WEEK 7

[bathymetric]

Good morning, passengers. Happy Sunday. Happy New Year.

Another week, another three gone in the case alone, not to mention Chloe earlier in the week. Even as you gain access to another floor, the ship by now must be starting to feel more empty than ever. It's been a long time by now, approaching two months.

Where do you think you'll be, in two months more time?

The clouds have begun to gather around the ship, this week.



SUNDAY | MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY

[ ooc: Welcome to week 7, everyone! Remember to turn in AC here and coins for regains over here! If you wish to get in contact with the npcs, Davy Jones is over here, and The Captain is over here! And as requested, profiles are accessible here. ]

Comments

[cethflayn]

[Jack's motive, once again, is garbage. Hurtful? Yes. Flayn won't deny there's a prickle of fear at the idea of Byleth Eisner, now acting ruler of the recently United Kingdom of Fodlan, being pulled from her position to risk her life on a boat in the middle of nowhere. But at the same time? She holds fast to her faith in her Professor. Byleth could get them out of any situation unscathed, even when the odds were stacked so high against them. She would do it as many times as she had to. So Flayn holds the faith, and decides to go about her day.

She's not...super thrilled at the idea of spending time in the piano lounge, but she does want to go, so she leaves Emily and Jimmy Bear behind for now to sit at the piano and slowly plink-plink away at the keys. They don't sound like much of anything, just Flayn hearing the notes they make, testing each one and humming softly until she hits the sound she's looking for, then moves on to the next one. Then the next...it takes a while, but soon she's able to, one key at a time, play something.]

In time's flow,
See the glow,
Of flames ever burning bright...

On the swift,
River's drift,
Broken memories alight...

[Her voice, light and soft, stops there as her brow furrows.] Were there not more lyrics? I cannot recall...it has been far too long since Father...

[Flayn shakes her head. Nope, not going to be sad about it right now. We're just going to focus on not giving Jack what he wants.

Later, you can find Flayn in the pool of all places. She's in that fish swimsuit and seems to be enjoying goofing about in the water while Emily and Jimmy Bear sit in lounge chairs nearby, both with books propped up for them to "read". After a point, Flayn lies on her back in the water to really look up at the sky. Her shortened hair fans out around her face.]

...More clouds...what a shame. I had hoped for stars.

[But it is an interesting development.]

piano lounge

[silentscout]

[Music, it seems, is the way to get Lalli's attention.

He hears the playing and singing before he even enters the room. In fact, Flayn is just stopping to question herself when he actually steps in, so she might notice him walking over. He walks silently, but his blindingly white outfit makes him pretty visible.]

Is it a lullaby?

[That would make sense, if Flayn's father was the one to sing it to her.]

[cethflayn]

[She's really unsure about so much involving playing a piano, but that song is one she knows. She perks up when she hears Lalli, though - been wondering where he was.]

It is, actually. A very old one. The Goddess herself would sing it to her children, and my Father sang it to me once or twice, but not often.

[When she was little baby child.]

[silentscout]

[An old lullaby. Huh. That feels nostalgic.]

Mom used to sing me lullabies too, a long time ago. They were old songs, ones passed down in her family.

...I don't remember all of them, but I remember the one she used to sing the most.

[If he's being a bit shy about actually singing, it's because he never sings and is just a little self-conscious about it.]

[cethflayn]

Oh? What song was it?

[Not that Flayn would know - their worlds are too different. But she's curious all the same.]

[silentscout]

[Well. He's going to try singing a little bit of it, but he's pulling from memories that are over a decade old here. And his singing voice is terrible because he never sings. But here we go.]

Find light in the beautiful sea
I choose to be happy
You and I, you and I
We're like diamonds in the sky

[He trails off there and looks a little embarrassed.]

Mom told me her grandmother would sing it to her daughter, who sung it to my mom, who sung it to me.

oh my fucking god

[cethflayn]

[Lalli may not be a good singer, but Flayn listens, transfixed. Something about light in the sea, and the stars being diamonds in the sky...it sounds so very Fantastical.]

It sounds lovely. The song must have meant so much to her, and now it is with you, too.

[A bit sad, isn't it, that they only have bits and pieces of their ancestral past to hold onto like this, and they might not be able to get much more even if they went digging for it.]

Little things like that are how those who are gone stay with us.

It was that or "call me maybe", I had to go with the one that actually sounds like a lullaby

[silentscout]

Mmm. Passing things down from parent to child is how our past stays alive. But sometimes it's hard to do that, if your past died before you could learn it all.

...I don't know if I'll have kids anyway. That might be for Onni, and he's older so he probably remembers this stuff anyway.

[He probably remembers the actually important stuff and not pop songs from 2012.]

lol it's fine, "Call Me Maybe" would have killed me

[cethflayn]

That is true. [A pause.] If we manage to escape, I am going to have to ask my Father about everything he remembers. Perhaps it is not prudent to do all things in the old way, but I would love to share my heritage.

[Hums softly at that! It is, after all, Lalli's choice.]

At least you are in a position where you can decide that for yourself. Many classmates of mine dealt with considerable pressure to marry. [Either because CRESTS or being nobles or what have you.] I am sure my father would rather I not even think about such a thing for a long time.

[silentscout]

Not if. When.

[He sounds sure of that. Make no mistake, he intends on getting out of this alive, and he wants to save as many people as he can too. But especially Flayn. She deserves to get home to her father.

(Lalli has a bias, and he won't recognize it as such until the worst possible moment.)]

Family pressure?

[There is a general pressure of "there's only 10,000 Finns left in the world, have big families and prosper!" in his world, but Lalli has always been a bit of an exception there. His skillset is very narrow and does not include child-rearing.]

[cethflayn]

Ah - right, you are right. Sorry. When.

[Sometimes it just feels more like an If, on some days.]

Family pressure is part of it. Human families that have crests...they want to make sure those are passed down, so that their family can still hold power. And one cannot use a Hero's Relic without its correct crest. To do so without one would put the wielder in grave danger.

[silentscout]

[It does feel like an if, but Lalli doesn't want to think of it as one. That thought of 'when we escape' is what keeps him going most days.]

It's sort of like immunity in my world. They want immune people to have kids with other immune people, to make sure more people in future generations are immune to the rash. Sometimes people even adopt babies that are specifically immune to make sure their families don't have to worry about infection.

What's a Hero's Relic?

cw: fucked up fe3h shit, for the peanut gallery

[cethflayn]

[Oh dear, it's an illness thing. That sounds scary.]

It is what Saint Seiros dubbed the weapons made from our people, in order to obscure their origins. To call them and the power of crests blessings from the Goddess instead of something taken from the dead keeps those greedy for power from looking to create more. But then the people fight over those that they have. It is far from the best of outcomes.

pool

[leaveittomother]

[Reika is out on the pool, too. She's actually wearing a swimsuit for the first time on the ship, too! It's just a simple black bikini. Which probably is why she doesn't wear it often--it shows off what could be a really badly stitched surgical scar on her abdomen.

But Reika doesn't seem to notice as she slips into the pool.]

Mm... So did I.

[cethflayn]

[Oh dear, that must have been painful.]

...I suppose it is a positive thing that things are changing even when time keeps winding back, but...I am worried about what happens as they develop. At least I know what stars will do in the sky.

[leaveittomother]

[It's the sort of cut that would have been deadly if not treated quickly... Thankfully it was.]

You're right. The fact that things are changing is probably an ill omen. Promising but unnerving all the same.

[cethflayn]

...Maybe we will be lucky and it will not be a storm, but something helpful emerging from the clouds that just uses them to hide.

[leaveittomother]

A fog can hide your murderer or keep you safe from attackers. [She agrees.] It's hard to tell for now.

[cethflayn]

[Flayn hums a little bit before she just pops down into the water for a bit, doing a lil twist in the water and swimming across to the edge nearest Reika before she pops back up. Her ears stick right out from her damp hair - no wonder she avoided swimming before.]

Do you think there is a way for us to find out from here? Perhaps...perhaps we could make a kite to fly into the clouds?

[leaveittomother]

I suppose? I'm not sure if we could figure much out that way.

[cethflayn]

Well, it is not as if any of us can fly up there to check.

[leaveittomother]

Mm... I feel something is coming, Flayn. I hope we're prepared for it.

[cethflayn]

[She gently starts to float on her back again.]

...It had to come eventually. I just wonder how soon it will come.

[And how many of them will be left to meet it.]

[leaveittomother]

I wonder that, too.

[She starts floating on her back. Reika closes her eyes briefly.]

Mm, Filbo and I were thinking about hosting a party in the spa tomorrow. I think it's even more important now due to the motive that we stick together.

[cethflayn]

A spa party?

[Flayn has never, ever heard of such a thing before. Sure, Fodlan has saunas, but no one holds parties in them.]

What does one do at a spa party?