--79 [radio memory]

[earthen_hope]

She could hear clanking, rattling--a few colorful expressions--shouts of triumph followed by more bangs and minor crashes. But the noise quieted down some, and she heard feet rushing up wooden steps. Possibly two at a time, though they slowed as whoever it was walked towards her and finally stopped next to her. "Shouldn't take too much longer." A boy, about her own age.

"Wow, you two really work hard," said Krile, impressed.

But there was a pause. Clothing rustled as one or both of them shifted awkwardly. "...Grandpa blames himself for the world having ended up like this..." the boy said.

"But..." she said, "I mean, it's not like there's anything he could've done..."

"I know that... I think deep down, he knows it too. But that's why this time, he's so driven to see his machines used for peace." His voice gained more determination there.

They were interrupted by the sound of more footsteps up the stairs, belonging to someone larger by the sound, though if he was older it wasn't apparent from the speed. "And that should do it!" he proclaimed.

Three more pairs of feet coming across a wooden surface from a different direction. The older man addressed them. "Once you're in the water, *********, and the undersea world is yours!"

"Thanks for everything, guys." That was Lix's voice.

Footsteps again--someone moving off, then coming back. "*****..." said the older man. "I can't fight for beans. In fact, about all I'm good at is modifying machinery. Even so, I've tried to do everything I can to help you out. The rest is in your hands..."

Several determined footsteps. "Come on, guys!" Lix declared.

"We can travel underwater now, right?" said a woman's voice.

"Aye," said a rougher voice that was nevertheless similar in pitch to the other. "Now we can search for the tablet underneath the waves..."

Footsteps rushed across the deck of the ship as everyone moved at once. Krile's own footsteps followed the boy's as he headed off, and he stopped. "Mid... Take good care of your grandpa."

He took one step. "You guys take care too!" Then he ran off.

"No point in dawdling!" said Lix from somewhere astern. There was a rumbling noise of engine, a massive whirring of propellers overhead, the groaning of metal separating above as if some huge bay doors were opening and the rush of wind... then the sound dissolved into static.


[ooc: Static is over Cid's instructions, which involve pressing buttons on a GBA, and Lix's real name.

Video reference is here, from 1:38 to 3:30.]

Comments

[handy-psychic.livejournal.com]

Heyyy, a submarine?

[feathered-earth.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it sounds like it!

[handy-psychic.livejournal.com]

That's pretty awesome.

[longnosedliar.livejournal.com]

Sounds like you had a pretty exciting life!

[feathered-earth.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I guess so. I'd like to know about those two fellows who working on that machine, too.

[longnosedliar.livejournal.com]

Yeah... [He drums his fingers on the table.] I hope that was a good memory, Krile.

[feathered-earth.livejournal.com]

I... I think it was. Lix sounded happy, anyway. So it's not a bad memory.

[even though Lix wasn't fazed by zombies either.]

[crowsloveapples.livejournal.com]

Krile! You traveled underwater?!

[feathered-earth.livejournal.com]

It sounds like it! Submarines have always seemed kind of familiar.

[iattractmushi]

Traveling underwater, hmm? [His voice sounds interested/amused.]

[feathered-earth.livejournal.com]

Yeah. It really must have been something....

[iattractmushi]

I'd have liked to see something like that.

[feathered-earth.livejournal.com]

Me too... oh! But I did find a toy submarine back in Tokyo. I could show you that, even though I'm sure it isn't what ours looked like.

[iattractmushi]

Seeing anything designed to let humans travel underwater would be interesting.

[feathered-earth.livejournal.com]

Okay--I'll show it to you tomorrow, then!

[iattractmushi]

Heh. I look forward to seeing it.

[azhdarchidae.livejournal.com]

[There's a warble here with a question mark at the end. ...Yeah, the radio is not picking up her telepathy.]

[feathered-earth.livejournal.com]

[And while Krile speaks many animal languages... dino probably ain't one of 'em. The most she can get is that 1. it is words and 2. it's a question.]

Hello?

[azhdarchidae.livejournal.com]

[There's a caw.]

[feathered-earth.livejournal.com]

[Okay, thinking here. There aren't birds, because winter, and that's not bird noise anyway--she has heard it before....]

Um--Above?

[azhdarchidae.livejournal.com]

[Some kind of low throat noise.]

[feathered-earth.livejournal.com]

That sounds like you, but I can't understand what you're saying... sorry.

[azhdarchidae.livejournal.com]

[Pause. If she's saying anything, it's not voiced. There's a beak-clack.]

[forgotmyforge.livejournal.com]

What's a submarine?

[feathered-earth.livejournal.com]

It's a type of ship that goes underwater. I'm not sure how it works, though.

[forgotmyforge.livejournal.com]

What a fascinating idea! I wonder how you keep the water out.

[feathered-earth.livejournal.com]

It probably has pumps in it or something, in case it leaks.

[forgotmyforge.livejournal.com]

Amazing! I'd like to see something like that.

[getsome-sleep.livejournal.com]

[Oh wow, a memory that isn't horrible!]

You are full of surprises, Krile-fūrén.

[feathered-earth.livejournal.com]

[COMBO BREAKER!]

I think I should take that as a compliment.

[getsome-sleep.livejournal.com]

In the spirit in which it was given.

Do you have perhaps any memory as to how this 'submarine' worked?

[He's not addicted to science he can quit anytime.]

[feathered-earth.livejournal.com]

I wish I could tell you. Those were propellers at the end, but those are for an airship.

[getsome-sleep.livejournal.com]

Another concept that is new to me, I fear.

[live_ringer]

[There is a sound of genuine surprise from Lyle's end.]

Huh, I never would have guessed you had something like a submarine at your disposal, from the way you've talked about home. That's pretty advanced.

[feathered-earth.livejournal.com]

It sounds like we had a pair of really good mechanics. But a submarine isn't that strange, is it? It just goes under the water instead of on top of it.

[strangely, this is like the one piece of tech in FFV that isn't a case of fixing something "the Ancients" built.]

[live_ringer]

No, not strange. I guess I just underestimated the sort of technology your world had.

[Note to self: refrigerators are too advanced, but submarines are just a fact of life, which means he's mentally putting her world's tech... about early 20th century. How accurate this is, who knows.]

[feathered-earth.livejournal.com]

Underestimating anything is a bad idea. [There's a grin in her voice.] It's too bad I didn't get a good look at it.

[Nooot very, sorry Lyle. But her world doesn't even have lunar-based tides, so it's a little hard to categorize anyway.]

[teamwark.livejournal.com]

[So. That was his voice. And the woman's voice was that pretty pink-haired girl. The...man's? Other woman's? ...person's voice was the man...woman...person from his dream, too.

He responds in the most thoughtful way possible.]

...huh.

[feathered-earth.livejournal.com]

...Lix? Is that you?

[SHE IS PRETTY SURE but it's a little tricky when it's a one-word answer.]

[teamwark.livejournal.com]

Yup. So. That was me, huh. And you. And that...guy? I think? And that girl, the really pretty one.

Well. Guess you were right.

[feathered-earth.livejournal.com]

Of course I was, silly. Am I just not as easy to remember as a pretty girl?

[pause.]

Which guy--the boy, or his grandfather? Or um... the one with purple hair?

[teamwark.livejournal.com]

Seems so. In my defence, she wasn't just pretty. She was, you know. Really pretty.

[...so someone might have the tiniest crush on what he remembers of Lenna.]

The one with the purple hair. I never heard the other two before. Well no, clearly I did because I was there and- this is all confusing, you know what I mean. I just don't remember it.

[feathered-earth.livejournal.com]

[Krile can't help but laugh at that. If she was there she'd give him a poke.]

I'll keep that in mind~ and I'm... pretty sure the one with purple hair is a woman. I don't know their names, though.

It is confusing--this is the first time I heard of us having a submarine. But I think I do remember the tablet that we were talking about.

[teamwark.livejournal.com]

...really? Cause he...she didn't really look like- huh.

So what's the tablet? Like...the kind they give you if you're feeling sick?

[feathered-earth.livejournal.com]

Yeah... it is kind of hard to tell.

No, it was a big stone tablet. I couldn't understand what was written on it, but it was in this big, watery cave. So maybe that was where we had to get to in the submarine.