CYOA week 2: bucky, estelle, sylvain, kazunari

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Part 1: the empty train car

[aono]

If you wait at a certain station, then an empty train car will stop by at midnight. Anyone who gets on is never seen again.

[You'll need to be at the correct train station at midnight, which fortunately will be easy to do since it's right on campus near the dorms. So take a bit of time to come up with any plans you might have or any ways you might want to tackle this challenge with what you already know about the situation.]

Planning/questions

[aono]

[Respond here to talk it out/ask questions/sort out anything you need beforehand. Feel free to ICly thread out preparations too.]

[frostythehitman]

[ Bucky has never prepared for anything in his life, and he's not about to start now. He's here and ready to go, guns holstered for ACTION, arms crossed. ]

So? It's simple. Just go to the train station, wait for the midnight train, find whatever spooks are on it, kick their asses. Done.

[ He thinks congregating here on campus early to make a plan is stupid. ]

[mustbepurged]

I think that's our only choice, with the information we have... We might be attacked while in a narrow space, so please be careful, everyone.

[... also]

... I've never been on a train before. [She's a little excited? Even though it's probably a horrible haunted murder-train.]

[dms]

[ kazunari, pointedly not saying that it's never that simple with these things, nods slowly. compared to estelle, he looks very nervous at being asked to go on a train, but maybe he's just scared of ghosts. ]

I think... Stella and I should probably stay in the back? We aren't really armed the way you guys are, so...

[ they might get in the way? ]

[philandery]

[ he stretches his arms out over his head, and twists from side to side as a brief warm-up ]

Don't worry, leave the demon thrashing to me 'n Bucky. Can you two make sure nothing gets behind us? Maybe check that nobody gets too close to the station, that shouldn't be there.

Go time!

[aono]

[Respond here once you're ready to start the mission.]

[frostythehitman]

[ Bucky does not wait for anything and takes no precautions whatsoever. He just walks right up to the train platform and looks over the tracks to see if the train is approaching yet.

And if anything else wants to get the jump on them in the meantime, well... His hands are close enough to his holsters to draw his guns out quickly. ]

[mustbepurged]

[Estelle's just waiting somewhere in the middle of this group, prayer beads in hand, staring out in the distance with curiosity. She's going to see a train for the first time! That's... neat, right?]

[dms]

[ he'll just hesitantly trail behind the others. this is fine. it's just a train. what could possibly go wrong here. besides the maybe demons that will be on it? he's pretty sure he can hear it coming.

to estelle, he says, ] Try not to get too close to the edge, okay?

[philandery]

[ sylvain will be walking closer to estelle and kazu while bucky takes points. he doesn't want to be so far away from their backline that he can't defend the two—always a possibility of an unexpected ambush.

he looks around the platform, trying to detect if there's already any demonic presence there—one hand on the hilt of his sword, the other on its sheath. (...this is definitely more felix's deal than his, but cool. he's a swordguy now!) ]

[aono]

[There is no demonic presence yet, or much of any presence at all given the late hour. This is an academy after all, most people here have to get up for classes early tomorrow. So it's eerily quiet as the four of you wait at the train station for midnight to roll around.

A clock built into a pole nearby ticks down, and it chimes out 12 times at midnight. Right as the 12th chime rings out, a single tram car rolls to a stop at the station. Nothing seems off about it at first, it's just a normal tram like you have seen dozens of times before. But this one is completely empty, missing even the driver at front.

The doors open, and the tram waits for you to step inside.]

[frostythehitman]

[ ...you know what. Bucky will pull out one of his guns just in case as he steps into the tram and peers around. Is there truly no one here? Is there really...nothing? ]

Looks dead empty in here.

[mustbepurged]

I thought the train would be bigger...

[... It's a little disappointing, for her first train ride.

Bucky boards, and she peeks through the door behind him.]

Ghosts aren't always visible, right? What if they're right here in front of us...

[Despite that worry, she'll stick close to the others as she boards.]

[dms]

I'm kind of glad it's not any bigger...

[ he follows the others, clutching the summoning papers. ]

Maybe we have to do something so we can see them? IDK what, though.

[philandery]

[ a tram, huh... these definitely don't exist in Fódlan, and yet he's not entirely surprised? ]

...Keep your eyes peeled.

[ (this definitely smells like an ambush, or maybe that's just the ptsd.)

and as much as he'd like to hold estelle's hand through this, sylvain makes sure he has enough space to draw his blade if needed. ]

If it's a demon, we'll be able to see 'em. If it's actually a ghost... Well... [ they're sol? ]

[aono]

[Is it a demon? A ghost? Such mystery.

But as soon as they step onto the tram, the doors slide closed behind them and it starts moving along the track. Nothing seems off about it right now, though it does feel uncomfortably quiet. You know that feeling of being watched, even if you can't see what's watching you? You definitely have that.

But you might want to explore the tram car a bit to see what you can find. It's a standard tram car, with a passenger area and then a little driver cab at the front that you can access through a small door.]

[frostythehitman]

Do not start with ghosts. I haven't asked Hua Cheng how to actually deal with--

[ slam! there go the doors. and there go the tram, them inside. ]

Great.

[ Bucky is going to beeline for the driver cab at the front, kicking open the door with his gun Out in case anything wants to mess with him as soon as he accesses the driver cab. ]

[mustbepurged]

But didn't we go to school to learn how to deal with this sort of...

[Wait, did they? She has to kind of stop and think about that, while Bucky goes on ahead.]

[dms]

Maybe we sh-- aaaaaand there he goes.

[ bye, bucky. well, at least they were thinking along the same lines, but... he glances at the other two. ]

School was about demons, I think...? More importantly, shouldn't someone go with him? It doesn't seem safe to go alone.

[ sylvain seems to be the one with battle experience, so? kazu glances at him? help? ]

[philandery]

I'm sure it'll be fine. I'm sure we're being taken somewhere fun...

[ he says, while inspecting the rows of benches as he walks. he taps a few of them tentatively with the capped end of his scabbard. is there anything they can see outside the windows? or sticking to the ceiling? ]

Dunno if it's any safer to leave the two of you here by yourselves.

[ but sylvain does try to move a little closer to the driver cab. ]

[aono]

[The passenger section seems to be free of anything that would suggest demonic activity. No strange moving shadows, no eyes peering out, everything appears solid while Sylvain taps the benches. Outside the windows everyone is able to see that this tram is taking one of the lines that leads further upwards on the massive sprawling town that makes up the area around True Cross Academy. It hasn't started going up the incline yet, but you can tell from the line it's following that you will eventually be going to the top of the massive hill the academy was built on.

In the driver's compartment, there is no driver obviously. But the controls and wheel seem to be moving of their own accord, with nobody actually touching them. It's driving as it should, but nobody is at the wheel basically. There is a dead man's switch too but it's currently active, like someone's holding it.]

[frostythehitman]

[ calling out to the others: ] It's fine, I can take care of myself.

[ so like. Focus on keeping Estelle and Kazu safe for now.

Meanwhile, Bucky will wave his free hand through the space where he'd expect the driver to be--and particularly right over that engaged switch. Is it just an invisible driver or something? ]

[mustbepurged]

[Nothing's attacked them yet, and Estelle's attention drifts to a nearby window.]

Maybe the real danger isn't what's in here, but where it's taking us...?

[philandery]

So we are going somewhere fun...

[ he'll take a seat then, by the aisle. best to conserve whatever energy he can for whatever's ahead. or waiting. ]