let's backdate this to Monday, whoops. Precisely 72 hours after her last post, in fact.

[payback]

[people who care]

[Dictated levelly.]

Um. I'm back, you know, in the sense that I remember anything again. I'm... sorry if there was any confusion caused. I was under a loss, I hadn't gone home.

[Yamada]

[Ah yeah, she remembers her conversation with you, and... well, even if it was just one of those things people say just to say! She'll check in anyway.]

Hey?

[Abel]

[No hesitation here, but quietly - restrainedly - hopeful.] You're back?

[Duty done by the journal... Rin is not much of one for brooding on the roof. But somehow she felt like going up top on the castle and spending some time looking quietly out into the distance. She's just sitting right in a wall-nitch, with her feet dangling over the side, hundreds of feet above the grounds and one wrong move from falling off.

Is she worried? No. She has the Justice League ring Brainy gave her, of course, and though the air is chilly she alternates between looking quietly off into the distance and looking at her hands, turning the ring around on her fingers, which are reddening in the cold.

Open post eh.]

Comments

[payback]

There are pretty often groups that go out exploring and finding things, and I know there are maps. You should be careful, anyway. The locals aren't always friendly.

[assassino]

Really? I hadn't heard of any explorations.

[Curious now.]

Are they barbarians?

[payback]

No... they're former castle residents, a lot of them, or so it seems. But they've stolen technology from us and made it work out there when we can't, and sometimes they aren't very friendly. I think they'd just rather we stayed in here but you can guess it isn't that likely that we would.

[assassino]

Interesting. We have little in the way of technology in my time, but I'm sure I could manage. Have you travelled out there yourself?

[payback]

Yeah. Ever since it opened up, and I got my Arcanine from a world change - so I have a friend and a ride, that helps.

[assassino]

Are-Canine? [Listen to him mangle it with his accent :')] Is it a kind of horse?

[payback]

Ar-can-ine. [Patient.] No, not really. He's more like a dog crossed with a tiger but really big. His name's Tadaharu.

[assassino]

[Ah, the trouble he's had conversing with modern people. Endless referrals to things he's never heard of. What the hell is a tiger? He'll ask someone else later, so he doesn't look like an idiot now.]

He must be very large, for you to ride him.

[payback]

Mmhm. `[She glances a bit, considering, and then shifts to stand up facing in towards the roof courtyard in the same spot she was previously sitting. Aided by that height boost she holds her hand up to indicate where Tad comes to: yep, big.] About this high at the shoulder. And he's smart. [A brief smile.] There's no better traveling companion.

[assassino]

[surprised, eyebrows up]

Really. Much more considerable than I would have expected. May I see him some time?

[payback]

Sure! He's out running right now but anytime... hm, there are a few Arcanine still out there running wild, from the world change where we found them. Some of them have gone a bit wild. [She should get on that, huh.] But Tad is friendly.

[assassino]

[Aww yeah, getting to see something cool.]

That's good. I can imagine the havoc a large, vicious dog could wreak.

You've been here a while, I assume.

[payback]

[One who breathes fire... OwO HEH. But mum's the word on that unless asked.]

Heheh. Especially one that's as fast as him.

[She cocks her head a little.] I'm going on four years now... well, nearer to summer. I'm about half between three and four years now.

[assassino]

Four? [Suddenly, no fucks are given about a dumb dog. He's all extra interested in her, now.] That is a long time, compared to most, especially to be away from friends and family –– even if you've made new ones.

[payback]

[... Ah... she shrugs, looking - not withdrawn but a little reserved all of a sudden. She glances back out over the landscape of Paradisa but it's not like she's really observing it.]

Yeah... I can't say that the times that have been bad, that the castle's made it that way.

[assassino]

[Oh, girl, he knows those looks and pointed glances away.]

I have only been here for a month or so, and I have not seen the castle's wrath, but many have spoken of it. It does not seem so bad, right now, but I understand that may change.

I suppose people cause strife by their own means wherever they go.

[payback]

[She's not trying to be unfriendly, at very least... just, putting on the poker face a bit. Bawling all over this still-relatively-a-stranger does not appeal.]

The castle does a good job of stirring us up but when it comes to chaos, I'd say residents have it cornered all on their own. [A shrug.] It has been quiet for the most part, for the part of the residents, since this summer...

[assassino]

[He pauses, and then, mildly concerned:]

I would ask another for the story, if speaking of it would put you at unease.

[payback]

[She gives him another look at that.

... It's not the big stories that everybody knows that really cause her pain, so. The next is said with sincerity.]

You can ask me for whatever stories you want.

[assassino]

[Look, you girls can be Sensitive and you do not have the mettle of men :'( Except when you do. Which is often.]

If you're sure. What happened during the summer?

[payback]

[Such a gentleman.]

A monster named Riful... gone now... attacked the castle with a bunch of minions... most of them are gone now too, actually. She wanted to control the castle and then move into taking control of a the dead zone, [A small gesture with her wrist] outside. As you can guess, it didn't work, but she took a lot of hostages and there was a big fuss.

[... All of that mess in a nutshell.]

We still have a few of the minions under guard in the basement, some of them showed their true colors during the whole thing too... one of them got broken out and is living off the land doing something now. Unfortunately. But it seems like after all that mess she also didn't manage to change a thing.

[assassino]

[Thoughtfully]

Interesting... and because Paradisa does not allow death, executing them would not have worked. And it's certainly a mark of resilience in the people here, if nothing was changed.

[payback]

I wonder if executing someone out in the dead zone wouldn't work. [Said quite calmly, very matter-of-fact.] Magic and technology mostly doesn't work out there, for one. It seems to mark where the castle's power ends.

[assassino]

[casually]

It could be tested, couldn't it?

[payback]

I suppose we still have some of her people held captive. Too bad it can't be tested on Riful herself.