tvk | Staring at the Waves

Entry tags:

Staring at the Waves | Action/Video

[Not too far from the hotel stands a woman in rich orange and and blue robes, staring at the rolling grey waves in the distance. It's a good thing the safety rail is there, and that she's clutching it so tightly, otherwise she'd have already toppled herself clear over it and onto jagged rocks. She's leaning forward. She's shaking slightly, possibly from the cold.]

It's quiet.

It's... so quiet.

[This place is too unfamiliar to immediately comprehend. Her head throbs from the sudden lack of what was once there and is now gone. Having to ask "why" and "where" and "how" will come later, more slowly. Waves, she knows. The sea, she understands. She can watch the waves, and think.

Approach?]

---

[The video feed flickers on, catching the blue-haired woman in the middle of figuring out the new device. She seems to be in a hotel room.] ...ah, and by pressing this, I... [Her expression shifts from curious to deeply pleased. She sits back in her seat, holding herself in a regal fashion.]

I have been informed that this device will allow me to communicate with the others who do not belong in this city. Am I correct? If so, good. Let us... communicate. I have many questions.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Proceed with your questions, and I would be happy to answer.

How obliging of you.

To begin, is there a reason for this? An explanation for this... disruption? Someone to, perhaps, blame for this predicament?

I am afraid the cause of our predicament has yet to be found.

Oh. This is a mystery, then.

[She does not look the least bit amused by this news.]

Very well. A mystery can be solved, given time and effort. Would you have an explanation for why I have been given food and lodgings, as though I were expected? Or do you know no more than the servants?

Well, since men and women have been arriving in this manner for months on end, I would say that you were indeed expected, or someone in your place was.

Months. Well, that answers another question...

[She sighs and settles back into her seat dramatically.]

Whoever or whatever is responsible for this must be fantastically powerful. [She lifts her hand and moves it in a small, lazy circle, staring at it as though something ought to be happening.] Am I alone, in having been... deprived of some things?

You have lost your powers, then? We all have.

[Her eyebrows arch, hearing that. Oh, so she wasn't alone. So this wasn't a symptom of her separation from...

She laughs.]

I feel better, knowing that I'm not the only one lacking in potency.

I find myself lacking in my own magic as well. It is a shame, but circumstances have led me not to miss it as much as I might otherwise have.

Oh?

[Her curiosity is definitely piqued.]

What circumstances would those be?

The enemies that arrive here are constrained to one hour after midnight, and during that time 'I' hardly ever used my magic anyway.

[This is... unusual. She hasn't been here long enough to experience the Dark Hour. So she's not sure she fully understands.]

Foes roam around in the dark hours of the evening? Interesting. And you're not the sort to... set out and combat them, are you?

I have special circumstances too complicated to mention in an introduction. Suffice it to say that I don't personally deal with them, but others do.

Not everyone was meant for combat. Some talents lie elsewhere.

[She gives a light shrug.]

Your name. I would have your name, if you would provide it.

Eater. I'm called Eater the Minstrel, at home.

Eater. [There's a pause, as though she's judging the name. And it apparently passes muster.] Thank you for your assistance, Eater.

Think nothing of it.

[Kaiji's returning to the hotel when he sees someone holding onto that railing for dear life. She's leaned so precariously he doesn't want to startle her, so he walks over and tries to get her attention.]

H-Hey, you okay?

[She stiffens when spoken to, eyes widening just a bit. A person. A stranger.

Slowly, she turns her head, and silently regards him.]

Yes.

Yes. I believe I am.

[She has yet to let go of the railing... but her grip on it is far less intense.]

Alright. Good. So long as you're not gonna, like, jump or something.

[She looks pretty tense, though. He reaches into his coat pocket and takes out a pack of cigarettes. He gets one for himself, and offers her one.]

Need a smoke?

Jump? [The idea immediately strikes her as preposterous. Taken aback, she finally releases the railing. And then steps away.]

...no. I do not need a "smoke".

I dunno, you were looking awful... intense. That water's freezing. If ya fell in, it'd be bad news.

I have answers. What do you wish to know?

[She takes a few moments to curiously study the man on the video feed. Or perhaps just the video feed itself. Interesting.]

I might well occupy you all evening with my questions, as there is much that I wish to know... but I'll try not to.

[She smirks.]

Around how many of us... displaced people are there? Is this a common occurrence, here? To pluck someone from their appointed place within space and time?

Very common. it is what happened to me, in fact.

Mm. And where, precisely, did they pull you from? [Her eyes narrow. She's inspecting him closely. He shows no signs of being from any particular era that she recognizes.]

The question for me is more when was I pulled from. The 30th Millennium of Mankind.

...the 30th Millennium.

[That gives her pause, and she becomes visibly uncomfortable. That was an almost impossible amount of time in the future. Well beyond the point that she had bothered to perceive, due to lack of interest. Humanity had long since crumbled to nothingness by that time.]

Impossible. Absolutely impossible. Mankind is nothing but dust and ruins well before that point.

[It was a meeting that never should have happened.]

[Refined, luxurious royal robes in hues of blue and orange. Themselves almost a symbol of nobility.]

[A lime green and orange, flame-patterned cotton shirt. Tackiness made manifest in a cotton-polyester blend.]

[That's enough waxing poetic about fashion choices. Lancer's daily wanderings take him past Zeal. The man pauses to offer her a nod and a greeting.]

'Afternoon. See something interesting out there?

[Suddenly, this place has become very loud and clashy. Oh my.

Zeal startles when greeted, and turns around looking almost afraid. Fear gives way to something more akin to '...what?' when she actually sets eyes on him.

She blinks. She looks away and passes a hand over her eyes, rubbing them. She looks back. No, no... he's real. So's that shirt.]

...I'm sorry. What?

[Lancer remains nonplussed. Fear is something he's used to seeing when he confronts someone. As for '...what.'? Well, as assuredly as haters will hate, Lancer will remain with very few cares in the world.]

[He chuckles slightly.]

You were staring at the horizon so intensely, was wondering if you'd seen something interesting.

That, and "hello."

[The matter of the shirt can be overlooked for the moment. It's no more incomprehensible to her eyes than the rest of this place. Just... brighter. And forcing herself to focus on it is, perhaps, what she needs most.]

I am staring at the horizon because it does not overwhelm my senses like the rest of this place does.

[She gives a vague, dismissive gesture with her left hand, then exhales sharply as she lets it drop to her side.]

Where am I?

An island.

[That's our captain obvious! ...After waiting a moment or two to gauge her reaction, he'll continue regardless of said reaction, the faintest of smiles creeping into his expression.]

The whole island's the city of Prospero, part of a country called the United States of America. None of that probably means a damn thing to you, I bet.

...an island.

[She looks profoundly unamused. And there's a twitch of her fingers that looks rather purposeful, followed by a pause and a stiffening of her shoulders.

It's really gone, then. Her magic.

For the best, really, as he's still talking...]

It means almost nothing. I've heard of neither. And I've seen countless centuries unfold.

[Profound unamusement is something he's by and large used to causing in others. Not even gonna bat an eyelash.]

[He will shrug though.]

Never woulda guessed. You look good for that age. Anyway that ain't uncommon either. You at least know of Earth, right?

[Because he knows a few here do not. The weirdos.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Staring at the Waves | Action/Video

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

[action]

[action]

no subject

no subject

no subject

[video]

[video]

[video]

[video]

Re: [video]

[video]

[action]

[action]

[action]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject