maskormenace | 002

Entry tags:

002 - Audio

[It's time to play the 'who's awake at 1 AM' game! If you're not, Tetsuo's talking softly enough that it might not wake you. If you want to see or answer this later in the day ~~when normal people are awake~~, feel free, but please specify.]

Everybody's got powers, right? That's why they want us to stick around...

[You can just hear how much he likes that prospect. He all but spits those last two words out like it's a curse.]

So anyway, I'm curious.

How many of you have 'side effects' from them? Anybody know? I know there's gotta be more than one... but it's not all of you, is it?

I - nnghh. I wanna know why that is... why's it only some people?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[You can hear it in his voice; a cross between sarcasm and genuine curiosity. Ah, teenagers]

What's these relays you keep talking about?

They're... giant... element zero reactors? [A pause.] They help propel ships across the galaxy so that leaving your system takes days, or hours, instead of hundreds of years.

[Uhhh...which element was zero...uhhh... shit.]

Element - you mean like hydrogen...?

[That's totally the first one, right? or was that oxygen?]

Well, I mean, not at all like Hydrogen. [ It's not even an element... ]

It's not an element, it's a material. It's just...when we discovered it, we didn't know what else to call it.

[He's genuinely trying here, but he doesn't get it. Elements that aren't elements?]

Uh-huh. Your dimension's weird.

Yeah, it is. [ Fondly. ]

But it's home, and I kind of like it. Despite it's...flaws. [ And giant, exterminating robot squids. ]

Yours has to have weird things here and there, I'm sure, right?

No. It's this place that's weird.

Well -- Yeah, I mean -- this is the past? Over a hundred years behind when I'm from -- So there's not just that, but...

The whole cold war thing? It's just freaky.

Hmph. I don't care about that -- America oughta fight its own wars. It starts enough of 'em.

Well, where I come from, we're all one country -- it's not...

I don't know, we shouldn't be starting any wars, but you're right, these guys get in more than they probably should. It's not healthy. For anyone.

All one country?! ...Oh, right. Space. I guess you don't really have countries on Mars or wherever, do you?

[Pause. Then a slight laugh.]

They really think we're gonna play along, don't they? Don't pay any attention to who or what they get, as long as it's got power.

Not really, no. But Earth does, but... the Americas -- the US, Canada, and Mexico, it's all one, when I'm from.

Anyway, I don't...I don't think they can control who comes, but they're trying to control us once we come. It's a...pretty big difference. Some of us, like me and the people from my world, we don't have much compared to some people, when it comes to power. But they want our help all the same.

Like hell they're getting it. Almost makes me want to sign up with the other guys.

Speaking of that... What about other places, like Japan? [You know, as a totally random example.] That part of your future super country too?

[He can't help poking at whatever bizarre anti-reality this guy's from at this point.]

Well, not the United North American States, no. But it exists? It didn't...disappear, if that's what you're asking.

[ A pause. ] It's smaller than here, though. It's... the water levels are higher back home than they are here.

Get your story straight. Either you have other countries, or you don't. Which is it?

[Is anyone ALIVE in Japan in your future or...]

It's...complicated. Right now is different than...even a few months ago. We're kind of in the middle of an attempted extermination. [ He blazes through that, and keeps going. Chances of anyone being alive in any parts of the planet are slim to none. ]

But, ah, the Systems Alliance is over our colonies, and our collective military, but there are still sovereign nations. Japan's one of them, just like the European Union, and the Chinese People's Federation. But it's just...Earth. Most people are going offworld, which means the Alliance has more power as a whole, even if they answer to the Earth Parliament.

[ Mass Effect just didn't give us much, because who cares about Earth when you can have an alien dating sim instead. ]

[Congratulations, you win the worst future award]

Three world wars AND an "extermination"?! Heh. No wonder everyone's leaving.

The extermination is galaxy-wide. We're not exactly escaping it by leaving. Like I said, that's been recent -- er, that they've started this. We're...we're working on it.

[ Thanks tetsuo, now he's tired, has a migraine, and is depressed. ]

Sucks to be the future.

[Even when he's not being a pain in the ass, he's a pain in the ass.]

Er --

[ You can hear the judgmental squint in his voice. It's not even subtle, it's like suckerpunch of judge. ]

Yeah, it's... it's pretty bad. We're not giving up, though. We still have a chance.

You said you were here a year, right? How do you know?

[You wanna keep judging him? Go on. He can judge you right back. Two can play the 'point stuff out' game.]

Time...stops when you come here? Someone from my world went home for a little bit, and then things happened -- and I was there?

Even though I was here?

[This is officially making his head hurt more than it did. What.

Are you sure this is all real. This isn't sounding like it.]

Huh?

When you go home, nothing will have changed, and no time will have passed.

Hell, apparently, it'll be like you never even left, even for you.

So it's not real. None of this is.

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