WEEK TWO

[mayorityvote]

WEEK TWO

23 Villagers

Three people have fallen and a tower has risen. Along with it, some of the restraints on your mind have dispersed and a memory has returned to you - is it precious, is it painful? Is it cherished, is it loathed?

Mercilessly, dawn breaks on another morning. The rooster still calls, and the crops still need tending to. Rise and shine, Puffin Town! It seems like the residents are not the only thing that has chosen to rise, as a few more establishments have opened up for exploration. The sound of moo-ing near the farms may feel especially inviting here - how about making some new additions to your farms, to drown out your loneliness?

There is no festival just yet but if you question the ducks on it, some excited quacking will herald fun things to come later in the week. Some of the ducks will also wave the gift notes from last week; regardless of murder, being kind to your neighbors is still encouraged! Can't let our beautiful town sink into gloom and doom, right?

(( OOC: Murder proposals are due by Tuesday at 4 PM EST / 1 PM PST, for the current week's murder, but feel free to submit for later weeks if you like!

We have also added a page to report your Astera planting - this does not need to have been threaded, we're just taking stock on an OOC level.

Further, the Gift Mechanic has been updated. All turned in threads will now yield a character specific item as a reward! We're only dipping into the random gacha once all personalized rewards have been given out.))

MONDAY • TUESDAY • WEDNESDAY • THURSDAY

Locations Proposals PCs Check-in Gifts Profiles NPC Contact Main Nav

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Comments

[moonblades]

[It's impossible to ignore the livestock show with all the noise coming from it, and Mio starts her day there, resting her arms on the top bar of a paddock fence (she has to stand on the lower plank to reach it) and watching cows lounge.]

Are those baby ones? They're so much smaller than the rest. [She never really thought about it that way; it was only recently that she really tried to dissect the way herds of monsters worked in the wild or that smaller ones grew up to be big ones.] That would mean separating them if you don't take the pair, though, and what if they're not ready to be parted from each other?

[In the late morning, after she may or may not be the new owner of a young cow and its calf, Mio can be found training down on the beach, using the sand for resistance. More specifically, she's sprinting the length of it and back again, doing her best to time the laps using her phone. Every so often, she'll go to the cliff face to try a stretch or an arm hang, but she mostly stays running.

Much later in the day, her sore muscles are getting a needed soak in the warm pool at the spa. Anyone in the women's changing room with her beforehand might have caught her checking the mark on her neck in the mirror before she finished changing and went out to the water. Though she's a little droopy from the heat, if she backs herself against a wall and rests her back against it, it's perfectly relaxing. She can spare herself a moment here, even if it never feels like the time to relax in this place. After a while, she's so still it seems like she could be sleeping, unless someone chances close enough to hear her humming slightly.]

[revelate]

[It comes as something of a surprise to see Mio willingly submerged in such hot water, but if anything, Noah assumes she hasn't been here long enough to grow tired of the heat. Besides, there really is nothing like a hot bath after getting caked in dirt all day from toiling on the farm. It certainly beats washing off blood and viscera.

Noah settles beside her in the water, acutely aware of the strain all this farmwork has had on his muscles once the heat's begun to sink in. Tending to the field works an entirely different set of muscles than the ones Noah's used to working out with his Blade, but the spa gives him a good excuse to relax his body so he can get right back to work first thing in the morning. Not a bad life, all things considered, even if his mind remains on returning home as soon as possible.]

I'm surprised you haven't melted away. Enjoying yourself?

[moonblades]

Mmmghsfine... [Mio grumbles without even opening her eyes at first. The sweltering hasn't kicked in yet, though her skin is flushed and her ears have just about melted into her hair.]

Might be I'll go dunk myself into the sea when I'm finished here... I'm just a tiny bit sore is all.

[She finally opens her eyes so she can look at him properly while they chat.] It hasn't been that long, but it's already dark. I can really feel the days flying by. [All the complicated weight behind that is clear in her tone. It's difficult to relax when time is so short and when they should be focused on getting out without sacrificing anyone else. It's a trap to see the day-to-day of life here as something enviable and soothing.]

[revelate]

[Noah chuckles, so very, very tempted to reach a hand over and ruffle her ears. He could probably get away with it, couldn't he? With Mio this relaxed, Noah doubts she has the bite in her to de-hand him. Still... tempting as the prospect is, he manages to resist.]

Are you? What have you been doing that's left you so sore?

[not noah obviously]

...But you know, when you've exhausted all your options, spinning your wheels isn't helpful. Try to enjoy it somewhat.

[moonblades]

[She isn't looking at him, still in comfortable repose. If he were to reach for her ears, even folded back as they are, she might not notice until it was too late - as long as he didn't make a sound in the water.]

I've been doing a little training today, running down by the beach. I wanted to see how my times were keeping up. [Has living a slower life forced her to slow down at all? Is she still the same person she was when she first arrived here?

She gets the feeling Noah's about to tell her to take things one day at a time, which is sweet if an old point of tension between them.] Mmm. Has it struck you at all...that we'd never experience something like this if we hadn't come here?

[revelate]

[He's well aware that the subject of time is a sore one. He hasn't forgotten how upset she'd been the last time they discussed this at length — and how could he? — so he tries to tread lightly.

No amount of optimism and well wishes for the future can turn back time. Nothing can give Mio more of it. Noah has his own struggles with accepting that he can do nothing for Mio but try and keep her safe until the very end... but that isn't enough. It's not good enough. It's not fair, but they've both long since acknowledged that their lives are far from fair.

The itch to do something about her inevitable fate still plagues Noah. Maybe he should have another talk with Adela. No... With that he has in mind, maybe Makima would be more amenable.

Anyway. Moving onto a lighter topic, Noah nods, eyes fixed on the sky above.]

I think about that a lot, actually. I can't help but wonder if there's a greater reason why we were brought here. Meeting people with lives so different than our own... I struggle to think of it all as coincidental.

[moonblades]

[why would your bracket text say that, noah? why would that be in your narration?]

I'm struggling with that, too. I already think I've come to know more than I ever thought I would about life and how people choose to spend their time. If only it were just that.

[Unfair, like a litany, has been playing the entire time they've been here. Whether it's the unfairness of their lives - short and brutal - or the unfairness of this place - idyllic and beautiful on the outside but slowly squeezing the hand of death around them nonetheless - both seem cruel. Dangle answers on a stick a few feet ahead of them, and then what? What are they supposed to do if their hands ever reach out and grasp those answers?]

It seems a bit trite to be saying this, especially given the things we've forgotten, but I want to remember this. I want there to be a record of it. [Maybe it's easier to sort her thoughts out with her eyes closed; Mio stays that way even as she speaks. Her hair lays flatter because of the humidity and steam, and Mio reaches up to slowly curl her fingers through it.] Not just for my sake, but so that no one forgets.

[revelate]

[Hm. Anyway,

It's all the more damning to consider the memories they've lost when that's truly all they have. Happy memories were so few and far between back home. How many happy memories would they have if they'd been born anywhere else?

And Mio... She doesn't have long left to make up for all this lost time. Her diary was among the possessions taken from her, and while Noah can't replace ten term's worth of memories, he can at least make her a new one to contain all the ones she makes here.




You know. If neither of them are dead next week.

His hand finds hers under the water and he gives it a gentle squeeze.]

I'll carry your memories with me when you go. I won't let them be forgotten.

[moonblades]

I'm glad for that. [She squeezes back, the gesture invisible yet extremely potent. It says much more than four little words. Mio wraps the ribbon from her braid around her wrist and tucks her damp hair back, ears flattening again. She still feels so solid.]

... I wonder where I'll go. [The stars that shine so warmly overhead? Into nothingness? Into him, somehow, because they're Ouroboros? They aren't on Aionios, so Mio doubts her life force will return to the Queen - or anywhere else, for that matter. She can't be entirely sure that it ever would have.

Her gaze snaps over to him; maybe Mio hadn't meant to say that part out loud, or maybe she hadn't thought about how it would feel for him to hear it. She squeezes his hand again.]

Sorry. That's kinda morbid. I'll reel it in. The point right now is to enjoy what we have, right? This is what I want to enjoy.

[revelate]

[...Where will she go? Noah has wondered that himself, but in a Rare Noah Move, he'd stopped himself from thinking too hard about it.

It's hard enough knowing Mio won't be around for that much longer. The inevitable will happen regardless, so it can only burden their hearts to consider what it might be like when that fateful day comes. If he loses himself in his own mind, Noah will lose his footing, find himself unable to move forward.

For Mio's sake, he can't let that happen. He returns that squeeze, smile softer like that might take the unintentional edge off Mio's words.]

It's alright to wonder... but don't scare yourself thinking about the things that are beyond your control. Whatever the cost, I want you to be able to enjoy your life, but... I won't deny you your feelings either.

[They really don't need a rehash of That Night.]

livestock show

[provocatives]

[Like a number of others, Niles has come to browse the selection at the livestock show, although whether he actually feels like bringing an animal or two back to the farm is another matter entirely. Still, that doesn't stop him from looking around with a critical eye, which apparently also means keeping a close watch on any fellow captives in the area. Not that Mio's interest in the cows is hard to miss, anyway.]

Better than dying in the hands of an owner who can't care for both. Leave one here, and at least someone'll continue tending to it.

[Probably. They look pretty healthy, close enough.]

[moonblades]

It's true that I've never cared for a pet before, and the ducks here seem very capable...

[Though she has recently learned more about pets - and about farm animals, thanks to the literature in the community center.] I guess they're meant for more than just companionship. Everything on the farm has a job to do. [She looks away from the idyllic paddock to gauge his response.] Do you think a life like this is a happy one for them?

[provocatives]

[As he listens to her muse about the animals, he shifts his position so he's leaning lightly against the fence, expression changing to something more neutral. At the question, there's an indifferent shrug in response.]

Even if I say no, do you expect to be able to something about it?

[As far as he's concerned, it's something of a pointless topic to consider even if they weren't in this situation.]

[moonblades]

[It's not a bad question. You can't always protect everyone, no matter how strong the urge is. That won't stop her from questioning. Mio climbs the crossbars on the paddock fence to sit on top of it, legs dangling.]

I don't know. Ignorance sounds worse to me. Even if there's nothing I can do, is there also nothing I can make better? Nothing I can change? I could turn a blind eye, or I could do the most that I can.

[provocatives]

[This is a lot of thought into something that (to him, anyway), seems pretty trivial. He can't say he hasn't heard similar, and even more idealistic sentiments, but...]

Sounds like we ought to be talking about more than just a pair of farm animals, then. Or are you that desperate for an excuse to adopt them?

[moonblades]

Well, I'm kinda stubborn. I think I'll make my mind up about what I decide to do regardless.

[Unlike some people she knows, however, Mio is willing to hear and be convinced by a persuasive argument on occasion... She just knows how hard her head can be, after all.]

You seem like a cynical person, but I can't say I blame you... I don't even know what your life has been like.

[provocatives]

Hmph...

[Well, it's not like he can stop her if she wants to take a cow or three either, they don't even live on the same farm. So, there's not much he has to say in response to that, although what's said after is... hm.]

Awfully understanding of you. And if I say I've done any number of unspeakable atrocities to others? What then?

spa

[truthdefiler]

A cat, willingly taking a bath? The world really has gone mad.

[Erika grins as she sees her, entering a short while after Mio got started. Her reasons for being here are more work than leisure, but she is in a swimsuit.]

[moonblades]

It kinda sounds like you're accusing me of something.

[Namely, of being a stinky person who doesn't bathe regularly. what's a cat

That's literally how Erika always sounds, though, Mio is realizing, so her tone is mostly one of good humor.]

It's a little warm, but I'm so sore I don't mind.

[truthdefiler]

[Erika snickers. The fact that her joke completely sailed over Mio's head doesn't bother her. She steps into the spa that Mio found herself in.]

You don't tend to use a spa for cold baths.

[Erika's legs do hurt a little from sprinting all over the town. The relief is very fast.]

[moonblades]

No, I guess not.

[She sits up a little bit from her position slouched against the wall of the pool, one knee coming up in the water. Mio's pulling into a position to chat instead of just ignoring Erika's presence in comfortable silence.]

It's much more intricate than any bath I've been in before. It's just another one of those things, I suppose, that's kind of a luxury to enjoy.

[truthdefiler]

You wouldn't have them, no. You remember that Earth that I mentioned in the trial? This is all an Earth thing.

[Mio... is an alien.]

[moonblades]

[Wow is it ok to just call people aliens?]

We do go swimming, and we've got communal baths. It's nothing I haven't seen before. It's mostly just, well, this place exists for the sake of being this place, right?

[You come to the spa to relax, without any expectations beyond that.]

[truthdefiler]

[Denji voice: She's a racist!!]

Do they have the jets though?

[Have you tried the jets.]

In a more organized capitalist society, these would exist to make people pay money to relieve them of the stress of their every day lives. [Pause.] As it is, it's just a spa.

[moonblades]

Since it's not a necessity, it probably isn't available everywhere. That'd make it easier to charge for using for sure. [So the Nopons would probably run them... Mio understands.]

What do you mean, the jets?

[She has not tried the jets.]