02 [action/voice]

[wipesfaith]

[For all his trouble, Jean got a horse. Which is great, because he's curious to explore what lies far beyond the village and he ain't walking all that way. (What can he say? Some losers from back home have gotten into him a little bit.) First, though, he needs to find a saddle and bridle - apparently, he should have made out with a few more people if he wanted riding gear too. But his pride is worth more to him than that anyway, so he doesn't mind searching through the Item Shop for what he needs.

By the afternoon, he can be found at the stables on the east side of the village. He has spent the past few days visiting Benoit, letting the horse grow accustomed to him as he cares for him. Now that he has something more sophisticated than a rope lead, he's willing to take the horse out farther than the immediate vicinity of the stables. It was already obvious to him that Benoit lacked training. Before he can think about riding him anywhere, he'll have to muster up some serious patience and start from scratch. After fitting him with the sadle and bridle, so he can start getting used to the way it feels, Jean will lead him out to a decent-sized clearing in the forest to get down to business.

Toward the evening, after returning Benoit to the stables, he makes his way back to Flame Building. Residents may have noticed a recent addition outside the building, in the form of a small pen that now houses a little lamb. He'll stop by to check on it for Marco - make sure it's not dead, not that he'd be terribly broken up if it were, because he's never indulged in lambchops before - before finally heading in.

Later, he'll flip open his journal to voice a message.]

[Voice]

Hey. I guess I'm still pretty new here, so I'm just wondering...what's worth seeing beyond this village? I've seen a map, but a map can only tell you so much. There's an...ocean out there, right? [He gets the feeling that some might find his next question a little stupid, and he swears he's sane; he just comes from an insane world.] Is there seriously salt in it?

It's weird... This whole place could probably fit inside Wall Rose - that's what's left of human territory back home - but it still seems like so much...more.

Comments

VOICE

[deathsdoctor]

Salt. And fish. And octopi. [... beat.] And a giant, boat loving squid named Absalom.

[No Jean, this is Law, not Levi. There's going to be no misunderstandings... right? Even if they share the same voice, right down to the very inflections.]

VOICE

[wipesfaith]

[...You know, that voice is strangely familiar, but he just can't place it.

Well, whatever.]

In the ocean, you mean? Those are all animals that live there? [...Er--] I know what fish are, I'm not a freakin' idiot - I've just never heard of the other two.

[deathsdoctor]

Mmmhmm. Plenty more too. [This is a somewhat amused arching of the brow going on here.] ... is there no information about oceans where you're from?

[Because he's assuming by all this that oceans do exist back where this guy is from even if the man's never seen them.]

[wipesfaith]

Not really. I only heard about from someone I know, and he read it in a book once...but books containing anything about the outside world are considered heresy, so it's not like it's common knowledge.

[deathsdoctor]

... why would they be heretical?

[wipesfaith]

We're not supposed to know much about the outside world, or have any interest in it. But then the question is "why not?" and your guess is as good as mine.

[deathsdoctor]

[... yeah. His guess is higher powers want information restricted so they can control the masses. Ignorance is a useful tool.

Just like what happens here. Just like what happens at home.]

I see...

[A thoughtful pause. Perhaps a little too long. He'll leave that line of conversation for now. Just for now.]

As someone who comes from a world that's made up of all oceans except for scattered islands and a band of rock encircling the globe that tries to pass itself off as a continent, I find it more surprising what's not in the ocean at times than what I do find in it.

[wipesfaith]

[He assumes it's out of fear of the outside world - the territory that titans freely roam - and a desire to re-establish some semblance of the order that was lost five years ago. But that seems like a flimsy excuse now...]

Wait, seriously? How is there enough space for people to live?

[deathsdoctor]

That's where our ships come in. Lot of people just live out on the water. Go wherever we please.

[wipesfaith]

...I won't ask what happens if your ship starts to sink. Sounds like you have a lot of freedom, though, as long as you don't mind being confined to a ship for that long.

[deathsdoctor]

Lifeboats.

[That's what happens. Though ... you don't want to hear what might happen if another ship doesn't pick up the survivors.]

We do. But for someone from land, yes, it's definitely an adjustment. There's a lot of us that are born out there though.

[wipesfaith]

What does anyone even do? For a living, I mean. You can't all be fishermen and merchants.

[deathsdoctor]

Well we can also be doctors, soldiers, engineers, scientists... pirates... pretty well anything you'd find on land. An ocean bound civilization doesn't limited that.

[wipesfaith]

[...Oh.] Fair enough. I just thought that with so many people off living on their own boats, they would be pretty isolated from anyone else.

You could say the same for people living out in tiny villages, but if you start moving toward a village it's not like it can change its location and make you miss it.

[deathsdoctor]

... good thing folk are good at finding those that have missed the boat, as it were.

[... that wry observation might not have been the best bit of humor.]

That and we have good methods of communicating between ourselves.

[wipesfaith]

[Your jokes suck, man.]

Smoke signals, or what? [Although, there's only so much you can communicate that way.] Do you have something like these journals?

[deathsdoctor]

[They sure do.]

Somewhat. They're called Den Den Mushi. You can talk over them. Send video transmissions, and faxes. Heck we even have ones that can tap into and secure communications.

For letters, newspapers, and packages, we have birds and a few other animals to deliver things.

[... just wait until you find out what Den Den Mushi actually are.]

[wipesfaith]

Weird name. Sounds like some kinda food. [Like the weird shit Haruka cooks. Which he eats anyway.]

So they're...a machine? Or does it use magic? [He's just trying to figure out what he should be picturing.]

[deathsdoctor]

They're snails that communicate telepathically through radio waves. Augmented with a little machinery so we can send our own signals on those waves.

[... just. Giving you a moment to process that now.]

[wipesfaith]

What the fuck? [His kneejerk, remarkably intelligent response.]

[deathsdoctor]

[That is the intelligent response to Den Den Mushi.]

Yes. Snails. Believe it or not.

[wipesfaith]

It's pretty high up there on the list of weird shit I've learned about since I got here.

What are radio waves, exactly? [He's heard that the water in the ocean has waves, but he gets a feeling that this is something a little different.]

[deathsdoctor]

To explain that, gotta ask first - have you ever heard of the electromagnetic spectrum?

[wipesfaith]

[...The what.]

I'm guessing it has something to do with electricity and magnets?

[deathsdoctor]

Involves it.

Okay. Electromagnetic spectrum is just a fancy term for classifying different types of energy radiation. Gamma rays, x-rays, ultraviolet, visible, and infrared light, microwaves, and radio waves.

All of that's part of the spectrum. With me so far?