auroraexpress | (no subject)

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(no subject)

Who: anyone
When: day 57, afternoon
Where: anywhere it's a mingle

[This is a mingle but there is a comment in a Chain Chat to the whole train!]

Rean: A while ago some of us were discussing a festival where every team puts on a production, game, booth, whatever, maybe based around team bonds or interests.

What do people think? Maybe it's a good time to to talk about it again?

[Feel free to discuss with each other! Or just mingle as usual.]

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Don't listen to the other voices.

[ Crow's voice is calm but firm. ]

Just listen to mine. My name is Crow and you're here with me now. You're on a train. You're out. Do you understand me?

[Yeah]

[Y E A H]

[That has the exact opposite effect then what he wants because Dusk's fingers are no longer twitching away. They're scratching at his neck, hard, try at the port there.]

No! Nononono more voices, no one else I'm just me! Its just my voice! That's the only one supposed to be here!

[ Wrong tactic, then. Good to know and Crow is plenty adaptable and willing to change strategies on the fly. His voice doesn't even waver, still calm. The scratching at the port is alarming but he's not fooling himself into thinking touching Dusk is a good idea, not when the man is stronger than he is. ]

Of course there's just yours. No one else is allowed in your head but you. Not me, not anyone else. It's just you in there and if you can, I'd like you to try and listen to me. But only if you want to. Okay?

[Scratchscratchscratch]

It's just mine its only ever mine, that's all there is, that's all there's supposed to be-

[But that's a lie. There was another voice in the memory and there's been another voice. Whispers of something else he has no name for.]

Don't trust other voices, never trust them, never never never-

Listen. They hurt you. And more importantly, they hurt your comrades. Badly. You want revenge for that, right?

[ It's a wild guess, but revenge is a feeling Crow can understand. ]

They lied to us. [And that is not Dusk's usual cadence. Sounds more like when he said he was Rpsilon in the memory.]

They have to pay-have to hurt-for everything- [and back to Dusk.]

[ Hmmm. That's interesting and Crow's filing it away mentally. ]

If you keep scratching your neck up, you'll injure yourself. It'll make it harder to get revenge. You need to breathe deeply, try to calm yourself down.

I-I can't. The voices. There's too many voices-

Just focus on one voice. Pick a voice and focus on it. It might not make the others go away, but it'll help if you concentrate.

My voice-I need my voice-just-

[Which one IS it?]

Don't be in a rush. Take your time, find which one sounds the most to you like you and follow that one. It's not a rush. It's not a contest. This is you, and that's worth taking your time to get it right.

Time....time to get it right....

They never gave me time, I don't-am I really getting-?

You have time right now.

Time....

Just needed time. Always said....time.

[Closing his eyes, trying to untangle things. Was it even him who needed time....?]

[ Someone needed time. Right now, Crow is going to fall silent and give Dusk that time he needs. He'll stay right there, a solid and real presence, but he won't reach out to touch him or interrupt Dusk while he's trying to concentrate. ]

[For a time, it seems to work. He's starting to calm down.]

[But when the voices re in his head, its hard to get away, breathing starting to pick up.] Who...? Whose here, whose body, almost had it-

[ Hmmm. Crow considers that, trying to decide what angle to work from will be best here. ]

It's fine, it's not a contest.

Contest....no, not a contest, not competing...was competing...?

Leaderboard, there was...

Do you know what it was for?

[ It might help if he has something to focus on. ]

Ranked us?

Always....ranking us.

So basically, it was just a load of bullshit designed to mess with your head.

They wouldn't come....wouldn't ask...

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