[ stretching in the middle of the simulation room, which is currently displaying a sunny beach scene. he glances over a little warily when he hears someone come in, but charles doesn't immediately set off any creep alarms, so he offers a smile. ]

Aaah, even if it's fake, it feels nice after being stuck in that stupid room all day yesterday!

[GLAD TO NOT BE ASSIGNED CREEP

but at the sight of the beach, he looks around in mild awe.]

Right? If we can't actually go outside, this is the next best thing.

Takes some of the edge off the whole cold-void-of-space thing, anyway. The cabin fever must have been rough up here before they invented things like this.

Haha, I don't even want to think about it. One day of being trapped in the bay was enough, never mind our future of being stuck on this ship for a week without any outdoors.

There's definitely a big difference between staying inside because you feel like it and staying inside because you're not allowed to leave.

[ even if you wouldn't be going anywhere anyway. said with all the authority of someone who came from spring 2021. ]

[help.

he nods.]

And it sounds like we'll be arriving at the next destination in a week, so hopefully we can get some real air then.

Hm... maybe? I don't think most other planets even have air, but I guess these places must be able to sustain life somehow if they're sending out delivery orders.

I'll be honest, I'm completely out of my league here so I'll take your word for it.

[he's a ye olde he doesn't know shit about space]

[hi... charles is pacing around the ship, though he'll pause when he sees todomatsu. there's a lot of grief and shock and guilt coming from him, though a blip of relief comes through when he sees that todomatsu's okay.

though outwardly, for the most part, he seems calm.]

... Hey.

[ yeah, shock is the big mood here!! tinged with sadness and confusion and anxiety. it's great. ]

Hey. [ ... ] It seems like no one really has any idea what happened, huh?

... I have some guesses for Luke, but Dahut is a complete mystery to me.

[we saw luke die, but dahut was fine.]

Wait, wait, you saw it??

Yeah. He collapsed in front of everyone on the observation deck just moments before we blacked out—and given that everything we were experiencing through the nanites or whatever stopped then, it's safe to assume that was his moment of death.

[ what the fuck ]

He just... collapsed? Like, out of nowhere?

... Not exactly. We were all feeling pains soon after being locked in, but none of us were sure where they were coming from. In hindsight, he was the source.

So... I think he already had health issues that he didn't want people to know about.

[ waves back and comes over! ]

Charles-san! Looking for something new to wear?

Honestly, I can't believe they had us wearing the same two outfits for more than a week when there was a place like this on the ship...

[ even as an anime character whose canon has made this joke he still has AT LEAST three visibly different casual personal outfits each season ]

[help]

Does seem like they were holding out on us, huh? I'm used to wearing the same thing since you gotta pack light when traveling, but still, it's nice to have some variety.

[honestly he deserves to]

... Rough time, huh?

I mean, you saw what a trainwreck that was.

... Yeah. Sorry you somehow got roped into that—it really wasn't fair of him to put that on you.

Ugh. I thought it was supposed to be a ploy to get at the actual killer. Like, if Dion-san had already refused to accuse him, then he wouldn't have been okay with him sacrificing himself in his place either and would have come forward to stop it before it got there!

[sigh]

Guess that was expecting too much.

Apparently!! [ takes a drink ] Welp, won't make the mistake of thinking that guy can think rationally again!