VIDEO-ish (cw: torture and murder)

[bloomingdespite]

[Before the ICP flickers on, every passenger hears a resounding, deep voice thunder through every car in the train, carrying with it a deathly—if odd—proclamation:]

PENALTY GAME: HELL REVERSE!

[Moments later, every ICP turns on to reveal a figure shrouded in shadows, holding the unconscious body of Xue Yang with one hand as the Eye of Wdjat blazes on both of their foreheads. It's clear they're in the gaming car, but if anybody tries to enter from either end, they'll find the doors are impossibly locked.]

Passengers of the Voidtrecker Express, I hold in my hands an unrepentant murderer who slaughtered one of your very own: the victim being A-Qing, and the criminal being Xue Yang. While she has returned, this crime cannot go unpunished, and I have taken it upon myself to try and burn out the stain on his soul—or, at the very least, provide adequate agony for all of his victims, both on the train and off.

If you need to see proof of my justice...

Avert your eyes if you do not wish to see memories of the brutal death of a young woman in her prime.

[The screen flickers once again, this time showing A-Qing's murder, although it doesn't have any audio. ((OOC: Additional CW for graphic depictions of murder.))

When it returns to the interior of the Games Car, the shadowy figure is gone, but their voice and Xue Yang remain.]

I leave it to the council to dispense their own punishment, as meager as it may be.

Remember, passengers:

I am watching.

[The ICP clicks off, and the train is deadly quiet.]

Comments

[spikelet]

[ She should be smarter than this, play dumb - she couldn't have seen it, after all, but the reactions...

She doesn't kick the wall again, but from the stamp of her foot, it comes close. ]

It's not fair! None of that helps me! I'm still dead!

[theturksway]

[Reno pursed his lips at that. He didn't know her full story but what he did know is she didn't look all that dead now. And it wasn't entirely impossible for a person to die and be brought back to life where he was from so maybe the train just had a better version of that spell.]

You look pretty alive to me, kiddo. [He gestured idly with one hand.] Which means it's pretty obvious that whole thing's had an effect on you. Not a good one. Mental trauma...isn't easy. It doesn't just...go away, ya know.

[This was so out of his league and yet--and yet he didn't know how to walk away.]

[spikelet]

Not here. On our 'homeworld'. [ But she's got to calm down. She takes several deep breaths--

No, it fizzles back into fear. ]

Can you take me to the doctor's carriage? [ Fuck, wait. ] No, he'll be taken there...

[ She has no idea what to do. ]

[theturksway]

[A beat.] The train brought you back to life when it kidnapped you, too? Well, maybe that's not such a bad thing, huh? A second chance.

[Because of course he doesn't get it. He wasn't thinking of a ghost but rather that she died and was immediately brought here to be revived.

It was either that or Reno really was here for penance of his crimes over the years and he tried his best not to think about this train as being purgatory or some shit. He didn't want to be convinced he'd died and not realized it yet... damn, that's some horror movie shit right there.]

I got ya. [He said when she started to panic. He moved closer, bought a hand up to put on her arm and lead her away from here.] Let's get out of here.

[spikelet]

He was about to kill me. [ She corrected, because there was nothing to really be gained from letting him think otherwise. ] He-- ugh, never mind.

[ Going with someone was infinitely preferable to going alone, because people would just assume that this guy'd got it all worked out. She let herself lean on him, to add to the impression, and followed him.

The parts of her mind working overtime on figuring out how to spin this, now no longer bogged down with working out her next immediate step, went back into overdrive. Not caring how anxious it makes her look, she slowly chewed her lip. ]

[theturksway]

[Reno didn't say anything as she leaned on him. Whether it was for emotional support or physical comfort he didn't care. At least she was trusting him--wait, was that a good thing?--as he led her through the train. If anyone had anything to say they'd have to go through him first and once someone was under the protection of a Turk there wasn't any going back. The only way Reno knew how to commit to anything was if it was a job; so this was now a job, and he would take it seriously.

A few train carriages passed by before Reno attempted to respark the conversation.]

So coming here saved you then. Look, if you get a choice then run with it. Stay away from going back to that place and find somewhere safe to call home when that day comes.

[spikelet]

I'm not going back, that's for certain. [ Her voice was the calmest it had been yet, even if there was a burr at the edges threatening emotion. Whether that was from her actually calming down, or the pause giving her time to pull herself together... Well, even she wasn't sure.

She twisted her free hand around and around in her sleeve, scowling at nothing in particular. ] What do you think they're gonna do?

[theturksway]

[Reno nodded firmly once in acknowledgement and approval of her statement.

He glanced down at her quickly.] Hopefully something productive. Back in my world I'd take care of something like this myself without debate. Nobody does shit like this on my watch. [Except his Turks.] And if they don't do something productive? I'll handle it. [He assured her.]

jumping in with permission

[rookiemistakes]

Reno?

[Just as Reno had torn through the train looking for Elena when the translator went out, Elena's been searching high and low for her colleague--temporary partner?--ever since the ICP decided to play a couple of successive snuff films. Once of which involved a little girl. That had filled Elena with an indescribable rage. You don't hurt kids. You just don't.

Elena spots the familiar shock of red hair and runs up to Reno, only to realize he's talking to the same little girl she'd just seen murdered not ten minutes ago. Right...resurrection. She'd heard about it happening on the train, of course, but it's a bit jarring to see a previously very dead person walking and talking.]

Hey, my name's Elena. I'm a friend of Reno's. We're going to look out for you, okay?

[She turns to Reno.]

So, what's the play?

whoops didn't have the thread tracked

[spikelet]

[ She's not sure whether the arrival of someone who clearly knows and trusts Reno is a good development for her or not, but at least now she knows he's called Reno. It's more than she'd thought to ask; apparently, she realises, she's more shaken up than she thought.

Despite her scowl continuing through her introduction, Elena gets a nod. She stays quiet, and listens avidly. ]

no excuse. brain just didn't want to work. sorry.

[theturksway]

[Reno glanced at A-Qing to gauge her reaction towards Elena but since there was little more than a scowl--she didn't look like she was ready to bolt--the redhead turned his attention to Elena.

He rolled his eyes where only Elena could see but, hey, he'd basically done the same thing except with less 'talking to a small animal' voice or politeness. Heh.]

For now? We're just getting out of sight, out of mind. She doesn't want to be bothered and no one needs to bother her. [He gestured forwards.] My cabin is safe. And no one should think to look for her there.

It's cool. My brain is pretty much mush.

[rookiemistakes]

[Like a true professional Elena sticks her tounge out at Reno over A-Qing's head. Seriously? He's obviously doing the same exact thing but he's rolling his eyes at her? Jerk.]

Sounds good. [She turns to the girl.]

Reno and I work together, back home. We keep people safe, and investigate people who might want to do bad things. Sometimes we punish the bad people.

[This is the worst description of her duties as a Turk probably ever, but hopefully it'll make the girl feel more at ease.]

[spikelet]

[ (X) DOUBT

It's something in the easy way they interact, how Elena joins in seamlessly. And the faces they make, which she catches as she stares at nothing in particular. She's glad she didn't decide to out herself after all, if they're going to do that. It's in the... really basic description of their job. Because 'bad people' is so very dependent on who's in charge. Still, she forces herself to relax, because that seems to be what they're going for. ]

I get it. There are people like that back home.

[ Cultivators, that is. They don't exactly scream 'gentry' like all of the cultivators she's ever seen, other than Xue Yang. She hopes that's just a coincidence... but why would they have any reason to hurt her? She'll just take them at face value for now, and get the hell out if they start getting weird. ]

[theturksway]

[It's okay to trust the yakuza if the yakuza is protecting you from annoying and murderous people, right? Surely it was okay then.]

Yeah? Some people call 'em police or public security or, I don't know, a hundred other things... you can call us whatever you want but that's the gist of it.

[As with Elena, Reno sort of mentally shrugged off the odd comparison/description of what they did as Turks off and just went with it. It was, in all honestly, sort of hard to pin down what they did exactly anyway. They did a lot of things. They had a lot of specialties. That was the whole point. They were there to do whatever was needed, whenever it was needed.

They came up to the Sleepers and Reno led them straight to his cabin in number six. He swiped his ticket in the appropriate spot and checked to see if the room was empty for the time being. Luckily, it was.]

All right. You'll be safe in here. It's my cabin, no one else is in right now, and I can keep you safe. Me and Elena can keep an eye out both inside and out of the cabin just in case.