SENDER: @ nefelibata | RECIPIENT: @ All

[shiftybladesofcray]

To Whom it May Concern;

Let's assume anyone capable of receiving this message is, like myself, a captive on board this train. While nothing can be determined unequivocally, I've come to some conclusions that bear weight enough to consider.

Thus far, we are only permitted to advance upon the completion of objectives as set by an unknown puppeteer. This "clownductor" assumes an affable but absent persona, and so their true nature cannot be ascertained. The motives are paraphrased below:

1. Read the Instructions
2. Message another Passenger
3. Request Friendship with Another Passenger*
4. Assist a Dog
5. Retrieve Part of Your Person
6. Collect Seeds in Exchange for Personal Information

(*Meaningful connection is not required)

While each appears innocuous on first blush, they aspire to two functions: fostering connections and gaining intelligence. There could be strength in numbers if we come together as one, true, and sharing secrets can bolster such bonds, but let's not be fooled.

There's a strong possibility we are being set up for darker purpose. If on a future car, the motive becomes:

7. Murder a Fellow Passenger

Will it not be all the more devastating after we've bonded? Without hope, there cannot be despair. Despair can breed subjugation, a loss of self and morality, a weakness of character that's easily exploited by those in power. It can breed violence.

I've seen such games put into action myself. Anyone may turn on their fellow man if the correct pressure is applied. If there are sensible people among you, these notions may have struck you as they have me. I'm sending this now as a warning.

Do not play into their hands. They control our passage through the train. They may be watching us. We cannot assume they have our best interests at heart.

Conversely, even if you are able to stay your course? Never assume your neighbor can do the same. We are each uniquely strong and uniquely weak. A miscalculation may cost you your life.

I cannot say whether this is a dream, a simulation, or an alternate reality, though the latter requires tremendous suspension of disbelief. Regardless, we cannot assume that our actions on the train are without consequence. Act with caution, but most urgently, act with hope.

I appreciate your time in perusing this missive. I understand some find reading difficult. If you're so encumbered by your illiteracy, ask another passenger to read it for you. I will not be providing summation.

Thank you.

- Fukawa Toko


****ADDENDUM: Should anyone be approached by or glimpse a half white, half black bear, DO NOT ENGAGE. Contact me immediately and I shall deal with it.

Comments

[shiftybladesofcray]

[Great. Someone who knows how to use a phone and they type like a complete nimrod.

Just send her to Hades. She'd rather take the hellfire.]

Yes. I will destroy it. "lol"

Any more scintillating inquiries?

[shiftybladesofcray]

[Well at least this is a concise, sensible username. If unimaginative. He's probably forty.]

I'll admit it's not impossible, but it's extremely unlikely. Who would pay to make a train, particularly one outfitted with as many scientific wonders as this, just so we could "journal" and "meditate"? Moreover, who kidnaps people for that?

If that's all they wanted, they could have saved a lot of trouble and sent us coupons to a yoga resort.

[shiftybladesofcray]

[....................................huh?]

Return the favor?

[shiftybladesofcray]

[After flipping through the directory, which she should have been doing the whole time oh my GOD

UUUUH UUUUH—]

Oh hello Sylvain, I didn't recognize your name at first.

[JUST LET HER DIE]

[overruns]

[ There's a faint puff of laughter on his end of the line—he'd try sending Claude the photo again, but. Maybe later. When he has a better idea of the phones. ]

I'm hesitant to compliment this train, considering it sounds like you all have only just arrived and have your suspicions, but...

[ While he doesn't exactly like it here, and has been doing his best to return home, time is clearly playing tricks on them—so maybe escape is not so urgent as he had thought, originally.

And also, every cloud, silver lining, and what have you. ]

I do agree. It's far beyond anything I could have imagined, and I cannot hold my praise. [ he can carry this dog pic forever... wao...... ]

[constrainer]

You're lucky to have survived such an ordeal. It can't have been easy.
Especially if you truly are just a writer.

[ he means that in a nice(?) way!! ]

I'll be keeping an eye on the numbers myself, so I don't mind if you keep in touch. Your skills in writing will likely serve you in keeping track of them all. I have no such profession, but I'm confident the reason behind these numbers will become clear to us through work. If anything, the objectives will tell us what kind of person this "clownductor" wants to move forward. They must have some idea in mind.

[shaft]

Isn't that grand.

I can see why you'd be wary. You don't trust the other people here, do you?

[shiftybladesofcray]

Why yes, I always put my life into the hands of forty strangers I meet in a mobile dog park.

It would be idiotic to trust everyone implicitly off the bat. But I believe we can all find at least one person we can rely on. It's not much, but it's a start.

Sadly, most people don't come together until the crisis is at hand.

[shaft]

Is that what you're trying to accomplish with this announcement? For people to come together?

[soulshard]

[ Even when...?

Fukawa's taking care not to reveal too much, and that's understandable if she believes they're being watched from the shadows. Ardbert can't help but feel the same, even if their concept of who might be behind all this varies wildly.

(A half-white, half-black bear? What was that about?)

Either way, he does seem to have succeeded in calming her down. He'll take it as one small victory. ]

I suppose I was looking for similarities in each of our experiences. I doubt what we each went through was identical, but there was plenty of what you said that I could relate to. [ More so than a lot of the other passengers on this train, it would seem. ] "Act with hope." And how did you come to that conclusion?

[soulshard]

[ Ardbert himself is of two minds about it. He suspects there is more to this train than they could gather at first glance, and his assumption is that they're all being used for some untoward purpose.

Yet he also has his body back and is able to interact with the world and people around him for the first time in a century. Whence the time comes that they leave, he'll lose all of that.

This can only last for so long, however. Aria has battles to fight back home, as always. So do the other Scions. ]

I believe we can both appreciate the bright spots while also keeping in mind that there may be more to all this than meets the eye. So long as we keep on our guard and don't let ourselves get too distracted...

[ Easier said than done, though, when there's dogs to befriend and wide sprawling vistas to explore. ]

[oomfies]

[ Geez.. What's up with this person!! All she's doing is asking questions about The Important Stuff™ - ]

nope! but i'll definitely be on the lookout for your bear if i see it

[philandery]

Aww, and I thought it would've been obvious.

[ did rng pick it? did sylvain? omo will never tell... ]

Kidding, kidding. It's good to hear from you, Toko.

[shiftybladesofcray]

[Obv...did he really choose this name on purpose? What an ego.]

Likewise. This last car has some weird monsters around so don't get tied up in anything stupid.

[shiftybladesofcray]

A wise idea.

If it talks to you ignore everything, it'll just be more mind games.

[Which she strongly suspects this person would lose.]

[shiftybladesofcray]

More or less. Looks like I don't have the charisma for it, even in writing.

[Which is what she types after three versions of "guess I'm worthless" or "who would listen to a revolting creature like me". The fact is, she's not Naegi, and never has been. That runty kid had a way of speaking to people like they were the only one in the universe, even when he was talking to a crowd.

Mind you, she's not sure she trusts this...ohdeer, not just yet. There's still a little too much flippancy in his replies, and he already chided her once over her fits. She's probably shown too much of her hand already.]

[philandery]

Stupid? Me? No way.

[ yes way ]

You watch out for yourself, too.

[shaft]

I think it's more that uniting people is a skill that takes years of work to cultivate. [ he would know! he's been trying ]

I don't think it's impossible in this case, but it'll be hard to achieve without a clearer idea of what's going on. Not everyone is going to be moved by hypotheticals.

[shiftybladesofcray]

[Uuuuuuugh she said she'd seen it, not participated, why is everyone here correctly assuming she's been in the games?!

Toko deletes several admonishments and ultimately lets it slide. Nobody recognized what she was talking about anyway. Though that bit about being "just a writer" gets her hackles up some. It wasn't like she'd done anything. She was a passive player throughout! Regardless of her...problem.]

It sounds like you were dealing with even worse conditions.

Thank you. I agree, there's some objective to be had for certain. Maybe when we're done collecting all eight million of these stupid seeds we'll find some clues in the next car.

[shiftybladesofcray]

You can relate to?

[That no one recognizes her own past is disconcerting enough. That they allude to separate, possibly worse things? That's outright alarming.

What is going on here? Where did all these people come from? Can it really be a simulation with a bunch of fake memories fed into half the players, or...

She's getting ahead of herself.]

W-we...They...I won't lie. It didn't happen until after several people died. But the remainder s-swore to stop killing each other. That forced the m-mastermind to manipulate the situation, but they made fatal mistakes. The survivors were able to turn their own game against them, but only because they chose to b-believe in a future where they could all leave. Together.

That was their hope. The only reason they survived.

[shiftybladesofcray]

I'd hoped to nip the problem in the bud, but I have to admit you're right. Nobody takes matters seriously until something shocking happens.

I just hope I'm wrong.

[shaft]

I wouldn't take the responses of the people here too personally in any case.

But I guess we'll see.

[overruns]

[ Not every car is so terrible—some, certainly, are more threatening than others, but he doesn't want to hate the ones full of friendly dog citizens or great mountain ranges, each a fully formed world of their own.

Surely it's possible to appreciate that much, while keeping their eyes forward. ]

Mm, of course. I think so long as we do not allow ourselves to get separated and stay alert, we can manage without growing to despise our situation overmuch.

[ Hopefully? He's hopeful, so far, even if he does have too much to attend to at home to dawdle too long. ]

All the denizens I have encountered thus far seem aware that we are not of this world, so... if we continue, surely we will find some more answers.

[cuedoves]

A what?

[ listen avatar is a little anachronistic but wtf is a robot ]

[cuedoves]

[ nu is right ]

It's a stupid device and I'm sick of it

but i didn't know it oculd take such realistic portraits gsffdffffdfff

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