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

meeting room

[withagun]

[ Hodaka has only left the meeting room under duress. ...Or, to feed his cat, who he brings back with him. In that time, Forrest's arrived. ]

Ah... No, that's... I've been around everyone else visiting all day. I don't mind it, Forrest-san.

[visiblepattern]

As long as you're certain.

[He folds his arms, going back to looking through the glass. His gaze darts over everyone there; there's that person who's soaking wet, like Hodaka was when he arrived. He assumes she's his person.]

Is it the person you were telling me about in the pool, Hodaka?

[It's asked in the same light, pleasant way that he says pretty much everything; he's remaining rather even-tempered, all things considered.]

[withagun]

[ How does he do that, Hodaka wonders? How does he keep so...completely put together? Hodaka finds himself almost envious. ]

Mmhm. [ He nods and takes a seat next to the reinforced glass separating them from their loved ones. ] She... Her name is Hina. Hina Amano.

[visiblepattern]

It's a pretty name.

[He says, because it is. He'll settle nearby, at least, so he's not just standing there.]

We'll find a way to save them.

[withagun]

We will.

[ Hodaka sounds a little less sure but just as dire. ]

...But...

[visiblepattern]

What is it...?

[withagun]

...I'm scared...

What if... We can't figure something out, in time...?

[visiblepattern]

[Forrest just moves a bit closer at that, and just...

Can he hug you without getting punched in the face or something? Because if he can, he's going to hug you. If not, guess he's getting punched in the face because damn he's going to try anyway.]

[withagun]

[ Oh.

Well, good news for Forrest, he absolutely will not get punched. Bad news, his shoulder is going to get very wet very fast because that breaks the dam Hodaka's been building up all day. ]

[visiblepattern]

[That's okay. If anything, Hodaka will just be held tighter at that.]

I'm not going to say that everything will be fine, because I'm not certain of that, but I really do believe that things will find a way to sort themselves out. We'll save them, and if we don't manage, I have faith in them to find a way to save themselves - to do what we can't right now, and to find a way out of wherever they end up.

For now, they're all right. They're safe, and they're going to stay that way, and Hina is with good people.

[withagun]

[ Hodaka returns the hug, fervently, desperately. This is the sort of thing that would be frowned on, because he’s a boy and he’s in high school, and he has to present a certain face to the world. Before Hina, he can’t remember the last time someone hugged him. So he holds on and he holds on tight, trying to listen and really hear what Forest has to say. ]

It’s not- it’s not fair- not fair—

[ That’s all he can manage, at the moment. ]

[visiblepattern]

No, it isn't.

[He says, because it isn't; nothing about the situation as a whole is fair.

He runs his fingers gently through the back of Hodaka's hair.]

It isn't fair at all. But it'll be over eventually, and you'll get to return home and be with her. I truly do believe that.

[withagun]

[ Is eventually good enough? Hodaka doesn't know.

Still, such a gentle reassurance sends him into another wave of sobs. Like this he can't dry his face...but that seems to be okay. Accepted. Even though he can't say anything else yet. Even though he can't fight through his tears.

What he can do is squeeze just a little more, with a deceptive amount of strength from someone so scrawny. Forrest must be hurting too, and he's still trying to reassure Hodaka. He has to express that he appreciates that...even if he can't with words. ]

[visiblepattern]

[Forrest honestly isn't sure eventually will be enough, either. He imagines there will be a good amount of time, and likely a good amount of tears and a good amount of sadness, before anything is put right again if it is at all. Because war is always like that.

But that's not something he needs or wants to say right now.]

Do what you need for the time being. I'm not going anywhere.

[withagun]

[ Eventually may not work out in the long run. But, eventually, Hodaka's tears do wane, and eventually his grip loosens, and eventually he sheepishly pulls away and just a little roughly wipes his eyes. ]

I can't...do anything for her. [ That's, eventually, what he settles on. In a rough, hoarse voice. ] Not even...tell her it's going to be okay.

[visiblepattern]

I know. I wish I could talk to mine too; if I could even just let her know that I'm here somehow, that would be better than just watching and being unable to do anything.

[It's then that the façade starts to waver a little, that he threatens to crack just slightly; he takes a brief moment to close his eyes and get himself back in order. Breathe deeply. Open his eyes again.

Better.]

I really do believe they'll be all right. They're with good people.

[withagun]

[ Oh. Forrest doesn't usually... ]

Forrest-san... [ Hodaka's voice also cracks. But that's a given. ] Sorry. I'm sorry...that you're hurting too.

[visiblepattern]

[Oh, it's...]

I'll be all right. Midori can take care of herself; I trust that she'll be able to work something out until we're reunited. I just don't like that she's here to begin with.

[withagun]

Midori-san...

[ That sounds Japanese. Maybe it's like with Gaius's Hinagashi. A passing thought, one he barely pays any mind. ]

Which one... Who is she?

[visiblepattern]

[He shifts a little bit so he can point her out; god, Midori did nothing to be here outside of being a fifteen-year-old girl in a fire emblem game.]

That's her. She's the kindest person I know. Smart, too. She makes all of our medicine for the army.

[withagun]

[ Hodaka 🤝 Forrest
fifteen-year-old girl hostages who do not deserve it ]

No way... In your... In the war? But...she looks so young.