3 years ago - every year; the Lady Augusta School of Welfare held school fairs. In which vendors from far away lands come to visit the institution, stands that sell finger food, toys and other various fun activities for children to enjoy. One of these activities is fortune telling
"Hey what's that?" said young Claire
"The eyes of Ba- Baba Yaga? Come see- what your future- awaits you!" young Clarice reads as one of the posters point towards the reader, then she looks a t Claire with a confused look
"Me?!" Claire says as she points her own finger to herself.
Clarice exclaims with her arms crossed "No dummy, that's just a poster, and I think it reads Ba- Ba- Baba-yag?-"
"BABA YAGA!" an old woman covered in rags and robes shouts at the top of her lungs with a raspy voice scaring the surrounding children, mind you: this is broad daylight- which is lunchtime, which is also NOON. Most of the children ran screaming and some of them even tripped over the dusty ground, the worst ones even soiled themselves.
The two twins frozen in fear as the old lady approaches them like she's floating under all of the robes she's wearing
The old woman points her finger towards the twins as it slowly points in a circular motion. "Are you prepared to witness what fate has in store for you, for a price, that is"
Clarice looks at her in awe and says "Woah cool she's the real deal! We'll ta-"
Claire immediately stops her by pulling her collar "Waaaaait a dang minute, how much are you asking for?"
she says as her hands reach out towards them "Ah so you ARE intrigued, that'll be 300 chipssss"
Claire grabs Clarice's hand as they walk away "C'mon reece let's ride the flying fiesta"
"WAIT! I'll do it for 30"
"That's still expensive, we're like 10 years old!"
"FINE! I'll do it 15- no 10! For the both of you"
The twins stare at her in silence as the red dust in the wind passes by, Claire raises a brow and hands her 10 chips, falling onto the hag's hand
"HAHA YES! FINALLY A CUSTOMER! Please come come come come, make yourselves at home"
As they walked through the purple curtains, the hag prepared wooden chairs that have seen better days, cushioned with a pillow wrapped in silken fabric; a table filled with lit candles as a bowl of what seems to be ash placed on the center of the round table. Clarice observes one of the candles as she flips it over to look at the bottom, it has a switch and a battery slot
"Wait these candles are electric"
Suddenly the candles went out, the bowls of ash suddenly set ablaze with blue fire as it dimly lights up the hag's face
"Stare into the azure flame, and it will show you what fate has in store for you.
But before that, you must offer a part of yourself to see what really lies ahead
Claire exclaims "part of us? Didn't we already pay you?"
"No the flame does not want money, it wants a part of your body"
The twins suddenly looked at her all weird
"Ugh! It wants a strand of hair!"
Claire clicks her tongue and pulls a strand, Clarice caresses her hair as Claire notices
"Hey what's wrong? If you don't wanna give her your hair it's fine"
The hag lets out a sharp sigh as she says "Fine! If you don't want to give your hair at least give it your nail clippings" then she proceeds to toss her some nail clippers, but it was about to hit Clarice's face, luckily Claire was able to catch it, she looks at the hag with contempt.
A few clippings later, the hag gathers the samples in shallow bowls and asks the twins "So, who shall we burn first?"
The twins look at each other as their expressions show hesitation, it takes a good minute for them to be staring at each other; breaking the silence the hag says "how about let's burn the nail clippings first?"
She picks up the nail clippings along with the shallow bowl. As the clippings land on the kindling ash it bursts into blue and red flames. The fire soared high as it illuminated the whole caravan, it was so bright you can even see it from the outside.
The twins stare in awe, as the hag herself as surprised as them, as the flame began to settle down, the hag carefully wrapped her hands around the dancing flame, she picks up the still burning fire right into her hand as it sticks to the surface of her skin, though it doesn't seem to burn her. Looking at the flame, it's bright and wild, yet it remains standing on her hand.
Looking at Clarice with a warm smile on her face
"Child, you are the first to receive these words from anyone else. You are destined for greatness, you will receive unmatched power, questioned by none, respected by all. You will lead generations of people to a greater cause of your own."
Bright smiles can be seen from both of the twins, as Clarice even gets more excited from what she's heard, though the smile disappeared for it dawned on her a chilling question
"That's so cool! But can you tell me how I will die?"
Claire smacks Clarice's arm as she exclaims "Reece what the heck! You can't just think that out loud!"
"Please, I think curiosity is a gift from fate themselves and it should be rewarded as such. You see child, I cannot tell when you death will come, but the details~ ohohohoho!: I wager you were not expecting this, for you will die in the most glorious battle by the hands of someone you truly care, you will enjoy every moment of it"
Claire says "That's so sick Reece! C'mon old lady my turn!"
"Very well" She picks up the strand of hair while returning the azure flame on the bowl of ash, she picks up the hair strand and drops it on the flame, it slowly swayed down to the bottom, what's even more strange is that her hair, doesn't even seem to burn, in fact as it landed on the ashen base, the flame was extinguished.
All of them became confused, then the old lady says "hm, must've been the wind"
She pulls out a matchstick to set it ablaze again "Gimme another strand!"
She drops the new strand but to no avail, the flame was extinguished again
Claire says with concern "I can give you nail clippings, since that worked for her"
The hag immediately implied "No! Hair is actually for the usual for me, but sure let's try your nails"
The hag lights the flame again and Claire drops one of her nail clippings…
Still the same result…
"Child I'm sorry, but the flame speaks and I listen, for the flame says nothing of your future"
Claire exclaims "No, surely it was just a fluke again! Let's do it one more time!"
"I'm sorry child, that's all I can do, all the flame it could offer"
"Oh"
Silence ensued as only the wind from outside can be heard
"Can I have my money back at least?"
Clarice looks at her wristwatch to realize what time it is
"Claire! Wait, look at the time!" Lunch was almost over
"C'mon let's go!"
"But I haven't even got my money back!"
"Who cares, that's only ten bucks, we're gonna get an earful if we come late to class!"
They got out of the caravan as they exited from its curtains
"What a peculiar pair those two were"
3 years later
On the night of the Boom Radio Massacre, in the orphanage where Clarice is staying alone in the darkness of her room; where the only source of light is from the small CRT TV, suddenly witnesses her door open slowly.
As she sees two shadow figures standing against the light
"Wasuuuuuuup Princesssssss!"
A smile grows from both of their faces, faintly glowing white on their shadows.
She gasps with visible terror on her face, immediately grabs her phone and opens the flashlight, pointing it to reveal their faces
Only to see it was just June and Don
"Damn girl, you live like this? At least turn the lights on"
Don flicks the light switch on, revealing that she's actually spilled her cup-noodles on the bed
June said "Woah! Clean up on aisle you~" She handed her some wet wipes "Is everything okay? you kinda look like a mess!"
Don looks around her room, only to find that most of their stuff; from the color of their clothes arranged in a gradient to bottles of skincare sorted alphabetically "Yeah, your room is eerily clean-" then he looks at her bed "-except for your bed of course"
"Wait wait wait! You two scared me! And why are you guys even here?! How did you find my room?!"
June helping her wipe the stain away "Since your sister was away, Nick told us you've got some extra space since a certain someone *aggressively looks at at Don*got our bunk-bed obliterated and-"
Clarice interrupts June in the middle of her sentence "Wait, Nick told you?"
June replies "Er… Yeah! You pretty much told him when you first met in the cafeteria"
Then suddenly Clarice looks at the stuff Don is holding, as both of their bags are stuffed to the brim, some blankets are even wrapped inside the built-in straps their bags have, speaking of bags they are carrying more than one bag on themselves "You two don't plan on staying here right?"
Don says with hesitation "Nnnnnnnnnnnnnn *realizing the situation* nyyeeeeeaaaaah *looks at June* *June agrees* aaaaaeeeeeesssss?"
June nods and looks black at Clarice "Yeah we've been planning on staying here"
Clarice points at the beds "but they're only two beds?"
"Well someone surely needs to sleep on the carpet~" Said June as she looked at Don
"B- b- but my back hurts~" Don said as he rubbed his back
June with her hands on her waist "Alright you big baby, I'll sleep on the floor. But you gotta prep our stuff before you lay on those sheets, I'll help Clarice clean herself up, besides *yawn* it's getting late"
"C'mon wait a second guys, isn't this a little too fast? I mean we've practically only met the other day!"
June places her hand on Clarice's shoulder "Listen: the three of us -including Nicodemus, we're in a pretty rough spot. Matter of fact we're rock-bottom, so having a place to stay helps a lot…" A brief silence ensues in the room "U- until your sister gets home that is"
Clarice looks down but slowly snaps her eyes back to June, her lips showing hesitation "O- okay"
The Don and June began to lay out all of their belongings, albeit most of their things are still stuffed in their bags, the pillows and blankets are used, their hygiene products stand on the lips of the sink.
Way past midnight the three of them are in deep sleep, Clarice, all by herself on her bed, blanket wrapped all over her body - begins to become restless, sweat starts to bud on her forehead. The blankets began to feel constricting, her pillow started to feel as if it's swallowing her head. She starts to roll around on the sheets with her blanket wrapping around her body as she rolls, when she faces up she awoke with cold sweat running down her temples, as she looks around the room dimly lit, she spots a figure standing next to the window, thus she opens the light only to reveal it was Nicodemus
Nick finishes up the cigarette, presses the butt on the windowsill as he throws it out the window "Mornin' princess, aren't you up early? Also, you look like you've seen a ghost, did your twin sister's ghost come to haunt you in your dreams?"
Clarice asked while she's opening the bathroom door "Nick, are you staying here too? And can you tell yourself and your friends to stop scaring me, if this is some kind of ritual that you guys use I do not want to be a part of it!"
He says as the last huff of smoke came out of his mouth "Nope, just wanted to see my friends"
"Hey err… Just to remind you, Claire doesn't like the smell of cigarettes in the room, if she finds out you've been smoking here, she might kill you" she said before she could enter the bathroom
"Well you sister's not here isn't she? Wow, you really are a princess" said Nick while Clarice was still in the bathroom "By the way, I heard you joined the welfare trials, that's gonna be a long way ahead, but if you ever need some help the three of us are always here"
While she was in the bathroom, Nick mentioned "Hey have you seen the news earlier?"
Clarice's voice echoes inside the bathroom "What news?"
Nick replied "The Boom Radio Massacre, so many people fucking died there. You could see the blood puddling through the censorship in the news, shit's a bloodbath"
Clarice smacks her lips "How come you don't talk like that during school grounds?"
Nick began to lean his back to the windowsill as the wind began to calm down. "Rumors say it was done by one guy, but err- you know how rumors work"
Clarice flushes down her wastes as she begins to dress herself again "That doesn't really answer my question Nicodemus!"
Nick clicks his tongue "Alright alright, well… You know how it is when you're on school grounds you gotta look at the part if you want the sisters to respect you, I mean surely your sister knows that."
Clarice's face starts to scrunch up as she takes a stern look at the mirror "What do you know about my sister?"
Nick answered "I heard that she got kicked out"
Clarice slams the bathroom door open she says whilst walking towards Nicodemus "First you barge into our room, then you spread rumors?! You have no idea what the both of us have gone through! What are you even hoping to achieve coming in here?"
Nicodemus kept avoiding his eyes towards her "some sleep?"
Clarice sternly points towards the exit door as she did a glaring stare at Nick "Get the fuck outta our room"
Nick pinned against the wall nervously says "Hold on now, it's bad to be in a steamy mood this early in the morning, please hear me out - "
She lowered her voice as it started shaking "GET OUT!" she says as the the other two began to squirm, indicating that they're not quite the heavy sleepers
Nick's eyes darted toward June and Don "Okay shhh! You're gonna wake them up! You mentioned what I said is a rumor right? If you know what happened to her you could at least tell me~ If you really want me outta here, you can at least give me something to do! I can help, I swear!" He says this while pushing her finger down
With the idea of Claire's safety, Her posture relaxed a bit as her eyes are still aggressively locked onto Nick "She got injured, but due to blood extreme blood loss"
Nick leans his elbow on the windowsill as his voice softens with a more sincere tone "Can I at least know where she's staying? Don't worry I know every nook and cranny of that city!"
Clarice looks away from Nicodemus, her gaze heavy with worry as she began to walk herself back to her bed, slowly "*deep sigh* She's staying at… The only church in Cydonia - there! Can you get out now?"
Nick relaxes his posture as a smirk stretches on his face,"In that case, consider your sister checked-on"
Clarice suddenly looked angry again
Nick realizing what he said; "I- I didn't mean it like that - I mean-" he exclaims while he slowly walks away from the exit as his head darts from the exit to Clarice's face, finally he closes the door.
Clarice stood up as she walked towards the door to lock it, but before she could grab the doorknob.
"Oh! By the way; I really don't recommend letting June sleep on your sister's bed, especially at this time of the month. Maybe use a towel or something"
Clarice with a dead look on her face says "byyeeeeeeeeeee"
Then she closes the door; quickly grabs the door knob to lock both the windows and the door. As she dropped her body on the bed, she stared at the ceiling as she says to herself
'Claire, wherever you are - I just hope didn't made things worse'
On the next day, the sizzle of oil can be heard inside the room, the tv can be heard playing girly pop music as it goes on, the clanging of pots and pans can be heard. Once the music has come to a close, it cuts into a commercial.
"Super Scrub cleaning soap! It's so effective at cleaning, it can burn your skin off!"
After the commercial it cuts into the news station, its theme is played as the motto is prefixed:
"We protect nobody, nor endorse anything. True service is what we only provide! This is Mars Daily
Good morning John Jameseon here, today's time check is 5:21 am
Recent numbers of the victims of the Boom Radio Massacre have been revealed by urban rescuers that have been tasked to retrieve deceased and injured persons, who have also been involved in how the violence ensued.
Reporting to you, live - Jackie Deladia, how's the aftermath going Jackie?"
They switch to the hands-on broadcast
"Thank you John, rescuers have discovered that 98% of the victims are suspected to be armed, as some of them are fully equipped with body armor and bulletproof helmets, and let's not forget the hundreds of unregistered firearms.
In which the total number of casualties have been an estimated 134 armed bodies"
Beside Jackie's screen, newsanchor John asks: "Jackie is there by any chance a living or at least an injured person found in the rubble?"
"Yes John, they have discovered a woman, covered in bruises and for the way she moves seems to also have a few of her bones fractured; matter of fact she also seems to be missing a lot of teeth
Information about the woman seems to be unknown for the time being, though one of the victims in this massacre seems to be Damian Zambubu, son of JZ Studios CEO Johnny Zambubu."
As the news continued yapping, Clarice wakes up from the smell of cooking, once she was able to get up from bed she sees Don cooking on top of a nightstand near the windowsill, using only a one burner stove; he uses a towel on his shoulder to wipe away his sweat while he turn around to see Clarice sitting on her bed, as her eyes are still droopy and her left eye slowly getting off track compared to the right.
Her vision begins to double, but rubbing it snaps it back into place, she asks Don "What are you cooking?
"Oh uh, I'm making french toast; how's your sleep?" said Donovan while he flips the french toast in the air
Clarice's eyes suddenly locked in on the toast he just flipped "Dang you're good- I mean, sleep was terrible; Nick was smoking at that same windowsill last night. The smell of the smoke woke up - I swear it felt as if it was choking me"
Don finished cooking the last slice of toast, then putting it on a platter "Nick dropped by? Huh, maybe that explains why there's a letter on the doorstep"
She darts her view to the door "Huh? Wha? What letter?" She gets off of her bed and walks towards the doorstep, it's a letter made of purple paper, with a pink wax seal on it resembling the Orphanage's sigil"
Don laying the plate of toast on the coffee table "So what's it say?"
Clarice still holding the letter unopened "Just a sec" then she opens it tearing the wax seal along with a few fibers of paper, a trifold paper emerges from the letter in which it reads
Enrollment Confirmation: The Welfare Trials
Subject: Official Mandate and Terms of Enrollment, Welfare Trials, Candidate C. Phoenix
Greetings Ms. Clarice Phoenix,
After careful review and institutional consideration, you have been officially enrolled in the Welfare Trials, effective immediately.
You are mandated to kindly arrive within 8 AM at the Eastwood Sector of Mejiro City(the city where the Orphanage resides), in which you will meet alongside the other distinguished nominees. Transportation will be provided precisely at the appointed time. Tardiness will be viewed as non-compliance.
You may bring companions who you believe will best support your success throughout the Trials. Your enrollment and the presence of your chosen companions will result in an immediate exemption from all academic and vocational subjects during the period of the Trials.
June pops out from the bathroom, dripping wet with a thick layer of soap foam with her head peeking from the door "Oh snap! Seriously? No way we're actually out of history class?"
Clarice quickly flips the letter "Wait there's more at the back of the letter!" She begins to read the critical terms in a fainter print of ink.
Please note the following critical terms of participation:
Exclusivity of Authority: While participating in the Trials, all rules and guidelines issued by the Overseeing Body supersede all previous institutional regulations, including those set forth by the Headmistress. Compliance is absolute.Resource Allocation:Only two (2) welfare food rations will be issued per day to your entire group, regardless of the number of companions you bring. All other necessary resources must be secured by the group. The institution will not intervene in disputes over resources.Mandatory Secrecy: Discussion of the Trials' mechanics, locations, or objectives with any non-enrolled party is strictly forbidden. Breach of confidentiality will result in immediate, full-group expulsion.Penalty for Withdrawal:Withdrawal from the Trials at any point, for any reason, will result in immediate and permanent expulsion from the Lady Augusta School of Welfare for you and all of your registered companions. Furthermore, any previous welfare benefits will be immediately revoked.
The institution wishes you success in demonstrating the necessary Discipline and Intelligence required for continued participation.
Headmistress Kim Buk Song,Welfare Trials AdministrationLady Augusta School of Welfare
The three of them looked at each other, it got quiet for a solid few seconds then June exclaimed "Well, what're you guys waiting for? Let's prep up"
She closes the bathroom door for a second then opens it again "Err… Princess I'm really sorry - you might not wanna look at your sister's bedsheets"
Clarice suddenly remembers what Nicodemus said and gasps, quickly flipping the sheets to reveal a large stain of blood on the white bedsheets "JUNE!"
"I said I was sorry!" June shouts back behind the closed bathroom door
Clarice didn't move for a long moment, her eyes locked on the large bloodstain, her chest began to huff heavily, her right nostril flares out as her lips began to jitter, then her sweaty hands turns into a tight fist; then she whispers to herself
"Twenty-four hours huh?" She rips the bedsheet out from its garters clasping under the bed, crumples it down as she stomps towards the bathroom. It was unlocked so she opened the bathroom door really wide, even enough for Don to see, immediately he looked away and covered his face with his hand while chewing with a shocked expression.
As she opens the door to find June still covered in soap foam, she throws the bedsheet towards her and shouts "Don't leave the bathroom until this sheet is white as my teeth!" then slams the
With heavy steps she walks towards Don eating one of the french toasts, while his eyes darts around avoiding eye contact with her.
She slams her butt on the chair while the mugs and plates on the coffee table rattles a little, then she crosses her arms pouting down looking at the food.
But then she sees Don offering some breakfast "Err… -You okay with french toast?"
She swipes it out of his hands, and aggressively takes the first bite. As she took it her tense shoulders suddenly relaxed, drooping from the chair's backrest, her head tilting sideways.
Don's frightened face turns into a calm smile - swallowing down what her was chewing, he grabs his coffee to drink it, at the same time Clarice swallows hers "don't tell me, you guys are joining aren't cha?"
"I mean when you think of the free food and a pass on every grade? Why the hell not?"
She takes another bite of the toast as she speaks while her mouth is full, she still covers her mouth "But what about a roof? Some shelter? I think they didn't mentioned that" she says while handing out the trifold letter
As takes and reads the fine print "Dang, you're right! I think we could make it work though"
June pops out of the bathroom just right beside them, wearing a towel covering up half of her body down from her shoulders, her gradient still wet. She pulls out the bedsheet and stretches it as she shows it to the both of them "So princess, waddaya think?"
The stain is still faintly visible, from a sharp red hue to a faint brown stain; enough to fill the quarter-span of the sheet. Clarice takes a hard look at it, it is reduced but it's still noticeable, thus she lets out a deep sigh and says "You know what? It's fine I'll just give it to the laundromat, and hurry up we need to get there within 23 hours at this point"
Don hurriedly eating his toast by forcibly stuffing it in his mouth, then he pours the rest of his coffee down his throat then he speaks while his speech is still muffled "i NeEtH a BaFf"
He starts to scour inside his backpack, along with June hanging Claire's sheet in the towel rack of the bathroom. Clarice briefly interrupts her by saying "No- it's fine! Just… throw that to the hamper and I'll just bring it to the laundromat. Just hurry up and get dressed"
June shrugged while the towel was slipping off slightly as she draped the sheet over the rack, she began to shake her head in disbelief "Whatever princess, you worry too much about laundry. Getting constantly stressed like that will make you look older than your age"
An Hour passes; Clarice has finally taken a bath, Donovan is packing his cooking equipment for the journey, June is still drying her hair, rubbing it along with the use of the wind outside, she's already got her pants and socks on, yet she's still shirtless with only her bra on her uppers.
Donovan was already dressed, matter of fact he was already wearing hiking boots equipped with boa laces for the journey. While the two of them were preparing, Clarice finally takes a step out of the bathroom, wearing a towel wrapped around her body and her hair
"Ah finally~ I who would've though I just needed a bath"
She suddenly looks at the two and they're still packing up
"What are you two doing? June, get dressed! At least have the decency to put on a top! Donovan, why are you bringing so much food?"
Donovan showing an energy bar to Claire "oh I'm just packing up some sweets, since y'know June is having her high tides"
Clarice sharply sighs "Ugh fine, but throw some of them away. The overseers will give us daily rations" He proceeds to stuff down two whole bags of of these energy bars.
"Guys would you please hurry up" She notices that June is bringing one of her rapiers, mind you these are not training grade rapiers; these are actual lethal rapiers that can kill people "June why are you bringing that?"
"What? Better be safe than sorry. Besides, Don's bringing his, but I think he's just gonna carry his chef's knife. That reminds me, Since you've trained a little bit with us, catch this!"
She throws an object towards her, Clarice catches wind of this but as the object got closer, she realizes it's a survival knife. In a split second she immediately retracted her hands from catching it, even with an audible jitter from her.
"June what the hell?!"
June finally zips up her bag "Relaaaaax princess, the blade's covered up with leather"
As Clarice picks the knife up, it is in fact wrapped in a finely made leather scabbard "where do you guys even get this stuff?"
June shrugs while she spins her hand "Well… Me and Nick got some connections outside the school."
Clarice suddenly looks at her phone and catches the time: 6:45am , her eyes dilate while the hair on her skin began to stiffen as June says
"Damn girl I knew you were skinny but not that skinny"
"Guys shut up and pack up, we need to go now!"
But Don mentions "But you're not even dressed yet"
"I don't care! we gotta go now!
The three of them finally prepared what they need, thus they head out from the orphanage
June, still finger combing her hair, says "So princess, where's the first stop?"
Clarice carrying a messenger bag, along with Claire's sheet wrapped around her arm says "the laundromat down the next few blocks, also we don't need any other distractions because we've only got more than 1 hour away from Cydeonia's Eastwood Perimeter, commute with the super-sub should be an hour away"
Don asks her "Wait where exactly is our stop?"
Clarice answers "Well I was thinking stopping on Cydonia's first stop, though stopping Near the perimeter seems faster"
Don suddenly steps forward to get ahead of the two girls, he says while walking backwards to face them "Stopping outside Cydonia walls? Are you nuts? The dinosaurs could eat us alive!"
Clarice raises her brow "Wait how did you know that, I don't even know there were dinosaurs there?"
Don began to stutter as he realized he has said something he shouldn't, June catches wind of this so she filled in "Well- Donovan here is a bit of an explorer, though I don't think he's ever encountered violent attacks from the dinos, but some of them are absolutely lethal"
Clarice's assuming look began to be enlightened "Oh, alright I believe you. Oh, and we're also at the laundromat"
As they arrive, a man in the counter spots Clarice
"Clarice! Long time, no see. Usually your sister is the one to come by often, but welcome!"
Clarice plops down the sheet onto the scale "Hey Jean, I'm glad you're up early. This thing is stained by high tide, so I kinda need it fixed; it's Claire's so if you don't mind make it spotless"
Jean picks up the fabric and shoots it on a basket "ah had a little accident while asleep"
Clarice looks at June, then June gives Clarice a stern looks back
"Yeeeeeeeah, it's my schedule today. Although take the time you need for this one, I'll be going away"
Jean finally puts the fabric in the washing machine "Well just make sure you wear some pads before you sleep, I can give you some of my daughter's if you're inclined"
Clarice raises her hand to refuse "Ah! No thanks, I think I've got that covered"
As they exited the laundromat, Clarice gave a sharp look at June, while June looked like she did absolutely nothing wrong. She couldn't help but just sigh and look away.
After a few minutes, they finally arrived at the super-sub station, there a sub was already arriving.
The three of them finally boarding the train, as they sat down; June started looking at the mirror and popped up a make-up palette, while Don wore his headphones to watch videos on his phone.
As for Clarice, she's reading back the letter she received, as far as she knows it's either Nicodemus or One of the sisters that handed this letter.