Welcome to the Character Development Threads! These shared story exercises allow you to develop your characters in a setting shared by other authors and their characters. No sign-up is necessary; simply look over the last few pages and hop on in. If you need questions answered or a recap, head over to our discussion thread
and ask; we’re happy to help. There's also a trope page (with location descriptions and other info).
Archipelago is semi-casual — no violence on the central island, but the rest are fair game. Other islands are built on-the-fly by the tropers whose visiting them, but you should probably grab a few others before having your characters head off — there's not much point wandering an island alone, since this is supposed to develop characters by bouncing them off one another and putting them in unusual situations. Be sure to communicate with the tropers you go with so you're on the same general page.
With thanks to, among many others, Gault, who came up with the initial idea, Nrjxll, who wrote the first draft I shameless ripped off, and the various people who contributed to the trope page location descriptions.
[[Current Time: Early Morning]
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FULL INTRO FOR THIS THREAD
This has made the hub island something of a designated neutral ground for various strange characters and dimensional travelers. A small cluster of buildings has sprung up near the one natural harbor and its dock: a couple of bars, a couple of casinos, several shops, and even the cheap but comfortable Pax Island Hotel. This is not a tourist trap, though, as much as amenities for the visitors that come here for various reasons. The Hotel's entrance leads out to a central square, with a shamelessly cheesy tiki bar calling itself the Big Kahuna and the Pax Island General Store being the most obvious, though not the only, services.
Inland, the island is covered in jungles that rise steeply into a central mountain, covered in ruins that don't seem to exactly match any of the local cultures. Apart from that, though, they're harmless and unrelated to the area's strangeness. The population on the island, humans of mixed origins, are quite used to the strangeness of their island, staffing the amenities and filling newcomers in but otherwise keeping to themselves.
Beyond this hub island, the archipelago grows more mysterious and dangerous. Fogs often cover the ocean, and compasses and other forms of navigation don't always work right. There are at least a half-dozen other islands at any one time, but that's all anyone can say for certain. The docks on the hub island offer numerous boats for visitors to travel to these islands, either under their own control or with the aid of a local sailor. Of course, there's always an element of risk involved with visiting these islands, because you never know quite what you'll find. One rule has proven consistent, though: any truly catastrophic event on an island tends to result in it vanishing into the fog, never to be seen again.
edited 27th Jun '14 6:59:52 PM by KillerClowns
[observatory]
This man was too smiley for him. Reminded him of an American, in fact; he couldn't bring himself to trust those people. Always seemed like they were trying to hide something.
"Oh, those. Well, then." Two can play at this game. Adrian smiled thinly and headed over to the nearest ladder. "After you," he said, waving Andre ahead.
[castle boreas staff commons]
Iris opened her mouth to speak, but presumed it could wait for Beth's question; better that they're all on the same page, first, even if she did want to know how he was to tie talent into... martyrdom of all things. Talent was skill, versatile skill ripe for twisting and perverting to someone else's ends. She sat with slightly bated breath for what he would say- if nothing else, it made him slightly more interesting than the majority of Aetherionians she'd met in the last few months.
Either way, his mission sounded something like what she would do, if she were an artist. The arts are the soul of a society, after all, with songs and stories that can last even longer than the people, showcasing snapshots of cultures, their hopes and fears and joys in the form of something meant to entertain. How beautiful it was.
edited 10th Aug '14 5:05:52 AM by CrystalGlacia
"Jack, you have debauched my sloth."
[Hotel (Lobby)-Outside Hotel-Town Center]
Jackson kept looking back as they walked outside, making sure everyone was still together in a group. Once they were a little farther away from the hotel, he decided that this was the best moment to talk about his plan.
"Ok." he said, "Since you're all curious, I'm going to finally talk. The reason why I brought you guys out here was because we're going to look for Iris."
Adam blinked. "Really?"
"Yup. I decided to have her and Howell see each other again." Jackson looked directly at Howell as he said that, giving him a friendly smile, "We should be able to find her before sundown."
"If it's the Iris I'm thinking of," Nick said, "Then she should be still at the docks. That's where I last saw her." He turned back to Howell, "Hear that, buddy? Sounds like your sister is closer than we thought."
Ruins (Path to Jungle)
"I think I should be fine as far as stepping on things go, unless the stuff in this jungle is considerably sharper than the stuff in the Waste," Saya replied to Joseph's warning, looking down at her boots, "Though the Waste doesn't have a whole lot in it apart from rocks, and maybe some ruins from times past, so I guess that's not the best comparison. It's not like I have anything else to compare it to, though...."
She frowned for a moment, before shaking her head. "But otherwise that's pretty sound advice, I think. Never mind all the plant life, there's probably things in there I have no word for. But I think it'll all be worth it." She flashed yet another big grin at Joseph. "Right?"
Icon by Civvi the Civilian!
[observatory]
"You coulda just gone," Andre said, before teleporting over to the left switch (as seen from the entrance) and kneeling beside it, comparing it to the diagram, and looking for any identifying marks on either. "So," he said, "what made you two decide digging around some mysterious old ruins was a good idea?"
Aseyu replied, "I was bored, and had already had sex recently, so this was the next best thing. Starting to wonder if a warm bed and my new friend here might be a better idea, though."
Andre took Aseyu's promiscuity in stride, shaking his head in mild amusement.
[Pax Island ~ Ruins (Path to Jungle)—> Jungle (Path to Town)]
Joseph glanced back at Saya to listen to her as he walked, and couldn't help cracking a smile at her enthusiasm. Normally, he'd try to temper the expectations of others, especially if that expectation was built upon something he had said. However, what he'd seen of Saya thus far was enough to lead him to believe that he could show her almost anything from his world, beautiful or otherwise, and she'd find it fascinating. So all he did was smile again and say, "That's right."
He gave her boots a quick look as well, and nodded, "Yeah, you should be fine as far as sharp objects go so long as you manage to stay on your feet and watch out for low hanging branches, and anything with thorns, and... well, you should be fine so long as you keep your eyes open."
As they came to the beginning of what one could call the jungle proper, Joe turned his eyes downward to his own bare feet, only then truly realizing how lucky he'd been to avoid stepping on anything nasty like the rock that had bonded with Aseyu's foot. "I'll tell you if I spot anything that looks like poison ivy," he paused, then with a bit of a dry edge in his voice, added, "and if I step on anything that I think might be sharp enough to cut through your boot, you'll hear about that too. Here we are."
He stopped and stepped aside, examining the trailhead and allowing Saya the chance to do the same. The path was fairly narrow, with large, leafy plants and moss-covered trees lining either side. Except for the dirt of the path itself and the occasional rock or exposed bit of bark, the area was enveloped by countless shades of green. In the full light of day, it really did remind him of home. Despite being cooped up in his house for the large majority of two months—and sometimes confined to his room and nothing but his room—he still felt a twinge of homesickness that ran deeper than he knew.
[Pax Island ~ Town Center]
Howell, whose mouth was already open on one side as he idly scratched at a tooth, broke into a proper smile at the news. He glanced away, discreetly rolling his eyes when Jackson declared that he had decided to have Howell and Iris see each other again, as though Howell himself hadn't been the one to... express his own interest in seeing his sister again back in the Hotel's bathroom. Besides that, Iris wasn't gone for good. He had no doubt that she would show back up, and probably that very day, too. He just wasn't sure when.
"That sounds great, Jackson," he said, sounding fairly enthusiastic, though it was a bit of a tempered enthusiasm, "but I wish you had told us a little sooner. I wanted to grab my things from the hotel room." He tilted his head to the side, "Mind if I do? It'll only take a bit if I run."
this place needs me here
[castle boreas east parlor]
He was partially right, unless her parents deliberately arranged for a Renesian and person-of-whatever-her-father's-race-is to produce a spouse for her with the same racial makeup. Unless that's also interracial or... whatever, who really gives a shit.
Lily gave Seilaan a frown that was a bit more disgusted than saddened. "I'm not sure what I should be more appalled by- the racism, or just how this shrew is still allowed to believe any of her rubbish matters." Ooh, what about getting Senator Feng and Iris together? That sounds amusing.
[castle boreas balcony]
'Shitty'? He wanted to laugh.
He smiled, grateful and overjoyed and even disbelieving all at once, straightening and standing up as he suddenly felt the lump's weight more than ever against his back. "Where do I start?" Henri rested his chin in his hand. "He's... the kindest man I've ever worked for." He could feel his cheeks warming and turning blue, owing to his strange blood, getting choked up already. "He got me out of that life, centuries of slavery..." He swallowed, tried to hide his face with his hand. "...and he called me a man." A puff from the cigarette, in hopes that he at least wouldn't completely lose it. "Not an appliance, not a slave, not even a servant- a family member."
[observatory] Retcon so everybody's on 2F I guess
'Starting'? He gave Aseyu a look, his thin smile gone wry for her as he strode over to the other knife switch on the adjoining catwalk. Christ, he literally hasn't gotten any in... a hundred years. Adrian almost worried that he would be too rusty, but of course, now he had body magic to help. He slipped into a smirk at the thought- no, not with this piece of work to deal with.
"We must also remind you that, unlike you, we can't just poof out of here, and the only way out appears to be that elevator, which relies on electricity that's currently shut off."
edited 14th Aug '14 5:37:41 PM by CrystalGlacia
"Jack, you have debauched my sloth."
[Town Center]
"Take your time, Howell." Jackson said, putting one hand on his shoulder, "We'll wait for you right here."
Adam nodded. "Go ahead Howell."
Nick gave a small salute. "We're in no rush. We're gonna be on this island for a while. Go on, buddy."
[Harbor (Docks)]
The disk continued to revolve as it hovered over the ground, its small blue lights occasionally flickering.
"The reduced price can be easily individualized for your particular resource capabilities, intrepid sophont! This mobile platform's Simulated Intelligence does not possess bartering programming; for more detailed questions about the price, please inquire of Madame voSudir in person! Don't delay, respond in the affirmative right now to accept this offer and behold galactic wonders unlike anything you have ever experienced!"
Drummer Boy
[Castle Boreas East Parlor]
"The Purists are a threat because we all know where they're coming from." Seilaan's fear that cultural gap was wider than she originally thought was confirmed. "Enslaving ourselves to foreigners is to insult everyone who spilled blood bringing down a racist regime. That's why there was such a massive uproar when my mother announced her engagement to a Fenrir. Well, that was over twenty years ago. They're mostly over it by now. But now that I'm approaching the age when heirs typically start thinking about marriage partners, I suppose worries were renewed. So the main problem isn't Senator Feng's beliefs. It's rooted in our culture, partially. It's the fact that her attempts to further the Purist cause are more of a temper tantrum than anything else. But the rest of them are taking her seriously."
She let out a huge sigh. "My brother joined them because he shares some of their ideals, but he wants to moderate them. He really doesn't like Senator Feng, so I suppose that's a start."
The last battle's curtains will open on stage!
[Pax Island ~ Town Center —> Hotel]
"All right." Howell said to Jackson.
"All right." Howell said to Adam.
"All right." Howell said to Nick.
By the third 'all right', he couldn't help but wonder if he was being patronized by the three boys, all of whom were older than him, although not by any significant amount of time in the case of Adam. Adding to that what he had told Jackson, and what Jackson might have relayed to others, it seemed plausible that they might treat him differently. Especially when one considered what Howell had done the last time he was left alone... although, with that in mind, it was also a little strange that they would so easily let him run off by himself. It was a trust Howell wasn't sure that he deserved, though he was grateful to have it anyway.
"I'll be back in no more than three jiffs." he said, then turned away, and sprinted off in the direction of the hotel.
Not certain what to do with Iris yet, but if they do look for her at the beach, she won't be there anymore. Also are any of your other characters still in the lobby, Masterofchaos?
this place needs me here
Ruins (Path to Jungle) -> Jungle Path
"Good to hear. I feel prepared at least, even though I didn't expect to arrive in a place like this," Saya said with a weak chuckle, "Although I don't like the sound of this 'poison ivy' stuff you're talking about. Just how worried should I be about that...oh my."
She was silent for a good minute upon stepping into the jungle. She just looked around with the most awestruck impression on her face. This was a far cry from the Great Waste. She wouldn't be surprised if this was a far cry from anything in her world.
"...I feel like I just stepped into one of the storytellers' tales." She took a few small steps forwards, before approaching the closest tree and running her hand along the bark, "Except their tales aren't anywhere near as vibrant as this. It's almost unbelievable, and yet it's here, it's real, and...and...."
Harbor (Docks)
Rachel couldn't tell whether or not the answer she received was a good thing or a bad thing. Regardless, as much as she would have liked to get something a little more concrete before making a final decision, it was clear that she'd gotten all she could out of this disk. If she really wanted to know more about the place it was advertising, she was going to have to go and see it for herself. Hopefully this "Madame voSudir" person wasn't as overly pompous as the disk's advertisement made her (at least, Rachel couldn't think of the last time she heard a man call himself "Madame") seem.
She shrugged, before saying, "Alright then. I guess I accept."
Observatory
The knife switches had no noticeable markings on them apart from what could be expected from usage, and were for all intents and purposes identical in appearance. The diagrams portrayed them as such; the only thing identifiable as information would be some notes next to their pictures that presumably explained their purpose, but as it was naturally written in the same gibberish as everything else around here it would be of no use.
edited 11th Aug '14 4:05:22 PM by Yomegami
Icon by Civvi the Civilian!
[Hotel (Lobby)]
Nathan sat at the bench in the lobby, hearing his father going up the stairs. He gave an annoyed sigh and lean his head back. His brother and his friend's shouldn't even have to be looking for Iris; if George hadn't kicked her out, Howell wouldn't be needlessly blaming himself. All that his dad did was make the situation worse.
I knew this shit would happen. he thought, Why is dad such a stubborn asshole?
He glanced back outside and crossed his arms. Wherever Iris is now, he hoped she'd get here soon, and hopefully this whole mess could get solved. Though that could be just be wishful thinking.
[castle boreas east parlor] Vince is basically a POC now.
Was that brother of hers Taiyin Ren the mindreader? Pah, no wonder that night sucked so badly. Vince still couldn't really bring himself to be that angry with the kid; if he was anything like any of the other couple hundred-odd documented mindreaders, it was only a matter of time before he'd blow his brains out or end up in an asylum.
His coffee had cooled off, so he offered some to Seilaan first before refilling his own cup. "The mindreader, yes?"
edited 11th Aug '14 5:51:04 PM by CrystalGlacia
"Jack, you have debauched my sloth."
[Harbor (Docks)]
The disk whirled madly. "Expression of glee! Please stand by, your acceptance has been registered!"
With the same low humming as before, the spaceship rose out of the water and slowly hovered towards the shore. It floated to the edge of the docks closest to Rachel, then landed next to them - still in the water, but now directly touching the dock shore. The disk turned and flew back to the ship, reentering it through the same portal it had previously emerged from. Lines of purple light appeared on the side of the larger hemisphere, forming the outline of an arch, though the ship did not actually open up.
Without a visible loudspeaker or other source, a female voice came from the ship, sounding either hoarse or throaty depending on how generous the listener was feeling. "So! You're interested but want to work out a price, hmm? Well then, let's see what we can arrange. You certainly won't want to miss this, Zer...?"
Drummer Boy
[Staff Commons]
Wilhelm sighed and clenched the ends of his scarf. "The same way spoken words are. Not all honesty looks the same, though, and it doesn't have to be admirable. If you make a statement that is not objectively true but you were keeping true to your morals or whatever, I call that honest. I let a kid hide in my dormitory at the academy because an asshole wanted to beat him up so when the asshole came by obviously I said the kid wasn't there. I was being honest to myself. I'm not letting a poor kid get beat up for no fucking reason. But if you do something that's terrible, like kill someone, but you were adhering to your own beliefs—like, if I were obsessed with justice, and I hunted down people who hurt others. That's honest. Illegal unless I were a cop, but at least I could look at what I did and say, 'I was being honest.' I'm still a murderer. Obviously. Just a murderer with reasons. And as long as the reasons make sense to me, I was being honest to myself.
"So, do you really think we kept making the same kind of music over and over purely by choice? If you live under the shadow of the government, that does something to your mindset, most of the time. You're always thinking about how to stay out of trouble. We live in constant restraint. Trimming everything down and packing it into a neat little box. And every single box looks the same and you open it and what's inside is such a fucking disappointment. Take away the fucking boxes. Create without compromises. The Republic doesn't want that. If your art's like that, what about the rest of you? That's when they start to worry. Doesn't help that artists have given them plenty of trouble in the past."
He took off his glasses and methodically polished them. "You could argue that the restraint is in our nature now so it's being honest to ourselves, but that's not what humanity actually is, even if you talk yourself into believing it. That's lying. You're lying to yourself if you think it's okay to keep doing this to what could be art. I'm not making a lick of sense, am I? That's okay. As long as I like my music and it has the effect I want, it doesn't really matter if anyone knows why I do things the way I do. I'm not doing this to change the world. It's for me."
Seriously, if Wilhelm is 100% coherent, I am doing something wrong. He's rambly.
[Castle Boreas East Parlor]
"Y-yes. You met him?" Seilaan took one reasonably sized gulp, then put her cup down. I'm going too fast. Oh dear. "I know he's far from pleasant company, but I really, really can't hate him. You'd expect a twenty-five-year-old to be more... mature, but he has a lot to be bitter about. Not to mention being constantly bombarded with other people's thoughts. My parents and I try our best to be patient with him. But he just disturbs people, you know? Wilhelm literally can't string together a coherent sentence when he's in the same room. When I was a child, it had no effect on me. Even now, I don't care as much as most."
She succumbed to the temptation to have another sip of coffee. "Did he say anything as... offputting as Senator Feng? I really hope not."
edited 12th Aug '14 1:42:07 AM by SnowyFoxes
The last battle's curtains will open on stage!
Harbor (Docks)
Rachel was well aware of the fact the ship was enormous even while it was a good distance away. She didn't realize just how enormous, however, until it pulled up close to the dock. Upon beholding it from this close, her eyes widened quite a bit. Now she couldn't help but have second thoughts, but she also had the feeling it was too late to do much about it. She decided to just hope for the best.
She was expecting to have to go up to the ship's entrance to meet with its owner for this deal, which had the effect of making her jump quite a bit when some sort of loudspeaker addressed her right where she stood. The voice sounded almost as sick as she did, yet considerably healthier at the same time, and at any rate probably belonged to someone decidedly heavy set (assuming it wasn't the ship itself that was speaking).
"...Holy hell," she muttered once she had recovered her senses, before raising her voice to address the ship. "Er...my name is Rachel. I'm...somewhat interested, yes. The problem is that I don't have any money on me. I'm not from around this area, and the place I'm really from is...um...not doing very well. Is this going to be a big problem...?"
Icon by Civvi the Civilian!
[castle boreas east parlor]
The two raised an eyebrow. He was twenty-five? There were no recorded mindreaders who were even capable of functioning by that age, let alone able to torture. In all countries where mindreading occurs with any frequency, such people usually only had institutionalization or, more rarely, professions in torture or especially barbaric intelligence-gathering to look forward to, assuming they didn't just kill themselves as teenagers.
"If your mindreaders are anything like ours... then I'm afraid I can't do much more than offer my sympathies." Lily's eyes thinned in a glare in his direction. "Objectively, what he did was worse than anything Senator Feng could possibly manage, even if she had all the resources in the world." Trust me on this, Vince wanted to tack on; compared to Taiyin, beliefs aside, she was nothing new. He paused to glance into his coffee, absentmindedly tapping a finger against the cup's rim as Lily's look softened and she took her eyes off him. "I speak as one who met him briefly, and I speak as a father. No amount of bitterness or hardship, past or present, excuses his choices. But it does not place him below respect."
Moved staff commons bit into a newer post for visibility's sake.
edited 18th Aug '14 5:22:34 PM by CrystalGlacia
"Jack, you have debauched my sloth."
Drummer Boy
[Castle Boreas East Parlor]
"If you were willing to share exactly what he did, I suppose you would have done it already. Did he try to dig up any of your secrets for his personal amusement? He does that a lot, even to me. He simply has no empathy whatsoever. Oddly enough, he claims that's the reason why he's still sane. Sane as opposed to what happens to most mind readers, at least. The strange thing is, he seemed very normal until he was fifteen. Most go insane by then. My parents even went ahead and named him the heir. Due to a series of accidents that involved his eyes ripped out, our parents convicting him of treason, and nearly executing him, I didn't see him for nearly two years. When I saw him again, he was basically the same as the way he is now. But I think something about his ordeal was what made him decide to turn himself into... this."
Another sip of coffee, a moment of contemplation. "Don't think I'm making excuses for him. I just—started rambling, a bit, sorry. I think about this a lot."
The last battle's curtains will open on stage!
[Pax Island ~ Jungle (Path to Town)]
Joseph stood back, folding his arms, with the corners of his mouth pulled into a slight smile. Saya's reaction was kind of heartwarming to watch, he thought. Sure, living right next to the woods for a large chunk of his life had it's influence on him, and he could admire the beauty of nature as well as the next guy, if not just a little better, but there was an almost childlike sense of wonder in Saya's particular admiration. A wonder that he hadn't known in ages. A wonder that-
...no, now wasn't the time for pointless mental rambles on lost wonder and innocence and how desensitized he was to the world and everything in it. His job was to guide, and to guide, he had to be at least a little desensitized. Otherwise he'd keep stopping for every pretty little thing and they wouldn't get to the town before sundown. Or something like that. Yeah, that sounded good.
"Yep," he said, "It's just about as real as you or me. There are tons of places like this too. I mean, not specifically like this island with the weird ruins and the can't get hurt dealio, but places with plant life and lots of it. You ought to see a flower meadow. Some of those come in more than just green."
He walked to one side of the trail and gently prodded at a large leaf with one of his claws, watching the leaf spring back into place, shaking other nearby leaves as it did so.
"Oh, and about the poison ivy, I'd worry about it as much as it'd bother you to have an extremely itchy rash on your skin for a couple days. It's not so much fun, and can be kind of gross but it's bearable. Just try not to get any in hard to reach places." He paused for a moment, then shuddered lightly. "I haven't seen any yet though, so don't worry yourself too much about it."
He offered her as much of a confident and friendly smile as he could manage, then returned to looking over the plants. Whenever she was ready, they could continue onward. No sense rushing it; whatever Saya saw today could very well be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
[Pax Island ~ Hotel]
Within a few minutes of running, jogging, and jauntily strolling, Howell was back at the Royal Hotel, pushing open the front door and walking into the lobby. Though he didn't slow down a whole lot and headed straight for the elevators, he couldn't help but notice that the desk clerk still hadn't returned. He also noticed Nathan on his way towards the elevators, and flashed him a smile as he passed.
"Hey Nathan, how's it going? Well, catch you later Nathan."
sorry that took so long. Still not entirely sure what to do with Iris. I've got one idea, but I don't know how to write it exactly so I'll leave it for later.
[castle boreas east parlor]
While Lily complacently sipped her tea, her husband watched Seilaan through thinned eyes, giving her a slow blink in exasperation when she mentioned that she's apparently used to having her privacy violated. Perhaps her naivete was understandable and she truly didn't have anything that she cared about him knowing, or he gave her the honor of never using his knowledge against her, or she was aware of when she was having her mind read and could shut him down if she so wished. Not that any of that was applicable to him at the time.
"Why do you treat his sociopathy with such indifference? You speak of trying to invade one's privacy, as though he has yet to succeed and use his knowledge to harm someone." He set his coffee on the side table next to him.
"Jack, you have debauched my sloth."
[Harbor (Docks)]
"Money! Pfah!" The voice from the ship sounded amused. "An obnoxious trifle concocted for the sole purpose of making everyone's life that much more inconvenient. Its absence is hardly alarming. I am a collector of marvels, Zer Rachel, not some cheap mercenary of museums! I'm certain that a... unique individual such as you has something worth adding to the Ship of Wonders, even if it's only a story. Not that I should say only, of course!" The voice rose slightly, as though the speaker was quoting something. "Stories are the padding for the armor of civilization."
"So! I'm sure you have something that you can use to guarantee that you won't miss out on this once-in-a-lifetime experience, yes?"
edited 13th Aug '14 8:52:35 PM by nrjxll
Attitude is prohibited
[Castle Boreas - Balcony]
"Oh yeah?" Said Sam, cigarette in her mouth. "Good for you!" She lightly punched his arm, then paused to take a long drag from her smoke. "Since he's the nicest man to ever ask you to clean up his home, and your lifespan's pretty wacky, I assume you don't have any retirement plans?" She chuckled. "Are you planning on working here for the rest of your days, or what?"
Not entirely dead.
[Hotel (Lobby)]
Nathan didn't even get a word out before Howell went to the elevator. He felt a little surprised that he was the only one back at the hotel and Adam and his friends weren't. He wasn't worried, though; he was with Nick and Jackson. He still was curious.
"H-Hey wait!" he said, following Howell. "Where are the others? Are you still gonna look for your sister?"
Drummer Boy
[Castle Boreas East Parlor]
"Indifference? Well...." Seilaan frowned. "It's part of my life, so I might as well accept it. As for harming people, he's certainly done it, and without remorse. Usually on my parents' orders, though. He's primarily an interrogator and a watchdog, after all. As I said, he is without empathy and morals. This was his choice. He wouldn't be nearly as useful to the state if he hadn't made it. As for why he'd victimize you, I honestly have no idea. I'll ask him later."
The last battle's curtains will open on stage!
[Staff Commons]
Beth tilted her head slightly. "Not talkin' about you lying," she said. "Not even sure where you got that feeling. No, I mean... you say music's gotta be 'honest', but what makes music 'honest' or not?"