[Action]

[knightofratatosk]

[Morning finds Emil lugging a bulging knapsack up the road to the bridge near CH #1, the ends of what look like a couple of glass bottles sticking out of it. Whatever is inside it seems to be rather heavy-- he has to stop every few yards to rest, but he's determined to make it to his destination despite this.

Once he gets to the bridge, he unzips the knapsack and begins unpacking the contents. Inside is a whole array of glass bottles, each one containing a letter addressed to a friend who has left Luceti. Richter, Marta, Tenebrae, Horatio, Luke, Faize, Lloyd, Genis-- each one of them (as well as several other people) gets a letter. He figures that with all of the creepy supernatural stuff going on lately, maybe, just maybe, if he drops these bottles into the stream now, they'll somehow reach the intended recipients. It can't hurt to try, right? If nothing else, it might make him feel a little bit better about hearing voices and seeing things.

... or so he hopes.]

Comments

[knightofratatosk]

I know it sounds crazy, but... I don't know. I just wanted to try it.

[He accepts the bottle back and holds it against his chest almost without thinking. So many people have been leaving lately... even if they aren't people he knew, it's still saddening to hear all of the announcements over the journals saying that yet another person has gone home.]

[herotypical]

After mom died, I still talked to her. [Buffy leans against the bridge's rail.] I guess it's not the same--but, I don't think it's crazy.

[She picks at the wooden rail, distracted.] Sometimes I want to write messages, in the journals. Little things to people who have been gone for a while.

[knightofratatosk]

I still talk to Richter and Marta and Tenebrae sometimes... you know, just telling them about things that happened here. Um, not that I think they can hear me or anything, but... it just makes me feel better.

[He looks over the rail at the stream below.] I keep a journal with a couple of pages about every person I've met here in Luceti. That way, even if they get sent home or if an experiment does something to my memories, I won't forget about them.

[herotypical]

[Aiming to cheer the kid up, Buffy nudges him.] A page, huh? What does mine say? C'mon, dish.

[She smiles.] You better not have forgotten my super cute fashion styles. Or my excellent microwave tea.

[knightofratatosk]

I-I said that you're really nice and you're good with microwaves and you're... kind of like a big sister?

[herotypical]

[She grins and has to resist the urge to ruffle his hair.]

Thanks, Emil. Right back atcha. Minus the sister and microwave thing, I guess. Though--you're getting better.

[knightofratatosk]

At least I haven't blown anything up since that potato.

... um, I'm still sorry about ruining your microwave like that.

[herotypical]

Oh, pshaw. [She waves a hand.] Consider it a bonding experience. I'm pretty sure that makes us comrades-in-arms, now.

[knightofratatosk]

Blowing up a microwave does something like that?

[herotypical]

[You bring out the most indulgent in her, Emil.]

I think so. There's probably a badge or something for it, back home. We survived the microwave apocalypse together.

[knightofratatosk]

... I'm not sure that's something to be proud of, especially since it's my fault it exploded in the first place.

[herotypical]

I'm gonna bet there's a badge for that, too.

[knightofratatosk]

What if I don't want a badge for destroying someone else's microwave?

[herotypical]

Then you don't gotta take it. But you're still a comrade.

[knightofratatosk]

A comrade... I've never been anyone's comrade before.

[herotypical]

Well--your very first duty as comrade is clearly going to be to let me give you a hand with all those bottles.

[She smiles.] Do you have any extra bottles? Maybe even just one?

[knightofratatosk]

Sure, I brought a few extras just in case I accidentally broke one of them on the way. Here...

[He reaches into the knapsack and rummages around for a moment before pulling out an empty corked bottle and handing it to her.]

Um, I don't have any paper or anything to write on, though... sorry.

[herotypical]

[While initially dismayed, Buffy puts her resourcefulness to good use and takes the empty bottle from Emil with a determined face.]

That's okay. I can...I can just tell it the message, maybe. [It would still be as therapeutic.]

[knightofratatosk]

... hold on, let me look in some of the other pockets.

[BRB scrounging around in the knapsack.]

[herotypical]

If you've got a pen, or something? I've got my journal. I could tear a sheet out.

[Presumably, it's hiding out at the bottom of her trendy but large purse.]

[knightofratatosk]

I've got a pencil-- that's almost as good.

[Handing it to her now while he continues to search through the pockets.]

[herotypical]

[She reaches for the journal and--balancing it against her arm--tears a page out.]

When'd you get this idea, anyway? [She asks, reaching for (and taking) the pencil.]

[knightofratatosk]

I read about it in a book once... there was a boy who got shipwrecked on an island, so he put a message in a bottle and threw it into the ocean hoping that someone would find it and come rescue him. It seemed like a good way to send messages when there isn't any other way to deliver mail.

[herotypical]

[She begins to scribble a letter. Dear Jim. She pauses, continuing only a few words at a time.]

Did he ever get rescued? The boy?

[knightofratatosk]

Yeah, a fishing boat found him and took him back home to be reunited with his family. The story was mostly about what he did on the island, so we didn't get to hear much about what happened when he got back home. It ended with his family all hugging him and saying how glad they were that he was alive.

[He stares into the water.]