2 -- oo2.

[twilightfell]

[Dora Roxas the Explorer is, well, exploring. It's hard to see him - the dark is oppressive around him, and he's only lit by a little flame hovering over the palm of his right hand. His breathing is a little heavy, like he's been running.]

Damnit.

[There's a second of total darkness, then the light of the flame pops up again. The scene might look

Comments

[dawn_is_coming]

H---he's dead?

...Roxas.

That's not a fresh body.

[twilightfell]

[He wrinkles his nose just slightly, the only indication of how disgusting the smell must be]

I know.

[dawn_is_coming]

Then who's been driving the ship? Who've we been seeing on the Sphere network?

[putting two and two together fairly quickly for a hero]

[twilightfell]

... [his mouth twists up in a vague mockery of a smile] Ghosts.

[shakes his head] But honestly, who knows. From the looks of it, the crash killed him this time, so I guess he was alive before that. ... or something.

[he shrugs and starts to look around the rest of the bridge, trying to see if any of the instruments are still functional]

[goldenpine]

Well he looks fresher than last time!

[twilightfell]

... you think so?

[he finally concedes to the smell and clamps his nose shut with his free hand]

Seems worse to me.

[goldenpine]

Oh, he looks worse, and he's just as dead, but it's definitely... fresher.

[twilightfell]

[pauses at that, then actually takes a closer look at the Captain, expression thoughtful]

.. you might be right. But I don't think it means anything. He died during the crash. A little less mysterious than last time.

[redpaperfan]

Ah. Thanks for confirmation.

[twilightfell]

Sure.

... what now?

[redpaperfan]

Figure out what we have to work with. Determine how stable the situation really is. Go forward from there.

[twilightfell]

Yeah, but .. forward where? We're stuck. Again. This time we've just got a hundred percent more frogs.

[he's not finding anything useful. kicks away a piece of debris, scowling at it.]

[twilightfell]

...

[twilightfell]

Hey, you're still here. [blunt.]

[twilightfell]

But yeah, that's kind of a problem. I'm used to roughing it, but ... being stuck on some world forever might be even worse than being stuck on the ship.

[fearlessflower]

[Serious but trying to be optimistic]

At least this world isn't so bad.

[twilightfell]

... I agree. It's better than being cooped up on the ship, for once. Even with all the frogs.

[fearlessflower]

They're friendly and not hostile at least. It could be a lot worse.

[twilightfell]

... hostile frogs? [smiles a little at the idea] Yeah, I guess so. But now that you've said it, it probably will be.