week 9

[airlockedmods]

[Nine weeks, seven cases, eight Champions remaining. Something has to give and it's bound to be soon.

There is no new floor opened this time but SIS and PAL still seem to be active and ready to interact.]


Sunday | Monday | Tuesday


((Since this is the final week, there's no AC this week! But don't forget to check your memory regains, and submit for regains! The final rolls will be Sunday night (4/1)! We will also be posting the official endgame announcement later today!))

Comments

[kingshaming]

[After CECE's warning, Xander spends the morning preparing. It's easy enough to find a tote bag in the souvenir shop to put things in. He wraps the painting he received that day up safely, and puts it on the bottom, and adds anything else he wants to keep. On the top, also wrapped carefully, is a small container with a lid and a few bottles of water, along with Tol's lamp.

His door is open as he does this in room 12, since he has to keep going back and forth to other areas, but you might catch him talking to someone:]

It's okay, you'll be safer in there.

[Tiki beeps in distress, seeming to argue... then finally gives up, letting Xander pick her and her up and turn her off, placing her inside with her charging station.

The rest of the day he checks on all the others, and can be found just about anywhere, though in the evening he sits in the VIP lounge, sipping a hot tea and thinking. If anyone passes, he might flag them down]

I'm sorry... may I ask your opinion on something?

VIP Lounge

[cyan_maid]

[Hello yes, Jane has come this way with two totes full of sealed tupperwares of food and she has no idea how to split them up so everyone could carry some, but she hears Xander's question and comes right in, setting the bags down when she's close.]

Don't be sorry, Dad - what's up?

[kingshaming]

This may seem odd, but now that I remember everything... Do not ask the details, just answer from your heart.

Do you think, deep down, anyone can be forgiven?

[cyan_maid]

[...

It's an odd question, for sure. And Jane would prefer to linger on it, to really think about it, but...no, Xander asked her to answer from the heart.

So she does.]

No. Not anyone can. Just the people who are willing to change to deserve that forgiveness.

[kingshaming]

[He nods along, seeming satisfied with that]

I see...

[cyan_maid]

...Can I ask why you're asking? Or is it a private thing?

[kingshaming]

It's not exactly private, but I'm not sure you'll like what I'm about to say.

It's in regards to Rox Petuu.

[cyan_maid]

...

[She takes a sit.]

Go on.

[kingshaming]

Don't get too excited- I have no new information about her. It's more... I remember her shooting me now, all the things she did to Bolton and Jamie's group.

At the same time... I have to wonder at her motivations. At who she might really be. We all forgave Nari easily for what she did because we knew her... you've all largely accepted me after what I did. It's... complicated.

[cyan_maid]

[Jane prickles, just slightly, at the mention of Xander's shooting. She remembers it, too - remembers trying to stem the bleeding in that cell, screaming for medical help, being so angry and scared at the same time...her brow furrows, and she looks at her hands folded in her lap, trying not to grip them.]

...I think...it's different, when you know someone. When you know the good that they're capable of. When a person shows that good, when others know it's there, then you can reach for it again and again no matter how much that person tries to push away. Rox Petuu...I can't think of anything I've seen her do that suggests good is in her. And I honestly don't know how willingly I'd believe it existed if she changed right this second. That's what comes with what people do, you...you don't trust them, if they've shown nothing but cruelty. And it's okay to be wary or afraid that they'd go right back to being cruel if you offer them that forgiveness.

[She looks up then, meets Xander's eyes.]

It is complicated. That's true. And to say I wasn't hurt from what you did, from what Nari did, that'd be lying. But it's because of the good I've seen in both of you that lets me forgive you, and put my faith that you'll heal and be better for it. Because...Sburb never gave me that chance. And, I'd like to think I'm an okay person no matter what awful mistakes I made and could never make up for. So...if someone was really struggling to be better, if they were really and truly trying despite all the horrid things thrown their way, then what right do I have labeling someone as right or wrong, black or white, good or bad? It's...it's only when they don't try that you need to be careful. When they don't care.

VIP lounge

[daughterofthemark]

Certainly, Lord Xander. What would you like to know?

[is this truly the level to which we've descended, when we need arianna's opinions]

[kingshaming]

What, if we have the means, would you want to do about the network when we escape this place?

[daughterofthemark]

...I am uncertain. It is tempting to say we must burn it to the ground, but despite all we've learned, there is still so much about it that we, or at least I, do not truly understand. We've truly seen the worst of people in our dealings with them, but we've also met people such as Dame Cece. Which is the network's true face, and which is the aberration?

[motherfucking_ghost]

[Oh hey Xander if that's who you really are, have Church's essentials being shoved at you.] I should've maybe got water bottles for everyone instead of snacks, Jane's got food getting ready for packing and going I think, um, everyone should make sure they have each others' numbers before things happen, there's a quick contact thing on the phone, and I don't have any holsters for the knives so people just need to improvise or be careful.

[When he actually takes a breath:] ...Is that you actually in there or the alien?

[kingshaming]

[Wow that is a lot at once, but xander is doing a good job organizing and nodding as Church speaks]

Yes, it's me. She's actually been very polite when it comes to my privacy. If it gets to a point when we need to be alone, I can move her to the bowl- it's just easier to move without fear of spilling her this way.

room 12

[ratherdoweddings]

[Yurika knocks and pops her head in... wearing the bunny suit from his trial.]

Oh, Xander-san! You're bringing Tiki-chan along too?

[kingshaming]

Of course- her being outside the sim was a blessing already, I can't abandon her now... and if we are escaping, I can't risk not being able to come back.

[ratherdoweddings]

[giggle] That's actually really cute! You know, before the space station, I never would've thought of keeping cleaning robots as pets, but maybe it's just common here.