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

[sastruga]

[Obviously, the meeting room is going to be the place to be today. Mafuyu is going to be there, uh... all day, basically. She's leaning against the glass, either not looking at much in particular, or staring right at Miku in her corner.

But if you get closer to her, you might realize that she's not actually quiet. She's... singing?]

Hello - I opened the window, and softly whispered out
How are you? There's no one here, I'm alone in the room
Morning - The morning's come, a morning of pouring rain
Tick-tock - Somebody, wind up my coil...

[...yeah, she doesn't look like she's going anywhere, unless someone makes her. At least she doesn't seem too bothered by anyone else being in the room with her.]

[withagun]

[ From one all-dayer to another. Hodaka largely has...not really ignored others in the room? But he's focused on one person and one person only. It's only because he's been here for so long that he can tell, the soft singing that draws his attention...

And it reminds him, other people are suffering too. How self-centered of him. He's looking into a room of 25 other people...and still— ]

...Asahina...san? [ He ventures softly. Cautiously. ] What are you... What're you singing?

[sastruga]

...

[She pauses, finally, in her singing. While she does look up, it's... a little slow, almost as if on a delay. Something about the look in Mafuyu's eyes right now is... off. Not as lively as usual.

No surprise, of course. This is hitting hard for everyone.]

It's... one of Miku's songs.

...I know she can't hear me right now. But... somehow, I felt like I had to sing, anyway...

[Something hurts... in her chest. How odd.]

[withagun]

[ The eyes strike him most. They look…dead. Like…she’s suffocating. ]

Miku…? [ Mafuyu’s been looking at someone, this whole time. He follows where she had been, and he peers, stares— ]

Ha- Hatsune… Miku?!

[ She doesn’t look exactly like the pictures he’s seen online. But, the twin-tails, the general appearance… ]

[sastruga]

Ah... You know about her?

[She doesn't sound entirely unsurprised; someone knowing Miku isn't too strange. But she doesn't expect anyone here to, with how different every world seems to be.]

Yes, that's right. I know she looks a bit different, but... it's her.

[withagun]

[ He nods, mouth slightly open in surprise. ]

I never really...listened to her a lot, but... I know. Everyone...knows Miku.

But you...know Miku...? How's that possible?

[ Yet, he believes her. Strange, unexplainable things exist in the world. To turn a blind eye when there's evidence before you... That's just being ignorant. Selfish. ]

[sastruga]

It sounds impossible, doesn't it? I knew her songs, of course, but...

[Does she want to share this much, right now? Well. It's not like she can exactly put this particular cat back into the bag.]

...I discovered this file on my computer. It was a song with no title. When I played it... I was in this other world.

And Miku was there.

[You know. Just normal teenager things.]

She looked different... and she acted different than I imagined, considering her image. But there was no mistaking who it was.

[withagun]

[ But he just listens. Out of the corner of his eye, he keeps watching Hina. But, in the face of something absolutely impossible, he listens. ]

Amazing. That's... Do you know why?

[sastruga]

...No.

[Yes she does.]

I just know she wanted to... create a song, out of my feelings. I still don't understand it all, really.

But she's-- She shouldn't be here. She has nothing to do with all of this.

[withagun]

[ ...Yeah. That's what it comes down to. Doesn't it? ]

I'm sorry...Mafuyu-san.

[sastruga]

...Someone you know is here too, right? I didn't really... pay the attention I should have, when everyone was...

[...]

I'm sorry, too.

[withagun]

[ Oh. Mm, yeah, he nods back to Hina, who...he really hasn't taken his eyes off of, mostly. ]

You were...upset, it's... [ ... ] I didn't...really look beyond her, either.

[ Her. His her, of course. ]

...It's okay. I won't...try to make you leave.

[ They can just sit here, doing the obviously unhealthy thing, and he won't speak against her. He gets it. ]

[timegazer]

[...Oh. Adaman was expecting someone else to be in here when he came in; he'd be foolish not to, all be told, but he certainly wasn't expecting to hear singing like that. As Adaman walks in, he pauses briefly to let Mafuyu sing, and...

...Well, hopefully she doesn't mind a polite bit of clapping from the door. Adaman will at least make his presence known, after.]

Ah--my apologies, Mafuyu. I did not want to disturb you. Is now a bad time to come in?

[sastruga]

Adaman-san...

[She looks up, a little slowly. Shaking her head after a moment more.]

That's alright. I don't intend to monopolize the space here.

[timegazer]

[Huh. Well, Adaman's look...well, it quirks a tiny bit at that, something strange, but...]

Please, do not mind that. You could take up every bit of space in here, and I would still spend my time finding a way to utilize it myself.

[It's a bit of a wry joke, though, as he steps inside and looks into the glass. Just scanning and watching, but...]

That was quite the song you sang, there. Is it one of your own making...?

[sastruga]

[She shakes her head.]

...It's my friend's song. Or... it's someone else's song, but she's the one who sang it. [How to even begin to explain howmst the fuck a vocaloid works to someone from old Poke-Japan.] It just... felt like I should try to sing to her.

Even if she can't hear me.

[timegazer]

[Adaman listens, to his credit; it makes sense to him to an extent. A song heard from a friend. Something shared between them, something that Mafuyu found precious enough to remember...]

It is your way of honoring her, I take it? There's nothing wrong with that; if it brings you comfort to be able to do so for her, then it is not a wasted effort.

It sounds like something special, between the two of you. Is she what inspired you to take up the skill for yourself?

[visiblepattern]

[When Forrest approaches, it's quiet; he's trying not to be a major disturbance, at least, not while someone is kind of having a moment in here. It's...a very nice-sounding moment, don't get him wrong, but this seems kind of like a lot's going on, even if the room itself is quiet. He waits until there's a lull, before- ]

...That's very pretty, you know.

[He seems decidedly more put-together than he did earlier, at least.]

[sastruga]

Ah...

[She stops completely, now, looking up. Blinking a few times, almost like she has to readjust to the fact that, yes, there are other people here.]

...Thank you.

It's... one of my friend's songs, actually.

["The one stuck here now", she doesn't say, because the implication hangs heavy in the air already. It would just be wasting her breath to clarify.]

[honeyedtea]

[ It's later in the day – closer to afternoon - when Mielle returns to the meeting room. Unlike the others, she's been transparently avoiding being here, like just the sight of her sister is enough to send her scurrying like a mouse who's spotted a cat. But it's been long enough since she's seen Mafuyu (or most of the others) leave that she's starting to get a little unsettled.

So she carefully makes her way back into the room and, being very careful not to look directly at the others on the other side of the glass, makes a beeline for Mafuyu. ]

... Have you been in here all day?

[sastruga]

[She stops her singing, looking up. She straightens herself a little bit, not wanting to look quite so fragile in front of her new friend.]

Mielle-san...

[Answering makes her a little self conscious. But right now, it doesn't feel like she can really hide anything.]

Mm, I have.

[honeyedtea]

... I see.

[ That's probably the normal response to seeing someone you care about in there, isn't it?

Mielle has to wonder what it says about her that her own response has been to run away. ]

How is she doing? ... Ah, is that a strange question to ask?

[sastruga]

I'm... not sure. Sometimes I think I can see her singing. She's a little hard to read at the best of times, though.

[To put it mildly, honestly. Mafuyu's better at reading Miku than most, but it's... harder like this.

The glass may as well be a brick wall.]

I'm sure she must be so confused about what's going on...

[honeyedtea]

... Perhaps that's a small mercy in its own right. That she's remained so composed, I mean. It might be that much harder to watch were she more openly upset.

[ After a moment of hesitation, she reaches out to set a hand on Mafuyu's arm. ]

So... try to take some comfort in that. Confused as she may be, she seems to be handling herself quite well.