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[The feed flickers on.]
[ It’s been about half a day after we last left everyone. The group had all taken their tickets, and whisked away on their little vacations. ABACAXI had remained in the main lobby, taking a few glances at the door to the back area every now and then, almost as if he’s looking out for them. But, after enough time has passed he got bored, so at the moment he’s just watching reality TV on the screen in the room. But, as he feels a surge of magic energy, he quickly shuts it off. ]
[ The first one back is CHANCE- appearing much like he left, just minus the ticket this time. ]
[CHANCE]: Oh man, I needed that… never realized how nice it was to really stretch my legs!
[ CHANCE does a little stretch to prove his point. ]
[CHANCE]: And that party dude was pretty chill too…
[ He smiles and rolls over to the wall, leaning on it like a cool guy would. ]
[ Next to arrive is MARINN, who simply seems to arrive deep in thought. He looks around, a little nervous for a second as he realizes he’s moved.]
[ His face gets a little sad as he recognizes he’s back on the ship. ]
[MARINN]: …Oh. I thought I’d have… a little more time in the woods.
[ABACAXI]: sorry, dude. gotta keep the time strict, can’t let us get delayed.
[ The puppeteer looks down at his puppet again, before going and sitting in one of the chairs. He would normally just head straight back to his room, but… now he wants to talk to someone beforehand. ]
[ ELISE arrives next, still pouting. As soon as she does, she gives a glare at ABACAXI, with presumably a very irritated expression that no one can see. ]
[ELISE]: Took you long enough… My GOD that was horrible… Couldn’t have pulled me out any sooner?
[ ABACAXIlooks a little confused. ]
[ABACAXI]: what, did a big multicolored thing spawn on you and you had to fight it?
[ELISE]: NO! WAS THAT AN OPTION?? I’d rather THAT then get stuck with some woman who just constantly talks down on me. Like, no way was SHE ever popular at school. I don’t know why she expects me to listen to her.
[ MARINN grimaces as ELISE walks by him, joining CHANCE near the wall. CHANCE seems pretty happy to see her though, even if his enthusiasm isn’t matched. ]
[ Fourth is DOROTHY’s return to the Quinn, slightly different than before. She doesn’t make any major statements as she arrives… she feels like she knew it was happening, and felt content about it. ]
[ As she readjusts to being back on the ship, being in such an enclosed location again, she sees a very small wave from the puppeteer. Hesitant, as if he was still deciding if he was actually going to do it even as his hand went up.]
[ She’s a little surprised by this, honestly, after how distant and hesitant he was to interact before. Maybe the vacation did do some good for people.]
[ As she goes to sit with him, gingerly setting her blade down by her side, the final two reappear. ]
[ … ]
[CALI and DEILE arrive, shaking. CALI seemed to arrive mid-run, and as soon as she reappears she stumbles to the ground. DEILE, on the other hand, sort of looks like he was just knocked over, lightly falling onto his back. But he’s breathing heavily, looking around wildly. ]
[ The others all look at the duo with shades of concern. ]
[ The computer cultist is collecting her breaths, even as her legs are still so wobbly. She goes to help DEILE up, but is met with shouting, as he stumbles away. ]
[DEILE]: Get away- GET AWAY FROM ME.
[CALI]: W-what?
[DEILE]: I SAID GET AWAY!!
[ DEILE scrambles behind one of the furniture pieces in the room. CALI looks shaken still, but is now also very concerned for her moth friend. ]
[CALI]: Wh-what’s the matter? What’s wrong? It’s gone! We’re…. We’re back! This is… good…
[ DEILE shakes his head frantically, as his fear turns int a bit of anger. ]
[DEILE]: No, n-no. That… that THING is gone but… but I realized something.
[DEILE]: You’re the reason all this has been happening to me.
[ CALI looks at her partner incredulously. ]
[CALI]: W-what? No, I- how would I have… made that t-thing appear? I don’t…
[DEILE]: Not THAT… EVERYTHING. Everything I’ve had happen to me since I died has been because of you.
[DEILE]: Getting into the organization, only to constantly have to do busywork…
[CALI]: You were lost! I knew you needed a support system! I was helping you!
[DEILE]: Somehow getting stuck HERE…
[CALI]: I had no control over that! You know that! You know I don’t wanna be here either!
[DEILE]: And then loss. After loss. Finally ending with NEARLY DYING to something with YOUR FACE.
[CALI]: IT HAD YOUR FACE TOO!!
[DEILE]: SHUT UP!
[ DEILE tries to kick the furniture as hard as he can, but it’s incredibly sturdy, so he just ends up hurting his foot, letting out a moth expletive. ]
[ CALI is standing there. Shuddering after the outburst. Her screen looks away from her partner, more to the ground, or anywhere away from him. As DEILE stumbles away, approaching ABACAXI- who’s been mostly silent this time, after seeing how high tensions were- CALI is left to just ruminate in the room. Computer generated tears lightly forming on her eyes. ]
[ It’s here when one of the other contestants actually tried doing something. DOROTHY, who still isn’t used to being all that emotionally supportive, approaches her. She just hates seeing her like this… being told she’s the problem. She rests her hand on her shoulder. ]
[DOROTHY]: I’m… sorry, that that happened. If you need any… help? I can try to…
[ CALI appreciates the gesture, even going so far as to lightly hug her- DOROTHY is especially not used to getting hugs, so she’s stunned into silence. Just trying her best to comfort the computer woman. ]
[ It’s at this point that the others sort of start to leave… MARINN gives a small thanks to DOROTHY before slipping away, and ELISE left as soon as shouting happened- she likes drama, but this felt wayyy to real for her to enjoy it right now, better to gossip about it afterwards. CHANCE sticks around, though. He seems almost… happy about this. As if he’s been waiting for a long time to see it. ]
[ Now, over on the other side of the room… ]
[DEILE]: What do you MEAN we can’t split? She’s a parasite on my life, on my very soul, I’m always gonna be cursed with that… bad luck! You’ve even said you feel the same thing about your irritating doctor lady. Why can’t you just make it so I don’t have to talk to her again?
[ABACAXI]: …look, it’s important you two are kept together for like, the experiment purposes. like, you’re computer bug! classic team! you gotta be together.
[DEILE]: …we’re what?
[ABACAXI]: cali & deile? isn’t that what i said? it is what i said, don’t worry about it. the point is that we can’t rework the system to have you two split unless we wanna redo the whole thing, which, i’d imagine most wouldn’t be too happy about.
[ The sorcerer thinks for a moment. ]
[ABACAXI]: i guess, maybe… you two just don’t have to talk to each other at all? or hang out, or do anything together? like, when things start, you two will be both brought into it, but… i guess you could just… ignore it and go hang out while she deals with the match part.
[ DEILE seems a little hesitant to take this as a compromise. But he doesn’t know what else he’d be able to get at this point. So he sighs, agreeing to it. ]
[DEILE]: Alright, sure. But I don’t wanna be stuck sharing a room with her either.
[ABACAXI]: all good. i can just-
[DOROTHY]: She’s keeping her room.
[ ABACAXI and DEILE are surprised to see DOROTHY having been eavesdropping, as CALI seems to be walking away. She looks at the sorcerer, eyes narrowing and growing serious. ]
[DOROTHY]: She doesn’t need to be brought down even more by your weird actual belief of this curse stuff. Let her have her room.
[ABACAXI]: alright, fine. whatever. deile, are you okay with just being in this common area? that’s like, the only spot in the ship to be, unless you wanna risk rooming with someone else.
[ DEILE considers for one second having to room with any of the other guys and nods yes. ]
[DEILE]: Yeah, this place is… fine. Better than the alternative. It works. Thanks for helping me out.
[ ABACAXI shrugs. ]
[ABACAXI]: it’s all good, man. look, i wanted that vacay to be perfect for you two. sucks that something had to come along and ruin it.
[ After a bit of time, DEILE is settling in to watch some of the TV on the screen, and ABACAXI has left. ]
[ CHANCE finally decides to leave, feeling content, as he runs into ELISE on the way back to his room. ]
[ELISE]: Okay, so, spill. What actually happened in their vacation for them to get like… that?
[CHANCE]: So I was overhearing farm girl, and apparently those two fought a big monochrome monster made up of two clones of them fused together, and the computer gal had to pray to an eldritch monument so it’d save the bug guy, but that also meant letting the bug guy fall for a very long time and nearly die! Wild, right?
[ELISE]: …
[ELISE]: UGH!! WHY DOES EVERYONE ELSE GET THE BETTER ONES! They don’t even DESERVE to be cloned and fused horrifically!!! That should have been ME!!
[ ELISE huffs off, walking into her room. CHANCE is… a little confused, she seems slightly more hostile than normal, at least to him. But he just shrugs, kicking on his wheels and rolling into his own room himself. He’s got an invite to prepare, after all… ]