Week 2

[bathymetric]

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

It's now been a week since you were all captured. Perhaps you've already settled in. Perhaps you're already confident that you'll make it out of New Rapture alive. How serious about this could Mayor Fontaine possibly be, really?

While there still may not be much to do in your little hotel bubble, you've at least been granted a little more now - some kind of mysterious room and a sizeable library of all things. And in all the places you've looked so far, you've found valuable information, and even learned some of the story of New Rapture along the way.

Make sure to keep talking to the others! You want to keep those regain coins flowing, don't you?




SUNDAY | MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY

[ ooc: Welcome to the second week of Unknown Seas Round 3! Please make sure to mark any investigation toplevels accordingly, and you can reach either Mayor Fontaine or Eleanor for conversations! ]

Comments

[pairtner]

That sounds like something I would be saying to someone else, so you must be right.

[Aiba groans]

Them being here must be clouding my judgment.

[Aiba is so well programmed she's almost human in her emotional thinking, yeah]

[pairtner]

That's where I would go, yes. Strictly speaking, I'm not supposed to be out of his face, so most of the time when I'm not there it's when he's sleeping or when I'm feeling particularly spiteful.

I still don't understand why I was brought here instead of him. The Mayor has shown to not be interested in me as technology. You would think Date would be the one captured, not me.

[giddyundertaker]

Hee hee hee... Relax, it's just a figure of speech.

But that does sound like a good idea... Mind if I join you?

[buriedstar]

I wouldn't calling cooking a necessity, but a hobby I like to indulge in from time to time. There is the restaurant, but I wouldn't put it past the encampment to forget that their stomachs exist, even in times like this.

[ A nod. ]

But I'll open the door next time, no problem. Is there any food you do find appetizing, though?

[kninja]

[Seo Dawon's MMORPG world sounds cuckoo bananas. Why can't anyone else come from a good ol' normal fantasy shoujo manga?]

...I guess that's one way to ensure your guild stays on top.

[buriedstar]

Silly, stupid, salacious...I tried to get him to add his profile to the list, but he doesn't want to play even when he makes the rules.

[ Which is very well, silly. The Mayor could write anything he wants about himself! ]

[fuckingguy]

[ The Jeopardy theme silently plays in Nandor's head as he stands around, trying to come up with an acceptable answer to this question... ]





No. [ SEIZING ONTO ANYTHING AT ALL TO CHANGE THE SUBJECT: ] What encampment?

[buriedstar]

[ He laughs. ]

Well, I can give you a quick primer.

Imagine a world where a video game system was overlaid onto the regular world, without warning. In a nutshell, that's what my world is like. It's not the entire world mind, there's distinct sections which are affected by the Gate and which aren't—but it's not like powers or skills are virtual. There is a limit on who can access the Hub and that's determined by essentially what amounts to an aptitude test. If you're compatible you can become a User, and if not you get to live a life being jealous of those who could. Skill and spell use outside the Hub is heavily regulated by the government, but there's nothing functionally stopping me from teleporting from Korea to Morocco in two seconds flat, if I felt like it.

Just a lot of paperwork.

Of course with a system like that, it means the world order has had to adapt. The governments of the world work closely with the guilds of their respective countries for trade, assets, and protection... a typical bodyguard is nothing against an assassin who can literally go invisible and deafen his movements. I think you get the picture.

As far as ranking goes, Users and guilds are ranked by how successful they are using a system that takes into account money, assets, combat power, and dungeon explorations. Some guilds opt to specialize, like Master Workshop which makes most of the high end raiding consumables for the top guilds, potions, elixirs, battle tonics, and so on.

[buriedstar]

[ Seo Dawon gives Nandor a look but does not pursue the subject! Escape successful(?) ]

The group of people huddled in the meeting room with the hostages. I'm surprised no ones fallen asleep in there again, but I suppose Jonathan set a good example~

[honeyedtea]

... She sounds like a wonderful mother.

[ Mielle's smile turns complicated, as it does occasionally when she's clearly mulling over something she doesn't quite want to talk about. It's improper for her thoughts to go in that direction when they talk of mothers, but she suddenly, sharply misses Emma.

She was only a maid, as she'd often been reminded – but she was the woman who'd raised her for as long as she could remember. And Aria had made certain she'd paid for that mistake.

... There's no point in upsetting herself by dwelling on that. Not when Mafuyu's gone to such an effort to make them a nice meal. ]

I'm certain she'd be proud of you for doing your best under the circumstances.

[onemillion]

That's correct. I'll have to see if I can draw them for you at some point - while I'm no artist, I did help in designing the grapearls so I believe I can get the basics across well enough.

[He's good at technical drawings not art, in other words.]

[buriedstar]

Oh, PVP and therefore murder is still illegal, not to mention a great way to ruin your reputation. Unless it's sanctioned by the government, of course.

...though "accidents" still happen.

[ The last thing world needs is MMO politics stuffed into it. ]

[onemillion]

[There it goes... But that's so fair, Aiba.]

He would have had to think of everything in order to bring them here, but still... the fact that he has the means to block even that... It's a bit worrying.

[kninja]

Wait, wait. [He waves his hands, confused.] So what does your assassin do?

[timegazer]

[Adaman, for his part, listens.

It's much to take in; it's not something Adaman doesn't understand. He has always made an offering to Almighty Sinnoh; it comes with the territory, doesn't it? You give something and receive something in kind. A trade-off, an exchange, you give a little of yourself and see to it that people are protected and...you have to be willing to put their needs above yours. Adaman has always tried to live by that, but...]

...What was she praying for? Was she trying to protect someone?

[...]

It's not something I do not understand, all be told, but...don't tell me she was...?

[Adaman can't bring himself to finish that.]

[timegazer]

I suppose that is true. There is no telling when the punishments for such things could very possibly grow quite severe, and...the last thing we need is anything happening to the lot of us.

[Adaman's voice is surprisingly firm when he gives voice to that, at the very least. Perhaps a little tired, but...]

Still--see it fit that you get some proper rest in your room at some point, Obi. We all need to stay sharp in this place; for our sake, and theirs.

[kninja]

[He blinks, laughs, and then smiles at Adaman.]

Haha. Understood--but right back atcha, Chief. Don't stay up too late past your bedtime worrying about us all. You're needed, too.

[timegazer]

I believe I mentioned rifts to you when we first arrived here, no?

Rei was someone who fell into Hisui from one of them. I haven't had the chance to pester him more about where he hails, due to things being quite chaotic back home...but he is one of the strangers from the rift who we have met. And a rather kind one at that!

[inaclearing]

Sure, of course.

[He leans forward to turn the page. Brett may be nosy, but he does make up for it with his ability to keep a secret. He's good at it to a fault, sometimes.]

Though I don't know how long that's gonna last. For you, not for me.

[onemillion]

Ah, that's right.

[pretend i don't have the memory of a goldfish, shhhhh]

It would certainly be interesting if there are books here that he would recognize... I hope you're able to learn more about him when you return.

[timegazer]

[Oh dear Sinnoh above, the ear scritches are most definite welcome. Leafeon is just gonna be a melted pudding pop of a fox at this rate.]

This is quite true; even with the library opened up to us now, it likely won't be long before we've run out of things to do again, unless we somehow luck into finding another place...

Even so, our reunion is surely the working of Almighty Sinnoh! He will surely prove a valuable asset to us all, I am sure of it! Perhaps even now, we inch ever closer to escaping...

[honeyedtea]

[ ... oh, he's got her there, hasn't he. She muffles a giggle behind her hand. ]

I suppose I'd better.

[ And with that, she (very politely, of course) starts digging in. It's a little easier to force herself to eat when she can talk between bites and not overthink what she's doing. ]

Might I ask the same of you? I'm sure you've made yourself plenty of friends in our time here.

[buriedstar]

Mostly work around traps and treasure hunting, aside from typical DPS duties. Were you imagining he was a cold-blooded murderer?

[kninja]

Yup, I guess so. I'm a friendly guy!

[Even if he looks like a hired killer in one third of his icons.]

Let's see... His Honor Jonathan and I chat pretty often. Sweet guy, he's been through a lot. I'm trying to keep his spirits up. And Li'l Daka and I agreed to look out for each other, too.

[Obi looks up, toying thoughtfully with his fork, then smiles at her again.]

And I dunno if we're friends yet since I don't even totally understand what he is, but I think Misfire's really fun!

[kninja]

Yyyyyes? That's typically what you hire an assassin for. Uh, where I'm from, I guess.

[?????]

Though I suppose they can be pretty good at sniffing out traps.