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

[withagun]

[ Instead of dutifully answer, Hodaka frowns and asks himself: ]

Hey... Don't you need those?

[ Hodaka...can't see what's under those bandages. But, if he's wearing them, it's got to be for a reason, right?

(He's digesting the news about the rifts. Like. Okay. Alright. Why wouldn't that happen. Interdimensional portals.)]

[timegazer]

[Don't worry, Hodaka will be able to see what's underneath them in a second, because Adaman doesn't seem inclined to stop taking them off; there seems to be some rather old, healed scratches and bite marks litter his arm. They look like they could've been painful at one point, but...

Adaman blinks a little bit at Hodaka's question before chuckling outright.]

Hardly. I usually keep these on in order to hide these. But it isn't as though they are causing me pain.

Besides, I see someone right in front of me who is in need of them more. I can find more later, if necessary.

[He'll chance another step closer as he gets the bandages on his right arm off, at least.]

Please, allow me to assist?

[withagun]

[ Whoa... How big are those bites and scratches? Hodaka finds himself drawn to them, wondering just what could've made them—which is probably exactly the reason why Adaman keeps them hidden, isn't it, to avoid nosy kids like him from looking at them?

Self-conscious all of a sudden, Hodaka finds his face burning, suddenly matching the fresh scrape covering his right cheek. He also finds himself taken back to that late, lonely night, his first real meal in over a week—and a smile that kept him from plunging into despair.

He glances to the floor, where he's leaving a small puddle from the rain water running down his legs. ]

Mm... Alright. 'Kay.

[ But nothing more. ]

[timegazer]

[The bites, if anything, are smaller than the scratches; they seem to have been made by a creature with a small mouth and some surprisingly sharp teeth? Like this critter knew Bite, but preferred Scratch, it seems.

At any rate, though, Adaman's look seems to soften a touch; he can't help but see someone else in Hodaka, someone he only met after he'd proven himself to the Galaxy Corps, and kept proving himself time and time again...]

Thank you, stranger. I'll only be a moment.

[Adaman works quickly, at the very least--working to patch up what can conceivably be bandaged up with his own rather limited supply of them, working to keep them nice and snug, while also making sure that they're not too tight. If nothing else, it's proof that Mai doesn't do everything for him, but...]

There we are. Unfortunately I can't work miracles, but you look a little less like something the Glameow dragged in now, stranger!

[Adaman's grin is easy when he says that much.]

Tell me, do you have a name?

[withagun]

[ Hodaka stays still. Bandages to his injuries, the scrapes from concrete, the scratches from barbed wire. It's probably a little difficult to get the ones on his face, but it's something, isn't it? They're the sort that would probably get infected if he didn't do anything about them, and he certainly hasn't until just now had the opportunity to do anything about them, or even think about them.

There was something much more important, after all.

As Adaman works, he lets himself space out a little bit. Just a bit, though, as he tunes in when that somewhat familiar and...also very not familiar name comes up. A Glameow? Isn't...the expression about cats...?

So, Hodaka's looking at him just slightly confused, which honestly is his natural state in many ways, and he takes a second to even answer. ]

Name? Um. It's Hodaka.

[timegazer]

Hodaka, then. I will remember it!

[Adaman says that much with a bright grin; he doesn't seem perturbed by Hodaka's spaceiness at all, and if anything, he's just taking it in stride. Still, he'll hold out his unbandaged hand for Hodaka, never once losing the warmth in his expression.]

I am "Adaman, Leader of the Diamond Clan" if you want to be formal about it. But just call me Adaman, alright? Saying all of that at once is bound to be a mouthful!

[withagun]

[ He startles, briefly, just a little bit, but he takes Adaman's hand nevertheless. ]

"Leader" ...? What do you mean, by leader? Like...a village leader?

[ That sounds like it's something out of a history book. ]

[timegazer]

Yes! Exactly that, in fact!

[He'll give Hodaka's hand a firm shake, but he will let the other guy go. He's a bit of a strange, distant kid, but it all the more reminds him of Rei, he has to admit...]

It is a position that has been passed down my family for generations--to oversee the people of the Diamond Clan and ensure that we keep living true to Almighty Sinnoh's way of life!

[withagun]

[ Hodaka's hand lowers a few moments after Adaman's. Like he's just a little out of sync, out of step. ]

Your god?

[timegazer]

Ah, yes! Almighty Sinnoh is the very god we revere, where I come from!

[Please stop him before he goes on a tangent because GOD ONLY KNOWS HE WILL--]

[withagun]

[ Oh no. He should've expected- ]

Is- um... Are they nice...?

[timegazer]

I would certainly say so! They have allowed my clan to live under their honored protection for generations, so long as we continue to utilize our time wisely.

[withagun]

...They don't...demand anything?

[timegazer]

[...???]

No, not at all--well, that we do not waste the valued time that they have given us, but other than that, nothing of the sort!

Why do you ask...?

[withagun]

[ Because...

"The more I pray for sunshine..." ]

—Mm, it's nothing. [ Hodaka shakes his head. He's a poor liar. But he doesn't have it in him to explain. Not about this. ] Just- stories I've heard. That's all.