crystal.

[cozen]

FORM: Crystal
SENDER: Bastien
RECIPIENT: Everyone
NOTES: About this.

Hello! This is Bastien. I hope everything is going well in the Gallows.

[ In addition to very Orlesian, as always, Bastien also sounds—in a way—wet. The sound of someone who has recently swallowed and choked out some amount of water. Easily mistaken for just having a cold, perhaps, unless one also recognizes the sound of water lapping against something very nearby to the sending crystal and also perhaps up onto the sending crystal. ]

It is not going very well for us. But we are alive. Right?

[ Important to establish this up front.

And during this pause for confirmation, there is no urgent need for everyone else to fish out their own sending crystals to respond. He holds his out like a microphone, with his upper body flopped over a log and his feet perpetually kicking to keep him as close as possible to everyone else, although that is only working so well and will not work forever. ]

Comments

[bouchonne]

Maker -

[ Horrified - wondering if he needs to bar Bastien from ever going near water again (he wasn't even supposed to be near water) - ]

What's happening?

[cozen]

[ If the situation were less dire, he might be more dramatic about it. Remember me as I was—adorable, dry—

Instead, now, he sounds a little soothing. (And wet.) ]

We're floating. I couldn't say where. But it's alright, we have—furniture. I have a log. We'll only need someone to come get us, once we, uh. Know where we are.

[ Surely that will take like ten minutes to figure out. ]

[bouchonne]

A log?

[ You can nearly hear the moment where Byerly genuinely considers using his full authority, such as it is, to order one of the others to get off their furniture so Bastien can have that. He resists. Somehow. ]

What - You were supposed to use the eluvians.

[altusimperius]

A lot of things were supposed to happen.

[this is what a very fancy cat would sound like if it got wet, and was resigned to the fact.]

[bouchonne]

Maker.

[ He hates this. He really hates this. ]

Do you even know how to swim, Artemaeus?

[altusimperius]

I’m from Minrathous. [and grew up wealthy,]

Of course I know how to swim.

[bouchonne]

I don't know. You might have slaves toting you around on gilded rafts up there, for all I know.

[ Primary sign Byerly is worried: his teeth are a little sharper, and he's a little more prone to bite. It's done with love. ]

Where's the eluvian to return? Has it been lost?

[altusimperius]

[He's quiet for a moment, chastened. Then,]

Um...

fucked?

[armd]

Define 'fucked'.

[altusimperius]

“Probably not intact”?

[armd]

What did you do to it?

[altusimperius]

What did I--

[cozen]

Le joli prince is not to blame,

[ this time, ]

I think.

[altusimperius]

You think?

[pearlescence]

Only something living could be so bedraggled—

( lalla is speaking towards bastien's crystal, because she is in the process of trying to clutch a log and free herself from the heavy fabrics of her layered dress, one-handed, which is a mixed bag in terms of success so far. )

nomination for this post's bgm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2NzoLMWAwQ

[pathlit]

[ Of the "faintly trying to hold one's frazzled nerves together" and raspy voice that follows a round of harsh coughing: ]

Uh huh, yeah. Could get eaten. Partially. Fully. Yeah. Great.

[ Perhaps even a titch of oscillation through the crystal for the gentle bobbing of the sea. ]

[clawings]

That like a solid immediate kinda concern or just on the short list of things that could go environmentally wrong, all things considered?

[pathlit]

Uh, well— You know, the attack with the enormous turtle—

[ He is assuming this responder was present for the recent sea monster attack(s) near Kirkwall. ]

[clawings]

I'm afraid I don't directly, but I can put two and two together. [ He might've heard mention of it by now. ] Sounded like it wasn't all that long ago. Water warm or cold where y'all at now?

[pathlit]

It's-- It's warm. [ A short pause as he glances around, taking in the view of calm waters with their drenched company as its only current (and apparent) disruptors. He squints up at the sky. ]

...it's. Nice, actually?

[heartstumbles]

[Peter is wet, and tired. So very tired. But he's alive, so that's something. He's not going to lose the taste of sea water anytime soon and he looks and feels like a soggy cat, but hey. You take your victories where you can.]

I mean, being so close to the sea is supposed to be good for the soul, right?

[He might be almost shouting into the crystal. He's trying to remember if he's read anything about sea monsters during his time in the library.]

[armd]

(It is impossible not to reply to this loud message.)

'Close'. Not 'in'.

The fuck happened?

[heartstumbles]

[Peter doesn't realize how loud he is, as he continues in that same tone.]

Well, we were traveling through the Crossroads until the path we were on collapsed and threw us all into a river, which then proceeded to spit us out into the ocean. Now we're uh. Well, we're hanging in here. Some of us have logs. We're trying to find land.

[armd]

(Abby is holding the crystal at arm's length. Eventually she gets a chance to shout back at him,) Stop fucking yelling! I can hear you!

Who are you with?

[heartstumbles]

[Peter blinks and then realizes, oh, yeah, he should probably lower his voice. Oops.

He does so with his next reply.] There's several of us, and I'm not sure about everyone's names. There's, I think, Benedict, Laurent, Jayce, Lalla, Eli, and Victor? I could be forgetting someone, I don't know. I might have a concussion.

[armd]

(Several of them... Abby closes her eyes for a moment, thinking.

Maybe going through the motion of general concussion advice is a good place to start.) Uhhh, keep your head above water. Don't go to sleep.

Don't – drink the ocean. (Maybe not.)

[heartstumbles]

[Peter is grateful that he hasn't lost consciousness yet, at least. Small favors and all of that. Mostly, he's clinging to his log and keeping himself a float.] Too late about drinking the ocean, unfortunately. I kind of...swallowed a lot of water when we first wound up here.

Not sleepy though! I'm trying to help out with first aid where I can. Trying not to think about the fin we saw in the water too. Fear's at least good motivation for staying awake.

[hassaran]

Is anyone injured? Can you see land?

[bouchonne]

Yes -

[ Good thinking Yseult. Find clues! ]

What's the weather like? Is it hot?

[glossator]

Hard to say, given the pervasive 'wet' qualities.

But it isn't raining.

[cozen]

The new boy, [ Peter, ] he may have a minor concussion. Otherwise we are fine. No one drowned.

No land. And I think we are drifting already—if someone came after us through the Crossroads, I don't know how far we will have gone by then.

It is not ideal.

[strikesthrough]

Alive is relative.

[Victor rarely sounds warm, but now he sounds cold and wet. Which may or may not be an improvement, depending on who you ask.]

[sprent]

Are you okay? How do we rescue you??

[strikesthrough]

[There's a pretty impatient sound of annoyance to imply no we're not fucking okay, but it doesn't exactly come out as words. Which is just as well, because that's damn rude, Victor.

Instead, after the noise of wet exasperation he says (read: sputters)]

I don't know--boats? Griffons? Anything other than drift wood in the ocean would be a real improvement.

[sprent]

(That was certainly a stupid question but she couldn't help it asking it; she's nodding, making a list in her head to action later (boats, griffons, anything other than drift wood), waiting to interrupt him.

Finally–)

What... part of the ocean, messere?

[strikesthrough]

The wet part! It doesn't really come with a map!

[Or maybe it does, if you're the nautical sort. Which Victor is not.]

[sprent]

(Still trying, in vain, to help,) Do you see anything from where you're floatin'?

Aside from the sea– (Nervous laughter.)

[strikesthrough]

[Poor Gela. Trying her best with this prick who definitely doesn't deserve her efforts.]

A bunch of other floating idiots? There's about six or seven of us.

The visibility isn't great and we're not exactly in an abundance of landmarks out here.

There was a shark earlier, but as far as fixed points that doesn't really help us.

[sprent]

(Oh, yes. Gela can hear them around the bleating. Hmm, that may have been Bastien's distinctive accent...

She says, distracted,) It will most likely be griffons. I think our ships are still bein' repaired, on account of the last attack. You didn't time this very well.

[notathreat]

How relative?

[But despite the wry question, there's a lot of scuffling in the background.]

We're saddling up griffons. We'll look for you.