Fifth Crash [Voice/Action]

[broji]

[VOICE]
I thought I should let all of you know. Noelle's disappeared.

But I don't think it was a kidnapping. At least, I haven't found any signs. It's just that she and her things have turned up missing. And anyway, if she were around, she'd probably tell us not to worry about her.

[ACTION]
[Your friendly neighborhood pilot can be found sitting outside Community Housing Building 4 with a writing pad on his knee, pencil idly tapping a heavily scribbled page. He seems to be judging the distance between his window and the nearest tree. This can't be good.]

Comments

[action]

[fortuneprince]

[Well well look who it is. Naoto was just making her way out of the building when she spots Ginji just sitting there.

Out of pure curiosity, she kneels down beside him and takes a look at the pad of paper on his knee, reading over it's contents carefully.]

...Going to attempt a jump?

[action]

[broji]

[He isn't really bothered by this too much. Ginji's used to people peering over his shoulder to see what he's doing. His lifestyle has never allowed much privacy.]

[Ginji scribbles down another set of numbers before turning his head in Naoto's direction.]

Something like that. Well, I guess once everything's in place it'll be more like a glide than a jump.

[action]

[fortuneprince]

[And so she studies these numbers as he jots them down, tilting her head a little]

What is it that you plan on constructing?

[action]

[broji]

I'm pretty sure it's called a "zip line".

[He gestures towards a cluster of trees with his free hand.] Starting up there somewhere and ending.... [he makes a controlled sweeping motion towards the window.] inside the window.

[action]

[fortuneprince]

Yes, a zip line would be the correct term.

[She follows his motioning] For what purpose?

[action]

[broji]

I thought it'd be a good way to brush up on physics. Acceleration, deceleration, air resistance force, methods for braking effectively...

[Ginji smiles, though he looks tired.] And it just seemed like it'd be a fun thing to do.

[action]

[fortuneprince]

I see. That is quite a unique and intelligent way to familiarize one's self with a subject such as physics. [She likes you Ginji]

If you would like some assistance, I am willing to provide it.

[Action]

[estelle_bright]

[Well, she hasn't seen the journal post, but now that the rain has finally stopped, Estelle has set out to walk around some. When she comes across the guy with the writing pad, she stops and peers at it curiously.]

Hey!

[Grin. She's always glad to meet people.]

Are you drawing or something?

[Action] Sorry for the delay!

[broji]

[Ginji adds a few more marks to his diagram and then finally seems to register the greeting.]

...Oh, hello!

And I guess it's something like that, but not really. [He tilts the pad up so she can see it better. There's a sketch of the side of the building and some trees that are close by, with a series of sloping lines connecting one to another.] I'm calculating the angle of elevation for a project I'm working on.

[Voice]

[distressedude]

[...oh. Typically that can only mean one thing -- but it's still best to confirm it regardless.]

When you say her things are missing, do you mean her room looks as though it's been cleaned out?

[Voice]

[broji]

[Ginji's already reached pretty much the same conclusion, but he'll answer Ion's questions anyhow.]

Yes. It's like she moved out all of a sudden.

[Voice]

[distressedude]

I see... usually when that happens, it means a person has been sent back home.

[And it certainly seemed like a lot of people were being sent home recently.]

I'm sorry, Ginji.

[Voice]

[broji]

It's all right, Ion. I was thinking along those same lines myself. [He doesn't sound dismissive, just...solemn.]

By the way, how have you been doing? No more kidnappings, I hope.

[Voice]

[distressedude]

[He nods. Perhaps it was for the best... after all, not being here meant she was safe from the malnosso's experiments, right?]

Ah, I've been all right. [Though the less said about that kidnapping on his birthday by a certain pair of pirates, the better-- wow, he really was a princess, wasn't he?] Though I've spent the greater part of the past week and a half in bed with a cold... even with the warmer weather, I guess I'm a little hopeless when it comes to getting sick.

[Voice]

[broji]

[Ginji sure hopes so.]

[There's a bit of a frown in his voice. Gee, Ion, you never get much of a break, do you?]

That doesn't sound good. Maybe we can think up some ways to help boost your immune system.

[Voice]

[distressedude]

Boost it? [Was something like that even possible? Ion didn't know too much about why his health was so poor outside of the fact that he's always been a fairly weak replica, but--]

Well, if there was something I could do to improve my health, I'd no objections to trying it. But for now, I guess I'm just used to it. Even my original was known to get sick fairly often.

[voice]

[seleniahymn]

[Having been here long enough, it doesn't take much guessing for Tear to come to the conclusion of what had happened. Still, there was always the hope that she could be wrong, even if it were unlikely and rather selfish of her to think that.]

How long ago did her things disappear?

[voice]

[broji]

[Ginji sounds calm enough, if a bit subdued. And anyway, if there's a chance Noelle's gone back home, it's way better than worrying about what the Malnosso might do to her. Just, it'd be nice to know for sure where people disappear to.]

It was sometime this morning. I was out picking up groceries, and when I got back, everything was the way it is now.

[voice]

[seleniahymn]

... I see. [There's the softest sigh making its way past her lips, but beyond that her composure is calm and collected. Noelle was returning back to their home after all, and there was no use lamenting that when they would see each other again.]

That means she went home, then. Very rarely does it indicate otherwise.

[voice]

[broji]

[Tear's a soldier, so he thinks she'll probably understand his next statement without trying to sugarcoat the facts or make him feel better about the situation.]

Yes, that's what I've heard, but I thought it was only an assumption.

[voice]

[seleniahymn]

... For all we know, it can be. There are people who have returned home, only to come back so they say. But whether a person remembers being here before is another matter entirely.

[It was that part of this village that bothered her the most. Why was it that some people were allowed their memories of times past, but others weren't?] I've been told that this is my second time in the village, but I don't remember anything from before.

[voice]

[broji]

Really? [Being here before and not remembering. It's not a happy prospect, and to be unable to recall your friends and the times you spent together. How awful.] ...That sounds like it'd be tough. I'm sorry.

Though to be honest, I'm not sure I'd want Noelle to come back here at all.

[voice]

[seleniahymn]

There's no need to apologize, but thank you nonetheless. [It had bothered her a lot at first, meeting people whose faces she should remember by the way they spoke to her, only to see their smiles fall when she admitted to not recalling having ever met them before. Eventually she had moved on from that, preferring to not dwell to much on what she could not change.]

I understand your feelings in not wanting her to return, though... the possibility is still there.

[voice]

[silversnowfall]

Thank you, Ginji. [She knows how hard it is to say this about a sibling. He and his sister are much closer than she and her brother.]

How are you?

[voice]

[broji]

[Yeah, well, neither one of them's a bully so that has kind of worked in their favor for the past seventeen years.]

Oh, I'm doing okay.

[Just trying to quell a few nagging worries about whether Noelle was really sent back home or not and whether she made it there all right. But it's completely out of his hands.]