melodiesofkupo | [Video goodness]

Oh! You're back! Hello!

Yes. Remind me to not try to catch chocobos in the future, apparently it has side effects.

[On expression alone, it's impossible to tell if Xehanort's actually blaming chocobos for disappearing into the dreamwidth.]

I...don't think I've ever heard of that being a problem for anyone else.

Are you okay?

I have .. a lot of problems that don't seem to happen to anyone else. I 'm alright. Just hideously behind the times, it seems.

.. And quite a few missing people at the Curti Center.

...Yeah. It seems like everyone I was getting used to is gone. And everyone who seems to come from back home.

There's nothing wrong with the new people, of course! [He visibly forces a smile.]

[For a moment, he doesn't reply, expression sober, as if he's carefully picking his next words.]

I ... disagree. I would rather those I know and trust over strangers any day. It isn't that there's something 'wrong' with strangers, but they are ... unknown. How do you trust a stranger with an experiment, never mind a life?

[After a moment, it's waved off. Xehanort trusts nobody, friends are ... difficult, and he doesn't want to dwell on it.]

But we can't influence the dreamwidth as we are. I dare say I would not have been able to even when I was a god. Then too, people came and went at the whim of greater powers.

Well, I mean, pretty much everyone who's ever been here was a stranger to me, at first. But once you get to know people, it's easy! [Whispers.] Also they can hear you, so you shouldn't be rude. [Terra they can hear you saying that even if you whisper. Terra that's not how Mognet works.]

I'm not sure the Dream Width is something we should be trying to influence. It's...dangerous, to open yourself that much to something like that.

Let them hear!

[Xehanort shakes his head, scowling.]

Everyone knows trust is earned, and anyone who wants trust without trying to earn it first is up to something.

[he knows, it's practically been his M.O. since waking up.]

And anyway, of course it's dangerous. Most things worth doing or knowing are. But as I just said, we can't do it, so fear not. Treat the idea as idle musing or a game, not a serious suggestion.

It's important to give people a chance! If you never let people in, how will you ever get to trust them? And why should they bother trying to earn your trust?

I rather wonder at the meaning you're projecting into my words. I never said that strangers were not to be given a chance to earn trust, but if they don't want to earn it, then they don't get it.

[The iMog tablet is set down, image going sideways. Hey, there's star stickers on the ceiling!]

It's not rude or wrong to like and prefer your friends over complete unknowns, Terra. And it is expected to mourn the absence of people you know, whether or not strangers are around. We are all the stolen children of other worlds. I daresay everyone who might hear this will understand what it is like to wake up one morning and find friends missing. There's no need to pretend.

He's not around anymore. Unfortunately.

[Observe as he fails to shut off the video but does indeed pick up his tablet to text back. The image wobbles.]

Extremely unfortunate. I suppose I'll have to rely on other sources of information.

[Reasons why Sephiroth will never be putting his Slate on video mode so long as he can help it; text is simpler and entirely more efficient to communicate with.]

Perhaps. You are a returner from the Rift, I take it?

Indeed. Not so much so where I am familiar with the previous cycle, only by what seems to be a couple of months. I'd hoped to pick up where I left off.

Previous cycle?

[Cringe. Didn't want to seem so ignorant. Yet there is only one way he's going to learn things, it seems. It had worked to just ask in Takeshi's case, after all. If this Xehanort guy had been collaborating with Takeshi...]

Where did you leave off?

This is why I'd hoped there was something written down of important events, it's much simpler to hand someone a book, and less gets lost or falsified in the repetition.

This "calamity" situation has happened before. Different people, hypothetically a different world and not merely a different time, but enough similarities to put up alerts for those who'd actually been there on that other world and lived through it. I did not get as many details as I wanted, which is unfortunately where I left off.

Alas, I've only been here a couple of months, myself.

This previous cycle; on Vaikuntha? Or Crystallis?

At this juncture I am not dismissing the possibility that they are one and the same, simply from different time periods. For now, 'Chrytallis' is the previous cycle.

Edited 2018-12-16 02:02 (UTC)

Takeshi was good enough to enlighten me of certain details regarding the same before he was lost. I imagine it's quite possible then that we're in possession of similar information, as a result.

What's the last thing you remember from before?

I don't think I'm going to get over his loss any time soon, he was such a remarkable source of information about a great many things.

I went looking for a chocobo.

[...not exactly the response he was expecting. He's not going to ask about the chocobo.]

There are bound to be other sources. With any luck, the creation of the new linkshell will encourage more to be shared.

That said, there does seem to have been at least one instance that draws into question the security of this network.

Indeed! I would not suggest putting anything on this network you wish to remain private. At the very least, the moogles own it and are likely able to access anything they please.

While it's certain they also don't wish the world to be destroyed, that does not mean all of our interests will exactly align.

Couldn't have put it better.

Please do let me know if you come up with anything on the list of events front, I'd be glad to take a copy myself.

I apologize for the delay.

I will by all means provide a copy of anything useful as soon as it is acquired. In this situation, sharing seems the wisest path.

It does indeed.

I CAN TRY TO GIVE AT LEAST SOME OVERVIEW!!! IN FACT, WE HAVE SOME RECENT FINDINGS REGARDING THE WHOLE BAHAMUT DEBACLE THAT ARE VERY RELEVANT AND POTENTIALLY HELPFUL!!!

[Still, there's no mistaking that grin.]

BUT ANYWAY! IT'S GOOD TO SEE YOU AGAIN.

[IT YOU. Xehanort doesn't smile often but he sure seems genuinely pleased to see Papyrus.]

Well hello again. If you could, I would be ever so grateful. Anything at all that might be potentially helpful! Or just interesting, honestly.

[He's happy to acquire all KINDS of information. Useful, interesting, utterly useless but still neat.. he needs to know it!]

It's good to see you as well. I'd been meaning to get ahold of you before I ... ah, disappeared for a bit, I still have an idea about that questionnaire..

CERTAINLY! BUT WHERE TO BEGIN...

[Hmmmm...]

WELL! WE RECENTLY GOT A PRETTY HUGE LEAD ON THE LOCATIONS OF THE OTHER EIDOLON TEMPLES. WE'VE ALSO HAD OUR HANDS FULL DOING A LOT OF ADVENTURING TO TRY AND STOP THIS WHOLE BAHAMUT DEBACLE.

BUT DESPITE THE LOOMING THREAT, I, FOR ONE, WOULD GLADLY PURSUE THAT QUESTIONNAIRE!

Other temples, hm? I wonder if it might be a good time to seriously consider dabbling in Summoner. Has anyone been able to call on and speak to other Eidolons on the matter, by any chance? Perhaps the beast can be appeased by means other than eradicating it.

[Ideally. Dead things are somewhat harder to study than live and cooperative things.]

It shouldn't take too much time out of more pressing matters, surely! Indulging a little curiosity never hurt much.

I BELIEVE SOME OF THE OTHER SUMMONERS HAVE! AND WE DID MANAGE TO FIND AND LOCATE PHOENIX'S TEMPLE ALREADY.

[As for the others... he pulls out his notes real quick.]

WELL! POINTS OF INTEREST INCLUDE CLOUD CITY, THE MAGITEK TOWER, AND THE GREAT MCGARD LIBRARY.

THOUGH IN THE CASE OF CLOUD CITY, IT APPEARS THE CITY DIDN'T EXIST AT THE TIME AND IT WAS JUST AN ISLAND.

[He'll touch upon the survey again soon enough, but better to let this information sink in first.]

Oh, in that case I won't bother. I'm sure one of them will be more useful, I'd prefer to keep my skillset to necromancy and chemistry.

[Notes! Xehanort snaps up a notebook almost instantly, pen in hand. Something might be useful!

And indeed stuff is jotted down quickly.]

... Is this library accessible? Has the tower already been looted or is it worth investigat--

[Somehow they made an island fly.

somehow they made an island fly. Xehanort leans forward, suddenly and desperately curious.]

How did they get an island into the sky if it was just an island? You can't just.. float a chunk of rock into the air it has bedrock and continental crust and--

[Slow down there! He pauses and takes a deep breath, struggling to wait instead of continuing his deluge, the answers might not even exist yet!]

WELL, I DON'T HAVE ANY EXPERIENCE WITH NECROMANCY, BUT CHEMISTRY HAS MY FULL ENDORSEMENT!!!

[But perhaps he's biased, both as a scientist and one who's already mastered the Chemist's asterisk.]

ANYWAY, I THINK THE LIBRARY'S STILL OPEN. I SHOULD REALLY PAY IT A VISIT SOMETIME, BOTH FOR INVESTIGATION AND TO... PERUSE ITS SCIENTIFIC TOMES.

IF IT HAS THEM.

[Any library worth its salt should have some! Probably.

But... wowie, he's sure intrigued by the city, isn't he? HMM.]

BUT I ASSUME IT'S REALLY JUST A MATTER OF VERY INTENSE MAGITEK THAT GETS THE JOB DONE. THAT OR SOME ABSURD POWER SOURCE WITH IMMEASURABLE POTENTIAL.

You might want to look into it, it's ... interesting. I think it might be a viable avenue for research as well, if I can just figure out how to make such power cooperate with actually speaking to the dead.

[It might be useful! Just ask dead people about things! But that's not really how it worked so far, and he intended to fix that sooner or later.

Who knows what they might learn.]

Technology is painfully unreliable after a certain amount of time, I'm going to have to investigate. .. Later, I suppose, after this dragon nonsense is handled. More importantly... the library, it's relevant to the moment perhaps. If you do return there, please take me along, I'd like to see it and wandering foreign worlds alone is boring.

I'm sorry -- Takeshi is gone. About a month now. You just missed 'im.

Maybe I can help?

That's ... unfortunate.

[In more ways than one, Xehanort had plans, damn it! But he'll stick with the things other people would easier understand than the darkness.]

You may be able to. Before I ... disappeared for a while, I'd been bothering him with questions about Crystallis. I'd been chasing an idea about potential repeating patterns, and first hand accounts are invaluable.

Repeating patterns?

How d'you mean?

Mmm. Mind you, I have little evidence to work with yet. Let me think of how to put this.

[And indeed there's a pause. Ponder.]

There are multiple versions of many worlds and universes, and certain events seem to take place in some of those worlds; the more similar they are the more events seem to ... for lack of a better word, repeat themselves from one version to the next. Not always perfectly, one calamity might differ from another, one universe-ending threat might not be quite the same as the other, but the basic pattern, if looked at from a distance..

[The surprise is obvious in Reno's voice, but it's a pleasant sort.]

Yeah! Actually. Wow. That's...

You've done this before.

Afraid not, truth be told. Not as far as I know. But quite a few others have, and I've paid attention over the past couple worlds when they begin talking about their homes and the people they've met.

The closest I get it seems, is my .. ahhhh, darker twin wandering around here. I'm uncertain if we're alternate universe versions of each other or something else, but one day I intend to find out for certain. When the world isn't trying to end and all.

Darker twin? You've met a version of yourself around here?

It ain't unheard of. I've seen a couple different versions of people I knew before, on other worlds. And I've had people tell me they've known different versions a' me.

That's something we're still trying to figure out. But we certainly do look very much alike, he's merely .. darker.

I've run into more than one person who thought they knew who I was and reacted accordingly. If that's anything to go by, in other worldlines I'm a very unpleasant person indeed. I hope revelations about alternate selves hasen't been unpleasant for you.

Uh... Nope.

[Well, in all worldlines he'd known so far, Reno had always been somewhat unpleasant. It would be more surprising to him if he found another reformed self -- or one who had never gotten into trouble in the first place. He couldn't imagine that at all.]

If you end up havin' any more epiphanies about co-existing worldlines an' stuff, though, I'd love to hear 'em.

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finally getting my stuff together after hiatus

good lord i forgot about this thread

we can wrap quickly