The Final Day

[airlockedmods]

[Friday comes with the usual morning announcement. There's no blood or anything anywhere, and nothing visibly disturbed.

>Investigate...?]

Comments

1/2

[lmafo]

[ Tick.

She smiles at Akira, reaching up to kind of... touch his face? It looks like she might be trying to comfort him, or quiet him, or something along those lines. ]

You're my friend. Duh.

[ Tock. ]

Just kinda... moved. Don't... follow me, alright?

[ Tick... ]

Huh. Don't actually have a ton of... regrets.

2/3

[airlockedmods]

[Somewhere, as you lose consciousness, you hear the pendulum on a clock swing left, and the needle tocks to the right.

You know how this works. You saved your friend Akira.

That's pretty Heroic, don't you think?

You hope that you don't have to see them again anytime soon.

>>]

>> 3/3

[airlockedmods]

[You are Penny Polendina. You're kneeling next to two of your friends, one of whom you just accidentally brained with a shovel. You watch her hand drop from Akira's face to the floor, and the way that her body kind of goes slack in his arms. You don't have to be human to recognize what happened.

Roxy Lalonde is dead.]

[in4apounding]

Roxy..?

[You know what, mysterious omniscient narrator, you are absolutely right. She DOESN'T need to be human to know what exactly she's done here.]

[Penny folds in on herself. head lowering to the holodeck floor as she lets out a raw, animal scream of pain.]

[le_mat]

[With a shaking hand he reaches out, closing Roxy's eyes, and spreading his coat over her.

That done he scoots over to Penny- one might expect some kind of lashing out, some blame. Instead he just... gathers her up as best he can while she howls]

[in4apounding]

[Yeah, she'll. Just kind of let him do that. Penny.exe is not responding right now.]

[Turns out not being able to cry doesn't actually remove the need to metaphorically break down and sob every now and then.]

[le_mat]

[This isn't her fault. This is HIS fault. And he knows the system won't see it that way. They'll be forced to execute her for his mistake.

No. No, he promised her. She's heavy, but he tries to urge her up and out of the room regardless.]

[in4apounding]

Akira-

[She's. Coming back. Slowly. Not exactly moving, yet, but at least registering his presence.]

We can't- we can't just leave her, they- ...I'm so sorry, Roxy.

[le_mat]

They won't take her yet.

[Not till after the trial. They have the living to think of]

Come on... we have to warn the others.

[in4apounding]

...Not yet.

[Penny slowly sits up, kneeling. She stares at Roxy's prone body for another minute before turning her attention to Akira, processing what he's saying, what it means.]

Akira, where's- ...Shovel-kun. Where is it?

[le_mat]

Don't you dare.

[Not after Thomas, he can't]

We're not doing this. We're done.

[in4apounding]

Not- not like that.

[Could she even take herself out with a shovel- ...well, maybe, but it wouldn't be the most reliable method.]

[She shakes her head, looking down.]

Not like Mister Thomas. Like Korra. Yuri. Chloe.

[le_mat]

... yeah. Yeah.

[It's near by, and he takes it up, offering it]

I'm with you.

[in4apounding]

[She nods mutely, rising quietly and taking it, before pulling him into a tight hug.]

I'm so sorry-

[le_mat]

This... wasn't you. She was saving me.

[He hugs her tight, trying to not cry- she doesn't need his grief right now]

[in4apounding]

She wouldn't have needed to if I wasn't so- I was just- I couldn't just let them threaten all our homes like that- and- I was going to- I wasn't going to do anything alone, but-

[le_mat]

I know.

[He untangles himself, standing and offering his hand]

We gotta get ready. Once the others see her, they're gonna call the trail. We don't have a lot of time.

[in4apounding]

[She nods, mutely, looking back at Roxy.]

...What do we need.

[le_mat]

Get the others. I'll hit the kitchen- see if we can find anything else we can use as weapons.

[in4apounding]

...okay.

[This. This isn't going to be fun. Much less so than battles to the death usually are.]

CECE, can you- do you know where everyone else is?

[airlockedmods]

The Champions of Denial and Explosions are in the Library. The Champion Landscape Artist is in his room, and I believe judging by his vital signs that he is asleep. The Champion Barista has just entered the cafeteria.

[in4apounding]

Okay. Thank you.

[Her grip tightens on Shovel-kun for a second.]

And- CECE. Thank you. For being my friend. ...And if things go badly- I'm sorry.

[le_mat]

[While Penny calls for CECE, Akira heads out to the kitchen to, well... load the fuck up on knives.]