[Video]

[irwins]

[Shaun appears on camera with the easy smile of a man used to being on film, casual and unaffected, even if it's most certainly his game face. The main difference is he's used to being filmed risking his life, not sitting back in a chair.]

Hey everyone. Gotta admit, this is a little lower key than what I'm used to. But that's fine. Action shots can wait. I've got some questions.

So you know, buckle up.

[Another grin, the carefree Irwin for all intents and purposes -- something he can only manage to pull off because he's found Georgia here. Those who know him might see that he's still frayed around the edges, cracks still being mended. Thankfully no one here knows him, aside from his sister.]

First -- apparently I'm supposed to review restaurants. Cool. But, uh, there is a lot of red meat. Which is weird, for the record. For one thing, how can I review something I've never tasted before? Anyone know where a guy can get a decent veggie burger?

[The fluffier easier bit out of the way, he'll sink straight into the actual point of this post now.]

Second -- do a lot of us imPorts have people they know from their worlds? Is it common? Or more hit or miss? I'm not a math guy or anything, just saying there's a lot of people in one world, never mind in a whole load of worlds for someone to show up and know someone else.

Not that I'm complaining about that part. At all. Not even a little.

[In fact he is more interested in finding out how to make sure that he and his sister get to stay right here where they are.] Speaking of. Hey. George. Fridges should have more than cans of Coke and leftover sadness in them. I'm gonna fix that.

Comments

☂ Video + Text

[numberthree]

[ Allison knows that face. Not specifically the guy. But that face. The one he's wearing over his face. A face at ease with cameras and with ... ease itself. It reminds far too much of Hollywood. And childhood. And her own face in the mirror a million too many times to count.


She's about to turn it off when he gets into his second question, and she looks back. The question sticking even as he rambles off to someone off camera. It's a good question. One she wanted to know a week ago, too. She turns on her camera, but her answer shows up as text on the bottom of her screen. ]

It seems like there are some people who have many and some people who have no one at all.

Video

[irwins]

[Hmm. Hard to miss the combo of text and video, but Shaun figures there's probably a reason for it. He's curious, but has just enough tact not to launch straight into the question.

Instead he nods.]

So it's definitely a spectrum. Think there's any pattern to it?

I mean, it can't be random. There's no way a random draw would catch George and then me, never mind the other groups of friends and family or enemies or whatever.

[numberthree]

Or all of my brothers and sisters

We've arrived over the last three months.
But our last just arrived yesterday.



[ Even though, there was, now that it suddenly popped into her head this way, based on his words, the fact -- they were the last people alive on their Earth, because it was gone, after they'd gone, less than a minute later. Did that make them outside the pattern, then?

But then why the month gaps and odd numbers of them? ]

action

[choosetruth]

[George is sitting at her desk and mostly ignoring what he's saying, though the familiar sound of his voice is comforting to her in a way little else has been since she got here. But when he says her name, she lifts her head. She rolls over in her desk chair and holds up her middle finger. Then she rolls back away.

She loves you, Shaun.]

action

[irwins]

Wow.

[Shaun is putting on his best poor affronted maiden face, hand to his chest to clutch his non-existent pearls and everything, before grinning.]

I'll take that to mean "thank you, Shaun, for your concern about my well being."

action

[choosetruth]

Thank you, Shaun, for being an asshole.

[Yes, that's totally what she means.]

video

[honeybadgered]

Sometimes you have a lot of people and then they leave and you're alone.

[There are still people from Gabby's world, actually, but the two specific people she knew best are gone and she's pretty bummed about it.]

Are you a vegetarian? You don't look like a vegetarian.

video

[irwins]

[Then they leave. Shaun flinches visibly at that before he catches himself.]

What makes them leave? Does it just happen?

[There has to be some rhyme or reason... right? Maybe? That's wishful thinking, and he knows it.]

Nah. I'm not. The concept of meat doesn't bother me. I'm used to poultry and fish and whatever.

video

[honeybadgered]

I guess. I haven't been here long. But then sometimes they come back again! So... you can always hope that'll happen.

[She shifts uncomfortably because. Well. Laura hasn't come back.]

So why don't you like red meat? Is your superpower turning into a cow? Cause that'd turn me off red meat too.

video;

[youarespecial]

Veggie burgers? Those are a thing?

video;

[irwins]

Where I'm from,they're the thing.

[A shrug.] Meat is murder, and all that. Except that's actually sorta literal.

video;

[youarespecial]

Don't you humans raise animals just to be food?

[am_i_a_monster]

[Abigail looks at him curiously.]

Is it that you don't eat red meat, or just that you haven't had it before?  I'd think a good reviewer would have to be open to new foods.   Restaurants will try out new dishes, new trends show up, and there's so many different types of cuisine. 

[irwins]

It's both. No one eats red meat where I'm from, unless they have a particularly impressive death wish.

[A shrug of his shoulders.] Yeah probably, but I don't think I'm a particularly good reviewer. In theory I'd be willing to try it if it's actually safe here, but there's sort of a mental hurdle, you know?

[No one eats any sort of mammal meat in his world. At all. For very good reasons.]

[am_i_a_monster]

Yeah, I get that.  It can get hard to get past a negative association with food.

[Learning the truth about what her father fed her, had made it difficult to eat for a while.]

You could get a vegetarian meal from a restaurant where they make the food in front of you.  Like a teppanyaki restaurant.  You could a meal with fish or chicken too, if that's okay.

Oh, If you want a really good veggie burger, try one of the ones that Tina makes.   

video

[continuousgroaning]

I'd be happy to make you a veggie burger. Or beef. Or both. I grew up helping in my dad's burger restaurant so I know my way around them.

Re: video

[irwins]

Just so you know, I grew up helping in my dad's burger restaurant would be grounds for calling Child Protective Services where I'm from.

[It's weird what becomes a danger zone. But he offers an easy grin.] Nice of you to offer. ...so since you know, are actual burgers really better than veggie burgers? Some of the old folks talk about them like they were a religious experience.

Video

[finnality]

[A teenager wearing a bear hood responds.]

For the first question, I don't know anything about any veggie burgers. But hey, you can review anything, even if you haven't tasted if before. Just go with your gut! Or in this case, your taste bud-gut.

[Then he frowns thoughtfully as he goes on.]

For the second one? I don't think it's super common, but it's a thing. When I came here, there were already two peeps from my world here. Now it's down to one, though.

Video

[irwins]

[Interesting fashion. Shaun blinks before shrugging it off. He's seen weirder things here.]

Do you think so? I dunno. Like, if I've never tried something before, whenever I try it, it'll be the best and the worst of that thing I've ever had. And as literary as "It was the best of steaks, it was the worst of steaks" would be, I doubt it'd be a helpful review.

[But all of that is unimportant compared to the next part.] One of them left? Do you know how or why? What makes someone wind up leaving?

Video

[drivesadesk]

It's kind of hit or miss. I was here for a couple years with no one from my universe, but I just got someone. Other people have a ton of people from their universe, others have none. It's pretty unpredictable.

Video

[irwins]

All over the place and no pattern, huh? Great.

[Shaun doesn't bother to hide how displeased he is by that information. Not this guy's fault, and that's the general sense he's gotten over all. But still.]

There's got to be some... something to it. Some reason. Two people from a universe being the only two from that universe and knowing each other probably isn't a coincidence at least.

[And Shaun is confident that he and his sister are the only two from their universe because Georgia would've figured out by now if there were other folks from their zombie-infested world.]

Voice;

[pocketfulof]

First--Have you checked anywhere for those veggie burgers, yet?

And second? It's a hit or miss, and the ones that are here can come or go...

Voice;

[irwins]

I haven't gone digging, but the menus I've looked at so far seem pretty focused on cow burgers.

[That's not what they're called, Shaun.]

Yeah. That part. The coming and going part. I especially don't like that part.

☂ [ Private ] - May 13th backdate

[numberthree]

[ In the middle of the night -- in the middle of other unmentionable and unpleasant things that most of Allison's nights involve since narrowly escaping an apocalypse only to end up jailed on another planet -- she does remember something she hadn't earlier, and she grabs her communicator. Searching for his imPort number and name from earlier. Then, sending a message and a file. ]


To help you with your research.
Someone gave this to me when I just got here, too.

If you find anything new, I'd love to know.

Download File

[ Private ] - text

[irwins]

[He's not expecting to find a message in his inbox, but as he clicks through to the file, he's certainly glad to see it.]

Allison, this is great. Thank you.

If I find anything new, I'll make sure to send it your way.