voidtreckerexpress | Let's Have a Party!

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Let's Have a Party!

Who: Everyone!
What: Throwing a party
Where: Gym carriage
When: Early Evening- early morning, Apple 28

It was three days after the incident with the train and right at two weeks since they'd been allowed to get off this train and roam a new world. Sure somewhere in there, they'd had a brief reprieve involving a new platform and mess of newcomers, but that had hardly counted as a break from the train. So, the point was, they needed a chance to blow off some steam. What better way than organize a party and roll out the last of his ale to share?

He'd recruited Sarai and Maglor to play their harps and/ or sing for music; Ignis, Ash and Evie to make hors d'oeuvres, Dread and Peter to bring in some chairs; and rigged a lamp and some cloth to make a disco ball-like display in the room (which he made Peter to promise not to touch).

Now he just had to get the guests on the dance floor... to harp music? He misses 'regular' music. Sigh.

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It's easy to recognize that fondness in his tone. It's a very familiar feeling to her, after all - despite technically having said goodbye to her parents out of sheer coincidence before ending up here, Madoka really still is fond of them and misses them too.

But at least it's very easy to put a positive spin on that thought. Especially with the way he talks about it.

"Who knows.. Maybe the train will actually end up somewhere near your mother's noodle shop somehow." Sure, even Madoka knows the chance is slim. But the chance is still there, and that's what matters! Going to forever cling onto the tiniest spark of hope! "Then we could all eat there..! I'd love to try your mother's noodles myself!"

He laughs a little at the thought of poor Dread trying to even get in to the noodle shop. Poor mom, too, trying to handle so many people at once in that tiny space! She'd love it, but she'd also give him an earful for it.

"It's possible," he concedes, following her along the length of the tables. "I mean, where I'm from, people took trains to all kinds of different planets and places all over the galaxy. I can't say I know what or where a void is or even goes, but...I mean, weirder stuff has happened, right?"

Boy, he has no idea who he's talking to when it comes to weird stuff.

"Oh, say-- Did you ever find your cat? I don't see any cats around or anything, but..."

"Oh.. No, I haven't."

For a moment she seems almost surprised at the question. If the train taking off hadn't put the whole deal with trying to find Kyuubey out of her mind, then getting stuck in that no gravity situation sure did. A lot of other things needed her attention more.

"I figured that if we haven't found him by this point, he probably isn't here.." That thought makes her look a little sad, although it's not for any reason he's probably assuming it does.

"Oh..." Golly, Manabu sure is great at parties! Have a great topic like food, bring it down by talking about missing cats. What a champ.

He clears his voice awkwardly.

"Well, that...that might be for the best," he offers, mouth twitching in a feeble attempt at a smile. "I mean, there's a giant spider-thing on board now. I bet it'd think your poor cat would be a great meal..."

A true champ, since he's now confronting Madoka with a possibility she hadn't even thought of yet herself. She just assumed he wasn't here, despite him having been right next to her a moment before she showed up on the platform, but now..

"Ah..."

Maybe the spider ate him. She did talk to the spider, and it seemed.. relatively friendly compared to what anyone would expect from a spider that size, but maybe the spider didn't know Kyuubey wasn't just some normal random cat! Maybe he really got eaten! (Which usually wouldn't even be that much of a bad thing, but she needs to make a contract with him first, okay!!)

Madoka seems to grow more and more pale with every second of this realisation. She's even stopped chewing the bit of food in her mouth in shock. Did you just break her, Manabu?

Manabu does a double-take and nearly spits out his own food, gut-punched by the growing look of horror on the poor girl's face. Oh, jeez...!

"I, I mean!" He held his hands up, at a loss for what to do with them to help calm her down. "That's probably not! What happened! I mean--! Even that spider-guy was weirded out by everything, why would it even think to try and eat something then? I, I think we'd have seen it, someone would've said something, you know?"

His eyes dart wildly around the car for a second, trying to make a silent cry for help form someone. Anyone. Why is everyone busy having a good time when he's over here giving a kid nightmares?!

She can't get it out of her head now. What if Kyuubey really did get eaten by the spider. What if Kyuubey did get eaten by the spider. What if her world is literally doomed just because the spider decided to make a snack out of her sketchy alien not-quite-friend?

But in the middle of her panic she glances over at Manabu, noticing he's starting to look the same way she looks right now. And no matter how worried she is, Madoka will be Madoka. Which means she doesn't want anyone to freak out for her sake, so she tries to push the worries into the back of her head the best she can.

It doesn't help much. But she's trying.

"H.. Hmm, I guess we can't be sure it really happened.." It definitely doesn't sound convincing enough to seem like she's calm again. "A-And maybe.. The spider will just sooner or l-later.. poop him out..?"

Listen, that sounds like a ridiculous suggestion to most people, but not to Madoka who saw him literally survive anything.

"Uh..."

He looks appropriately nauseated by the prospect. And a little confused, too. Do spiders poop. That...that might be an issue, considering the giant one skittering around the train.

Suddenly, a thought pops into his head.

"Oh! Peter!" Peter! Spider-boy. Crawls on ceilings, calls the spider Charlotte (and thinks that's hilarious for some reason)... Manabu claps his hands together. "I bet if you talked to Peter, he could talk to the spider. He's--he's got like a rapport with it? If anyone could make sure, he could."

"R-Really? Is he close to the spider?" That's kind of surprising to her, since Madoka doesn't know about the whole spider deal going on with Peter. But she figures that maybe he's just really good at befriending anything somehow? He seemed nice when she talked to him...

"Maybe I'll ask.. You don't think it'd be rude to do so, do you..? I don't want to make the spider angry.."

What are spider manners even like!

"I think it'd be fine," he insists, half out of honest opinion and half out of a need to convey some kind of certainty to dispel that worry on her face. Despite her trying to diffuse his own worry, he can tell by the way her eyebrows pinch that she's still imagining her poor kitty getting wrapped up by a monster spider. Way to go, Officer Yuuki! You're great with kids!

"I can even ask for you! If you want. So if anyone gets angry, they get angry at me." He grins crookedly. "I already kinda got mixed up with that thing earlier, so it'd track on my record. Ha..."

Thankfully Madoka, as naive and easily trusting as she is, immediately believes him when he says he thinks it'll be fine. She doesn't even detect the slightest trace of him just desperately wanting to make her look less worried, so she slowly nods..

But that last part sure doesn't dispel her worries. Or rather, it makes them focus on something else entirely.

"I don't want anyone to get angry at you though.." Just the thought itself is enough to make her look slightly sad. "You've been so kind to me and helped me multiple times already. I don't want to bother you."

"Just the one time," he corrects, a little laugh in his voice. "But no, don't worry! Helping people in and out of pinches is kind of my job. You don't have to worry me, okay?"

Is it his job here? No. But he sure is going to act like it is.

Well, who would Madoka be to ignore the words of a Responsible Adult™? She could never bring herself to do that. So even though she feels kind of guilty for him having to help her like this, she still doesn't protest, instead just nodding slightly.

"Thank you, in that case. But.. um, even if it turns out Kyuubey was never here at all, then I guess that just can't be helped.. Maybe I do have some more time before I have to find him." That's.. a very cryptic statement, yes, but it really rolls off Madoka's tongue without her really thinking about what she's saying. It's more just her musing to herself. If she realised she was saying that out loud, she wouldn't be implying there's some sort of time limit on having to find her "cat" for some reason.

What's cryptic about it? She'd have to find him before it was time to feed him, right? Right??

In any case, Manabu's shoulders sag a little with a release of tension, relieved to have come to an understanding.

"We'll make sure that if he is hiding here at all? You'll get him back. Otherwise, he'll be waiting for you after we find a way off this thing and back to everyone's proper places. Sound good?"

~~Just wait until you see what Kyuubey is capable of consuming, Manabu..~~

".. Hmm. That sounds good." If everything back home is still waiting for her, then it'll be alright either way, no matter whether she makes a contract here on the train or back home. She has to just keep hoping for that possibility to be the truth.

"But.." She looks back at him. "Everything shouldn't just be about my lost.. cat right now." There's a slight pause before the word 'cat', but at least not long enough to be really jarring. She's just still trying to get used to this lie. Half-truth. Whatever. "We're at a party.. You should be having fun!"

"A...aa...right..."

His smile's a little wincing, now reminded of where he's at. He glances over his shoulder, glimpsing Tony trying to coax someone to dance with him. He sighs, shaking his head a little as he looks back down at the food.

"We ought to, huh. Considering what we're putting up with..."

Her gaze ends up somewhere between curious and slightly concerned (although not looking as distressed as before, don't worry!) when she sees that edge to his smile. Madoka has picked up another food item and takes a small bite out of it, considering her thoughts for a moment, but once she swallows it she just decides to ask.

"Do you not like parties?" Why else would his smile look like that?

"Er, uh--"

He's too transparent! Bashfully, he rubs the back of his head.

"It's not that! It's just...I'm usually thinking about what work I ought to be doing instead. There's always something to do, right? For adults, I mean." Not her! Kids ought to enjoy parties. Adults should be working so kids can enjoy parties! Right?

"Well.. I guess it's true that adults often are busy." So she'll partially buy his excuse. She had a working mother, she knows how it goes! But there's still a hint of a frown on Madoka's face, like something about all of this still doesn't fully sit right with her.

"But even mama said that she had to relax after a long day of work. With drinks!" Is this really the kind of information you should be spreading around, Madoka. Was that detail necessary. Maybe it's just hard for a 14 year old to tell the answer to those questions. "So that means it's time for you to relax and have fun as well now with the party.. You've earned it."

He chuckles a little, sheepishly shrugging his shoulders up with a sigh before letting his hand fall away from his head.

"Your mom sounds pretty smart," he admits, giving her a small grin.

Madoka just gives a smile in return to that grin.

"She is!"

Her mother is amazing, okay, she could gush forever. It's so obvious just from the look on her face. Thankfully thinking about it mostly leads to happy memories rather than the feeling of missing her right now. "She's so smart, and cool, and tough.. I really wish that I could be like her one day."

"Hoh?" It's cute to see her light up at talk of her mom. It makes him miss his own a bit more, but it's a nice kind of ache. Some solidarity, perhaps? "I bet your odds are good. Hopefully we won't be keeping you from that goal for too long here."

She doesn't deserve to get stuck on this weirdo voyage -- she ought to be off having her normal life with her normal friends and family and normal four-eared cat-thing.

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Let's Have a Party!

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