corrinesbell | 137. Iced [voice/action]

[Good morning, Luceti! It is April 15. Looks like rain.

In the early-ish hours, before the rain, anyone in or near the Welcome Center is going to hear the decisive sounds of hammering. If you're close enough, you might also hear a ninja missing once and hammering her hand instead. Thankfully they don't last long - because she has the journal open there by her feet, so a dull thud may be echoing in a few bedrooms or kitchens too.

When the noise ends, there is a new sign hanging over the door to the tea shop.

Celsius Tear

Complete with image of teapot, steam and all.

Sheena brushes her hands together and steps back to look at her handiwork, leaving a half-footprint on the journal she nearly trips over.]

Whoa-! Oh, geez. [Get the book off the floor, would you?]

Sorry if I woke anybody up. Had to get this sign up early, because it looks like I'm leaving on a mission tomorrow. Guess I can call it a real business now, huh? Even though there's no gald or anything.

[She hasn't really admitted it to too many people - but as painful as going home was, it did part of her a lot of good. For all it may not have been exactly real.]

Anyway, it'll be open until right after lunch, because I've gotta get ready to go. Unless there's anybody who wants to work for the afternoon by themselves.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

No one was harmed, I trust?

I don't think so. Haven't talked to her since the whole experiment ended.

Hm... Albert Silverberg was the one who accompanied me. We didn't run into any trouble at all while we were there. [In fact, they did some very nice sightseeing.]

Yeah, then he came back here and knew stuff he couldn't've known about Tethe'alla. Didn't know he went with you though.

He did. Though, it leaves me to wonder. With Catherine incapacitated, who did perform this experiment with his new technology?

Sometimes I feel like I've just gotta stop wondering stuff like that. ...Maybe that means I really have been here too long.

Mmh... I suppose it does. With all the unanswered questions we've had over the past few years, it's difficult to believe there's a point to puzzling over events like this.

I figure that if it's gonna get answered, then it will, one way or the other. And if not...maybe it's not all that important that we know. At least not right away.

... I think Lloyd would be disappointed to hear you say something like that.

[The last time Lloyd was in Luceti, he'd even accused Yuan of giving up, just for having an attitude that wasn't even entirely complacent.]

I think you don't wanna assume you know what Lloyd's thinking.

[That was a dangerous flash in her eyes. Going home gave her a different, but stronger, resolve about living here.]

Some things aren't worth the energy it'd take to push 'em to the end right then. I've just gotten better at picking the right things.

To be frank, I agree with that manner of thinking. I was just... [He shakes his head.] ... Nevermind.

Just what? Bitter that Lloyd yelled at you a long time ago?

[She's only half-serious.]

I wanna know, really - just what?

[She's actually also half-correct.]

It wasn't just Lloyd. ... Martel did the same thing. [It's leaving him to wonder if they're right. If he has stopped fighting as much as he usually would've done.]

Neither one of them knew what it's like here. Back at the start I probably would've agreed. ...Things're different now.

... It was easier back home. We actually had the liberty to go out and find... something. Anything that could fix the situation.

Yeah. It's still rough to go from two whole worlds to just this. [A hand gesture, but a small one, meant to match about the size of the feeling of Luceti.] Even if they let us out sometimes.

...It's kinda like a prison. Or, uh, what I guess one'd feel like...maybe after a while. It's small and you hate being stuck there but...the rest of the world feels really big all of a sudden, y'know?

Hm. I honestly wouldn't mind going out into that big, wide world. It may be unfamiliar and possibly dangerous, but it still beats our little 'prison'.

I wouldn't mind either, it'd just be weird. Even when we're drafted we've got rules and specific stuff we really can't do and trying to run away would be really stupid. Same with missions. ...So even then it's all restricted.

Going home for a day wasn't. I mean, I knew it wasn't gonna be forever but...I could've been anywhere in the world if I wanted.

137. Iced [voice/action]

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