i_speak_softly | Sixty-Fourth Theory [Action/Voice]

((First part is backdated to yesterday, November 10.))

[Would it really be so difficult for John's droids to just bring Don home?]

[Apparently, because they instead leave him in a side room of the barracks. On their way out, they drop his journal on the floor, just beyond his reach.]

[He can't feel his legs.]

[He woke up this way on John's table, and while part of his brain tried to assess the situation rationally and offer the mitigating factors that it's just for a week, thank goodness he didn't get this as his death loss, the rest of his brain was screaming too loudly to notice or care.]

[And now he's back in the village, half-paralyzed, still uncertain of his speech, and completely alone.]

[It takes a while, but he pulls himself together, drags himself a few feet across the floor, and painstakingly constructs a filter in the journal.]

Voice to Beast | Unhackable

Help. The barracks. Please...

[He closes the book when he's done. Beast won't get any reply from him through the journals, but will find him prone on the floor of the barracks, just wanting to go home.]

Voice for Everyone, November 11

[By the next day, Don has rediscovered his voice, and wants everyone else to hear it too. Being couchbound, he has nothing better to do than broadcast his every thought over the journal system.]

EVERYONE. Citizens, denizens, residents and inmates of our village of Luceti. Those of you who have just arrived, please find adequate shelter, because this is miserable weather to be out in. You're fortunate, though, to have missed our recent tornado. Also an infestation of ghosts and some messy business involving zombie viruses. Never a dull moment. I advise reading the guide, which can be found in your journal.

Those of you who are already jaded by such events, please entertain yourselves on this dreary day by suggesting a topic of interest: a fascinating subject, an intriguing project, or a hypothetical occurrence that you would find truly surprising. Jokes and stories are also welcome.

[He'll stop there. Finding words is still difficult and tiring, and like exercising any other faculty that hasn't been used in a while, he should take it slowly. Full recovery will come from patient practice, not from exhausting himself all at once.]

((Initial action is locked to Beast. Friends of Don are welcome to handwave hearing of his return and come visit, yesterday afternoon or any time during the week. Today's voice post is open to all.))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only | Expand All

Isamu? [He thinks for a moment.] Ask him if he wants to kick my shell in a few days. It would probably cheer him up.

It just might. I'll be sure to make that suggestion when he's feeling more up to doing anything besides just lying around.

[Good.]

By the way - who were you with that day I met you on the playground?

You mean Asbel? He's my closest friend from my world-- we live together here as well. The two of us have known each other since we were children.

[Ah, so that's Asbel.]

Do you have anyone over there who wasn't drafted?

The girls were lucky enough to have escaped it this time. Cheria, Sophie and Pascal all stayed here. It's probably for the best-- I wouldn't have wanted them to go through any of that.

Pascal? The programmer with the bo-staff-guns?

Yes, do you know her?

We met on a mission a few months ago.

[A pause, then in a low tone:] Was it just me, or does nothing she says make any sense?

I have it on good authority from multiple people that it isn't just you. Pascal is a rather unique person. Sometimes I wonder if even she understands everything she's saying.

She's smart, anyway. [After a furtive glance around to be sure his partner is not listening:] I like her.

Do you now?

[He... actually doesn't know about Don and Robert, so he's just going to tease.]

[SO EMBARRASSED.]

- I also think she's about twelve.

[Though he's bad at guessing humans' ages so he could be completely wrong.]

Actually, I believe she'll be turning 23 soon.

[Don almost falls off the couch, which would be bad, considering his current state of paralysis.]

What?!

Don't worry, people tend to make the same mistake when they first meet her. She doesn't exactly do much to discourage that impression either.

[In a kind of hopeless moan:] Why do I always fall for older people...?

[Probably for the same reason Richard keeps falling for straight guys. But this arouses his curiosity.]

How old are you?

Nineteen?

The same age as Isamu, then. I was nineteen when I arrived here, but that was more than two years ago.

What are you, um... ["Implying", but the word escapes him.] Are the two of you with older people also?

[Richard blinks. He wasn't actually implying anything, though he can see how it might have been taken that way.]

The two of us aren't with anyone at all. Let's just say it hasn't been a priority for either one of us lately.

I know what you mean. [And he drops the subject there. No need to pry further.] Am I keeping you from anything? Or do you want to talk a while?

Not at all-- I'd be happy to talk for a while. Did you have something particular in mind?

[Distractions are good after that draft, so he won't say no.]

Not really. I'm just - glad to be able to speak again. And... I'd like to get to know you better.

[Voice/Filter]

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