Nebula 24 | Video

[fivemilesdeep]

[About an hour after everyone's unceremonious return, the video feed clicks on to show Ryo in the dining car, looking serious.]

Three things:

One: Is everyone okay?

Two: There's food in the dining car, and coffee and tea and hot chocolate. Come get something to eat if you need it.

Three: What happened?

[OOC: ICP and in-person replies are great, threadjacking is great, everything is great! Go nuts.]

Comments

[jingyeets]

... ( it's a pause of consideration, where he makes himself not look at the forms again. ) Broth.

( usually he'd say stew. right now, his stomach is feeling too small for significant fare. )

[fivemilesdeep]

[He dishes up some broth, adds a slice of bread, and places it in front of Jingyi near the hot chocolate. It's a pair of fairly rich menu items, but there's something to be said for comfort food.]

Do you want to talk, or do you want me to let you eat for a bit?

[jingyeets]

( he's just holding the hot chocolate at the moment, squinting down at it and all its rich scent. )

Eat, since once I start complaining, I don't stop.

( or he does stop, but he's not in a mood to be holding back on a myriad of complaints by now. )

[fivemilesdeep]

That's fair.

[He's fairly familiar with Jingyi's complaining process by now, if their shared sessions are any indication, and from what he's heard, there's plenty to complain about from this fake mission.]

[So he gives Jingyi the time and space to eat, using the time to take dirty dishes back to the kitchen and set them aside to be washed.]

[jingyeets]

( Some people would nurse alcohol like Jingyi's presently nursing the broth, and he learns in the process, it's best he started with the broth. It takes him time to even get through the one bowl, and then he does pick up the hot chocolate again, taking a sip of the now cooler drink, but finding it just the right kind of overwhelming.

It stirs him out of his own head, enough that when Ryo's next back around he says, )

This is good.

( Not with surprise, just a statement of noting a for-him fact. Hot chocolate is, so far, good. )

So was the broth. Thank you...

( He sighs, canting his head to the side. )

What did you want to hear about, with the nonsense that went on?

[fivemilesdeep]

[He smiles at the statement of fact.]

Thank you. I'm glad you liked it.

[He can just about see Lia's satisfied smirk at that, hear what she'd say - of course it's good, everyone knows I make the best-]

[He's going to make himself homesick again. The smile drops, and he pushes the thought down and busies himself making tea. He hasn't had anything for himself yet, and he figures he's about due. (Plus, it's something to keep him busy.)]

I think I have a pretty good idea what happened by now - what I want to know is what you think.

[What does Jingyi make of all of this?]

[jingyeets]

( Jingyi breathes in the heat of the hot chocolate, delaying another sip. )

That this all sucks. The Ministry, the train, the lack of answers, the half-assed promises, the full lack of them on the train's side of things.

( It's succinct, all things considered, and less helpful because Ryo saying he knows more or less what happened means Jingyi just summarises what he thinks, pared down. This all sucks. )

[fivemilesdeep]

["This sucks" is a pretty accurate summary of the mission, from what Ryo has gathered. He brings his not-yet-tea over and takes a seat next to Jingyi.]

You're right. We're...pretty stuck, aren't we.

So what can we do?

[It's not despair; it's an honest question. The situation sucks, and they're stuck in it. Can they improve it, or do they just have to endure? What does Jingyi think?]

[jingyeets]

...

( Jingyi's tail lashed. )

Keep bothering the train for answers. For better and worse we're here. It needs to deal with us just like we endure whatever its whims are, or else none of us are going to be able to get to anywhere we want to be. You hear that, huh?

( He glances over toward the ICP in the carriage, knowing the train didn't need one singular direction of address. )

[fivemilesdeep]

Just because it can hear doesn't mean it's listening.

[It's a mild delivery but a point nonetheless, and probably why it only replies (for a given value of reply) when contacted via ICP. Given that hearing but not listening can apply to just about anything with ears, why wouldn't the train fall under that umbrella.]

But you have a point. If we get enough people asking for the same thing, maybe it'll answer.

[jingyeets]

Or at least we'll annoy it with what we're thinking, so it can't turn around later to say, "I had no idea that's what you were thinking."

( Talking to a wall? He's been doing that for months at this point, he doesn't expect anything other than his message disappearing to a thanks for your feedback note. He sips the hot chocolate, a frustrated twitch traveling the length of his tail and ending with his fluffy tailtip thwapping harmlessly against the bench further down from where they sat. )

We don't have better answers, and the train's not helping because it's scared and—we don't have a choice but to be along for the whole stupid ride. Until we're not, which we also don't have a choice in. Neither does the Ministry. At least they didn't pretend otherwise about that.