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[exsithstential]

[Sitting in the middle of the shot is a man, a rather plain looking fellow in simple, tidy dress, sitting on a bench. If the background foliage is any clue he's more than likely in some sort of outdoor park.

Even with his casual appearance, his evenly distributed weight and perfect posture possibly betrays a more "cultured" upbringing.

When he speaks, his tone is soft and his words have a pleasant flow.]

Forgive me, please, if you find my sentiment a tired one. I'll try not to let my ignorance be a burden.

[Pausing a moment, his eyes travel down to the floor as if searching for the words there. When he returns his gaze he brings a hand up with it as if to beg a quick 'bare with me'.]

Rest assured I will not be asking for someone to spell out the full details of my predicament. I have already done my own research and, while certainly unusual to say the least, it seems a rather simple set up. Almost engineered to be such. However I have no idea if that is by some overt design or if one can simply attribute it to the efficiency and adaptability of this world's Governing body.

[Slipping his fingers together, the man leans back the few inches he needs to rest against the back of the bench and draws a quick, silent sigh.]

However. Perhaps my question, for all of my research, is too large, too... [Spreads his hands.] obtuse of a concept to expect a simple, comprehensive answer.

But-

[A quick flash of pink as he licks his lips, and you can almost see the discomfort building in him as he prepares himself. It's at this moment the truth just behind his tepid demeanor shines through in his eyes. A sort of hopeless, overwhelming desperation just barely contained under will and nerve. Truly in this moment this man could be the most lonely, lost being in the universe.]

How does one... how do I reconcile this new life... This, this... All of it. With who I was before? How can we be expected to just forget everything that we were? Everything we... [He runs a hand through his hair as he looks up from the camera. A momentary reprieve.] -we've done? And just start all over as refugees in, what is for some of us, a completely alien world?

I ask you, good people, my question: how do we go on? When our lives are no longer relevant and everything we've fought for, everything we've bled for, is now meaningless?

What am I supposed to do?

Comments

[Permavid]

[governorkang]

Meaningless? Our worlds did not cease to exist when we were brought here.

[exsithstential]

You are most likely correct. [However his tone gives room for doubt.] ...But what if you were responsible for it? Had a duty to the order of things? Everything that we were effectively ended the day we were 'ported' in.

[governorkang]

I can tell you from first-hand experience that our worlds, and our timelines, are intact. I have been sent home without missing a second of my children's lives, or dealing with the responsibilities of leading my nation. I spent ten years there before being taken again.

[exsithstential]

Yes... I've heard of this happening before. Though I had not realized time did not move at the same speed on on both sides... [He seems to mull this over.] And when you went back? Was it of your own violation? Or did it happen at random?

[governorkang]

The latter. It can happen to any of us.

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[pixiestyx]

You're a bit depressing, aren't you?

You try to find a way home, I guess. Or make the best of it. It's not too bad here, really, once you've gotten adjusted.

[exsithstential]

I do apologize. [While he is still clearly shaken, he quickly reigns it in and returns to his passive expression.] It was not my intention to cause any discomfort.

I suppose I'm just feeling a bit lost right now...

[pixiestyx]

Oh no, don't worry about it! Sorry, I didn't mean to make you feel bad. It totally does suck, but there's lots of us here in the same boat, so chin up, all right?

[she pauses to smile at him. he really does seem at a loss--she feels a bit guilty for being so cavalier, now.]

You'll be fine, I'm sure. It might be shifty but at least they don't seem like they want to hurt us.

[exsithstential]

[He looks up suddenly, snagging eye contact.]

By 'they' do you mean the Government of this world? Excuse me, this nation?

[pixiestyx]

[whoa! that startles her a little.]

Uh, yeah--or whoever's behind this place, I don't really know what's going on, either. But they give you a job and a house and stuff, so whatever they want from us, it means keeping us comfortable.

permavideo

[mmiab]

[ ah.

it's a question. he has the benefit of limitless time (relatively speaking) and the experience of everywhere, of next to everything, making this nothing more than an unforeseen detour in a life full of unforeseen detours all of which lead him to a place at least somewhat similar to one he's seen before. that's not something which can be said for everyone.

he's already been reassured that what's left behind remains and so, with the light hitch of lips and a straightening of his tie, all that's left is to offer the sought after advice. ]

The best you can.

[exsithstential]

[For a moment Revan just turns and looks back through the screen, eyes shining with curiosity and contemplation.

At first Revan was going to bark away the notion, so utterly simple and non-committal that it was hardly worth a response.

But before he spoke, Revan felt something. Perhaps in the Force. Some glimmer of the future. Or more likely, but not necessarily exclusive to the previous, the man spoke those four little words with a truth so resounding that Revan simply could not dismiss them outright.

It was no pep phrase. It was a question of determination. Of will.]

How?

i'm so sorry for the delay

[mmiab]

Remember what's passed and keep it close. Use it to discover the parallels. Universes echo, times travel and overlap - find the traces and keep a hold, grow your roots.

[ but there's something else that's kept the Doctor going, something beyond the desperate grasp for traces of home (there are none) in the times after renegade became wanderer and home became the inside of a box and nowhere else, nowhere else in the universe. in any universe.

it is, perhaps, more important than ghost hunting. isn't it better to have something real? ]

But more importantly, uncover the new. Don't waste a second. Live.

[ live your present, in the absence of your past. ]

No worries. I've been indisposed as well

[exsithstential]

I find your manner of speech hard to follow. [Taking a deep breath, he hangs his arms over he back of his seat.] Yet somehow inspiring.

[He offers a warm smile as thanks.]

Usually I'm the one offering words of encouragment. But I guess you answer the question of where do those go that others go to?

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[assassinat]

You know most people spend their entire lives wishing for a clean slate.

Here you’ve been handed one on a silver platter and it still doesn’t please you. [ Men…. ]

[exsithstential]

Is that what I'm supposed to believe this is? Some sort of universal paradigm of absolution? 'Leave your old, worn out world behind and replace it with this one. It's new, shiny- and oh yes, unbelievably small.'

[SOMEONE'S got a raw nerve.]

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[dissemble]

If a new world renders everything you've ever done meaningless, you've got to ask yourself how much meaning it had in the first place.

[exsithstential]

It was a lifetime's worth of investment into the well being of a civilization.

[And more.]

The meaning it had is contained in that universe. Compartmentalized in another reality, it would seem. Leaving me... here.

[dissemble]

Guess you're straight out of luck then.

[exsithstential]

That would be greatly distressing is there was such thing as luck.

[He should have known a public forum would draw people like this.]

Tell me then, I take it you've found yourself quite at home?

[dissemble]

I wouldn't say that.

voice;

[resoul]

Move on, start again. Do what you did before, but adapt it to this world.

[exsithstential]

I can't help but wonder if that's the point of this whole affair. Are we abducted for the benefit of this world?

It's difficult for me to to just accept such a strange situation without understanding it first.

[resoul]

Who gives a damn about the benefit of this world? They abducted us, and they want all their little imPorts to fall into line and do anything they ask. There's a lot to accept, but don't accept all of it.

[exsithstential]

[Well now... isn't this curious.]

Of course they do. We are, quite obviously, a liability to them and this world. The brands, our housing, even the jobs they've so generously assigned us are all a means of a control. A gentle reminder we are completely at their mercy.

Or so they'd like us to believe.