---------

['Well, that was a first. Not the pleasant kind of first, either. ... Not that I meant the other kind of first was that kind of first.

Let's move on. I've seen people come back from these things in way worse shape before, which doesn't do much to bring down the soreness. Still, I guess it's not the worst thing that could have happened. Then again, who wants to think about the worst thing that could have happened?'

And so Kyon drags himself back through the village, not visibly injured but still walking very gingerly and strangely and occasionally wincing. He's going into the library, which happens to be nearby, and lying down on a couch, where he just sits for a while.

At length, he pulls out his journal, flips through it briefly, notes the date, and winces. Then, after another while, he turns to a new page and writes:]

So what's new? Everyone already gotten or given their chocolate? Luceti Lonely Hearts Club, also known as most of the population, trucking along pretty well, or has that status changed thanks to our generous lords and masters?

[Eventually he'll catch wind of the hot springs event and drag himself over there, instead.


ooc: Returning from a retconned Mallynapping. Nothing's too wrong but everything hurts! will tag upon waking up.]

[written]

So, more New Feathers coming. Guess I'll first point out Maebara's helpful five-hour lecture on the SOS Brigade, for the new people. Welcome to Luceti, get ready for weird, et cetera.

But really, isn't it weirder how it works for us "Old, Slightly Decaying Feathers" than the new ones? After all, we keep seeing the same thing over and over. The shine's totally gone. All the New Feathers get to wake up confused with something new and surprising, and ask all the same questions about what this place is, and they, obviously, never get tired of it.

Whereas those of us who've been here a while just treat it as ordinary life, and are quite tired of explaining, and, hell, wrote a book on the topic. Even the mix is usually kind of the same, right? A few cute girls, a few brooding guys, random stuff in between. Usually one talking animal.

And I haven't even been here a quarter as long as some of us.

Anyway. It's a fair question if there's a "point" to this. I guess the question is, what would you say to a New Feather, as an Old Feather, as far as what to appreciate about the whole entry experience?

[action]

[After finishing that rather off-target ramble, Kyon will go for an off-target ramble of the physical variety, wandering around the general store for the afternoon and then sitting in the library... falling asleep.]

To those that knew it, it looks like the crazy RPG hit-points-and-magic stuff has gone home. Sorry for those who were close to it. I don't think it left any notes or belongings for anyone, but I'm sure it'll be better off where it came from.

['What a cartoonish Shift this was. Not that I will ever forget my valorous deeds, but can we get back to ... Actually, forget it. Nothing serious. If more Shifts that are par for the Haruhi-course happen, it can only be a good thing.']

Seriously -- everyone all right out there? Sounds like a more than average number of people have been leaving fair Luceti lately. Though I guess variation is itself average, in said fair Luceti.

...Anyone know where the name "Luceti" comes from, anyway?

['...You know what, I'd better stop rambling right there.']

['December 18th. According to this calendar, anyway. My body calendar, if such a thing exists, is stuck somewhere in the limbo between May and December. If I'm expecting the world to change again, it should be today, shouldn't it?

...Tch, that's a stupid hope. I haven't heard anything from the other Brigade members, Haruhi evidently hasn't either, and all in all, this anniversary is coming a lot earlier than I'd hoped. Though even if it had been a year later, it would've been earlier than I'd hoped.

There must be something about this season that inspires all this melancholy...']

[voice; filtered away from Haruhi // 40%]

Yo. Quick question, I guess... Was anyone here ever in a different world from their home before they came here? Or an alternate version of their world or anything like that.

[He starts to think that that might be a bit of a giveaway.] Sorry if someone's asked that before. Guess I'm wondering if anyone figured anything out about traveling between dimensions or whatever before they came here.

[action]

[And, no longer content to sit in his house on a day like this, still looking for some kind of hint or anything like that, he can be found in the library, pulling down book by book methodically and... not reading them, just flipping through them very quickly, apparently looking for something.

Or, afterwards, trudging aimlessly through the plaza with a discontent expression.]

[action]

[A teenage boy is extricating himself with some difficulty from having been dumped, or appearing, in the middle of the fountain in the center of the village. He's muttering to himself and clambering out. He's dressed in the generic-enough North High uniform, but of more interest may be what he's saying -- which is picked up by the split-open journal next to him.]

...Really, Haruhi? After all of that, I'm in some other time and place again?! Oh, boy. She really just doesn't stop... Where the hell is it this time?

[Once he gets up and brushes himself off, he can be found staring with slightly less bewilderment than you might expect at his surroundings.]