[ video ]

[hostage]

[This post goes up very shortly after Jesse comes out of his catatonic state, on the evening of the 23rd. He's a little frenzied, a little wild-eyed and panicked, but he has to know he didn't imagine all of it. There has to be someone else who saw it, too.]

Did anybody - Did anybody else just get back? I mean, like... Were any of you guys ported out, too? To the future, or whatever it was. I can't be the only one. I mean, I saw some of you there. It was De Chima, right? We were just in De Chima? But our bodies got left behind here, I guess. I dunno. What was it? Was it a dream, or... Like, did we seriously just see the future? Because I think that's what it was. I think that was the future. I wasn't alone. I mean, I know I wasn't alone there.

...Right?

Comments

[whathawksdo]

No idea. All I said was I know we couldn't have been there physically, since I came back to myself with that dampener still attached.

[ Although she sounds mildly irritated by that. Stupid power dampeners. ]

A vision, maybe, only I've always been under the impression those don't tend to be so interactive.

[hostage]

Yeah...

[He hesitates for a moment.]

Can I ask why you're stuck with that thing?

[whathawksdo]

I vigorously resisted arrest.

[ Which isn't a lie, but... also not really an answer. ]

[hostage]

Seems like overkill.

[whathawksdo]

Perhaps, but after what happened to those soldiers, I'm sure you can imagine how trying to arrest someone like me would go.

[hostage]

I thought most of that was my fault.

[whathawksdo]

Well, in part, I suppose. I don't normally kill people so directly with that spell.

[hostage]

[He snorts.]

"Normally".

[She's so casual about this.]

[whathawksdo]

[ He so does not want to know how long her kill list is. ]

There's always the exception where someone goes flying off a cliff or it triggers a rockslide, but that doesn't happen very often.

[hostage]

Has the rockslide thing happened more than once?

[whathawksdo]

Thankfully not. I didn't like the idea of being buried under a pile of rocks anymore than the bandits did.

[hostage]

Yeah... That sounds pretty rough.

[whathawksdo]

I think the bandits would be more liable to call it rocky.

[ Provided they hadn't been crushed by-- yeah, moving on. ]

Are you going to be all right?

[hostage]

[Jesse lets out a short laugh.]

My body's in one piece, so... I'm better off than I expected to be by now. Here's hoping I don't blink and end up back in 2025.

[whathawksdo]

I think I'll go on hoping that as well.

[ Though... ]

What would have happened if you'd tried healing someone who's dead? It wouldn't have worked, right?

[hostage]

It mighta. One time only. It's a trade, you know? I take whatever's wrong with somebody and they go back to being healthy. So if I'd done it, they'd get their arms and legs back and whatever, probably come back to life. And I'd be... You know. Rotting.

[whathawksdo]

That's... [ Gross. ] Well, hopefully you can avoid any future scenarios where people want you to raise the dead. I probably won't be around for the next time.

[hostage]

Nobody's ever tried to force me to do it before, so I'm hoping it'll be a while before that happens again.