(no subject)

[awakenerd]

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.]

Comments

ChainChat

[hot_mess_express]

[DISCUSS. Or meme. Or shitpost. Whatever.]

In the Lounge, a memory

[featherbeaned]

[ ✫ She's in a cell … or maybe a tank would be the more accurate description, with one thick glass wall looking out into a much larger room. There's not much to it: a cold metal floor with no nest to speak of, and two metal tubes, both attached to what look oddly like futuristic over-sized hamster bottles — one contains water, the other a viscous green slop. That's it. That's all she's got. It's nowhere near big enough for a creature her size, 6'6" at the shoulders and with a wingspan of over 25".

✫ The room on the other side is much more spacious. It's a lab of some kind, not that she knows what a lab is. Very high tech and futuristic. Sometimes she's alone. Sometimes Mysterious People wearing masks stand there and stare at her, tapping on handheld touchscreen devices or talking to one another.

✫ Or, she thinks they might be talking to each other? She can't hear anything at all outside of her tank. Can't understand where she is, or why, or what's happening. She's confused and scared and she's angry. And … tired.

✫ She spends some time clawing at the glass, which does nothing. She spends some time slamming her tail against it, spikes-first, which does nothing. She headbutts it, grinds her horns against it, slams her whole body against it. Nothing leaves so much as a scratch. Exhausted, she slumps into a corner and tugs uselessly at the thick collar banding (too tight) around her neck. ]



[ And Meri just ... stares at the screen, her ears back, her usually expressive face indecipherable ]

[schrodingerscockroach]

[More memories in the lounge!]

[Memories actually start out weird because one is just completely blank. Nothing at all appears on screen, though Dusk touches his heart, so maybe SOMETHING happened.]

[As for the next, more of that action movie bullshit. But Wash seems to be having fun for all that they're a few missteps away from a planet wide genocide. And they win. By throwing a ship at their enemy. Because Carolina and Wash have no chill and never did.]

[The next features a boy whose been present in a number of Faito's memories, and also he has the nickname of Puma at some point???? And dresses like a fancy butler???? In a place with weird interior decoration. Also he has a little sister! Whose an AI???? Also he has a panic attack over something, this memory is just really weird to see visually because no one can hear the AI girl talking in his head.]

[If people catch Dusk after the first three memories, he's mostly chilled, if very confused, but also kind of happy because for all Bad Stuff Happened, he learned about family and that's far more important.]

[But for people who catch him after he takes the fourth...]

[It's rough. It's a memory of montages because it covers THREE YEARS. Of Wash being in a psych ward. For those who are familiar with proper therapy practices, it's clear whatever they're doing is Not That. The Counselor is a manipulator and he's gaslighting the hell out of Wash. At least when Wash is stable because he sure does call himself other names and do things that are Very Not Okay and the scars on his neck are very much self inflicted.]

[By the time that ends, he immediately curls up, hands over the back of his neck, and forcing himself to try and breathe because that is a lot. That is a lot and it's BAD and it's. It's fucking him quite a bit.]

[shintaiprotagonist]

[yet another high-octane memory is playing in the lounge. the jasmine newbie it belongs to is perched in a chair, afterward, looking contemplative]

I have many more questions, yet I can't call it unsatisfying.

Spoilers for Chapter 2 of Trails of Cold Steel 3

[bad_crowmance]

[ With all the memories going on, Crow decides to take the opportunity to regain one more of his own. It is perhaps not quite as dramatic or high-ocatane as some of the other ones that have been playing... but it leaves Crow momentarily speechless before he refocuses, pulling out his phone and messing with it as though nothing were out of the ordinary.

Good thing most of the people here aren't mind readers or empaths. ]

AN ANNOUNCEMENT

[bad_crowmance]

[ Crow clears his throat and projects his voice so everyone can hear. ]

Ladies and gentlemen of the Aurora! If you would bring your attention to the screen for a moment, I need your honest opinions on something.

[ He presses a button on his Chain and a rock concert starts playing, featuring Crow on bass guitar and Towa as the lead singer dressed in... a rather impressive leather outfit. Everyone in the band is really good, it's clear they're putting their all into the concert and having a great time. The audience is bunch of loudly cheering students in the 17-20 year old range. ]

Please feel free to give any and all thoughts and opinions!