Week 1

[bathymetric]

Good morning, New Rapture. A new day is dawning.

There may not be much light to differentiate the days here, but the lights of the part of the city you're in change enough by the clock that you can almost believe there's a sun somewhere. It looks like Mayor Fontaine has no intention of going back on his deal, and for the time being? You're all stuck here. But there's plenty to do, and... maybe not plenty to see, but there's enough. There's something, at any rate.

Especially if you're willing to look beyond the surface.

And if you spend enough time around others, you might find something neat!

No matter what, it's time to start getting to know your fellow captives. You might be here a while.




MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY
FRIDAY | SATURDAY

[ ooc: Welcome to the first week of Unknown Seas Round 3! We're very excited to have you. Please make sure to mark any investigation toplevels accordingly, and you can reach either Mayor Fontaine or Eleanor for conversations! ]

Comments

[prompocalypse]

[If Penelope notices she's upset Mielle, she absolutely does not show it one bit.]

Mm. I wasn't planning on it, no. Not without a plan of action, anyway...

Having said that... as slimy as he is, we do probably need to engage with him to figure out a way to reach him to overthrow him and all that. [She purses her lips.] Though, to be completely honest, I'm not super optimistic that everyone else is being all that careful...

[honeyedtea]

[ Staging some sort of uprising isn't a surprising plan to hear, but the way Penelope phrases it makes Mielle look up, brow crinkled in something like surprise or maybe confusion. ]

"We"...?

That is to say – you'd face him yourself, if it came to that?

[prompocalypse]

Of course. [She seems surprised that that's surprising.]

It's what I do. I'm not like... some fairy tale knight or whatever, but stopping evil and saving people's lives is kind of what my school trains us to do. I'd be pretty bad at it if I couldn't face up to this guy.

[honeyedtea]

[ Mielle quite visibly has no idea how to respond. She opens her mouth and closes it a few times like one of the fish swimming around just outside New Rapture and generally gives Penelope a look like she's in the process of growing a second head. ]

And people... approve of that? That you're allowed to attend a school like that at all is quite a surprise, but... wouldn't your parents disapprove of you getting involved in something so violent?

[ It certainly sounds very far from the life of tea parties and social networking she's been told a girl like her – or any girl, really – should be working towards. ]

[prompocalypse]

[She looks at Mielle with an expression of faint amusement.]

I'm guessing where you're from, girls like us have a very strict set of things they're supposed to do? It's different where I'm from. I mean, it used to be like that, but things change after a few centuries. Now, if I couldn't hold my own in combat, I'd be a pretty poor leader.

My parents were proud of me when I was handpicked out of my class.

[honeyedtea]

Y–yes, it's as you say...

[ Mielle stares at her for a moment before she says anything else, a very visible re-evaluation going on behind her eyes. She'd assumed Penelope was a girl more like her than not and now she's stumbling a bit to try and reassess her. The instinctive response forming in her brain is that something like that is hardly proper, but– ]

Is that really the sort of thing people have come to expect of families like ours? Even for girls our age?

[prompocalypse]

[In turn, Penelope thinks it's a bit pathetic that Mielle is so affronted at the idea of a girl like her being able to fight her own battles. Sad, really.]

In Solace, at least. It's different in Highcourt and the Baronies, but even then it's not unheard of for women to become knights or warriors or high sorcerers. [She sighs.] The government of Solace is a republic, so it's just sort of a perpetual grab for power with a much looser class system, you know? You need to be strong to make it in the world, no matter how much money or prestige you were born with. There's people who are like... content with just being away from social relevance, and living their own lives? But I've never really been one of them. So this is the best route to making the kind of changes I want to see in the world.

[honeyedtea]

I... see...

[ Mielle blinks a few times, as if dazzled. A lot of things about Penelope suddenly make a great deal more sense – she seems to slip so effortlessly in and out of the composure expected of a noble young lady and the sheer force of her personality doesn't match the sort of girl who's been brought up to mind her ps and qs.

She really is a lot like Aria. Though she seems to cover her cunning in far fewer layers of sweetness and silk than Aria did which is... refreshing, in its own way. ]

It really sounds as though you could do much anything than you wanted to. Though I must admit I find it difficult to picture a girl our age taking up arms and becoming a knight... surely there are safer ways to make the changes you want happen?

[prompocalypse]

[She preens at the praise, it's clear that she's something of a glutton for this kind of attention.]

That's super sweet of you. [She doesn't disagree, though.]

I'm not in too much danger, though. Like, I have my friends around me to protect me, and they're a lot stronger and bigger than me, y'know? I have my magic to keep me safe too.

Jumping on the front lines in a suit of armor is a bit much for me, though, so I'm with you there.

[honeyedtea]

It does sound to be the sort of thing that would be easier with a reliable band of allies.

[ The smile that shows on her face is... complicated. Most transparently of all, there's a little bit of envy there – Mielle can't ever imagine any of her own so-called friends risking a hair from their own heads, let alone their lives, on her behalf. ]

Perhaps if we're lucky, they'll be able to seek you out here and rescue us.

[prompocalypse]

Yeah... [There's a glimmer of sadness to her at that. Like maybe her friends aren't as close as she's presenting them.]

We can hope, I suppose. Well, if we can all work together, maybe we won't even need external help. We've got friends here too.