You lean with your back against the cold, slightly damp wall of the train station. It is lightly snowing, and the decorative pillars do little to stop the snowflakes from sticking to your hair and clothes. Of course your platform is the only one that still remains outdoors, not having bothered to be newly renovated like the rest of the building. After all, very few seem to be going this way.
To even get to this station took a flight from your hometown to the northern city of Vermaur, which contains the massive outgoing train station you've currently been waiting //much// too long for your (now quite late) train. Of course, this is how train travel is, or so you've been told. From here, you're taking a sleeper train to the quaint settlement of Eladotte.
Eladotte... a place that is apparently a save haven for those who do not fit into polite society such as yourself. There's a reason it is only accessible by a three-night long train ride. Apparently, most of those who settle there are of non-human disposition, particularly those who are rejected by the human majority, or have transformed by some means. Getting away from everything related to their old lives is sometimes the best therapy. But you... you were never bitten by a vampire, scratched by a werewolf, operated on by a mad scientist. You're just a weirdo who's never gotten along with a single of your peers in your life, but that's enough for you to decide that such a place is better to stay in. Well, maybe you had a bit of help in making that decision, but...
<<set $personality to 0>>
[[Your thoughts are interrupted by the sound of a slowly approaching train.]]
You look up at it, and you're not really sure what you were expecting. Something magical, like the Polar or Hogwarts Express. Instead, it was a simple red train, with a yellow stripe down the middle, and a silver roof. It has a large and pointed nose, presumably for pushing through the snow drifts that were bound to appear, but besides that, it was the most non-descript, "hasn't been updated since the 80s" train you could imagine.
The train halted to a stop at the platform with a loud, screeching application of the brakes. Knowing this was truly your last chance to turn tail and run back home, you bite your lip and take a deep breath. It was worth it. You could do it.
Gripping your suitcase's handle, you look down at your ticket. Carriage 6. Approaching the correct carriage, an attendant suddenly popped out of the door, and gave you a look.
"Well," she said slowly, as if judging you deeply as she spoke, "looks like you're the only person getting on here. Name and ticket, please."
What is your name? <<textbox "$name" "Maia">>
[[Hand her the ticket]]She grabbed the ticket from your hand, scanning it with a phone, making you thankful that this place wasn't stuck in the 80s technologically too.
"Okay, $name, You're in Room 12. You should get settled quickly, as dinner is going to be starting in the dining carriage pretty soon."
You quickly make your way down, taking note of how quiet and empty the train seems. Making your way to 12, you open the door and take a look at your accommodations for the next few nights.
To the left is a bed with fittingly 80s grandmother style sheets on it. Above it is a shelf with an outlet for your phone, along with those typical free goodies like a notebook and bottle of water. In the center, attached to the wall, is a little table, with a few little wrapped snacks and a pamphlet on it. To the right is a chair, and a place to store your suitcase. It was pretty tiny, or in a more polite way to say, //cozy//.
[[Read the pamphlet]]You pick up the pamphlet. One one side, is information about drinks and food you can order, with a QR code to scan so you can order things directly to your room. Convenient.
On the other side is information about the different stops the train goes to along the way. Most stops only have one or two paragraphs about them making it obvious how tiny and nondescript they all are. By far the most information was for Vermaur, the place you just left. Makes you wish you had spent a few days there - it is the capital of this region after all. Maybe a bit of culture would have done you well... But realistically, you know you would not have taken advantage of that opportunity. You've never taken advantage of good opportunities before.
Shaking your head to get such negative thoughts away, you remind yourself of the other reason that wasn't feasible. You're on a pretty limited budget, after all, you're using gifted money.
Taking one more look at the pamphlet, you notice that Vermaur is the last stop before Eladotte, which itself is the final stop. 3 days nonstop? It really must be in the middle of nowhere.
Suddenly, you hear knocking on your door.
[[Open the door]]Opening your door, somewhat expecting to see the train attendant again, you realize that it is instead //her//. The girl who sent you the money for your plane ticket to Vermaur. The one who made all of this possible. Khoi.
She's even more beautiful in person than in her pictures you saw while stalking her Instagram. That's right, you've only met Khoi online before, but really, it's not that weird in this day in age (or at least, that's what you tell yourself).
She has pale, flawless skin, deep black eyes, and long, straight, sleek black hair. She'd made a perfect goth girl, but instead she had a very bright look about her, something almost warm and welcoming, contrasting her darker appearance.
"$name! I'm so glad you made it! I was worried since you weren't responding to my texts!"
You quickly take your phone out, trying to turn it on.
"Oh shit, it's dead."
Not that unexpected, as you were using it to watch videos on the plane, but you really should have noticed earlier... You quickly dump out the contents of your waist bag to grab your charger and plug it in at the shelf above your bed. Khoi just laughs.
"I'm surprised you ever let your phone die," she says, while looking around your room curiously, "but at least you can let it charge while we go to dinner. You'll have dinner with me, right?"
Like you would ever reject a dinner invitation from a beautiful, and seemingly somewhat wealthy woman. Really, your life is improving vastly already.
<<set $khoi to 5>>
[[Head to the dinner cart with Khoi]]
You mentally prepare for being on a one-on-one dinner date for the first time in your life, while Khoi leads you to the dining cart, which you take enough attention to make note is Carriage 2. There are already a handful of people sitting at tables.
"C'mon, let's sit at a group table and meet some other people!" she says, making a beeline for a table with two strange looking people. You pause for a second, taking in that this is in fact //not// a beautiful date night, before following and sitting across from Khoi quietly.
"I'm Khoi!" she excitedly said to the duo, who didn't seem to think that this was strange behaviour. Is this how people usually dine on trains? You wouldn't know. "I just got on at the stop before Vermaur, so this is my first night on the train. I've been testing out room service all day, so I'm not really hungry anymore, so I'm using dinner to meet everyone! This," she motions towards you, "is $name. She just got on like, 5 minutes ago, but we know each other."
You take note of the two. They seem to be travelling together, as they were sharing handwriten notes about something or another. You don't recognize the language they're written in.
"I'm Valrune," said the one across from you, beside Khoi. She has similar beautiful skin, bright blue eyes, and black hair pulled into a messy bun. "We're journalists travelling to Eladotte for a story."
"But don't ask about the details! The story will be behind a paywall when we're done," the other one said, with a smile on her face, though you couldn't tell if it was playful or deathly serious. "I'm Gaudrey, by the way." As she sat beside you, you are able to get a good look at her. Pale skin with a few freckles, large brown eyes, and blonde hair cut at chin level.
<<set $gaudrey to 0>>
[[Ask for more information]]
[[Introduce yourself further]]<<set $khoi to $khoi + 1>> <<set $gaudrey to $gaudrey - 1>>
"At least tell me it's not about some serial killer or something," you reply. "I don't want to be moving and immediately get caught up in some shit."
"I'm curious too," Khoi chimes up, "I didn't think there was anything interesting going on there to get the attention of two Sherlocks."
Gaudrey keeps her strange smile. "Please, I'm no detective. Naturally, people are just interested in such a remote and specific area. There's such little information about it online. Getting a decent piece out there about it will get a lot of clicks."
"You're too honest!" Valrune laughs, before turning her attention back to you. "What's your name, and why are //you// heading up there?"
"Oh... I'm $name. And I'm trying..."
[[To start a new life]]
[[To get away from the B.S.]]"I'm $name..." you start to introduce yourself, before remembering that Khoi already said this for you. "I got on at Vermaur," another thing she's already mentioned. You're failing at socializing the first time you open your mouth. You pick up the menu to distract yourself from the already rising embarrassment.
"Are you from there?" Valrune asks, with actual curiosity in her voice. Maybe you didn't fuck up that bad.
"N-no, I'd never been there before, actually... I'm from a place down south. It's pretty small."
"Oh! Then Eladotte shouldn't be too much of a change then. I was wondering how a big city girl would survive there. Why are you heading that way, anyway?"
[[To start a new life]]
[[To get away from the B.S.]]<<set $personality to $personality + 1>>
"To start a new life," you say, fiddling with the menu as you think, "I really wasn't getting anywhere back home, y'know, and I heard of this place and thought it might be what I need..."
"Going from one small town to another, but up north? Maybe you just need some cold-shock therapy!" Valrune says, smiling at you, "Well, I'm just curious. You know the reputation that Eladotte has, I assume. But I won't pry further."
"The food on this train is actually pretty good," Gaudrey chimes in, "You should try the Curried Squash."
"Oh please, don't tell me you're another boring vegetarian like Gaudrey is," Valrune laughs, "I'm getting a steak."
Khoi already mentioned she wasn't getting anything to eat, so you can't just copy her.
[[Order squash]]
[[Order steak]]
<<set $personality to $personality - 1>>
"To get away from the B.S. back home," you say, fiddling with the menu as you think, "I struggled to get along and integrate there, y'know, but I heard about this place that might fit how I am better."
<<set $gaudrey to $gaudrey - 1>>
"Going from one small town to another, but up north? Maybe you just need some cold-shock therapy!" Valrune says, smiling at you, "Well, I'm just curious. You know the reputation that Eladotte has. People so ashamed about being turned into something, they flee there to never see their family again. It's not worth doing that in the 21st century, you're not going to get hunted by some medieval hunter!"
Valrune chuckles a bit at what she said, while Gaudrey raises an eyebrow at her, before side-eyeing you as if trying to sus out if you were going to try and suck her blood tonight.
"The food on this train is actually pretty good," Gaudrey finally says, perhaps trying to change the topic. "You should try the Curried Squash."
"Oh please, don't tell me you're another boring vegetarian like Gaudrey is," Valrune laughs, "I'm getting a steak."
Khoi already mentioned she wasn't getting anything to eat, so you can't just copy her.
[[Order squash]]
[[Order steak]]<<set $gaudrey to $gaudrey + 1>> <<set $yunsu to 0>><<set $orderedFood to "squash">>
The waiter comes over to take your order, or at least you assume it's the waiter at first. At closer look, you realize it's the same attendant that scanned your ticket to get onto the train. She's a lightly tanned east Asian of some sort, with medium length black hair pulled into a ponytail, and odd looking very pale grey eyes. She puts her hands on her hips and cocks her head.
"What are you having, ladies?"
Valrune orders a steak, rare, and you're glad you decided not to go with that, never having such bloody meat before. You decide instead to copy Gaudrey's order of squash, and she seems to flash you a smile when you do. Or was that your imagination?
Once the attendant went over to another table, Valrune turns towards you.
"That's actually a robot, you know. Bet you don't have those in your small town."
Your eyes widen a bit, and well, she's right about that. Gaudrey then pipes up.
"I was actually doing a story on these AI servants before I got pulled into doing this one instead. I still can't decide if they're creepy or cool. They're convenient and smart and all, but they steal a lot of jobs, right? And there's been weird instances of them messing up. It's funny when it's just a text-based servant, but a walking and talking thing..." she trailed off, clearly having thought too much about this before and not wanting to go off for too long.
You glance over at Khoi, who seems similarly surprised at the revelation.
[[That's pretty creepy, right?]]
[[That's pretty cool, right?]]<<set $gaudrey to $gaudrey - 1>> <<set $yunsu to 0>><<set $orderedFood to "steak">>
The waiter comes over to take your order, or at least you assume it's the waiter at first. At closer look, you realize it's the same attendant that scanned your ticket to get onto the train. She's a lightly tanned east Asian of some sort, with medium length black hair pulled into a ponytail, and odd looking very pale grey eyes. She puts her hands on her hips and cocks her head.
"What are you having, ladies?"
Valrune orders a steak, rare, and you blindly copy her. Great, you've never really had rare meat before, but there's always a first you suppose. You notice Gaudrey roll her eyes, supposing she must be one of those intensive vegetarian sorts. She orders her mentioned squash, and Khoi orders a glass of something called Sanguine Wine.
Once the attendant went over to another table, Valrune turns towards you.
"That's actually a robot, you know. Bet you don't have those in your small town."
Your eyes widen a bit, and well, she's right about that. Gaudrey then pipes up.
"I was actually doing a story on these AI servants before I got pulled into doing this one instead. I still can't decide if they're creepy or cool. They're convenient and smart and all, but they steal a lot of jobs, right? And there's been weird instances of them messing up. It's funny when it's just a text-based servant, but a walking and talking thing..." she trailed off, clearly having thought too much about this before and not wanting to go off for too long.
You glance over at Khoi, who seems similarly surprised at the revelation.
[[That's pretty creepy, right?]]
[[That's pretty cool, right?]]<<set $yunsu to $yunsu - 1>><<set $jade to 0>><<set $jade to $jade + 1>>
"That's pretty creepy, right?" you ask, thinking about it more. While you don't exactly have a job for a robot to take, you're still unnerved by how you had absolutely no idea there was anything off about her. How many other of those things have you walked past without noticing?
The girl sitting behind you, who you previously had not given a single thought towards, suddenly whips around, being almost directly in your face now. You can't help but notice she has pale skin, though less in the "beautiful doll" way and more in the "hasn't seen the sun in years" way. Her hair was fried in the way you get when you bleach it far too many times, and is currently dyed a bright blue, which contrast her sharp amber eyes... with noticeable bags.
"Finally, someone on here who agrees with me. But careful, //they're// always listening. In fact, it probably heard what you said," she practically hissed at you.
"It's hard not to when all you guys have clearly not learned what an inside voice is."
[[You whip back around.]]<<set $yunsu to $yunsu + 1>><<set $jade to 0>><<set $jade to $jade - 1>>
"That's pretty cool, right?" you ask, thinking about it more. Being a neet type, you weren't that worried about a robot stealing jobs from you. In fact, a robot doing every job you'd need done sounded quite nice.
The girl sitting behind you, who you previously had not given a single thought towards, suddenly whips around, being almost directly in your face now. You can't help but notice she has pale skin, though less in the "beautiful doll" way and more in the "hasn't seen the sun in years" way. Her hair was fried in the way you get when you bleach it far too many times, and is currently dyed a bright blue, which contrast her sharp amber eyes... with noticeable bags.
"It's not cool. They're always listening. In fact, it probably heard what you said," she practically hissed at you.
"It's hard not to when all you guys have clearly not learned what an inside voice is."
[[You whip back around.]]
You whip back around, to see the robot attendant standing with a tray of drinks. If she was annoyed at all, it didn't show on her face.
"By the way," she says, while setting down the wine for Khoi and water for the rest of the group, "I didn't introduce myself to you yet. You can call me Yun-Su."
"What's your full name and model?" asks the fried-hair girl behind you. If she is embarrassed at being overheard, she didn't show it in the least. Yun-Su's face seems to twitch slightly in annoyance at this.
"Yun-Su 4.1.3β, written with characters 倫秀 meaning excellent ethics," she says droningly, making you wonder if she's been dealing with this girl already. She quickly walks off, most likely to try and avoid any further annoyances. The girl just smirks.
"These models are pretty restricted, I've found. Normally with advanced servants, even if they reject suggestions at first, you can word things in a way that makes them comply. But I guess since she seems to be the only person running the passenger carts, they locked her down into not being forced to work outside her job," the girl goes on, "which is a shame. I've actually made decent money out of making videos on making those things do things they really shouldn't be doing."
"Are you... a hacker?" you ask tentatively.
"HAH! I wish. Then maybe I could make money from something besides social media." She is now fully leaning over the back of her chair, getting much too into your personal space. "Well I worked at a convenience store for a bit too, to make money for this trip. I'm just a person who hates invaders into normal, living society."
"Jade's a conspiracy theorist," Gaudrey interjects, not caring if it bothers the girl or not. "She'll drone on for an hour before introducing herself properly. Ask me how I know."
The girl - Jade - finally leans back into proper sitting position after being called out as such. She mumbles something under her breath about how //this// isn't a conspiracy, and then finally fully turns around back to her table.
[[Ask Jade why she's going to Eladotte]]
[[Wait for dinner]]<<set $jade to $jade + 1>><<set $personality to $personality + 1>>
You turn around again, making sure Jade isn't busy eating or anything, and speak up.
"Why are you going to Eladotte then, Jade, if it's..." you trail off, not knowing exactly how to word this politely.
"If it's a place for freaks and I'm a so-called conspiracy theorist?" she asks, clearly understanding what you were trying to not say. "To tell you the truth, I really didn't want to go there, but there's a specific shaman who lives there that I //really// need to see."
"A...shaman...?" you ask, not really wanting to pry that hard, but you had never considered going to such a person before.
"Right. I used to live in this really haunted place when I was down bad. Now I have this angsty spirit attached to me," she gestures at nothing, "and everyone I tried to go to to get an exorcism back home told me I'm just imagining it. Naturally, they're all just hacks making money off the dumb. I gotta get to a real one in the middle of Insanoville to get anything actually done."
"Ah," is the only thing you can think of replying with. She is clearly not just a consipracy theorist, but also insane. Better to try and not run into her late at night.
[[Wait for dinner]]"What a character," Khoi says, giving a concerned smile in your direction. That, you can agree to.
----
You receive your order of $orderedFood, and finish it without any other incident happening. Truth be told, you're feeling exhausted from the day of travel and doing more socializing than the past few months combined in one day.
"I think I'm going to head back to my room and unpack and check my phone and stuff," you say as getting up. "I need to relax for a bit, honestly."
"Oh, I suppose you're a bit jet lagged," Khoi says. "I can take you back to your room."
[[Go with Khoi]]
[[Go alone]]
<<set $alix to 0>><<set $khoi to $khoi + 1>><<set $khoiRoom to true>>
"Yeah sure, thank you," you reply. It would be nice to get some one on one time with her, you think, though you're not sure if that will actually pan out past the minute of walking to your room.
Khoi asks some small talk about your trip down but approaching your room, you see a strange sight. A short brown skinned woman with dark red hair pulled into a braid... stepping out of your room. She smiles and waves at you, before noticing your confusion.
"Sorry, is this your room? I just got up and was pretty disorientated. My room is Room 14. I must've walked into yours by accident. You should really lock your door next time." She smiled at you, and didn't seem to have any bad vibes. You also did really forget to lock the door now that you think about it... you were too busy thinking about Khoi to even consider that these rooms have keys or locks.
"Did you really not lock you room?" Khoi asks, sounding actually shocked. Embarrassed, you take a quick look around your room to make sure everything was still in place. Your bag and phone are as you left them. "I guess I didn't notice either. Did you even get your keys from Yun-Su?"
The other girl put her hands on her hips and shifted a bit. "Did Yun-Su not give you a rundown on how your room and the train works? It's odd. She started acting strange yesterday. Way more flippent, and forgetting things... Normally I'm not the type to complain about underpaid staff, but it's quite literally what she was made to do," the girl complained, sighing, then suddenly perking up. "Oh! I didn't introduce myself. I'm Alix. I think we're the only two people staying in this carriage. It's a pretty empty train this time."
"I'm $name," you reply, still unsure how to feel about this woman. You could ask her some questions while she's here, though.
[[Why are you waking up at dinner time?]]
[[Can you tell me more about the train?]]
[[Ignore and go to your room]]<<set $khoi to $khoi - 1>><<set $khoiRoom to false>>
"It's a short walk, don't worry about it," you say, not really wanting to interrupt her dinner conversation to take you a few carriages down. Besides, it wasn't exactly the romantic dinner you were somewhat hoping for, so it's not like you were likely to miss out on anything by rejecting her.
----
Going down the hallways and approaching your room, you see a strange sight. A short brown skinned woman with dark red hair pulled into a braid... stepping out of your room. She smiles and waves at you, before noticing your confusion.
"Sorry, is this your room? I just got up and was pretty disorientated. My room is Room 14. I must've walked into yours by accident. You should really lock your door next time." She smiled at you, and didn't seem to have any bad vibes. You also did really forget to lock the door now that you think about it... you were too busy thinking about Khoi to even consider that these rooms have keys or locks.
"Yeah, uh, sorry. I just got on and didn't know how to do that..." you mumble, taking a quick look around your room to make sure everything was still in place. Your bag and phone are as you left them. You can sense the girl is still loitering behind you.
"Did Yun-Su not give you a rundown on how your room and the train works? It's odd. She started acting strange yesterday. Way more flippent, and forgetting things... Normally I'm not the type fo complain about underpaid staff, but it's quite literally what she was made to do," the girl complained, sighing, then suddenly perking up. "Oh! I didn't introduce myself. I'm Alix. I think we're the only two people staying in this carriage. It's a pretty empty train this time."
"I'm $name," you reply, still unsure how to feel about this woman. You could ask her some questions while she's here, though.
[[Why are you waking up at dinner time?]]
[[Can you tell me more about the train?]]
[[Ignore and go to your room]]<<set $personality to $personality + 1>><<set $alix to $alix - 1>>
"Why are you waking up so late? Dinner's ending in a few." you ask. You may not be a stranger to having uncivilized sleeping schedules yourself, but you're not used to others being the same way.
Alix laughs, though it has a slightly uncomfortable edge to it. "I'm just nocturnal by habit. I'm not that interested in the dinner service anyway. I have my own food, and room service tops me up," she responds, though it's clear by her intonation that she has more she can say on the topic.
"I'm sorry for accidentally intruding on your space, anyway," Alix continues, "Hope I can talk to you more later!" And with that, she slipped off and went back to her own room.
[[Enter your room|Ignore and go to your room]] <<set $personality to $personality + 2>><<set $alix to $alix + 1>><<set $trainInfo to true>>
"Can you tell me a bit more about the train? Since you seem familiar with it already," you ask. Hopefully this woman will be more useful than the walking chat bot.
"Sure!" Alix lights up, "I actually really like trains, so I pay attention to them when I'm on them. I travel a lot actually, that's all. I'm just getting back from a long trip back to my home, so..." she catches herself, seeming to realize that she's going off about herself rather than the topic at hand.
"Anyway, this train is ten carriages long. The first one is the staff one where all the important stuff happens. Second in dining, and third is a sitting one with large windows that you can use to chat up others in. There are three sleeper carts: the first is the luxury class suites, there seems to only be one of those taken this trip. The second is double rooms, there are two of those taken. And this is the third cart for single riders! We're the only two in it. The remaining carriages are just boxcars that carry stock and packages for delivery and such. It was built in the 40s and renovated in the 80s. Its name, The White Night--"
You cut her off. You don't have any interest in the train 'tism. "Is there anything else I like, //need// to know?"
"Oh! Sure. This train is mostly ran by AI, since not many people want to do this run, I guess. Sucks to lose the customer service, but it's a lot easier to get trips now at least. The only physical staff member is Yun-Su, though she's still part of the AI. It's why I'm a bit worried if she's acting a bit strangely, honestly."
[[Enter your room|Ignore and go to your room]] <<set $personality to $personality - 1>>
Deciding not to bother Alix anymore, you head into your room, determined to actually find your keys and not set yourself up to get robbed.
<<if $khoiRoom is true>>
"While you do that, I'm going to chat with Valrune for a bit longer. Maybe get another cup of wine. I don't get to travel that often," she says. "I'll come around a bit later, or you can message me if you need me."
With that, she left the carriage.
<<else>>
You check your phone, and see various missed messages from Khoi asking if you were going to make the train. Oops. You see a more recent one, saying she and Valrune are going to be chatting over the rest of the bottle of wine for a bit, and she'll stop by later.
<</if>>
You can't help but feel a pang of jealousy that Khoi apparently has already gotten along so well with another woman. She is the extroverted and smooth-talking sort though, so it's really to be expected. It doesn't necessarily mean anything, you remind yourself.
You check all over your room, and you really don't have any keys. Great, you don't want to have to deal with this now when you're already tired.
[[Decide to figure it out tomorrow]]
[[Seek out Yun-Su]]You're already exhausted from moving, flying, waiting for a train, having dinner... The last thing you want to do right now is try and deal with a physical customer service chat bot. You've only seen a few people on board, and they're all women. According to Alix, there's only two of you in this carriage, even! What's the worst that can happen?
You message Khoi, telling her about your predicament and that you're going to nap away your weariness. Crawling under the thin covers, you drowse off...
----
You awake to the train rattling violently. While hearing before that the train can get a bit turbulent in the areas with deeper snow, this felt less "struggling to get through a snow drift" and more "the earth is opening up beneath us."
Trying to sit up, you find it hard to see through your head pounding. You can make out that it's dark out, and seems to be blizzarding. Your entire body feels insanely weak, worse even than the times you spent a few days in bed in a row.
You try standing in a bit of a blind panic, but the rattling of the train and the heavy, coldness of your limbs work against you and you collapse to the floor. Lying still for what feels like ages, the train finally settles down enough that you can start to stand up, though it is still quite a difficult feat. The lights start to flicker on, which causes you to realize that they were off to begin with.
Wearily, you look at the window again, causing you to notice your reflection this time. On your white shirt was a bloodstain all along the collar.
You start to wonder if you're delusional, or dreaming, or... Dammit, this is scary. You need to get out of here and find Khoi. But it hurts to move...
As you press your forehead against the cold window to try and get a bit of relief for your growing headache, you hear your door open behind you. Was it that assistant coming around to check on everyone? Was it Khoi?
The lights flicked off before you could turn around. You couldn't make out exactly who it was through the darkness and your visual haze.
"$name..." a familiar voice says, before drawing a gun, and shooting you in the head.
----
!! <span style="color:red">BAD END 1</span>
Your final relationships:
Khoi: $khoi
Valrune: 0
Gaudrey: $gaudrey
Yun-Su: $yunsu
Jade: $jade
Alix: $alix
Final personality stat: $personality
Still, sleeping in public with an unlocked door is asking for being mugged, or being the start of a murder mystery. You've listened to a few too many true crime podcasts to risk it, no matter how annoying this situation is.
Grabbing your phone and wallet to ensure they're at least safe, you step out to go seek Yun-Su out, only to see her come out from the car behind you.
<<if $trainInfo is true>>
What was she doing in the boxcars, when dinner service is going on? You suppose she could be getting stock or something, but it seems like an odd time to be back there.
<</if>>
You flag her down, and she gives you a face like she really wishes she could pretend she didn't notice that. However, she turns to you and frowns.
"Do you need immediate assistance? I'm rather busy right now, so-"
"You forgot to give me my keys earlier."
She looked blankly at you for a second, before reaching into her uniform's pocket and pulling out a keycard with a tag on it, saying Room 12.
"I suppose I did. I'm not sure how I forgot. My apologies." With that, she hands you the key. She pauses for a second, as if to make sure you don't have any other inquiries, before quickly running off back to what you assume is the dinner car.
You're not particularly sure if it's good what seems to be the only worker on board is being this spaced out. As long as nothing else comes up, it should be alright, you suppose (and hope).
----
The travel stress is beginning to take its toll on you, so you decide to go lie down for a few minutes, now with extra security of actually having a locked door. It was an electronic contraption, requiring you press the keycard to the door handle to get it to lock or unlock. To your annoyance, this is necessary whether you're on the inside or outside of the car - no good ole fashioned twist locks here. <<if $jade gt 0>> Somehow, you feel that that conspiracy theorist isn't too happy about this set up either.<</if>>
[[Lock the door, and go to bed]]Hearing the door beep locked, you toss all your items onto the table and crawl into bed. Closing your eyes, you quickly drift off, even in these stiff train beds...
----
You awaken to hear someone jiggling hard on your door handle, causing your breath to hitch. Who on earth is trying to get in? The darkness broken only by the moonlight coming in from the window shows it's late at night too, far later than you were planning on napping. No one in their right mind would be trying to get in at this hour, right?!
You try to rationalize it by thinking it's that Alix being stupid again, or maybe room service, or...
While holding your breath, you can hear whispering outside your door, followed by shuffling of footsteps. Did they leave? Were they... expecting your door to be unlocked? Who even knew about that issue?
You sat still, barely breathing for a few minutes, before finally gathering the courage to grab your phone. 2:30 AM, you really did sleep a crazy amount. You also have some missed messages from Khoi, asking if you wanted to join her in her first class lounge. Any thoughts of how you could have missed something good quickly leaves your mind. You could have just avoided a murder, for Gods sake.
You wonder what to do in this situation. You weren't given an emergency briefing - damn that AI. When you get out of here you're shaking her down for all the information she can give you.
[[Message Khoi]]
"It sounded like someone was trying to break into my room?! What should I do?!" you messaged Khoi.
No immediate response, but she's probably asleep at this time... You glance at your phone's stats. Extremely low cell service, you'll probably entirely lose it once the train heads into the more remote section. Why hadn't you thought to at least ask for the Wi-Fi password?!
You glance around the room for anything that could be used for a weapon - nothing, of course. Weapons aren't allowed on board. And so, you couldn't really get hurt beyond being beaten, right...?
Starting to lie back down fully, you start to try and rationalize this in your head. Maybe you were just delusional from waking up oddly. Maybe the train was just rattling. Maybe the AI's gone off the rails and is trying to kill everyone -- ok, no, let's bring those thoughts //back// to reality.
You pull the sheets over your head as if this would protect you at all, hoping to go to sleep and just forget all this in the morning.
[[Drowse off]]You start to let your exhaustion take over your body, when suddenly...
You snap back awake to the train rattling violently. While hearing before that the train can get a bit turbulent in the areas with deeper snow, this felt less "struggling to get through a snow drift" and more "the earth is opening up beneath us."
Trying to sit up, you find it hard to see through your head pounding. You can make out that it's still dark out, and seems to be blizzarding. You try standing in a bit of a blind panic, but the rattling of the train you fall ass-first back onto your bed.
After death-gripping the sheets for what feels like ages, the train finally settles down enough that you can start to stand up. The lights start to flicker on, which causes you to realize that they were off to begin with. Now you're able to catch your reflection in the window. You look disheveled and sheet white, naturally.
A static noise comes through the room, which you can make out is probably supposed to be the train's PA system, but no words come through. The noise trails off, and finally, everything seems back to normal.
You check your phone. No messages from Khoi still. And as expected, there was a "no service" warning in the top right.
Feeling a strange cold breeze draft in from your doorway, you begin to worry if the train took structural damage. Adrenaline still coursing through you makes you able to unlock and peak out your door out of worry to make sure the train is still in one piece. Besides a couple lights still flickering uncertainly, it seems to be otherwise functional...
Until you turn towards the source of the wind.
The doors of the pathway leading between Carriage 6 and 7 were open, causing the outdoors wind to blow in freely. Someone was clearly trying to make their way quite quickly from 7 to 6, and failed.
Lying on the pathway, with her body preventing the doorway from closing, lay Valrune.
-----
!! ACT 1 END
Your final relationships:
Khoi: $khoi
Valrune: 0
Gaudrey: $gaudrey
Yun-Su: $yunsu
Jade: $jade
Alix: $alix
Final personality stat: $personality