theshimmer | Continuation.

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Vitali doesn't seem inclined to come much closer to any of you; there's a wall of glass between her and you, and she appears to want to keep it that way. Any attempts to breach it are likely a terrible idea; just because there aren't any soldiers with them doesn't mean that they're unarmed, after all.

"So you've decided to act up," she says, her hands folded behind her back, her posture formal and stiff in a way that doesn't suit her; her gaze remains as icy as her words, though she's refraining from making direct eye contact with any one of you in particular. She's still audible, despite the glass; it isn't as all-encompassing as the Shimmer seemed to be whenever it spoke to you within the boundary, but it's sharp, commanding. "If that's what you want to do, then fine. We can talk about that. You guys haven't wanted to settle since you got back; maybe this will make you actually sit down for a moment.

"If you're going to talk, get it out of your system before we throw you back in quarantine and figure out what to do with you. And try to keep from launching at the glass or doing anything stupid to yourselves in the meantime. We'd hate to have a reason to classify any of you as a threat."

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[Page will similarly look over to the...collection of their 'colleagues', off to the side.]

I suppose that's the most jarring part of all this. I don't feel sick. If anything, it's...

[...probably stupid, to go into this much intimate detail when she still can't be sure she trusts either of you, but. well.]

...not needing to eat or sleep...it's odd, certainly, but I don't miss it. Which is in itself bizarre. It's a vicious cycle.

[...sigh.]

But it seems I should count myself lucky, compared to them. We even fared better in terms of everyone making it out in one piece; there was Rean's disappearance, but other than that....

[......no one was murdered by cougars or hostile corrupted villagers, basically.]

It seems beneficial, if anything. And who knows, maybe it is - we're not saying that everything put into place by that thing is deadly, or even a negative thing in the first place. If we could somehow engineer a way to function with no food or sleep... Well, it would solve a lot of problems, is what it would do.

[She looks at N again, briefly.]

With regards to trying to understand everything, there's also that thing, which claims to be a vessel for the Shimmer. That'd be the most viable candidate for experimentation, if that turns out to be true and not a matter of delusion or other psychosis. But that still seems a little...

[...Human experiment-y? Unethical? ...More unethical than we've already been, she doesn't know.]

[She...is trying not to point out to the military here that soldiers who don't need food or sleep would be. handy, so let's focus on N over there-]

Have you managed to get any decent information out of it?

[Yes, it's an 'it'. Fuck you, Shimmer.]

We found that the....I suppose the 'main' body of the Shimmer never had that much to say, in terms of useful information.

If what it's said is to be believed, the changes are permanent, but just because it doesn't know how to reverse any of them - or doesn't intend for them to be reversed - doesn't mean that it's impossible.

I see.

[...]

...and what if they can't be reversed, or cured at all? What if we just...never go back to normal?

What then?

That's a possibility that we can't rule out.

[It sucks?? It sucks.]

I can't promise anything either way. But if they truly are permanent... Well, then it becomes a matter of seeing whether this is something that can be transmitted.

I know you guys don't want to stay here. But we don't want your worlds being infected, either.

[......well. If Page didn't already looked drained enough, that's...certainly taken her down another peg.]

No, I...agree. My world has suffered enough.

[To put it mildly.

...]

Hubert said we were in there for a year. Do you...

[.....]

...do you know how things are, back in Bowerstone? I didn't plan to be away for so long.

[...That...seems to mildly alarm her for a moment, hang on- ]

I don't know how things are going now, but - we're not going to completely screw things up by writing you out of existence, whenever we put you back it'd be where we got you from.

So there'd be... no time loss? That's... that's incredible.

[ HE MIGHT NOT HAVE MISSED THE WHOLE WAR?? ]

[...! Oh, that...]

...you mean you can put us back at the exact moment you took us from? So it'll be like no time has passed at all?

Yes.

[...

.......]

....can you go back further....?

...You want to shoot the crap out of him before all the business with the Queen, don't you.

[ma'am did you have to read her like this]

...I was trying to be subtle about it. But that would solve a lot of problems.

Unfortunately, we can't do that specific thing for you. But we can come up with something, maybe. Talk to me later.

[Is that....a hope spot...? Could it be? Page is still a bit suspicious (look, she's been let down a lot, lately), but the thought of killing Reaver always makes her smile, so...]

...I will, then.

I... would also like to know if we can go back further somehow as well or do something similar like Page asked, actually.

[emma is suddenly paying more attention to the conversation now because maybe then... she can actually save everyone and not light mr skelkro on fire...]

We can't do that for the world you came from. But... Well, like I said. Talk to me later.

Okay.

[A pause.]

If it turns out it can't be done at all, in any way, then... you can go ahead and use me as a test subject or whatever, since I don't have anything to go back to otherwise.

[Just... casually putting that out there.]

You aren't staying here.

[Hell, she'll take Emma back to her own world if she has to. Schloss Ritter could use a groundskeeper.]

Gracie’s right. No one should stay behind.

[Emma deadass stares in confusion here.]

Why not? I mean... last week living in a basement aside, this is still a step up from my home right now.

(no subject)

me_underfire - 2020-08-29 20:04 (UTC) - Expand

skelkro - 2020-08-29 21:24 (UTC) - Expand

me_underfire - 2020-08-29 23:27 (UTC) - Expand

skelkro - 2020-08-30 01:37 (UTC) - Expand

How is that supposed to work? We go back as we are now, with whatever changes we end up with, and replace whatever version of us was there before?

You technically wouldn't be replacing anything - that version of you came here, remember. So it'd just be putting you back.

Not the exact moment, if that makes you feel better about it, but close enough that it wouldn't count as much time having passed, if any passed at all.

[ Frowns... okay, kind of hate that, actually. ]

That one was from a fractured dimension, wasn't it? There could have been hundreds of "versions" of me out there as long as you both arrived and left before it was destroyed.