maskormenace | [VIDEO]

[The video feed presents an older british gentleman at his desk, surrounded by stacks of history books. He looks up into the camera and smiles warmly.]

Good evening, my name is Walter Strickler. I'm a new arrival here, and I thought it best that I introduce myself. More than that, actually, I was hoping to ask a question.

I am in the midst of familiarizing myself with the history of this world, and how it differs from my own... Most of the discrepancies have been fairly minute, others less so, but it lead me to wondering about other worlds. Your worlds, and the histories theirin; if you care to share them. I suppose I'm just curious, is it common for most of us... "imports" to be from worlds that are similar, or ones that are vastly different? Is there anything here that has struck you as odd?

[There's a small pause, an aside glance, as he arranges the wording of his next question carefully.]

And, are 'powers' common where you're from? Whether it be mutations, magic, or anything of the sort. Are these things familiar to you?

Please do forgive me if I take a moment to understand anything you have to share. I must admit, I am still attempting to process all of this... But I would not want to have anyone feeling put-out for my misgivings. Thank you. I look forward to getting to know you all better.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

So I've heard. My current theory is that this may be due to the Porter itself. It exists here on a version of Earth, ergo, it's more likely to find individuals from other Earths. Everyone else may be outliers, but I'm not sure that there's any rhyme or reason to that either.

Hm.. And again, I wonder if that may be the Porter's choosing, to try finding people who are familiar with this sort of thing... In which case, I'm an outlier. There's a lot to learn, hence my wide berth of questions.

Yep. The Porter seems to want people who know how to cope with all the weird. That, and she usually grabs people with pretty tough lives.

[ Sometimes Jaime figures she's offering them a better life. Way too many people are happier here for that to be a complete shot in the dark. ]

So what's your world like?

[There's a subtle, wry smile at the mention of "pretty tough lives". Or maybe it's fondness for the thought of his own world.]

It's not unlike this one. Though the technology is quite different, and there are a number of historical differences beginning from the Cold War onward. If I go back even further, there a few smaller changes... certain historical figures are absent, while others appear. Where one inventor fails, another takes their place and creates something similar. It's a bit unnerving, but not impossible to make sense of.

Yeah, that sounds about right. For what it's worth, this is the only world I've heard of where the Cold War, um, goes the way that it went in this year. The Berlin Wall fell a long time ago in everyone else's worlds.

You seem pretty on top of things for being kidnapped into a weird interdimensional hub with superpowers, though. Most people start freaking by now.

You've missed the days worth of panic prior to this. I've largely kept to myself, until now... Research has helped temper my nerves, but there's only so much that I can learn from pamphlets and history books.

Besides, I wanted to make an effort to know my fellow "imports".

[ Okay. Jaime laughs, at least a little bit. ]

Okay, that makes a little more sense. I didn't broadcast my panic attack when I got here either. I don't know how people wind up here without wigging out the first few days.

But it's not so bad here. The people are nice, at least. I'm Jaime, by the way. It's nice to meet you, um...

Strickler. Walter Strickler, but 'Walt' is fine. It's a pleasure to meet you, Jamie.

I think that if anything has made this unfortunate situation easier, it's the community itself. All of the "imPorts" I've met so far have been exceedingly helpful.

Yeah, you'll meet some good people here. A couple of stinkers too, but hey, that kind of counts for anyone.

[ Though their stinkers tend to be serial killers and murderers and megalomaniacs. Maybe not something to lead up with! ]

So what do they have you doing here?

Mediation services. I act as a third party to help our clients solve their disputes.

I hope I can avoid those “stinker” imPorts you’ve mentioned, seeing as I’ve already met those individuals of the native population.

[His job is tiring.]

[ Jaime winces. ]

Oh, no. Have the locals already been giving you a hard time? They can be kind of... well, when it comes to us, the whole immediate celebrity thing can be a bit much.

No, thank goodness, no! It's just... The problems that these people bring in are utterly trite.

[He rubs his eyes, sighing.] I was anticipating some personal disputes, a few business litigations... but these are more along the lines of neighbors arguing whether one isn't cutting their lawn short enough.

Oh. [ Jaime snorts. ] I get it now. You got saddled with some sort of personal dispute job, right?

Here's a tip: the only people I've ever met who liked their assigned jobs are, like, me and three other people. Everyone else winds up moving on once they've got their feet underneath them again. You can always just switch.

That's what I've heard. I'm going to try to get back into teaching as soon as I can. Until then, I'll simply have to grin and bear it.

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