Count Your Blessings | Haruka + Abel | The Station Car

Haruka Yukimura

Now finally out of the cold (mostly), Haruka took a moment to sit and rest. This still wasn’t a particularly relaxing situation, but she’d take what she could get. After all, even before she’d got on that train in the first place… It probably wasn’t that long ago, realistically, but she felt like she hadn’t sat down and let herself unwind in an age. There were some nice enough seats in this little station building - they’d do for now. She could think more about it later.

She took off the gloves that had mysteriously appeared on her hands, but faltered as she did. Wait… on her hand, what was that? She rubbed anxiously at the green… numbers? that had appeared there. They didn’t budge. That wasn’t pen markings, or anything… Goodness, it wasn’t some kind of tattoo, was it? She continued to poke away, and eventually only stopped herself when she realised the pale patches of her skin were going more of a red colour. Somewhat bashfully, she looked around, and then looked only more sheepish when she noticed there was someone else nearby. She gave Abel a flustered but still friendly nod of greeting. Don’t mind her…

Abel Lazarus

The nod earns a similar one from Abel. On pure reflex, with an accompanied thin smile. Watching her do all that was… interesting. Certainly. It’s in his comfort zone since it’s just. Observation. Not interaction.

He’s not really sitting Too far from her or anything- so while he can’t make out what’s on her hand he can tell something was strange and that was enough for him to turn his own gaze down and finally remove the gloves he was wearing. They were black- matching the coat well enough but not so much the suit he wore. With the coat now off and hung on the chair next to him he does wonder why he didn’t bother removing those prior- but once he spots the green numbers he hastily pulls the glove back on for a moment.

He steels himself before pulling it off again and just. Looking. He’s so surprised by it that he doesn’t even look pissy-just. Shocked.

He glances back at Haruka. Thinks back to the introductions- skimming for their name- Luckily things like this are in his skill set and he Can remember her name- and that they’re a Medical journalist. That stuck out to him. They seem… Not too bad to talk to for information at least.

“Haruka… Right? Do you… Have the green numbers too?” He’s a bit red asking this. Like he’s embarrassed. Because he is embarrassed to speak to a stranger, but still. Maybe he can pretend the sun is just harsh since he’s a ginger and all. “I… Assume that’s what you’re reacting to, but you can correct me if I’m wrong.”

Haruka Yukimura

“That’s me, yes.”

Looks like she hadn’t been able to get away without her strange behaviour being noticed, but at least they both looked as embarrassed as each other. Haruka smiled gently at Abel, hoping to put him at ease.

“I… do, yes. I’m not sure where they came from. It doesn’t look like any sort of ink or mark I know, but it definitely isn’t coming off.”

It was a bit worrying, but it didn’t seem like it was doing anything bad at right this moment, which was some relief at least. “Yours don’t hurt or anything, do they? I wonder if everyone has them… Perhaps when we all get a moment to talk again, we should check.”

Abel Lazarus

“No- No pain.” He does press on it- like he’s double-checking that. “… I’d hope everyone else has it too. Might be stranger if it’s just us two.” Is that a joke? He laughs awkwardly so it might be.

God. Ignoring that he’s feeling even more embarrassed that he isn’t sure how to have this interaction, he quietly sighs and slips the glove back on. Embarrassment always leads to…. anger. And he’s Really Trying to Keep It Together. He needs Something that’s going to pull him out of his own Head.

“I hope… It will come off.” He straightens his back to sit a bit more formally, but his hand clasps around the golden cross at his neck, his thumb pressing against the back as a soothing gesture. “Perhaps they have Something to do with the train, considering the way it’s seeming to be… fantastical thus far. It doesn’t seem too strange compared to… magic ice… to put numbers on us.”

He realizes this is set up like a game. Maybe like a board game Ransom would make him and Marius play because he thinks they need more imagination. Numbers- puzzles- apparently a need for finding things if that one sign is true… It makes sense. Especially if the message is something like, Think outside the box or whatever. He’d like this Much more if it were logic puzzles.

“Maybe it’s another thing we’ll need to solve.”

Haruka Yukimura

Haruka nods, pleased to hear that Abel’s numbers aren’t troubling him - not directly, at least. “Hmm, that would be strange, wouldn’t it?” Her hum was more like a laugh, so it did seem like she had got the joke, although she also kept the thought in the back of her mind anyway.

“Me too… It feels quite odd just to look at.” She noticed Abel’s fidgeting with the cross with sympathy. She was religious herself, and although she didn’t share his faith she certainly understood looking for comfort at a time like this.

“Another thing to solve… you might just be right, hm. I wonder how long they’ve been here. Since we woke up…?” She couldn’t be sure either way. “Perhaps if it really is magic at play, we’ll have to do something just as magical to get rid of them.” As soon as she’d said that, she shook her head at herself, knowing how silly it sounded. Then again, in a situation like this, what really counted as silly any more?

Abel Lazarus

“… I’m afraid that seems like the most logical fix to this.” There’s another awkward sort of laugh. Clearly he’s not Very fond of the idea but he has to admit that. With the current set up it makes sense. It makes sense that all of this would be solved in ways he didn’t really excel at.

“I wonder if the number itself matters?” He doesn’t move to remove the glove again. He doesn’t really want to look at it right now. Sure, he does look a little silly wearing only one glove, but he can just keep it tucked close to himself so it isn’t noticeable. “If it’s like… related to something we have to do or… How we interact with everything?”

He’s thinking back to the games he’s played with Marius. It was mostly monopoly or chess, considering, but Ransom did make them branch out into other games every so often when he got too tired of watching them do the same thing. Marius was always eager to please his husband so he’d want to at least Try the games- and Abel was always eager to spend time with his uncle. Even if he Absolutely hated the games.

But none of them really bring anything like this to mind.

“Maybe it’s all going to be like the ice and expect us all to become friends.” He hates that idea but it’s the only one he has.

Haruka Yukimura

Haruka tapped at her chin thoughtfully. Nothing much seemed all that ‘logical’ in this place, but she agreed with Abel. Although, even if they fixed one thing… wouldn’t that just lead to the next? How many puzzles would they have to go through…?

That wasn’t a thought she should trouble him with.

“Numbers… well, there are a lot of puzzles which could involve that. Mathematical ones, arithmetic, or some numbers have their own meanings - culturally or spiritually or so on. I’m not sure what it could connect to here… Perhaps there’s another clue here somewhere. Maybe that stationmaster could help us.”

“Maybe it is…! I don’t think that would be so bad, though.”

Definitely less objection to the idea from Haruka. Which probably comes as no surprise.

Abel Lazarus

“At this rate I can’t assume the puzzle would be math related. Something so normal among all of this seems unlikely.” Clearly he’s sort of bitter about that idea. Math he can do so easily.

Making friends…

“Maybe it’s some sort of point system? I… doubt it because we’re not starting at zero, though. Unless the goal is to get To zero…” It reminds him of the time his dad tried to do a star chart for chores. It didn’t last very long because Abel stayed up and tried to clean the whole house to win a bunch of stars and he didn’t Exactly know how to do a lot of things because he was young (and used to a housekeeper doing things) so he kind of made a worse mess in his attempt.

He did get a nice reward, though, for his effort.

“Maybe it’s tied to these… puzzles? Each time we solve one of the puzzles our number goes up or down? I doubt it’s a ranking unless there’s other people we aren’t aware of around.” He’s confident enough in the puzzles idea Considering. That had to be the only reason Ice would need to work like that ever- plus they’re already on a new activity as well. It would almost be too weird for this pattern to Not continue. (Even if that reason is only because he dislikes change in routine and this is the closest to a routine he can Make.)

“Or it could be a currency, I guess.”