Beep Beep we're going to Sparby's

[airlockedmods]

Once everyone's in the dick limo and they've watched the Fantasy Sweet burn down behind them (dodging the flaming debris once the pressure builds up enough inside to make the whole thing go nuclear), it's off to the nearest fast food planet.

Which...is about five lightdays away.

Luckily for you, you have your very own Personal Artistic License to keep you entertained. So PAL bounces around the back of the limo, sitting in every lap that will have him, as he tells the story of Kip from the day he hatched as a tiny, impressionable smeet to present.

Sparing absolutely no detail.

Especially about the part where Kip failed his navigator's exam because he stopped at Then-Foodcourtia and crashed the ship into one of the greasy pustules that had sprouted on the planet's surface, destroying the aircraft and boiling his instructor alive in the fiery grease of hell.

So now there's a dick limo parked in the Sparby's parking lot. For anyone who had Arby's or Arby's-adjacent restaurants on their home planet... The menu's not much different. Everything meat-based is 100% beef, the milkshakes look delicious, and of course there are turnovers (apple, cherry, and chocolate).

Which... well, catch Kip and PAL in the corner shoving milkshakes and turnovers in their faces tbh.]

Welcome to Sparby's, Survivors.
You earned it.

Comments

[serrata]

[ Ah, it's another one of the girls from the other show... ]

I... we, um...

[ Hard swallow. ]

We found. Episodes from last time. I saw Kurumi in one of them and I needed to see what was going on. Why she was there. B--but it... it was the episode where...

[ She doesn't really need to say anything more, does she? ]

[cyan_maid]

[No, she doesn't. Jane hangs her head.]

...I'm so sorry. I...Kurumi became a very dear friend to me, there. When I saw what happened...Ricky was closer, and I tried to bring her back, but my powers...I didn't even know I had the darned things for weeks and then right when I needed them most...

[She glances away for a moment.] But...before...she was able to show me...the club room. And your garden.

[serrata]

[ She gives a laugh that sounds halfway towards becoming a sob. ]

N--no, you don't... you don't have to apologize. Just knowing that you tried... thank you.

[ She swallows hard and gives a strained smile. ]

Did she... know? What ended up happening to the school. Did she remember that much?

[cyan_maid]

...She told me...it got destroyed. In a fire, I think...a-and we did know about, um. Her...condition. She was being given medicine the whole time she was with us, so...it wouldn't be a problem.

[serrata]

[ She nods slowly. ]

...

[ She's a little paler than she was before. And suddenly, she's shaking. ]

Did... did she...

[ A pause. A hard swallow. ]

Did she say anything about... Ruu-chan?

[ Those memories are still so muddled in her head. Some days she remembers taking Ruu out of that school. Sometimes it's the bear. She doesn't trust herself enough to be sure of it either way. But Kurumi... ]

[cyan_maid]

[Jane's eyes narrow slightly, thinking back to what she'd been told and trying not to confuse it with what she'd seen.]

I...I don't think so. I'm sorry...

[serrata]

[ A sigh. ]

... No. I thought not. I was hoping, maybe...

[ She trails off and shakes her head. ]

No. It doesn't matter.

[cyan_maid]

...

[Jane offers her...not a smile, but. A wan sort of look, something tired and gentle. You don't need to elaborate, Rii-san.]

If it means anything to you...when Kurumi told us what had happened to your world...we wanted nothing more than to go there and save everyone. The Doctor could do it, apparently, if he got his spaceship back. And I still hold fast to the assertion that you and your friends deserved nothing that has happened to you.

[serrata]

... N--no, it's not... we'd already decided ourselves that we were going to do that. To go back and find everyone and save Ruu-chan, I just...

[ She's got her lips pursed tight. Like she's scared of what words might fall out if she just carries on talking without stopping to collect herself. ]

I... I needed to know... if I ever found her. Ruu-chan.

[cyan_maid]

Oh...with Mister Junpei's SHIFTing thing, right?

[Honestly she'd rather get in the rickety box first]

Well...I'm sorry I couldn't be more helpful.