(Untitled)

[of_mindelan]

[She has a thousand questions. Is this part of the Ordeal she dreamed about? What is this supposed to test, exactly? Why is her memory gone? Are these other people real, other people taking the Ordeal, or are they illusory? How does she pass? What is it she wants so badly to be

Comments

[ruby_nova]

Hey Peachblossom! I'm Nova, welcome to the sphere! The showers are easy: there's a handle for the hot water and one for the cold. Just adjust it to a temperature you like. I don't know who invented them, but they are handy. A lot of stuff in Edensphere is like that.

[of_mindelan]

Thank you.

Bellflower showed me how to operate them. Are they magic, or do people heat and pump the water manually?

[ruby_nova]

I'm pretty sure the journals are magic, but I don't think the showers are. I'm not sure where it's pumped in from, though.

[of_mindelan]

That's very utilitarian of whoever set them up, anyway.

[live_ringer]

[So many people with neat handwriting, lately. In contrast, this hand is a bit of an elongated scrawl, some kind of amalgamation of cursive and print, though still perfectly readable.]

Unless I'm mistaken, I don't think anyone knows how the journal pages work. Or if they do, they've been keeping that little trade secret mum.

I'm guessing you're new? If so, welcome to the Fishbowl. It only gets stranger from here.

[of_mindelan]

Strange. Maybe I shouldn't be surprised.

I'm new, yes. [Fishbowl?] I thought this place was a tree.

[live_ringer]

By the journals? I think most are surprised by those when they first get here. 'Unusual' doesn't begin to cover it.

It is a tree. Fishbowl's a bit of a nickname since the whole of the place is stuck in a glass globe. Which I suppose makes us the little fish.

[Put there to be gawked at for someone else's amusement, though Gene wasn't going to voice that one over the journals, especially to a newborn who wouldn't know what to be cautious of, yet.]

[of_mindelan]

Some mages are secretive. I suppose that whoever links these books together might worry about someone taking their place.

[Lengthy pause. She debates replying at all, but eventually does.]

That's very literal of it.

FUCKING SHOWERS, HOW DO THEY WORK

[handy_psychic]

The showers have always been here, at least they've been here as long as I've been here, and I've been here for almost two years which isn't really always but is still a long time...

[of_mindelan]

[You write too much, she thinks with some amusement.]

Two years? You've been here that long?

How long are people usually here?

[handy_psychic]

[Yeah, that's pretty much Bridge in a nutshell. XD]

Yeah. Well, it won't be two years exactly for another couple of months so it's kinda two years but not really.

It varies. Sometimes people are here for a while then vanish, sometimes only a month or two... and everything in-between. There's no real pattern to it.

[of_mindelan]

[Seems like a horribly long time. Of course, if the Ordeal sees time differently and she's inside... maybe time isn't passing the same way outside. She'll have to hope it isn't.]

Well, thank you for telling me.

[feathered_earth]

They are rather strange when you first see them, aren't they? Just wait until you see the refrigerators.

I'm pretty sure the journals are magic, but I don't know what kind.

[of_mindelan]

Refrigerators... Do those work to cool things?

I'm not a mage, but they do seem like a practical thing to set up.

[feathered_earth]

Yeah, they keep food cold so it lasts a long time. Weeks, even--well you shouldn't leave things in there for weeks because it'll sill go bad. It just takes a lot longer.

[of_mindelan]

That's...

It sounds like a great luxury.

[mythgravenblade]

The water showers are nice, even the ones in the temporary housing.

My name is Paladin, and it's a pleasure to meet you, Peachblossom.

[He's a little preoccupied today, so he might be distant.]

[of_mindelan]

They seem much easier than heating water to soak in, but I don't know if they can be as good for taking care of aches. The water has to come from somewhere, and go somewhere in the drain... a reservoir, maybe?

Likewise. [Though she doesn't think of something like this as really meeting.]

[mythgravenblade]

The showers in the nicer houses can be better than a bath--the water comes with such force it can act like a massage.

I know not the workings of the water either, for I have never seen sufficient pipes lain. If there is a reservoir, it is nowhere I have seen.

[of_mindelan]

[That actually sounds kind of unpleasant to her. But hey, no good reason to argue.]

They could be under the tiles, maybe. The systems here are so complicated. [Like water-cleaned latrines. That seems counterintuitive to her.]