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2 - {audio}

So! Uh. Hi, everyone.

Question for the masses.

[Bennett fidgets a bit with his communicator, fingers audibly shuffling up the side and back down.]

If, if I haven't met you yet, my name's Bennett Marrow. I was a professor and researcher, back home. I-- I had a little bit of a second job, too.

[Evasive, but he's getting to it.]

Um, my question is kinda... multi-part, bear with me here.

So, we've-- we've been here for a little while, some of us longer than others, and, uh. I'm, I'm always looking for ways to understand the world around me. Aaaaand, uh, obviously, there's-- there's a lot to understand here. So, if anybody has any information about the nature of the Black Tide, or-- or, the previous ship that I've heard about, the MS Elegante-- could you please contact me? I would love to interview anyone who would care to step forward so we all have a log of information about our, uh, houseboat. Boat-home. This will not be confidential and I will be happy to share it with anyone who needs it at any time.

Also, on the, uh, confidential side of things. I, uh-- I know there are some other nonhuman and supernaturally-inclined beings-slash-people on this boat. If you need any help-- if you need anything, please let me know, okay? I'm-- I'm never going to tell anyone, but I know how-- h-how terrible it feels to try and find the help you need all alone. I'm, I'm a werewolf myself. I, I ran into a few of you last weekend.

I used to run a network for the supernatural crowd so I could bring help to anyone who needed it. I might not have all the tools I used to, but I know I can build that network here again.

[He sighs and runs his hand through his hair, fiddling with the communicator again.]

This-- this got kinda long. Sorry, everyone. Anyway. Um, I'd normally tell you to meet me at my room if you didn't want to talk over the network, but, uh, it's-- it's flooded entirely right now, so I'm, uh-- you can find me in the back corner of the shopping area. I've made a little, uh, cave.

Hit me up if you need anything. This is, is, B-bennett Marrow, signing off.

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[Lily shudders. She still has nightmares about the cardinals. One of them tried to peck out her eyes, and very nearly succeeded.]

There was, um... On the Elegante, there was a cardinal attack.

All right.

[His voice is very even, but, in fairness, he's struggling to not snicker. He's guessing cardinals are something else entirely to Lily.]

W-would it be too much to ask you to describe the situation? I'm-- you know, I'm having a little bit of trouble understanding why-- wh-why cardinals would attack you.

[At worst, they'll bomb you to protect their nest, right?]

[Lily rests her face in her hands for a second. She doesn't like talking about the cardinals. Nobody does. Ask someone from the Elegante about the cardinal attack and they'll change the subject.]

There was a party. A Halloween party. And this--This cardinal appeared. And it went down this lady's throat, and then she exploded, and then these cardinals... They all flew in, and they attacked, and it was--Kinda like a massacre. And then there were these--[Her voice cracks.]--voices. And in my head I saw a ton of--

Can we talk about something else?

A-absolutely, Lily, I'm-- I'm sorry.

[Though he's scribbling, "ask someone less traumatized about Cardinals," like that is something he can accomplish. Maybe Talia or Jael...]

Just-- just one last thing, when you said there are some on, on this ship, I-- you mean the ones in that aviary? Near the... uh, aquarium tank, I think, right? I'll keep an eye on them.

[He's going to start drafting a schedule for his days, soon, because they're starting to fill up already.]

B-but that way, you-- you don't have to deal with them.

[Lily has been through a lot of shit in her life. The cardinals themselves weren't terrible--She'd dealt with far worse. It's the voices she heard and the images she saw that make the memories so painful.]

The aviary. Whatever that is, it sounds right. They're in a cage, and they didn't come after me, so...

[A thought occurs: Halloween is next week, isn't it? He should probably keep an eye on Lily to make sure she's okay around that time.]

Well, they-- they won't come after you. That, I can promise. I'll make sure of it.

I'm-- I'm sorry, Lily, I wasn't aware of-- of the memories tied to that. I-- I appreciate the information, though, now-- now I know to watch my step talking about it.

[He's just bummed he took the misstep with you.]

It's okay. You didn't know. It's totally fine! [She tries her damnedest to sound reassuring.] Just, uh... Be careful talking to other people about it. They might, I dunno, cry.

[Cue: ABSOLUTE HORROR.]

D-did-- I didn't make you cry, d-did I, Lily? I'm-- I'm so, so sorry.

[HE CAN'T DO PSEUDO-SISTERS CRYING.]

[Lily's rubbing tears from her eyes when he asks. Oh, fuck. Lily makes it a point to not cry in front of people, even through a communicator conversation.]

Nope! I'm a-ok.

A-all right. Did... did you want to keep answering questions about the Elegante? Or-- or would you like to hold off for now?

[Seeing as he upset you and all.]

No, yeah, we can keep going. S'alright. You taking notes?

Y-yep. If I'm a little quiet, it's 'cause I'm writing.

[He's underlined "cardinals" a few times.]

I, uh-- okay, well. Next question: I've heard a few things about a Captain Redd, and... I was wondering what you could tell me about the crew on the old ship? I'm still learning the people here. What were they like? H-helpful? Cruel?

NO!

[She feels very strongly about the crew, and all of those feelings are positive. When she speaks, she speaks very quickly.]

B was my best friend! He was the mechanic, and he--My best friend, of all time. I loved him. A lot. And then--Kage, Kage was the first mate, and-- [She sniffles and wipes her nose on her hand. This time she really is crying. Good job, Ben. Her voice wavers.] He was like a dad to me. Except I didn't call him dad. To his face. Usually. But I still think of him as my dad. And everyone else, they were... Most of them, they were great. Meth was really pretty, she was... I... dunno what she really did, but she was great. And then there was Meifeng, and Jamie, and Pan...

They were my family. All of them.

[He writes very quickly. "B. Kage. Jamie, 'Meifang? Meifeng?', Pan." The waver in Lily's voice halted the pen immediately, and kicked off every alarm.

These people were dead, weren't they? They had to be.]

L-lily. Lily, we-- we can stop here. I'm sorry, I...

[What does he even say?]

I'm sorry for your loss.

[Truthfully, Lily... isn't certain that they're dead. Not anymore. She couldn't find any of the crew on the Shore. She searched through every single corpse, desperate, but she found nothing. The thing is, she couldn't find Chase either--and yet, here he is, on the Black Tide.]

[But... They might as well be dead.]

It's okay. [She rubs tears from her eyes.] What else do you wanna know?

Well, I-- I'll ask you one last thing, and-- and I can let you go.

[So he doesn't upset you anymore.]

Do-- uh, would-- would you say... you felt safe on the Elegante? Was it... was it dangerous?

Dangerous? Uh, sometimes. [Her voice no longer wavers, but she sniffles every now and then.] There was a pirate attack, and the cardinal thing, and... I accidentally freed someone that killed a lot of people. And someone dropped a stage light on me, I think she was a ghost. Then there was this witch Xamira, she killed me once, and some other people... That one wasn't my fault.

[Sigh.]

It was usually safe. It was a lot safer than where I came from, that's for sure.

[Bennett is alarmed for approximately a split second. Revival isn't unheard of, it's just expensive and hard as hell. What's scary is that the place where Lily was killed was more safe than wherever she originally came from.

Holy shit.]

...I-- I'm just glad you're safe now. I mean, a-- assuming we're safe. Safe-ish.

[He writes a little note: "Lily, while reliable and thorough in her info. might have a skewed perception of the concept of 'safety'."]

[Skewed perception of safety? Ben, try living in the Deep Underground for four years. Pirate attacks and ghosts and witches are nothing to her.]

The general idea on the Elegante was "don't kill anybody and don't break anything," but a looot of people didn't really... agree.

Do you get the same vibe from-- f-from our current set of passengers? Or, uh. Or do they seem a little more towards the 'safe and sane' side of the spectrum?

Well, nobody's dead yet.

Y-your inclusion of the word "yet" gr-g-greatly concerns me, Lily.

People die.

[She doesn't say it in a, "haha, that's just a fact of life," way. She says it definitively.]

[People die.]

[Period.]

[Ben suddenly tastes blood in his mouth and has to stumble to the mirror to see if his gums were bleeding, or what. His mouth is a clean, healthy pink.

It takes him another moment to reply as he tries to gargle out the imaginary flavor. It works for a minute or so.]

I-- I guess they do, don't they?

[It's all he can manage. He's just... going to go sit next to the toilet. He feels like he's going to throw up-- it happens every time he thinks about his brother.]

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