[video]

[390h]

Excuse me.

[Underwater adventures and magic powers might be way out of Hope’s wheelhouse, but she has at least figured out how to use the watch fairly quickly. She seems slightly nervous, but swallows and rallies herself.]

Where is that man we saw when we first got here? Katha....[She trails off, eyes drifting as she fails to remember the name.] He acted like he knew what we had to do. He said we’d meet him again. Maybe he can help us.

And - how do we contact Astoria? Can’t she help, too? [The girl shakes her head, grimacing.] I don’t know what else to do.

Comments

[video]

[foundafamily]

[Firo's frowning when he responds to the message, plainly a bit grouchy for whatever reason. A good bit of it is the strain from having been partially drained by the monsters, but some of it is also... well, just being a grouch on this topic.]

Sorry, but I think he woulda' swooped in and saved the day already if that was his plan.

[If he even could--despite the king's magic powers, Firo's tone is plainly skeptical. He won't admit that a lot of his cynicism is coming from the fact that it'd be goddamn embarrassing if they had to be rescued by some royal twerp. Even more embarrassing than the fact that they still haven't fixed this mess on their own.]

He's left us holding the bag. You shouldn't expect anything from him.

[Good talk, Firo, that was helpful.]

[video]

[390h]

[It's ok, Firo, she's more spitballing ideas than invested in the idea of getting help from Kathashun.]

He must have contacted us for a reason, though. Maybe he's trapped somewhere too? He said something about...finding the Princess...

[Hope makes a frustrated noise.]

I don't know. This is my first time...[...outside the single building I grew up in?]...being on a 'quest'.

[foundafamily]

[So she's new to the Astoria bullshit, he assumes, with a nod that borders on sympathetic. With that in mind, he decides to offer some unasked for advice.]

You gotta learn not to get too hung up on these places. Chances are, we're not gonna be here much longer, and then we'll just be on to the next place. You're gonna drive yourself crazy if you think about that kinda stuff too hard.

[When in doubt, just don't think about it.]

[insubordination]

Kathashun.

[ roy supplies easily enough, and while roy 100% agrees with firo in that they can't rely on anyone but themselves . . . ]

Astoria tends to be disconnected from us, on these journeys. It's not exactly the best organized of plans, from her perspective -- we tend to fight, do what we can, and eventually we are taken back to the Temple. There's no real guarantee of success.

[390h]

Kathashun. Right.

[No real guarantee of success. She supposes she's been in situations like that before - especially recently. But the phrase is still distressing. She'd figured that the magician-goddess-spirit-thing that is Astoria would have some cool tricks to help them out.]

...I don't know how to fight. I mean - I don't have any training.

voice;

[everlasts]

If it is Astoria's hope we will save this world, I would think she would intervene. However--

[ As there's been little sign of her before this, Artoria doesn't believe she's going to show her face anytime soon. She's allowing a great deal of autonomy to her soldiers. ]

The man who contacted us. Can he be trusted?

voice

[390h]

[Hope is thinking the same thing. But she's never been on a world-saving quest before, so maybe she just doesn't get how things are done? She's sure there are much more experienced heroes here than her...]

I don't know. He...seemed like he trusted us, though. That must mean something...right? That he...wants to work with us, at least?

But he hasn't been around at all.

[everlasts]

I would like to believe it means something, yes, but we cannot be certain. In all of the chaos, we might have missed him...or perhaps he is not truly here.

[ But this is Artoria's first foray into the unknown so much of what she's saying could be conjecture. ]

Or he could be hurt.