un: ut malum pluvia | audio

[somebadnews]

[ 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?

Comments

[traaaaaash]

Whoa, this has got you hot and bothered.

[ Eda wouldn't go that far, really. Granted, the one time they did mess with time at home, it did kind of lead to an almost-apocalypse, but that was more because one guy turned out to be a massive asshole. ]

Hmmm. So none of that is very illuminating, either. I mean, my guess is Prassenze is feeling insecure about herself and trying to impress her betrothed's friends, in which case she and Firo really need to talk things out.

[somebadnews]

[ People could stand to be more bothered. How many times does this need to happen before they start paying attention? ]

If you believe that she's shapeshifting and causing an entire day to repeat, I think we're a few steps beyond talking it out.

[traaaaaash]

Oh, you'd be surprised how often that works!

[somebadnews]

Did you forget the part where she's missing? Possibly because of whatever forces she tampered with?

[traaaaaash]

That would put a wrench in things.

[somebadnews]

I don't suppose you have any way to tell what magic was used.

[ Since she has that problem. It would have been convenient. ]

[traaaaaash]

Alas, no clue. I know about as much as you do.

[somebadnews]

[ And he can't even teleport to make the search go quicker. This entire thing is so frustrating. ]

We might have to do this the old fashioned way.

[traaaaaash]

What do you mean, "old fashioned way"?

[ Dubious Eda is dubious. ]

[somebadnews]

Go through everyone who might have been involved, one by one, until we figure out who helped her. Someone knows what happened.

[traaaaaash]

I mean, duh.

[somebadnews]

Feel free to jump in at any time.

[traaaaaash]

[ Eda shrugs. ]

Not like I got anything better to do, being stuck on this train.

[somebadnews]

[ He's only one person and people... aggravate him, so he's fine to outsource at this point. ]

I wouldn't start with the conductor. Most of the staff are brainwashed, so you won't get much out of them.