westwhere | the unwinding

the unwinding

Heya! Let loose for Serthica’s Unwinding — our event spanning 24 September-15 October that doubles as a test drive.

This round’s test drive participants do not require an invite to apply. Applications open over 8-14 October. Enjoy!

THE UNWINDING

TEST DRIVE TOURISTS | OLD TIMERS | DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE
SPILL THE TEA | DRIP BY DRIP | ALL A DREA —

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✘ NEWCOMERS | BARRELING IN

Soaring seagulls and splintered silence. You awaken on the shoreline of steampunk citadel Clockwork Serthica, recovered by the irritable witch Karsa.

She shares translation and communication devices, scarce healing and a rapid briefing: you have reached a world where undead forces seek to weaponise you in their battle for dominion. Karsa’s employer, the Merchant leads travel to beacons meant to return you home.

Other otherworlders have already infiltrated Serthica. Karsa steers newcomers into the impoverished underworld of the Mouse House, to board a rickety coal train serving the citadel.

■ Silver tongues can win you passage.

■ ...alternatively, hide in the obscenely large whiskey barrels the train also smuggles in.

■ Mid-voyage, the train quakes, slamming you into walls and windows. Around you, the stench of bleach, the warm crackle of embers and static magic that builds thick, nearly electric.

You feel faint and fainter, when you overhear Karsa’s murmured, “It’s too early” — “find” — “find” — “it’s like a drea” — “don’t unwind” — “all child’s play.”

And then you’re U n w i n d i n g.

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✘ OLD TIMERS | INHALE-EXHALE

Eidris, Minaras, the Neutral Zone: all abuzz with residential whispers of imminent Unwinding — an annual fixture natives dread without fully remembering.

■ In the two days leading to the Unwinding, characters struggle to tell apart or remember the physical features of natives.

■ Some locals steal you into dark alleys, where they become suddenly stiff, emitting a rusty, guttural Ke-ke-ke sound. They do not recall this after.

The Unwinding kicks off at 6am, when both Eidris and Minaras are overground. Jim Kirk’s fixed music box begins to play, its chipper rural tune overtaking your thoughts: “Up the mountain, in the grove, hand in hand to Ke-ke-ke — Ke-Waihu, fresh harvest’s a treasure trove, each fall we feast anew.”

Earth shatters seismically underfoot, magic depletes, the citadel’s clock tower strikes 6:00 — and an urgent communication from the Merchant is interrupted by static, “You can we-we-we-…-stand it, the white man come — remembrrrrrrrrrrrr live, you are alive, do not be convinsssss —ssss — ssssd otherwisssssss —”

But you’re already U n w i n d i n g.

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✘ DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE

Down and down, you tumble, Alice — through a cavernous tunnel that widens and chokes arbitrarily. Sometimes you float and fly, sometimes you’re thrust sideways. Mostly, you keep falling.

■ Beware objects falling into you: from grand pianos to mystical balls of fire, stray beds, love letters and sharp-pointed weapons. Even a blood-spattered umbrella that shields against anything.

■ You’re dropped unceremoniously into an underground lair, as items keep falling down. Unclaimed, they disappear within minutes. Three jackalopes smoking opiate pipes point you indifferently towards a locked door. On its handle sit a bone dice and a note instructing, ROLL FOUR TO OPEN.

■ The dice can only be thrown every 10 minutes and feels too monstrously heavy to lift otherwise. Each roll makes the effect of the previous throw disappear. If you get:

one: gravity fades, the dice floats out of reach. ( The jackalopes enjoy the breeze. )

two: the floor, barring a few narrow steps at great jumping distance, is lava. ( The jackalopes check ‘hell’ off their vacation list.)

three: an irked dragon coils beside you. (The jackalopes prepare to tan.)

five: the thrower grows and grows and grows, until they must contort creatively to fit inside. ( The jackalopes charge rent. )

six: the room fills with water that nearly reaches the ceiling. (The jackalopes are competitive swimmers.)

seven: everything about your companion irritates you. They even breathe wrong. ( The jackalopes find this awkward. )

eight: The floor slowly expands into quicksand. ( The jackalopes hoverboard. )

■ Roll four and the door creaks merrily open. A second note slips loose, I’m sorry. Head in, your newfound possessions abandoned — and keep U n w i n d i n g.

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✘ SPILL THE TEA

You wake, dressed to the steampunk nines, at a tea party, alongside a companion and a slew of eerie guests: cog droids, faceless people and animated human-sized burlap mannequins. You only hear static and white noise when they speak.

When you leave the table, a fox butler passes you the empty kettle, asking you to, ”Make tea and finish here”.

■ You’re inevitably stuck in a decrepit dollhouse. Heavily boarded doors and windows ultimately open to show plague sickness in the streets. The fox butler closes them, reminding, ”He’ll make it go away.”

■ Travel a corridor of repeating rooms to reach the kitchens, and don’t dally. Every time the clock strikes a new hour, the partygoers grab their sharpest knife and stalk down the house to pursue you. The frenzy lasts 10 minutes before they return to their seats — barricade in deserted rooms, hide behind curtains or climb up the chimney…

■ For tea, the mannequin cook directs you to retrieve juniper and rosemary leaves from the greenhouse, where plant tendrils try to trap you, leaving marks of mould; rescue the milk container from a cat that’s running on the crumbling staircase, and sugar from a dish in the lavish nursery room, where ghostly hands might seek to drag you into walls and send you back down the rabbit hole.

■ Supplied, the huffing burlap cook prepares tea. Just as you’re about to taste the black brew at the party table, a man in white takes and spills your tea out in a plant pot. You only hear, ”You don’t need this yet” — before you’re U n w i n d i ng.

■ On exiting the Unwinding, your pockets burst with plants or leaves of juniper and rosemary. They can alleviate McCoy’s sickness.

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✘ DRIP BY DRIP

You wake up in bloodied clothes in a filled bathtub. You are hounded by urgency, as if you’re hunted. The unease never wanes, as you gather your bearings and join the bustling city streets, armed with a blood-spattered white umbrella. In your pocket, two paper notes: CHILDREN LIE and WHAT IS HIS NAME?(

Your memories are confused: half of you is certain you are a content citizen of Serthica. The other riots that you don’t belong. An excruciating migraine strikes when you try to remember how you arrived here.

Gravity’s a loose concept: you walk, or you float. The city is either perfectly still, or inundated with the screeching of hearses and criers. Locals — all faceless, or man-sized burlap mannequins — mill busily, despite the forlorn rain.

■ Hold on to your umbrella: linger uncovered in the rain, and your facial features slowly fade, while you desperately try to convince your teammate that you should stay here forever. You recover once dry.

■ The inhuman locals grow increasingly more hostile with time: carriages want to run you over, friendly burlap shopkeepers push you into a ditch. They chase if you ask their name.

■ Happily, this world is vulnerable to your desires: wish gravity undone, and you can walk on walls. Think a river into being, and it bursts ahead. Imagine buildings, and they pop up. Playing God comes at a price of bad luck: the staircase you envisage thins and breaks just as you cross it, your knife rusts after the first swing.

■ Your pursuers abandon you, when you reach a deserted marketplace and encounter a drenched, battered boy wearing a fox mask. He is playing with paper boats in the middle of a large black puddle. You feel deep and building hatred for him.

■ Seeing you, the child mentions one of you previously tried to kill him. He offers his name, in exchange for your umbrella:

a. Refuse or dally, and dark hands rise out of the puddle to pull you and your partner in, scratching you bloody. The last thing you see, before you wake up in the bathtub again (or out of the Unwinding), is a man in white who collects your umbrella. He holds it over the child, scolding, ”Did you forget again? This one never hurt you.”

b. To surrender the umbrella, step on the paper boats as you cross the puddle to the boy. Walking straight on water feels like stepping on knives. The child accepts your umbrella, whispering his name is ”Hyang-Won”, before you start to fade out of the Unwinding.

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✘ IT WAS ALL A DREA —

New or old, as the Unwinding ends, you wake up in Ma’am Mariol’s modest orphanage in the Mouse House. Mariol, the orphans and Serthica at large recall nothing about the Unwinding. Karsa, who dragged you in, is pale and exhausted, her memory patchy. She urges everyone to recuperate before heading back overground.

■ Your body shows only a fraction of any damage sustained in the Unwinding.

■ Ma’am Mariol’s labyrinthine home offers limited accommodations: share beds, floors, and household chores, while the orphans led by curious Gavroche, peer in.

NOTES

■ You can make network posts outside of the Unwinding.

■ Feel free to mark if you're a test drive tourist or an old timer in your top level!

■ The Unwinding is a shifting of realities not a dreamscape.

■ You can opt out of the Unwinding by keeping characters in the Mouse House. Here, nothing seems amiss.

■ QUESTIONS!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Is she quoting future-him now? (Alternate-him?) Five is more likely to listen to himself, so it's not a bad strategy. At least that part of them is on the same page.

He can't be sure what forced them together, but he's willing to bet Diego was at the crux of it. If his brother were here, he'd be the first one to remind him that Lila is family now. Just the kind of family that won't hesitate to hit him in the head with a cast-iron skillet. ]

That sounds like someone who was out of options. [ It's unfortunate how often he fits that category. Including here, where she might have information he needs. Not to mention Diego's infatuation. ]

Let's take his advice then, shall we? Go ahead and tell me that we stopped the apocalypse. Say you have no idea where my brother is, and the only thing you're guilty of is handing out candy to children, and I'll believe you.

[ He grins up at her, sharp and unpleasant. ]

But if I find out you lied to me, I'll kill you right in the middle of this orphanage.

[ She sure as shit is, because sometimes, Five actually tries to take his own advice. It might make him a little manic for a bit, but eventually he seems to come around.

When he hears what did force them together, he is going to lose it. Try to find a way around it, and Lila won't bother to stop him. The paradox to end all others. Begrudgingly, she does find amusement in Five outside of actually harassing him, and can admit that she does need him. Plus, Diego would be upset if she killed him or stood by and watched. ]

He was. [ And so was she. No briefcase, no home, no family, but a shit ton of problems.

Lila lifts her hand to point at him. ] If I told you all that, in that exact way, we'd have to fight, since I'm sure as hell not going to stand here doing nothing while you kill me.

Your sibling, Viktor now, doesn't blow up the moon. I don't know where Diego is, but I know where I last saw him before I ended up here. And how guilty are we talking? Because I conned my way onto a train and may have done some crimes after falling down a very interesting hole.

[ It's very obvious that she's not telling the whole truth, but every word certainly rings true. There is clearly a story here to be told, now that he's ready to at least try to believe her. ]

[ Nothing has really changed, but Five seems somewhat satisfied that he's set the ground rules for them. For as much as a problem as she's been, he can appreciate that Lila knows him well enough to trust that he'll follow through on a threat.

He gets a little stuck on his sibling 'Viktor'. It shows on his face, and in any other scenario he might have asked a follow up question. As it is, the prick of a headache he gets when she mentions the moon is enough for him to go on. The last thing he needs is Lila finding out he's suffering from memory problems that extend beyond the temporary insanity they all experienced.

Lila, apparently, included. ]

Is that all you remember? [ Better to focus on the present problem, while they're on the topic. ] Did you notice anything on the train?

[ It takes a problem to know a problem, Five. They could go back and forth on fighting both physically and verbally, but it's always nice to know where they stand in the scheme of things.

There's a look on his face, one Lila doesn't quite recognize or understand how to read. She does feel like he should be asking a lot more follow-up questions about everything she knows. Or at least telling her to start from the beginning.

She shifts away, only to plop down in the nearest seat. Legs shift up over the arm of the chair casually. ]

You're going to have to be more specific, because I remember a lot. [ As for the second one, well, it may be nice having someone else who is trained to pick up as many details as possible regardless of her situation. ] The train shook a good while in, enough to knock people around, the smell of bleach, warmth and sound of something burning, and a sensation of something like electricity, but not quite that. More like the feeling of your power building up towards a big jump.

As I was fading, I heard Karsa say “It’s too early” — “find” — “find” — “it’s like a drea” — “don’t unwind” — “all child’s play.” Next thing I know, I'm falling down the hole.

[ As she gets comfortable, Five moves over to lean against a wall and folds his arms over his chest, never leaving his back to her. It's a fine line to walk, trying to get information without revealing that he's worse off than she realizes. The future is still on his mind, along with everything else she hasn't said, but he forces himself to stay focused. At least until he's had a talk with Allison.

She gives him more detail than he expects, so maybe she is trying to prove that she's willing to work with him. There's a couple of conclusions he can draw from what she says, and he's not a fan of either. ]

You met Karsa. [ Speaking of people he hates. He wouldn't be surprised if they hit it off. ]

They've been talking about the unwinding for a while now. They knew what would happen, but didn't think to send a warning until it was too late to do anything about it. [ Apparently he's just lumping Lila in with the rest of them now. ] How big of a group was there with you?

[ There's no problem with the way he keeps an eye on her, it's almost expected as they haven't had their little bonding moment of getting back to the Commission yet. Plus, attacking him had been her greeting when they'd met up after the barn. His time and experience here could have also made him that much more suspicious.

She sees no point in keeping it from him, sharing information is useful to both of them. Even if there are others she could ask, Five just happens to be the one who she knows best. ]

Real peach and super informative that one is. [ Lila's not a fan either, which is why the sarcasm. ]

I think it should come as no surprise that there was no mention of the unwinding in our briefing on the beach. [ As he should. Dare she mention that parts of that adventure reminded her of something she'd just been through? ] About twenty. No one I recognized.

[ Five scoffs at her sarcasm. Despite himself, he appreciates that Lila and Karsa aren't something he needs to worry about. Just Lila and everyone else who has a grudge against him.

He can admit that everything she's describing sounds like what newcomers experience, down to being shepherded by his least-favorite sorceress to join the rest of the group. That doesn't mean there's nothing else to her sudden reappearance, but if she did plan to infiltrate them, she did her homework.

Twenty is a large number this time. More he has to keep better track of. He's quiet while he files that information away and doesn't get sidetracked by the other burning questions on his mind. ]

How does that briefing go nowadays? Are they still claiming we're the biggest threat to their world?

[ And yet, the more he shows his dislike, the more Lila will want to befriend the sorceress. Just to get on his nerves. For now, she leaves it at that. Worry about harassing Five later.

Her leg bounces on the arm of the chair, hand fiddling with something inside the pocket of her jacket. It's not a weapon, not from any sign of her body language. For all she knows, there could be something to her appearance here. Though it's certainly not on any order given to her by the Commission. That place is in shambles.

Lila doesn't know if they all made it through the Unwinding, she hasn't seen every single one of those same faces yet in her wandering of the orphanage. ]

Karsa did use the world "infiltrate" when talking about you lot, so I imagine they still see you as some sort of threat. Seeing as how you're here, I'd agree.

[ The individual who created the Commission, who set people up to assassinate anyone who makes the timeline deviate, who told them to let the Kugelblitz go. He walks amongst these people, capable of terrible things if it meant his family was safe. ]

Mostly, she said that undead forces seek to weaponize us in battle for dominion. That the Merchant leads us to travel to a beacon, so we can all get the hell out of here and go back home. Handed out translation and communication device, healed those that were hurt, then took us through a shitty part of town to the train.

[ At that, she pulls out the watch from the pocket she was fiddling around in. ]

[ The fiddling ensures Five keeps all of his focus on her, and honestly, he's still halfway expecting her to lunge at him at any moment. He gives her another tight lipped smile at the threat comment, even if he's not yet totally aware of everything he's capable of. If only everyone was so good at putting grudges aside.

Half the people here certainly seem to have decided he can't be trusted, all over one or two unfortunate incidents. And yet here he stays. The smart ones know how valuable he is to keep around, and he has no intention of betraying them as long as they don't conflict with his goals, so he doesn't really see the problem.

When she pulls out the watch, he leans in to get a good look at it. The story Karsa gave isn't all that different from what he heard when he first arrived, but he's been around long enough to know it's not all that cut and dry. ]

Sticking with the classics. Did they leave out how the beacons always break after one use? [ Not only that, but some people who use them bounce right back after reaching their home dimension. ] I have my suspicions that they keep shipping us around so we can do their dirty work for them. But since they're footing the bills, they don't expect any complaints.

[ You're welcome, Lila, for all this valuable information. ]

Shouldn't be too much of an adjustment for you.

[ The way he's looking at her, maybe they should just get it over with. Head out to whatever counts as a yard and have a go. Maybe he needs to let off some steam, and it's not as if Lila can have any deeper hatred for him.

She might be petty about it, but it wouldn't put her off talking or hanging out with him. Lila is well aware how he operates, and can also do so in a similar fashion. Maybe he only saved her in that barn as a result of saving himself and his siblings, but Five knows what he gets with her. Knows he could probably pull her strings just as well as the Handler did.

Just to be helpful, Lila opens it to show what's inside. Looks rather ordinary as pocket watches go, but it doesn't really suit her. Her gaze narrow at his words, thoughts spinning with the new information. ]

They sure didn't put that in their terrible orientation. [ While Lila is also thinking something similar, she does have to wonder if it's just Five's paranoia. It can be spot-on, but Lila might dig around to see what others think. ] Using us as their own little personal army?

[ This really won't be too much of an adjustment. ]

You see one of these beacons yet?

[ Blame it on her timing. This city is designed to play into his paranoia, which has proven to be more than warranted. Not to mention the nightmare they went through was the first solid sleep he's had in too long. Diego's disappearance is too fresh on his mind to completely let it go, and he's still not sure if Lila was just throwing him off by talking about the future.

He's been on edge for a while now, and they just keep trying to see how much further they can push.

If she asks around, most would probably dismiss what he says as conspiracy theories. But they all haven't been around as long as him, and he knows there's more than a few who don't trust the Merchant to always have their best interests. After he learned more about his history, he's nearly convinced that he's out for revenge against everyone who left his people to the undead.

Five stares down at the watch. Nothing about it shows that it's capable of anything other than telling time, but that's magic for you. ]

I've seen two. [ And they're why he'd put more stock in the possibility that he can figure out the math to cross dimensions. ] Supposedly there's another one here, but I'm sure it won't be made available to us until we've cleaned up their little problem.

[ This is the worst one yet. If they weren't the best chance he has of finding his other siblings, he would have been gone a long time ago. ]

We already killed two of their warlords for them. Funny how they just happen to show up where we are.

[ Even she will admit that the timing of her appearing after Diego leaves is unusual and a little bit suspicious, especially if he's also from around the same time as Five. The way it was put, it seems like he just disappeared and didn't find his way out through a beacon.

So maybe they really should just have a row, not her out right attacking, but some place for him to focus all that pent up energy he seems to have from weeks of frustration and mania.

While Lila isn't willing to throw complete trust into strangers, much less one that calls themself "the Merchant", it might give her a clearer picture on whether or not Five's theories hold any water. As of now, she mostly has his word to go on, and it's clear that he's unsettled. ]

Did you see them get used? [ Because that's the real question here. Followed by a few others. ] So "cleaning up" means killing one of the warlords. What's standing between us and them?

[ She technically isn't in the assassination game anymore, but if it means getting to go home, she will. ]

Also, have you got a briefcase? [ Lila leans forward, looking him straight on. ] Because if you do, the two of us can jury-rig it to work. We got two jumps out of it. Bet you've already been working on the math.

[ Shows how often people actually listen to him when he's willing to offer up his own bitter assessment to Lila. His eye twitches when she asks about the briefcase, but he holds onto that answer to clarify a couple of things. ]

Yes, I saw them use the beacons. They're old and unreliable. We had to resurrect a witch to get them running, and both times they got out a handful of people before they failed. Some of those same people returned after a few minutes.

[ Five has his own opinions about the warlords, and even a deal with one of them, but they never come outright and say that's what they want. A lot of their population is actually pretty well integrated with the undead. ]

There aren't any warlords here right now. What's going on is more complicated. Although if one shows up, I doubt they'd mind. [ He pauses, thinking his brother would want him to share this: ] Diego took out the last one.

[ Lastly, just what is she talking about? Because he does have a briefcase, but how the hell does she know he broke it? ...Of course he's been working on the math. It's all he's been doing lately, now that he's enlisted an engineer from the future and he has a set point that he needs to get back to.

He's still piecing together what series of events would have brought them to needing to jury-rig one in any other scenario when it occurs to him. ]

Holding hands?

[ It does. Five could have just left her to find out from someone else, could have saved his words for a person he actually liked... few as they may be. Missing that eye twitch is impossible, and she can already guess half of what he's thinking. ]

Sounds like a pain in the arse. What did the people who returned say about their trip? [ Did they actually get a glimpse of home, or see anything weird? If she's having doubts about the beacons, then clearly he is too.

Lila's sure she'll have an opinion on the warlords, might be willing to make a deal with them, too. So she'd hardly be one to criticize Five doing that. ]

Children lie. [ She doesn't know what the group is trying to achieve, only held on to the weird bits of information gathered since her arrival. Eyebrows go up in surprise, the smallest upturn of her lips when Diego's name is dropped. ] Bet that made him the hero of the hour. Probably loved that.

[ Pieces are fitting together in his head, the small ones she's given him about his future. It's practically written all over his face, and Lila merely sits there as he does so. Because that guess had nothing to do with what she knows about Five's briefcase. He mentioned the barn, which means he's from around that point in time, and there are briefcases scattered everywhere. While she does figure he has that briefcase, her knowledge of how to jury-rig it stems from experience.

Thoughts connect and she smiles. ]

Holding hands, in an electrical closet.

[ It's around now that he's realizing it. He's been... stressed, since coming to a city under constant surveillance, not to mention his brother's disappearance, the smear campaign against him, and letting a curse fester on top of it. He's at his limit.

So there is a part of him that actually did wonder what her impression might be if he filled her in. Given her background. Maybe he was looking for vindication from someone who wouldn't cut him any slack about his paranoia. But even if he's only telling her what she could find out on her own, he's being a little too generous. ]

You can ask them. There's still a few floating around.

[ He only gives small tilt of his head when she guesses at Diego's reaction to being hero of the hour. He did. It also might have inflated his ego a little too much, if he's missing because he thought he could save the day. Lila kidnapping him again was the better option.

The briefcase is another issue altogether. He doesn't react to her phrasing, just flexes his jaw as that uncertain feeling sneaks up on him once more. That thing that threatens to take over his ability to focus on anything else. If they really did get back and the apocalypse didn't happen, it was supposed to be over. There shouldn't be a reason to use the briefcases at all.

Five also wasn't counting on a solution to just land at his feet out of the blue. He's been working on restoring his briefcase for months now. And he only recently figured out which point in time he needs to return to retrieve his siblings and fix his memories. From what she's telling him, all Lila needed to do was hold his hand and mimic his powers to jumpstart one. Somehow the two of them got it going again.

He stares back at her, and his thoughts are stuck on the science behind it, and what happened with the Commission in the future. Does he want to know, or will knowing be too much of a distraction? Eventually, he huffs out a breath and finally answers her previous question. ]

I have one. [ He'll leave out the tantrum he had not long after getting here, but she couldn't really blame him for it. ] It's broken. Coincidentally.

[ Even if Lila is missing information, all the shit he's been through, she can tell he's tightly wound. A year and a half stuck here with only two of his siblings? Not knowing whether they made it back to their timeline, the apocalypse prevented, on top of everything currently around - it's a shit storm of stress that's about to destroy him and all he's done.

Five needs a wall he can throw it at, and he likes Allison enough to not make her the first choice. More the last. Whereas Lila can take it and lob it right back at him. Put holes in all his theories that just don't quite match up, or join him in tying red strings to ones that seem plausible. That's all there in his eyes. ]

Alright. I'll ask around and come back to hear all your crazy thoughts, twerp. Might want to consider ways to lower your stress levels before you have a heart attack.

[ Spending a few months locked up with him because he was trying to save the president, told her all about his hero complex. It's not as if Diego hides it, and she knows that. She definitely would have preferred it if she'd kidnapped him, instead of them being passing ships in the night.

An internal struggle happens, Five questioning about the future, and if he should know it, torn between the here and now problems right in front of them. Lila would tell him, if he asked. But the situation is exactly as bad as he can imagine, for the two of them to join hands, to need the briefcase. She assured him that they survived the moon destroying everything - that's not enough to make a briefcase stop working.

So that leaves the question of "what is catastrophic enough to cause that". And how big of a fucking problem he'll be facing when he finally leaves this place. Finally, he skirts around asking for now and gives her an answer. ]

Figured it might be, else you and your siblings wouldn't be stuck here still. Any time you give it a go, I'll lend a hand.

[ Lila straightens herself properly in the seat, humming curiously. ] Has it just been the three of you in all that time? No one else has come and gone?

[ Seeing him stressed isn't anything new, but it still bothers him that he's so obviously struggling to make sense of something he's afraid to know. Not afraid. Just... full of the same dread he has whenever his carefully laid plans fail and he's faced with yet another impossible task. Lila could be bluffing, but it comes across as actual concern when she doesn't tell him anyway, like she doesn't think he can handle it.

Five could prove her wrong and ask those questions, but he just scowls instead. He doesn't like the way she almost sounds worried for him. Which could mean whatever happens in the future is worse than what's happening here.

It manages to surprise him that she's so ready to offer her help, but it really shouldn't. A working briefcase benefits all of them.

Only at her question about the others he finally breaks his gaze. That's most of the reason he needs to go back. Get the person who erased his memory to reverse it, and kill him, then bring his family back. All these months later and he still doesn't know if the other two are alive, only that they've been missing. Like Diego.

Belatedly, he lifts his head. She said the three of them. ]

You saw Allison.

[ This is stressed to the max, it's the final hour before doomsday. It's staring himself in the face and watching himself die with the knowledge that another him wouldn't save the world or his siblings. Lila's seen that. She saw him die, and it wasn't as satisfying as she thought it would be.

They all joke that Five seems to live for the apocalypse, that he gets a thrill from it. And maybe he does a little bit. That adrenaline rush of never stopping, having to keep going, and the idea of actually finally getting to stop. But Lila knows the truth of his retirement. A box in the basement where a machine breathes for him - that's where he's headed. Unless he changes things again.

The two of them saw that together, they partied with the Sparrows, they danced at Luther's wedding, are facing down the end of the universe. And if... they somehow survive that, he will be uncle to the little nugget that's growing inside her.

She doesn't have to like him, but Diego would be upset if she let him die. Probably still accept her if it was an accident, or if there was nothing she could do. But if she could and just stood by doing nothing? Lila's afraid of what would come next.

So working together again, it is. She will put out her offer to help and leave it where it lies until he takes her up on it. A working briefcase gets them all back where they want to be. ]

We made tea and played tag with the guests.

[ It really shows the state they're in when it takes this long to mention what happened in that bizarre dream. At one point his face melted off and he never wanted to leave. Five has had a hard life, seen so much that little phases him, but that may still manage to make it into rotation in his nightmares.

He needs to check in with Allison. They don't really... talk about things. Diego would have been better, but he's the sibling she's left with. Although with the way she's acting, he wonders if Lila would perk up to that too.

A lot can happen in three months. ]

Guests with knives? [ That was actually one of the better visions, all things considered. He sighs. ] There's something wrong with the people in the city. I've got a feeling they're the ones who didn't make it out of that in time.

[ There's a lot to catch up on. First, they had some neutral ground go traverse and get them to the point where they were working to instead of against. Now they can talk about new business.

Chances are good that Five may see Lila circling Allison in a somewhat sisterly manner. Watching how she spins and trying to put focus into it. She hasn't had a sister before, but they had a moment from Liam's point of view. Though, maybe it's a cause for concern when the assassin hangs out with the nice Hargreeves.

A lot can happen in a week with this group around. ]

Those are the ones. [ She saw some people on the way to the train, the sort the pair of them would hang out with. ] Noticed some of that on the way in. If the people in that rainy city are anything like the people here, we should probably get the help out of here.

[ Five purposely does not mention the mannequins that people keep finding behind locked doors in various states of torture and reanimation. Though he's definitely thinking about them. ]

I'm considering it. [ But he hasn't given up the search for Diego yet. Not that he's completely ruled out Lila having something to do with that, but she's managed to make him doubt. Despite her report that they all make it out of here, he can't assume they'll be fine if he does nothing.

He gives her another long stare before he goes on. ]

...We haven't seen something like this before. The Merchant wanted to know if they'd succumbed to the dead, but it's more like they're people who were wiped clean. Puppets that keep their city running.

It might be a lost cause. I don't know if another faulty beacon is worth the risk.

[ That will be something she finds out in time, whether from someone else or on her own. Surely, a fun day. ]

But haven't done it yet. [ Which meant something important was keeping him here. Anyone who knows a damn thing about Five can guess it. He might have left Diego in the asylum, but he wasn't going to leave the sixties without him.

If there's one thing Lila is certain of, it's that the Hargreeves can change their own history. ]

Bet you get along great with the rest of the group. Some of them seem the sort to play the hero, even in a situation like this one.

[ Whereas Five could leave all this behind if he just knew his brother was safe. ]

Still, might be better to try to do something about this situation than let it grow worse. Could bite us in the arse later. If the beacons are breaking, then we may need all of them we can get. Coming back here in the future for one that was left untouched will be a lot more difficult.

[ A sigh and a shrug of her shoulders. ] Then again, maybe it won't be needed, and the losses will outweigh the gains.

[ No, hasn't. Lila could guess why, so he doesn't bother with a response. Even before Diego disappeared, sticking with them has proven to be the best way to find the rest of his siblings. That really is what it all comes down to, but that doesn't mean he hasn't been tempted. He's got the probability equations all worked out.

Five readjusts his stance when she mentions getting along with the group. Not counting Allison, there's only about four he trusts to any degree. Which is four more than he had before getting stuck here, but it leaves a lot more who he expects to betray him. Some who already turned on him, so it's not just his paranoia, thanks very much. He doesn't look forward to adding Lila to the mix.

Because they're sure talking like he's already decided to.

First she says she'll help with the briefcase, then she's ready to make this mess her problem. Which, again, he could blame on Diego if he believes she didn't have anything to do with whatever happened. That's a lot more comfortable than trying to imagine what changed in the future.

And if they did take his brother, it doesn't make him feel any more inclined to solve their problems and a lot more interested in seeing the city burned to the ground. ]

Right. [ He has other plans to undo his mistakes, but it's clear now that he really should have been paying more attention. ] Well, if all else fails, it wouldn't be the first place we left in ruins. You've been missing out.

[ Frowning, he works back to the one thing that stood out to him. As suspicious as her timing is, Lila might have noticed something he missed. ]

Did you see the kid asking for the umbrella?

[ Lila had his motivation pegged after five minutes in his presence, it hardly matters when and where he is. As much as he might bitch about his family, most of what Five does is for them. It isn't just about how both Allison and Diego were with the group, not when the rest were all missing. New people might not show up right with the group, but they ended up together in the end.

The shifting gives away everything his silence doesn't say, he really hasn't made friends with the majority of the group. It's hard for people like them to open up and let others get that close. Waiting for the eventual stab in the back. She doesn't bother saying that if she did turn on Five, Lila would do it right in front of his face. No more need for subterfuge between them.

Even then, it wouldn't be a huge one, not when he's Diego's brother. It's an irritation that she has to get along with her parent's killer, but she might have to give up on the past for a future.

So he can blame it on Diego, for making her want something that resembles a family. Even if that means Five is part of it. One day, Lila will tell Five what the Commission has become - and who is the Founder was. That information might make him more paranoid or give him some sense of ease.

When Five speaks about leaving a place in ruins, she lets out a short laugh. ] Sure, sounds like a blast.

[ One day he'll understand the meaning of her words on that matter. ]

Oh, I saw him. Never seen him before, but I hated him. Fox mask, looked a little rough, black paper boats, hanging out in an empty market that didn't quite suit the rest of the place. Hurt like a bitch walking over those boats. Gave him my umbrella and got the name Hyang-Won. Didn't do me too much good with the information I had.

[ He knows what she's doing. In every one of her silences, Five can tell she's still analyzing him, looking for the subtle changes between who he is now and some future-alternate version. Her laugh doesn't make him feel any more secure in what's waiting for him.

Sometime soon he's going to break and ask her exactly what happens, so he can prepare for something so catastrophic that it caused the briefcases to fail, but that requires him to trust that she won't bend any facts. She knows she's his only source of information, so she could take full advantage. Lila technically being family just makes that more likely.

So he stays stubbornly focused on what they both experienced. He nods, thinking it's a good thing she saw him so he doesn't have to describe the entire encounter. For whatever reason, he doesn't have as many reservations about discussing it with Lila. It seems like the logical thing to do. Get an outside perspective and watch for any tells that her timing is anything other than a coincidence. ]

Right. Hyang-Won. [ He debates with himself for a moment, but goes ahead with the story. ]

I don't think he was a child, but that's besides the point. That was the name of one of the warlords, before he was turned undead. The one Diego killed. [ And why give his name, unless they wanted them to know that? ] The man in white who was with him is supposedly the one who changed him into what he later became.

Whatever happened to us, they're the ones behind it.

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