Week 3

[bathymetric]

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

It's a strange sort of feeling, waking up on Sunday. Not the least because, well... you fell asleep on Friday, didn't you? Whether you sleep or not, none of you remember Saturday. Everything, by all accounts, seems to be Sunday. Weird.

It's not all bizarre feelings of lost time that you have to show for your efforts, though - it seems that another wing of New Rapture is ready for you. Perhaps there's more information to be found about your situation there... and maybe more about the history of this place, if that interests you.

There are still 23 of you left... Keep getting to know them. There's regains to get, after all!




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, post your ac, and you can reach either Mayor Fontaine or Eleanor for conversations! ]

Comments

[inaclearing]

...hey. It's not your fault.

[He said somewhat hypocritically, but. That's how it works, right?]

[kninja]

I know. But there's a responsibility I took on when I told him I'd have his back, and I gotta bear that now.

[The truth is, two untrained boys brawling in the garden? He could have stopped it if he'd been there, and he wasn't. It's that simple.]

[inaclearing]

I'm sure I told him something similar, at one point. I'm sure a lot of us made some promises we couldn't keep here.

[Honestly, Brett thinks even he probably could've stopped it all, if he'd stumbled across it. Maybe he's no great warrior, but it sounds like it was a really stupid fight.]

[kninja]

...Uh-huh. We've all got some share in it. I won't argue that.

[inaclearing]

[Brett sighs, drawing a knee up towards his chest and draping an arm over it, leaning down to rest his chin on his forearm.]

...it'll get better. It won't be the way it was before, and it won't be better all the time, but...it'll be better, one day.

[also hey fuck you]

[kninja]

[ilu Lu]

...

[For us. Obi keeps the thought to himself. It'll only be better for them, not for Adaman or Hodaka, but Brett's saying what he thinks they both need to hear, and why should he gainsay him?

Without that, though, all he can think to say is:]

I know.

[inaclearing]

[Well, that much goes without saying. But Adaman and Hodaka are beyond that kind of thing now; [they're] the ones who have to cope with this somehow.]

...it always feels wrong when a young person dies. Like it's outside the natural order.

[Obi isn't even all that old.]

[kninja]

It's not so strange where I'm from. Tough ol' world out there.

[Gotta love that medieval child mortality rate.]

But I guess I've got a soft spot for kids. Li'l Daka was... he was only a little older than a boy I've been watching grow over the last couple years. I didn't talk to the young chief as much, but... I liked him, too.

[inaclearing]

I think my world's a lot safer than most peoples' here. We've made it so. We hold death at such a remove that we don't really know what to do when it touches our lives anyway.

[Ah. But he's getting philosophical.]

Adaman seemed really young for a position of power like that, to me. But he also did seem like he could handle it. They were both around the same ages as the kids I've been hanging out with lately - they're all pretty impressive.

[kninja]

Yeah, the stuff youngsters manage these days is unbelievable. The boy I just mentioned? He's a fully recognized court herbalist. Has been since he was twelve, maybe even younger. Makes medicine for the palace, writes research papers and everything.

[inaclearing]

At twelve? I didn't know how to research anything at twelve, much less do something with it.

[kninja]

I still don't know how to research anything, and I don't wanna! I'd rather climb trees and run around any day than be cooped up in some lab or library.

[inaclearing]

It isn't that bad! I like being in the field better, too, but you can't do anything if you don't research your piece first. I'd just ask a lot of really stupid questions.

[kninja]

Asking really stupid questions is just one of the many services I provide. Sometimes it even helps the actual researchers—like you, I guess.

[inaclearing]

[He chuckles.]

Well, I don't research anything all that useful. To people generally.

[kninja]

Ah, here's a really stupid question for you, then. What is it you actually... do? I never got a clear understanding.

[He just went along with everything Brett said about journalism and Luca's photography as if those are words that he knows...]

[inaclearing]

Oh! Well, I collect stories and write about them, I guess. Journalism is usually about news - current events and that kind of thing. But I usually do more...special interest topics.

[kninja]

Ahh. You told me about your most recent one. Is that usually the kind of thing you end up writing about?

[inaclearing]

Yeah, stuff like that. Human interest pieces, I guess. That one was...more personal than most of them.

[kninja]

[Obi shifts finally, moving from his feral anime character squat into a more comfortable seated position.]

Do you wanna talk about it?

[inaclearing]

...I actually went out there researching some family stuff. When I was really young, I had a great-aunt who owned a cabin in Whitetail. I still remember the family trips - hiking, going down to the river. But then she died overseas, and left the place to some man none of us had ever heard of. I went to find out who he was, and why.

[Brett pauses, picking at the grass.]

I didn't...tell anyone that was why I was there. I honestly don't even know why I kept it a secret.

[He was going to, though. Even after everything, if the cabin hadn't ended up in his possession, he'd have kept it to himself. Still trying to keep his distance, perhaps? Hide his vulnerabilities?]

[kninja]

Habit, maybe?

[He shakes his head and tilts it slightly to show he means no offense.]

You talk about others more than you talk about yourself.

[inaclearing]

Yeah?

[He guesses he does. It just feels natural to him.]

I guess. After a while, it just seemed like it would be strange. I'd let them believe that I was passing through randomly - everything after that was genuine, pretty much, and it just felt like I shouldn't...bring myself into the story.

[He could've asked Howl about Gerda outright. But he got what he needed all the same - and what he needed changed over time.]

[kninja]

...You find that works, usually? Holding back so you don't intrude?

['Cause it hasn't for Obi.]

[inaclearing]

[Brett chuckles wryly.]

No, not really. Sometimes I think it does, but that's about it.