luministi | ◌ 026 ◌ Third verse, seems oddly like the first. (And the second.)

[This time, Fuu's arrival in Luministi is considerably more quiet than last.

With a resigned sigh she drops her bag in her 'house' and goes to the closet to change out of the school clothes she'd been snatched away in. She then sits on the edge of the bed in the dimming light, reading the posts of those who have already arrived.
The people she knows... a few she doesn't. And some missing. But, if someone was only replying to posts, she wouldn't see those conversations.

Before she plunges in to this third round with Luministi, Fuu decides to take a bike ride.
Memory easily leads her down the street, around the library and into the town square.
She looks over the meagre offerings on the table (this does not look like offerings from many of the restaurants at all), and doubts that the Mayor put in an appearance as he said he would. She doesn't feel too hungry now, but she takes some bread and cheese for later.

Walking across the square to the Neptune sundial she looks up at it with a stern expression.
She has a feeling that this will be the most aggressive time they've had in this town yet. The man who had contacted their CATs earlier had about promised as much.]

[Smoothing her expression into a small smile and setting herself down on a bench near the Neptune sundial so it will show in the background, Fuu makes a broadcast on the CAT.]

Good evening, everyone. Again, I regret that we are meeting under such circumstances.
My name is Fuu Hououji, age 17, first year of High School in Tokyo, blood type A. I have been in this town twice before, and if I may say so, I believe that we are in more danger than ever before. I hope that we can all work together again to get home once and for all.

I will be here by this sundial for a while, if anyone would like to meet in person.

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[Jamie's face is harder to see than usual, a pale greenish sort of light not providing much in the way of illumination. But it allows her to get a look at his expression. It's not exactly a happy one, but that's likely understandable given what's apparently happened.]

Aye, but I'd prefer that we'd not have to go through this all over again. Hello, Fuu.

Hello, Mister Jamie! Ah, sorry, Jamie.
I'd rather not go though this again either, but it is nice to see you again... well, as much as I can. Where are you?

Fremercury, with Xion and the Doc...er, well, we were with the Doctor, but something's just happened and he's gone.

Oh, no, so it's true? Mister Ichijou had also heard that the Doctor had gone missing suddenly...

I'm certain that he will contact you again as soon as he can.

Aye. Xion's been trying to raise him. I wonder if... [He glances over, then peers, as if trying to get a better view of something. Maybe she's already reached him.]

I'll have to check later. Ye talked with Ichijou, ye said?

Yes. He had a fair amount of news, for all that he's a bit stuck at the moment. Him and Mister Washington are trapped in the space station part of Luministi. As you might have heard, the rest of us are in the town, but it's otherwise deserted.

Yes, he mentioned that to me as well. Also that bombs didn't work on the door when they...well, Washington...tried. Has anyone tried to get in through the house yet?

And what do ye mean, deserted?

Not that I know of, but I'm not sure how optimistic I should be. It's traditionally been harder to get in there than out.

And, well, it's as I say. None of the townspeople are here. Not even a shopkeeper.

Aye, that's true. [Last time hadn't been easy at all, and he can't imagine the first time was either. He frowns, though, as she continues.]

One of the other new arrivals I'd talked with said there wasn't much of a celebration, either, despite the message we'd gotten. I wonder why that could be?

I couldn't say, but it just... all doesn't sit right. Why bother even using the Mayor's image when we know he's not around anymore?
Was the greeting something pre-planned that went on automatically, but because something is wrong with the systems in the town, it wasn't able to be pulled off as it should have been?

As ever, more questions than answers!

Aye. Unless it was set off just to taunt us, but what ye said would make sense. If there's something that's not working right...

But hey, wait. Ichijou said everything was working fine just before all this happened. So why would it have suddenly broken like that?

I'm afraid I cannot think it just an unhappy coincidence. Whomever brought us here this time must be wanting to try us. Which is to say, someone sabotaged it.

That rather fits the theme of this town, doesn't it!

Aye. And that means that whoever did it would have needed to get onto the spacestation in the first place, then stay unnoticed once they were there. [Admittedly, it's a big place, but Ichijou would have been keeping an eye out for other people coming back there...wouldn't he?]

Not to mention they'd need to know where to go to sabotage everything in the first place. So it would have had to been someone who knew how the place works. Maybe whoever sent that message when the rest of ye had gone home.

All excellent points. It seems we are at the very least up against a skilled insider.

...I wonder if the man in the black suit is taking a personal hand in things again.

Which reminds me. Do you happen to remember if there was anything particularly unusual about our last trial here, with the maze as we searched for Lab 3?

[Jamie was thinking that about the man in the suit as well, and he frowns as Fuu has the same thought - but it vanishes as she goes on.]

Unusual? How do ye mean? Well, there was that game we had to play with the balls to get that screen-thingy to let us choose. Is that what ye meant?

Sorry. In a way, I'm not certain what I mean!
However that maze that we had to work through, the last thing that we did before finding Filippo Resarci, the man who heads this whole thing had a hand in it. I was hoping that there might be some clue if something about the maze was particularly unusual in comparison to everything else, but everything here is strange.

Oh, aye, that it is. Ye saw the same things the Doctor and I did, though, so I don't know what good that'd do...

Unless ye asked some of the others that went through it as well?

Yes, and I'll keep asking! Even though it was the same maze, perhaps something stood out to someone. We all have different perspectives!

Aye, that's a fair point. And if anything comes to mind from what I saw, I can let ye know as well.

I'm sorry I can't be of more help right now. [He's a wee bit distracted with the Doctor's sudden disappearance, unfortunately.]

Would ye mind doing me a favor, though?

It's okay. Let's just get through what's in front of us first.

I wouldn't mind at all! What can I do?

Could ye make sure Sophie is all right? I don't know if the bairn's with her or back on her world. If he's not here...

Oh, no! I hadn't even though of the possibility that he'd be caught up with her!

I'll do that, Mister Jamie, then I'll talk to you again soon.

Thank ye, Fuu. I'll talk to ye again soon.

[He glances around the cave again, then adds, quite quietly:] I hope.

◌ 026 ◌ Third verse, seems oddly like the first. (And the second.)

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