[breathside] about twenty minutes after the trainwreck trainwreck

[thornsofmalkav]

He's dead.

Raidou's dead.

It's my fault too. He'd come to the station to meet me for lunch.

They're saying this person named Kai tackled him onto the tracks right before my train came in. He showed me their face just before he died. I think they're that ninja who stole everyone's shit back on Crownbreaker Island. Like, a Familiar Face or whatever.

God. I'm so sorry. I'm so fucking sorry.

Comments

[fridgeninja]

It's Kai's fault. Not yours. You didn't commit murder. They did.

[thornsofmalkav]

... yeah, but he wouldn't have been there if it wasn't for me.

[fridgeninja]

Then either Kai would have found someone else to kill, or if the target was specifically Raidou, would have killed him somewhere else.

Tackled in front of a train... did Kai-san survive the attack?

[thornsofmalkav]

No. They're both dead. That's what the cops are saying.

[fridgeninja]

Then we need to find out why Kai-san would be willing to do something like that.

Travelers are dying. Allura-san died before the Jaunt started, somehow. Now Raidou. There are ghosts and monsters here.

We need to know who the killers are, and what they are planning.

[Psychic protection II forever]

[comebewe]

[it should be shocking, that the death toll is starting so early. But somehow, with this jaunt, it's no surprise]

...Fuck. I'm sorry, Thorne.

Re: [Psychic protection II forever]

[thornsofmalkav]

The last thing he said was apologizing about not being able to have lunch with me. And I know, I know he's probably going to come back soon, but... it still hurts, you know? It still freaks me out.

[thornsofmalkav]

Yeah. Yeah, okay.

We need to get someone who's a medium to try and contact Kai to question them. I don't know who. Or, I don't know, ask with a Ouija board. And hope maybe Raidou has something to tell us when he gets back.

[comebewe]

He died. We know that there are many who think that the impermanence of death makes it...mean less. That as long as you come back, it doesn't matter. That's not true. It does matter. He died, and you were there. Of course it hurts.

[thornsofmalkav]

Yeah.

God, I should be better with death. I'm a fucking vampire, even when I'm not. But it's different when he's your friend, you know?

[comebewe]

Yes. I know.

But we don't see why death is something you should be better with. Particularly not death when it is...violent, and abrupt. All too easy, when you are unaffected by such things, to cease to see life as valuable. All too easy to stop caring, and become a monster.

[thornsofmalkav]

[She's quiet for a while.] Yeah. Yeah, you're probably right.

He'd been having the same dreams as you, you know. The cat goddess ones. I don't know if you were awake when he said something about it.

[comebewe]

[there's a slight pause, as Matthew checks back over the network]

Ah - no, I didn't catch that at the time.

[thornsofmalkav]

Yeah. I told him that I knew someone else who'd had a cat goddess dream and what you told me, but I kept your name out of it.

He says that she told him that the answer lies "beneath" but fuck knows beneath where.

[comebewe]

You did? [they're surprised; he might not have wanted to go around talking to the entire network about this, but that didn't mean that this was, well, secret] It's not...we didn't need to hide it or anything...

[he goes a little quiet, then at the mention of 'beneath'. He knows what springs to his mind first, when he hears that word]

Maybe it's...figurative, rather than literal.

[even if he suspects that's too much to hope for]

[willyousee]

Thorne? [Alcuin's voice is higher pitched than usual, but he's trying to stay calm for her.] Where are you right now? Are you injured?

[thornsofmalkav]

Well, I mean, after the mess with the goo, I figured discretion would be the better part of valor. And man, I hope it's figurative. With our luck it'll be literally and there'll be some awful tentacle cave we'll have to wade through.

[thornsofmalkav]

At the station. I'm okay. I mean, I'm not okay, but I'm physically okay. Could you? Do you think you could come? I mean. If it's still too hard, I'll get a cab or something. Just. Fuck.

[willyousee]

No, stay right there, love, I am on my way. Stay there. Breathe. You can talk to me the whole way there if you like.

[thornsofmalkav]

They put a sheet over the bodies. Thank fuck. And now they're asking questions. The cops are. God, I hate cops. Even if the British ones aren't so bad, I still. God.

[willyousee]

They must try to do their jobs, dearheart. Even if they are rather too late for that. [Salty? Just a little.] They'll not harm you. Do you know what it was Raidou wished to speak to you about?

[thornsofmalkav]

We were going to have lunch together. I was going to check to see if I could find anything about Bast at the university library and tell him over lunch. I was going to be the one to tell him.

[comebewe]

[So now Thorne's being over cautious with him?

...he's not sure exactly how he feels about that]

You can wade through awful tentacle caves. We will be staying far, far away if that happens.

[thornsofmalkav]

Yeah. That's probably the smart thing.

[fridgeninja]

People learned ghost magic in Bando, and in Greece. I'm not sure who kept it, besides Beatrice.