∞ 81: The mind as a canvas [thoughts/written]

[chikaidestroyer]

Comments

[voice]

[slaying]

Quite the bed-time story.

[She sounds grateful, though. It's always nice to have the account from someone you trust.]

[voice]

[chikaidestroyer]

I suppose my timing could have been better.

[voice]

[slaying]

Hey. No worries.

[Not like I was planning on napping anyway.]

[voice]

[chikaidestroyer]

It's information that doesn't get out enough. There aren't very many who recall that far back.

[voice]

[slaying]

Albert--[his words remind her of something rather troubling. something rather personally troubling.]--in a few days? Even I'll have been here for a whole year. Me. A year-long veteran. Kind of scary.

[voice]

[chikaidestroyer]

Hard to believe, isn't it? You would be one of those who New Feathers look to when they want to know what happened in Luceti.

[voice]

[slaying]

Rookie to oldie in no seconds flat. Or, at least, that's what it feels like. [Exhales.] How do you deal?

[voice]

[chikaidestroyer]

Deal? With the experiments? You deal with them one at a time.

[But he knows she's asking about more.]

[voice]

[slaying]

[One at a time? Like apocalypses. Apocalypsi? Whatever]

I mean--with being a veteran. I mean...I've lead the rookie class before. But telling some teenage girls that they're about to become overpowered superheroes is a little different than running damage control for something like this.

[There's another sigh.] You're patient, and you're calm. How?

[voice | filtered]

[chikaidestroyer]

When it became obvious that brute strength wasn't going to work in our situation, I began looking at this as a waiting game. Waiting for something to happen -- whether it be an experiment, an accident, or the return home.

Of course, I don't expect everyone to have my level of patience.

[voice | filtered]

[slaying]

Good call. I'm known for plenty of things, but patience is not one of them.

Albert--you've been here for so long. If you genuinely could just get zapped back home, would you? I don't mean another of the Malnosso's ridiculous portal tricks...I mean, if you were given a legit way to return. Would you take it?

[I know I would. But...maybe more time makes more of a difference.]

[voice | filtered]

[chikaidestroyer]

If I could go back to my world... [There is the mental image of a forked path.]

...No. Knowing what I know about this world, no. It wouldn't be worth it.

[voice | filtered]

[slaying]

What would you be staying for?

[It's not a cruel or judgmental line of questioning; instead, she sounds slightly desperate in her own search for meaning.]

[voice | filtered]

[chikaidestroyer]

Right now, we know that the world brings back people who have been here before. Once you have been to this world once, it's only a matter of time before you return.

If there is a way to stop it, I want to know. Leaving only to return, with or without your memories of your last time in Luceti ... it's not a good situation.

[voice | filtered]

[slaying]

You're probably right. [Spike...that happened to him. He doesn't even really know.]

[voice | filtered]

[chikaidestroyer]

Making the "choice" to return home, knowing that you will very likely return without your memories... It would be a temporary relief with a high price. I imagine that, if I heard a previous version of myself made such a choice, I would not be able to justify the reasoning.