( video ) [ BACKDATED TO LATE ON 4/9 ]

[heelies]

[ What broadcasts over the network is the picture of a peculiar pair: Achilles and Helga, serious of countenance both, as is each's modus operandi. The metallic shell of the submarine's curved insides serves as their backdrop. ]

I should like to call to assembly the members of this crew, and I understand that this is the best means by which to reach the ears of all men, although it is more to my liking to see those to whom I give these words. It is Achilles, son of Peleus, who wishes to speak to you: I have journeyed, with a crew led by gold-clad Gilgamesh and fair-haired Kida, to the darkest reaches within the sea, which lie beyond where the imagination of men can fathom. I shall tell of that to which we have borne witness.

Down there dwells Ryba, the goddess of the sea, who is Nalanni's sister. She knows not to where Nalanni has gone, for her eyes cannot see beyond that over which she presides - but we have her reassurance that Nalanni who delights in volcanoes has not vanished in full from this land, for she would know if such a calamity has come to pass. We are told that sea and rock are anchored one to another, as life is to death: either both must make this land, or nothing at all remains. Therefore, hope has not scattered to the wind.

Wave-ruling Ryba soon grew weary of our audience, and although she welcomes supplications the price she demands is steep. It is imprudent to test the generosity of the gods. Thus we parted with little solved: still, the answers she granted ought to be shared among all.

[ Helga looks as if she would have loved to interrupt him a fair few times already, but she kept quiet in spite of herself until now. Achilles, for his part, looks none too thrilled at having to share the floor thus. ]

Ryba has not been straightforward in her answers.

[ Surely, she hasn't shot a sideway glance at Achilles when she said this. ]

What we gathered from her is that the Dakal have been driven to (or near) extinction by the Nalawi during the war between them. They had been "sent to the bottom of the sea", either literally or figuratively. It checks out, if I'm allowed to hazard a guess: on our way to Ryba's lair, we came across plenty of wrecked submarines, none of which seem to fit in with the near complete lack of technology on Komo and the other islands.

The goddess mentioned one specific Dakal, who sold her soul in order to return to the surface world. In the process, she may have been granted powers by Ryba herself, but we do not know what became of her, what those powers were, or if she did anything with them.

I have been told by the Nalawi innkeep that minor gods exist alongside Nalanni, albeit no one worships them here. Ryba proves that they are tangible to the point of concern, so I urge all of you to take great care during your exploration.

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[heelies]

[As he listens, his brow becomes all the more knotted - first in bemusement, and then in frustration from the ever lengthening list of strange terms she weaves.]

Men have devised the means by which to sail the stars? Such a feat is more befitting of the gods, and even then it is nigh unfathomable. I know well the wine-dark sea, and now more so than any other of the long-haired Achaeans, upon my return from Ryba's depths-- But the sky I know only from afar. Tell me, have you sailed thus?

[heavyhitter]

[ this part gets a grin, because she's pretty sure she can use a basic, mundane fact of her life to blow his mind, which is always fun. she'll even be clear for the sake of it. ]

I've more than sailed thus.

[ okay, how does she explain this for a fossil... ]

Check it out: you know when you look up at the sky at night, all the stars you got hanging out up there? Every single one of them is a sun, like Sol. [ a beat. does he know that's its name? ] I mean, a sun like your sun. And some of them even have their own Earths. Super far away, that's why you haven't seen them before. And I was born on one of those super far-away Earths. It took a whole month to sail across the universe from my planet to Earth.

[ please be impressed, please ]

[heelies]

[As a river in winter's spate will overwhelm its banks to lay waste to the surrounding plains, so too do Ramir's words course through Achilles' mind.

In other words, mind blown.]

Suns as innumerable as the grains of sand upon the shore, circling as many strange earths? Can even Zeus the cloud gatherer imagine wonders so vast? A great many nations you must have seen in your travels indeed, daughter of Sergio. Then this land too must be of one among those strange earths, and it is for this reason that the gods of Olympus hold no jurisdiction here. Long have I assumed that the Nalawi's islands lie on the far side of awesome Oceanus, across which none in my dear native land nor in neighboring lands yet know what can be found. Yet in this it seems I was mistaken.

[heavyhitter]

[ suns circling strange earths... god, just kill her. She just bets he's imagining it like a bunch of flat checkers boards out there, floating through space.

That's a task for someone else, though. Because most importantly: ]

If you're doing titles, call me daughter of Jolanda. [ granddaughter, actually, but daughter in the metaphorical sense, that's probably fine. ]

[heelies]

[Look, astronomy in his era is a little hit, a lot of miss.]

Very well, if that is your wish. I hope not to ever understand the twists and turns of your mind. You shall have to tell me of your travels sometime, however, for I must admit you have captured my curiosity.

[heavyhitter]

It's not that hard to understand. You'd get it if you met her.

But anyway, yeah, I'll tell you. Even better, I'll trade you. You gotta have some good stories.

[heelies]

In this you speak true. Many stories can I tell of the cities I've sacked, twelve from my beaked ship and eleven more across Dardanus' wide plains, and of the glory which I have pried from the bloody jaws of war these last nine years while my spear raged on behalf of Atreus' sons.

[heavyhitter]

And me, I’ve been in a dozen filthy, shitty spaceports, each one with their own fun new STD. Plus a handful of great ones, when I got creative with the hitchhiking. That’s not even going into the ships themselves, or the planet pitstops.

Alright, it’s a deal. Next time we see each other, storytime.