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[lifetothefullest]

@lance.sweets | ■ ▲ ◌ ▼

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[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.]

[evocation]

[Kyna makes a face right along with him.]

Jesus, that sounds fucking awful.

[lifetothefullest]

Yeah, it sucked. So far this place is way better.

[He's not exactly optimistic it'll stay this way, since he knows he's seeing only the surface of everything so far and has already heard stories about terrible things, but he's still not sure it could get worse than Hadriel.]

But how bad Hadriel was, I was um... Nervous, I guess, to say anything about it until I had a better idea of what was going on.

[And he still doesn't want it public knowledge, but Kyna is Kyna; even if she's a different Kyna, he trusts her with this sort of information.]

I do know there are at least two other people from Hadriel here, though. It's not just me, so I wonder if there are people from other places like it too.

[evocation]

I get it. We barely know each other.

[Or so she thinks, anyway.]

Who else is here from Hadriel?

[lifetothefullest]

[Lance chews on his lip a moment, debating with himself.]

I'm not sure if they want anyone to know, so if I tell you, you'll have to keep it to yourself.

[And so if she doesn't think she can keep a secret he's giving her a chance to back out of the question.]

[evocation]

I won't tell anyone.

[It's an instant response—she doesn't even need to think about it.]

But if you don't think they'd want you to tell me, you don't have to.

[lifetothefullest]

[Lance appreciates the out she gives, and after another few moments of deliberation--]

I don't think they'd have any problem with it, but I'd rather be sure.

[He isn't totally sure what Drake's situation is here, but he knows Nate's been having a difficult time and doesn't want to stress either of them out, even if he's pretty sure they'd be fine with Kyna knowing.]

[evocation]

It's okay. Don't worry about it.

[She's wondering what that means, though, that three of them are here now. Does it mean anything at all?]

Were there a bunch of people from different versions of Earth in Hadriel, too?

[lifetothefullest]

Yeah. People were from all over; sometimes there were a few from the same world, but for the most part everyone was from somewhere different. That's the case here too, right?

[From what he's seen so far it seems to be, but he might as well make sure.]

[evocation]

Yeah, but I mean... It seems like there are a lot of people from Earth specifically.

[lifetothefullest]

In Hadriel there was a pretty wide variety; there were definitely a lot of people that weren't from Earth, or any version of it. I can't say what the percentage was, though.

[But it was a sizeable number, which he's wondering if isn't the case here.]

[evocation]

There are a lot of people who aren't from Earth here, too. I haven't like, counted, but...

[But she thinks she's talked to people who are from a version of Earth than any single other place.]

I don't know. I wonder if it matters. Or if it matters that you guys are all from Hadriel.

[lifetothefullest]

We looked for patterns in Hadriel, about who arrived or disappeared or whatever else, but we never did really find any.

[So it's hard to say if there's any significance, and he isn't sure it matters here either.]

It is weird that there are three of us from the same place, but I wouldn't say it's the weirdest thing about any of this. It might tell us something about how we arrive here, but then again, it could mean nothing.

[evocation]

You said there was a portal in Hadriel? Was it like the gates here?

[lifetothefullest]

I don't know; what are the gates here like?

[evocation]

They're like...

[She hesitates, nose wrinkling again.]

I don't know if they're magic or not. I think they are. We activated them with our powers, and they let us travel wherever we want. All you have to do is picture where you want to go.

[lifetothefullest]

That's weird, but pretty cool. Like teleporters?

[Or something sci-fi like that.]

The Door in Hadriel wasn't like that, at least as much as I know. It brought us in and sent us back to our different worlds, but we didn't control it; one of the gods--what we called the beings that ran the place, even though they weren't actually gods--could control it, but that was a whole story. It was also... Sort of alive?

[As far as he understands.]