unknownseas | WEEK 1

Happy New Year! ... You're still here. Looks like The Captain wasn't lying when he said the murdering is now up to you. That, or you can all live here on your own. Regardless, it's time to settle in. The days start passing much less eventfully after that first one, and, well... on it goes, huh?

There might not be a whole cruise ship to explore just yet, but there are a variety of amenities available to all of you! Who ever heard of a boring cruise ship, anyway? As the week goes on, you might even start to see some of those strange coins appear for you!

Better buckle down and get to know your fellow passengers, though, if you want to stand a chance of weathering this storm.

MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY
FRIDAY | SATURDAY

[ ooc: Welcome to peace week! Feel free to mingle (and investigate, if you like) to your hearts' content! Please ensure all investigation toplevels are marked accordingly, and otherwise enjoy! If you wish to talk to The Captain or Davy Jones, look here for the former and here for the latter! ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[A smile!]

Yes! At least for now. I am not sure how fun it will be the longer we stay. What about you?

But why? I know people do it, but... when you could die at any time, it feels pointless, doesn't it?

[Flayn hums thoughtfully.]

...What else is there to do? If I were to sit in my room and await my death, I would be miserable for however long I remained. I do not want to die, but...at the same time, I would be remiss not to take advantage of all that is before me. That includes reading stories that would have before now been denied me by meddlesome persons.

...

[She'd protest, but something about this just makes her shake her head and look the stack over.]

Someone wouldn't let you read these? A teacher, or...

My brother. He would go out of his way to confiscate anything that he felt might be...improper, for the library of a monastery. I could not even find a book about modern dances, he was so thorough.

[For a second, Sara looks... pained? She almost flinches, bites her lip, and listens to Flayn's explanation.]

He must have been dedicated to it. It sounds like a pain, even if he really cared about you.

[Flayn sighs and shakes her head.]

He takes to everything with utmost focus. While usually that is an admirable trait, it can truly be troublesome when I simply want my own independence.

[But that reaction from Sara...hm. Keep that in the back pocket.]

Protective, right? Some people are like that. But you do need to be able to take care of yourself, too. It's something they push where I come from, especially if you're expected to enlist when you grow up.

[Enlist...?

Oh no, Flayn knows what that means.]

Where you are from, you are expected to join the army?

[Not that Sara's any older than her classmates were when war broke out, but still!]

It's... a family thing.

[And not something she's ever had to explain, so she pauses to think it out.]

The Union's been at war with Deague for hundreds of years by now, and one of our best weapons are Strains. The "mecha" my profile talks about. They're craft designed for fighting in space. But the way they work is by linking with a Mimic, a core to connect the pilot's thoughts to the machine and cycle through the mercurion used to fuel it. Mimics are made with cells extracted from the brain --

[She pauses again. This is probably going over the poor girl's head.]

Well. There's a procedure that's costly and can only be done once, before the pilot is even born. And Mimics are irreplaceable; you can't normally use someone else's, so once yours is gone, you're no longer a Reasoner. So families that can afford it will usually have it done so that their children can become Reasoners and we get closer to ending the war.

The other reason someone might want to go, aside from being expected to, is that if a family member's been shipped off, spacetime and relativity -- it's something complicated again, but you'd probably not be able to see them again because time works differently when you're in sub-lightspeed. So even if they did come back, you might be much older by then, or dead. The result is it's almost automatic that someone who could become a Reasoner, does until they can't anymore.

[Okay the technical stuff goes right over her head, but going to war? Families battling on the front lines to stay together? Having a part of you - a part of your people's legacy - being a tool in battle?

These are things Flayn knows very well.]

...So you fight until you can no longer. That is a fate many soldiers face, but it sounds like yours is more perilous than most.

That's what I went to military school for. Though now... It just feels pointless being stuck on a ship in a deathtrap, doing nothing, while who knows what's going on outside.

It may not be pointless. Time spent in school, no matter what you did, always means something. Perhaps there will come a time where something you learned or experienced will come to your aid.

[You never know, we may need someone to get in a robot.]

But he's out there and I'm --

[She stops herself and looks down, shaking.]

...We need to get out of here first.

[Oh. Oh, oh, she said something wrong. Flayn flinches.]

We...we will. We will. Whoever the Captain is, he cannot keep us on this ship forever.

That's true. Even if he says he can.

...

[Mulling something over.]

Would, um. Would you like a hug?

[You just seemed upset for a second beyond the lineface and a hug might help?]

...why are you being so nice to me? I didn't do anything of note, and we're all in danger here. Some people might even be likely to act on that rule.

But you are upset. Not just about what is happening right now.

[Even if it was just that little spark of tension, she can tell.]

And I want to be nice.

... [She sighs.] Be careful in here, all right? Not everyone is nice.

[There's a grim little nod, and her mouth droops into a frown.]

I know. The world is filled with unkindness. I do not expect it from everyone.

[Especially not in this situation. But like...to balance that, somebody's gotta be kind, right?]

WEEK 1

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