eastbound | 001. ( the saltwater cure )

[ First, there is the sound of the sea — cresting waves, shimmering crashes. Then, the vast buoyed ache of wood loved too well by salt and sun. Voices boom, bark, and scatter about though none are distinct save one (who does not seem so keen on proper introductions): ]

I'm here on behalf of a man named Captain Samuel Vane — or Quicksilver Sam, as his reputation travels. I suppose you can also say that means I'm here on behalf of the man who calls himself the merchant. I hear you're already acquainted.

There is a group of you who travels east. I met some of you... in the forests, the village Ke-Waihu, but our paths diverged.

[ He is stern but an apology still lies beneath its surface. Still, he's here for a reason and so gets on with it. ]

Now, Captain Vane is ready to offer his vessel as a means to reach your next destination. He is also sailing east.

[ Here, his words slow and measure, though they remain heavy with what he doesn't say. ]

He doesn't desire money or goods in exchange for your [ our?? ] passage. Only safety... "sainted protection."

[ It's then that gulls cry overhead and across the crack of sail cloth. ]

Look for the Pariah.

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Sainted protection?

[You can't see his face, but Anduin is definitely making a face at this choice of words here.]

I -- am a priest, but I'm not sure that qualifies.

Maybe not, but a priest would still be a welcome addition on board.

You flatter me, but I thank you for it nevertheless. I would like to think I might be of some service, to both our group and this crew you speak of. Even if that may only be of healing, in the end.

[Insert a hesitant pause here, before:]

May I ask how it is that you come to speak on behalf of this Captain Vane? You said that you were here with us in the village, previously?

[Did the merchant send you specifically on this errand, perhaps...]

I don't invite an aftermath when the goal is defense, but sometimes it's unavoidable. Healing is an important aspect if the worst should happen.

[ His tone remains well-paced and even. ]

I was. I recall your voice.

[ And likewise, it's a wise guess. ]

But instead of staying in Ke-Waihu, I was sent to earn favor with the Captain. The Pariah is under my protection right now.

[There has been a lot going on in the village, so it takes Anduin a moment, but then it clicks.]

Ah, yes! During the fox hunt, was it not?

[That was. Quite a long time ago. Well, perhaps not that long, but it certainly feels so in the grand scheme of things. Anduin is most definitely frowning on this side of the network.]

You will forgive me if the notion of this troubles me. The end goal of our participation in the village was ostensibly to find the nearest beacon and our passage home.

To hear that the Merchant had been working towards securing our next means of transport at such a stage in the journey is. Unsettling.

Edited (i like this phrasing better) 2022-06-05 12:25 (UTC)

[ There's a noise of affirmation, recognition of that moment on the outskirts of an ancient forest stoked to defense by the hunts. It does seem a lifetime ago now.

Subaru listens, his silence that of understanding rather than that of judgment. ]

I can't deny that it's troubling. I don't know the Merchant like I know the Captain. I can only guess that your time in the village signifies something in this journey.

And I do not know the Captain myself. But when I first arrived in this place myself, I too was assigned a mission, of sorts, by the Merchant.

[A beat, as Anduin considers exactly how much to say about that whole fiasco.]

I hope you do not mind me saying so, but I have always suspected that he has been using us as a means to his own goals this whole time. To know that he had sent you ahead of us, before we had found out this beacon would malfunction as well... It does not help me feel any better about that.

I don't mind. You're free to speak as you wish. [ Subaru is — altruistic, but also complacent in his role. He cares, but the extent of it seems dampened. ] I can't deny it's possible that he has his own intentions in how this journey unfolds.

[ Possibility isn't always a kind concept. He does pause. ]

Is that what happened in the village? A malfunction?

Indeed. In the village here, and in the city we came from in the past. Both times, the beacon failed when we attempted to pass through.

In Taravast, my friend went so far as to make it home again, before the beacon... rejected him, I suppose?

[Is that the right way to phrase it? Who knows. Anduin may be a magic user, but he will not claim to understand how this interdimensional travel works in the slightest.]

Rejected? Did it return him to this place?

[ That does make him question what fixtures the beacons are in this reality and those they hail from, though it may as well be a futile interest in the end. ]

Yes. It --

[How in the name of the Light does he even explain this.]

For myself, it was only the span of a few minutes that he was gone. But for him, he had returned to our homeland for a far longer time than that. During that time, the beacon had become inert and I had assumed... The worst, if I am being honest.

But then, for lack of a better way to put it, it seemed to spit him back out again.

That is not to say that -- I have heard of others, being able to return. And he had done so, before being sent back here. It would just appear that they are not the most reliable means of transportation.

[Sorry for the word dump, Subaru. This Concerns Him.]

I suppose it's natural that the flow of time has no obedience when it's between worlds. But it does seem like its ability is being used to gain your compliance.

[ Going home is an attractive carrot on the end of the stick, as it were — for most people. ]

Knowing that, does it change the path you've been willing to take so far?

001. ( the saltwater cure ) — voice.

un: white pawn; voice

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