Communion | OTA.

[dreamflowers]

[Is it cold in here all of a sudden? No, that's just Jade's first attempt at opening a line of Communion to the people of Springstar. Instead, it ends up going out to whoever is willing to listen as she's still trying to get a handle on this method of communication.

[Her presence is like freezing saltwaters, with the scent of sea and earth.]

Blazes. It still blows my mind that you people use Psionics to talk to each other here.

[As someone who's pretty adept in Psionics herself, it should be normal, but not like this.]

Anyways, in light of the absolute shit timing of my arrival... I need an outlet. By now I think I've learned the streets of this city well enough to navigate my way around. Buuut I'm looking for some obscure, holes-in-the-wall kinda places or favorite establishments to get a drink at and relax.

Don't think I need to explain why.

Also any tips on how to procure a home would be nice. Think I'm starting to get on the nerves of some of the folks living in the barracks... thing.

[Hi Meridian. Sorry you're stuck with this natural disaster of a woman.]

Comments

[dreamflowers]

[Some of that is just nonsense to someone like Jade. Winter holidays? Santa? The fuck? But she just accepts that there are going to be some barriers of understanding between herself and these people from other Eventualities -- worlds so far removed from her own that of course there's going to be a learning curve or things she just doesn't get at all.

[The good news is that she's pretty keen on context clues, so she gets the gist of what he's saying.]

Huh. I've heard about these trials, but admittedly don't know too much about them.

[At least she'd asked about the Oracles themselves since, well. Being the "Prophetess" of her world, it would be hard not to draw some correlation. Which is there is none, from what she's gathered, but she's still been pretty mum on the specifics of her role.

[Former role. She doubts she can claim to be some Prophet in this world as well, not that she went around announcing it on the regular.]

That's... interesting. So, what? D'you have a crew manning the whole thing or something? Is it seafaring?

[kaientai]

Yeah, me neither.

[ He doesn't even have an excuse since he's been here almost four months. ]

I've heard that the Oracles have a will of their own, so it's not simply a matter of winning a prize. We have to curry their favour somehow, but no one knows exactly what criteria they're judging.

Don't let anybody fool you; everyone is just making it up as we go along.

[ Back home, that would set off every red flag. Technically, it sets them off here, too, but Ryouma doesn't have a choice but to hope Kenos really is different from his word. ]

And to answer your question: no, I don't have a crew, but yes, it's seafaring. It'd be too much ship for one human to handle, but I have my ways around that problem.

[dreamflowers]

Noted. Y'know, that's not particularly reassuring.

[Though it begs to question why wouldn't these Oracles have a will of their own? Jade figures she'll have to find out when she sees one.]

And these trials are supposed to... what? Help Zenith or Meridian? Somehow?

[You can only learn so much through just reading about past incidents.

[She isn't too surprised when he mentions not having a whole crew.] So what is it, then? Magic? Automaton helpers?

[It wouldn't be the first time she'd seen such things made possible.]

[kaientai]

Oh, I know. It's never good when I get invited to this sort of ritual.

[ Because he's usually there to ruin it for being an existential threat. ]

The Oracles are supposedly the key to restoring our worlds or creating Zenith's new world. [ a beat. ] Incidentally, magical items that claim to grant impossible wishes also tend to be bad news where I come from, but it can't be helped.

[ He's being very flippant about it now, but this issue lies at the heart of all his uncertainties. Should he trust in his experience or just play the game laid out before him and hope for the best? Neither of these are comfortable options. ]

It's magic, technically. It helps that when I put my hands on the wheel, I know the best way to operate it solo. [ A perk of being a former Rider-class Servant. ] It's true that I was trained to operate this type of warship before, but this is different.

Vessels that big don't really do things instantaneously, and your course is plotted out ahead of time, so making adjustments on the fly is pretty easy for me. It probably couldn't hurt to have a few extra hands if there were trouble, but not much happens when Springstar's a big island within an island. It's quiet.

It's good when you want to escape the whole fate of the multiverse business for a while.

[dreamflowers]

Well. I'm no token of good fortune, either.

[Being among the "Emissaries of the End" had a kind of existential threat vibe when Jade was told about the role she played in the end of her world, but does anyone ever listen to her when she tries to question it? Nooooo.

[A frown forms as she listens to him. That is... tragically familiar.]

"Everything has a price," as the saying goes. That shit is usually bad news where I'm from, too.

[Jade saw a lot of it during her search for the Black Stones. If these trials are anything like that...

[Well. She hopes they aren't.

[But magically driven ships! Much more interesting to think about. And less depressing. Less trauma. Yay.]

I see. [She pauses.] Y'know, I think I'd like to check that out sometime. Haven't been able to step foot on a ship in several moons, but... yeah. Would be nice to actually stay on the deck this time.

[And not get thrown overboard by the captain.]