where they took it?

The time is limited here. She found the box where it'd been hidden. She knew to expect the hiding, not the location of its hiding.

So it was the bride you saw. Why are you so sure she's working with someone?

Because she didn't know where what she was looking for was placed.

Wouldn't they have told her? If they were so easy to find, the staff should have been able to spot them. Unless there's a bigger conspiracy around them.

She hunted one within her quarters, which had been placed for her.

The distress on her features, the way she hunted, those were not acted out for her own sake. She knew one must be there. She didn't know where it had been hidden.

And as far as I know, Karsa's only instructed people to leave such in public places of the train.

Considering these as true, what do you think?

[ That makes more sense that she had an accomplice, if not why they did it. ]

So someone got it for her. Which wedding was that? If it was someone who saw her and left it out of sympathy, we might be able to narrow it down.

They'd also have to be someone who knew they were on board. No one in our group is that stupid, are they?

Why were they brought on board? That's a first question, and the general answer we already have.

For an old friend of the Merchant's. One working with Prassenze, who panics each time the wedding doesn't go as planned, I suppose.

This was arranged beforehand. Who, aside from Firo, did she know before boarding this train? Ask them one who read her letters. That may indicate direction better than most.

( he's absolutely siccing five on jimmy, yes he is )

[ Five assumes he's asking so Wei Wuxian can keep his hands clean. And given that he owes him a favor, he doesn't completely object. He doesn't always catch everything said on the network, but he's clearly pointing at someone. ]

Her letters. Who has those now?

Edited 2023-04-30 16:47 (UTC)

She does. The man who saw them only did for a brief time, as in he left them with her other belongings, for obvious reasons.

[ ...A brief time, but he still thinks it's relevant enough to send Five, so he's assuming whoever it is wasn't forthcoming. ]

Does the man have a name, or am I supposed to know that already?

Why do you need to know it? He's not relevant to what's happening, really. If you want to see the same things, look into our missing brides effects.

( also because he's technically never been introduced and knows it's Jimmy because other people have said the man's name )

[ Maybe because that room is a crime scene it's not as easy for him to break into those as it usually is. It's not like can turn himself into a paper man. ]

I never would have thought of that. They're probably right where she left them.

Yes, in the great big mess she left it, ah? You can talk to Jimmy to ask what he remembers seeing.

[ He knew you had the name. Still begs the question why he's not looking into it himself. ]

Thanks for the tip. I take it you've got something more pressing to pursue?

I don't think he's relevant, but I encourage you to embrace where your inclinations to investigate take you!

[ Uh-huh. Just brought it up for no reason while he runs off to do something he's refusing to mention. ]

I'll do that.

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