Beneath the island is a series of caves that contain rune stone. Hunters who wish to try their hand at crafting runes the old fashioned way can swim down to them and collect stones to work with. Those who can't hold their breath underwater for a half hour may borrow an air tank from the Sun divisions swim team, but only once per week, as they have extreme swim practice the rest of the time.
Swimming Down
In the water surrounding the island there's numerous edlritch horrors of the deep waiting to attack your hunter.
Roll 1d6 1: a massive sea creature attacks you. Roll 1d20 to escape its gaping maw. If you roll 10+ you escape it, if you roll below you receive 10 damage and need to try again. 2: a bus-sized sea creature attack you. It has 30 HP and 5 auto damage. You can escape it by rolling 1d20 and getting 13+, failure results in auto damage. 3: a small-sized sea creature attack you. It has 15 HP and 3 auto damage. You can escape it by rolling 1d20 and getting 15+, failure results in auto damage. 4: you are safe. 5: you are safe. 6: you are safe.
Exploring the Caves
Some of the caves house many useful stones, other house things waiting to kill you. You can keep on collecting for as long as your willing to risk it (or until you die.)
Roll 1d8 1: A few stones! Roll 1d4 to see how many you find in this cave! 2: Sentient sea weed aggressively gropes you! Roll 1d4 to see how much damage it does! 3: A nice amount of stones! Roll 1d8 to see how many you find in this cave! 4: Tentacles! Roll 1d8 to see how much damage they do! 5: A bunch of stones! Roll 1d10 to see how many you find in this cave! 6: This area becomes permanently mob free and reveals a large cache of stones, roll 1d20 to see how many you find in this cave! 7: The mermaids guarded several large, dark caves that are now open to explore. Hundreds to thin, snake-like tendrils shoot out from the darkness. Roll 1d12 to see how much damage they do! 8: The mermaids guarded several large, dark caves that are now open to explore. What appears to be a cave full of inviting stones is actually a huge toothy maw, patiently waiting to devour you. Roll 1d20 to see how much damage it does!
Swimming Back
Roll 1d6 1: you are safe. 2: you are safe. 3: you are safe. 4: a massive sea creature attacks you. Roll 1d20 to escape its gaping maw. If you roll 10+ you escape it, if you roll below you receive 10 damage and need to try again. 5: a bus-sized sea creature attack you. It has 30 HP and 5 auto damage. You can escape it by rolling 1d20 and getting 13+, failure results in auto damage. 6: a small-sized sea creature attack you. It has 15 HP and 3 auto damage. You can escape it by rolling 1d20 and getting 15+, failure results in auto damage.
If your HP drops below 0, you lose half your stones as your body floats back to the surface.
Crafting Your Stones
Find a place where you can reach the most perfect calm and focus possible, and then begin carving Uruz into each of your stones. Think on the purpose of the stone, and meaning of Uruz as you do so. Focus as much of yourself and your actions on the rune and the act of carving. Some people choose to chant out loud or do visual exercises to more perfectly focus on the task, but different methods work best for different people. Once the rune begins to glow, you'll know it's finished. Because this process depends more on people than lab computers and code, it's less consistent and predictable in its results.
Roll 1d10 for each rune stone 1-4: failure! The runestone never glows and eventually breaks. 5-8: Regular Rune! The runestone can power small, battery-operated runic devices for up to a week. 9-10: Superior Rune! The runestone can charge your runic weapons. (In and out of battle. If in battle, it will take 5 turns for the weapon to properly charge.)
Level Up!
After 5 runs down to the caves and carving out runes, your hunter has enough experience to be considered a Runic Journeyman. They may adjust their rolls during rune gathering and carving by 1 point (up or down.)
After 10 runs down to the caves and carving out runes, your hunter has enough experience to be considered a Runic Adept. They may adjust their rolls during rune gathering and carving by 2 points (up or down.)
After 15 runs down to the caves and carving out runes, your hunter has enough experience to be considered a Rune Master. They may adjust their rolls during rune gathering and carving by 3 points (up or down.)
He stared at his phone, wondering what an appropriate reaction to all the things he felt would be. The bed was nearby, and once again he wondered about sliding into it until Jan came home, but he knew he wouldn't have enjoyed it as much as it sounded. Staying at home somehow made him angry, not wanting to just be OK with waiting around for someone who didn't seem to care if they came and went. Staying in his room with the pre-made lunches and that damn note only made him pace in the kitchen, closing his phone as he waited for anyone to take him up on the offer of a External Mission. He thought of wild ideas. He could go on leave too. He could go on leave exactly where Jan and Horace was, see what they were doing - but then what?
What would happen if he saw something?
What would happen if they saw him? Then, well, if he saw them on the street, he could just -
All fantasies of being a laid back a*****e who just happened to bump into them came off as ridiculous and off the wall even for his imagination, and he tossed the train of thought immediately when it offered no reward.
He thought of going off island too. The Arctic maybe, but there too had America and no one else he knew. There would be no point of going from one rock to another, and Jan would probably be pissed as a result, not that he didn't deserve it.
Without any immediate ideas and still wanting nothing to do where HERE, he grabbed his coat, swimmers bag, and headed down to the Sun division for some gear.
It wasn't long till he was heading down to the shore.
He hadn't believed that Jan would so readily admit he was with Horace. There had been indications, but only when he sat down in Horace's room and they talked.
Jan wanted him back, but the context of what that meant in the timeline of things was unclear. Expecting someone to come back when they were breaking up was one thing, but Melvin was here now, and he just naturally assumed with Horace's dislike for him and how things played out that returning back to Jan would question a lot of things. However, if they were talking, then maybe Jan was still figuring himself out - but what if it was something else. True, it had been a long time since Melvin and Horace were friends and he was privy to any personal confessions of Horace's turbulent feelings for a man who had injured him on some strange desire to be treated like America - which in and of itself still confused Melvin. But anyone who had a ex could admit there were always feelings that would linger.
The fact that Jan had said Horace jumped at the chance bothered him.
He dove down into the dark waters towards the caves.
6: This area becomes permanently mob free and reveals a large cache of stones, roll 1d20 to see how many you find in this cave!
If they were talking, what were they talking about? Considering they came from a intimate relationship beforehand, one that in some way didn't match up to Melvin's own considering how Horace's strange testimonies didn't ever match up with Melvin's experience, then he had to wonder what the nature of the relationship was now.
He knew before they were together. He knew before they were intimate. He knew after the incident, Horace still wanted Jan despite what had happened.
But time meant a lot of his information could be flawed.
Horace's voice floated back, and it stung deep to think about it. Despite what he had lost, what he had done to Horace, he had never mentioned that they were still talking to each other. Had he lost Jan as much or was he trying to regain what he had lost?
And what of Jan? If he always expected Horace to return to him as he had said to Horace, then what did he want now from him?
Did he always want that? Did he always want Horace?
He was absent as he pulled stones from their place and moved back out of the cave.
He felt like an idiot. He sat there. He sat there in Horace's room trying to understand, but he knew jack s**t about any of it. Worst off, he felt even more deeply pained by Jan's lack of revealing anything about anything yet again. It was always news to him.
Him being sick and not saying why.
Him being stressed and not saying why.
Him going on leave and not saying why until he asked.
Him being with Horace all this time and it never being brought up.
Who was Jan? Did he even know what he felt?
Yes, Yes. He said he didn't feel. He had.....interest.
(Used the wrong dice but keeping the roll anyways.)
3: A nice amount of stones! Roll 1d8 to see how many you find in this cave!
A book series on a shelf. A TV show you heard about at work. That one class that showed up on your class roster that you might just take because you heard good things about the professor.
These were interest. True, you could be interested in a person, but that was usually labeled for crushes and people you passed by in the hallway and wanted to know more about.
As some point, that interest switched over. That interest became a set knowledge, and you either loved it, hated it, or grew bored of it. You didn't dedicate your thoughts and feelings to something as simple as a small interest.
But if Jan had no feelings, as least as far as he stated and recognized, then did he just have no switch to move onto a interest to a like or love? If so, if there was only that first desire to know more, then what happened when that desire was fulfilled? When there was no switch, was there anything else to hook the person when that interest was met and they were met with enough information?
And an interest just made him feel sick inside. It was such a small, indecisive word. Like a child not knowing if they wanted to take soccer or ballet. They had a INTEREST from something that tugged at them, but they really had no knowledge or real pulls bringing them one way or another.
But was this was what Jan was? Could he blame someone who could only look at something, even someone like him, and still consider him a interest?
Yet if this was what Jan felt, then who was it for him to push someone like he had been pushed with Mia? She had expected him to function in certain ways when they were being intimate despite being upfront and honest with her about his anxieties. She had pushed unfairly stating she loved him and wanted what was best for the both of them. If he pushed Jan in a similar way, then how different was he to her? If he did that, then he would in turn make Jan feel just as horrible for letting her down.
Even all this time, he wondered what he could have done to make it work. If he had just pushed himself harder, maybe all the things inside his mind would go quiet. Yet after a time to reconsider, he knew this wasn't true. Jan had accepted him despite this, so shouldn't he do the same for him?
6: This area becomes permanently mob free and reveals a large cache of stones, roll 1d20 to see how many you find in this cave!
I don't own Jan anyways. We're both adults who have a right to our own feelings."
"....if Jan feels love anywhere, then it's what is best for him."
He had said this to Horace. He had said these things, but as of right now, Jan did not feel. He had said that in the message. So whatever he was with Horace. Whatever he was with Melvin, Melvin was not a liar yet for feeling horrible because Jan said he was not in love.
Right now, all he had was interest.
And what was scary was that after everything, Jan still had a interest in Horace. Whatever he was interested in, it was strong enough all this time for him to see Horace, to be with him, to feel that getting away with him was more interesting than being with him.
That was terrifying. It was terrifying in so much that love was harsh but felt lasting. Even when you broke up, even after all the horrible things, you still had those feelings. He got that when Horace said he still felt things for Jan after being put into the Infirmary by him.
But Jan said he didn't have that.
A interest was fleeting and fickle. A interest could come and go without warning.
Whatever was holding Jan's interest with Horace, he didn't know. Was he jealous of what it could be? Yes.
Yes because he had no idea what Jan could find interesting in someone like Melvin. He had no idea how strong that interest was in comparison, and he worried that stepping out of line would jeopardize that interest before he saw for himself if Jan really could not feel or prove that he could.
3: A nice amount of stones! Roll 1d8 to see how many you find in this cave!
Coupled with the secrets was Jan's apparent reluctance to share things with him. It placed a glaring flaw in himself to have been so complacent with Jan, enamored by just being around him that he failed to notice many things. Having the other show up with Harrison sparked warning lights and sirens that while being attentive to Jan's vocalized needs, he was ignorant and ignored Jan's other needs. It wasn't helped by Jan's time off island that when he returned, he was so completely lost soaking up as much time he could with him that he failed to actually take notice. And why not? Why wouldn't he want to preserve what few days he had with Jan in happiness and tranquility than fighting with him?
But he saw the damage that had done. Jan had gotten sick, and they argued, and now Jan was eating again - he hoped. They fought, but good did come out of it.
But again, had that jeopardized that interest? Where did it all fall? Could it even be set against any scale?
Just as much as Melvin didn't know Jan's secret about not eating, he knew very little about the other despite his desire to be with him as long as he lived. He wanted to make Jan happy. He hadn't lied to Horace when he said that he wanted Jan to be happy with whoever he picked, but that only meant he wanted to make Jan the happiest he could make him. To find out he didn't - if they fought, then wasn't there interest and options elsewhere for Jan? Was it that easy for him?
And then what?
He choose Jan over Rin.
He choose Jan over Horace.
If Jan choose Horace, Melvin couldn't do anything about it aside from hope he could get that interest back......but that was to say he could last in the meantime.
He didn't know Jan. His interest. He secrets. What he found interesting. What he found worth keeping secret. There had been a lot of information given to him by outside sources and because they were prodded at over and over, Melvin hadn't pressed hard enough at them. Not just the past, but the present. He had been blind to think things were fine.
What was Jan stressed about? What did he want? What kept him going?
Had he failed just as much with Jan as he failed as a boyfriend with Rin?
Maybe still, at least with interest, if Jan left he had options and would end less tragically, but didn't Jan see that he wanted nothing but to make him happy?
Nothing makes me happy. Emotions, remember?
Not in the same way it does with other people.
Lawrence text flashed before him, staring back from across the island to his phone, and he paused in collecting stones.
Was it JUST interest.
No happiness. Not love. Was Interest the only word Jan could associate to a feeling he felt didn't exist in him? Was he ultimately flawed in any of his thoughts to place them on a scale of feeling with Jan, to try and understand them as feelings, when Jan dismissed that entire set of measurements to begin with?
How did he go about working with that?
How did he make any of this work?
If Jan didn't understand feeligns, he had no idea what it meant that he was with Horace or him........
...Horace......
and Him?
He sank in the cave a moment and looked out, watching in the glimmer of cold light.
Could someone toy with emotions when they didn't recognize them? Could you hold a person like that accountable for what they didn't understand?
He didn't know Jan. He was too happy to be with him, but all his time had been about Rin, and after, it had been from the present. It had been a nice timeline to never look back, and why would he want to? He hadn't talked to Jan when he was with Rin. He really hadn't talked to much of anyone. They had been in their own world, and it was why it had made it so hard after.
Jan even was willing to give up everything to give Melvin that world. That had stood out at how good a person he was, but it should have also stood out that something wasn't right too. It had bugged him how self-sacrificing Jan had been, and he wondered for a while after how someone who submit themselves to total annihilation for the sake of a person he barely knew. Jan was willing to do that, and they didn't know each other all that well. Now it was Melvin's turn to make those sacrifices - but was Jan even willing to let him in?
They were dating. They were intimate. Yet, Jan held a lot back despite how open he was to his questions. Had he not been asking the right ones?
6: This area becomes permanently mob free and reveals a large cache of stones, roll 1d20 to see how many you find in this cave!
He needed to talk to him. He needed to know. What was it that he wanted? What was it that he saw as interest? What was it that he saw in him?
What was it that he feared? What was it that he set as alternatives to feelings so he had clues on where to go? To show him? To make him understand Jan and set things in some sort of track?
What did he have now?
What could he do now?
What was it that he even knew?
What did he need to know?
What?
He slowly collected the rocks, feeling them sag against his back and bring about a familiar ache from their weight.
Was it always still a relationship? What was it now? Was it different or the same? Had it changed? Did he feel upset more that Melvin was with him or an addition?
Had Jan ever lived with Horace? Jan had said he didn't GET Horace, even insulting him, yet he was interested. Did he have such a negative opinion of Melvin too?
It burned him. It was a mix of the pain to have lost Horace, for their fight, for what had happened, but it was also a strange bitterness. Horace had hated him for not contacting him about what had happened, stated he had no right to know anything about Horace, but did he not know? Did he not get pulled in when he was with Jan? Did he not deserve some answers to what was happening when Jan was with him, when Horace JUMPED at the chance to pay to take Jan away off the island when his health was so poor to - to -
6: This area becomes permanently mob free and reveals a large cache of stones, roll 1d20 to see how many you find in this cave!
Should he ask how many? Should he ask how many had his interest? Would that solve anything? Would that do anything? He wanted Jan to be happy, but if none of them made him feel anything, then should he know who else shared the same category, the same classification, in Jan's mind?
Did the scars mean anything?
He heard so much. Yet he heard so little. He knew so little.
Even Horace talked down to him as if he knew nothing. Was he so small on his list of threats to Jan that it didn't matter in the end to inform him of anything? He couldn't stand to look at him, but he was okay with pulling Jan away quietly. What kind of man did that?!
He was in HIS room. They had been talking. All this time. All this time and nothing.
What where the both of them even thinking? Jan had his own ideas about feelings, but he KNEW Horace understood how this felt. To have a friend be with someone you cared about. What a ******** hyprocrite! Then again, what did Horace think? He had Jan originally and Melvin had to ask him about an update on what was going on - yet he didn't need to do the same? Maybe it was spite? Maybe it was a lack of concern? Maybe it didn't even matter to him.
He'd continue to take him out anyways. DESTRESS Jan whenever. Jan would go because he didn't understand, but shouldn't he at least get that being that way with someone else meant something?
And a note somehow was making it okay.
Was he jumping to conclusions? Maybe they were just in separate rooms?
