case #001 ☕ [written]

[themuse]

[Scrawled across the page in all caps, neatly, is the one word that sums up Kate Beckett's last few hours.]

SERIOUSLY?

Comments

[Written]

[dog_eat_dog]

Not many people get here and immediately look for whatever authority is around.

There are probably three or four people like that here in the castle. Two of them are children, another is a teenager, and then the last is a detective. That's it. Have fun.

[Written]

[themuse]

You know the name of the detective? [She figures it wouldn't hurt to have a talk with someone in the same mindset as her.]

[Written]

[dog_eat_dog]

Yeah. Kate Becket.

[Tess can't be fucked to double-check the spelling; she lives in a world so low-tech you don't even commit much to paper, let alone digital text. Anything physical is evidence, and that stuff is safer in her head.]

[Written]

[themuse]

[Well. That was less than helpful.]

Beckett. That's me, by the way.

[dog_eat_dog]

[Switching to dictating, then. She can't be fucked to write if it's just Kate.]

What? I didn't even realize you'd left.

[themuse]

[Kate moves to dictating, too. All of this is just too weird.]

Yeah, well, I didn't either. So were you and the last me, uh, friends?

[dog_eat_dog]

Not particularly.

I get along better with your boyfriend, but that's only because he makes a pretty good bartender. The way he gushes about you is pretty exhausting to listen to.

[themuse]

Oh.

[Welp.]

Yeah, he gets a little... exuberant.

[She's not really sure how else to respond to that.]

[dog_eat_dog]

[Tess: Deliberately Making You Uncomfortable.]

He'll be glad to have you back, I guess. He can probably explain everything too. Convenient.

[themuse]

[She's doing a fantastic job.]

Yeah, well, his exuberance extends to more than just me. I'm sure he'll have plenty to tell me but I appreciate getting other points of view.

[dog_eat_dog]

What else do you want to know?

[themuse]

What's outside the castle grounds? Is there a physical barrier holding us in?

[dog_eat_dog]

Wilderness, mostly. There's nothing stopping you from packing up and leaving, but there's no roads, no vehicles beyond horses, and when people go out there on "expeditions" I don't think they find much. Certainly no other civilization.

[themuse]

There's gotta be somethin' out there if people travel long enough.

[dog_eat_dog]

You're welcome to hack it for weeks when there's jack shit in any direction, but whatever, that's you.

The map doesn't show any other civilization out there. There's another castle called Libet up North, but it's empty and in ruins. There's another castle that would take weeks to get to, but no one's gotten there, probably because nobody here knows how to survive in the wilderness for weeks, but more likely because people are too fucking lazy to even contemplate walking that far.

And no offense, but with the kind of shoes I've seen you wear, you'd barely get to the edge of town.

[themuse]

Yeah, well, I tend to surprise people.

[Other than that, Kate isn't going to even address the shoe issue. Flats aren't hard to come by.]

The other castle sounds like a better bet, at least. Does anyone have any guesses as to where we actually are, geographically?

[dog_eat_dog]

Not a clue. Map says it's a place called "Nostos". It's a big island. Never heard of it in my life.

[themuse]

So even if we did make it to the next castle or even the outskirts of the island, we have the ocean to contend with. Great.

[She's staring at the journal, trying to make any sense of any of this but she's mostly just irritated by the entire conversation. It's not any fault of Tess', to be fair, but she still huffed a frustrated sigh.]

I don't think we're gonna have much luck with that regardless of what kind of shoes we're wearin'.

[dog_eat_dog]

I wouldn't even worry about it. It's pretty wonderful here.

[themuse]

You're kidding, right?

[dog_eat_dog]

I'll refresh your memory: Hi, I'm Tess. Before Paradisa, I lived in a glorified refugee camp for the last fifteen years of my life, where I ate tinned food that was five years expired and it was a good year if I could get my hands on a relatively new pair of jeans, let alone underwear. I now sleep in a luxury bed every night and eat whatever I please, and I could throw away clothes after wearing them once if I really wanted to, but I wasn't raised that way.

Not all of us come from New York apartments, Katie.

[themuse]

[Kate was silent for a long moment. She couldn't even bristle at the use of 'Katie,' even though it did piss her off, the woman had a pretty strong point. She felt embarrassed and silly, so she cleared her throat and nodded, even though Tess couldn't see it.]

Fine. I get it. I'm not gonna judge you for wanting to stick around here but, personally, I'm gonna try to get home.

[dog_eat_dog]

Try a few things before you get into a rush, but hey, if you want to book it, I'm not gonna stop you.

[themuse]

What exactly do you suggest I should try?

[dog_eat_dog]

To get out of here? Change your shoes, pack up a survival kit and start walking North. To find a reason to stay? Try the food, or realize that everyone else –– including your boyfriend –– stays here by choice, not because we're all waiting around for someone to tell us otherwise.