Lovely. So a game designer, a photographer, and a robot were all going to take their sweet time telling her why she was terrible. Morality police, morality police! They’re right, but Atsuko doesn’t seem to think so. Either that, or she doesn’t care
R.N.A. “I believe… I am owed an apology… for your rotten attitude after I saved… you from that fire. All it would have taken is… one ember gone wayward… and things could have gone… south quickly. Jack even got… burned because of your actions.”
It was all Atsuko could do not to scoff at the robot.
“…I owe you an apology…? ‘Saving’ me?” Perhaps they just didn’t understand. “I wasn’t… saved from anything. I lit that fire myself, and it wasn’t my first one. I knew what I was doing. I’m not the one who needs a lecture on fire safety. Save that… for the supposed ‘mass murderer.’” That was definitely a nickname for Jack.
“I’m not his keeper. He chose to get a little too close… If he in his… ‘years of wisdom’ hadn’t learned not to mess with fire yet, then if anything, I taught him a lesson. You’re welcome.” Wow, this woman was stubborn.
Viper “I don’t want your stupid food.”
“…I wasn’t offering.” And so, Atsuko took another bite.
Viper “I think we all need an apology too! It feels like I’m still squeezing water out of my hair!”
Atsuko chewed her eel and rice, expression not changing. “…It’s not like I intended for the sprinklers to go off. I don’t make a habit of lighting fires indoors.” But she admits to making a habit of lighting fires. “Surely, you could have found a towel in a place as expansive as this?”
Viper “RNA is right, you’re like, totes inconsiderate. I like, don’t care how much you wanted that thing gone, you could’a killed all of us. And, like, that’s so lame.”
“…On the contrary… I think I was quite considerate. I went as far away from all of you as I could to find a suitable space in this car.” This is why she hated audiences, hated people finding out. They would always treat her like she was somehow evil when she’s the one who was never afforded the kindness by this world to begin with.
Dexter Blanche “The least you can do… is say sorry. We won’t be able to work together like this, especially if you have another… pyromaniacal outburst.”
This time, Atsuko did scoff. Sorry, Dexter.
“…Pyromaniacal outburst…? Don’t make me laugh.” Have they all so soon forgotten how she lugged that painting around for the entirety of that stupid mail car when she could have set it on fire in there and killed all of them without a second thought? She thought she had shown them quite a bit of mercy given the circumstances.
“…What do you take me for? Do you think I would go around burning the pieces of whatever furniture we have to put together just to keep us trapped here all the longer?” That would be a logical conclusion to come to, yes. “…I don’t intend to stay in this car forever. If you refuse to work with me, then that’s on you. I’ll wait.” On top of being spoiled, arrogant, stubborn, and a pyromaniac—it should come as no surprise that Atsuko was extremely petty. She had started several (literal) fires in her past to prove this point.
Atsuko took another bite of her unadon.
“…Still, if it will make you all feel better, I suppose I’ll… apologize.” Not something she made a habit of often. “I apologize that there was nowhere better for me to start the fire than indoors. I rarely, if ever, do that for this exact reason. But if I had done it outdoors between the cars, you would have all tried to stop me. Correct?”
That was actually a pretty bad apology, Atsuko. No accountability and still laying the fault with them. But she still said the words ‘I apologize,’ and to Atsuko, that was far more than warranted.
Dexter Blanche “Also. Is their rice… good? I am dreadfully hungry, and while I’m no culinarian, rice and meatballs sounds like they’d go well together. What do you think?”
“…It’s adequate. No five-star cooking, but… I’ve worked up an appetite. I suppose everything tastes better on an empty stomach.”
