OPEN | I'll search for what's in front of me

[voidtransport]

WHO: Allumin & Perhaps, maybe, if you feel inclined, you?
WHAT: Catch-all/Open Log for the month
WHEN: All of September
WHERE: Various
NOTES: Allumin accosted in bath by ghost. Will update as needed. Feel free to message me on discord, plurk, here, wherever you like if you desire to plot and receive a custom starter!

Comments

[acreage]

He's frowning when he stands, and that could easily be read for judgment. But as they head towards the Project Felandaris offices, he says,

"There's nothing wrong with that. Plenty of people take some time to pick a division. I don't think I joined until after my first mission."

Which could seem like an odd impetus for joining Riftwatch more officially, considering the torture and near-death experience involved, but y'know.

[voidtransport]

"Really?" He'd felt otherwise, but perhaps it's because of the people who had advised him to do so sooner rather than later... Also the frowning makes him nervous, mostly because he can't be sure what the root of it is. His admitted lack of commitment? The implication that waiting might be shameful? Allumin tries to swallow it back and move on.

He considers asking or making some comment about what the mission could have been, but decides against it. In his experience, any scenario that motivates someone into action is not usually fun to relive.

"Why'd you choose to join Research? Is there something that makes you passionate about it?" Hopefully this is a safe question to ask.

[acreage]

In fairness, the war has come a lot closer — and feels a lot more dire — than it had when Jim arrived last year. He hadn't considered the difference it may make in the kind of welcome newer rifters get, before now.

"I wanted to understand more about rifts," he says, approaching the doorway, "and the Veil, and this world. Research was the best place to do that. Which is another way of saying," added with humor, "that you're in the right place."

It's not a complete answer, but it's a true one. He'd laughed in John Silver's face at the idea of joining Diplomacy — God, after his track record — and the idea of a more combat-oriented division after his naval experience back home had rankled. Research had seemed like a better bet to suit what he'd rather be doing, and it has been.

[voidtransport]

He has to stop himself from overthinking the meaning of the joke and what the instigating force(s) for it are. There could be any number of contributing factors, and trying to analyze it would defeat the purpose of asking a question about another and trying to be invested and an active listener.

Instead, he laughs a bit but it's awkward in a way that betrays it's not natural and forced from thinking too much. "What gave it away?" he asks, trying to return the sense of humor at least.

"Was your home really different from this one?" he follows with a more inquirious tone.