wipesfaith | 02 [action/voice]

[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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[He already knew that.]

"Try" being the operative word. Not that I don't enjoy all the free food and the easy lifestyle, but it's hard to be at ease when there's a war looming over you head and those weird experiments that can pop up out of nowhere.

[Well, yeah, but it's chilling for a man from space to learn that there are no real stars in the sky....it reinforced just how stuck they really were.]

That's why you've gotta learn to roll with the punches. Honestly, I don't even know how this 'war' of their's is even going-- they haven't called us for a draft since last spring, and I haven't heard much about other projects lately either.

It's really been that long? There was an invasion more recently than that, wasn't there? I read about it in the guide. [And it was coldly familiar, a reminder of the unpredictability of war. A reminder he didn't even need.]

How often do you normally hear from these bastards?

That was something different. And, I hate to say it, it's not something we can control.

[The invasion last summer brought along a host of confusing memories for him because of the nature of it. It didn't sit well with him, even months later, but that didn't mean that he was going to let it dominate everything for him.]

Mostly, those guys who run the numbers harrass us every month or so with these stupid little things. Last month they set up a whole set of traps that you could only escape by kissing someone, and they left them hanging 'round for about a week. It's been stupid stuff like that, lately.

I was here for that. Unfortunately. [It hadn't all been bad, but. When it was bad, it was really bad.]

But I meant, do they ever tell us more about what they're planning, or why they're doing all of this? I've heard all these experiments are supposed to help them figure out a way to get everyone out of here, but I don't see the correlation.

Well, do the scientists normally tell the guinea pigs what the point of all the 'research' is?

[The air quotes couldn't be seen through the audio channels, but it his tone made his thoughts on the subject amply clear.]

They haven't told us much, but I don't think they're gonna. Word is that things are divided internally too, so there's no way we're gonna get any straight info if we ask 'em. It's why I'm planning on waiting it out until the truth reveals itself.

...Unfortunately, I've got a hunch that it could take a while.

Good point. Although they seem to get off on toying with us, so I wouldn't be surprised if they decided to give us little crumbs of information here and there, but never enough to really do anything with.

And what if it never reveals itself?

If they're that screwed up on the inside, then they're gonna slip up. People are still people no matter what world or dimension you're in, and that's how these things tend to work.

It's just gonna be a matter of time, that's all.

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