GLoG 89

[Halae]

[Rowan Cabin]

"You should probably already know that," Eric says, "Near as I can tell, you're the same people. Though... you are a bit younger than her, I think." Eric scratches his chin, "In fact, Kate had been around for two years, and I believe she was 20 at the time she left us. How old are you?"

[Lost_Deep]

Rowan Cabin

"Eighteen," Kate says, "So we were taken at the same points in our life? But she 'arrived' two years early? How does that work?" Probably exactly the way you just said, Kate. It's not super difficult.

[Halae]

[Rowan Cabin]

"Scylla, can you help me with a little demonstration?" Eric asks of the far-girl.

"Sure thing, Daddy."

He walks her through it mentally, so I'll avoid posting that here. Instead, he extends a single hand, and an hourglass - illusory, but there all the same - appears above it, the sand slowly draining. "Time moves differently in different dimensions. Sometimes it's slower, sometimes it's faster, but it's never the same, down to the second." Scylla herself lifts up her hands, and a pair of glowing balls appear above them. Eric moves the hourglass into one, and the drop of sand, impossibly, slows to a crawl. Then, he moves it into the other ball, where the sand begins to flow shockingly fast.

"Her world was likely just a little ahead of yours, and so she arrived first. that's all."

Scylla lets the balls drop, and breathes out. that had been a big effort for her, "Did I do that right?" she asks her father

"Yeah, you did it perfectly, sweetie. Good job; you can have a cookie if you like."

She immediately brightens at that, and begins rushing off towards the kitchen to get her reward.

[Lost_Deep]

Rowan Cabin

Kate watches the demonstration, and doesn't seem to be too phased by the illusions. However, she proceeds to ask, "Why is it impossible for two worlds to have the same time rate? I think it's just as likely that one world is just two years ahead... wait, that's assuming that temporality between worlds is connected at all. It's entirely possible that at that level of separation time just doesn't matter."

[Halae]

[Rowan Cabin]

"Two reasons. The first, which you've said already, and the second is because the temporal rate changes constantly. Even here in the Nexus, some things go faster than others. to our perceptions, everything happens at the same rate, but that's because we're moving between different positions that are moving at different rates. In some cases, an event that might take five minutes for the people involved may seem like a week has passed outside the conversation they were having." Eric shrugs, "You learn to live with it, but there is one thing you should be aware of; This place is as much a trap as it is a paradise. the Nexus has everything you could ever desire, but it has a way of keeping you here, at least until it's tired of you. Likely, fate was unsatisfied with the end of the last Kate that was here."

((dohohohoho))

[Lost_Deep]

Rowan Cabin

"Wait, the Nexus gets bored of people?" Kate seems to react to that half-way between disbelief and fear.

[Halae]

[Rowan Cabin]

Eric shakes his head, "The nexus isn't exactly sapient, or even sentient. Fate, though, likes to screw with people. Which... brings me to our next point. Kate was, essentially, a weirdness magnet. Vanilla humans have a tendency to experience physical changes while they're here; vampire transformations, the addition of cybernetic limbs, faeries deciding to play tricks on us; it happens because humans are basically an open canvas, and being the 'extremely average' appearance that you have, save your orange hair, you're a prime target." He scratches his chin, "Just... if something happens to you, keep an open mind about the change. If it's useful, attractive, or similar, then you'll probably end up keeping it. It's the debilitating changes that are a real problem, and Julie and I will be here to help if you need the help."

[Lost_Deep]

Rowan Cabin

Kate blinks. "...how much of a weirdness magnet? Are we talking 'I see ghosts' weird, or 'my roommate is a ninja' weird, or... 'I'm a fox now' weird?" She's taking this pretty well. She doesn't really believe Eric, but at least she isn't loudly voicing the impossibility of the situation.

[Halae]

[Rowan Cabin]

"That's a very good question, but Kate had a sapient spider capable of speech for a roommate, had become half-dragon, and had several useful cybernetics added to her, as I recall. There was probably more, but I never really kept track of the changes," Eric shrugs. He honestly doesn't seem too disturbed by it, "I was actually a vanilla human when I first arrived, then became a star spawn of yog-sothoth, and then I was human again for a while, and now I'm essentially a human shaped mass of grey matter. You're more of a magnet for it than I am. Or, rather, you might be; you've only just arrived, and we don't know yet. Suffice to say, though, a fluid sense of personal physical attributes will serve you well here."

[Lost_Deep]

Rowan Cabin

Kate is quiet. She takes some time to mull over this. If Eric, or Sophie, has sometime more to say, they can take the time now to do it.

[Halae]

[Rowan Cabin]

Eric remains quiet for the moment, letting Kate think.

[Lost_Deep]

Rowan Cabin

Kate comes to the logical conclusion, closes her eyes, takes a deep breath, and says, "I would like to wake up now."

The logical conclusion is not always the correct one.

[Halae]

[Rowan Cabin]

Eric breathes out, "Sorry Kate, but pinching yourself isn't going to work. You're here."

[Lost_Deep]

Rowan Cabin

"I don't know that. All I have is things that don't make sense and a bunch of weird feelings. I mean, this is a lot less disjointed than my dreams usually are, but that can be explained. My memory of my dreams isn't all that clear, this will probably just be really weird when..." she stops. There's doubt on her face. "I mean, there's no way this is actually happening right?" she reassures herself, "This can't actually be real. There's no way," Okay, judging from her tone of voice it seems to be that not only is she trying to persuade herself, but she's somehow failing. "There's just no basis for this. No reason for this to happen. There's an explanation..." Kate thinks hard for a moment. "Like Tesseract Drive dream alteration, the theory that the T-drive can cause slight alterations in brain chemistry that- that was disproven fifty years ago." Kate holds her head in her hands. She's quiet a bit more.

"My head hurts."

[Morty]

[Rowan Cabin]

"We understand," Sophie says. "It's a lot to take in. Even more than most Nexus arrivals have."

[Sapling Cabin]

Brinika is there, standing over Tuskfang's crib and playing her flute. This causes a handful of colourful pebbles to levitate above the crib, spinning and drawing shapes. The baby gurgles and grabs at the stones, but doesn't manage to catch them. It seems Brinika is trying to exercise more fine control over the rocks.

[Halae]

[Rowan Cabin]

"I'm sorry, there's just no way around this," Eric frowns, "We can help you settle in, but that's the best we've got to offer."

[Lost_Deep]

Rowan Cabin

Kate leans back in the chair, looking upset. She doesn't say anything for a bit.

[The Bushranger]

Infirmary

If Jamie can feel how the scratches feel, she knows it's quite painful- like being covered in shallow paper cuts; deep enough to really sting but most are not enough to bleed.

"If you were there too, one or both of us might have joined the animals. She's the most powerful person I've met, I think. She created the realm I escaped from." Natalie will squeeze back, really unwilling to let go.

I'm not sure if Clarissa did create KINDER, but Natalie believes that to be the case.

Jamie can, however she's more than willing to take it so that Natalie can feel better.

"Oh. Well, still. We would have made her pay for it," Jamie says emphatically, clearly more than willing to hold Natalie for as long as her friend needs it.

[Halae]

[Rowan Cabin]

Eric frowns, and looks at Sophie sadly for a moment, before saying, "I've got something I need to do in the kitchen. I'll be back soon." And then he stands up and leaves, leaving the two women together.

His hope is that Sophie is able to help console Kate a bit more. For this current Kate, she's quite clearly the one with more emotional traction; Eric is the guy who just dumped world shaking news on her. He's a source of information right now, but Sophie is a friend, and friend's tend to talk more when it's just friends talking.

[Morty]

[Rowan Cabin]

"I know how you feel," Sophie says. "There was never an alternate version of me here, but I know what it's like to be torn out of your old life and thrown into a new world. It had happened to me before I wound up here."

[Earl of Purple]

Infirmary

"No. We would have died, slowly and painfully. You were not there; you didn't see what she did. And I couldn't see you hurt, Jamie. You're my best friend." Natalie isn't letting go yet, and sighs slightly as the pain leaves, noticing it but not commenting, yet.

[Lost_Deep]

Rowan Cabin

Kate looks over at Sophie. "What was it like for you? Arriving and all? How'd you do it?"

[Morty]

[Rowan Cabin]

"I was lucky enough to meet someone who explained it to me," Sophie says. "I came here when I heard it was a place for redeeming evil-doers and other such people; I wanted to keep doing what I'd done back home."

[Lost_Deep]

Rowan Cabin

"This is a what?" Kate looks confused again. No one actually told her what GLoG is, so this reveal of it is unusual.

[Morty]

[Rowan Cabin]

"One of the purposes of this place is to serve as a sort of rehabilitation centre for people who want to turn away from some sort of wrong-doing in their past," Sophie says. "The other is charity and helping those in need. I was a social worker, in my old life, then I helped monsters find some peace with what they'd become, so it was the right place for me."

[Lost_Deep]

Rowan Cabin

"Monsters?" Kate asks, looking a bit concerned. She seems to think about it for a moment, but can't find a good explanation. "What do you mean?"

[Morty]

[Rowan Cabin]

"On my homeworld, supernatural beings, most of them unpleasant in one way or the other, hide from the sight of normal people," Sophie says. "I received a revelation that showed me the truth and gave me powers to do something about it. But unlike others who were enlightened in the same way, I didn't want to just destroy monsters. I was more interested in helping both mortal victims and those monsters who'd had their state thrust upon them... and there were many of those."

[Lost_Deep]

Rowan Cabin

"Oh. That sounds a lot different from where I come from. Wait... I wouldn't actually know if there were... yipes." That's a scary thought. She finds it doubtful, but not impossible.

[Morty]

[Rowan Cabin]

Sophie smiles slightly.

"You've had a taste of the paranoia every hunter faces daily. I wound up here while fighting a corrupt, myopic sorcerer. I have no way back, as far as I know, but I've made a life for myself here."

[Lost_Deep]

Rowan Cabin

Kate nods. After a moment, she finds another question, "So, did you travel from planet to planet finding the monsters, or mainly stay on one?"