[IC Inbox | Meadowlark]

[lifetothefullest]

@lance.sweets | ■ ▲ ◌ ▼

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[lifetothefullest]

They were totally in fashion when I was a teenager.

[evocation]

ugh
my condolences

[lifetothefullest]

Thanks. The 90s were a frightening time.

[evocation]

i'm gen z, so i was safe

[lifetothefullest]

Yeah, but you had crocs.

[evocation]

i don't know what you're talking about
must be a your world thing

[lifetothefullest]

I don't know enough to dispute that but they're really ugly shoes.

[And okay, ugly fashion aside--]

Are you at work?

[He presumes not since she's been texting so much, but who knows.]

[evocation]

i just got off
why?

[lifetothefullest]

I want to get out of the safehouse for awhile so I was going to go find something to eat, if you want to come.

[Mostly true, but also he wants to talk to her in person. It's about time to tell her about Hadriel, even if he's not exactly planning to talk about her alternate self just yet; if they're going to be roommates and around each other all the time he doesn't want to keep being careful not to mention his last stay in another world.]

[evocation]

I always want to eat. I'm in.

[lifetothefullest]

Okay, great. I can meet you by the bar?

[It's like the only landmark he knows other than the safehouse.]

[evocation]

okay

[So once she's done changing, she pops outside to wait.]

[lifetothefullest]

[Lance is getting better at navigating the short distance from the safehouse hatch to the door of the abandoned garage, not that that's any feat of skill spatially; it's basically a straight line. But mentally it's a bit of a struggle, and he's mostly just taken to the strategy of walking really quickly and ignoring everything but the door. A+, psychologist approved strategy, totally the way to handle this issue.

But he really doesn't have time which is a complete lie or desire which is the actual truth to deal with it at the moment, so interim strategy it is. It works well enough that, combined with the distance to get to the bar, he's at ease again by the time he sees Kyna.]

Hey. Any place you'd suggest? If not I was thinking of just wandering around until we saw a cool sign.

[evocation]

[If only Kyna knew, because she would absolutely yell at him about that. But she's in blissful ignorance, so she just shrugs.]

Wandering is more fun.

[lifetothefullest]

[Good let him be a hypocrite in peace!!!]

Agreed. Let's see what we can find.

[Wandering adds the benefit of learning more about the city, too. And while they're walking they blend in, so as long as they avoid anywhere too crowded, he can get right into the topic he'd wanted to bring up.]

Um, there's something I should mention, and it's not that I'm a serial killer or anything. It's not even anything bad, and possibly not even that weird depending on who you've talked to, but uh... Yeah.

[He should stop rambling.]

[evocation]

[That is definitely some rambling, but she can relate. That's exactly how she gets when she's trying to figure out how to tell someone something awkward. Or bad. And unfortunately for Lance, this version of Kyna doesn't try to coax it out of him—apparently she's not there yet. Instead, she makes a joke.]

You have a huge crush on me?

[lifetothefullest]

[Omg stop tormenting him; on cue he blushes a little, shooting her an annoyed flat look.]

How would that-- Actually, nevermind.

[He was going to ask how they would fit in with any of the qualifiers he'd just rambled on about, but on second thought better to just move out of this subject.]

Anyway, no, it's that this totally isn't the first alternate dimension I woke up in unexpectedly and had to deal with. I was in the last one for two years before I came here.

[...That wasn't that hard to explain, actually.]

[evocation]

[It didn't make any sense—she was just talking shit to get a reaction, but she's distracted by that immediately when he actually comes out with it.]

Wait, what?

[lifetothefullest]

[Okay, so it seems like she hasn't heard of this from anyone before. He knows there are at least three people--including himself--from Hadriel here, but he hasn't been able to find out much about how rare this sort of thing might be overall.

He takes a moment to decide how much to explain, then tries again.]

I mean most people here were in their own worlds, right? And then woke up here? The same thing happened to me in getting here, except that I wasn't in my world; I came here from a totally different world than mine.

[evocation]

Yeah, but...

[Give her a second. She's kind of reeling.]

I've never heard of anywhere else like this. How did you end up in the last place?

[lifetothefullest]

[He didn't expect it to be quite so shocking--surprise, sure, but not really shocking--so he's kind of second guessing deciding to tell her so bluntly, but he can't undo that so--]

I just woke up there; I had been in my world one moment, and the next I was there in this run down version of a Roman coliseum. That's where everyone first arrived in Hadriel, and eventually we found out that was because the portal that brought us there was underneath the floor of the arena.

[evocation]

[She'll adjust. It's just that she's never met anyone with experience in a place like this, and suddenly a million questions are running through her mind.]

But there was no blue glow? No empathy bond? Or were you faking before?

[lifetothefullest]

[He shakes his head immediately at the questions, especially the last one.]

I wasn't faking; there was nothing like the glow or the empathy bond. We were all just... The same as we were at home, more or less. People with magic had their magic, people with supernatural abilities had that, that sort of thing.

[He hesitates a moment, then decides to add--]

The only thing I kind of deceptive about before was that the comment I made about serial killers was actually about that place, though it wasn't a lie that there were some at home too.

[evocation]

[Oh. She doesn't seem upset, just... trying to process.]

There were serial killers there? Did something... Happen?

[lifetothefullest]

A lot happened.

[Too much to possibly try to summarize at the moment, in a public setting, just because it would take time. He honestly doesn't know where he'd even start.

But he isn't sure how specifically she's asking, so he thinks he should clarify a point.]

I mostly avoided attracting their attention, so I was fine. They were kind of a minor problem overall, in the grand scheme of things.

[And he makes a bit of a face to indicate he knows how terrible that sounds, but it's true. Hadriel had a lot worse problems.]