voice;

[earthy]

[It takes Terra a while to investigate his new little communicator device... and then a while longer to remember everything he was told about how to use the thing... but eventually he gets an audio recording going.]

Hm. That definitely did something. [Or he's pretty sure he got an audio recording going, anyway.] Yeah, looks like it's working now. Okay. Uh... Hello?

[There's a brief pause and then he clears his throat and starts again.]

Hello. My name's Terra. I'm new to this area.

[This whole situation is an unimaginably big problem in regards to the keeping of the World Order, and he is probably duty-bound to Do Something About It, but while he figures out exactly what one is supposed to do about a whole world full of people knowing there are other worlds out there, he'll just not contribute to the problem. You will get no acknowledgement that this is another world from him, no sir/ma'am.]

I was wondering if anyone's figured out why they're here? I've read a couple times now that it's just... an accident, some random happening, but I don't buy it. There's gotta be a reason this power has been bringing people to this place. Some purpose or purposes it means for us to serve?

[Another pause. What else was he meaning to ask? Oh, right.]

And does anyone know anything about the games played around here? Sports games, specifically. I was given a job as a sort of coach... [Wait, let him just read the job title off the paper-] An 'Athletics Counselor'. For troubled kids. I'm told I'll get some training for the job, but I'd like to go into it knowing as much as I can... and right now, I really don't know anything. [Ah.] Except that they don't use fruit as balls in any of their games.

[A good thing to know, that.]

That's about it, I guess. Thanks for your time.

[Now to remember how to turn this device off.]

Hope that worked.

Comments

permavoice

[earthy]

[... Ah.]

A second chance or extra time, huh?

[He was really hoping someone would just say they discovered everyone was brought here to fight off some monster or some form of darkness. That it'd be something relatively simple, something he could just... go do and get done and then... Well, he's not sure what would come next, in that theoretical scenario. With the World Order problem here, with his friend being here but not remembering anything from before...

The possibility this person brings up, though... It's definitely something to think about sometime, uncomfortable as those thoughts are bound to be.

How about we just talk about you in the meantime, ma'am?]

You were in some pretty serious trouble back in your home?

[storyseeker]

[It's a lot to think about. Overly philosophical, too, or maybe just sentimental. She's not blind to that. She still believes it, though.]

Mmm, I was. I'm a journalist, and I got a little too close to the story when I was tracking a warlord with his own private army. When I was ported in, I thought I might be bleeding to death after a grenade went off practically in my face.

[She's quick to reassure, because she knows how reactions to this story go.] I wasn't, though. A friend was ported in after me, from later on, and it turns out I'm gonna be fine. But I didn't know that for about a year.

[earthy]

A journalist? Is that like a scribe? A record keeper?

[storyseeker]

[He doesn't know the word—got it. She'll retool her explanations accordingly. She's getting pretty good at it by now.]

Yes, something like that. The man I was after was believed to be dead—and if no one was looking for him, he could do a lot more damage to the world. I don't think people should be able to ignore it when something bad is happening just because it's far away.

[earthy]

I see. So, you were looking for information to prove this man was still around and up to no good.

I'm glad you found out you made it through that. Did your friend tell you if your mission was successful or not?

[storyseeker]

Mm-hm. More or less.

[She nods.]

According to Chloe, it was and it wasn't. I didn't get the proof that I could show to other people, but Lazarevic—the warlord—was killed, for real this time. He can't hurt people anymore, and that's what matters most. There will be other stories.

[earthy]

A happy ending, then...

[As happy as anything can be when somebody gets killed. But some people really do need to be just wiped right off the face of the World.]

Are you looking for stories here?

[storyseeker]

[For that story, at least. Because life doesn't have endings until the end...which is really morbid.]

I am. It's still my job here, just a little different. And a lot of people have some pretty amazing stories. [She grins.] What about you?

[earthy]

What about me? ... Oh, do I have any good stories?

[Well.]

Uh, no. Afraid not.

[He has lived a perfectly normal and uneventful life, truly.]

I can keep an eye and an ear out for any interesting stories for you, though.

[storyseeker]

[Elena's not so sure about that—people are almost always more interesting than they think. But she's also not going to pry without a good reason or a great story on the line.]

Sure, please do. That's one upside to the whole interdimensional accidental kidnapping thing—the stories never get boring, and with as many different worlds as imPorts come from, they never seem to end, either.

[earthy]

[Mm, the World Order issue...]

You really believe that? That we're all from different worlds?

[Maybe he can handle it like this. To start out with, anyway. Just try and sow some seeds of doubt?]

[storyseeker]

Don't you?

[She raises an eyebrow—is this guy in denial or something?—then shrugs.]

I don't know what it's like where you're from, but I'm American. Except my version of America has a history that's pretty different from the one we're in now. Also, no one has superpowers there.

[earthy]

... Ah, it's just...

[This is hard. Really hard. But he's gotta rise to the challenge.]

... Doesn't it sound a little farfetched to you? A bunch of other worlds? I mean, I'm just from a small mountain village of this world, America, myself. And... well, you said your version of America? So, maybe it's more that something strange has been going on with this one world? Something creating different... dimensions...? World... lines...? Instead of there actually being a lot of unknown worlds out there somewhere.

[storyseeker]

[O....kay...he doesn't sound at all believable, but on the other hand, Elena's heard about a lot of different variations on the world in the last couple of years. It might just be that his version of America is more different than some, especially in a mountain...village...hmm.]

I guess that's possible...it doesn't explain all the really dramatic robot people who say they're from another planet, though.

[earthy]

Dramatic robot people...?

[Sigh.]

Maybe they're just confused.

[storyseeker]

I couldn't blame them for that. [Her lips twitch; he can probably hear the smile in her voice.] Just being here is pretty confusing. But it does get easier...mostly.

[earthy]

[Mostly.]

I hope it does.

[Got his doubts right now.]

[storyseeker]

[If he's skeptical, well...Elena can't blame him.]

Hey. Good luck.

[earthy]

Thanks.

[This world is A Lot.]