[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

[crisisrain]

Well what're ya waitin' for! Let's get it out and read it! [He starts whacking the end of the bottle to move the letter down.]

[knightofratatosk]

[Trying to grab that bottle back now.]

No, wait! I wrote the letter, it isn't something I found!

[crisisrain]

Ahh! [Holding the bottle just out of your reach.] Why're ya dumpin' messages in bottles?

[knightofratatosk]

Because I thought if we really are being haunted by people from our world, maybe they could read the messages, and...

[Give that back, Raven. :( You big meanie.]

[crisisrain]

[Still out of reach.]

How'd ya propose a ghost is gonna get a message out of a bottle? Don't they kinda just... walk through stuff?

[knightofratatosk]

I don't know, I just thought-- give that back!

[crisisrain]

[He passes it back to Emil.]

So yer putting messages in bottles in memory of the folks who left? Is that right?

[knightofratatosk]

[He nods.]

I just wanted to let them know that I'm all right and tell them that I miss them.

[crisisrain]

I'm sure they already know. It's a nice gesture don't get me wrong! But I'm probably not the only person who's gonna think it's a treasure map.


That and these rivers don't lead to any oceans, just the lakes.

[knightofratatosk]

I know, I know. It was a stupid idea anyway. They're never going to see these letters.

[crisisrain]

Casey isn't goin' ta see the flowers I'm growin', but it didn't stop me from planting them. So I don't think it's a stupid idea at all.

[knightofratatosk]

That's right, how are your flowers doing? Have they sprouted yet?

[crisisrain]

Emil. It's been one day, flowers take weeks to months ta grow.

[knightofratatosk]

Oh, right... but things here are strange sometimes, so you never know. I mean, the buildings fix themselves if anything happens to them.

[crisisrain]

Only the buildings that were already here right? If we built somethin' and it got destroyed then it wouldn't come back would it?

[knightofratatosk]

[He tilts his head, thinking.]

Actually, I'm not sure. The only building I've ever seen repair itself was my house after, um... after Ratatosk made a hole in the wall.

[crisisrain]

At least it's fixed I 'spose.

So, how many of those bottles do ya plan to throw into the river?

[knightofratatosk]

Well, I have messages for Richter, Marta, Tenebrae, Lloyd and Genis from my world, and then Horatio and Luke and Faize and... um, a lot?

[crisisrain]

[He peers over at Emil's large bag.]

Ya might wanna throw them in sparingly, or they're just gonna clog up the river.

[knightofratatosk]

[He'll just be rubbing the back of his head, a little embarrassed.]

I've been throwing one in and then watching it float downstream before I put in another just to make sure nothing happens to them.

[crisisrain]

That's fine then! Don't me stop ya from sendin' out yer sentiments. It'd be a little hypocritical of me ta judge.

[knightofratatosk]

[... suddenly he has a thought.]

Um, two years ago Richter made a little boat with a lantern in it as a way to send off the spirit of... someone close to him who had died. Maybe you could do the same thing for Casey. You could even put in one of those flowers you planted once they finally bloom.

[crisisrain]

Heh, it's a nice idea but a sailin' boat wouldn't mean anything. Casey died at a place called Mt. Temza, so when the flowers bloom I'm gonna go throw them off the mountain like I used ta do back home.

[knightofratatosk]

You could still tie a message or something to the flowers, just in case her spirit really is here right now.

I'm sure she'd be happy to know that you've gone to so much trouble to remember her even though you can't actually go to Mt. Temza. She's really lucky she had a friend who cared about her as much as you do.

[crisisrain]

I don't need to. She was a bright lass, I'm sure she already knows.

[He doesn't say anything to that last part. Of course he cares about her, even felt something towards her. But it eats him up inside.]