driftfleet | voice

Who: Sorey et al
Broadcast: Yes
Action: Iskaulit
When: Shortly after drifting (late September)

.voice.

Hi everybody. My name's Sorey; I'm First Mate on the Huntress, but uh...

[He pauses. Sighs and starts over.]

A lot of people are missing. People we love. People who we don't know if they'll be back; there's a chance, definitely, a good chance, but that doesn't mean the pain and fear and the grief will go away. Sometimes, it even gets worse. The uncertainty is almost as terrible as the loss itself.

I'll be conducting memorial services in the Interfaith Center for the next week, every day at noon. Anybody is welcome to attend. It won't be anything fancy; lighting candles and burning incense, tea, reading some things from texts I've picked up along the way. If you don't want to come but you'd like me to say something for you during the service, feel free to leave it here. I'll add it to everything.

Also, if you'd like to come by just to have some quiet, or for a listening ear, I'll be here most times. There's an area where you can pray or set up altars or anything that you'd find more comfortable; we just ask that you cover up any symbols you make when you finish. If you need any help building anything, please let me know, I've got a shop area back on my ship.

Religious ties aren't necessary, either, and there's a meditation room next door if you just need some space to think. Please come by if you need anything.

.action. - Iskaulit

[Sorey can be found puttering about the Interfaith Center on most days during the current drift. He's usually in the kitchen, sometimes with Mikleo, as well as praying at the small elemental altar in a corner of the prayer chamber, separated from the lounge area by a curtain.

Sometimes he's curled up on one of the couches in the lounge with a book or a set of hand-drawn maps, frowning as he scribbles notes and erases lines.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[God damn it, stop being so sweet. He's trying not to cry again.]

I-in a way, yes.

[But it's no replacement for having his sister's advice or her strength. Not really. He'll just have to make do.]

[Yeah, he knows it's no real solution, not even a substitute, but they have to make do. There's no other choice here than to make do.]

...thank you for sharing your stories with me. You know, it's difficult here at first, but I promise; the more you do that, the easier it gets.

Or that's how it is in my experience.

[He's just a little bit broken, and he thinks Sorey can see that. Makes it all the more important to reach out, he knows, but... gods, it's still so hard sometimes. He smiles weakly.]

And thank you for lending an ear. You have helped more than you know.

[He closes his eyes again and takes a breath.]

... I hope one day I can return the favor.

Sure! I'd love to talk again. Maybe once things have calmed down, you could swing by for tea or something? [PLAYDATE. That's what they need, just a nice, good old-fashioned playdate.]

[Alphinaud brightens a little at the offer. It's not much, but it's progress!]

I would quite enjoy that, actually, and even moreso if it were freshly brewed. [Tea comes out of the box in the kitchen, but it isn't the same. Not even by a long shot.]

It is! It was picked out by someone with way better taste than me, too. I can make some now if you'd like. [Might be just what he needs after a good cry.]

[Alphinaud can't help the way his eyes go wide.]

A-are you certain? Something like that cannot have been easy to come by...

Of course! What'd be the point of just keeping it in the cabinets, right? [Don't even try to dissuade him, he's already going to the kitchen]

[Fff. Alphinaud will just follow him and talk to him as he works. He's curious about the premises, too; he keeps glancing around, taking in the details.]

For special occasions? [He sighs, seeing Sorey won't be moved.] ... Fool as I am, I cannot argue much further. It has been so long since I had real tea. Shall I fetch the cups? [He glances around, hoping they're in easy sight. If not, well, he'll need some guidance.]

That'd be great! [Sorey stretches and taps a cupboard above the counter.] Up here. [........it's a little high]

[Alphinaud's expression falls. He is a foot shorter than Mikleo, be nice to him, Sorey. He hesitates, thinking about how best to do this. He doesn't see a stepstool, and Sorey is busy with the tea.

He waits for Sorey to be firmly distracted, and then Alphinaud hops up onto the counter to fetch the tea set.]

[Politely pretends he can't see Alphinaud climbing all over the counters to get the tea cups, too busy putting on the water to boil and going through the motions that have since become familiar to him with Stefan's departure.]

Do you like honey in your tea too? I think we've got some somewhere...

[Alphinaud is quick about it at least. He's straightening the tea things and placing them on a tray when he's questioned.]

I do like my tea sweet, but I can take it without.

No need, I found it! [HA! Thought you were gonna get out of peak hospitality, did you?! Think again short stack

Sorey adds the leaves to the strainer and fits it into the teapot after plunking the honeypot down on the tray and reaching for the biscuits Mikleo had made earlier.] So you must've had tea pretty often back home, huh? The fancy kind, with trays like this and matching cups?

[Alphinaud is interested in those biscuits but he's doing the thing where he only looks at them when Sorey isn't paying attention.]

I've never seen it made any other way. Not everything matches, of course, but one usually brings a teapot and mugs while camping. Tea isn't always made from tea leaves; it can be a medicinal treatment as well.

The stuff that comes out of the box in the kitchen tastes more like metal than tea.

Oh yeah, that's definitely true. [Everyone had their own mugs when they went traveling too, but since it was really only Sorey and Rose who needed to eat there wasn't much to carry. The seraphim really only indulged when they were in a town to avoid wasting supplies.] You know what it's like? It's like um, like when you reuse the leaves.

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