three ☾ video; forward-dated to july 13

[viciousmaukery]

Is it just—a common thing around here, to live weeks at a time in one day?

[Guess who got Ported out then pulled back in yesterday? If you guessed Molly, you’d be right! And he looks a little off-put by this whole thing—he’s shuffling his cards restlessly, and the coat he’s wearing isn’t quite as brightly, wildly sequined as his usual display. Considering this is Molly, it’s still an obvious eyesore, especially in the middle of a hipster café in Nonah.]

I knew it was gonna be weird, leaving and then coming back and remembering all of [and he waves a hand at his surroundings,] this, but knowing’s different from first-hand experience. So now I’m curious: how’d it go for the rest of you? Leaving this place, seeing all the people you missed, and then coming back here and having all those other memories just dumped back onto your lap.

[It’s weird and a teeny bit terrifying. After all: what if, what if, something in that whole process were to go wrong, and Molly were to remember whoever he had been before the grave?

Another shuffle. He pulls a card at random and sighs, before shuffling it back into his deck. Eagle-eyed viewers might be able to see the front side of the card, though: a man hanging upside-down.]

And, sort of tangentially related, I s’pose: In about—two more months? I’ll have been here a whole year. That’s the longest I’ve ever stayed in one place. [He’s been here longer than he’s been a part of the Mighty Nein by now. It’s strange how he misses them, still, even though he just came back from seeing them. Maybe the one thing he misses more than the Nein is being able to pull up stakes and just—go.] How do you manage not to go stir-crazy?

Comments

video; un: Julian Delphiki | Bean

[justlittle]

[ Have a stoic nine year old kid. ]

Weeks would have been nice. I was gone for a year and a half. Came back, all I missed was a Sunday.

[viciousmaukery]

A year and—gods, that’s rough. A lot can change in a year. A lot can change in weeks. [Nothing actually has changed for Molly, other than the addition of a small bird child to his party. Which is not super convenient, because they get into a lot of fights. It’s only a matter of time before Kiri becomes chicken dinner.]

Did it happen again after that?

[justlittle]

Not yet, but it could at any moment.

[ He's fully aware of the tenuous grasp all imPorts have on this universe. ]

I don't know how you can be ready for that sort of thing, but I try to be.

[viciousmaukery]

I don't think you can be. Other than leaving a note about what to do in case it's permanent, I suppose. [That's called a will. Right? He's pretty sure it's a will.]

But all right—how exactly do you prepare for being pulled out of here? Temporarily or permanently?

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[fireandhoney]

It's pretty disorienting.

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[viciousmaukery]

Which one, being stuck here almost a year or being tossed back and forth between universes like a, what’s it here, baseball?

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[fireandhoney]

Spending nearly a year here, then going home and remembering none of my time here and I'm right back where I was when I left, including being a year younger. Then spending a few months back home, then coming back here only to learn I'd been gone a week and I'm the year older that I was before I left, plus all the memories I have of this place suddenly being back in place.

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[andromedas]

How did you like to travel around before? With a group, or striking it solo?

This really isn't how I pictured settling down, either.

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[viciousmaukery]

With a group—strength in numbers, all that. This is the first place I’ve ever been to where I’ve been alone.

[It’s terrifying and strangely fascinating. He’s been alone for long enough here that he has some idea now of how not-so-existentially-terrifying it is, although it’s a state of affairs he’s been rectifying.]

Yeah? How’d you picture it?

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[andromedas]

No roommates or anything? ...I guess, even in a house packed full of other imPorts, we might all be waiting for each other to be gone in the morning anyway.

[That's a great question; had she ever/i> pictured herself settling down? Picking out a planet that looked right, a colony, a permanent home?]

I think after a while, the ship became my home on the road. Traveling around, taking up different jobs and missions, that really...seemed like enough.

[A chuckle.]

No real way to make that work here, is there?

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[melodramagic]

Molly, you were ported out?

[ She has so many questions. ]

Do you remember exactly what happened or...?

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[viciousmaukery]

Hi, Sabrina. [He waves at her, somewhat less cheerily than usual.] What, when I Ported out? I was busking, and then, [he snaps his fingers,] I went home.

As for what happened when I got back, it's a very long story that involves wolves.

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[melodramagic]

[ So one really does remember their own port out. Hrm. ]

Uh... wolves?

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[continuousgroaning]

It's happened to me twice. Each time I was gone for one day here, but a year back home. It's... disorienting, at first. To realize you can just forget about this place like you were never here.

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[viciousmaukery]

That's one word for it. [There's a quiet sigh, and Molly starts shuffling his deck again.] I knew it was something that might happen, but I didn't think it'd happen to me.

And on top of that—when I went back home it was to people I hadn't seen in months. I hadn't known I missed them, and now? [He shrugs.] They're not here, and I still—well, I would mind even less if one of them came here, now that I know you can just pick up where you left off.

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[continuousgroaning]

And it might happen once or twice and then never again. I expected it to happen to me again this year, since it happened my first two years here somewhere around June but... no.

It was a relief for me to at least know for sure that my family didn't have to deal with me vanishing without a trace. But it is frustrating to be reunited with them then have them be out of reach again, too.

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[burlyboy]

You're telling me. It's weird. Anyway, best thing to do to keep from going stir-crazy is to collect yourself enough responsibilities so that you don't want to go anywhere else.

[ Or even if you wanted to, it'd be the world's shittiest thing to do. ]

Also, uh - you all right, Molly? A lot of the time, things are rougher at home than they are here.

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[viciousmaukery]

Weird, confusing, a little existentially terrifying. [A shrug. Then he pauses, breathes out slow.] How much responsibility is too much? Because that sounds like something I could drown in, very easily.

[As for the question?] I'm actually fine. We won a tournament and avoided being conscripted into a war, and we're on our way to earn an ungodly amount of money. [From a really shady criminal.] I just—didn't realize how much I missed them.

[burlyboy]

The type of responsibility that comes with the kinds of people that make it fun. And the sort you don't wanna disappoint. That helps.

[ His responsibilities are purely interpersonal in nature. Despite his previous profession, he hasn't had a hand in saving the world. Just maybe saving a couple people's days. ]

I hope your friends show up here one day, Molly. I really do. [ A beat. ] Haven't you been here longer than you've known most of them? Other than, uh, your one friend.

[devilishly_handsome]

Wow, I...haven't experience that yet. Are you okay?

[Molly seems a bit shaken.]

[viciousmaukery]

I'm fine, just—a little surprised, that's all. Anything happen to you while I was out?

[devilishly_handsome]

No. It was just a normal day for me.

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[storyseeker]

I do a lot of sudoku, personally.

How was your trip back home? Anything exciting happen?

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[viciousmaukery]

Sudo-what now.

We fought wolves and a hill giant and won a shitload of gold. [It's not a lie, but it just sounds so outrageous when he lays it out that way that it sounds like it is.]

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[storyseeker]

It's a logic game—involves numbers but not really math. But wolves and giants and gold sound way more fun. I hope you did something fun with it.