[Video]

[flickerflash]

[She'd been waiting for hours to see if they'd turn up.

Just a little after dawn on the 25th a piece of smudged notepaper gets carefully tucked into Katie's journal, and then she tosses the whole thing into the hollow log she's sitting on out in the forest.

The video clearly picks up the message. It's not very long.]



   Gone fishing.
Everyones invited
   except Raine.
  No drowning.



[There won't be any replies. She's gone.]

Comments

[nothing]

[all7seas]

[Jack reads this message over and over again. If she needs him, he figures, she will fetch him. He'll be able to tell.


No drowning.]

[surprise attack tag!]

[flickerflash]

[He won't hear from her for several days. But if Jack is home on the 28th at all, his hearing might pick up the soft creak of footfalls in the attic.]

: O

[all7seas]

Katie? [This he calls up the stairs.] Little Katie? You home?

:'D

[flickerflash]

[The footsteps pause a moment, then continue their pacing. Back and forth around the edges of her attic space. Muffled, the response comes back.]

Katie isn't here right now. She died in a terrible octopus attack.

[all7seas]

Did she at least show that octopus what for before she snuffed it, I hope?

[flickerflash]

Oh, yes. She tore it to pieces.

[There is the sound of something a little caustic and scratchy. Almost as if she's scrubbing the floor.]

[all7seas]

Ah. Bet she did, at that.

[A pause. What is all that scrubby noise?]

You need a hand up there, lass?

[flickerflash]

I already have two. A third would seem terribly greedy. [It's her walls under attack. Katie isn't scrubbing them clean, but she is making them frightfully unrecognisable.]

[all7seas]

I could give you FOUR! You're a pirate-child, after all! Greed's allowed!

[flickerflash]

I suppose it's true I have always been a greedy child. [There's a soft giggle, and a pause in her cleaning. Then:] Perhaps you should come up, after all.

[She needs to talk to you. No time like the present.]

[all7seas]

[So moments later he will be tentatively knocking at her attic door. Jack won't enter until invited. It's her place, after all.]

You? Greedy? Nonsense!

[flickerflash]

Perhaps I could stand to be more greedy, then.

[There's a brief pause.] Come in.

[Jack will find that two of her four walls have sort of morphed into splotches of unrecognisable colour, not particularly artistic at all. She's scrubbing away anything that vaguely looked like a picture, leaving wet streaks of blobby, mournful chalk colours.]

[all7seas]

[And Jack is horrified. He LOVED her mural of Luceti.]

Hens' teeth, child! What've you done to all your pretty and macabre pictures!?

[wise_maiden]

[...Oh Katie. Raine knows what this means. It had been something she had been keeping an eye out for - and hoping that she hadn't missed it, with how crazy the beginning of the month had been for her. It would have been awful to miss the girl like that.

That all said, she checks the tunnels every day amidst the craziness of the village. After two to three days, her checking down there will be for longer intervals.]

[flickerflash]

[On the third day, Katie is ushered back into the tunnel system by a droid and stands there staring blankly for a while. She's not exactly sure why she's down here.

When Raine finally comes, she's wandering around a bit aimlessly, but she hasn't drifted too far from the entrance. Drugs have made her a little vague, but she's waking up more now.]

[wise_maiden]

[It always takes a little longer to duck away from the people above - today she's covered her hair so she's not immediately recognizable by anyone out there - by the time she finally gets down into the tunnel, a basket under one arm with a juicebox and some other things for Katie, since they might have to wait down there for just a bit. It depends on if she's badly off.

She removes her scarf from her head and begins to walk through the tunnel, looking for her. She doesn't expect an answer, but she calls for the girl anyway:] Katie? Can you hear me?

[flickerflash]

[Ah. That's a familiar voice echoing through the tunnels. Katie blinks and takes a few uncertain steps in that direction, but she's having trouble placing the speaker at first. Something about school...

...oh! She quickens her pace, walking a little unsteadily and running her hand over the brickwork as she goes to keep oriented on the right direction.]

Professor Sage? Is that you?

[wise_maiden]

[A voice - that at least confirms the direction she needs to walk in. And she brought a flashlight, for the areas that the floodlights don't cover.]

Yes, it's me. I'll be right there.

[flickerflash]

[Katie stops obediently where she is; at least until she sees light playing down the tunnel, and then she heads forward again towards it. It won't take long for Raine's flashlight to pick out her hopeful face at all.]

I think I'm lost.

[wise_maiden]

I think so too. Why don't we find a place we can not rest up for a bit? You don't need your strength before heading up.

[flickerflash]

[Ironically, that throws her for a loop for the moment. Eventually she decides Raine must just be teasing, and so smiles uncertainly.]

Okay. Did I hit my head? I suppose I could have fallen out of bed or something, it's a bit high up.

[...possibly, this conversation is going to be confusing on both sides. |D]

[wise_maiden]

You don't remember what happened? [Hmm. Either way, she'll offer an arm to guide her toward a place closer to the exit where they can sit, but not quite in view of anyone who might nosily poke down there. Or so she hopes, anyway.]

[flickerflash]

No. [She brightens.] I bet that means I have a concussion. It's amnesia. I feel all cottony, too.

[Katie takes the offered arm and follows along, sitting down. There's lots of gaps in her memory, which are somewhat disturbing, but if she has amnesia then that explains everything, doesn't it?]

[wise_maiden]

[A pause. Was she telling the truth? There was something off about her behavior, but it might just have been the drugs in her system. She opens up her satchel once they're both seated.]

It could be something like that. I can check you over as well. [But first, she holds up the juice box.] Here, this might help.

[flickerflash]

Yes please. [Katie takes the juice gratefully. She feels rather thirsty.] Are you a doctor as well, then?