[Orb]

[consultmybooks]

[The orb shows the beach - grass leading to rocks leading to sand leading to the vast expanse of ocean in the distance. It's a picteresque sort of sight, with the bonus of no dragons around to eat people. Turns out you just can't entirely trust the maps here..]

I've, um, I've found the ocean. It's not as bad as it looks, out here...I mean, um, the thorns are moving rather fast, but it turns out that we're hardly cut off.

Well...hardly cut off yet.

I did stop by the infection zone before I came out this way. The reports are certainly true. For plants, they are moving alarmingly fast. I didn't want to stay in the area. If I'd actually dared make camp there, I probably wouldn't be here now. Still. I, um, I made an effort. A couple of basic identification spells, and a bit of scrying, although s-something about them made that even harder than it normally is, for me.

If anyone has any ideas how I might, um, proceed further, or even get a bit off for further examination, I'm certainly all ears. It's not as though I'll have to walk that far to reach the border zone on my way back.

[...really, though, looking out at the beach, at the ocean and thinking of what lies beyond it, it's actually a little hard to remember that they're all in such terrible danger. The land around him brings up a feeling of nostalgia in Giles' chest that he can't ignore.]

...if worst comes to worst, I suppose we could always build a ship.

[Because, when he finds himself forgetting, now he can summon up the mental image of that great, gnarled tangle of malevolent, thorny evil. That's a familiar feeling as well - consult the books. Fight the evil. Save the world.

What happens next? Well...they'll burn that bridge when they come to it.]

((ooc: Hey, sorry for the edits, guys! Turns out I was a bit mistaken as to the positioning of the thorns. But! Things should be able to proceed from here.))

Comments

[rutagraveolens]

[Rue's never seen the ocean before. Rivers and ponds yes, but never anything as large as the ocean. Her eyes are wide as she stares at the vast blue expanse.

It's a pity the thorns ruin the scenery.]

I've never seen so much water before!

[consultmybooks]

Haven't you?

[Growing up on what was essentially an oversized island, Giles hadn't come to see the appeal of the ocean until much later in life.]

Well, um, it's a bit of a walk, but it's safe enough. Not much to see, though, not without a boat of some sort.

[...although Giles is totally thinking about building a boat. If only he could be a dragon for another few days...]

[rutagraveolens]

[Rue shakes her head.] District Four was responsible for fishing. We were responsible for crops and agriculture in District Eleven. [As if that was enough to explain why she'd never seen the ocean before.]

It's very big. Do you know how big it is?

[consultmybooks]

[Yeah, that explains...absolutely nothing.

Oh, well. Not like Giles isn't used to explanations that explain absolutely nothing, especially with regards to other worlds.]

I haven't the faintest idea, actually. If we could find out, though, I thought it might be a way to escape the thorns.

[Unless they grew underwater. They'd probably grow underwater, all things considered.

But at least it would buy them some time.]

[rutagraveolens]

You would need a great big boat to take everyone along. [An obvious statement, but when Rue thinks of everyone, she thinks of everyone in Schwanheim, from the king down to every last beggar in the poor district.] Are there boats that big?

[consultmybooks]

There are boats that are quite large, yes.

[His main priority would be to get Ginia and Helios and a few others, like Faolan and Bakura out of the city. But, in the best possible circumstance? Yes, everyone else would come, too.]

And those are, um, only the sorts of boats I know. S-Someone else might know of a design more suitable.

[rutagraveolens]

Have you been on a boat before?

[consultmybooks]

Oh, yes. I used to have a boat, in fact - just a small one, but, um, it did the job.

[...he wonders who's looking after it now.] I, I'm not much of a sailor, though. Never went very far.

[rutagraveolens]

Do you fish? [Because to her, anyone who has a boat must be a fisher.]

[consultmybooks]

Not as a rule, no. What I've done, though, was enough to confirm for me that I'm not terribly good at that, either.

[rutagraveolens]

Then what did you do on your boat?

[consultmybooks]

Sailed, mostly. Tried to, um, see what there was about the ocean. It was a man-made ocean, if you can believe that. One day it was there, and the next it wasn't.

I, um...well, I, I thought we might be able to find something about it to help us.

[He never had, of course, but it had been a hope, and hope was important.]

[rutagraveolens]

[She can, actually. All the arenas were man-made and could be adjusted on the fly. The forest could have easily flooded if that was what the Gamemakers wanted.]

Why did you guys need to find help? What was wrong? Were there thorns too?

[consultmybooks]

No thorns. Um, just a wall...a barrier. Our place of confinement was actually rather large, but...well, we were trapped there, and most of us weren't terribly happy about it.

The ocean came in from the outside - we thought it might have, um, weakened something.

[rutagraveolens]

[Barrier. Place of confinement.]

Was it like a district? Or... a Game?

[consultmybooks]

...yes, um, I suppose it was about the right size, for a district.

[Of course, Giles is thinking geographically. Not culturally.]

As for games, well...I think the, um, the Malnosso saw them more as experiments, than anything.

[rutagraveolens]

[She doesn't recognize the word Malnosso, but she latches onto experiments.] Were they taking tributes? Or making muttations?

[consultmybooks]

Sorry...muttations? With a short "u"? [It sounds like she should be saying "mutations" which, yes, there were plenty of those. Giles himself was dragged down that route more than once.]

As for, um, "tributes"...well, um, I'm not sure what you mean. Whatever they did to us, though, it didn't stick. Not, um, not forever, at least. [And sometimes that's all you could hope for.]

[rutagraveolens]

Muttations. The Capitol genetically modifies them from other creatures.

[Her expression grows a little more somber when he asks about tributes. When she speaks, she's reciting words heard over and over.] From every district, a girl and a boy between the ages of twelve and eighteen are selected to fight in the Hunger Games.

[consultmybooks]

[...

...

...the fact that Rue doesn't look remotely twelve isn't going to make this any better. After all this time, Giles has developed a sense for such things.]

Yes, um, well. Besides the obvious point of being selected as a hero to, to stop the thorns, you certainly won't have to worry about that while you're here.

[rutagraveolens]

...Are you sure?

[consultmybooks]

Absolutely and entirely certain.

[Because Giles is a lot bigger than a twelve year old kid, and anyone who has any funny ideas about using kids for anything they don't want to be involved with will have to deal with him.]

Sorry, um...I'm not sure I caught your name.

[rutagraveolens]

I'm Rue.

[consultmybooks]

It's very nice to meet you, Rue. You, um, y-you can just call me Giles, if you want. Everyone does.

Been in Schwanheim long, then?

[rutagraveolens]

It's nice to meet you, Mr. Giles. [Young as she is, she has manners when it comes to strange adults.]

Two days now. How about you?