UN: @kyouken // Back when I was a brat, I found a sparrow with a broken leg and took it home

[justbeingknife]

Seems like a couple people here have been showin' up with folks they know from back home. I was figurin' that since they came from the same place, they were also from just about the same time -- but from what I been hearing, that ain't necessarily the case.

So if you're from the 'future' compared to someone ya know here, lemme ask ya this: do you remember that other person going missing?

I also heard that there were people who came here before us, but it tapered off before starting back up again last month. But how long was that dry spell? Would anyone from back then be around?

Comments

un: sol

[skyofreverie]

Don't really have anyone here from my home but I've heard it can be years of difference between two people.

And that no one remembers someone going missing.

[Okay, he didn't hear it from anyone HERE but that was always true in other worlds like this he's visited.]

[justbeingknife]

Years? That's one hell of a time difference.

And the one from the past wouldn't remember themselves bein' missing and coming back, either?

[skyofreverie]

Yeah, it happens. Though I think it's most common when people are from the same year. Though a lot can happen in just a few months.

Usually not. Chances are when we leave, we won't remember anything about this place. It'll be like we never left at all.

[justbeingknife]

Are you kidding me.

How the fuck does that work?! And how come you're so calm about it?

[skyofreverie]

Afraid not.

And um... Sometimes you don't go straight home. Sometimes, like me, you go to a different world instead of going home.

un: ryuoh

[countersway]

[Well, he certainly doesn't know anything about that weird timeline shit (lolol), but...]

When the group I came with got here, the only other people around were the natives. Are you saying there were different people around before us?

[justbeingknife]

That's right. People who appeared outta nowhere, same as us.

'Course, that's second or thirdhand intel at this point. I was hoping that if it was true, there might be some proof that they were here. I mean, what happened to 'em? They go back to their own dimension? Or did they stick around?

[countersway]

Their own dimension?

[wtf is with the people here always laying abstract, high-concept shit on him like this]

I wouldn't know anything about that, but it's probably a safe bet to think that they didn't make it long enough to meet any of us. For all we know, there might be a limit on the amount of times you can be reset.

[justbeingknife]

Well, that's depressing.

What if some of 'em did survive, though? Maybe not long enough to meet us, but long enough. Hell, maybe some of 'em even married one of the natives, had a kid or two.

[countersway]

I guess that's possible. If you have nothing to go home to, this place might not seem so bad. I knew a few guys like that back home.

[in prison, he means.]

un: touched

[waystation]

They told me there was a lull of a couple months before the arrivals started back up. Sounds like most of them had left town by the time we came.

[justbeingknife]

Only a couple months? That's not real long at all, then...

Did ya get the sense that 'left town' was literal?

[ Or you know... was it like going to live on a nice farm....? ]

[waystation]

<sub>[Do you mean a euphemism for "greener pastures," Majima...

...

... actually, it's a fair question, 'cause he wondered the same thing.]</sub>

According to what I heard, they went exploring and didn't come back. No one saw them come back through the Reset Room, either. Maybe they're still out there.

[justbeingknife]

Yeah. Might even run into 'em.

If they are still around, they must've worked out ways to survive. Maybe managed to leave town. But it's hard to believe the surrounding towns are much better off than this one.

I wonder if this started off in one place.

now with the proper tag

[waystation]

The world's a big place. It can't all be like this. There's got to be someone who knows more about these things.

_{[It feels like his optimism is running on fumes--but he'd still like to hope no news is good news when it comes to the mysterious earlier arrivals, like maybe they found some answers out there. They won't know until they go themselves.]}

un: eraserhead

[dryeyes]

[This is where the pin drops and Aizawa realizes that he's been looking out for his students without necessarily confirming they were on the same page. Hey, the whole being kidnapped thing sort of clashes with talking about current events back home.]

There was only one incident in which they were missing and the timeframe of them being missing currently doesn't add up with being stuck here. They would also be able to report if I had gone missing for one reason or another.

If any of the outsiders from before our time are still around, they haven't said anything about it.

[justbeingknife]

Do the rest of their memories add up? They don't remember things happenin' a slightly different way?

[ Because if so, Sora's explanation would seem to make some amount of sense, or at least as much as anything ever did around here. ]

Jake said that the last bunch left town a few months ago. You guys ever run across any trace of them bein' here? Did they used to live in the same houses we do now?

[dryeyes]

I'll have to probe them for details on that. There are four of us, now. I don't know why this place favors one world over another.

[If he could accept there were vastly different alternate realities, what about smaller ones? Could one of his students be hiding any sort of key event change? Ah, irritating. And it would have been much nicer if it had been limited to just him. The more students, the more worry headache.]

It's hard to tell what's traces of the society that used to be here and what's outsider technology. The houses were entirely empty when we moved in, so there's no evidence on that front.

[justbeingknife]

Maybe it's like playin' cards. Hard to take one from the deck without touching any others.

[ If only there was a convenient giant, glowing science lab somewhere they could storm for answers. At any rate, Majima was willing to entertain the possibility that the people who had been brought here had not been selected out of directed malevolence. Although... it was a little suspicious that there were so many kids around. ]

Be easier to ask the locals about it, but most of 'em act like they're too busy -- can't get more than one answer at a time.

[dryeyes]

It could be. I didn't even realize it was going to keep bringing outsiders, with that previous drought.

[A hideout raid would be far, far more satisfying than the sort of blind groping they were stuck doing. The locals implied they had no power over who was brought here and, despite his lack of trust in them, there was no reason to believe they were lying. Yet.]

I doubt the locals want us to make any progress. They'd rather we stay and help maintain their population. So, even if they know, they're not just going to feed us any useful information.

un: nishizono

[nishizono]

i didn't find anyone from home, so this post is already offensive.

[justbeingknife]

Tough shit.

So what rock you been hiding under?

[nishizono]

the garage i've been living in. it's a cozy hole. no one bothers me, and i can network surf all i like.

which is once whenever i feel like. not the ideal, apparently. seems like i missed a lot of stuff since.

[justbeingknife]

You live in a garage?

[ pot, kettle. Majima's apartment back in Sotenbori didn't even have a bed. It didn't even have a futon. It was like a blanket. A table. A radio. A kitchen, but only because that had come with the place.

Oh well, whatever. ]

Who're ya stayin' with?

[nishizono]

i like places with multiple exits, what can i say.

[ it's a little more complicated than that, but hell, maybe the guy's sharp enough to read between the lines. tetora trusts that he is, anyway. if tetora could get away with sleeping out in the open, he'd do it without hesitation. ]

so far i've only met the one guy. tall, shark-like, hair like an actor. european-looking dude named erik.