Echoes Of The Black Sea Ep.1: An Express Of The Future

[Agritum]

Ganor Mining Facility, Baldr, over Hesnet

The masked woman in white managed to dodge Kenna's blasts simply by being constantly moving, and though the heat passed dangerously close to her, it didn't seem to affect her much. She was about to jump away again when someone shouted loudly enough to attract the attention of everyone present, even the miner who was only now regaining consciousness.

"Stop!"

It was Alvarus, who currently held a strange contraption in his hand. However, he made no signs of being about to use it. "You seek the Hadium, don't you?" He asked the woman in white, who looked at him, slightly surprised, before simply flipping over and landing behind him, safe from both Ancelotte and Kenna's gunfire. She then put a hand on Alvarus' shoulder, who promptly turned around, shoving it away.

"Yes. Why? Have you decided to let us have it? We will gladly leave if you have." She said kindly.

"Ah, no. You see, we have no such thing. Some researchers suspected that it could have formed naturally, but our mining operations have not yet managed to get us any natural Hadium." He stated. The woman tilted her head.

"How do I know you are not just saying this to make us go away?" She inquired. Alvarus simply handed her the device.

"This measures Hadium radiation emissions. I'm sure you're familiar with it. There are no readings nearby, see?" He stated. "We are right next to a vault made of simple metal. If there was any Hadium nearby, this would detect it."

The woman stood there for a moment, immersed in thought, before nodding and handing the contraption back. After that, she also handed him a stack of credits, before a pillar of flame emerged and blinded everyone. The woman was gone, and after several minutes the security forces would confirm that there was no intruder present anymore.

After the fuss was over, Alvarus approached Ancelotte and Kenna. "Well, what do you know. A honorable thief, if we could call her that. She paid for the damage done to the installations." He said, showing them the stack of credits. After that he started separating a few. "Anyway, Clarice contacted me. She said that she would like to see you two again for another job." He said, before handing Ancelotte the credits he had separated from the stack. It was the payment for the job, plus something extra. "It must have been an eventful day, no? Thanks for your work, ladies." He stated, before heading off.


Starfall Plaza, Hesnet, past dusk (Planetary time)

After everyone had been interrogated, Seton stood before all four of them (Franky, Corvo, Seton, Urvin) and cleared his throat before speaking.

"Alright, now that the questioning is out of the way, I have something to announce to you all..." He said, taking a deep breath before continuing.

"Since you all have some... Special, we'll say, situations, the H.G. has decided that it would be best if you all were sent to a protected town to live for a while, until things calmed down. You are the only witnesses of what happened to Mr. Enghei, after all, and you might be targetted for it." He stated.

"So... I'm afraid you're all going to have to pack your things and then come with me." He finally announced.

"Can I set up my shop there?" Urvin asked. Seton nodded.

"I can get you the permits." He said.

"Alright. Nothing to lose, I guess."


Lake Town, Hesnet

"Around here, hmm? Well, that is a good question!" Reach said, jumping down from the tree and safely landing a few feet away, just outside the patch of grass that he had just told Kathy was basically hallowed ground for the people who lived around.

"You're in Lake Town, land of the first Hesnettish colonists, home of Altrine Du Lac the Lady of Light, protected bastion of the H.G.!" He announced, outstretching his arms in a theatral gesture, before letting them drop again.

"By which I mean, there's really not all that much to do here. But, I can show you around if you want." He said with a smile.

Ancelotte gave a weak smile to Alvarus, before turning around and taking a look at the credits.
"Your share." she said to Kenna, giving her an equal half of the total sum of money, and keeping the other half for herself. "Gentlewoman or not, what she would have been capable of doing, if this facility actually mined Hadium? I'm not sure if she would have reacted in the same polite way, had it been like that." she mused outloud.
"Shall we head back to Clarice, Kenna?"

[Mavorpen]

While Franky, Francoise, etc. visited the Starfall Security Station, Yang slept. Okay, she didn't sleep the entire time. She did accomplish her goal of eating, in an attempt to push away thoughts that she didn't feel like having. Eventually though, she ran out of food. I mean, the stall she "borrowed" the food from was abandoned and half destroyed. Logically it would have a limited amount of food anyway (not that it could have an infinite amount under normal circumstances, but that's beside the point).

Anyway, once she ran out of food to eat, she decided to meditate... on top of a Ferris wheel. Why? For one, she enjoyed meditating at high places and it had become a habit of hers due to being raised on a mountain. Two, because it's pretty damn cool. As usual, her meditation at first seemed to exacerbate the problem. Visions of what had transpired not to long ago flashed in her head, and she at first struggled to push them out. She calmed down after a few minutes, her breathing becoming much more stable, regular, and even. Eventually she didn't need to attempt to force the thoughts out. The memories of what occurred in her past on Earth, as well as what happened at the Starfall Plaza faded away on their own. At first during this change, the memories flashed and faded in regular intervals, however the time that they remained and lingered inside of her mind decreased steadily.

Eventually, her concentration was broken by the sound of hammering and general clamoring as well as multiple shouting voices. She looked down and saw multiple tents already erect, as well as men shouting for others to pick up the pace putting up more tents. It was hard to tell, but Yang figured that they were medical tents. How? Well, the large red cross for an insignia was kind of a dead giveaway, as well as the general clothing most of the men wore. She also noticed many individuals being carried to the tents on stretchers: victims of the recent attack, she concluded. She decided to wait, instead of jumping down and interrupting the commotion below because to be honest, she wasn't entirely concerned with it at first (and because I need an excuse).

Over time, her actions consisted of meditating more, or taking a break to watch the, what seemed from her perspective, tiny people walking and working below. Eventually, she decided to jump down from the Ferris wheel, around the time that the group who had been talking to Seton entered the Plaza once more. But, Yang didn't cross paths with them. She probably would have if she knew that they were back and actively sought them out. But instead, she decided to help out the many individuals being assisted by medical professionals. After a while, she noticed that the activity on the Plaza was dying down and decided to chat a bit with one of the workers. Due to plot convenience, she learned that Franky and the others were being interrogated in a nearby tent. She rushed there, but was too late and ended up meeting Seton alone.

She explained to him that she had been at the Plaza during the attack, and that technically she was a witness. After she was done, he also explained the situation from his point of view , about how the group went to the Security Station, then came back to the Plaza and were interrogated. Yang almost ran away at that word. She hated the idea of being asked carefully chosen questions with a hidden motive behind them, which interrogations were chock full of in her mind. She sighed a mental breath of relief when he didn't ask her to be interrogated, instead informing her that the group was going to be moved to a remote location due to potential danger. This didn't necessarily upset her, though she was curious what kind of dangers that could potentially arise later. She didn't feel like wasting anymore time though, so with a goodbye, she quickly rushed off to pack her things for the journey.

[Mortelatuzia]

"A place to...stay?"
Kathy thought it over, she hadn't really prepared for anything truly. Her running away from home was more, sporadic then anything.
"Not really. I...hadn't...really...thought this...through."
She let a nervous chuckle. Oh, the irony.

[Corrian]

"Do you have any estimate of how long we will have to stay at this place you describe?" Franky asked Seton after a bit of silence from her. "It seems like it could be an interesting place, and maybe actually enjoyable, depending how it is, but I was jut curious. My parents will probably worry. They always do. So will some of my friends. I just like to get a general time frame of how long it might be that we are somewhere" She told him. "Not that you always get what you want....." She muttered, seeming to be thinking about something, before snapping out of it, though apparently spacing off at some interesting shape she saw in the tree or something.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

April 22nd, 238 A.U..
Lake Town, Hesnet

A week had passed since the fateful events of the Starfall Festival. Seton had done as he said and had taken Urvin, Corvo, Franky, Francoise and Yang to a secure location: Lake Town. In addition to them, the inspector had also taken along another person who had been at the Festival, one Alexandra Belle. He himself was told to stay in the vicinity, as he was best acquainted with the people there and his assistance could be needed in case something came up. All of them, save for Seton himself, stayed at a house large enough and with enough bedrooms (And bathrooms) to house all of them comfortably. It was a luxurious house. Not very luxurious, but still a very nice place to live in.

Kathy had been staying in a 'magical' (It wasn't magical at all) super-secret tree house Reach had told her about. She agreed to stay there because really, where else was she going to stay? She didn't have anywhere else. So, that's that.

Aside from that, Kenna and Ancelotte were also in town, because they had been given a job. It was a simple enough job: To stay around there and help if anything happened. They had accepted this job because the pay, regardless of whether or not anything actually happened, was pretty good for such a seemingly simple job. Ancelotte probably had other reasons for accepting the job, too.

That is where they were now. They had been in Lake Town for six days...

[Corrian]

Not a whole lot happened in Franky's life since she got to Lake Town, really. She had contacted her parents at some point to tell them that she would be staying somewhere for a while, because of new bad circumstances. Of course, that freaked her parents out quite a lot, and made them worry, wondering what could of happened to their poor sweet daughter now. And of course she had to do some explaining that she was alright and would be alright, and that everything should be over soon and she would come home after staying in this particular town for however long it was to be expected of her to stay there. That, of course, calmed them down for now, though she knew all too well that they were still likely worried and freaking out as soon as she hung up the phone.

One day, about 3 days ago, was her worst day since she got here. She woke up seeming rather down and depressed, like something was really getting to her. It almost acted as if she was trapped inside of her own mind that day. And due to this, this was the only day she got drunk. It wasn't being mildly drunk either, and she was pretty seriously drunk. She was a rather strange drunk, to say the least. While she was drunk, she kind of made herself look like an idiot, and she wasn't sure that would help her reputation amongst the people there in the slightest. Of course, by the end of the day, and next day, she rather regretted drinking as much as she did.

While she was here, she didn't really talk to anyone much. She sorta kept to herself. Especially after her little drunken episode. She felt that she had really screwed up her chances of having a proper social life after that. Not that she really tried to make friends with anyone anyway, but she felt even more secluded after that little episode, and because of it, kept to herself even more. Her reasoning's for not making friends were likely a mixture of that, and her not expecting to be here very long anyway, so she didn't want to make friends she would end up never seeing again, or rarely ever seeing.

Right now, she was sitting on a bench overlooking the lake, staring off across it with a happy grin on her face. "So beautiful" She said to herself, amazed by the beauty of the lake, even though she had seen it multiple times before. Maybe it related to how it looked in the particular lighting of the time, it was hard to know. Either that, or she just loved commenting on it. She felt that she could almost sit here all day, staring aimlessly off into the lake. Listening to the sounds of the water was music to her ears, and any other sounds that didn't involve human activities. She put her fingers out in front of her face, acting as if she was holding the sun between two fingers, giving herself a different perspective on various objects floating on the water, and overall just being weird.

[Terintania]

Over the time since they had moved to Lake Town, Corvo had gone back and forth between being not exactly cheerful, but not to down, to contemplating suicide. There were probably a few times that people would get the feeling that he was a deeply troubled guy. Despite his issues, however, he helped Urvin unfaltering, and it seemed to make him happier, even if it wasn't much happier.

He hadn't particularly tried to make friend with anyone over that time, but didn't try to avoid people if they wanted to talk to him, either. He'd noticed Franky seeming down, but he didn't know how to help her when he couldn't even take care of his own emotional problems. He did seem quite happy to have a home, however. Which probably gave even more of an indication that he didn't exactly have a perfect life.

On the current day, he was standing in his room looking at a calender. He let out a quiet, sad gasp when he saw what day it was, before letting himself fall into sitting position on his bed, putting his hands over his face. Today was the day that it would be exactly a year since the little girl had died. Once again the scene came to his mind. He could remember every little detail of what had happened, as if it had happened yesterday, if not even more recently then that.

He sat there like that for a while, before realizing he should probably go see if Urvin needed any help with anything. He sighed, wiped his eyes and headed out of the room to go find Urvin, though he really acted like he wanted to do nothing but lay in bed all day and be depressed.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

Lake Town, Hesnet

During the time he had been in Lake Town, Urvin had lived rather uneventfully, though he was still having better days than he had earlier. Part of it was because he didn't really have to bother paying for his own housing anymore, so that was good. He had more money to spend on other things. Another important part was that, apparently, the denizens of Lake Town were much more receptive to his toys and artifacts than other people were, which meant that he sold more merchandise than before. And then, of course, there was the fact that he had a helper, which meant that setting up every day was a significantly easier task. Corvo was getting his part too, of course, Urvin gave him a good ammount of credits for his hard work.

So on the twenty-second day of April, Urvin found himself setting up his small stall on the town's market, when he noticed Corvo approaching. The tiny old man waved enthusiastically at the younger one, but after that, he noticed that his assistant seemed to be rather depressed. More so than usual, which was definitely not a good sign. Walking up to him, Urvin stopped the young lad and addressed him.

"What's wrong, buddy?"

[Terintania]

Lake Town, Hesnet

During the time he had been in Lake Town, Urvin had lived rather uneventfully, though he was still having better days than he had earlier. Part of it was because he didn't really have to bother paying for his own housing anymore, so that was good. He had more money to spend on other things. Another important part was that, apparently, the denizens of Lake Town were much more receptive to his toys and artifacts than other people were, which meant that he sold more merchandise than before. And then, of course, there was the fact that he had a helper, which meant that setting up every day was a significantly easier task. Corvo was getting his part too, of course, Urvin gave him a good ammount of credits for his hard work.

So on the twenty-second day of April, Urvin found himself setting up his small stall on the town's market, when he noticed Corvo approaching. The tiny old man waved enthusiastically at the younger one, but after that, he noticed that his assistant seemed to be rather depressed. More so than usual, which was definitely not a good sign. Walking up to him, Urvin stopped the young lad and addressed him.

"What's wrong, buddy?"

When Corvo saw Urvin wave at him, he didn't wave back, but when he came over, Corvo gave Urvin what seemed to be a failed attempt at a smile. When Urvin asked him what was wrong, he put his hands in his pockets and kind of shrugged. It wasn't an 'I don't know' kind of shrug, it was more of an upset kind of shrug. He was kind of unwilling to talk about it, but at the same time he kind of wanted to get it out, to tell someone.

He sighed quietly and his eyes started to water. "I....I've made some not-so-great decisions...." He said, seeming to be trying to find the words, and trying not to cry,"I got in with some...bad people. They weren't murderers, just.....thieves. I needed money, and it was the only way I could get it.....But it all w-went wrong," He stifled a sob and tried to calm himself down before containing,"A mistake was made......And it lead to a little girl being killed.....If I hadn't.....If I'd Just...Just...." He trailed off with a sob, and the tears spilled over.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

Lake Town, Hesnet

Urvin listened to Corvo as he began talking, tearing up as he started. The tiny man could only guess why his youg assistant was acting this way, but instead of trying, he listened quietly to his story, wondering if it would clear up some things. And when Corvo was done, he could see that, indeed, it did clear up something. In fact, it cleared up a lot more than he thought it would. That was why he sometimes acted so depressed.

Unsure of what to do, the old man approached a little more and patted Corvo on the... arm. Let us remember that he was not very tall.

"Corvo, calm down, please. There is no point in thinking about what could have been. You have to learn to live with what was." He said.

[Terintania]

Lake Town, Hesnet

Urvin listened to Corvo as he began talking, tearing up as he started. The tiny man could only guess why his youg assistant was acting this way, but instead of trying, he listened quietly to his story, wondering if it would clear up some things. And when Corvo was done, he could see that, indeed, it did clear up something. In fact, it cleared up a lot more than he thought it would. That was why he sometimes acted so depressed.

Unsure of what to do, the old man approached a little more and patted Corvo on the... arm. Let us remember that he was not very tall.

"Corvo, calm down, please. There is no point in thinking about what could have been. You have to learn to live with what was." He said.

Corvo, who was kind of the opposite of Urvin hight-wise, looked down at Urvin when he patted his arm. He wiped some tears away from his eyes, then looked down at the ground, seeming unable to meet Urvin's eyes. "I...I don't know if I can, Urvin," He said, very quietly when Urvin said the he has to learn to live with what was. "I see her, every day, as if it was a picture in my mind, and I know it will never go away. She was only about four or five, and it was me who suggested we go out of our comfort zone, and it was because of that that she died. I see her, and her parent's faces....a-always," His voice wavered again. He kind of just seemed helpless right now, like he didn't know what to do.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

Lake Town, Hesnet

Urvin didn't really know what to do either, it wasn't like he had had to deal with someone having a breakdown before. He had no experience with these things, he didn't exactly know how to act or what to say. This was accentuated by the fact that he had indeed done some less than pleasant stuff in the past. Currently, his position was... Well, defendable, to put it that way. That didn't mean Urvin didn't want to try to help him, though.

"Well..." He started, at last having gathered the courage to talk and the proper words (In his humble opinion) to do it. "I know you blame yourself for what happened, and I know you regret it... But not wanting to live and only moping about it isn't going to get you anywhere. You have to work for redemption!" He said.

[Terintania]

Lake Town, Hesnet

Urvin didn't really know what to do either, it wasn't like he had had to deal with someone having a breakdown before. He had no experience with these things, he didn't exactly know how to act or what to say. This was accentuated by the fact that he had indeed done some less than pleasant stuff in the past. Currently, his position was... Well, defendable, to put it that way. That didn't mean Urvin didn't want to try to help him, though.

"Well..." He started, at last having gathered the courage to talk and the proper words (In his humble opinion) to do it. "I know you blame yourself for what happened, and I know you regret it... But not wanting to live and only moping about it isn't going to get you anywhere. You have to work for redemption!" He said.

Corvo fiddled with his long coat before looking kind of doubtfully at Urvin. The glance didn't last long, and he looked back down at the ground. "I can't help it...." He said, kind of quietly,"And I don't want redemption," He looked back at Urvin,"I don't want to be forgiven, and I don't think I should be. You should know, though, that I don't just blame myself. I blame other people from the gang, too, I just blame myself more........." He said, sighing. He then shook his head,"I shouldn't have piled my problems on you....I'm sorry..."

[Zarkenis Ultima]

Lake Town, Hesnet

Urvin sighed after hearing Corvo's words. "Look, I don't mind. It's better this way, I really don't want to think about what could have happened if you kept all of this to yourself. If it helps you, then I'm alright with it." He said, in response to him being sorry for piling his problems on him. The tiny man then continued talking.

"Now, wanting or not redemption doesn't matter as much as the fact that you did something wrong and you should make up for it. Don't ask me how, I only know that you won't do it by moping." He said.

"With that said, though, if you need a day off to clear your mind, you can have it."