And with the sweat of your brow...

[bathymetric]

Fun Fact: Did you know that if the multiverse is real, there could be an almost infinite square mileage of completely unexplored ocean out there?

No reason.

...

You wake in one of 25 rooms with a sense of unease that doesn't quite track with how nice the accommodations are. Maybe it has something to do with the giant window leading out to the sea. The temperature is low, which might make you wish you had woken up under the luxurious covers instead of atop them. The lights, too, are low. But next to your bed is a small personal radio, and it's playing a song for you. There's also a small note printed on folded cardstock next to it.

Dear Prospective Citizen,

Welcome to the Helios Suites at New Rapture. The time should currently be 12:00 PM. Please take a moment to get your bearings and become acquainted with your new environment, then meet in the hotel lobby at 1:30 PM sharp for an orientation with Mayor Fontaine.

With only that for guidance, there's only the one thing to do: get out there and start exploring... well, it's hardly a full city, but it's something! And in the halls (or on the wall of your suite or the lobby), you very well may find up to 24 other captives.

What you do until your meeting with Mayor Fontaine, well... that's up to you. Every room certainly gives you something to talk about.

Comments

[asymptotes]

[ ... interesting. He's bilingual in English and Japanese by this point, if only because he was running low on things to do after taking over the world (and also that's just sort of a thing that can happen living in California), so the way Hodaka constructs that definitely explains a couple things. ]

Tommy-san's fine too. Easy to forget the whole honorifics thing over in America.

[withagun]

[ An American? Hodaka...isn't sure he's ever met an American before, or— any foreigner, honestly. Kazushima was just...so small, and no one really wanted to talk to him in Tokyo. Not other than... Well. A few people.

So, of course he'd have nothing to compare this to. Hodaka glances up to study his face more, to confirm obviously, yes, this man doesn't look Japanese, even though it sure sounds like he's speaking it...only to have his eyes get stuck on the- what, are those scars, on his cheeks? He peers, rather rudely, before that flush spreads all the way to his ears and he looks away again. ]

—Sorry!! Sir- Tommy-san, I didn't mean to... Sorry, sorry.

[asymptotes]

[ He chuckles. There was only a matter of time before someone mentioned them, wasn't there? The one aspect of this he's not been sure how to explain, but- ]

It's all right. They're not exactly subtle.

[withagun]

[ His curiosity wins out over his caution, as he asks: ] What... Why do you have them...?

[asymptotes]

Electrical accident. Too much power.

[ It's not... entirely wrong. ]

[withagun]

[ Hodaka winces. ]

I'm really sorry, sir- mm, Tommy-san.

[asymptotes]

It's fine. Could've been a lot worse. Just be careful around outlets, huh?

[withagun]

Right. Yeah, of course.

[ This feels weird. Very weird. So— ]

Uh. I'm Hodaka. That's my name.

[asymptotes]

Hodaka. Nice to meet you, Hodaka.

[withagun]

[ His mouth stretches to a thin smile for a moment. ]

Nice...? Wouldn't you want to bee anywhere but here?

[asymptotes]

Sure, but I figured that goes without saying. And hey, I'd rather be here than inside a volcano. Or on the moon.

[withagun]

The...moon?

[asymptotes]

It'd be a bummer to be there, right?

[ WHO WOULD WANT TO LIVE ON THE MOON? ]

[withagun]

I dunno. There's...a kinds of science fiction about that. And, a lotta people...wanna go to space.

[asymptotes]

Sure, if you were in a nice city like this, but... gets troublesome if you don't have any air.

[withagun]

It'd be troublesome if we didn't have any air down here too.

[asymptotes]

Fair point.

[ In talking to kids, like in war, sometimes you have to let them underestimate you. ]

[withagun]

I'd just like to be back on solid ground. Not anywhere else. Even below the sea.

[ ... ]

The volcano...would probably be worst, though.

[ Something about this man is quite disarming, actually! Huh! ]

[asymptotes]

[ He's very good at disarming people. ]

A little hot for my taste, yeah.

[withagun]

[ Just like that, he almost smiles. ]

...Thank you, for talking with me, Tommy-san. It...is nice, to meet you.

[asymptotes]

[ He gives an affable and super normal wink. ]

We'll get through this. Whatever "this" is.

[withagun]

[ Super normal. So normal. ]

Yeah... Yeah, I- we will.

[ Because he has to, after everything that happened, get back to Hina. ]