voice; @hicks

[preseance]

( when he speaks his voice is soft an' easy, mild-mannered as all get-out, with an alabama accent that kicks like a mule to the head besides. he has the air of someone well-used to wieldin' some manner of authority, albeit in another fashion in a faraway place from this. )

For those of you I ain't met, name's Eugene Hicks, an' I'm one of the medics here in Beacon. If'n anybody finds themselves in want of food or company, Sundays me an' a few others are layin' out a spread at the Church. Anybody's welcome, all I ask is no fightin' under the Lord's roof. If'n you felt like bringin' a dish of your own to share, it'd be appreciated. ( he pauses, an' in a lighter tone obviously aimed to jest, ) First person to complain about my Ma's fried tomatoes or the lack of ice cream with the pie will be shown the door, no exceptions.

( it ain't a video post, but he ducks his head all the same. there's a slight jangle of his dog-tags. )

And, ah. Given that the El-Tee ( 'LT', short for lieutenant ) found a village across the river, Rastus seemed to think I ought to maybe work at buildin' a bridge so's we can all access whatever resources might be on the other side without any measure of difficulty. I can do carpentry all right, but if anyone can lend a hand it'd be appreciated. Apparently there's a creature in the river fixin' to drag folks under, so please mind yourselves if'n you're of a mind to get close.

That's all. Look after yourselves an' have a pleasant evenin'.

Comments

[preseance]

( rafe knowin' the codename of the mission actually makes him smile some, duckin' his head as he lifts his glass up so rafe can dole the liquid out. he adds a coin to the offering for the little spirit, something shiny an' german. )

That's right.

( he's quietly, shyly pleased an' it's woven through the current of his tone. it ain't wrong to say he's — touched? he doesn't hold any expectation that folks in the generations that follow his will know much more than the basics. after all, that's his generation with the civil war, an' about the same length of time separates them. )

I appreciate you knowin'. Lord knows history has a way of fallin' through the cracks of time.

( it's nobody's fault. he'd rather folks grow up ignorant of the pain an' sufferin'. but it still matters, when someone cares to commit details to memory. )

[chardismastic]

Some of it, sure, [ Rafe readily admits, since his work is— or was specifically tracking down those cracks and prying something free of them. But at the same time it's worth pointing out: ] Though thankfully it's become a hell of a lot more accessible, certainly since your day.

[ It's easier to deflect back to Wikipedia when someone pops in the right attribution, never mind the five dozen channels on cable devoted to a different computer simulation or reenactment every hour on the hour. Hobbyist historians are a dime a dozen and all with their separate focus. Byzantine Empire. Yukon Gold Rush. Hundred Years' War. Whatever. It's all there for those who care enough to look — and Rafe feels that any Joe off the street should at least somewhat — so all that matters is what's done with that knowledge when followed to the end.

Still, there's a hint of a smile in kind — even if Rafe's face is more used to smirking than anything else. It's practically a whole different set of muscles. ]

[preseance]

( smiling's a nice look on rafe — though gene ain't sure it's an expression he entertains all that much. but it's enough that he can see what mel must see in the fella, an' he ducks his head, smilin' just the same. )

That, ah, Internet? ( he says that a touch uncertainly, like he's not sure he's even pronouncin' it right. ) thing, yeah? I've heard tell of it. Reckon it's a good thing, you know? More folk should be keen on the dissemination of information. Betters us as a people.

( reggie would'a loved it. he always felt that knowledge should belong to whomsoever wanted it, an' he'd fought an' died to that end. gene thumbs his finger along the edge of his glass, an' then takes another sip. whatever this is has a bit of a kick to it, though it ain't half so strong as what they had in ireland. )

So... y'say your focus is a little past the last hundred years? Got a continent of interest?

( he's been on three of 'em, an' met ghosts on each. he's always been a child of history. )

[chardismastic]

That'd be it.

[ Correct pronunciation and all. He debates popping the particular bubble Gene seems to have regarding the world wibe web, informing him of all else that bubbled up from the nasty corners of cyberspace, but. Nah. He's not about to get drunk enough to explain Buzzfeed quizzes. So Gene can keep that for himself.

Even as he neatly steers Rafe back to the real topic at hand. ]

Continent... Not so much. [ The grin shades wry, much more comfortable than what came before. ] Age of Sail.

[preseance]

( the coin nathan gave him, the weight of the history in holdin' it. the story that came afterwards. he's drawin' more an' more to an obvious conclusion. )

Piracy, huh?

( his generation was all the more closer to it, an' there'd been plenty of folk romanticizing it even then. ain't many souls who don't appreciate a good robin hood parable, after all. but the real men were often murderers an' thieves. sometimes those were the least'a their crimes. as he'd told nathan, he ain't ever met but a few pirates — includin' one eerie experience he had aboard the monterey involvin' the ghost of one that'd drowned at sea — but he saw the toll they took on the carolinas in the ghosts there, an' is of a disposition besides that tends to nearly always side with the common folk besieged by such a thing.

but it ain't his job to judge. he understands just as well, the desperation inherent in turnin' to such a life. )

How'd that come about?

( despite his personal reservations on the matter, he ain't never passed by the opportunity to learn about what folks have a passion for. )