With a nod, Eleanor lead the way, her hands slipping into her pockets. Moving along, they made their way back towards the hut where they would spend their final night upon the eccentric island. A breeze swept through, as they passed the area where the sacrifices were being conducted. While Eleanor didn't feel it was appropriate to blatantly glance over, as much as her manners were quite blatant, she favored the idea of merely glancing with her eyes. Has her optical radius scanned the grounds, they were much more empty than previously. The mark of blood and death upon the ground was still evident. It was obvious that no efforts had been taken to clean the soiled floor. With a shiver, she continued past the site. Opening the door for Claire to head in first, Eleanor seemed hasty to get to her own place of resting. The observations of the day, constant and unrelenting, had been rather exhausting for the woman. She decided the less words the better to end the long day. "Rest well, friend." She spoke quietly, just before her head hit the pillow.
It was difficult to ignore the last remnants of the 'festivities'. The area still reeked of blood, and the ground was covered with deep red puddles. Claire did her best to push past it mentally, looking instead to the few people who still lingered. There were some who looked surprisingly solemn now that everything was done, but majority of the stragglers were chatting rather cheerfully with one another. It wasn't that long of a walk back to the hut they were staying at. As Eleanor was leading, Claire took a moment to reflect on the past few days. She didn't think she had come across a bigger surprise in the game than finding out the true nature of the festival. But it probably wouldn't be the last; with such realism and complexity programmed into the game itself, this probably wouldn't be the last surprise of such magnitude. One could only hope that the next one would be far more pleasant than this one had been. She nodded gratefully to Eleanor as she walked in, and settled on her cot. The moment she sat, it was as if all her exhaustion hit her at once, and so she had no complaints when Eleanor didn't prove to be that talkative. "Good night," she said in return, and did her best to get comfortable.
Eleanor sat awake for a few moments longer, wondering exactly she was doing it all for. Playing the game and working each day. The festival had been one thing to observe, an interesting display of a distinctly different, virtual culture. It had been fun. Enjoyable, even. But what was to come from it all. She felt... Unproductive. This was all due to the fact that she hadn't intervened. She had, subconsciously, been nudging, pushing, and shoving herself towards that conclusion. To step in. To end the voluntary killings. But without the authority or nerve, she had allowed another opportunity pass her by. With a sigh, she lay her head down on the makeshift, uncomfortable pillow of her own cot, and soon fell asleep. As the sun came up, she was quick on her feet, knowing that the boat home would be arriving early as well. If Claire had not already woken, Eleanor would seek to wake her, with a light nudge on the shoulder. "Hey, the ride out of here is probably leaving soon, if you're coming." If the other wished to stay, she certainly wouldn't interfere with that, but Eleanor had assumed that Claire wished to be rid of the place at the moment. The walk towards the beach, where a weakly constructed dock remained in tatters, was a short one. Many of the locals appeared to have returned to their regular lives. Each of them looked busy with their own individual duties, few looking up to wave greetings and goodbyes. Still, with hands in her pockets, Eleanor gave each who recognized a brief bow of her head in acknowledgement.
Morning came soon enough, and Claire let out a light groan as she pushed herself up. Sleep had been fitful for the most part, and she wasn't feeling rested at all. Still, her sleep meter was mostly topped up, so there wasn't much else she could do. Maybe she could try to take a nap when she logged out. But for the time being, she smiled at Eleanor, greeting her. "Ah, right. Well then, we should be off." They walked together and quickly found their way to the docks. The shoddy boat was drifting on the surface, half-full with passengers. Most were townspeople headed for the mainland, whether it was for work or otherwise, but there were one or two other visitors to the island just like them. Claire mustered up smiles and quick farewells for those who greeted them in kind, and then she and Eleanor boarded the ship. "So that's that, then," Claire said. Neutrally, she added, "Quite an experience."
"Quite." Boarding the vessel, Eleanor agreed with her companion throughout the ordeal. With a hand on the side of the boat, she peered off the edge towards the island. A few of the locals gathered at the side to wave off those headed off. Eleanor offered a brief raise of her hand in response, before her eyes caught a familiar face. "I see you, little shit." Eleanor whispered to herself. With a smirk, she directed a finger towards the young boy who had splashed her. Pointing precisely at him, the boy, standing at the side of his mother, soon realized that he had been noticed. The odd looking smirk across her face made the young male shudder, intimidated by the rather crazy looking woman in blue. Soon, the young child went scurrying away. "It will not be long before the island is out of sight." She pondered whose duty it was in the city to clean up that blood from the festival. Perhaps she should have checked before setting out to leave. With a sigh, she dismissed the thought. Turning around as the ship set sail, she set her back leaning against the rail at the side, raising a hand to adjust her hat. "Overall, did you enjoy the trip?" Eleanor asked, raising a brow as she glanced towards Claire.
Claire leaned against the back of her seat and relaxed. Now that the boat was moving, she really was becoming less tense. She remembered watching the peaceful scenery pass by with growing anticipation for the festival she was going to experience. Now on the second half of that journey, she mostly felt tired. It was the same kind of exhaustion she felt after arriving in Philadelphia's airport for the first time, after a full 12 hours of traveling: tired, rather icky, and craving a good shower and sleep. The food had been far better here than standard airline fare, but the three hour layover in Toronto was hardly on the same level as witnessing actual human sacrifice. So, point to tedious air travel, Claire supposed. "Overall?" Claire mulled over Eleanor's question. "I don't know if 'enjoy' is the right word, but... I guess I don't regret coming here. I did have a good time for the first few days, and the festival's grand finale was... eye-opening. But I don't think I'll be coming back." One trip was quite enough for her, she felt. "And yourself?"
Eleanor quietly nodded, listening to Claire's description of the events. "It was an interesting event to document. Though, I do not expect I was the target audience for such festivities." She chuckled to herself. "I agree, the ending was a little off-putting." Glancing around the boat, she saw numerous locals idly talking among themselves. "To them, such an ending is nothing new." She motioned towards them, most of them carrying on as if this was just any other day. "Oh," Eleanor had forgotten to answer the question, "Yes, I may visit again. But not for that festival." She gave an awkward sigh, reaching to the back of her neck. Turning back towards the water, Eleanor rested her elbows on the railing, opening her palm to surf through her player menus. Stopping upon the one containing information involving her funds, she hummed to herself, staring at the number. She had been saving up for so long, but it felt as though very little progress was actually being made on her project. With a sigh, she closed out of the menu.
"Indeed. The sights are nice, and that lake hadn't been too bad. There's a lot to see again, when you return." While logically Claire knew that just this one event shouldn't put her off the entire village completely, the thought of returning was just quite unpleasant. She didn't begrudge the villagers their customs, but she did prefer to live and let live. The boat continued on its steady journey, and as Eleanor said, the odd Viking island was soon nowhere to be seen. Now it was just one little boat on a wide open expanse of blue, bobbing steadily towards a fog-covered landform in the distance. Claire took a deep breath. This here was peaceful, this was calm. The general chatter around the vessel faded to an indistinct murmur as she continued to look out the side. Eleanor was checking through her menus, so Claire wouldn't bother the other woman. Instead, she carefully dipped the tip of her fingers in the water and attempted some light practice, manipulating it into little ribbons that curled through the air.
Eleanor watched as the other practiced her magics with the water. It was quite an interesting ability. Consciously comparing it to her own abilities, she soon began doubting her own magic's capabilities. It seemed just... Less useful, compared to Claire's. And less cool as well! It wouldn't be long until the shores of the mainland were in sight. To pass the time, she quietly watched the alien, virtual creatures of the water that danced between the surface and the water. Serpents and dolphin like creatures laced the waters in a certain location. Perhaps feeding on something or some sort of social gathering. Either way, investigation mode helped to detail the shapes of the creatures from a distance. "Thank you for the company." Eleanor spoke to Claire, as the ship would soon be docking again at it's destination. She expected, as most interactions, this one might fade upon finishing. Though, Eleanor tried to cling on to a bit of hope, shining through her subconscious pessimism. "It was fun. More fun than going alone." Part of her poor English was on display, but she hoped that wouldn't be too apparent.
The rest of the journey was peaceful. The boat didn't move very quickly so a few fish occasionally swam up to Claire's fingers and tried giving them a curious nibble, but she always drew back. If one of those pearlescent scaled creatures turned out to be some sort of vampire fish--hey, she'd heard of weirder things--she wanted no part of it. There were larger shapes moving in the deeper waters, but those didn't come close. As the boat reached the mainland, Claire smiled at Eleanor. "Certainly. And thank you for the same. I don't think I would have wanted to be alone either. I really did enjoy spending time with you." But alas, she had her own things to attend to in the real world. Emails to draft, outlines to write, research papers to read... Claire sighed. Going back to the world of academia seemed like the worst sort of boredom. "Ah, before I forget." Claire brought up a menu and shared her in-game contact information with Eleanor. "We should keep in touch. If you ever hear about something interesting going on, leave me a message and we'll see if we can't meet up somehow. And I'll do the same, of course." She hoped that Eleanor would accept her offer. Exploring the game with a partner was definitely far more interesting than going at it alone.
Eleanor nodded, appraising the information displayed in front of her. Nodding, Eleanor agreed. "Will do. I will message you upon finding anything interesting or out of the ordinary. And I request the same of you." Though the friendship of sorts seemed very professionally founded, between two people of seriousness, the connection would hopefully prevail as a useful one. Eleanor had plans for the future, as she stepped off of the boat. Hopefully, those plans would all be fulfilled somewhere in the nearer of futures. Still, when the time came, she would need the help of others. People that she could call on would be required. "Till we meet again, Claire." With a bow, the woman in blue set off. The final interaction was not one of much sustenance, but it sufficed. Eleanor often chose few words, Claire also seeming like the type to speak less. Setting off, Eleanor was on her way to examine more rumors for the time being. Hopefully, it wouldn't be long before the two met again.
