[voice/telepathy, private to chosen 12 + the four mentioned in the post]

[rebells]

[The voice that comes over the signets is a young boy's voice, carefully calm, speaking in a slow, deliberate manner. He's trying to be comforting, but he's not great at it.]

Hello. This is Jay, one of the people working on the plan to get you all out of that building. We're working as quickly as we can, and we're going to get you all out safely. Please know that.

If you're feeling up to it, I have a few questions that might help us establish whether there's a pattern between any of you. This information will be shared with Percival, Dirk Strider, Roy Mustang, and 9S. I don't intend on sharing it with anyone else, and neither do they. Regardless, if you're not comfortable answering a question, you don't have to. I am going to ask, however, that you not lie.

What is your name? Age? Gender? Species?
Are you trained as a fighter, and if so, have you practiced your abilities in Shehui?
What power did Qri give you, and have you practiced that in Shehui?
What did you say to the monitors or government, to the best of your recollection?
Is there anything else you think might have made you of interest to the monitors?
How have the monitors behaved towards you so far?

[He repeats the questions again, slowly, two or three times.]

If you could also keep me updated on your physical condition, that would be helpful.

Again, we're coming for you. Take care of yourselves and each other, stay strong, and try not to provoke the monitors, Jade.

((OOC NOTE: Assume this is backdated some, to the first few days of testing.))

Comments

[rebells]

I wouldn't have offered if I did. This is a story about a line of treasure-hunters, and their search for a mysterious wish-granting crystal called the Everlight.

[He sounds quiet--Geir may have to strain to hear him through the interference--but sincere.

The story goes a little like this: there once was a treasure-hunter named Zamaran, who spent much of his life looking for this Everlight, a magical crystal said to be able to grant any wish. He took an apprentice, Sven, and started a school, all while continuing to search for this treasure. But one day, his search led him into an accident where he was blinded, and he stopped looking.

He pauses here, for Geir to comment or ask any questions.]

[rootandbranch]

[his reply, when it comes, is solemn and also quiet: he's been listening intently, and rather picked up the mood.]

That's what Dirk calls "ironic," isn't it? That he looked so hard his sight disappeared...

[rebells]

[That gets a smile out of him, and--perhaps more relevantly for Geir--a slight twist of amusement in his voice when he answers:]

That could be called ironic, yes.

Sven--however, even after his master had given up, Sven continued to look for the Everlight. He found an apprentice of his own, Norma, and brought her to the school Zamaran had started, and kept looking. His search led him to the moving island--the giant ship--known as the Legacy. He left for there and disappeared, never to be seen again, leaving Norma and Zamaran alone on the mainland. Everyone assumed that he must have died pursuing his dream.

[A pause, and his tone turns . . . sad, almost. How long has it been since he really thought about the friends he betrayed?]

That brings us to Norma. Norma . . . [He sighs; he's trying for arch with his next sentence, but it falls a little flat.] Norma was an idiot.

[rootandbranch]

Sven was a good apprentice.

[that ticks a box on some checklist something about the way Geir feels that the world should be ordered: that a student should go on pursuing a master's dream, even after the dream has evaporated for him. it's a bit sad that Zamaran gave up hope, though.

in the dark somewhere beneath the earth, where the monitors have turned the lights out to disorient him once again (joke's on you, monitors, he's disoriented already) -- Geir tilts his head a bit in roused curiosity. Jay has an Opinion about wherever he's going with this. Jay doesn't always like to let on about his opinions.]

What did Norma do?

[rebells]

She didn't have to do anything. She was just an idiot.

[Like the previous attempt, it falls a little flat: some combination of his exhaustion and lingering guilt. He's silent for a moment.]

Anyway. Norma was only a student when her master disappeared, but she decided that she would run away from school and continue pursuing Sven's dream, and Zamaran's dream. She learned and translated the ancient language of the Radiant . . . all without ever meeting a Radiant. She traveled to the Legacy in search of the Everlight. She found herself in the middle of a war.

[In a different tone of voice, like an aside:] This was the war between Crusand and Rexalia for control of the Legacy. The one I told you about before.

[rootandbranch]

[Jay knew this Norma; knew of her, certainly, but he's calling her an idiot without citing any actual idiotic things she did, so Geir decides "knew her" is the better bet. his mind feels like it's working a little less sluggishly with that nuance to ponder on.]

Norma was a good apprentice too. Did you know who she was when she showed up in your war?

[because of course, Jay would have been keeping track of arrivals, especially ones with valuable, ancient knowledge from the third side in that conflict...]

[rebells]

I only knew her as a treasure-hunter--and eventually, an associate of Senel's. She was very secretive about her intentions.

[His voice takes on a wistful tone again.]

Norma . . . she traveled with Senel and the others in his group, chasing after Shirley's kidnappers across the Legacy. She marched on a battlefield and fought Crusand's generals with us. She did all of this for a brooch that Shirley had . . . she was obsessed with treasure, honestly. I think she thought it had some connection with the Everlight.

[rootandbranch]

[Jay really must be stressed out. Geir spares a moment of sympathy for the people aboveground. they seem very anxious about the whole business.]

Was that what made her an idiot...?

[rebells]

[EXCUSE U DON'T LIKE DON'T READ GEIR. Jay makes a soft 'hah' noise.]

Being obsessed with treasure? That's part of it. She was just always making a fool of herself. And for a treasure hunter, she had no idea how to disarm traps.

[ . . . his voice returns to a storyteller's tone, somewhat.]

But despite that, Norma finally put all the clues together and found the cave that contained the Everlight. When she finally found it, she discovered that she was not the first to reach it. There was a message carved into the floor of the cave.

It was from Sven.

[rootandbranch]

[Geir likes the story very much, but Jay is telling parts of it as personal anecdotes, and that, to him, is the measure of Jay's unease.

he wonders what a fool looks like to Jay. he supposes he's never really chased his own definition of the word to ground, though he has a couple of competing examples of things other people have told him are foolish; he himself isn't the least of those examples, according to Loki.]

He made it after all--!

[rebells]

Yes.

[And he does smile a little at that, Geir's enthusiasm infectious.]

The message was for Norma. It was written in Relares, the ancient language of the Radiant. Sven told her that she was the best student, and that her encouragement of him had inspired him to keep going in search of the Everlight, when everything seemed hopeless. He thanked her.

He said that she'd worked hard, and he knew she would find this place, just as he had. "Look forward to tomorrow, Norma! A limitless future awaits you there."

[rootandbranch]

But-- he'd found it, then! Where did he go? Why didn't he come back?

[rebells]

[Ah, and here's a question he doesn't actually have a satisfying answer for. We won't talk about Masked S.]

I don't know. We never found out. [ . . . ] But the message did say one more thing. It said, "I know that we will meet again in this place."

[rootandbranch]

[that's less important than the person Geir's identified with most in this story.]

What did NORMA say?

[rebells]

[He has to stop and think about that.]

She seemed to be at peace with it. I think she believed that he would have come back if he could have. But I don't know for sure. It was often difficult to read Norma.

[rootandbranch]

Did it grant wishes? Did it do everything they wanted--?

[rebells]

It did and it didn't. Norma brought Zamaran to the Everlight and used it to heal his sight, which is what Sven had wanted.

But once they had used it to do that, it cracked and lost its power.

[rootandbranch]

Oh!

[so he regained his sight through exactly the thing he'd been looking for, but that was all the good it did him...]



I like this story.

[rebells]

[Fond, despite his exhaustion:]

Do you? What do you like about it?

[rootandbranch]

[despite everything, Geir feels comforted, a little.]

It's not about granting wishes. It's about the wishes of the people who searched.

They wanted each other to be happy.

[rebells]

. . . I suppose that's true. They did really seem to care about one another.

[rootandbranch]

It'd have been nice if the Everlight granted more wishes. But Sven and Norma wanted something else when they looked for it, I think. Maybe that's what it was for! Sometimes objects of power are like that.

Did it belong to the Radiant, once? Or the Nerifes?

[rebells]

[He has to think about that one a little, too.]

The cave where it was located had traps with the Radiant language on them. They seemed to be old. So perhaps.

[rootandbranch]

I wonder what they wished for, back before the humans came. Or whether it was just meant to be something grand and mysterious, beyond the ken of the normal world.

[sometimes things are like that.]

...did you go treasure hunting with Norma? You were there, you said.

[rebells]

I did. I . . . had nothing better to do.

[The tone of his voice--wistful and regretful both--belies his words, though.]